US intelligence agencies spied on Muslim Americans

U.S. spy agencies pried into e-mails of five Muslim Americans in order to identify threats to national security, reveal documents leaked by ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

According to reports on the intercept, a lawyer, professor and a political operative were among the targets.

The NSA and FBI however claimed that they had only spied on Americans since they had had a probable cause.

All five American Muslims have denied association with any terrorist groups.

The five persons targeted were Faisal Gill, a Republican Party operative, Hooshang Amirahmadi, an Iranian American professor at Rutgers University, Agha Saeed, former professor at California State University, Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council of American-Islamic Relations.

The White House ordered for an evaluation of national security agencies following the accusation.

According to the BBC, it was not the first time that U.S. security agencies were accused of such prying instances.

Documents leaked earlier by Edward Snowden showed that NSA had examined electronic files of thousands of citizens.