Muslims Sue US Gov't for Abuse, Injustice

Muslims Sue US Gov't for Abuse, Injustice

NEW YORK, January 24, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - A Muslim
detained for months without charge after September 11 and then deported to
Egypt has given a deposition in New York in a suit against the US government
for unlawful imprisonment and abuse.

Yasser Ibrahim, one of four Muslim men allowed to return to participate in
the case and who were cleared of any connection to terrorism, said Monday,
January 23, they suffered inhumane and degrading treatment in a Brooklyn
detention center, including solitary confinement, severe beatings, incessant
verbal abuse and a total blackout on communications with their families and
attorneys, Reuters reported.

Ibrahim's attorneys said the men will be deposed over the next two weeks in
a class action suit against the government over the treatment of more than
1,200 Muslim and South Asian men rounded up after the Sept. 11 attacks
blamed on Al-Qaeda.

Ibrahim's brother Hany was due to arrive in New York Monday, CCR legal
director Bill Goodman said, and the other two would arrive at some point in
the next two weeks.

Seeking compensation and punitive measures, the four are among eight named
plaintiffs in the case, which names former Attorney General John Ashcroft,
FBI Director Robert Mueller, immigration officials and prison officers among
the defendants.

The case is handled by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR).

In August of 2004, a US judge has chided the US administration for building
a terrorism support case against two Muslims in New York on false evidence.

A May 2004 report released by the US Senate Office Of Research concluded
that the Arab Americans and the Muslim community in the United States have
taken the brunt of the Patriot Act and other federal powers applied in the
aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

Amnesty International also repeatedly said that racial profiling by US law
enforcement agencies had grown dramatically in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

"Gov't Paranoia"

The four men were allowed to come to the US only under strict conditions
including confinement to their hotel rooms throughout their stay.

The CCR said the conditions also included a ban on their speaking to anybody
outside the case.

Goodman said the restrictions on the four men were highly unusual in a civil
case and a sign of what he called government "paranoia over Muslim and
Middle Eastern men."

According to The New York Times, which interviewed Ibrahim and his brother
Hany in Egypt last week, the two had lived in New York for several years
before Sept. 11. Yasser ran a Web site design business and Hany worked in a
delicatessen.

The two were arrested Sept. 30, 2001, and held for around eight months, even
after an FBI memo from December 7 stated they were cleared of links to
terrorist groups, the lawsuit said.

Both had entered the country on tourist visas, but stayed and began working,
and an immigration judge ordered their deportation on November 20, 2001.

"I'm seeking justice," Ibrahim was quoted as saying by The NY Times. "It's
from the same system that did us injustice before. But I have faith in this
system. I know what happened before was a mistake."

Accountability

The Federal Bureau of Prisons said it had fired two people, demoted two more
and six had been suspended for periods from two days to 30 days.

"It means a lot to our clients that finally someone is being held
accountable for the brutality they experienced," said CCR attorney Matthew
Strugar.

"But we believe the responsibility for these abuses goes further up the
chain of command at the Bureau of Prisons and we are disappointed more
individuals have not yet been held accountable."

A 2003 report by Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General found
that some prison officers slammed detainees against walls, twisted their
arms and hands in painful ways, stepped on their leg restraint chains and
punished them by keeping them restrained for long periods.

The December 3, 2003, report said videotapes showed some detention center
staff "misused strip searches and restraints to punish detainees and that
officers improperly and illegally recorded detainees' meetings with their
attorneys."

The case comes as the Bush administration is being accused of disregarding
constitutional rights.

Last week, the CCR and the American Civil Liberties Union filed lawsuits
asserting that President George W. Bush's authorization of wiretaps of US
citizens without court warrants was illegal.

http://islamonline.net/English/News/2006-01/24/article01.shtml


.

Relevant Pages

  • Muslims Sue US Govt for Abuse, Injustice
    ... Muslims Sue US Gov't for Abuse, ... Egypt has given a deposition in New York in a suit against the US government ... 1,200 Muslim and South Asian men rounded up after the Sept. 11 attacks ... that some prison officers slammed detainees against walls, ...
    (soc.culture.iranian)
  • Re: Muslims Sue US Govt for Abuse, Injustice
    ... > Muslims Sue US Gov't for Abuse, ... > 1,200 Muslim and South Asian men rounded up after the Sept. 11 attacks ... > that some prison officers slammed detainees against walls, ...
    (soc.culture.pakistan)
  • [Sheehan] We Were Agttacked Because Of Our ME Foreign Policy
    ... Wife Abuse in the Muslim Community ... and sexually by their Muslim husbands. ...
    (alt.religion.islam)
  • Terrorist Training camp in Hillarys back yard
    ... Radical Muslim paramilitary compound flourishes in upper New York state ... Muslim Lane, is unpaved and marred by deep crevices that have been created ...
    (alt.politics.bush)
  • Terrorists Find Refuge in Hillary Country
    ... Radical Muslim paramilitary compound flourishes in upper New York state ... Muslim Lane, is unpaved and marred by deep crevices that have been created ...
    (alt.politics.bush)