Muslims: Settlement will prevent illegal NYPD surveillance

NEW YORK (AP) - The New York Police Department has agreed not to conduct surveillance based on religion or ethnicity as part of a deal to settle claims it illegally spied on Muslims after the Sept. 11 attacks.

A deal announced Thursday by the city and the Islamic community also calls for the city to pay $75,000 in damages and nearly $1 million in legal fees. And it ensures surveillance in New Jersey will follow rules defined in another landmark civil rights case.

Center for Constitutional Rights legal director Baher Azmy says the deal protects an increasingly empowered Muslim community.

The agreement resolved a 2012 suit in Newark, New Jersey, after The Associated Press revealed how the NYPD infiltrated Muslim student groups and put informants in mosques to try to prevent terrorist attacks.