Crime

5 Years Later, Family of Imam Killed By FBI Looks for Answers

July 27, 2015, 7:31 AM

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Luqman Ameen Abdullah

It's been more than five year since the FBI fatally shot Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah, 53, of Detroit, inside a Dearborn warehouse as part of an undercover counterterrorism operation investigating what the FBI said were his extremist views and trafficking in stolen goods, the Detroit Free Press writes.

Niraj Warikoo of the Detroit Free Press reports that the family is still looking for answers, claiming there was a cover-up. This month, the family requested that the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its lawsuit against the government.

The Freep reports:

Supporters of Abdullah and some civil rights advocates called it overkill in the war on terrorism while the FBI said its agents acted properly in shooting him dead. Involving surveillance and informants, the case has drawn widespread attention in the debate over how to balance civil liberties and national security after the Sept. 11 attacks.

According to the FBI, Abdullah opened fire on the FBI's police dog that their agents had sicced on him after he refused to surrender, prompting four federal agents to return fire with 20 bullets that killed the leader of a Detroit mosque. Three investigations - by Dearborn Police, Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox and the U.S. Dept. of Justice - said the FBI did not violate any laws in the shooting. The lawyers for the family have insisted in court filings that Abdullah was not armed.

The U.S. District Court and the Court of Appeals dismissed the lawsuit and said the FBI did not conceal what happened.

"The family has not been able to get to the truth of what exactly happened," Shereef Akeel, co-counsel for the estate of Abdullah, told the Free Press. "We never had an opportunity to find out...The court is the best place to find out, but the court doors have been closed to the Luqman family to determine what happened. We want to open the doors."

 


Read more:  Detroit Free Press


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