MLFA wins first dismissal of Material Support charges in an undercover operation targeting an American Muslim since 9/11!
We’re witnessing an alarming surge in FBI undercover operations targeting our Muslim community. With billions pouring into the national security budget, our communities are facing entrapment, extensive surveillance, undercover schemes, and an alarming rise in Islamophobia and media bias.
The Unsettling Connection:
Entrapment: Teens, reverts, and those facing mental health challenges are deliberately targeted by the FBI.
Media Bias: Reporting glorifies the FBI for stopping a terrorist attack and ignores the FBI’s tactics of targeting a vulnerable individual and then creating a crime.
Increased Surveillance: FBI operations are compromising our privacy with budgets in the billions.
The Jason Fong Case – Another First:
In a groundbreaking moment, MLFA achieved an unprecedented victory. After a mistrial, the U.S. Attorney’s Office dismissed all material support of terrorism charges against Jason Fong, a Chinese-American revert. This marked the first dismissal of such charges in an undercover operation targeting an American Muslim since 9/11. A precedent our Criminal Defense Department was proud to set.
We take immense pride in celebrating the accomplishments of MLFA’s Criminal Defense Department, headed by Charles Swift. Charles began his fight for civil rights more than 20 years ago with a pivotal victory in the U.S. Supreme Court case Hamdan v. Rumsfeld on behalf of Salim Ahmed Hamdan.
In Fong, our team partnered with local counsel to expose the abusive tactics, questionable backgrounds of the undercovers, and overcharging that too often underlie FBI undercover operations against American Muslims. By putting his pro-Hamas statements in context and compelling the government to disclose these tactics, which in Fong’s case included the targeting of a Muslim child in conjunction with Fong, we won a victory not just for Jason but for our community.
MLFA the only NATIONAL criminal legal defense fund for Muslims!
A genocide is unfolding in realtime and speaking out against the horrors taking place in Palestine is a constitutional right. But we also know our most vulnerable speaking out will become targets of the FBI and subjected to intense questioning, surveillance, and possible entrapment.
As you fulfill the obligation to provide humanitarian aid this Ramadan, do not forget to fulfill your obligation to justice. The urgency to protect those who boldly advocate for a free Palestine has reached unprecedented heights.
