Civil rights lawyers asked a federal judge yesterday to force the New York Police Department to turn over documents about its secret efforts to spy on and infiltrate the Muslim community.
The request, filed in Manhattan federal court, is based on reporting by The Associated Press, which revealed a clandestine police unit that monitored all aspects of daily life in Muslim neighborhoods. Documents showed that plainclothes officers were being dispatched to eavesdrop inside businesses. Restaurants that serve Muslims were identified and photographed. Hundreds of mosques were investigated; dozens were infiltrated.
