CAIR Urges Bush Administration to Treat Muslim-Americans Making Hajj as "Pilgrims, Not Suspects"

January 8, 2005

Source: Dawn

http://www.dawn.com/2005/01/09/top14.htm

On January 8, 2005 Dawn reported, "A prominent Muslim advocacy group has urged the Bush administration to cooperate with American-Muslims and clarify whether people participating in this year's Haj will be fingerprinted or singled out for special security measures. Usually, non-Saudi Muslims wanting to visit Saudi Arabia are fingerprinted and have to go through strict security searches. But the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations pointed out that the Haj-going Muslims should be treated as pilgrims and not suspects. An estimated 10,000 American-Muslims go on Haj each year. The CAIR also has created a 'Haji Hotline'... in Washington and a downloadable incident report form for those who believe their constitutional rights were being violated by US Customs and Border Protection officials."