°° 9800 0 ° 080 0 ° 0 8002 MINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO’ May 18, 2016 Sharon Lubinski United States Marshal, District of Minneosta United States Courthouse 300 South Fourth Street Minneapolis, MN 55415 Re: Mukhtar Ibrahim, Dear Ms. Lubinski: 1am writing on behalf of Minnesota Public Radio (“MPR”), As you know based on prior correspondence you've had with Nancy Cassutt, Executive Director, MPR News and Programming, we are concerned about the United States Marshal Service’s treatment of MPR reporter Mukhtar Ibrahim. ‘PR's concerns first arose several months ago, during Mr. Ibrahim’s coverage of pretrial proceedings in United States v. Hamza Naj Ahmed, et al. At that time, court security officers (“CSOs”) conducting security screenings seemed to give Mr. Ibrahim extra attention as compared to his non-Somali peers. Concerns were raised, the situation improved, and MPR believed screening-related issues were resolved. More recently, however, on the first day of trial, Mr. Ibrahim was not allowed to follow a fellow journalist, who was white, through security—despite identifying himself as a journalist—and ‘was instead told to wait with the rest of the public. Yet another incident took place last Friday during a clearing of the courtroom, when Mr. Torahim—whose press identification badge was prominently displayed—was approached by a CSO and told to leave before another CSO recognized him and vouched for his status as a journalist These incidents are troubling, to say the least We understand that the CSOs involved may have a different recollection of the events described above, and that the first day of trial was hectic and potentially tense given the number of people at the federal courthouse and the nature of the trial for which they had gathered. However, MPR stands by its reporter’s recollection of how he was treated that day, and itis disappointed that he appears to have been singled out based on his race and/or nationality, <3uiS Uv030 987 OMO'udIN NPI LNIWS 13 vost-062'1s9 10MPR is also disturbed by a statement attributed to Chris Clifford, an assistant chief with the Minnesota U.S. Marshals office, in a news report at http://fusion.net/story/303299/mukhtar- ibrahim-minneapolis-trial/. According to the report, Mr. Clifford stated that Ibrahim's account ‘was “not true,” and that “[h]Je was told just to wait until the press was being seated and he didn’t ‘want to wait ... He wanted to get in before anyone else.” As you now know, Mr, Clifford denies making this statement, and there is no evidence that Mr. Ibrahim was trying to get through security in advance of other journalists—he simply wanted to be treated the same. We believe it would help diffuse this situation if Mr. Clifford publicly clarified what he said to the Fusion reporter. Whatever happened last week and in the months prior, there is a widespread perception in MPR’s newsroom and in the community at large that Mr. Ibrahim was a vietim of racial bias, This perception of bias is itself problematic, even if perception does not reflect reality. We appreciate the attention that you have personally given to resolving these issues, including by apologizing to Mr. Ibrahim. We were also gratified to learn that Judges Tunheim and Davis have addressed this situation with the CSOs. We hope that these actions will serve as the foundation. for a productive dialogue between the press and Marshal Service and ask that you contact us to schedule a time to sit down with you and the CSOs to discuss the situation and to better understand each other. We hope that the outcome of this dialogue will be the establishment of publicly available policies and procedures on dealing with journalists—including journalists from diverse backgrounds—during high-profile trials and hearings. Sincerely, David Kansas Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Minnesota Public Radio