FBI planting spies in US mosques

Ten US Muslim organizations have threatened to cease cooperation with the FBI, alleging that the agency covertly infiltrated California mosques and pressurised members of the community to become informants, a media report said on Saturday.

The groups have accused the FBI of sending undercover agents posing as worshippers into mosques and forcing Muslims to become informants. The statement issued by the American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections, said, the FBI has sent "agents provocateur" into California mosques and an FBI agent threatened to make one mosque member's life a "living hell" if he did not become an informant, CNN reported.

Though the report does not name the mosque member, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) had said last month it would seek an investigation into the February 21 arrest of Ahmadullah Niazi, an Afghanistan native.

"Niazi previously reported to (CAIR's Los Angeles office) and other community members that, during a raid of a friend's house, an FBI agent urged Niazi to work with the agency, saying that if he refused to cooperate his life would be made a 'living hell,'" CAIR was quoted as saying.

Niazi, a member of the Islamic Centre of Irvine, told CAIR his arrest was retaliation for his refusal, CNN reported.

The FBI, the report said, directed questions about Niazi's arrest to the US attorney's office in Los Angeles, California, which declined comment. Niazi, 34, was indicted last month on charges of perjury, procuring naturalization unlawfully, using a passport procured by fraud and making false statements. A search warrant for Niazi's Tustin, California, home said Niazi became a naturalized citizen in 2004 and made false statements about his past aliases and international travel, CNN said.

He also made false statements about contact with his brother-in-law Amin ul-Haq, the indictment said. Ul-Haq is said to be Osama bin Laden's security coordinator and has been labelled a "specially designated global terrorist" by the US government, the indictment said. 

An FBI agent quoted as saying in open court that Niazi also had discussed terrorist plots with an undercover informant. Niazi has pleaded not guilty to the charges against
him. CAIR's problems with the FBI, CNN said, began before Niazi's arrest. Last year, the FBI discontinued its "formal contact" with CAIR.

The Tuesday statement said the FBI unjustly designated CAIR and other organizations as "unindicted co-conspirators" in the Holy Land Foundation case. A jury convicted Holy Land.