Why was the lawsuit withdrawn? We received positive feedback from last week’s email newsletter regarding our recent lawsuit against the FBI and USCIS. We interpret the influx of emails as a sign of strong community support for our commitment to fighting governmental discrimination against American Muslims and we appreciate the feedback. In addition to this… Read more…

CAIR-Philadelphia filed a federal lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and the United States Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) on March 14, 2013. The lawsuit alleged the FBI unlawfully interfered with our client’s green card application which was timely filed in 2006. After CAIR-Philadelphia initiated this lawsuit, and after a 7 year delay… Read more…

The scheduled public hearing on Wednesday, November 14th of Pennsylvania’s very own anti-Muslim bill, HB2029, has been canceled. Last Thursday we received notice about the scheduled hearing. The purpose of having such a hearing and the intended goal of the Representatives that sponsored this legislation is still unclear at this point. As we understand it,… Read more…

During the past week, Civil Rights Director and Staff Attorney Amara Chaudhry has engaged in multiple activities towards her goal of strengthening the relationship between CAIR-Philadelphia and the larger Philadelphia-area legal community. Share This:TweetEmailFacebookGoogle+TumblrStumble

Dear Governor Corbett and Members of the Board: I write to you in my capacity as Civil Rights Director and Staff Attorney for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Philadelphia Office. In this capacity, I write to you in support of the “Petition for Executive Clemency” submitted by Terry Williams. In seeking clemency for Terry… Read more…

Civil Rights Director Amara S. Chaudhry represented a CAIR-Philadelphia client in a trial-type adjudicatory hearing before a federal administrative judge on July 18th.  At issue was whether our client is susceptible to “foreign influence” and therefore unworthy of the federal security clearance.  Chaudhry served as sole legal counsel for our client throughout the proceeding before… Read more…

Last week, we were contacted by an American Muslim man who reported that he was unable to visit a close George W. Hill Correctional Facility, a private prison operating in Delaware County, because the “Visitor Dress Code” prohibited visitors who wear “hats.” Because our client wears a kufi for religious reasons, he was denied entry…. Read more…

Forced to Pray by a Dumpster, then Terminated for Hajj A local Muslim man who worked at a prominent grocery store chain had been experiencing pervasive harassment from supervisors due to his Islamic faith. At one point, he was not allowed to pray in a private area and was forced outside near the trash dumpsters…. Read more…

Law enforcement agencies routinely bring in outside organizations and individuals for trainings and workshops on specific topics – drugs, domestic violence, terrorism, etc.  A disturbing trend amidst the recent rise of Islamophobia in recent years is the deception of local, state and sometimes even federal law enforcement agencies by self-proclaimed security and terrorism experts.  These so-called… Read more…

CAIR-PA has received a steady influx of complaints of discrimination.  Today, CAIR-PA successfully resolved a case in which a Muslim woman was forced to remove her head scarf, or hijab, when entering a Prometric testing center.  Prometric headquarters has disciplined the employee, instituted mandatory re-training for all employees at the center, issued a formal apology… Read more…