A summary of Amnesty International's Recommendations

Amnesty International urges that the US Attorney General and the Department of Justice to:

• Make public information on the total number of people arrested to date in connection with the 11 September investigations; dates and place of arrest; the number still detained and the reasons for the detention; length of time in detention; place of detention; and data on the race or ethnicity of those detained. Provide such information regularly on future arrests. • Ensure that no-one is held incommunicado in custody.

• Publicly reaffirm the US Government's unequivocal opposition to the use of torture.

• Ensure that no person in federal custody, including those held in local or country jails, is subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and that law enforcement officials will not use methods of interrogation that constitute torture or other treatment prohibited under international standards.

• Ensure that all cases of alleged ill-treatment are thoroughly and impartially investigated, with the results made public. Those responsible for abuses, including discriminatory treatment, should be brought to justice. • Ensure that everyone arrested or detained is provided with their rights under international standards, as set out under Article 9 of the ICCPR and the Body of Principles, including being informed of the reasons for arrest and given prompt access to attorneys and relatives and consular officials or representatives of other organizations as requested.

• Closely monitor the detention provisions of The Patriot Act, and ensure that arrested or detained persons are brought promptly before a judge and be able to challenge the lawfulness of their detention.

• No-one should be detained on national security grounds unless charged with a recognizable criminal offence and tried without undue delay or action is being taken to deport within a reasonable period. There must be a realistic possibility of deportation being effected. No-one should be deported or returned to a country where they may face torture.

• Ensure that no-one is detained on the basis of evidence they are unable to review or challenge.

• Ensure that INS standards for the treatment of immigration detainees and asylum seekers, introduced into some facilities earlier this year, are extended to all facilities housing such detainees. The standards should be strictly monitored and adhered to.

• Ensure that asylum seekers are generally not detained. If they are detained on security grounds they must be allowed a full and fair hearing of their claim as provided under the 1951 Refugee Convention.

• Ensure that no-one is arrested, detained, or subjected to or subjected to unfair or harsh treatment, on the grounds of their ethnic origin, race, nationality or religion.

• Promote and protect international human rights standards in the context of international investigative measures in the wake of 11 September, and in particular to ensure that any US agents with access to detainees in other countries denounce any human rights violations committed during the investigations.

Not resort to the circumvention of extradition protections in the case of any individual whose custody the USA seeks.

Oppose the transfer of any individual from Department of Justice jurisdiction to the jurisdiction of the special military commissions proposed by recent executive order. Support revocation of the order.

Statement of William F. Schulz, Executive Director, Amnesty International USA, Washington, D.C.

In a November 27th press conference, Attorney General John Ashcroft challenged those who had expressed concern about the treatment of individuals detained since September 11 to provide specific information to substantiate allegations of civil and human rights abuses.

As the Attorney General was making this assertion, Amnesty International USA representatives were submitting a 26-page memorandum to him (attached) that provides such information. Since then, Amnesty International has continued to inves

tigate and report on specific cases. Today, we release our most recent findings (also attached). Together, these documents detail how U.S. and local law enforcement officials have denied some detainees access to counsel; prevented them from seeing relatives; denied them medicine and food; held them in handcuffs and shackles for prolonged periods of time; and subjected them to beatings and other mistreatment.

As a nation that takes great pride in its stand for human rights and personal freedom, the United States has a responsibility to demonstrate to the world that its administration of justice can be both evenhanded and transparent. We should not fear the rule of law. We should not fear longstanding mechanisms that are designed to help us distinguish between the innocent and the guilty. We should not fear a court system designed to ensure due process and prevent cruel and inhumane treatment. We should not fear our Constitutional protections or our international human rights obligations.

On several occasions, President Bush has spoken forcefully against making judgments about individuals based on their race, religion, or appearance. Unfortunately, his Administration's current approach to justice risks creating a contradiction between his words and his actions. Transparency, not secrecy, represents the best mechanism by which we can demonstrate to the world that the values we seek to defend are also the values we practice. Anything less will only sustain the contention of those who would believe that American justice is neither fair nor obtainable. Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement that promotes and defends human rights. For additional information contact Alexandra Arriaga, Director of Government Relations, at 544-0200, ext. 235.

Statement of Amnesty International

SEPTEMBER 11 DETAINEES

Amnesty International has documented numerous cases in which those individuals detained in the aftermath of September 11 have been denied human rights. The following represent a sample of the most recent findings. The information on these and other cases is obtained through contact with lawyers and relatives, as well as through direct contacts with some detainees.

Hasnain Javed, a Pakistani student held for three days in September for overstaying his visa was allegedly beaten and had a tooth chipped by inmates who called him a "terrorist" while he was detained in jail in Wiggins, Mississippi. He reports that he tried to call for assistance through an intercom but guards failed to respond. Later that night he was allegedly stripped naked and again beaten by inmates; again guards failed to respond to his cries for help.

Mohammed Maddy, an Egyptian arrested on October 3, alleges that guards in the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in New York City assaulted him. A magistrate ordered photographs to be taken of bruising to his arm, which he said was caused by the guards' ill-treatment of him. Federal authorities are investigating this

case.

Osama Awadallah, a 21-year-old Jordanian student who was attending college near San Diego was arrested on September 21 as a material witness in the investigation regarding the September 11 attacks. He was moved to MDC in New York City where he alleges that guards insulted his faith, kept him from sleeping and "roughed him up." A court filing asserts that when Mr. Awadallah arrived in the Metropolitan Correctional Center on October 1, a guard shoved him against a wall while he was handcuffed, kicked his leg shackles and pulled him by the hair to make him face an American flag. The next day, the filing says, federal marshals, while escorting Mr. Awadallah to a court hearing, pinched his arms while his hands were cuffed behind his back and kicked his feet in an elevator. The court papers also say that the incident left black-and-blue marks on his arms and his left foot bleeding, and that two of Mr. Awadallah's lawyers observed a bruise on his arm when they met with him on October 4.

Ghassan Dahduli, a Palestinian-Jordanian was detained on September 22 in a Texas jail for a visa violation. He was held for two months in solitary confinement with only one hour of exercise a week in a small, enclosed yard. He was shackled during non-contact visits with his family; denied personal property and, unlike other inmates, denied access to TV. On November 28, he was deported to Jordan. He had agreed to Voluntary Departure to Jordan, as he was afraid he would be held indefinitely in jail in the USA, and was unable to support his family. Fearing for their future, his Jordanian wife and five children under 16 (all of whom are US citizens)

left the USA for Jordan three weeks ago (before Dahduli's deportation). Two INS agents including the investigator in the Dahduli case, accompanied to him to Jordan. His wife believes he was handed over to Jordanian security forced on arrival in Jordan-she was waiting for him at the airport but he did not appear. His whereabouts are unknown at this time. His US attorney believes that the INS investigator may have accompanied him to take part in an interrogation or that he may have been handed over to the Jordanian security forces for more "pressurized" interrogation. It is unclear if any assurances were sought to prevent his treatment, or whether the US has played a role in handing him over to security forces. Amnesty International sent a fax to the INS Dallas District Director seeking more information on what happened to him on arrival in Jordan, and clarification of role of the INS. There has been no response from INS as yet.

A Saudi Arabian man detained on an immigration violation in Denton County Jail, Texas, initially spent a week without a mattress, bedding, blanket or clock (necessary to recite his Muslim prayers); his conditions improved only after an appeal by his attorney to the regional INS director. He was allowed to see his wife eight days after his arrest and was made to wear leg-irons during the second noncontact visit; he is still allowed far fewer visits than other inmates have with relatives. He has reportedly asked to remain in solitary confinement through fear for his safety if held with other inmates. Although he has been given a final deportation, the INS is still holding him.

Detainees awaiting deportation in Mecklenburg County Jail, North Carolina, allege that guards forced them to strip naked and blasted them with cold air in early November. The wife of one man reported that only inmates of Middle Eastern descent were subjected to this treatment and that when her husband tried to complain of abuse during telephone calls, guards terminated the calls.

Five Israelis arrested on September 11 in New York were held incommunicado for about a week. Police allegedly subjected them to prolonged interrogations in which the detainees were kept blindfolded and in only their underwear.

An elderly Maltese couple arriving in the US in September for a vacation with their daughter (a US resident) was refused entry at Philadelphia airport, questioned extensively by INS officers and held overnight in a detention center where they were allegedly denied all food and water, despite the woman being a diabetic: The husband (a 63-year old dermatologist with no criminal record) was kept in heavy wrist and foot chains until both were put on a plane home the next day.

Four South Asian men Mohamed Khan (Pakistan), Najmul Hassan (Pakistan), Irfan Ahmed (Pakistan) and Ayazuddin Sheerazi (Indian national) were detained in Connecticut on November 24, and have not had access to their families since their arrest. When their attorney tried to visit them, officials would not confirm they were detained and their names did not appear on Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) computerized lists. The attorney eventually gained access only after obtaining their alien numbers through another source. Two of the four have asylum claims pending.

Mazen Al-Najjar, a Muslim cleric, was arrested in November on a deportation order for overstaying his student visa. Despite having no criminal record, he is locked down for 23 hours a day in a small cell in solitary confinement in a maximum security prison with a ban of all visits for his family for 30 days. Dr. AlNajjar was previously detained in a US jail for more than three years on the basis of secret evidence, while appealing against the deportation order, but a federal judge ordered his release last December, after finding there were “no bona fide reasons to conclude that [he] is a threat to national security." Dr.Al Najjar is being held under powers conferred on the Attorney General under the Patriot Act to detain someone on mere suspicion of terrorist associations-even though this is the same evidence that a court ruled insufficient to justify detention last December. He his currently held in far worse conditions than before-with no prospect of release because, as a stateless Palestinian, he has no country to return to, he could remain behind bars indefinitely.

A Yemeni student arrested on a visa violation after several years in the US has reportedly agreed to be deported to Yemen-despite fearing he would be at risk there after spending 45 days in solitary confinement in a high security unit. NAACP poised to join ACLU in rights fight

Article by Cecil Angel, Detroit Free Press Staff Writer, December 3, 2001, Detroit, Michigan

NAACP POISED TO JOIN ACLU IN RIGHTS FIGHT

CHAIRMAN: ASHCROFT THREATENS LIBERTIES

The NAACP will stand side-by-side with the ACLU in opposing any threat to civil liberties posed by the U.S. Justice Department's response to terrorism, NAACP Chairman Julian Bond said Sunday in Bloomfield Township.

Bond was the keynote speaker at the American Civil Liberties Union Fund of Michigan's annual dinner, at Temple Beth El.

"The NAACP and the ACLU were created to fight for freedom and justice in a nation dedicated to those goals," Bond said. "We will continue this fight now with renewed determination. Each of us has a role to play as guardians of our nation's liberty."

Bond said the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has been wary of U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft because he stands against everything the NAACP has supported.

"He knows something about the Taliban, coming from as he does from that wing of American politics," Bond said. "Even before Sept. 11, he had moved the department to the far right, making it headquarters for the Federalist Society."

The society shares Ashcroft's hostility to civil and reproductive rights, religious liberty, environmental protection and privacy rights, Bond said.

Since the attacks on Sept. 11, Ashcroft has waged a relentless assault on civil liberties, Bond said.

In the past month, he has allowed the FBI to eavesdrop on privileged lawyer-client communications, ordered the interviews of thousands of young men of Middle Eastern heritage, and "advocated a Star Chamber system of secret military trials," Bond said.

This month, he's suggested a return to FBI tactics of illegal wiretaps and burglaries, Bond said.

"He has yet to learn that the protections of our Constitution are not a reward for good behavior," he said.

Anti-terrorism efforts are under scrutiny by the NAACP and by the ACLU—at the federal and state level.

Kary Moss, executive director of the Michigan chapter of the ACLU, said her organization is concerned about a proposed Michigan AntiTerrorism Act. She said the ACLU wants to make sure it doesn't infringe on civil liberties.

Before his dinner speech, Bond spoke about the threat to civil liberties. He cited the planned military trials and the roundup and detention of people "on God knows what charge."

"The assumption is that the president knows what's best for us," Bond said. “I don't believe he knows what's best for us."

Statement of Claudette Shwiry Hamad, Editor, Arab American Institute Foundation Report

APPENDIX

HATE-BASED INCIDENTS SEPTEMBER 11-OCTOBER 10, 2001

This report is a compilation of hate-based incidents that have occurred in the United States over the one-month period following the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center Towers and the Pentagon.

The events described were compiled from print, broadcast and established Internet media sources and individual testimony. Although this report includes 326 incidents in 38 states, there undoubtedly have occurred many other episodes of discriminatory actions that have either not been reported for fear of further backlash, or not considered sufficiently newsworthy.

The Arab American Institute Foundation is grateful for the research efforts its staff, especially webmaster Melyssa Morey, consultant Patsy Thomasson, and the

American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) reports which are cited with source origination.

ARIZONA

Assaults

Phoenix. On Sept. 15th, Frank Silva Roque shot to death Balbir Singh Sodhi. Roque allegedly killed Sodhi as part of a multiple-incident shooting rampage that included shootings at a Lebanese-American clerk who escaped injury, at another gas station in Mesa, and at the home of an Afghan family. (Arizona Republic, 9/18)

Mesa. 49-Year-old Indian Sikh shot while standing outside his Chevron station. Family believes he had been killed because he looked 'Middle Eastern". Attack apparently part of multiple incident-shooting rampages. Gunman also shot at LebaneseAmerican clerk who escaped injury and fired upon home of Afghan family. (ADC, 9/15)

Threats

Phoenix. Anonymous callers told police they planned to attack Middle Eastern businesses. (Arizona Republic, 9/12)

Tempe. Bomb threat phoned into Islamic Cultural Center. (Arizona Republic, 9/ 12)

Discrimination

Phoenix. Three Arab men were refused readmission to their Sept. 25th United Airlines flight to Chicago after a female passenger allegedly raised her concern about them. (First plane evacuated allegedly for mechanical problems.) The three have filed a lawsuit. (Chicago Tribune, 10/4)

Phoenix. Arab American pilot pulled off line and told he cannot fly. Coworker allegedly reported pilot sympathetic to Palestinian cause. After background check, put back on and able to fly, but pilot concerned he may be terminated. (ADC, 9/ 19)111Scottsdale. Bar briefly posted sign: "Arabs not welcome." Co-manager later removed it and admitted, "it was a stupid think to do." (Arizona Republic, 9/14)

CALIFORNIA

Assaults

Los Angeles. Palestinian-born salesman killed while making door-to-door rounds. Family called killing hate crime, but police say robbery was likely motive. (Agence France Presse, 10/9)

Los Angeles. On an evening walk close to his home, Sikh man wearing Pakistani dress attacked by four men who beat and punched him. Norwalk police filed report as robbery because attackers ripped his clothes and pulled his wallet. However, the Sikh claimed the attackers yelled, "terrorist" as they beat him. (ADC, 10/9)

San Diego. Two men on motorcycle pulled up next to Sikh woman stopped at red light, yanked open her door shouting, “This is what you get for what you've done to us!" Then, "I'm going to slash your throat!" The woman raised her elbows to protect her neck and hunched over. She was slashed in the head at least twice before the men, hearing a car approach, sped off. (San Diego Union-Tribune, 10/5)

Reedley. Abdo Ali Ahmed, Yemeni grocer shot to death in his shop over the weekend. Family members said the day before he was killed, death threat that included anti-Arab statements was found on windshield of Ahmed's car. It is being investigated as a hate crime. (Washington Post, 10/3)

Fresno. Arab American, Rien Said Ahmed, was shot and killed while at work. Witnesses saw four males speed from the store in white sedan. No money or merchandise was stolen. Ahmed had received threats since mid-September. (The Fresno Bee, 10/2)

Los Angeles. Thinking he was Iranian, two men bumped a Mexican immigrant's car, followed him to his home, broke in and beat him in front of his wife and daughter, shouting insults against Arabs. (Agence France Presse, 10/2)

Los Angeles. Driver got into argument with Iranian driver while on road. He allegedly yelled racial threats and waved gun at both Iranian driver and passenger, also Iranian. Driver charged with making criminal threat, violating civil rights and exhibiting firearm. (The Bulletin's Frontrunner, 10/1)

Industry. Two Arab customers in bar beaten by four bouncers. One of the customers had been arguing with bartender over bill. Bouncers attacked him, breaking his nose and arm, while calling him a terrorist. Victim's cousin put his hands up, indicating he did not want trouble, asked "Are you gonna beat me?" The bouncers turned on him, breaking his ribs and bruising his eye. (ADC, 9/30)