January 30, 2003	Thursday	Ziqa’ad 26,1423

WASHINGTON, Jan 29: A prominent Muslim rights advocacy group urged the Department of Justice on Tuesday to rescind a new policy directive that would have Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) field offices count local mosques to determine goals for counter-terrorism investigations and secret wiretaps.

“This policy makes about as much sense as counting Catholic churches in America in order to initiate an investigation of the Mafia, or as claiming the number of African Methodist Episcopal churches in a given area is indicative of the level of criminal activity.

It is religious profiling of the worst kind and must be rescinded if America is to maintain respect for religious freedom and for equal justice under the law,” said Council of American Islamic Relations Executive Director Nihad Awad.