US MUSLIMS FILE LAWSUIT TO STOP NYPD SPYING ON MOSQUES

A group of eight Muslims has filed a federal lawsuit against the New York City Police Department demanding that it bring an end to its surveillance practice initiated in the aftermath of the Sep 11 attacks of spying on mosques and businesses managed by the community. The lawsuit, filed today in federal court in New Jersey near here, is the first major legal challenge to NYPD’s spy operations. The eight plaintiffs claim that NYPD’s surveillance, which has been carried on for years, of Muslim businesses and mosques throughout the Northeast denigrated the Islamic faith, violated the constitutional rights of countless Muslim- Americans and was discriminatory in nature.