Yaser Tabbara, Executive Director of CAIR-Chicago met with the Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois (ACLU-IL) and an Faiyaz Hussain, attorney from Winston & Strawn to discuss legal strategy for a complaint involving a Muslim woman who was asked to remove her headscarf (hijab) at a local testing center. The parties discussed the options under which a law suit can be filed and whether the complaint can be filed as a class action.

Christina Abraham, CAIR-Chicago Civil Rights Coordinator, met with representatives of the Arab American Action Network (AAAN) Director Hatem Abudayyeh, Suzanne Adely, and Menna Khalil to finalize political, outreach, and media strategies for the Citizenship Delay Project. The Citizenship Delay Project is set to launch within the next few weeks.

Christina Abraham, CAIR-Chicago Civil Rights Coordinator, testified in a Racial Profiling Subject Matter Hearing before the Judiciary II - Criminal Law Committee of the Illinois House of Representatives. The hearing, which took place in the Capitol Building in Springfield, Ill., addressed the legislative proposal to continue data collection on racial profiling for traffic stops and amend the legislation to incorporate more information in the data that is collected.

(Milwaukee, WI - October 20, 2005) – CAIR-Chicago’s Director of Communications, Ahmed Rehab, and Civil Rights Coordinator, Christina Abraham, organized a press conference in collaboration with Officer Ayman Khatib’s legal counsel, Robert Mihelich to address a complaint filed by Officer Khatib for race, religious, and national origin discrimination against the City of Milwaukee Police Department.

CAIR-Chicago is seeking to outreach to the Muslim community by launching it’s new TSA Watch List Project, coordinated by civil rights intern Afia Yunus. This project seeks to look into complaints of Muslims being detained upon re-entry to the country when traveling due to their names being put on a "watch list" by the Transportation and Security Administration (TSA).

CAIR-Chicago’s Civil Rights Department has launched its Police Misconduct Project to address complaints of Muslims being mistreated by the police. This project is currently being coordinated under Civil Rights intern, Hasan Ali.

CAIR-Chicago Executive Director Yaser Tabbara and Civil Rights Coordinator Christina Abraham met with the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Dorothy Brown, to discuss a case involving racist and derogatory comments made by courthouse employees about Arabs, and retaliation against an employee for coming forward to investigators about the incident.

Christina Abraham, CAIR-Chicago Civil Rights Coordinator, represented a Muslim man in a mediation session with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The Arab American Action Network (AAAN) also played an invaluable role in the mediation session by having intern Menna Khalil serve as an interpreter for the Muslim man being represented.

CAIR-Chicago Civil Rights Department assisted in creating better conditions for a nearby county jail. An individual working closely with the chaplain of a prison facility contacted CAIR-Chicago with what was observed to be unequal treatment of Muslim inmates and unequal representation of Islam.

CAIR-Chicago Civil Rights Coordinator, Christina Abraham, accompanied a Muslim man to an interview with the EEOC. The man filed a charge with the EEOC for discrimination based on national origin, religion and retaliation.

CAIR-Chicago sponsored an informational session on “The Right to Travel After 9/11” on Saturday evening, September 22, 2005 at the Mosque Foundation in Bridgeview, IL. Speakers presented on the different experiences and issues that have arisen for Muslim travelers after 9/11, and the rights of passengers when traveling.

The civil rights organization — Council on American-Islamic Relations-Chicago Chapter — is looking for an apology from those responsible for a Chesterton Fourth of July parade float.

CAIR-Chicago Civil Rights Coordinator, Christina Abraham, spoke at a vigil held to honor the memory of Hassiba Belbachir, the 27 year-old Algerian woman mysteriously found dead in an immigration detention facility in Illinois in March of this year.

WHAT - On March 17, 2005, Hassiba Belbachir, a 27 year old Algerian citizen, died under suspicious circumstances while in US federal custody at the McHenry County Adult Correctional Facility in Illinois.

(CHICAGO, 9/02/05) - CAIR-Chicago will be meeting with representatives of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), and the Attorney General’s Office as a part of periodic Community Leadership Liaison Group meetings.

On July 26, 2005, CAIR-Chicago Governmental Relations Director Fadi Farhan and Civil Rights Coordinator Christina Abraham met with the Chicago Police Department (CPD) Deputy Superintendent Ellen Scrivner and Dr. Lorie Fridell to discuss issues of racial profiling in light of a new report issued by the CPD. CAIR-Chicago expressed the need for a separate category for Middle Easterners/North Africans/South Asians in order to more accurately determine the profiling of Muslims by police departments.

CAIR-Chicago’s Civil Rights Coordinator Christina Abraham met with the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office for Civil Rights representatives to discuss what the Office for Civil Rights (OJP/OCR) can do for victims of discrimination by agencies that receive federal financial assistance. The OJP/OCR enforces civil rights laws such as Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, among other laws.