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<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element"><font
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href="https://ccrjustice.org/home/press-center/press-releases/supreme-court-hears-case-american-muslims-placed-no-fly-list">https://ccrjustice.org/home/press-center/press-releases/supreme-court-hears-case-american-muslims-placed-no-fly-list</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Supreme Court Hears Case of American
Muslims Placed on No-Fly List for Refusing to Spy on Their
Communities</h1>
<div class="meta-data">
<div class="reader-estimated-time" dir="ltr">updated October
8, 2020<br>
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<h2 dir="ltr">Justices to Decide Whether FBI Agents
Who Abused List to Coerce Can Be Held Accountable</h2>
<p><br>
October 6, 2020, Washington, D.C. – Today, attorneys
for American Muslims who were placed or kept on the
No-Fly List in retaliation for refusing to spy on
their communities argued before the U.S. Supreme
Court, urging the Court to uphold a ruling that the
men may sue the FBI agents for interfering with
their freedom to practice their religion. The men
initially sued to be removed from the List. After
years of being prevented from flying, and just days
before the first major hearing in the case, the men
each received a letter informing them they were no
longer on the List. A judge then dismissed the
remaining portion of their lawsuit, which sought
damages for the emotional and financial harm the men
had suffered, but a federal appeals court reinstated
the case. The Trump administration appealed to the
Supreme Court.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“For years, I was frightened and
intimidated by FBI agents who repeatedly tried to
force me to go against my beliefs, even though I had
done nothing wrong,” said <strong><a
href="https://ccrjustice.org/muhammad-tanvir">Muhammed
Tanvir</a>, a plaintiff in the case</strong>. “I
was being treated like I had no soul in my body. I
am seeking justice in the hope that they don't do
this to others.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">After repeatedly refusing FBI requests to
spy on their Muslim communities—among other things,
to visit online Islamic forums or attend certain
mosques and “act extremist” —and after years of
flying without incident, Muhammad Tanvir, Jameel
Algibhah, Naveed Shinwari, and a fourth man who did
not join in the appeal discovered they were not
permitted to board flights. FBI agents told each man
he would be able to get off the No-Fly List if he
agreed to work for the FBI. The suit alleges that
the FBI's focus on the men had nothing to do with
any criminal investigation or activity connected to
them or specific individuals in their community. The
lawsuit argues that the FBI agents abused the List,
placing the men on it not because they posed any
threat to aviation security, but in order to coerce
them into being informants on their communities,
thereby violating the men’s religious rights. </p>
<p dir="ltr">The case was brought under the Religious
Freedom Restoration Act, or RFRA, and other
statutes. The men and their attorneys say it is not
enough simply to remove the men from the List; they
say accountability for abuses by FBI agents is
necessary to prevent those abuses from happening
again. </p>
<p dir="ltr">“We hope the Court will recognize that
RFRA authorizes damages as a remedy for harm that
cannot otherwise be redressed, such as that
experienced by our clients because removal from the
No-Fly List was insufficient to make them whole,”
said <strong><a
href="https://www.law.cuny.edu/faculty/directory/kassem/"
target="_blank">Ramzi Kassem</a>, Professor of
Law and Director of the CLEAR project</strong>
(Creating Law Enforcement Accountability &
Responsibility) at CUNY School of Law, who argued
today.</p>
<p dir="ltr">As a result of their placement on the
No-Fly List, for years the men were unable to see
spouses, children, sick parents, and elderly
grandparents who are overseas. They lost jobs, were
stigmatized within their communities, and suffered
severe financial and emotional distress. If the
Supreme Court affirms the decision of the Second
Circuit, the men will have a chance to pursue their
damages claims in the district court and recover
damages from the individual FBI agents who abused
their power and placed the men on the List in an
attempt to coerce them.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“Abuses like this happened because law
enforcement officers have learned to expect they
will never be held accountable for misusing their
near total power to place people on the No-Fly List.
Without increased transparency and a remedy for past
abuses, the system will remain tailor-made for
abuse,” said <strong><a
href="https://ccrjustice.org/home/who-we-are/staff/kadidal-shayana">Shayana
Kadidal</a>, a Senior Managing Attorney at the
Center for Constitutional Rights</strong> and
counsel in the case.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Advocates say the FBI’s abusive behavior
in this case is just one example of the profiling,
targeting, and harassment of Muslims by law
enforcement and other government officials, which
also includes extensive surveillance and
infiltration of their religious communities and
spaces, including mosques; holds on immigration
status and other benefits; and the Muslim Ban.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><a
href="https://ccrjustice.org/home/what-we-do/our-cases/tanvir-v-holder">Tanvir
v. Tanzin</a> was brought by the CLEAR Project,
the Center for Constitutional Rights, and co-counsel
at the law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP.</p>
<p><em>The <a href="https://www.cunyclear.org/"
target="_blank">CLEAR project</a> (Creating Law
Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility)
is based out of Main Street Legal Services, Inc.,
the clinical arm of CUNY School of Law. CLEAR’s
mandate is to serve Muslim and all other clients,
communities, and movements in the New York City
area and beyond that are targeted by local, state,
or federal government agencies under the guise of
national security and counterterrorism.</em></p>
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