Witness to Abuse - Human Rights Watch

criticism on the conduct of Assistant United States Attorney John Convertino, who
authorized and signed the government’s application to arrest Ahmed and Rouissi as
material witnesses. 90
Nabil al-Marabh
Nabil al-Marabh was also ostensibly held as a material witness in the Koubriti case. Press
accounts indicate that federal agents considered him a key terrorism suspect in the
Detroit Sleeper Cell investigation, placing him high on the FBI’s most-wanted list. 91 Al-
Marabh was incarcerated as a material witness for three months; he was held in the highsecurity
federal detention facility in Chicago. 92 His lawyer was not permitted to see any
documents justifying the material witness arrest. He filed four motions with the court to
release al-Marabh and to expedite his testimony. The government did not respond to any
of these motions, and the court never ordered it to do so. According to al-Marabh’s
lawyer:
The case was unusual in the sense that the government used the material
witness law for a purpose for which it was not designed. The
government never had the intent to put Nabil in front of a grand jury.
There was no reason for the continuances. He said he was willing to
testify, ready to testify, and would appear as a witness. I can’t see a
legitimate reason for not having him appear in front of a grand jury. He
was ready to give his testimony. 93
After Meyer’s fourth motion to the court, the government transferred al-Marabh to
Detroit, still holding him as a material witness. There is no record of him testifying and
the government never charged him with any terrorism-related crime. He was then
dismissing the convictions, the judge sharply criticized the government for misleading the court and acting
outside constitutional parameters. “Government's Consolidated Response Concurring in Defendants' Motions
for a New Trial” and “Government's Motion To Dismiss Count One Without Prejudice,” Aug. 31, 2004. As the
Justice Department characterized its misconduct in its own motion to dismiss: "In its best light, the record would
show that the prosecution committed a pattern of mistakes and oversights that deprived the defendants of
discoverable evidence (including impeachment material) and created a record filled with misleading inferences
that such material did not exist." Ibid.
90
Ibid.
91
Ann Mullen, “Conspiracy Theory,” Detroit Metro Times, April 9, 2003; David Ashenfelder, “U.S. Says Four Men
Plotted Terror from Detroit,” Detroit Free Press, Aug. 29, 2002.
92
Before his material witness detention, al-Marabh was held in detention on immigration charges for eight
months without seeing a judge. HRW/ACLU telephone interview with John Meyer, attorney for Nabil al-Marabh,
Chicago, Illinois, August 6, 2004 (Interview with John Meyer); Steve Fainaru, “Civil Liberties Advocates Decry
Treatment; U.S. Says Man Forfeited Rights,” Washington Post, June 12, 2002.
93
Interview with John Meyer.
29 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH VOL. 17, NO. 2(G)