Witness to Abuse - Human Rights Watch
Witness to Abuse - Human Rights Watch
Witness to Abuse - Human Rights Watch
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Abdallah Higazy<br />
The government arrested Abdallah Higazy as a material witness in December 2001<br />
because it believed it had evidence suggesting his involvement with the September 11<br />
attacks. Higazy, an Egyptian graduate student, was in the United States on a grant from<br />
the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) <strong>to</strong> pursue graduate studies at<br />
Brooklyn Polytechnic. 68 On the recommendation of USAID, during his orientation he<br />
stayed in the Millennium Hotel in New York City, located near the World Trade Center.<br />
He happened <strong>to</strong> be there on September 11, 2001, while waiting for his permanent<br />
housing. Following the attacks and evacuation of the hotel, a hotel security guard<br />
claimed (falsely it turned out) that he had found a pilot’s air-land radio in a safe in the<br />
room where Higazy had stayed. The Justice Department had received reports that the<br />
hijackers had received assistance from people in buildings close <strong>to</strong> the World Trade<br />
Center. In light of the radio purportedly found in Higazy’s room, Justice Department<br />
officials believed that Higazy might have sent transmissions <strong>to</strong> the hijackers who<br />
attacked the World Trade Center or received transmissions from them. 69 In essence, the<br />
government suspected Higazy was a terrorist conspira<strong>to</strong>r, not a mere witness.<br />
A month later the real owner of the radio, an airline pilot, came forward <strong>to</strong> claim his<br />
radio from the hotel. It turned out the radio had been planted in Higazy’s room by a<br />
hotel security guard who was inven<strong>to</strong>rying items hotel guests left in the hotel after they<br />
were evacuated on September 11; the guard found the transceiver in another room but<br />
claimed <strong>to</strong> have found it with Higazy’s belongings. 70 After detaining Higazy in solitary<br />
confinement for more than a month; obtaining a coerced, false confession from him in<br />
an interrogation without counsel; 71 and criminally charging him with making false<br />
statements <strong>to</strong> the FBI, the government released Higazy in January 2002, thirty-four days<br />
after his arrest.<br />
68<br />
Before coming <strong>to</strong> the United States, he had worked for a company under contract for USAID for two years<br />
and had been granted national security clearance. Donna Bryson, “Egyptian Student Found with Pilot Radio<br />
Had Worked for U.S. Government Contrac<strong>to</strong>r,” Associated Press Wire, Jan. 12, 2002.<br />
69<br />
HRW/ACLU interview with Robert Dunn, at<strong>to</strong>rney for material witness Abdallah Higazy, New York, New York,<br />
May 18, 2004 (Interview with Robert Dunn, May 18, 2004).<br />
70<br />
On May 31, 2002, Ronald Ferry, the former hotel security guard who produced the pilot's radio was sentenced<br />
<strong>to</strong> six months of weekends in prison for lying <strong>to</strong> the FBI. He admitted that he knew that the device was not in a<br />
safe belonging <strong>to</strong> Higazy. Ferry, who is a former police officer, said that he lied during a "time of patriotism, and<br />
I'm very, very sorry." The judge said that his conduct was "wrongly motivated by prejudicial stereotypes,<br />
misguided patriotism or false heroism." “Presumption of Guilt,” p. 38-39. Higazy has since filed suit against<br />
Ferry and the FBI, asserting in part that that the FBI agents failed <strong>to</strong> thoroughly investigate the tip, press Ferry<br />
for a sworn statement, or subject him <strong>to</strong> a lie detec<strong>to</strong>r.<br />
71<br />
See Chapter VII, “Abusive Interrogations,” in this report for further information about Higazy’s false confession.<br />
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH VOL. 17, NO. 2(G) 24