In April 2012, MCLU attorney, Najmeh Vahid Dastjerdi, explained why you should not speak with the FBI without an attorney present and recommended ways to deal with such FBI requests. We hope you find this helpful and you become a member of this organization at www.MuslimCLU.org, so our efforts to educate the public and defend against religious persecution can continue.
‘I’ve heard of cases where the FBI tries to coerce people and obtain information just in those few moments as the client refuses to speak. That is why I recommend that a recorder is carried and the agents advised about the recording. That way they won’t try to do that knowing they’re on tape.
I [also] think it is a great idea to carry the business card of your attorney and hand it over to the agents. However, you would also want to get the agent’s information for your records. It’s important to have an account of who (which agent and which agency) has approached you and when. It’s important to have a record.
If you are subpoenaed by the government to testify, you should only testify. This means that you should only talk and answer questions in front of the Grand Jury or Jury. Some people think they should talk to the agents or the government’s attorney because of the subpoena. When you testify in court, your words are transcribed, so you will not be accused of lying, if you tell the truth and they cannot start fishing i.e. ask you about other matters. Also, they will have to let you know if you are the target of an investigation before your testimony. In both cases, you MUST hire an attorney before testifying because you may turn into the government’s target in the process depending on the case.’
Learn how the FBI can manipulate what you say and use it against you, and how to prevent them from doing so! With civil liberties and civil rights attorney Harvey Silverglate.
Step One: The Interview
One agent conducts the actual interview of the suspect while the second takes notes of the inquisition, which are later filed as a 302 Form. This FBI fabrication, Form 302 now becomes the ‘Official Record’ of all events and statements which occurred during the interview.
Step Two: Misrepresentation
The 302 Form is the FBI agent’s narrative of events and represents their view of what the witness said and did, regardless of whether this in fact agrees with the objective reality of actual events as they actually occurred.
FBI policy forbids the interview or questioning of a witness or suspect if a recording device is present thus making the subjective 302 the only standard to which factuality and truth is held. This is the institutionalisation of manipulating testimony to be damaging to the witness and beneficial to the FBI.
Step Three: Gotcha!
The pernicious federal statute Title 18 United States Code 1001 ( 18 U.S.C. § 1001) the False Statement Statute:
(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, whoever, in any
matter within the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative, or
judicial branch of the Government of the United States, knowingly
and willfully -
(1) falsifies, conceals, or covers up by any trick, scheme, or
device a material fact;
(2) makes any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent
statement or representation; or
(3) makes or uses any false writing or document knowing the
same to contain any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent
statement or entry;
shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 5 years
or, if the offense involves international or domestic terrorism (as
defined in section 2331), imprisoned not more than 8 years, or
both.
(b) Subsection (a) does not apply to a party to a judicial
proceeding, or that party's counsel, for statements,
representations, writings or documents submitted by such party or
counsel to a judge or magistrate in that proceeding.
(c) With respect to any matter within the jurisdiction of the
legislative branch, subsection (a) shall apply only to -
(1) administrative matters, including a claim for payment, a
matter related to the procurement of property or services,
personnel or employment practices, or support services, or a
document required by law, rule, or regulation to be submitted to
the Congress or any office or officer within the legislative
branch; or
(2) any investigation or review, conducted pursuant to the
authority of any committee, subcommittee, commission or office of
the Congress, consistent with applicable rules of the House or
Senate.
Anyone who is talking to any employee of the Federal Government and lies, not under oath, simply in causal conversation becomes punishable by fine and imprisonment for up to five (5) years for a statement or up to eight (8) years if the statement ’invovles’ international or domestic terrorism OR both.
Should a previously interviewed individual be called as a witness to testify under oath and makes a statment disagreeing with the FBI fabricated 302 Form they, according to the official record of events, have now willfully lied to a Federal employee OR committed purjury by lying under oath, as what they have testified to is not in accordance to what the FBI has filed as ‘reality’. This is the means by which the victim is now pressured into ‘cooperation’ becoming another tool of the FBI.
If Allah wills, I intend to answer you questions in detail. However, before I do, I will provide brief responses at the beginning of this correspondence for the sake of clarity.
What interested me in jihad?
My religion, the state of affairs in the Muslim world, and a desire to alleviate suffering within it led me to desire to fight jihad.
What interested me in the internet?
For my generation this is tantamount to asking the question, “What interested you in the phone?” It is simply the most dynamic and convenient form of media there is. If I had continued with Revolution Muslim, it would now be pulling in a larger audience than many television stations (here I am referring to the ones beyond basic cable). I was on the internet before I became Muslim, so there was no real decision to be made.
Did any real-world interactions play a role?
Yes, they played essentially the same role as the online ones.
What led me to post my own material?
It is a means to an end. Had I been a kid in Afghanistan, I would have chosen a different means. This is the theme of “Open Source Jihad.” Certain opportunities do not exist in the West, so people in the West have pursued others. These roles turned out to be more important than the other ones, so you now see Americans, Canadians and Europeans shaping the nature of the jihad movement. Essentially you have Hollywood meets al-Qa’idah, and the result is dramatic.
Have I had any insight into the “why” of my story?
Yes, basically I saw a nasty situation in the world and I turned to my religion for a solution. The one I believed to be most accurate was the one I followed.
Describe my interactions with law enforcement?
My first two interviews seemed to be aimed at convincing me to be an informant, as essentially no specifics were gleaned from either interview. I was briefly a neo-salafi during this time, and one can see that from my postings on Hizb ut-Tahrir on al-Awlaqi’s website and my early activity on my most well known Youtube channel. However, at some point around the time of these interviews law enforcement raided the house where I became Muslim, which angered me tremendously, destroyed my movement away from jihad, and caused me to refuse further contact. Read the rest of this entry »