The now-defunct Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation was the subject of United States government surveillance under the so-called Terrorist Surveillance Program. Basically, that means the government could spy on the organization without any warrant. However, the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation’s five-year-long fight with the government ends with the United States being forced to cover $2.5 million dollars in attorney’s fees and damages. However, the judge in the case, Vaughn Walker, refused to award punitive damages to the plaintiffs, because he said that the government was right to believe Al-Haramain was supporting terrorism.
“The record shows that the government had reason to believe that Al-Haramain supported acts of terrorism and that critical intelligence could be obtained by monitoring Al-Haramain,” said Judge Walker. The Treasury Department froze the assets of Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation’s Ashland chapter and called it a “specially designated global terrorist” on Sept. 9, 2004, after Treasury officials said the group delivered $150,000 to “support terrorist activities by the Chechen mujahideen.”
This is what I don’t understand about the legal system. The government acted properly in suspecting the group and studying them, yet they still have to pay damages to Al-Haramain and two of its attorneys, Wendell Belew and Asim Ghafoor? I suppose the challenge is in retrospect, since the Terrorist Surveillance Program has since been ceased. Supposedly, anyway.
Tags: Ashland, Oregon, Vaughn Walker, Terrorist Surveillance Program, Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, Wendell Belew, Asim Ghafoor, warrant-less wiretapping case, wiretapping, surveillance, terrorist surveillance, domestic spying, surveillance, government surveillance, intercepted communication, Treasury Department