Civil rights groups file Freedom of Information Act request

Civil rights groups filed a Freedom of Information Act request today seeking FBI records of the procedures and policies used during the ongoing investigation into the alleged connection of two Lodi men to the al-Qaida terrorist organization.

The FOIA request is being filed by the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California.

"We appreciate and respect the need of the FBI to conduct investigations of possible criminal activity; however, any investigation needs to be done in a way that respects individuals' rights," Mark Schlosberg, police practices policy director of the ACLU of Northern California, said in a press release. "Heavy-handed law enforcement activities that do not respect people's rights engender distrust of the community and are ultimately counterproductive."

Hamid Hayat, 22, allegedly lied to the FBI earlier this month when he said he did not attend a terrorism camp in Pakistan last year and in 2003, prosecutors said. He was charged with two counts of lying to the FBI.

His father, Umer Hayat, 47, was charged with a single count of lying to investigators when he denied that his son had attended such camps. The FBI said the elder Hayat later admitted to flying his son to Pakistan and paying for the camp, which was run by a friend of a relative.

Both were indicted today by a federal grand jury on charges that they lied to authorities investigating links to Pakistani terrorist training camps connected to al-Qaida.

FBI agents say they're doing everything they can to treat local Muslims with respect while investigating the terrorism allegations.

FBI officials met with Basim Elkarra, executive director of the Sacramento Valley office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations on Saturday, where they addressed allegations of FBI intimidation.

The meeting helped clear up some issues, FBI spokeswoman Marcie Soligo said.

"I can't comment on specific allegations," she told the News-Sentinel earlier this week. "I know, as an agent, sometimes when you go to the door or call them up, the initial impression is, 'Oh my goodness, it's the FBI!' But it's just our job, we're not there to be intimidating."

CAIR officials in Sacramento say they have received numerous reports of intimidating tactics used recently by some FBI agents. Reports of inappropriate conduct by law enforcement officials include threats of arrest or deportation used to coerce cooperation, unnecessary use of force, denial of medical treatment, and constant FBI surveillance of regular mosque attendees.

"Law enforcement authorities have every right to follow up on legitimate leads in a criminal investigation, but to target an entire community and conduct a 'round up the usual suspects' approach will only serve to intimidate those whose cooperation is sought," Elkarra said in the today's press release.

The civil rights groups are seeking expedited processing of the FOIA request because of the widespread media attention on the FBI activities in Lodi and the fact that the records sought relate "to the loss of substantial due process rights."

In particular, the FOIA refers to the possible violations of individuals' rights to have access to attorneys, translators, medical attention and the right to be free from inappropriate government surveillance. Expedited processing means that the FBI would have 10 calendar days to respond to the FOIA request.

The FOIA request is being sent to the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California, the Sacramento Headquarters of the FBI, other local FBI offices in the Central Valley, and federal offices in Washington D.C.

The FOIA request is online at http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=18498&c=282