The Ohio chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a national Muslim organization, said it fired its legal director after it found evidence he shared confidential information with a known anti-Muslim hate group. An expert hired by CAIR found that Romin Iqbal “spent years secretly recording CAIR network meetings and passing confidential information regarding CAIR's national advocacy” to the Investigative Project on Terrorism, a group founded by known Islamophobe Steven Emerson.

The link was found after CAIR became aware that Emerson was using his group to monitor different Muslim public entities and produce Islamophobic content, leading CAIR to hire an expert to look into the claims. It was then that they found Iqbal had shared secret communications and emails. “He did this in violation of his ethical duties to the organization and his moral duty to protect the Ohio Muslim community,” executive director Nihad Awad told NPR. CAIR is considering whether to press charges.