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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">US: Second 'spy' confessed to
working with anti-Muslim group, rights group says</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">By MEE staff
in Washington - December 22, 2021<br>
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<p>The Council on American-Islamic Relations says the
unnamed person was paid $3,000 a month to spy on
prominent Muslim leaders</p>
<p><img
src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/mosque%20new%20york%20afp.jpeg?itok=xkmKqJDo"
alt="While Muslims have witnessed their communities
being surveilled over the past two decades, the news
still came as a shock." style="margin-right: 0px;"
moz-do-not-send="true" width="426" height="240">
</p>
<p>While Muslims have witnessed their communities being
surveilled over the past two decades, the news still
came as a shock (AFP/File photo)</p>
<p><span>Published date:</span> 22 December 2021 17:35 UTC
<span>| </span>
<span>Last update:</span> <span
id="gmail-date-updatedago">41 mins 50 secs </span>
ago </p>
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<p>A second individual has confessed to spying in the
US on behalf of an anti-Muslim group, whose alleged
goal was to "protect the Israeli government" by
undermining Muslim activists, according to the <a
href="https://www.cair.com/" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">Council on American-Islamic
Relations</a> (Cair).</p>
<p>The person, whose identity has yet to be revealed,
has created further links demonstrating a pro-Israel
campaign to spy on Muslim communities and
organisations throughout the United States, Cair
said on Tuesday. </p>
<p>The advocacy and civil rights group <a
href="https://twitter.com/CAIRNational/status/1473394214994165762"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">said</a>
the founder of the <a
href="https://www.investigativeproject.org/"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">Investigative
Project on Terrorism</a> (IPT), Steven Emerson,
paid the "spy" $3,000 a month, a total of more than
$100,000 over more than four years, in order to spy
on a mosque in the US and "record prominent Muslim
leaders".</p>
<p>"One of Emerson's goals, we were told, was
protecting the Israeli government by undermining
Muslims engaged in political and human rights
activism," Cair said.</p>
<p>During a news conference last week, the Muslim
civil rights group revealed a series of emails
between Israeli officials and the IPT. In one, an
official asked the IPT whether it had information
related to Students for Justice in Palestine, a
student advocacy group with chapters in universities
across the country.</p>
<p>The Israeli embassy in Washington did not respond
to Middle East Eye's request for comment.</p>
<p>The rights group said that the individual came
forward, confessed to his actions, and agreed to
cooperate with mosque leaders. Cair added that it
will provide further information, and publicly
identify the person after it obtains further
information.</p>
<p>The IPT did not respond to MEE's request for
comment, but has said previously that it "has never
and will never monitor the wider American Muslim
community". However, it added that it will not
hesitate to report on groups it claims are
conducting "radical Islamist activity".</p>
<h3>'We've identified three moles'</h3>
<p>The news comes after last week's revelation by Cair
that the executive director of one of its state
chapters in Ohio, Romin Iqbal, had been for years
secretly working with the IPT to provide
intelligence, including audio recordings, and leak
confidential information to the group.</p>
<p>The announcement came out of a third-party
investigation conducted by a forensic expert
retained by Cair-National.</p>
<p>While Muslims have witnessed the numerous ways in
which their communities have been targeted and
surveilled by the US government over the past two
decades, the news still came as a shock for many
Muslim communities throughout the country.</p>
<div>
<p><a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/cair-us-rights-group-leader-spying-anti-muslim-group"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"><img
src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/images-story/cair%20logo%20afp.jpg?itok=br-s_dCC"
alt="" moz-do-not-send="true" width="400"
height="250">
</a></p>
<p>Leader of US Muslim rights group fired for
allegedly spying for anti-Muslim group</p>
<p><a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/cair-us-rights-group-leader-spying-anti-muslim-group"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">Read More
»</a>
</p>
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<p>Edward Ahmed Mitchell, deputy director of
Cair-National, told reporters last week that based
on the investigation, at least a dozen organisations
have been targeted by this espionage campaign.</p>
<p>"We can't know everything that IPT was doing, but
based on the evidence that we have, I would say that
easily over a dozen Muslim organisations or mosques
were targeted," Mitchell said.</p>
<p>"We believe we've identified three moles."</p>
<p>The IPT, founded by Steven Emerson, describes
itself as a research group reporting on "radical
Islamic terrorist groups". It has, however, been
deemed an anti-Muslim group by the <a
href="https://islamophobianetwork.com/organization/investigative-project-on-terrorism/"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">Islamophobia
Network</a>, a project of the Center for American
Progress that tracks anti-Muslim groups and donors.</p>
<p>According to the network, the IPT uses
"unsubstantiated threats that portray Muslims as
dangerous to accrue funding" and that Emerson has a
reputation "for fabricating evidence to substantiate
his ravings about Muslim extremism".</p>
<p>According to Georgetown University's <a
href="https://bridge.georgetown.edu/research/factsheet-steven-emerson/"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">Bridge
Initiative</a>, Emerson himself has had a "history
of promoting falsified information and conspiracy
theories about Islam and Muslims".</p>
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