WASHINGTON, June 19: The American Civil Liberties Union and civil rights groups have filed a freedom of information act request seeking FBI records of the procedures and policies used during the questioning and detention of dozens of Muslims in the Californian town of Lodi.

Lodi has become the centre of an FBI investigation that has led to arrests of five Muslims, two of whom are US citizens. They were charged with making false statements to federal officials and three others were charged with alleged immigration violations.

“We appreciate and respect the need of the FBI to conduct investigations of possible criminal activity; however any investigation needs to be done in a way that respects individual’s rights,” said Mark Schlosberg, Police Practices Policy Director of the ACLU of Northern California.

“Heavy-handed law enforcement activities that do not respect people’s rights engender distrust of the community and are ultimately counterproductive.”

Officials at the Council on American-Islamic Relations in the state capital Sacramento say they have received numerous reports of intimidating tactics used recently by some FBI agents. Reports of inappropriate conduct by law-enforcement officials include threats of arrest or deportation used to coerce cooperation, unnecessary use of force, denial of medical treatment, and constant surveillance of regular mosque attendees.

“Law-enforcement authorities have every right to follow up on legitimate leads in a criminal investigation, but to target an entire community and conduct a ‘round up the usual suspects’ approach will only serve to intimidate those whose cooperation is sought,” said Basim Elkaara, Executive Director of CAIR’s Sacramento Valley office.

The civil rights groups are seeking expedited processing of their request for possible violations of individual’s rights such as access to attorneys, translators, medical attention and the right to be free from inappropriate government surveillance. The FBI would have 10 calendar days to respond to the request.

The groups say they are concerned about the surveillance of a Town Hall meeting in Stockton on June 11, 2005. The “Know Your Rights” event was sponsored by the CAIR.