workplace and arrested him for overstaying his visa. The man's visa had indeed expired but he had applied for an adjustment of status; he was therefore legally in the country He received a visa extension from the INS office in Vermont while he was detained He was incarcerated for twenty-two days before being released on bond.

On November 25, 2001, after a resident of Torrington, Connecticut, told police that he had heard two "Arabs" talking about anthrax, police officers followed two Pakistani men suspected of having had the conversation to a gas station. The officers arrested the two men and also Avazuddin Sheerazi, an Indian businessman who was minding the station temporarily for his uncle, the owner, and another man from Pakistan who happened to be there at the time. According to Shecrazi's attorney, the police never offered any reason for arresting Sheerazi or suspecting him of wrongdoing He told Human Rights Watch. Torrington is a small place, so they arrested the Arabs in the community Even though Sheerazi was legally in the country the INS kept him eighteen days in detention before he was released on bond. (The caller who made the complaint to the police later failed a voluntary polygraph test)

• Ahmad Abdou El-Khier, an Egyptian national. was picked up on September 13, 2001 after a hotel clerk told police that he appeared suspicious. El-Khier was initially charged with trespassing in the Maryland hotel where he was staying, then held as a material witness, and finally charged

14 Human Rights Watch interview with Palestinian civil engineer. Paterson. New Jersey, December 20. 2001. The detainee's name has been withheld upon request

15 Sheeran, whose family owns a carpet plant in Bombay, was in the United States beginning in May 1, 2001 on business. He had entered the country legally and had applied for an extension of his visa before it expired After his release he returned to India Human Rights Watch telephone interview with attorney Neil Weinrib, New York, New York, January 28, 2002

Mohammed Asrar, a Pakistani convenience store owner in Dallas, Texas, was arrested on September 11, 2001. after a neighbor called the police to report that he was an "Arab" who possessed guns and might be a terrorist. Asrar was arrested by the FBI at his convenience store and interrogated without an attorney for hours. He was charged with "possession of ammunition while a prohibited person. The fact that he had overstayed his visa rendered him a person prohibited from possessing ammunition. "The prosecutors] think he's a terrorist, but when I ask them why they won't tell me." said his court-appointed attorney. The attorney told Human Rights Watch that he bclieved innocuous facts, such as that Asrar, who is an avid photographer, took pictures of the Atlanta skyline, were seen with suspicion because Asrar is South Asian. "There is no question in my mind that the prosecution of this case and the treatment of my client are unique because of his cthnicity," he said.

17

Two Somali men, Ismael Abdi Hassan and Ahmed Shucib Yusuf. stopped their rental

16 Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Martin Stolar, Ahmed Abdou El-Khier's attorney. New York, New York. March 28, 2002. For new spaper accounts of this casc sec Jolin Cloud. "Hitting the Wall." Time Magazine. November 5, 2001, vol. 158 no. 20. Patrick McDonnell. "Nation's Frantic Dragnet Entangles Many Lives Investigation: Some are jailed on tenuous evidence. their opinion of Amenca soured," Los Angeles Times, November 7, 2001; Jodi Wilgoren, "Swept Up in a Dragnet, Hundreds Sit in Custody and Ask. Why?, New York Times, November 25, 2001, and Josh Gerstein, "Cases Closed: In Immigration Cases. Information on Hearings and Court Records Is Restricted," ABCNews.com, November 19, 2001.

vehicle on November 26, 2001 to kneel in a parking lot and pray in Texas City, Texas Responding to a call by a "nervous bystander who reported suspicious activity,” Texas City police approached the men and subsequently arrested them after a search of their car uncovered a knife and a driver's license that appeared to have been altered

18

Forty Mauritanians were arrested in Louisville, Kentucky apparently because someone had told the police that one of them was taking flying lessons, which turned out to be untruc, and another person said that one of the Mauritanians looked like one of the alleged hijackers Bah Isselou told Human Rights Watch that he and others who were arrested at his home were not told the reason for the arrests or who was arresting them. They were driven to the INS office in Louisville, where they learned they had been arrested by the FBI and the INS. All but four of them were released the next day. On the third or fourth day after their arrest the four still i custody were informed they had been charged with overstaying their visas

19

18 When the police searched Hassan and Yusuf's truck they found a knife with a blade measuring a quarter inch more than Texas law allows. Yusuf was charged with possession of an illegal weapon. Reportedly. Hassan gave the police officers a driver's license on which the photograph appeared to have been burned, and where the height and weight listed far exceeded his. Hassan, who later presented a valid Texas identification card, was charged with posscssing an altered driver's license. They were reportedly released on bail the next day. Kevin Moran, “Praying Muslims find selves in jail 2 face charges over license, knife, Houston Chronicle, November 29, 2001: and "Two Muslims Arrested for Suspicious Activity." Associated Press. November 29, 2001.

The Mauritanians were detained on September 14, 2001 Isselou and the other three spent more than a month in jail before being released on bond while their deportation proceedings continued. Human Rights Watch telephone interviews with Bah Issclou Florida. October 6, 2001, and with Dennis Clare, Bah Isseion's attorney Louisville, Kentucky, October 23 and 31, 2001. For press reports on this case, see "Mauritanian in USA Recounts Arrest, Interrogation Over 11 September Attacks," BBC, September 29.

On September 21, 2001, Ahmed Alenany, an Egyptian physician, was approached by a police officer after he had stopped by the roadside in New York City to look at a map. According to Alcnany, the police officer questioned why he had stopped in a noparking zone, asked to see his visa, and discovered it had expired The police officer also noted two pictures of the World Trade Center in Alenany's car. Alenany was subscquently charged with overstaying his visa even though he had filed for an extension before it expired, and thus, he was legally in the country. Without the advice of counsel, Alenany agreed to be deported because the judge suggested that pursuing his case would keep him in jail for many weeks. He was detained for more than five months while waiting to be removed from the country, during which time the government presented no evidence linking him to terrorism. He is now free but still faces possible removal from the country.

2001, David Firestone, "Federal Arrest Leaves Mauritanian Bitter," New York Times, December 9, 2001.

Human Rights Watch interview with Osama Scwilam, Hudson County Correctional Center, Kcan New Jersey. February 6, 2002; and his attorncy Sohail Mohammed. Clifton, New Jersey, November 5 and November 19, 2001

Human Rights Watch interviews with Mohammed. For a press report of this case see Christopher Drew and Judith Miller, "Though not Linked to Terrorism,

Ali Alikhan, a citizen of Iran, was driving back to Colorado from vacation at Yellowstone National Park on September 15, 2001, when he was pulled over by a police officer for speeding. When the officer saw his name on the license, he asked Alikhan for his immigration documentation. The officer called the INS, who told him to arrest Alikhan for overstaying his visa. The officer arrested Alikhan and delivered him to the INS. Alikhan was interrogated several times about the September 11 attacks, always without an attorney. He was held in custody for 120 days, thirty-five of those in isolation, on the charge of overstaying his visa. He has been released on bond.

--25

Tiffanay Hughes, a US citizen, and her husband, Ali Al-Maqtari, a Yemeni citizen, were searched and detained at an army base in Kentucky where she was a recruit on September 15, 2001, for no stated reason. She said that two days carlier, when she went to pick up her orders in Massachusetts, an officer told her repeatedly that she could not wear a hejab, a headdress used by many Muslim women. She protested and said it was a religious symbol She said that the officer replied, "Don't let people know that you're Muslim. It's dangerous. Hughes believed that her identification card photo, in which she was wearing the hejab and which was allegedly posted at the army base guardhouse when she arrived there, and her spcaking a foreign language (French) with her husband may have raised suspicions. Hughes was followed by three officers everywhere she went for almost two weeks while at the army base. The army encouraged her to take an honorable discharge, and she did so on September 28. Her husband was detained for fifty-two days, mostly in solitary confinement. He was charged with

Hanna Rosin, "Snapshot of an Immigrant's Dream Fading." Washington Post, March 24, 2002.

་

The US military docs not allow personnel to wear religious headdress when on duty and in uniform, as sanctioned by the Supreme Court in Goldman v. Weinberger 475 U.S. 503 (1986). Hughes was told she could not wear a hejab when she went to pick up her orders at the army's office in Massachusetts. At that moment she was not on duty, she was in fact not working for the military yet. Her starting day was a few days later, when she arrived at the army base in Kentucky, and on that day she was not wearing the hejab.

an immigration violation for ten days of "unlawful presence in the United States while he changed from a visitor's visa to a visa sponsored by his wife. He had been released on bond 26

Somic individuals may have been detained because their names resembled those of the al

leged hijackers 27 The only thing a lot of these people are guilty of is having the Arabic version of Bob Joncs for a name," said Bob Doguim, an FBI spokesman in Houston.2"

The Department of Justice has detained men from the Middle East on immigration charges after they contacted the agency volunteering information about the alleged hijackers. For example, two days after the attacks, Mustafa Abu Jdai, a Jordanian of Palestinian descent, contacted the FBI and told investigators he had answered an advertisement for a job posted at a Dallas, Texas, mosque and met in the spring of 2001 with several Arabic-speaking men who offered to pay him to take flight lessons in Texas, Florida, or Oklahoma The FBI showed him photographs and he recognized one of the men as Marwan Al-Shchhi, one of the alleged hijackers. Abu Jda was subsequently charged

Human Rights Watch telephone interviews with Ali Al-Maqlan and Tiffanay Hughes. November 29. 2001, and with automcy Michaci Boyle. October 24. 2001

Men who may have been detained because of their last names include Abdulaziz Alomary, Al-Badr AlHazmi. Khalid S.S. Al Draibi, and Saeed Al Kahtani, according to press reports. Some were charged with immigrauon violations while others were eventually released. See Cloud. Huung the Wall". Scot Paltrow and Lauric P. Cobcn. Government won't disclose reasons for detaining people in terror probe," Wall Street Journal. September 27, 2001, Robyn Blumner, Abusing detention powers," Si Petersbury Times, October 15, 2001. Sydney P. Froodberg. -Terror sweep a baule of rights and safety. St. Petersburg Times, January 13. 2002, and Pctc Yost, ~} Tunisians ordered out of U.S." Associated Press, November 15, 2001

* McDonnell, Nations Frantic Dragnet Entangles Many Lives Investigation..."

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Human Rights Watch merview with attorney Karen Pennington Dallas. Texas January 15, 2002, and Amy Goldsicin et al. "A Deliberate Strategy of Disruption: Massive. Secretive Detention Effort Aimed Mainly at Preventing More Terror," Washing ton Post, November 4, 2001. p. A01 Cloud, "Hitting the Wall." See also the case of Eyad Mustafa Airababah in the section. Misuse of Material Witness Warrants, in this report.

Some attorneys have said that cooperation with the FBI once in custody has not helped their clients. They complain that their clients have been kept in detention even after they were promised to be reIcased if they look and passed polygraph icsts, which they did.

* Morrow v. District of Columbia, 417 F 2d 728, 741-42 (DC Cir 1969).

Detroit Free Press v. John Ashcroft, 195 F, Supp. 2d 948 (April 3, 2002). p 10.

Letter to WT Barry, August 4, 1822

viduals is at stake in the criminal justice system as well as in immigration proceedings.

US law has long recognized that secrecy is inconsistent with justice and democratic principles of government accountability The courts have ruled repeatedly that criminal and administrative proceedings should be subject to public scrutiny to protect the defendant's or detainee's right to a fair trial as well as to uphold the public's right to know what goes on when men's lives and liberty arc at stake." Constitutional mandates for public trials are mirrored in international human rights law, which requires "public hearings when an individual's rights and obligations will be determined by a court or tribunal

33 Pechter v. Lyons 441 F. Supp. 115 (S.D.N.Y. 1977), p. 118.

34 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), GA. Res. 2200A (XXI). 21 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 16) at 52, UN. Doc. A/6316 (1966), entered into force Mar. 23, 1976. article 14(1) Proceedings may be closed to the public and mcdia for all or part of a trial for reasons of "national security or for other specified reasons The United States ratified the ICCPR in 1992.

ཟླ The US government has refused to disclose the names of September 11 detainees charged with imigration violations or held as material witnesses. while the regulations governing the U.S. criminal justice system have forced it to reveal the identities of 108 September 11 detainees charged with federal crimes unrelated to the attacks but arrested in connection with the investigation.

For brevity's sake, throughout this report we will use the term "post-September 11 detainees" to refer to persons arrested and held in detention in connection with the US government's investigation into the September 11 terrorist attacks.

secrecy is vital to their campaign against terrorism, but their arguments for such unprecedented and widespread secrecy are not persuasive, as we discuss below. There may well be compclling reasons in particular cases why the name of an individual detainee or the proceedings against him should be kept closed to the public. But the Department of Justice's unilateral decision to keep the public in the dark about arrests and administrative proceedings against all non-citizens swept up in the September 11 investigation cannot be squared with principles of justice and democratic accountability.

Secrecy comes with a high price. It has bred questions about the legality of the detentions and the fairness of the treatment of non-citizens. By shielding its acts from public scrutiny, the U.S. government has cast a cloud of suspicion over the appropriateness of its actions and has exacerbated fears among the Middle Eastern and South Asian communities in the United States from which most of the post-September 11 dctainces have come.

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Human Rights Watch tried for more than ten weeks to arrange a meeting with INS officials to discuss allegations of mistreatment and the findings contained in this report On February 12, 2002 we wrote a letter requesting a meeting with INS Commissioner James Ziglar or his designate, which was followed by numerous phone calls. On April 26, 2002, the INS informed us that the new Executive Assistant Commissioner for Field Operations, Johnny Williams. was too busy to meet with us any time in the forcsccable future When Human Rights Watch asked if there would be anyone else with whom we could meet, we were told that Williams would be the only suitable person We requested and received a letter recounting the INS's formal refusal to meet with us, which read, in part:

At the present time, neither I nor Anthony Tangeman, the Deputy Executive Associate Commissioner for Detention and Removal Operations, are able to meet with you concerning the matters which you raised in your letter.... We would appreciate receiving copies of your report. Letter from Executive Associate Commissioner Johnny Williams to Human Rights Watch. April 29, 2002

On April 29, 2002, Human Rights Watch sent a letter to Dale Watson, executive assistant director for counterterrorism and counterintelligence. Federal Bureau