OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – Oklahoma’s Council on American-Islamic Relations is crediting the Oklahoma City Police Department for its actions after a lawsuit was filed last week.
Over the last several months, representatives for Saadiq Long say he’s been pulled over multiple times.
“Our client, Saadiq Long, is a law abiding American citizen,” said Hannah Mullen, Attorney for CAIR. “He was born here in Oklahoma and served his country in the Air Force for 11 years. He pays his taxes, works hard and provides for his family. They are frightened that one day when Sadiq gets in his car to go to work or to run errands, he won’t come home.”
Attorneys from CAIR-Oklahoma say Long is on the FBI’s terror watch list, but he has no idea why.
“He has never been investigated, indicted, tried or convicted of any crime,” Mullen said. “The federal government has never provided any explanation for turning his life upside down and placing him on that list.”
Long sued the federal government in 2015 for his unexplained placement on the No Fly List and his name was removed – but his attorneys believe the actions of Oklahoma City police suggest that his name is on several watchlist.
CAIR filed a lawsuit, saying the Oklahoma City Police Department was using the watchlist to justify illegal traffic stops.
Since KFOR’s original story, the Oklahoma City Police Department acknowledged that “neither Saadiq Long nor any other person should be stopped by officers based solely on that individual’s” status on the FBI’s watchlist.
Days after the lawsuit was filed, the department “issued instructions to all officers that neither Saadiq Long nor any other person listed” by the FBI “should be stopped based solely on the list.”
“We welcome the Oklahoma City Police Department’s actions, and hope that law enforcement agencies across the country will follow their example,” said CAIR attorney Hannah Mullen. “However, neither this case nor our fight against the these secret lists are over. After all the evidence comes in, we think the federal court will agree that simply being on the FBI’s illegal list is no reason to pull someone over — let alone arrest them at gunpoint.”