Witness to Abuse - Human Rights Watch

High Security Conditions of Detention
The government held them like they were criminals. They treated them like thugs, threw them in high
security as if they were felony convicts. They had to wear orange jump suits. There were in the cells 24
hours a day. They were not allowed to go anywhere unless they were chained at the waist. They were
physically pushed up against the wall. Guards would step on their leg chains. … They were scared to
death. When Awadallah was being questioned by the FBI, his chains were rattling.
—Randy Hamud, lawyer for three post-September 11 material witnesses 125
The government has jailed almost all of the material witnesses held in connection with
post-September 11 counterterrorism investigations under maximum security conditions,
sometimes in the same special units holding the most dangerous prisoners in the facility.
Many have been kept in solitary confinement twenty-four hours a day, with little time
outside their cells for recreation. Some have been held in windowless cells. In some cells
the lights have been kept on morning, noon, and night. Prison officials have handcuffed
and shackled witnesses every time they have been removed from their cells, even during
court appearances. 126 Particularly in the early stages of their detention, they have not
been allowed to call their families or friends. Some of the material witnesses have
endured physical and verbal abuse by prison guards who accused them of being
terrorists. Material witnesses have consistently described their time behind bars as
harrowing.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, the Justice Department had a general policy that
all inmates, including material witnesses “who were at the Metropolitan Detention
Center in Brooklyn in connection with the investigation into the September 11th
terrorist attacks were designated high-security inmates and handled in accordance with
the procedures for such inmates.” 127 The presumption at the Metropolitan Detention
Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, the main New York federal detention facility where many
material witnesses have been held, has been that the witnesses were considered to be
associated with terrorist groups until proven innocent:
125
HRW/ACLU telephone interview with Randy Hamud, attorney for Osama Awadallah, Omer Bakarbashat,
Yazeed al-Salmi, August 16, 2004.
126
The Supreme Court, in holding that the Fifth Amendment bars courts from routinely visibly shackling
defendants during the penalty phase of a capital proceeding, underscored that “[v]isible shackling undermines
the presumption of innocence and the related fairness of the fact finding process.” Deck v. Missouri, 125 S.Ct.
2007, 2013 (2005).
127
United States v. Awadallah. 202 F. Supp. 2d 55. 61 (S.D.N.Y. 2002) (citing "Government's Post-Hearing
Memorandum in Opposition to Defendant's Motions to Dismiss the Indictment and to Suppress the Evidence,”
Dec. 26, 2001, p. 28, 39, overturned on other grounds, 349 F.3d 42, 53 (2d Cir. 2003)) (internal quotes and
brackets omitted).
41 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH VOL. 17, NO. 2(G)