NYPD Sued Over Possible Records Collected Through Muslim Spying Program

A New Jersey antheral who antecedently sued the New York City Police Department successful an unsuccessful quest to find retired whether the NYPD’s Intelligence Division spied connected him and chap Muslims arsenic portion of its notorious and expansive “mosque-raking” programme during the Michael Bloomberg epoch has filed a caller open-records suit against the metropolis implicit spying claims, according to accusation exclusively provided to WIRED.

The suit volition airs a trial for mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s instrumentality enforcement policies, arsenic helium spoke retired vocally against the NYPD’s spying connected Muslim New Yorkers during a palmy predetermination run that coaxed those precise communities to crook retired successful grounds numbers.

Samir Hashmi, a New Jersey resident, was portion of the Rutgers Muslim Student Association during the precocious 2000s. The Rutgers MSA was 1 of dozens of organizations infiltrated by the NYPD, according to an Associated Press probe successful 2011 that relied connected leaked documents outlining the infiltration operations. Following rounds of antagonistic publicity and a civilian rights suit that was settled successful 2018, the NYPD “demographics unit” was disbanded. Hashmi did not motion connected to the colony and mislaid his archetypal open-records lawsuit successful 2018, erstwhile a 4-3 Court of Appeals determination affirmed the NYPD’s quality to usage a “Glomar” effect to his petition for documents astir the mosque-raking program, neither confirming nor denying the beingness of specified records.

Hashmi filed a caller acceptable of grounds requests nether the New York Freedom of Information Law successful February asking for a narrower acceptable of records than his erstwhile request—weekly quality summaries, profiles of circumstantial organizations targeted by the Intelligence Division, and reports connected peculiar mosques—pertaining to assemblage and spiritual organizations helium participated successful from 2006 done 2008. His petition, filed successful December aft the NYPD rejected his FOIL and consequent appeal, cites circumstantial quality reports from that play published 14 years agone by the Associated Press.

In an interview, Hashmi told WIRED helium was motivated by the nonaccomplishment of his begetter arsenic good arsenic his co-plaintiff successful his archetypal suit, Harlem Imam Talib Abdur-Rashid (who passed distant successful November 2025), to instrumentality a 2nd ace astatine uncovering the information astir the NYPD’s spying operations targeting Arab and Muslim organizations and communities successful New York City, the surrounding states, and elsewhere successful the United States.

A steadfast protagonist of Mamdani, Hashmi said helium restarted his probe into the Intelligence Division’s activities successful New York and the surrounding areas successful 2023, prompted by the NYPD’s convulsive crackdown connected a bid of protests successful the past 3 years that are present the taxable of a brace of lawsuits alleging rampant First and Fourteenth Amendment violations. However, it was Mamdani’s determination to clasp Jessica Tisch arsenic constabulary commissioner soon aft his predetermination triumph that pushed Hashmi into action.