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Yasir Afifi (Handout photograph)
A Muslim advocacy group Wednesday sued the FBI on behalf of a 20-year-old San Jose student who says he found a GPS tracker on his car last fall, alleging the device violated the man's constitutional rights.
The Council on American Islamic Relations' suit revolves around Yasir Afifi, a marketing student at Mission College in Santa Clara, who made headlines when he posted a photo of the mysterious device online asking readers to decipher what it was. The FBI showed up two days later "interrogating" him, the suit alleges, before taking the GPS tracker back.
The lawsuit states the FBI was able to "continuously monitor Mr. Afifi's vehicle, and thus, Mr. Afifi himself, accurately within meters," acting as an "unlawful trespasser," in violation of the Fourth Amendment. The suit also contends that the FBI is keeping an active file on Afifi, which documents where he prayed and had dinner with his girlfriend, among other activities, in violation of the First Amendment.
"The biggest thing here is that the FBI is treating American Muslims as suspects instead of partners," said Zahra Billoo, Afifi's attorney and executive director of CAIR in Santa Clara. "This targeting undermines cooperation with law enforcement and chills Muslims' civil rights. We want to ensure the FBI stops these types of practices. This should be an ongoing cause for concern for all Americans."
FBI spokeswoman Julianne Sohn said she couldn't specifically comment on any lawsuit.
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But, in general, Sohn stated: "The FBI is the primary federal agency responsible for bringing to justice those who violate civil liberties, and we follow strict guidelines when we conduct preliminary investigations to ensure that we protect the civil rights of all individuals." The defendants named are Attorney General Eric Holder, FBI Director Robert Mueller and unnamed FBI agents.
The suit demands that the FBI never place another tracker on Afifi's car, return or destroy the documents on him, declare these type of warrantless searches illegal, and seeks an unspecified amount of money for damages.
Records state Afifi has one prior, unrelated misdemeanor from when he was 19 years old.
CAIR filed the lawsuit in Washington, D.C., where the FBI has its headquarters and where a federal court has declared it illegal to place GPS trackers on cars without warrants, Billoo said, which is not the case within the Ninth Circuit district that encompasses California.
Afifi, who was born in the United States, has said that on Oct. 3, his mechanic spotted the tracker while performing a routine oil change. The mechanic yanked it out, and Afifi brought the device home, worried that it may be a pipe bomb. He uploaded photos of it on the Internet, and a reader suggested it was a law enforcement GPS. Afifi's story first appeared in Wired, and later in the Mercury News and other outlets.
A couple of days after he posted the photo, Afifi said FBI agents pulled him over to question him about his license. One agent identified himself only as Vincent, the suit alleges. The agents asked about the tracking device and said if he didn't turn it over, he'd face charges for possessing federal property. Vincent said he had a warrant to retrieve the device, but refused to show it to Afifi, the suit states.
Afifi said he wanted to contact an attorney, who would make the "appropriate arrangements" with the FBI, but then "Vincent began yelling at Mr. Afifi and emphatically refused Mr. Afifi's request," according to the suit.
FBI agents finally acknowledged the tracker was theirs, and they had attached it to Afifi's car, the suit states. Even after Afifi decided to return the device, agents continued asking questions: Was he was a national security threat? Was he excited about an upcoming trip abroad? Did he have money troubles? Had he traveled to Yemen? Another agent, identified as Jennifer Kananan, "made clear that she knew intimate, private details of Mr. Afifi's life," by congratulating him on his new job and commending him on his taste in restaurants, the suit states.
Last week, CAIR in Los Angeles and the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California announced a federal class action lawsuit against the FBI for alleged illegal surveillance of the Muslim community there.