Groups: U.S. Misuses Material Witness Law

[maddezmom]

By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration has misused a federal law to detain at least 70 terrorism suspects since the Sept. 11 attacks, two advocacy groups contend.

Administration officials defend the detentions by pointing out that judges approved material witness warrants.

The material witness law, enacted in 1984, allows the arrest and detention of witnesses who might flee before testifying in criminal cases.

Only 28 of the suspects were eventually charged with a crime, according to the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights Watch, and most of those charges were not related to terrorism.

more: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050626/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/material_witness_1

[mbperrin]

1. NO! * and his gang misusing a law???

Cain't be, cain it?

[weldon berger]

2. Justice abused terror-fighting tools, report says

Knight Ridder's Washington bureau has a story on a joint ACLU-Human Rights Watch report due for release tomorrow. The report looks at government use of material witness statutes to essentially disappear suspects for, in some cases, months.

The report by the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights Watch accuses the Justice Department of plunging at least 70 men "into a Kafkaesque world of indefinite detention."

Four of the 70 have been convicted of crimes related to terrorism and three are awaiting trial, and the report said 13 of the men have received apologies from the government.

In one case, a 68-year-old physician and U.S. citizen was hauled away in handcuffs after his suspicious neighbors broke into his apartment and discovered literature on flying. Another man, also a U.S. citizen, was locked up after his wife was seen videotaping boats on Chesapeake Bay by other drivers who thought she might be scouting the Chesapeake Bay Bridge as a target.

Better safe than sorry, our totalitarian-esque apologists will say. And any Democrat criticising the practice will no doubt suffer a Durbin-like fate. I suppose it's small potatoes in comparison with the Jose Padillo situation and kidnapping foreign nationals off the streets of third countries, not to mention lying the country into a war, but this is exactly the sort of practice that mutates from a putative national security purpose into one applied liberally, as it were, to any old crime.

God, what a bunch of punks.

[ixion]

3. this has been done in OUR NAME

and the act has shamed us in the eyes of the world.

Those who ordered this should face justice.

[aquart]

4. US CITIZENS????

I want their heads. Seriously. On pikes.

Damn, that whole American Revolution has gone for NOTHING?

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. Justice abused terror-fighting tools, report says

June 25, 2005

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department imprisoned dozens of Muslim men for months in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks based on secret evidence and often flimsy links to terrorism, two civil liberties groups charge in a new report to be made public on Monday.

The report by the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights Watch accuses the Justice Department of plunging at least 70 men "into a Kafkaesque world of indefinite detention."

Four of the 70 have been convicted of crimes related to terrorism and three are awaiting trial, and the report said 13 of the men have received apologies from the government.

In one case, a 68-year-old physician and U.S. citizen was hauled away in handcuffs after his suspicious neighbors broke into his apartment and discovered literature on flying. Another man, also a U.S. citizen, was locked up after his wife was seen videotaping boats on Chesapeake Bay by other drivers who thought she might be scouting the Chesapeake Bay Bridge as a target.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/krwashbureau/20050626/ts_krwashbureau/_bc_terror_justice_wa;_ylt=A9FJqaIjLL9Cu3sBgADE_8QF;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl


Funny, I didn't hear about any of this when they had those hearings to renew the Patriot Act? Why am I not surprised?

[silverweb]

6. WTF??

"...a 68-year-old physician and U.S. citizen was hauled away in handcuffs after his suspicious neighbors broke into his apartment and discovered literature on flying."

I guess it's safe to assume that the neighbors weren't charged with breaking and entering, or for filing false reports, or any such unneighborly, vigilante action? Maybe they were given patriotic commendations instead? I hope the doctor sues their f'ng asses off!!

:banghead:

How much lower can we sink?

:cry:

[maddezmom]

7. BBC: US accused over Muslim detentions

~snip~
New limits?

The report says arrests were often made at gunpoint and the men were held in solitary confinement and subjected to degrading treatment.

It says only 28 people were charged with offences, and just seven were charged with providing material support to terrorist bodies.

The US government has issued apologies to 13 of the detainees in question, the report adds.

Senator Patrick Leahy, the senior Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told AP he was concerned over possible misuse of the law and would consider narrowing its uses.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4625201.stm

[Moderator]

8. kick

[sabra]

9. Scores of Muslim Men Jailed Without Charge

<<SNIP>>
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HRW/827e906204654b75cd9ba59f4d023326.htm

Scores of Muslim Men Jailed Without Charge
27 Jun 2005 01:55:20 GMT

Source: Human Rights Watch

(New York, June 27, 2005)-Operating behind a wall of secrecy, the U.S. Department of Justice thrust scores of Muslim men living in the United States into a Kafkaesque world of indefinite detention without charge and baseless accusations of terrorist links, Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union said in a report released today. Following the September 11 attacks, the Justice Department held the 70 men-all but one Muslim-under a narrow federal law that permits the arrest and brief detention of "material witnesses" who have important information about a crime, if they might otherwise flee to avoid testifying before a grand jury or in court. Although federal officials suspected the men of involvement in terrorism, they held them as material witnesses, not criminal suspects.

Almost half of the witnesses were never brought before a grand jury or court to testify. The U.S. government has apologized to 13 for wrongfully detaining them. Only a handful were ever charged with crimes related to terrorism.

"These men were victims of a Justice Department that was willing to do an end run around the law," said Jamie Fellner, director of Human Rights Watch's U.S. Program. "Criminal suspects are treated better than these material witnesses were."

The 101-page report, "Witness to Abuse: Human Rights Abuses under the Material Witness Law since September 11," documents how the Justice Department denied the witnesses fundamental due process safeguards. Many were not informed of the reason for their arrest, allowed immediate access to a lawyer, nor permitted to see the evidence used against them. The Justice Department evaded fundamental protections for the suspects and the legal requirements for arrested witnesses. Their court proceedings were conducted behind closed doors, and all the court documents were sealed.

<</SNIP>>

[Journeyman]

10. In an earlier era, in a different land. . .

such actions were called Nacht und Knebel, "Night and Fog" . . . but such comparisons are verboten, so we'll now look elsewhere, laugh (a little nervously), and think sunny thoughts. . .

[hughee99]

18. In an earlier era in the same land...

such actions were called "internment", and based not on any evidence but merely on someone's country of birth, or the contry of their parents/grandparents birth.

[Journeyman]

19. The Internment of the Japanese, however, was all above board. . .

notices were posted that the roundup would begin, families were give some opportunity to make arrangements (not much, but more than the guys who are being plucked off the streets and from their homes today receive), and once incarcerated there was some contact with the outside world. And too, those incarcerated were given the opportunity to prove themselves by enlisting in the military and fighting in the war -- only the European theater, to be sure, but an opportunity nonetheless. Those soldiers, many of whom served in the 442nd battalion, distinguished themselves in combat, and became one of the most decorated units of the war.

[hughee99]

20. So while they may not have been taken in the middle of the night...

They were taken simply because of their family history, and not because any allegations have been made against them. Yes, they were permitted some contact with the outside world, and, of course, they could prove their loyalty by joining the military... If this were done today exactly as it was back then, with descendants of a particular country being rounded up without just cause, and allowed to leave only if they would "volunteer" for military service, would it seem so humane? Would any DUer be in favor of this "program"?

[pocket]

11. 70 men-all but one Muslim

there are only 71 Muslims in the US?

[pinkpops]

12. Not that different from what the CIA did in Italy -

just grab someone and wisk them away.

[ninkasi]

13. Is this the democracy

* claims to be spreading throughout the world? If so,he's wasting his time. Many countries under dictatorships also have arrests without charges, people held without access to lawyers, and absolutely no rights.

Why bother to try to spread this? It's in place in many countries already. Bring the troops home now. If this is democracy and freedom, I suspect most people will take a pass.

[Triana]

14. "freedom" is on the march!

:sarcasm:

[LynnTheDem]

15. Sure is sounding like Saddam...

bush is really racking up points on his quest for being the bigger tinpot dictator.

[EFerrari]

16. In the days after 9/11, one of my on line friends told me she was afraid

to leave her house. Her husband was a naturalized citizen from Saudi Arabia, and they were Muslims. My feet went cold.

So, I got on the phone and called every major congregation in a fifty mile radius of my (then) Santa Monica home. I said, we need to organize an escort service for our Muslim neighbors. To and from the grocery store or to the doctor's or where ever they needed to go safely, until things calmed down.

And not ONE of those hypocritical sonufabitches said yes to me. It was unbelievable. Not ONE would stick their neck out to help anyone.

I eventually got it done via a progressive mailing list. But, I don't think I'll forget that any time soon. And it's going to be a long, long time before I forget the utter cowardice of the response from those spiritual "shepherds".

[maddezmom]

17. HRW and ACLU report here:

http://hrw.org/reports/2005/us0605/