Sunday, May 29, 2011
Fort Dix Five
Recent cases of American Muslims arrested for plotting terrorist acts were little more than government entrapment operations, says a study from New York University’s Center for Human Rights and Global Justice.
Three terrorism cases in New York and New Jersey were profiled in the report, which accuses the federal government of manufacturing a “myth” about homegrown Islamic threats and overstepping the bounds of acceptable undercover work. The cases are The Newburgh Four, The Fort Dix Five and that of Shahawar Matin Siraj.
In all three cases, the government relied on evidence from informants who were paid by the FBI to recruit Muslims to shoot, bomb or destroy targets selected by the agents. “The government played a significant role in instigating and devising the three plots,” according to the report. The accused were convicted and now are serving prison sentences of 25 years to life. In the case of the Newburgh Four, they are awaiting sentencing.
The report implies that none of the convicted Americans would have taken part in the plots had they not been goaded and encouraged by undercover agents.
Deputy Commissioner of the New York City Police Department Paul Browne dismissed the report as “biased,” while the FBI has declined to comment on it.
-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky
Terror Stings Breed Entrapment, Study Says (by Adam Klasfeld, Courthouse News Service)
Targeted and Entrapped (Center for Human Rights and Global Justice) (pdf)
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