DETAINEES - Civl rights leaders demand details

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Civil rights groups demand details of those "in secret detention" since Sept. 11 BY KAREN BRANCH-BRIOSO Post-Dispatch Washingtion bureau 10/29/2001 08:29 PM

WASHINGTON - As the number of people arrested and detained in law enforcement's investigation of last month's terrorist attacks reached 1,017 Monday, a group of civil rights advocates demanded that the Justice Department disclose the details of the detentions.

"The secret detention of more than 900 people over the past few weeks is frighteningly close to the practice of disappearing people in Latin America," said Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies. The group is one of 21 groups that submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the Justice Department, the FBI and the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Susan Dryden, a spokeswoman for Attorney General John Ashcroft, said Monday of the request: "I know that we have received that and we are reviewing it."

The groups want names of detainees. Locations. Names and addresses of their lawyers, if they have one. They also want to know the charges - if any - that have been filed against the detainees and whether they've been released.

At issue is the fast-growing number of detainees that the federal government provides faithfully each day, but with little context. The 1,017 detained or arrested are simply a cumulative total of people brought in by local, state or federal law enforcement in the terrorism probe since Sept. 11.

How many are still in custody? The Justice Department won't say.

How many have been charged? The Justice Department won't say.

The Justice Department has infrequently released arrest records on some of the detainees. And it does offer one nugget each day: the number of people in detention for immigration violations on that particular date. (Monday it was 179.)

Dryden said the government cannot release details on people who have been detained as "material witnesses" to the hijackings: "We can't talk about that. It falls under grand jury rules."

As for those charged with crimes, Dryden said the Justice Department is "not going to be responsible for getting out information on state and local arrests" that are included in the federal numbers. "We can't keep up with every single one."

INS spokesman Russ Bergeron said privacy issues prevent the release of some details on immigration detainees. But there's another overriding reason:

"The decisions with respect to what information is released are governed by the need for security and confidentiality with respect to the investigation," Bergeron said. "All information has to be cleared through the Justice Department and the FBI."

But that is not enough information, contend the civil rights groups, to ensure the government is not violating civil rights in its zeal to solve and prevent new acts of terrorism.

"The government is using legal authority that was never intended to permit mass roundups on mere suspicion," Martin said.

Gregory Nojeim, associate director of the American Civil Liberties Union national office in Washington, said the group wrote Ashcroft Oct. 17 asking for the information. He said they met with FBI Director Robert Mueller on Friday: "We've not received any answers."

They base their concerns mainly on multiple news reports that have detailed detentions of people, like Al Bader Al-hazmi, a San Antonio radiologist detained in federal prisons for questioning by the FBI for two weeks. He was later released, with the government saying he had nothing to do with the attacks. He had to wait seven days before he could see a lawyer.

Dorothy Harper, a Clayton lawyer who represents two Middle Eastern men detained in the St. Louis area after the terrorist attacks, said she understands the concerns. It took two days before federal authorities allowed her to see Osama El Far, an Egyptian mechanic at Lambert Field detained Sept. 24.

"Usually I can get in to see a client right away, whether they're charged or not," she said. "They're trying to use any excuse they possibly can."

The civil rights groups acknowledge that some of the information related to the investigation should legally be kept confidential.

"We're not suggesting that there might not be a few names on the list which the government might be able to meet that burden" of confidentiality, said Morton Halperin, chair of the advisory board for the Center for National Security Studies. "What we're saying is, for the vast majority of these people, who they are, why they're being detained and where their lawyers are, it is simply impossible to imagine how the release of that information could harm national security or interfere with the investigation."

-- Anonymous, October 30, 2001

Answers

ah screw em. arrest those people too.

secret means secret.

when the country is threatened, shit happens. as long as it isn't me being held secret, the hell with it.

Is my emotional state showing? sorry...

-- Anonymous, October 30, 2001


If they are not citizens of this country, the rights of this country should not be given to them.

Hold em.

-- Anonymous, October 30, 2001


Barefoot,

Nawwww. ;-)

Actually, agree with you and Apoc 110% - this is war, not a debate. Illegal aliens and terrorists do not have rights, especially during a state of war - to argue otherwise is irrational.

The more of this that goes on, the more I wish Congress would have a formal declaration of war, Bush would declare martial law and we could get this war finished with. Jumping from the frying pan into the fire, probably, but if we're going to get hit anyway, it might as well be while we're hitting them hard instead of cringing...

-- Anonymous, October 30, 2001


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