An American Muslim woman who had her phone seized by border agents at Newark airport as she returned home to the United States from a trip to Switzerland is suing the country’s border protection agency.
Rejhane Lazoja iPhone was seized by agents after she refused to unlock it for them in February.
The lawsuit alleges that border agents took a copy of the data on her smartphone and failed to say whether it had been deleted.
According to legal documents, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) kept the phone for more than 120 days before returning it to Ms Lazoja.
She alleges the agency failed to confirm whether it had taken a copy of her data, and whether that data had been shared with any other agencies.
The smartphone contained photographs of Ms Lazoja “in a state of undress”, as well as private messages from her lawyer.
