Imam Mohammad Ali Elahi, of the Islamic House of Wisdom in Dearborn Heights, who wears the traditional headwear and robe of a Shi’a leader, lost all the information on his laptop after Customs and Border Protection personnel searched the computer at Metro Airport on Oct. 22.

Imam Mohammad Ali Elahi

He was returning from a trip to his native Iran, when, after his luggage was searched, officials said they needed to check his computer and had him enter his password.
Elahi said they took the computer away for 20 minutes and when they came back, told him the computer had died in the process of searching it.

A computer technician told Elahi the hard drive on his laptop was damaged either by being dropped or by someone trying to access it.

Elahi is struggling to retrieve a wealth of scholarly research, contact lists, thousands of e-mails from his congregation and photos of his family.

Spokespeople for Customs and Border Protection told the Detroit News that searching electronics at borders have been policy as long as electronics have existed, and that they are well within their rights to seize laptops, cell phones and other electronic devices.

They denied any increased enforcement or targeting of religious or ethnic groups.

Elahi’s lawyer, Shareef Akeel told the newspaper he would discuss the issue with federal officials before considering litigation. He said the way in which the data was removed from the computer raises privacy issues, and that Elahi is someone who has tried to bridge communities and build interfaith dialogue.