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Judicial Watch Sues FBI for Records Relating to Award Given to Controversial Muslim Homeland Security Adviser
Contact: Jill Farrell, Judicial Watch, 202-646-5188
WASHINGTON, April 21, 2014 /Standard Newswire/ -- Judicial Watch announced today that on March 25, 2014, it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) seeking agency records related to the awarding of the Louis E. Peters Award in 2011 to Mohammed Elibiary, a member of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Advisory Council (Judicial Watch v. Federal Bureau of Investigation (No. 1:14-cv-00497)). Elibiary is alleged to have close ties to radical Islamist organizations, including the Muslim Brotherhood.
Judicial Watch seeks the following documents in its June 24, 2013, FOIA request:
Any and all records regarding, concerning, or related to the awarding of the Louis E. Peters Memorial Award to Mr. Mohamed Elibiary on September 8, 2011. This request includes, but is not limited to, any and all recommendations and other records of communications regarding, concerning, or related to the award.
Elibiary, who in his role as Homeland Security advisor has regular access to classified information, most recently came under fire in November 2013 for tweeting out the message that America is "an Islamic country with an Islamically compliant constitution." In its December 2013 "Special Report: U.S. Government Purges of Law Enforcement Training Material Deemed 'Offensive' to Muslims" Judicial Watch identified Elibiary as one of nearly a half-dozen "Islamist influence operators" within the Obama administration "seeking to advance an ideological agenda completely at odds with our constitutional system."
In October 2010, when DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano announced that she had sworn in Elibiary as a member of the agency's Advisory Council, Judicial Watch reported he was a backer of the Ayatollah Khomeini, the Iranian revolutionary whose teachings continue to govern Middle Eastern terrorist organizations. In December 2004, Elibiary had participated in a Dallas, Texas, tribute to Khomeini called "A Tribute To The Great Islamic Visionary, Ayatollah Khomeini." In 2012, Judicial Watch reported that Elibiary leaked classified documents to a media outlet that had declined to do a story supposedly exposing DHS's promotion of "Islamophobia." Records obtained by Judicial Watch included documents showing that Elibiary was given access to the Texas state terrorism database on October 18, 2011. The investigation of the allegation by the Texas Department of Public Safety found that Elibiary downloaded two documents from the system just days before he allegedly offered to leak documents to Newsweek/The Daily Beast.
In October 2013, the Center for Security Policy, a Washington, DC, think tank, published a revealing 33-page report based on a lengthy, five-part interview with Elibiary. In the interview, Elibiary admitted he was a longtime friend of self-described Islamist Shukri Abu Baker, who was convicted in 2008 of financing the terrorist organization Hamas through his U.S. Muslim Brotherhood entity, the Holy Land Foundation. Elibiary disclosed that he donated to the Holy Land Foundation monthly until it was shut down by the U.S. government and he defended Baker, depicting his prosecution as a case of political persecution.
The document includes a number of alarming details of Elibiary's close relationship with a wide array of U.S. Islamist groups, including the radical Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America, which declares that the only legitimate law according to Islam is Sharia. The group also urges American Muslims to nurture hostility towards U.S. law, according to Arabic documents discovered and translated into English by the Center for Security Policy.
The Louis E. Peters Award given by the FBI to Elibiary is presented annually "to that person who best exemplifies the standards set by Peters in providing service to the FBI and the Nation." In 1977, Peters informed the FBI of a shakedown attempt by mob boss Joe Bonanno. At the time, the California car dealer was recognized by then FBI Director William Webster as having "set new standards of patriotism."
"We have no doubt why the FBI would be embarrassed about giving an award to someone with Elibiary's extreme Islamist views," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "But embarrassment does not excuse the FBI's cover up of its relationship with this radical."
