Friday, October 23, 2009

FBI Profiling of Muslims on the Rise- Can't help it.

It is a fact that members of a particular race/community have been involving in Terrorist activities.

It is inescapable that authorities tend to profile;otherwise how do they go about their job?.

No doubt, particular community may be peeved at the authorities,but it is better their ire is directed at the members of the community who preach and practice violence.

At the same time the authorities must ensure that there is no arbitrary victimisation and harassment of the innocents.

Story:

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – Muslim Americans are being increasingly targeted for unwarranted house searches and questioning, said Veena Dubal, staff attorney of the Asian Law Caucus, during a brown-bag seminar at the organization’s headquarters here Aug. 5.

Last October — in the waning days of the Bush administration — FBI director Robert Mueller signed new guidelines allowing broader FBI authority in pursuing potential threats to national security. The new guidelines allow agents to consider race or ethnicity in determining whether someone is a suspect.

These guidelines – which became effective Dec. 1, 2008 — allow the FBI to launch a criminal investigation against someone without any factual predicate and without approval from FBI headquarters, said Dubal. “Under the current guidelines, FBI agents are allowed to racially profile an individual if it is determined to be in the nation’s national interests,” she said, adding that the guidelines may also be used ambiguously to “prevent conduct.”

“A really negative shift has occurred,” said Dubal, who received the Northern California South Asian Bar Association’s Public Interest Attorney of the Year award in 2009

http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=11a699af1441226d96c0b7d4f9d59330

No comments:

Post a Comment