Free Republic

THE FACTS surrounding Ahmed Abu Ali's detention and possible torture in Saudi Arabia remain shrouded in diplomatic and law enforcement secrecy. Caution, therefore, is certainly in order in assessing the U.S. government's role in the arrest a year and a half ago of this American citizen and in his detention without charge or access to counsel ever since. But as U.S. District Judge John D. Bates put it last week in a compelling opinion on the case, Mr. Abu Ali's lawyers "have not only alleged, but have presented some unrebutted evidence, that [his] detention is at the behest and ongoing...

highest court ruled today that the British government cannot indefinitely detain foreigners suspected of terrorism without charging or trying them, and called the process a violation of European human rights laws. A specially convened panel of judges in the Law Lords ruled 8 to 1 in favor of nine foreign, Muslim men who have been in detention, most of them in Belmarsh Prison in London, for as long as three years. The prison has been called "Britain's Guantanamo" by human rights groups. In its powerfully worded decision, the court said that the government's "draconian" measures unjustly discriminate against foreigners since...

The suspected mastermind of this month's devastating suicide explosions in Casablanca has died of chronic heart and liver problems while in detention, the city's prosecutor said Wednesday. A total of 43 people including 12 suicide bombers were killed in the May 16 attacks in Morocco's largest city. The suspect, identified as Abdelhak and also known as Moul al-Sebbat, was arrested Monday in the northern city of Fes and died while being transferred to a hospital in Casablanca, the prosecutor said. An autopsy found that he had "died a natural death" that was "the result of heart and liver problems," according...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court turned away an appeal Monday over detention of hundreds of U.S. prisoners picked up in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. The court did not comment in rejecting an appeal from clergy, lawyers and others who wanted to go to court on behalf of the prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, without charges or access to lawyers. Lower federal courts had blocked the legal challenge on grounds that the clergy group did not have legal standing. The clergy group sued President Bush, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and others last year. "The United...

U.S. Military: Juvenile Terror Suspects Better off in Guantanamo Than Fighting in Afghan Conflict SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - In the mornings they learn to read and write in their native languages, clean their rooms and rake the lawn. Recreation includes soccer and watching movies like "Cast Away," one of their favorites. Afternoons, psychologists work to heal the scars of physical and emotional abuse. U.S officials are holding three terror suspects between the ages of 13 and 15 at the remote Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba - a revelation that has enraged human rights advocates and sent U.S....

Attorney General John Ashcroft has ruled that illegal immigrants who have no known links to terrorist groups can be detained indefinitely to address national security concerns. Mr. Ashcroft was ruling in the case of a Haitian immigrant who had won the right to be released on bail while awaiting a decision on his asylum claim. Mr. Ashcroft did not argue that the man was a security threat, but said that his release and that of others like him "would tend to encourage further surges of mass migration from Haiti by sea, with attendant strains on national security and homeland security...

<p>WASHINGTON -- Attorney General John D. Ashcroft, putting into effect a sweeping change in US immigration policy, has ruled that immigrants who enter the country illegally may be held in detention indefinitely if the government deems their release would pose a national security risk.</p>

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - About 700 detained immigrants could be uprooted from their network of attorneys and counselors if a financial dispute between county officials and the federal government is not resolved, immigrant advocates said. York County officials had expected the Immigration and Naturalization Service to pay about $17 million this year in return for housing detained immigrants in its prison, but a disagreement over how much the county should be reimbursed could end the arrangement. Under the terms now sought by the INS, the county would lose money, officials said. "Our position is if there is no motivation for...

<p>A federal appeals court Monday rejected a challenge to the detention of 600 or so Afghan war prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, ruling that a group of clergy members and professors have no legal standing to intervene.</p> <p>The Coalition of Clergy, Lawyers and Professors sued on behalf of the prisoners, many of whom have been held at the U.S. base in Cuba for about a year. The lawsuit alleged they have been denied access to lawyers and have been held without being charged, in violation of the Constitution.</p>

FBI's secret detention of suspect alarms Pakistan By Phil Reeves in Lahore, Pakistan 16 November 2002 America's hunt for Osama bin Laden, and the extra-judicial methods used by intelligence agents in rounding up his alleged associates, face a new challenge in Pakistan. It centres on the secret detention of a British-trained orthopaedic surgeon, Dr Amir Aziz. American investigators suspect he provided medical treatment to Bin Laden and al-Qa'ida members in Afghanistan before the attack on the World Trade Centre. Yesterday a High Court judge in Lahore ordered the Pakistan Interior Ministry to "cause the production" of the doctor in his...

<p>FARMINGTON, Maine (AP) An eighth-grader accused of raping a mentally handicapped 51-year-old woman has been taken to a juvenile detention facility following a court hearing Monday.</p> <p>The 14-year-old boy is charged with felony gross sexual assault for the alleged rape Saturday night, the Lewiston Sun Journal reported. The suspect was arrested early Sunday morning.</p>

Overboard one day, missing the boat the next The tortuous political marathon of the Senate's children overboard inquiry ground on through another 11 hours of testimony two days ago as seven witnesses - 58 in all, to date - began taking the stand at 9.30am and continued until a halt was called at 11pm. It was the 14th day of hearings since the eight-senator committee of inquiry (three Labor, three Liberal, one Democrat, one Labor Independent) began taking in excess of 2000 Hansard pages of evidence since the opening day on March 25. As media interest fell away, Labor some...

July 12, 2002, 6:00 p.m.Free Joel Mowbray!A wild afternoon at the State Department.By NRO Staff Would that the State Department were as tough on the Saudis.NRO contributor Joel Mowbray was detained this afternoon at the State Department after an acrimonious exchange with top Foggy Bottom press flack Richard Boucher.Mowbray had challenged Boucher on his account of events at State this week, which had to fire its longest-serving career diplomat in response to the congressional uproar created by Mowbray's reporting on the "Visa Express" program (the program gives the Saudis easy access to U.S. visas — see Mowbray's reporting here.Mowbray...

About once every two weeks or so, our rights hang in the balance, barely surviving the threat represented to them by the Bush administration. This is one of those times — at least it was on Monday, although by today this latest threat may already have passed.The military detention of Jose Padilla has produced one of the choruses of periodic howls from the predictable quarters, and from some unpredictable ones as well, including Alan Keyes and the New York Post's excellent film critic and columnist Jonathan Foreman.Jude Wanniski, firmly in the predictable camp, hazards to guess the reason why...

Civil libertarians are up in arms about the detention of Jose Padilla, a.k.a., Abdullah al Muhajir, a U.S. citizen who allegedly met with a top al Qaeda leader in Pakistan to plot a "dirty bomb" attack on America. The administration, meanwhile, insists its actions are entirely legal, not to mention essential for national security. Who's right? Both--and neither. Below is a quick rundown of the relevant legal questions the Padilla case raises, and some speculative answers. I say "speculative" because lawyering often begins with merely identifying the important legal issues, analogies, and distinctions worthy of further research and analysis. In...

In the new movie Minority Report, the police arrest people for crimes they are expected to commit in the future. Our own government seems to be laying the groundwork for a similar policy. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz calls Jose Padilla, a.k.a. Abdullah al Muhajir, "a very dangerous man," and perhaps he is. But by locking him up indefinitely without bringing charges, the government is setting a precedent for preventive detention of any U.S. citizen whom the president decides to put on the country's enemy list. This maneuver makes due process disappear through misdirection and circular reasoning: If you're a...

Australian police hunt camp escapees About 50 detainees escaped during the protest. Up to 10 asylum seekers remain at large after breaking out of the Woomera detention centre in the Australian outback. The mass escape followed a demonstration by about 1,000 activists who stormed the remote desert compound after tearing down perimeter fencing on Friday. "After two years I'm free!"--Escaped detainee Immigration officials believe about 50 detainees joined the breakout, but the majority have since been recaptured. Among the detainees to be rounded up were a mother and her three children, who were caught near an isolated farmhouse. The assault...