Ten years after revelations of an extensive NYPD spying operation in their communities, Muslim Americans have once again found themselves the target of secret surveillance. The news in recent weeks has centered on the Investigative Project on Terrorism, a nonprofit research group that critics say has an anti-Muslim bias. In December, a Muslim civil rights organization accused the group of bankrolling a years-long effort using staff and paid informants to monitor Muslim leaders, including a leading New Jersey imam. The most prominent fallout came in Ohio, where the head of the state chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations was fired, after allegedly serving as an IPT mole for more than a decade. CAIR subsequently released a statement showing other reported targets, including Imam Mohammad Qatanani of the Islamic Center of Passaic County in Paterson, one of the Garden State’s largest mosques. New York attorney and Palestinian rights activist Lamis Deek and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison also came under scrutiny, along with other Muslim leaders, according to statements from a whistleblower and an informant. CONTINUE READING