Post-9/11 Dragnet Snares Class Action Lawsuit

Post-9/11 Dragnet Snares Class Action Lawsuit

NEW YORK - Four Muslim men who were detained without charge for months in the aftermath of Sep. 11, 2001, eventually cleared of any connection to terrorism, but then deported to Egypt, have been allowed to return to the U.S. to pursue their class action civil lawsuit against the U.S. government.

Shortly after 9/11, the Department of Justice detained approximately 2,000 Muslim men, primarily from the Middle East and South Asia. Not one of these men was ever found to have been guilty of any form of terrorism, or even linked to terrorism.

Bill Goodman, CCR legal director They are charging unlawful imprisonment and abuse on behalf of 1,200 other Muslim and South Asian men rounded up and jailed following the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. Yasser Ebrahim, the first of the men allowed to return from Egypt under strict conditions, gave his deposition in New York Monday.

The men, who charge they suffered inhumane and degrading treatment in a Brooklyn detention centre, are being allowed to participate in the case under strict conditions, including confinement to their hotel rooms and a ban on their speaking to anybody outside the case for the duration of their stay. The three other plaintiffs are expected to arrive in the U.S. over the next two weeks.

Four other deportees are parties to the suit but are not expected to return to the U.S. for depositions. The plaintiffs charge that they were placed in solitary confinement, and suffered severe beatings, incessant verbal abuse and a total blackout on communications with their families and attorneys.

The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), a civil rights advocacy group handling the case, said the conditions for their return to the U.S. are highly unusual in a civil case and a sign of what he called government "paranoia over Muslim and Middle Eastern men".

The case names former Attorney-General John Ashcroft, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Robert Mueller, immigration officials and prison officers among the defendants. The suit, originally filed in 2002, seeks compensation and punitive damages.

CCR legal director Bill Goodman told IPS, "Shortly after 9/11, the Department of Justice detained approximately 2,000 Muslim men, primarily from the Middle East and South Asia. Not one of these men was ever found to have been guilty of any form of terrorism, or even linked to terrorism."

"These men were held for many months longer than necessary, in solitary confinement, often physically abused and under degrading conditions. The government fought tooth and nail against any judicial oversight of what was going on."

"This was the beginning of what has been shown to be the U.S. policy of indefinite detention without due process, often involving torture," he said.

"This lawsuit seeks to challenge and to rectify the illegal actions of the government." The plaintiffs' claims will be bolstered by a 2003 report by Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General (IG), which found that some prison officers slammed detainees against the wall, twisted their arms and hands in painful ways, stepped on their leg restraint chains and punished them by keeping them restrained for long periods of time.

The IG's report also cited videotapes showing that some detention centre staff "misused strip searches and restraints to punish detainees and that officers improperly and illegally recorded detainees' meetings with their attorneys". 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 spokesman for the Department of Justice declined to comment on the case.

Last week, the CCR and the American Civil Liberties Union filed lawsuits asserting that Pres. Bush's authorisation of the wiretaps of U.S. citizens without court warrants was illegal. They say it violates the provisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), passed by Congress in 1978.

The FISA law established a permanent court that alone has the authority to issue warrants for surveillance of U.S. persons. The law defines U.S. persons as those in the U.S., whether citizens or not.

The Bush administration contends it has "inherent" constitutional authority to protect the people in time of war, as well as implicit authority in the resolution passed by Congress that authorised the president to take military action to win the "Global War on Terror".

BU*SH*IT There is no such thing as this war on terror you fabricated...the countries pissed at the US have a right to be pissed. GMAFB