The report came to light at the request of Senator Liz Figueroa

FREMONT, California, May 11 (IslamOnline.net) – The U.S. Muslim community in the United States, California in particular, has taken the brunt of the Patriot Act and other federal powers applied in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, according to a May report released by the U.S. Senate Office Of Research.

The measures created a fear that gripped the Muslim community in Californian and elsewhere following federal sweeps, round-ups, detentions of innocent  Muslims, who had neither terrorist intentions nor any connection to terrorist organizations, said the report, drawn up at the request of Senator Senator Liz Figueroa (D-Fremont).

"In all cases, the subjects bore Muslim names. Some subjects of our stories have spent, by now, a matter of years in federal detention," it stressed.

The 82-page document cited examples of humiliation, embarrassment and intrusions upon the privacy of Muslims, South Asian and Arab immigrants.

The Senate researchers have reached their conclusions after interviewing community leaders and ordinary Muslims, who were adversely affected by the Patriot Act -– passed by the Senate in October 2001 --  and other sweeping post-9/11 enforcement powers.

"Muslims in California have borne a substantial share of that scrutiny," it said.

 ‘Cruel Treatment’ 

The report also found "instances of cruel and illegal treatment of Muslims by federal authorities as reported by the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG)".

It cited several "stories" about detainees "who were picked up, locked up, deported or detained for hours, days or years".

Among the "stories" are 'Secret Detention', 'Long-Term Detention', 'Citizen Harassment', 'Deportation', ' More Airport Profiling' and ' Detention, Investigation Based on Ethnic Assumptions'.

"Their stories are representative of others, often hundreds of others, who had similar experiences," said the report.

"Never before had an international terrorist act had such a long-lasting impact on Muslim life in the United States," it quoted a note of Muslim rights and advocacy group, Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

In its ninth annual Muslim civil rights report, CAIR documented an unprecedented increase of 70 percent of anti-Muslim violence over the previous year.

The Senate report also dealt with immigration violations, in which lawyers reported "the sudden fate of clients arrested, detained and held incommunicado or deported for the slightest immigration law infraction".

It further examined special new requirements that students from Muslim countries must observe to avoid suspicion of terrorist activity.

‘Unconstitutional’

The report said the controversial Act was strongly opposed all or in part by Congressmen, judges, legal experts, civil rights groups and local governments.

A federal judge ruled a portion of the act unconstitutional and a legal analysis found the Act in violation of six amendments to the Constitution.

Last July, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit against the Act before a federal court on behalf of six civil rights groups.

It named U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller as defendants and asked a federal court to overturn the FBI's sweeping powers.

(Click here to read the Senate report in full…)