Naveed Shinwari and three other American Muslims are suing the US government after claiming that they have been put on the no-fly list in a bid to coerce them into working for the FBI and spy on other Muslims. Speaking to Juan Gonzales from Democracy Now!, Shinwari said that he had no idea how he got onto the list, which according to the New York Times includes 700,000 people, or how to get off it, said reports on 25 April.
Shinwari was due to return to the US from Afghanistan in February 2012 where he had gone to get married. His return journey with his mother included a stop-off at Dubai, where he was denied a boarding pass to the US. He was then taken to a room where he was interrogated by two FBI agents for four hours, in which he was asked if he had attended any training camps. After being stuck in Dubai for a total of five days, he was finally granted a boarding pass to the US, only to be interrogated again by FBI agents on his arrival in Washington as well as several visits to his house by agents. A month later he was told he was on the no-fly list. For this reason, he has been unable to visit his wife for 26 months.
According to Shinwari’s lawyer Shayana Kadidal, another plaintiff has not seen his wife and three daughters in 5 years whereas another one is unable to travel to Pakistan to see his 93-yeay-old ill grandmother who raised him.