A friend just forwarded me this article. This is totally whacked! I signed in to this conference (on the lunch list) and also signed a petition to get Islamic law classes offered at the law school. I sat right next to these two "undercover" agents for the first morning session. I am a former Army officer (and an attorney) and if they were undercover they need to do a much better job. It was obvious that something wasn't right and it wasn't because they were both wearing cowboy boots and had extra short haircuts. I asked them what they did for a living and they said that they were attorneys here in Austin and it was clear to me that they were lying. I remember telling my wife that I had hoped to talk to them again because and these were my exact words, "these guys were from some sort of organization checking out the conference and I wanted to find out what organization it was and why they were there."
Here is a link to the flyer from the conference (and a link to the rest of the conference information) if you are curious as to the exact content: http://www.benouis.com/Islam_and_the_Law.pdf
http://www.utexas.edu/law/news/2004/010704_islam.html
Yes that is me in the first picture wearing the grey and maroon ski sweater asking a question. I think I remember asking a technical question about the jurisprudence around the punishments for adultery, but now that I think about it I might have really been asking a question that was "suspicious in nature" and maybe it just didn't "sit right" with some people. I'm glad that they didn't show the picture of me having a private discussion with three Middle Eastern men. Hey wait a minute, I was also talking with two other Middle Eastern men at one point - could I be the third? Am I considered Middle Eastern? Oops. Obviously I've said to much. ;)
Peace,
Kemal Ian Benouis, JD
----- Original Message -----
From: The Freedom and Justice Foundation
To: freedom_updates@freeandjust.org
Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2004 4:35 PM
Subject: [freedom_updates] F&J-Racial Profiling in Academia, Is it okay when Islam's the subject?
If you experience difficulty, click here --> http://www.freeandjust.org/Unintelligent_Intelligence.htm
"Connecting the Dots!"
On April 30, 2003 the Houston Chronicle quoted a Texas House of Representative, Dawnna Dukes, D-Austin as saying concerning a debate on a 24-Hour waiting period to have an Abortion "Just put a burka over me and put a veil over me because women have no rights."
This was one more example of how the popular impression of Islam's treatment of women as being oppressive and denying them rights has set so deep into the psyche of so many people. It was due to factors such as this that Sahar Aziz, a Board Member at F&J among several other hats, decided to clear up some misconceptions about Islamic Law and Women's Rights by organizing a successful Symposium at UT Law School last Wednesday February 4th.
The Freedom and Justice Foundation along with the University of Texas School of Law; the Center for Middle Eastern Studies; the Student Bar Association; the Texas Journal of Women and the Law; the Center for Women's and Gender Studies; the National Lawyers Guild at UT; and the Muslim Law Students Association sponsored this Symposium.
Now what has since happened is nothing short of a disgrace to our constitutionally protected rights such as Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Association. Army Intelligence officers, attending the conference undercover, apparently heard some private discussions expressing views that they found questionable from some "three Middle Eastern men". They then relayed that information to superiors who dispatched another officer to UT's Law School asking for the event's video tape, and attendees sign-in sheet so that background checks may be run on audience attendees.
Now aiding the government's investigation to keep all of us safe is all of our responsibility, but the Freedom and Justice Foundation is calling for more professionalism to be presented in this investigation so that the Freedoms of Association and Speech are not stymied.
"What Texas needs is more Islamic Law studies and perhaps an endowment to better understand its half-million Muslim neighbors. We certainly don't need scare tactics based on ethnic profiling or the thought police curtailing civil discourse in an apolitical and academic environment." said Mohamed Elibiary, President of F&J.
Daily Texan: Army Agent Questions Law Students
Army agent questions law students
Agent wanted list of Islamic law conference attendees
By A.J. Bauer
www.dailytexanonline.com/news/2004/02/12/University/Army-Agent.Questions.Law.Students-605345.shtml
The organizer of an Islamic law conference at UT Law School is questioning whether ethnic discrimination brought a Special Agent for Army Intelligence to campus Monday.
Special Agent Jason Treesh confronted students at the law school, demanding a list of people who attended a conference about women and Islamic law. The conference, Islam and the Law: The Question of Sexism, included speakers from around the nation and focused on the rights of women under Islamic law.
Treesh would not comment about why he was at the law school, but his supervisor, Commander Demetria Marria, said Treesh was following procedure.
Army Intelligence was investigating allegations of two Army personnel who attended the conference, Marria said.
She said the two reported being approached by three Middle Eastern men who asked questions that were "suspicious in nature."
"They felt uncomfortable with foreign students or foreign members at the conference," Marria said. "Nothing is ever obvious. It's just that one question that doesn't sit right, so they report it, and we figure it out."
Law student Liz Stephenson said she was intimidated when Treesh began questioning her and others in the office of the Texas Journal of Women and the Law.
"The way he was approaching the whole thing was really forceful," Stephenson said. "He gave us just enough information to get us to keep talking with him."
Jessica Biddle, another law student who was present, said she felt unnerved by Treesh's methods of interrogation.
"I felt like I was on 'Law and Order,'" Biddle said. "He and another woman showed their badges, but we really didn't participate in the conference, so we didn't know what he was talking about. He said he wanted a roster, because he said they were investigating some attendees."
Treesh tried unsuccessfully to reach the conference organizer, law student Sahar Aziz, who said since it was an open conference, she had no roster of attendees.
"There was a lunch list, because we had limited seats, but that's it," Aziz said. "I don't know what I would do with all of those people's names and contacts."
Aziz said she was disappointed that the conference, which she considered apolitical, raised such suspicion. She also said she was skeptical of the allegations.
"It was very boring as far as [controversy] is concerned," Aziz said. "I question whether those suspicions are more affiliated with ethnicity than anything else."
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Pictures from the Islam & the Law Symposium
http://www.freeandjust.org/Audience1.jpg
http://www.freeandjust.org/Imam_Nabil1.jpg
http://www.freeandjust.org/Panel_Discussion1.jpg
The Freedom and Justice Foundation
Home of the Texas Muslims Legislative Day and the Texas Halal Law!!!
"Connecting the Dots!"
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