Fremont to pay $125,000 to Muslim cop fired in '09

[alp227]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

A Muslim former Fremont police officer who said he was ousted from the force after being questioned by the FBI for possible links to terrorist groups has settled his claim against the city and school district for $125,000, records show.

Matthew Fernandes, a 28-year-old U.S. Army veteran from Castro Valley, became a Fremont police officer in 2007. FBI agents asked him to visit the agency's Oakland office in 2009, purportedly to discuss a community outreach program to the Muslim American community, his wrongful-termination claim said.

But the meeting soon "became an interrogation," with agents asking Fernandes about his Muslim faith and Islamic law and insinuating that he was planning terrorist acts associated with "global jihad," his claim said.

"Mr. Fernandes does not support terrorist activities by any group or organization," Claudia Center, an attorney for Fernandes, wrote in the claim. "To the contrary, upon joining the Fremont Police Department, Mr. Fernandes aspired to assist the department's fight against terrorism."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/04/07/BA6E1IS40J.DTL

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What? The FBI even would target a POLICE OFFICER who happens to be Muslim? Wow...welcome to the "land of the free and home of the brave".

[musette_sf]

1. Fremont has the largest Afghani community in the US

so thanks a lot, Fibbies, for screwing up an opportunity for the Fremont PD to do some Muslim community outreach.

[Blue_Tires]

2. I wonder if one of his 'friends' on the force made an anonymous

attention-seeking call to the FBI tip line... That's all it would take, right?

[Stuart G]

3. K and R