Posted on 01/24/2006 9:59:37 PM PST by LibWhacker
An Islamic man, who was detained by US agents without criminal charges being filed and then was deported to Egypt, testified for a deposition in New York on Monday in a lawsuit against the US government. He claims he was unlawfully imprisoned and abused.
That's the story as reported by the mainstream news media. In fact, Mr. Ebrahim did commit a crime by staying in the United States illegally. His visa expired.
Yasser Ebrahim is one of several Muslim men who are being allowed to return to New York City to participate in the civil suit under strict conditions including confinement to their hotel rooms for the duration of their stay, in spite of continued suspicions that they are terrorist associates.
The men, whom US counterterrorism agents were unable to break, claim they were subjected to inhumane and degrading treatment in a Brooklyn detention center, including beatings, solitary confinement, verbal abuse and a lack of access to their families and lawyers.
Ebrahim's attorneys said the men will be deposed over the next two weeks in a class action suit against the government over the treatment of more than 1,200 Muslim and South Asian men rounded up right after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Many of them were either in the country without authorization or remained in the US on expired visas.
"I was being hated by everyone around me wanting revenge for September 11," Ebrahim said. He acknowledged being in the country illegally but claims he did nothing else illegal.
One intelligence analyst told this writer that the allegation must be considered in the context of the facts. Fact: On September 11, 2001 there were multiple terrorist attacks perpetrated against the United States. Fact: The nineteen attackers all were Middle Eastern males, some in the country illegally and classified as visa overstays. Fact: Yasser Ebrahim is a Middle Eastern male who was residing in the United States illegally. Fact: Mr. Ebrahim was believed to be uncooperative with interrogators who wished to deter or thwart other attacks during the uncertain days following the worst attack on US soil in history. Fact: The alleged number of those detained is about 1,200 Islamic men; there are millions of Muslims in the US, many of them on visas, some of them on expired visas.
The Center for Constitutional Rights -- a left-wing legal group handling the case -- said the conditions for the plaintiffs return to the United States include a prohibitions on their speaking to any person outside the case and that they restrict their activities staying in their hotel rooms and traveling to and from the federal courthouse in New York City.
Ebrahim's brother, Hany Ibrahim, was due to arrive in New York on Monday, CCR legal director Bill Goodman said, and the other two would arrive at some point in the next two weeks, according to Reuters.
Goodman told Reuters that the restrictions on the four men were highly unusual in a civil case and a sign of what he called government "paranoia over Muslim and Middle Eastern men." However, US officials believe that these men are still considered suspicious in spite of the unsuccessful interrogations conducted over several months.
They are among eight named plaintiffs in the case that names former Attorney General John Ashcroft, FBI Director Robert Mueller, immigration officials and prison officers among the defendants. The suit, originally filed in 2002, seeks compensation and punitive damages.
A 2003 report by Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General found that some New York City corrections officers slammed detainees against the wall, twisted their arms and hands in painful ways, stepped on their leg restraint chains and punished them by keeping them restrained for long periods of time. However, there was no mention of federal agents and interrogators mistreating the suspects. There also appears to be no connection between the alleged incidents of mistreatment and the complaints being filed by Ebrahim.
A federal law enforcement executive claims that the plaintiffs' attorneys from the Center for Constitutional Rights have a hidden agenda: revealing top secret information to the public and to the world within the pretext of a lawsuit.
"First we had generals running wars. Then we had politicians running wars. Now we have glorified ambulance chasers trying to run this war -- and their succeeding," he said.
The US Department of Justice said they would not comment on the case or the terms of the restricted movements of the plaintiffs.
Another Muslim, Mohamed Abdel Wahab Yakoub, a.k.a. Mohamed Wardi, a 61-year-old native of Egypt and a resident of Maryland, actually did plead guilty in the Eastern District of Virginia to one count of smuggling Middle Eastern aliens into the United States while working at the Saudi Arabian embassy. Yakoub is facing a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years when he is sentenced by Judge Brinkema on April 7, 2006. Yakoub is also facing deportation to Egypt following his sentencing.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents first arrested Yakoub, who was fired by the Embassy of Saudi Arabia in late 2002, at Dulles International Airport on February 14, 2005, upon his arrival on a flight from Cairo, Egypt. Joint Terrorism Task Force agents in Washington, DC had been investigating Yakoub and his alleged human smuggling scheme for more than a year.
Yakoub is expected to also claim abuse while being held in custody and interrogated as to the identities of the Muslim men he smuggled into the US.
Yeah, I was breaking the law and punished for it - how unfair is that?
Last ping of the (my) evening.
This must not stant.
BTTT
Keep your eye on the enemy within.
This is why, even when Atta was running around basically saying what he was going to do, nobody did anything. Even post-9/11 nothing's been learned.
Yep, I fully expect some liberal judge will let them go.
No need for the Sunday comics. Nothing has more satire than real life.
Taking ideas from the Democrat playbook.
He's an illegal 'allah'ien. The utter gall!
They want to stay in the US? Gitmo is a US base. Give them a "room" there!
They want to stay in the US? Gitmo is a US base. Give them a "room" there!
Ditto.
ping
I really do favor mysterious disappearances. Quickly, quietly, period.
It is a war. They are the enemy, or sympathetic.
i say this with intended sarcasm but in second thought i wonder if i should frame it this way. i think the muzzies should win and get a 35 trillion dollar judgement. thats the net worth of the entire usa according to some economist radio show. they should throw all americans out of north america since basically we are all unfit in running a sane country. does this post upset you? lol, hey, tell it to the judge who actually is hearing this trial and will ultimately make this happen one way or another with no input from three hundred million people and those same people will fawn over this judge no matter what. im beyond disgusted.
<< The Center for Constitutional Rights .... >>
The obscenely and grotesquely misnamed, so-called "center for 'constitutional' 'rights,'" that is ....
A terroristic gang of mongrel bastards.
<< .... a 35 Trillion Dollar judgement. That is the net worth of the entire United States of America .... >>
Rubbish.
It is not even the feral gummint's actual debt.
well, im glad you are taking issue with the numbers i used instead of the spirit of my post. thanks, but honestly, i heard an economics professor on a radio program last year that said the net worth of the usa is that 35 trillion, although i dont buy that number.
For any who think the U.S. is such an evil empire, think again. These sorry humanoids could have fallen off the edge of the world without a trace had the U.S. been the monstor so many leftists would have us believe. These Muslims should thank their god that they were detained by the humane U.S. and not some other country.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.