Excerpt:
The National Security Agency (NSA) and FBI have been secretly monitoring top public Muslims in the U.S., according to revelations from documents provided by Edward Snowden.
The Intercept on Wednesday highlighted five prominent American Muslims caught up in a list of more than 7,000 email addresses tracked by the spy agencies from 2002 to 2008 under legal authority meant to target terrorists.
Among those monitored by the U.S. government are a lawyer who has worked on terrorism-related cases, a Rutgers University professor and a former staffer at the White House and Department of Homeland Security under former President George W. Bush. Also on the list are a former California State University professor who advocates for Palestinian causes and the head of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a prominent Washington advocacy group.