San Francisco police cut ties with controversial FBI terrorism task force

Friday, February 3, 2017
By Paul Martin

RT.com
3 Feb, 2017

The San Francisco Police Department is suspending cooperation with the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Forces, or JTTFs, that have been accused by civil liberties activists of specifically targeting Arabs and Muslims, and violating their First Amendment rights.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) welcomed the move, which comes amid mounting concerns that law enforcers could be used to spy on Muslims and critics of the Trump administration.

“Ending SF’s relationship with the JTTF is instrumental in fighting against the targeting of Arabs and Muslims through local and federal law enforcement, particularly in this moment,” Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC) Executive Director Lara Kiswani said in a statement.

“Joint Terrorism Task Forces have had a chilling effect on the First Amendment rights of Arab and Muslim communities throughout the country,” President of the San Francisco chapter of the National Lawyers Guild Nina Farnia added.

“The Task Forces have led raids of activists’ homes and offices for merely engaging in the right to dissent. In the face of ever-increasing repression by the federal government, we applaud local agencies’ decision to suspend participation in the JTTF,” she stressed.

“While this is excellent news, our communities remain vigilant,” National Security & Civil Rights Program Staff Attorney for Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus (ALC) Christina Sinha said. “We sincerely hope the SFPD remains out of the problematic JTTF, but any attempt to rejoin it must not happen without officers receiving proper training on our local laws.”

The Rest…HERE

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