NEW YORK, Aug 20: A Muslim civil rights advocacy group on Monday accused a Jewish group called the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) of seeking to hinder the due process rights of American Muslims by using “smears and exclusionary tactics” that exploit growing Islamophobia in American society.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said those smears appeared in a recent ADL news release targeting members of a coalition defending the legal rights of officials of the Holy Land Foundation (HLF) Muslim charity currently on trial in Texas.

In a statement, the ADL falsely claimed that member of the coalition have been “tainted by their own murky associations with radical organisations and individuals.”

A CAIR statement issued on Monday in reaction to the ADL's allegations said: “It is regrettable that the Anti-Defamation League, which claims to defend American civil liberties, would seek to exploit the growing level of Islamophobia in our society by using the same smears and exclusionary tactics that have in the past been used by anti-Semites to target the Jewish community.

“Unfortunately, the ADL has a history of seeking to marginalised and disenfranchise American Muslims in an attempt to stifle an alternative viewpoint on US policy in the Middle East.

“In 2004, the ADL was forced to issue an apology for remarks in another news release that seemed to link the Islamic declaration of faith, or ‘shahada,’ with terrorism. That news release, distributed by the ADL's Orange County/Long Beach Regional Office, referred to the shahada as an ‘expression of hate’ that is ‘closely identified’ with terrorism and is ‘offensive to Jewish students.’