The US-based Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) has issued a statement welcoming the decision of the New York Police Department (NYPD) to disband a controversial unit tasked with cataloging information on local Muslim communities. According to the statement:
April 15, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY) today welcomed a decision by the New York Police Department (NYPD) to disband a special unit that conducted widespread warrantless surveillance of law-abiding Muslims.
In a statement, said CAIR-NY Board President Ryan Mahoney said:
‘CAIR-NY welcomes the closing of the NYPD Zone Assessment Unit. This is an important first step. However, the damage of unconstitutional mass spying on people solely on the basis of their religion has already been carried out and must be addressed. We need to hear from the mayor and NYPD officials that the policy itself has been ended and that the department will no longer apply mass surveillance or other forms of biased and predatory policing to any faith-based community.’
Mahoney added that it is important to recognize the efforts of the Muslim American Civil Liberties Coalition (MACLC), of which CAIR-NY is a member, in bringing about this change in NYPD policy.
In 2013, CAIR-NY, along with a number of other civil rights organizations, urged the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate violations of the constitutional rights of Muslims by the NYPD.
US media reported last week on the NYPD decision to close the unit.
The GMBDW reported in January 2012 that the Muslim American Civil Liberties Coalition (MACLC) was comprised of 13 of organizations of which nine, along with CAIR itself, are either part of the US Muslim Brotherhood or with strong ties to US Brotherhood organizations. As we noted at the time, one of the most ubiquitous tactics of the Global Muslim Brotherhood is the establishment of a dizzying number of organizations and initiatives which create the impression of broad based support when in reality, the sponsors are the same individuals and groups whose leaders have not changed in many years.
The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) describes itself as “a grassroots civil rights and advocacy group and as “America’s largest Islamic civil liberties group.” CAIR was founded in 1994 by three officers of the Islamic Association of Palestine, part of the U.S. Hamas infrastructure at that time. Documents discovered in the course of the the terrorism trial of the Holy Land Foundation confirmed that the founders and current leaders of CAIR were part of the Palestine Committee of the Muslim Brotherhood and that CAIR itself is part of the US. Muslim Brotherhood. In 2008, the then Deputy leader of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood acknowledged a relationship between the Egyptian Brotherhood and CAIR. In 2009, a US federal judge ruled “The Government has produced ample evidence to establish the associations of CAIR, ISNA and NAIT with HLF, the Islamic Association for Palestine (“IAP”), and with Hamas.” CAIR and its leaders have had a long history of defending individuals accused of terrorism by the US. government, often labeling such prosecutions a “war on Islam”, and have also been associated with Islamic fundamentalism and antisemitism. The organization is led by Nihad Awad, its longstanding Executive Director and one of the three original founders.