Witness to Abuse - Human Rights Watch
Witness to Abuse - Human Rights Watch
Witness to Abuse - Human Rights Watch
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
threat <strong>to</strong> national security. For example, when the government transported eight material<br />
witnesses from Evansville, Indiana, <strong>to</strong> a federal detention facility in Chicago, Illinois,<br />
they were accompanied by armed marshals and kept in shackles throughout the flight.<br />
According <strong>to</strong> one of the Evansville Eight, the government closed down the Chicago<br />
O’Hare airport for their arrival. A fleet of government cars then transported the material<br />
witnesses from O’Hare <strong>to</strong> the Chicago Metropolitan Correctional Center. 123 As one of<br />
the Evansville material witnesses described the experience:<br />
On the second morning we are taken <strong>to</strong> the Evansville airport. There are<br />
around three cars and many people. All the security guards had a gun. It<br />
becomes serious. Lots of guards surrounding us, no one can go in <strong>to</strong> the<br />
airport. We wait for a plane. Then a huge plane came. The first time a<br />
plane like that ever come in years—Evansville was just <strong>to</strong>o small.<br />
The guards were guarding the airport. Six plus guards were guarding the<br />
airport. Two lines of people, behind me and in front of me—huge, huge<br />
people.<br />
Then we go <strong>to</strong> Chicago … We landed in the El Al [Israeli airline]<br />
terminal. All the people went out. After this we are put in the van. So<br />
many cars in front of us, and so many behind us. The guns were pointed<br />
out of the window, and the sirens were on. All the traffic was s<strong>to</strong>pped.<br />
I think I’m dying. We’ll go somewhere and die. For what, for nothing? 124<br />
The Justice Department’s use of aggressive tactics <strong>to</strong> arrest persons who were<br />
supposedly only material witnesses highlights the authorities’ real intentions. Subjecting<br />
material witnesses—a number of whom had already been providing information <strong>to</strong> the<br />
authorities—<strong>to</strong> abusive arrests using unnecessary force is a dubious tactic if the<br />
authorities truly want cooperative witnesses. Such arrests are more likely <strong>to</strong> serve only <strong>to</strong><br />
alienate witnesses and their families. Whether as a security precaution or <strong>to</strong> procure<br />
confessions, the aggressive tactics the government has employed <strong>to</strong> arrest and detain<br />
material witnesses are another indication that the authorities really have considered the<br />
material witnesses <strong>to</strong> be criminal suspects.<br />
123<br />
Interview with Tarek Omar; HRW/ACLU interview with Tarek Albasti, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July 16,<br />
2004 (Interview with Tarek Albasti); HRW/ACLU interview with Adel Khalil, Evansville, Indiana, June 20, 2004<br />
(Interview with Adel Khalil).<br />
124<br />
Interview with Adel Khalil.<br />
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH VOL. 17, NO. 2(G) 40