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Union Tribune – August 2, 2004

FBI's home visits have some Muslims
 feeling harassed, alienated

By Kelly Thornton

Saudi national Hasan Saddiq Faseh Alddin was jailed without bail and facing deportation. Five of his closest friends from the Vista mosque wrote letters or showed up at his bond hearing in June to show support or testify on his behalf.

In the days that followed, each of those friends received unannounced home visits from FBI agents. The agents appeared on doorsteps purporting to want information about Alddin, who was described by the government as a friend of a friend of two 9/11 hijackers.

But according to Alddin's supporters, they quickly became the subject of the interviews as agents asked them about their religious beliefs, their personal lives, their knowledge of weapons and explosives, their propensity to blow things up, their thoughts on Osama bin Laden and the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

To thwart a possible terrorist attack this summer or fall, the FBI has begun a new wave of interviews with Muslims and Arabs. But some local Muslims said agents are alienating the very people they are trying to win over as partners in the war on terror by ambushing them in their homes, posing offensive and accusatory questions, misrepresenting the reason for their visit, and delving into personal lives and politics.

In the FBI's latest outreach program, agents in San Diego County and elsewhere are reconnecting with contacts and cultivating new sources while intelligence analysts search old files for clues that, combined with new information, could become more meaningful.

It's unclear whether the questioning of Alddin's friends is part of that outreach effort or stems from the case against Alddin, who was jailed in May for having two misdemeanor domestic violence convictions. The government was seeking to deport him because the convictions jeopardized his immigration status.

Immigration officials had issued a news release identifying Alddin as having "ties" to two Sept. 11 hijackers because Alddin's former roommate from 1995 became a friend of San Diego-linked terrorists Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid al-Midhar. Alddin voluntarily returned to Saudi Arabia on July 8.

The next day, FBI agents visited the mosque Alddin attended. Nader Dehaini, president of the Al-Ittihad mosque in Vista, said agents made an appointment with him and other board members to strengthen their partnership in the war on terror and nurture a spirit of cooperation. The agents were cordial and respectful, he said.

Not all Muslims say they feel harassed by agents, Dehaini said. Some understand the reason for the questions and are glad to help. "I don't think there is a problem. All they wanted is to come and make sure they're more in touch with the community. Their questions were very normal and straightforward. It went very well. They were nice," Dehaini said.

Some local Muslims – particularly those with one-on-one experience with the FBI – said agents are attempting to connect with a community that is already disenfranchised by a government that is quick to trample on civil rights by questioning, detaining and deporting Muslims and Arabs.

The FBI and federal prosecutors have acknowledged using immigration crimes and deportation as tools in the war on terror, where terrorism cases either cannot be proved or would compromise national security by requiring disclosure of sensitive information. Since Sept. 11, 2001, that has happened in at least a dozen instances in San Diego, where hijackers Alhazmi and al-Midhar lived in 2000.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20040802-9999-1n2fbi.html