STILLWATER, Okla. — One woman told 2 News she's upset after she got a knock on her door by FBI agents who wanted to ask about her social media posts.
Political lecturer and Stillwater resident Rolla Abdeljawad said three people in plain clothes presented themselves as FBI agents at her home on March 19.
In a video recorded by Abdeljawad, she is heard refusing to answer questions without her lawyer and repeatedly asking to see the three visitors' badges until they leave moments later.
WATCH: She shared this footage with 2 News:
Footage shows the alleged agents tell her Facebook sent them screenshots of her posts, in which Abdeljawad's public account takes aim at the Israeli and American governments for the current war in Gaza and the thousands of civilians killed by Israel's military.
Speaking on camera for the first time since the incident, Abdeljawad said the posts only show her exercising her First Amendment rights.
"If you look at the posts in context, it's prayer. They are prayers against the evildoers," she said. "13,500 children estimated at the low end have been murdered."
Without confirmation to 2 News as of April 4, the Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said it was told by the FBI the agents seen in the video were indeed from its Oklahoma City branch.
CAIR Oklahoma came to know about the FBI visit to the house of Rolla AbdulJawad less than 24 hours after it occurred. At this point, Rolla had an attorney representing her and thus we offered peripheral support given our experience assisting Muslims in Oklahoma that face unnecessary and intimidating harassment and/questioning from the FBI.
As an organization we are no strangers to incidents like this. For more than two decades we have worked to defend and protect Oklahoma Muslims from FBI overreach and have represented numerous clients in situations where they wanted to engage in discussion with agents. We never tell our community to not speak with the FBI, rather we educate them on their right to have an attorney present if they choose to speak with them.
We believe there are better ways the FBI can go about conducting its business which would not include showing up to a person’s place of residence or employment and pressuring them into answering questions. We hope the FBI will take a long hard look at their approach to keeping communities safe and recognize that we don’t need there to be more Rolla’s out there in the world that suffer the consequences of such surprise visits such as enduring trauma and stress.
Abdeljawad's lawyer, Hassan Shibly, told 2 News that incidents like this one are not uncommon for Muslims who are vocal online, but he is optimistic.
"What I'm seeing right now as a positive step forward is, Americans are uniting against this," Shibly said. "I'm seeing conservatives, liberals, Muslims, Christians, everyone united together saying, 'Listen, if any of us lose our rights, we all lose our rights.'"
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Abdeljawad is from New York and has two master's degrees from Oklahoma State University. She said Americans shouldn't be afraid to speak their mind about the war, no matter their views.
"We have a right to free speech," she said. "We have a right to not have our thoughts policed. Do not back down. Speak up. Speak justly. Speak truthfully and speak clearly."
The FBI's Oklahoma City branch told 2 News it's currently working on an updated statement that's pending approval from its national headquarters. The initial statement published a day after the incident reads:
“Every day, the FBI engages with members of the public in furtherance of our mission, which is to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution of the United States. We can never open an investigation based solely on First Amendment protected activity. The FBI is committed to ensuring our activities are conducted with a valid law enforcement or national security purpose, while upholding the constitutional rights of all Americans."
2 News will update as we learn more.
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