Islamic-Charity Suit Seeks Access to Document

The Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, a now-defunct nonprofit group in Ashland, Ore., that distributed Islamic literature to prison inmates, says that its lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice can proceed only if the charity receives access to a top-secret document, reports The Oregonian.

Al-Haramain’s lawsuit alleges that the organization was the target of a potentially illegal federal-eavesdropping program, and the nonprofit group’s lawyers say the government possesses a classified document that logged intercepted phone calls between an Al-Haramain official in Saudi Arabia and the charity’s American lawyers.

Lawyers for the Justice Department say the document is too sensitive to declassify and that it contains information that could cause “exceptionally grave damage” to antiterrorism measures. Additionally, the lawyers say that the lawsuit itself threatens state secrets.