Executive Summary
- An attorney for Ayob Nasser, one of three Dearborn men accused in an ISIS-related plot, has moved to suppress key evidence.
- The motion targets evidence collected by the FBI using a secret surveillance tool under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
- The government recently disclosed the use of this surveillance, which reportedly targeted at least eight individuals, including two juveniles.
An attorney for Ayob Nasser, one of three men from Dearborn, Michigan, accused of conspiring with the Islamic State, filed a motion on Monday requesting a federal judge to suppress evidence gathered by the FBI. The motion seeks to block information collected through a secret surveillance tool authorized under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
The legal challenge comes more than a week after federal prosecutors disclosed that electronic surveillance was used during their counterterrorism investigation. The surveillance reportedly targeted Nasser and at least seven other individuals, a group that is said to include two juveniles, also from Dearborn.
This motion represents a significant challenge to the evidence forming the basis of the government’s case against the accused. It is important to note that all individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.