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<a href="http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/11/23/41687.htm" eudora="autourl">
http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/11/23/41687.htm</a></font> <br>
<font size=3>Wednesday, November 23, 201<br><br>
</b></font></h1><h5><font size=4><b>Katrina Charity Common Ground Wants
Information on FBI Snitch</b></font></h5><font size=3>By SABRINA CANFIELD
<br><br>
<br>
NEW ORLEANS (CN) - The founder of a
post-Hurricane Katrina relief organization claims the FBI infiltrated his
group after he criticized the Bush administration for its inept response
to the disaster. Malik Rahim, founder of Common Ground Relief, says the
FBI blew off his FOIA requests by claiming that responding would violate
the privacy of its informant, who has spoken publicly about his work as a
snitch.<br>
Rahim, a New Orleans community organizer and
former Black, says the FBI rejected his FOIA request, and appeal, seeking
information about FBI informant Brandon Darby. Rahim says Darby worked
with him at Common Ground, bringing supplies and other assistance to
residents of the city battered by Hurricane Katrina.<br>
Darby was involved with Common Ground from
September 2005 until 2008. Whether Darby was an FBI agent before becoming
a prominent member of Common Ground remains unknown, and is part of what
Rahim seeks to find out.<br>
Using an anarchist-inspired motto,
"Solidarity not Charity," Common Ground Relief says its mission
is to provide short-term relief for victims of hurricane disasters on the
Gulf Coast, and long-term support in rebuilding communities in the New
Orleans area.<br>
Common Ground claims it has organized more than
35,000 volunteers, has gutted more than 3,000 homes, provided for basic
needs of thousands of New Orleans residents and founded a now-independent
health clinic and women's shelter. The center also has a free legal
clinic that provides assistance in urgent situations such as wrongful
home demolition, succession documentation, mortgage application
assistance, contractor fraud and most types of civil litigation.<br>
Julie Hurwitz, who filed the original Freedom of
Information Act request on behalf of Rahim in 2009 said in a telephone
interview Tuesday that it is "a travesty that an organization that
was doing as much good as Common Ground" had to deal with Darby, who
"swooped in and became a member of the organization, meanwhile
sabotaging it from the inside."<br>
Hurwitz said it is known now that Darby was an
FBI informant on others besides Common Ground. She called Darby a
<i>provocateur</i>, a tool of law enforcement who provokes others to
commit illegal acts in order to prosecute them.<br>
Darby's role as a federal informant became known
during his testimony in the trial of two 20-something anarchists who were
arrested for possession of unused, homemade Molotov cocktails during the
2008 Republican National Convention in Minneapolis.<br>
After Darby's identity as informant became
known, a letter he allegedly wrote, in which he confessed to being an FBI
snitch, was published by indymedia.org.<br>
The letter states: "There are currently
allegations in the media that I have worked undercover for the Federal
Bureau of Investigation. This allegation no doubt confuses many activists
who know me and probably leaves many wondering why I would seemingly
choose to engage in such an endeavor. The simple truth is that I have
chosen to work with the Federal Bureau of investigation."<br>
Hurwitz said transcripts from the Molotov
cocktails trial have never surfaced.<br>
"We're trying to find out exactly what the
nature of Darby's relationship with the FBI was between those years from
2005 to 2008" when Darby was a prominent member of Common Ground,
Hurwitz said.<br>
Rahim says in his federal complaint that he
requested documents pertaining to the FBI's infiltration of Common Ground
Relief, but the FBI refused, saying release of the documents would
violate Darby's privacy.<br>
According to the complaint: "After
Hurricane Katrina, on or around September 5, 2005, Malik Rahim, plaintiff
in this matter, organized a relief organization named Common Ground
Relief, which included Common Ground Relief, Common Ground Collective,
Woodlands Project and Common Ground Health Clinic (collectively 'Common
Ground') in New Orleans, Louisiana."<br>
"Common Ground provided substantial relief
supplies and tens of thousands of hours of volunteer assistance to
devastated communities along the Gulf Coast.<br>
"Common Ground and Malik Rahim criticized
government and corporate entities for failing to meet the needs of Gulf
Coast Communities after Hurricane Katrina.<br>
"Within weeks of Hurricane Katrina and the
creation of Common Ground by plaintiff, Brandon Darby appeared, spent
considerable time at Common Ground, and became one of the active leaders
in the organization.<br>
"Brandon Darby later admitted under oath
that he was a confidential informant for the FBI and has admitted his
relationship with the FBI to The New York Times, the Austin Chronicle,
National Public Radio and in many other public forums; Brandon Darby has
identified himself as an FBI confidential informant in open
court."<br>
Rahim's FOIA request sought "'all records,
documents and things ...' related to surveillance, investigation, use of
informants and agents, planting or gathering 'evidence,' and any other
activities pertaining to Malik Rahim including anything related to Common
Ground Relief and Brandon Darby. [Ellipsis in complaint.]<br>
"On March 17, 2009, the FOIA request of
Malik Rahim was denied on the grounds that the FBI would not respond to a
FOIA request concerning another individual in addition to Malik Rahim
without a 'privacy waiver' being filed by Brandon Darby."<br>
Rahim says he appealed the denial on July 30,
2009. Among the reasons stated in the appeal was "the public right
to be informed about what their government is up to,' citing <i>U.S.
Department of Justice v. Reporters Committee for Freedom of Press</i>,
489 U.S. 749, 733 (1989); the fact that if Brandon Darby was an
undercover informant for the FBI during his time at Common Ground, then
that would be an act of such public concern that it would overcome
personal privacy exemptions, citing <i>National Archives & Records
Administration v. Favish</i>, 541 U.S. 157, 172 (2004)."<br>
But the Justice Department upheld the FBI
stonewalling: "On September 25, 2009, the U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Information Policy stated it was affirming the original refusal
of the FBI to release any information pertaining to Brandon Darby and
further affirmed the refusal of the FBI to neither confirm nor deny the
existence of any records responsive to the request. They said: 'Without
consent, proof of death, official acknowledgement of an investigation, or
an overriding public interest, confirming or denying the existence of the
records your client requested would constitute an unwarranted invasion of
personal privacy.'"<br>
Rahim wants the FBI and Department of Justice
ordered to make an immediate, expedited search for the documents, and
turn them over.<br>
His lead counsel is Davida Finger with the
Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, Law Clinic.<br>
Finger said in a statement issued in conjunction
with the Center for Constitutional Rights: "Brandon Darby has spoken
at length to the media about his involvement with the FBI, including
during his time at Common Ground. We believe that Malik Rahim, Common
Ground, and our community deserve to know the full extent of Mr. Darby's
relationship with the FBI while doing post-Katrina work."<br>
Rahim said in the statement: "In the
difficult times following Hurricane Katrina, we welcomed Mr. Darby into
the community and shared everything we had with him. Mr. Darby inserted
himself as a leader of Common Ground but, looking back, many of Mr.
Darby's actions appear to have intentionally caused rifts within the
organization and the community. In retrospect, he was doing everything
you're supposed to do as a government agent in that situation - making an
effort to divide and conquer. Accordingly, we have filed suit to compel
the FBI to release all information concerning any collaboration with Mr.
Darby during his time working with Common Ground in New
Orleans."<br>
Co-counsel in Rahim's complaint include Bill
Quigley of New Orleans, Julie Hurwitz of Detroit, and Sunita Patel with
the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York City.<br>
In its statement announcing the filing of
Rahim's complaint, the Center for Constitutional Rights claimed that the
FBI's infiltration of Common Ground was not an aberration: "As
thousands of FOIA documents released over the years have revealed,
government surveillance and infiltration of activist groups is a
widespread practice in the United States. Indeed, crackdowns on Occupy
Wall Street and related protests across the country and the recent
revelation of a New York security consultant's infiltration of the
Zuccotti Park encampment suggest that government efforts to suppress
dissent and disrupt peaceful protest continue. Mr. Rahim and his lawyers
have filed this lawsuit to enforce the government's obligations under the
Freedom of Information Act to provide information to the public about
government conduct. The requested information will shed light on the FBI
and other law enforcement activities in New Orleans during the tumultuous
months and years following Hurricane Katrina."
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