Witness to Abuse - Human Rights Watch
Witness to Abuse - Human Rights Watch
Witness to Abuse - Human Rights Watch
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arrested on immigration charges and ultimately deported <strong>to</strong> Syria in 2004. 94 While he was<br />
in jail, his mother died of a stroke. 95 And after he was deported, he was soon arrested<br />
and detained by the Syrian police and disappeared; while his family had brief contact<br />
with him upon his deportation, they have had no contact with him at all in almost a year<br />
and do not know what has happened <strong>to</strong> him. 96<br />
Continued Restrictions on Liberty after Release<br />
Some material witnesses were released from detention but continued <strong>to</strong> be subjected <strong>to</strong><br />
conditions restricting their liberty. In these cases <strong>to</strong>o, the restrictions lasted far longer<br />
than necessary <strong>to</strong> secure testimony in a criminal proceeding.<br />
Ismail Diab<br />
As of June 2005, the government still has not obtained the testimony of material witness<br />
and U.S. citizen Dr. Ismail Diab, although Diab has had his liberty restricted—by<br />
incarceration and then supervised release—for almost eighteen months. 97<br />
On March 1, 2003, the government arrested Diab, a researcher in animal genetics, in<br />
Syracuse, New York, where he lives with his wife and three children. 98 The government<br />
alleged Diab had testimony relevant <strong>to</strong> the criminal case against four defendants facing<br />
trial for conspiring <strong>to</strong> violate U.S. economic sanctions against Iraq through their<br />
donations <strong>to</strong> and solicitations for Help the Needy, a charity that has supported orphans<br />
and poor children in Iraq since 1995. 99<br />
Within a week after his arrest as a material witness, the district court released fifty-twoyear-old<br />
Diab on a $20,000 bond, under the conditions that he wear an electronic<br />
moni<strong>to</strong>ring bracelet, be largely confined <strong>to</strong> his home, surrender his passport, and remain<br />
subject <strong>to</strong> a curfew until the government obtained his testimony. 100 After the<br />
94<br />
<strong>Human</strong> <strong>Rights</strong> <strong>Watch</strong>, “Empty Promises: Diplomatic Assurances No Safeguard against Torture,” Vol. 16, No. 4<br />
(D), April 2004, p. 16-17 (discussing allegation of <strong>to</strong>rture of Maher Arar in Syrian prisons).<br />
95<br />
Ann Mullen, “Kuwaiti Waits,” Detroit Metro Times, June 4, 2003.<br />
96<br />
HRW/ACLU e-mail correspondence with family members of Nabil al-Marabh, May 12, 2005.<br />
97<br />
Docket, United States v. Dhafir, Crim. No. 03-64 (N.D.N.Y. 2003); William Kates, “Man Held as <strong>Witness</strong> in<br />
Probe of Charity,” Albany Times Union, March 5, 2003 (Kates, “Man Held as <strong>Witness</strong>”).<br />
98<br />
Kates, “Man Held as <strong>Witness</strong>.”<br />
99<br />
According <strong>to</strong> Diab, Help the Needy helped “the most needy people on Earth, the Iraqi children” during their<br />
suffering from the imposition of the United Nations economic embargo on the country. Sam Skolnik, Daikha<br />
Dridi, and Paul Shukovsky, “Inquiry Targets Muslim Charities in the Palouse,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Aug. 2,<br />
2002.<br />
100<br />
Docket, United States v. Dhafir, Crim. No. 03-64 (N.D.N.Y. 2003); Kates, “Man Held as <strong>Witness</strong>.”<br />
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH VOL. 17, NO. 2(G) 30