WASHINGTON (MEE) -- The United States Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case involving a group of Muslim Americans who accused the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of illegally targeting them for surveillance because of their religion.
The court said that it will listen to the case and begin hearing arguments in October after the summer recess.
According to Courthouse News, the case revolves around three Muslims living in California who allege the FBI paid a confidential informant to spy on Muslims in Orange County from 2006 to 2007.
According to court papers, the plaintiffs - Yassir Fazaga, an imam at the Orange County Islamic Foundation in Mission Viejo; Ali Uddin Malik, who attended the Islamic Center of Irvine; and Yasser Abdel Rahim, who also attended the Islamic Center of Irvine - accused the FBI of hiring a man named Craig Monteilh to gather information on Muslims as part of a post-9/11 counterterrorism investigation.
Courthouse News reported that Monteilh met with Muslims in southern California, adopted a Muslim name and said he wanted to convert to Islam.
He reportedly encouraged people to visit takfiri websites, worked out with certain people at the gym, and tried to obtain compromising information that could be used later to enlist other informants.
According to the agency, the investigation unraveled in 2007 when a mosque leader called the police because Monteilh had begun to express his readiness to engage in violence.
That June, the Irvine mosque sought and obtained a restraining order against Monteilh, and two