However, a 2010 study from the British think tank Demos, which compiled profiles of 58 Islamic terrorists and conducted interviews with 20 radical Muslims from across Europe and Canada, painted a more complex picture. Thank you. Jenkins, meanwhile, worries that after her son gets out of prison in a few years, he will remain a marked man. All of the cases rest on the efforts of FBI informants to manufacture conspiracies. But she believed that he would have posed no serious threat if left to his own devices: “Only the government could have made a terrorist out of Mr. Cromitie, a man whose buffoonery is positively Shakespearian in its scope.”. An earlier version of this post misstated its location. FBI's entrapment of Gen. Flynn was despicable. No terrorism case since Sept. 11, 2001, has been thrown out because of entrapment. German believes that the FBI’s pursuit of Islamic terrorists is based on the flawed assumption that once someone starts to express radical Islamic views — such as supporting the application of Sharia law — they are on an inevitable path toward committing acts of violence. Nevertheless, the Obama administration has urged the Supreme Court to allow government to attach GPS devices on “suspects’ vehicles to track their every move.” According to the Justice Department, “A person traveling on public thoroughfares has no reasonable expectation of privacy in his movements from one place to another,” and that is why, as of April 2011, they wanted a lower court’s decision that reversed a conviction and life sentence for a drug dealer whose vehicle had a GPS attached without a warrant undone. ET. “There was intelligence that these individuals were trying to reach al-Qaeda,” Soufan told BuzzFeed News. But in many of the cases we documented, there was no threat until the FBI showed up and helped turn people into terrorists.” The DOJ disputes the groups’ findings. The entire plot was driven by Cromitie’s accomplice, Shahed Hussain, a criminal-turned-informant who went to great lengths to entice the four others — all impoverished black Muslim converts — to take part. Looks like your browser doesn't support JavaScript. Burke thought the FBI might be coming to raid his house. Maqsood was a paid informant named Shahed Hussain, who had spent the last eight months working to get Cromitie to plant bombs at a local synagogue. Guidelines put into place by former Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey allowed the FBI to authorize informants and other surveillance techniques without any factual predicate or nexus to suspected criminal conduct,” which meant the FBI could have informants “gather names, emails, and phone numbers of particularly devout mosque attendees, without any particular nexus to suspected criminal activity.” And, under former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, guidelines were established that did not explicitly prohibit using informants to engage in entrapment. The entire FBI entrapment strategy in post-9/11 America has drawn fire for using informants with criminal records, shady pasts, financial incentives or a record of deception. But in 2003, Theodore Shelby, aka Saeed Torres, befriended Shah, asking for bass lessons. Do you approve of Biden's presidency so far? The two most recent Supreme Court cases on the entrapment defense are Mathews v. United States, 485 U.S. 58, 63 (1988) and Jacobson v. United States, 503 U.S. 540, 548 (1992). Hussain had done previous work for the FBI and was involved in a controversial case against a pizza-parlor owner and local imam in Albany, New York. It’s through the generosity of our supporters that we’re able to share with you all the underreported news you need to know. 5. "We've been doing solidarity work with people in other countries who get killed for doing what they do,” Burke explains. Burke thought he needed to write a press release, took his computer and got in his car to go find a web café. German also questions the wisdom of relying on confidential informants with checkered pasts. Shah came across as a “boastful, albeit somewhat bumbling, man,” the New York Times reported, adding that the plot “was almost entirely talk.” No martial arts training was ever provided, the newspaper noted. On the way he noticed that his car was being followed. Their study will be published in the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. In May 2005, he was arrested for conspiring to provide material support for terrorism. Certainly not U.S. District Court Judge Colleen McMahon, who in June 2011 sentenced him to 25 years for his part in a plot to attack Jewish targets and shoot down military aircraft. A press release posted by the Bradley Manning Support Network described how House had his laptop seized and was “questioned extensively" about his support for alleged WikiLeaks whistleblower Bradley Manning. “But a larger group had to do with criminalization of things no one thought were illegal before, including things like free speech,” Downs said. Courts use one of two tests when deciding whether a defendant was entrapped: 1. Reminiscent of how animal rights and environmental activists have been targeted in recent years, the FBI is going after the activists, wrecking their lives, intimidating Americans who believe in their right to dissent. “He’s a musician. One of the things few people know is that the FBI illegally and unethically pursues cases for a variety of reasons. None of the targets of these entrapment cases seem to be longtime anarchist organizers. He left with his daughter. Have government informants been given too much leeway? “I think the new study is extremely helpful,” German said. So, too, did Tarik Shah. He’s due for release in 2018. The men were arrested soon after. Other critics contend that entrapment is just part of a wider problem. In April of this year, House sent a message on Twitter reporting that FBI agents had gone to “interrogate a West Coast friend at his place of work.” He described how his friend, who is not involved in computers or activism, was pressured to sign a non-disclosure agreement and was held for four hours after the interrogation. But in its commonly understood usage, FBI entrapment is a widespread tactic. An agent claimed he was interested in hearing how his rights were being trampled because “sometimes it’s nice to have a conversation to flesh things out.” The agents said they were at the conference for official and personal reasons. They may also be receiving payment for their service. These included six “core” indicators: The defendant had no previous involvement with terrorism; the government proposed the crime; the defendant had to be pressured or persuaded to take part; cash or other incentives were offered; the defendant was reluctant to become involved; and the government directed the criminal acts, rather than letting matters take their course once the ball was rolling. “I didn’t know if I’d find it was a small handful of what you might call bad apples,” he said. The bomb, of course, was a dud. In his 2011 book The Terror Factory, journalist Trevor Aaronson accused the FBI of waging a “manufactured” war on terror using some 15,000 paid informants. To support her sufficiency argument, the Defendant cited federal entrapment cases in which the courts held that entrapment was established as a matter of law after reviewing the record. Claims of entrapment have yet to succeed in any of those cases. AlterNet counts on readers like you to support our coverage. In the eyes of James Weddick, one of several FBI veterans interviewed in Galloway’s film, the answer is yes: “Before 9/11 it was eyes and ears only. Here are five cases of FBI abuse that show the FBI deserves more scrutiny, not a free pass to continue fighting the so-called “war on terror.”. He is also a master of karate who taught martial arts. BREAKING: DOJ Dropping Case Against Michael Flynn After Revelation of FBI Entrapment Plot For Liberals, The War on COVID Is Never Meant to Be … But the FBI agent Soufan, who now runs a security and intelligence company based in New York, argues that Shah and Sabir were targeted with good reason. "We didn't meet with anyone who is on any terrorist list. But she fears that Shah may find it hard to get work if he is under constant surveillance. Para saber mais sobre nossa política de cookies, acesse link. In 2008, five Muslim men from suburban New Jersey were convicted of conspiring to kill U.S. soldiers at the Fort Dix Army base. He called his wife and they agreed he should drive to the parking garage at her work. As a report published by the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice of the New York University School of Law in May and titled, “Targeted and Entrapped: Manufacturing the ‘Homegrown Threat’ in the United States,” describes, “On May 13, 2009, at the FBI’s direction, Hussain drove Cromitie, David, and two others—Laguerre Payen and Onta Williams (no relation to David)—to the Bronx to conduct surveillance on various synagogues. He decided his daughter needed to get to kindergarten before the FBI entered his home. Now a new study has quantified signs of entrapment in a database of post-9/11 terror prosecutions. The NYTimes reported today that the FBI has increased its use of sting operations in ISIS cases. In 2010, the FISA court approved all 1,506 requests by the FBI to electronically monitor suspects. The remainder averaged 5.3 of the 20 indicators per case, including 2.5 of Norris’s six core signs. Among other inducements, Hussain offered Cromitie $250,000 and a BMW. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is the largest collector of human intelligence in the United States. He was detained when returning from a vacation in Iceland on January 10 at the Seattle airport, in a Houston airport when returning from Siberia on April 12 and on June 14, he was subjected to detention without charge when he arrived at the Seattle airport from Iceland. An earlier version of this post included a photo of a man incorrectly identified as Saeed Torres. Appelbaum continues to be detained at US airports. Entrapment is a defense used in criminal court when a government agent has induced a defendant to commit a crime. A troubling aspect of the investigation is how it effectively criminalizes outspoken citizens who travel to other countries to meet groups that may have beliefs or agendas that are in conflict with US foreign policy. In the latest case, a N.Y. informant and his FBI handlers convinced Bangladeshi student Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, 21, that he was transporting a bomb to the Fed, but the bomb was in fact a fake. 2d 848 (1958); Jacobson v. Many of the FBI’s sting operations target people who would never have been a threat if not coaxed by FBI agents. Roving wiretaps are wiretaps that follow the surveillance target. A federal appeals court ordered a judge to dismiss the criminal case against Michael Flynn, President Trump's first national security advisor. From left, Stories Seldom Seen LLC, New York Daily News via Getty Images, courtesy Marlene Jenkins, Indicators of Entrapment in Terrorism Prosecutions, Table shows the average number of indicators in cases of each type. The Court is charged with the humbling task of defending the Constitution and ensuring that the Government does not falsely accuse people, needlessly invade their privacy or wrongfully deprive them of their liberty. All of the cases rest on the efforts of FBI … It could define whether the FBI would be able to circumvent traditional wiretapping guidelines and just use this loophole to tap citizens through their cell phones. Try AlterNet All-Access for just $1. The Court did not go along with this assertion by the FBI: “The Government argues that there are times when the interests of national security require the Government to mislead the Court. The defendant, Mr Thomas Bates, was convicted in Clonmel Circuit Court after anonymous testimony was adduced from two Gardaí and a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent. Days later, the FBI approached House at a computer conference. Here, the question is whether the police conduct in inducing the criminal act would have caused a reasonable person in the same circumstances to commit the crime, regardless of the specific mental state of the defendant. His wife was later served with a subpoena too. Hussain dropped off David Williams, drove the other three men to the first car and then Hussain turned off a recording device he had been wearing. Shah’s mother, Marlene Jenkins, who converted to Islam in the 1950s after studying under Malcolm X, is adamant that her son is not a terrorist. Tarik Shah is seen performing in this undated handout photo. The four led by Cromitie were to place explosives in the cars’ trunks. Esses Cookies nos permitem coletar alguns dados pessoais sobre você, como sua ID exclusiva atribuída ao seu dispositivo, endereço de IP, tipo de dispositivo e navegador, conteúdos visualizados ou outras ações realizadas usando nossos serviços, país e idioma selecionados, entre outros. No terrorism case since Sept. 11, 2001, has been thrown out because of entrapment. “How is he going to survive?”. Given the fact that Americans have a constitutional right to privacy, one might think you have to get a warrant to place a GPS device in a location that can track a suspect 24 hours a day. Additionally, the FBI’s use of warrantless GPS tracking is invasive, for the reason outlined by a Washington, DC, federal appeals court: The US Supreme Court agreed on June 27 to hear the case on whether police can attach a GPS tracking devices to a suspect’s vehicle without obtaining a warrant. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to AlterNet. These cases are only two of hundreds that raise questions about the dividing line between covert operations and government entrapment. The FBI's target is unknown and the aforementioned spying was only discovered after comparing the redacted documents to documents from a previous EFF FOIA request. Recent Entrapment Cases. Truth always promotes it.”. In October 2010, 20-year old Arab-American student Yasir Afifi was concerned that he had found a pipe bomb when he noticed a “black, rectangular device” attached to his car. Cromitie was “bigoted and suggestible,” with a profound hatred of Jews, McMahon told the court in New York City. Terrorism prosecutions are rife with signs of entrapment by law enforcement, according to a new study provided to BuzzFeed News. In the eyes of James Weddick, one of several FBI veterans interviewed in Galloway’s film, the answer is yes: “Before 9/11 it was eyes and ears only. “I’m concerned about the use of informants who have lengthy criminal records, particularly criminal records for fraud, which demonstrates an ability to manipulate people,” he told BuzzFeed News. Essentially the government ceased the prosecution and a process of reconciliation between Dr. Shabazz and the Nation of Islam started. This made Smith think she needed a lawyer. The case was directed, produced and scripted by the FBI and all they needed were puppets.”, The CHRGJ report looks at this case and two others to show the “profound toll government policies are taking on Muslim communities and families.” It details how “counterterrorism law-enforcement policies and practices are undermining U.S. human rights obligations to guarantee the rights to nondiscrimination; a fair trial; freedom of religion expression and opinion; as well as the right to an effective remedy when rights violations take place.”. His friend was released after repeated banging on the interrogation room’s door. And in his case, there were no bombs, and no missiles. Even in cases where judges have admitted FBI tactics have raised serious questions, there has been no hesitation in returning guilty verdicts, … The friend said that the FBI agents wanted to know what he knew about House, his beliefs and his lifestyle. "We went on an educational trip in which we met with NGOs, teachers, nonviolent protesters," explains Smith. He still wants to teach,” she said. Although critics have been complaining about the FBI’s tactics for years, Norris wanted to produce a detailed, quantitative description of how the government has pursued terrorism prosecutions since 2001. Did you enjoy AlterNet this year? The leader of the study, Jesse Norris, a legal scholar at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Fredonia, told BuzzFeed News that he was disturbed at how often questionable tactics were employed. Do they really think there are 14,000 terrorists living in the US? Secretary of State James Baker eventually lifted the regulations, making it permissible for groups to travel to the two countries. Dan Stiller, a former executive director of Federal Defender Services of Wisconsin explains entrapment: “a person is not entrapped merely because law … FBI Special Agents and members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force prepare to arrest a suspect in Pittsburgh on March 15, 2012 in this still from the documentary (T)ERROR. The Newburgh Four case is just one of several high-profile prosecutions that critics claim involve entrapment of Muslims who posed little independent threat. Months into targeting the activists, there is no evidence that any of these activists provided "material support for terrorism.". Then join the hundreds of readers who have supported AlterNet this year. For example, Sarah Smith, a Jewish American woman and avid traveler who lives in Chicago, received a call from the FBI on December 3, 2010. Shah is a jazz bassist who honed his skills with the Duke Ellington Orchestra and once toured Europe with the singer Betty Carter. Jacobson v. United States, 503 U.S. 540, 548 (1992). FBI agents wanted to chat but Appelbaum said he had nothing to say. He had taken notes during the interrogation on “a scrap of magazine paper during his four-hour detention” but was made to surrender his notes before leaving his detention. His request was denied. Shah pleaded guilty in 2007, and is currently held in the Petersburg Low federal prison in Virginia. Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. It argued that the vast majority of recent terrorism cases were “pre-emptive prosecutions,” directed at Islamic radicals based on their ideology. Soufan, the ex-FBI agent, argues that if we want to avoid incidents like the 2013 Boston marathon bombing, the FBI has little choice but to target people who seem to be on the road to violence and see how far they are prepared to go. “The entrapment defense is almost nonexistent in federal courts,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, the law school dean at UC Irvine. A valid … In May 2014, Project Salam, which provides legal representation to Muslims charged with terrorism-related offenses, released the report Inventing Terrorists. In May of this year, a judge denied the defendants’ motions for dismissal “on the basis of outrageous government conduct and entrapment.” The men are currently in the process of being sentenced for their participation in this scheme and prosecutors are pushing for life sentences for three of the four men, including Williams. Just 53 of the 317 prosecutions involving an informant or undercover agent were free of any signs of entrapment. In the U.S. legal system, the entrapment defense serves as a check on the power of government agents and officials. All week he had to have armed security, know who was with the group and whether they were in a safe place. That said, Soufan would like to see greater efforts to rehabilitate radicals ensnared in FBI-directed plots, rather than simply imposing long prison sentences. They are supposed to stay out of politics. He claimed he had some routine questions about a trip and said, "I think you know which trip I'm talking about." Beyond the abuse of wiretapping, the FBI appears to be playing games with FOIA requests. Cromitie’s lawyers mounted an entrapment defense, to no avail — despite the judge’s comments about the way in which the FBI had acted. But in many of the cases we documented, there was no threat until the FBI showed up and helped turn people into terrorists.” The DOJ disputes the groups’ findings. House requested a copy of his research data from the computer that was seized. The Court strongly disagrees. We’re here seven days a week, 365 days a year. And some of the activists fear indictments from the investigation may be coming soon. The FLAG Project requested records of intelligence violations from the FBI’s use of provisions of the PATRIOT Act that were due to expire, particularly Section 215. “I feel very confident that we did the right thing, and it’s better for them to be stopped.”. In the eyes of James Weddick, one of several FBI veterans interviewed in Galloway's film, the answer is yes: “Before 9/11 it was eyes and ears only. Yet the key to the case—the fingerprint—was shakier than a George W. Bush press conference. The Criminalization of Travel by the FBI. Burke was with the human rights director of the oil workers union. The front page of the Daily News on May 22, 2009 showing Onta Williams, David Williams, Laguerre Payon and James Cromitie. But under federal law, it’s a legitimate strategy so long as a suspect is already “predisposed” to commit a similar crime — which means that courts must judge suspects’ intentions. “This is a topic that’s been well reviewed by the courts and there’s not been a single case where the court has said the FBI has entrapped an individual,” Michael Steinbach, assistant director of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, told BuzzFeed News. In 1992, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) mounted a case on behalf of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Geo-Vista Global Experiences and Veterans for Peace asserting regulations on group travel to Vietnam and Cambodia were "making it impossible to organize academic study groups, to travel with study groups, to travel with colleagues to assess humanitarian aid and to engage in group fact-finding trips.". Join us! Support Truth. The “objective” test. In some cases, the FBI employs conmen as informants who have experience carrying out acts of fraud. They were also generous with granting “national security letters," which allow the FBI to force credit card companies, financial institutions, and internet service providers to give confidential records about customers’ subscriber information, phone number, email addresses and the websites they’ve visited. “The entrapment defense is almost nonexistent in federal courts,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, the law school dean at … By 2016, a third of those cases involved suspects who were living with their parents at the time. Hussain drove Cromitie, Payen and David and Onta Williams to the Bronx on May 20th. They are typically used when it is believed a target is changing locations to deliberately avoid electronic surveillance. In front of the proposed targets, the FBI placed two cars. The photo has since been replaced. The Court simply cannot perform this important task if the Government lies to it. Smith asked what questions the agent had, and he said he was not at liberty to discuss the questions. The FBI raided Williams’ younger brother’s home immediately after the arrests. Some states ask whether the police conduct would have induced any law-abiding person to commit the crime.
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