Four American Muslim men claim the Federal Bureau of Investigation placed them on a no-fly watchlist to try to coerce them into serving as government informants even though none of them were a threat to aviation security, according to a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday.
The suit claims that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has wielded the threat of placement on the no-fly list as tool to try to coerce the four Muslim Americans, who have no criminal records, into serving as confidential informants. The government was either attempting to intimidate them into becoming informants or to retaliating against them for declining its requests, the suit said.
The complaint accuses US Attorney General Eric Holder, FBI Director James Comey, and various other high-ranking government officials of creating an atmosphere in which innocent Muslims are targeted and forbidden from flying unless they are willing to serve as government spies against members of their own communities.
“I do not want to become an informant, but the government says I must in order to be taken off the no-fly list” Awais Sajjad, one of the named plaintiffs, told Ars in a phone interview on Wednesday.
A TSA agent signals to a passenger at a security check point. Credit: Cisco Cotto/Flickr
The FBI declined comment.
Sajjad, of Brooklyn, said that the problems started two years ago, when he was attempting to board a flight to Pakistan to visit his family, including his ailing 93-year old grandmother. Instead, he was told by FBI agents that he was on the no-fly list and could not board.
“After he sought removal from the list, he was approached by FBI agents and subjected to extensive interrogation, including a polygraph test, after which he was asked to work as an informant for the FBI,” according to the lawsuit. Sajjad, who is a lawful permanent resident, declined. “How can the government tell me that the only way I can see my family again is if I turn my back on my community?”