US spy agencies snooped on the emails of five high-profile Muslim Americans in an effort to identify security threats, documents leaked by fugitive ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden show.
The targets include a lawyer, professor and a political operative, according to a report published in the Intercept.
The FBI and NSA said they only spied on Americans when they had probable cause.
"The National Security Agency and FBI have covertly monitored the emails of prominent Muslim-Americans, under secretive procedures intended to target terrorists and foreign spies," according to The Intercept report.
Those allegedly spied on include:
It is entirely false that US intelligence agencies conduct electronic surveillance of political, religious or activist figures solely because they disagree with public policies or criticize the government”
The NSA and Department of Justice
Faisal Gill, a Republican Party operative and former Department of Homeland Security employee
Asim Ghafoor, a lawyer who represented clients in terrorism-related cases
Hooshang Amirahmadi, an Iranian-American professor at Rutgers University
Agha Saeed, a former political science professor at California State University
Nihad Awad, the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations
According to the report - the result of a three-month investigation using classified documents obtained. All five individuals have denied involvement in terrorist activities.
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