Witness to Abuse - Human Rights Watch

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elief from deportation under a federal statute implementing the Convention against Torture. 307 Upon his September 2001 arrest, and during the trial, newspapers gave extensive coverage to his situation, labeling him a high-profile suspect, with leads referring to him as “No. 27 on the FBI’s list of terror suspects after Sept. 11.” 308 An immigration judge in Detroit denied al-Marabh’s asylum claim under the Convention Against Torture. 309 Upon returning to Syria, al-Marabh was questioned and detained by Syrian authorities. He has subsequently reported that he has been under surveillance. 310 The U.S. government has persisted in alleging he is a terrorist, leaking secret documents to the press as late as June 2004. 311 Since these documents were released, U.S. advocates who had been in touch with al-Marabh have lost contact with him. 312 307 United States Policy with Respect to the Involuntary Return of Persons in Danger of Subjection To Torture, Pub. L. No. 105-277, Fiv. G, Title XXII, § 2242, Oct. 21, 1998, 112 Stat. 2681-2. Under the Convention against Torture, the United States may not return anyone to a country where they face the likelihood of torture. Art. 3. 308 “Despite Fears of Terror Ties, Suspect Goes back to Syria,” New York Times, June 3, 2004. International newspapers reported that al-Marabh was “reputed to be a close associate of Osama bin Laden” and described al-Marabh as the “the object of a nationwide terrorism manhunt.” David Ashenfelter, “Former Terror Suspect Testifies in Court Hearing; Deposition Held for 4 Facing Federal Charges,” Detroit Free Press, March 14, 2003; Paul Gustafson, “Accused Terror Supporter on Trial; Secrecy Shrouds the Detroit Trial of a Former Minnesotan Who is Accused with Three Others of Providing Help and Resources to Terrorists,” Star Tribune, March 19, 2003. Press accounts on al-Marabh were headlined “Attack on America—Faces of the Hijackers—FBI Believes Plotters Planned to Seize Six Airliners,” “FBI Alleges Plot for Attack,” and “Terror Detainee Spends 8 Months in Solitary.” Paul Kelso, Nick Hopkins, John Hooper, Richard Norton-Taylor, “Attack on America—Faces of the Hijackers—FBI Believes Plotters Planned to Seize Six Airliners,” The Guardian, Sept. 19, 2001; Steve Fainaru, “Terror Detainee Spends 8 Months in Solitary.” Washington Post, June 12, 2002. 309 Although al-Marabh was never criminally charged with terrorism, the immigration judge found al-Marabh to be ineligible for relief under the Convention against Torture because he posed a danger to national security. The immigration judge further held that even if al-Marabh were eligible, he should not be granted relief under international law in part because “the documentary evidence fails to prove a risk of persecution [in Syria] as there is no evidence indicating anyone similarly situated has been persecuted or harmed in Syria.” However, the U.S. State Department has consistently reported on torture in Syrian prisons. In the 2001 country report, the State Department observed: “[d]espite the existence of constitutional provisions and several Penal Code penalties for abusers, there was credible evidence that security forces continued to use torture, although to a lesser extent than in previous years. Former prisoners and detainees report that torture methods include administering electrical shocks; pulling out fingernails; forcing objects into the rectum; beating, sometimes while the victim is suspended from the ceiling; hyperextending the spine; and using a chair that bends backwards to asphyxiate the victim or fracture the victim's spine.” U.S. Department of State, “Syria,” 2001 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, March 4, 2002, available online at: http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2001/nea/8298.htm, accessed on June 17, 2005. See also: Human Rights Watch, “Still at Risk: Diplomatic Assurances No Safeguard against Torture,” Vol. 17, No. 4(D), April 2005; Human Rights Watch, “Human Rights Watch Report to the Canadian Commission of Inquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in Relation to Maher Arar,” June 7, 2005, available online at: http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/eca/canada/arar/, accessed on June 17, 2005. 310 HRW/ACLU interview with Adem Carroll, director, Islamic Circle of North America, April 2004 (Interview with Adem Carroll). 311 John Solomon (Associated Press), “Detroit suspect plotted terror, FBI told; Indictment attempts prove unsuccessful,” Detroit Free Press, June 3, 2004 (“Nabil Almarabh, the on-again, off-again Detroit terrorism suspect who was deported to Syria in January, actually plotted terrorism, a Jordanian informant told the FBI.”). 312 Interview with Adem Carroll. HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH VOL. 17, NO. 2(G) 96
Ayub Ali Khan and Mohammad Azmath Ayub Ali Khan and Mohammad Azmath were held in solitary confinement for more than a year under the material witness law and on immigration and minor criminal charges, amidst news reports that they were terrorist suspects. 313 Even though they are back in their hometown of Hyderbabad, India, they continue to face suspicion. Although the two men never faced terrorism charges, when they were arrested as material witnesses, U.S. government sources immediately leaked to the U.S. and Indian press their suspicions that Khan and Azmath were “planning to hijack a fifth plane, perhaps at the nation’s second-biggest airport in Dallas.” 314 International newspapers reported: “Investigators believe the pair were part of a hijack team which lost its nerve.” 315 Soon after the arrest, Indian and U.S. papers reported government sources had indicated that the men were involved with the Anthrax attacks 316 and that they were “seen” with two suspected hijackers; neither claim was ever substantiated. 317 Upon the arrest of Khan and Azmath, their families in India immediately became the subject of U.S. scrutiny and investigation by the Indian government. 318 According to the two men, U.S. and Indian authorities questioned their families in India while the U.S. authorities told the men, “We searched your house. We will make sure that your family will get prison.” 319 Over the next three months, Indian authorities repeatedly searched their residences, seized their property, including marriage albums and family records, and posted officers outside of their families’ houses. 320 The families became a target of state and community suspicion, with Khan’s picture appearing on the front page of an Indian newspaper with the caption, “Is this Osama’s man in India?” 321 In addition, while Azmath was detained, Indian officials focused their suspicion on Azmath’s wife, Tasleem Murad, a Pakistani national who had moved to India following 313 Christopher Drew and Ralph Blumenthal, “Arrested Men’s Shaven Bodies Drew Suspicion of the F.B.I.,” New York Times, Oct. 26, 2001; Lenny Savino and Nancy San Martin, “FBI Arrests Illinois Man; Fake IDs investigated,” The Miami Herald, Sept. 21, 2001. 314 Richard Serrano, Eric Lichtblau, “Men Identified as the Hijackers Investigation: Terrorists are believed to belong to isolated cells,” Los Angeles Times, Sept. 14, 2001. 315 Jason Burke and Martin Berlin, “Terror in America—Frantic Battle to Prevent Further Attacks—Security Forces in Global Hunt for Terrorists,” The Observer, Sept. 16, 2001. 316 John P. Martin, “Suspects Had Bioterror Articles,” Star-Leger, Oct. 19, 2003; Dharam Shourie, “FBI Testing Documents Seized from Indians' Room for Anthrax,” Press Trust of India, Oct. 26, 2001. 317 “New York City World Trade Center Suspects ‘Seen' with Hijackers,” The Times of India, Oct. 29, 2001. 318 Interview with Mohammad Azmath and Ayub Ali Khan. Syed Amin Jafri, “Kin of Indian suspects quizzed by FBI,” India Abroad, Sept. 28, 2001. 319 Interview with Mohammad Azmath. 320 Interview with Ayub Ali Khan; Interview with Mohammad Azmath. 321 S. Hussain Zaidi, “Is This Osama’s Man in India?” Sunday MidDay, Chalo Mumbai, September 23, 2001. 97 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH VOL. 17, NO. 2(G)
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Human Rights Watch June 2005 Vol. 1
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Summary After I got in the cell I w
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were almost all the witnesses Musli
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combination with having worked in t
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Recommendations The recommendations
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o requiring the government to infor
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eflects a compromise between an ind
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the witness for immigration or prob
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those suspected of committing a cri
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Arizona, and Florida, where the nin
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testimony—you get fingerprints, y
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The FBI appeared to believe that Ma
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interrogating him, without counsel,
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Jose Padilla On May 8, 2002, the Ju
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The Justice Department has often st
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criticism on the conduct of Assista
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government failed to take Diab’s
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Eric Sears, a former federal prosec
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sentencing. The judge finally got a
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accompanied by extensive searches c
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and young children. 121 He was deta
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High Security Conditions of Detenti
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Harassment and Abuse in Jail Many m
Page 47 and 48: uised. See id. In the elevator, the
Page 49 and 50: In practice, then, court approval o
Page 51 and 52: I kept asking what am I being charg
Page 53 and 54: As Mark Foster, the lawyer for one
Page 55 and 56: Federal marshals transferred the ei
Page 57 and 58: [T]he government filed all their pa
Page 59 and 60: Federal agents have also refused to
Page 61 and 62: In many cases, the trauma of forcef
Page 63 and 64: In January 2002, another hotel gues
Page 65 and 66: abuse, international human rights 2
Page 67 and 68: It is not clear why the courts have
Page 69 and 70: Things go on behind those doors tha
Page 71 and 72: providing interviews, submitting to
Page 73 and 74: Detaining Witnesses Who Cooperate w
Page 75 and 76: stayed with the FBI agents for eigh
Page 77 and 78: government, “I’m not coming.”
Page 79 and 80: armed forces for several years and
Page 81 and 82: Congress included the deposition re
Page 83 and 84: X. Haste, Incompetence, Prejudice:
Page 85 and 86: government’s basis was weak. Thes
Page 87 and 88: target, 272 the state police ordere
Page 89 and 90: Khan and Azmath were deported in Ja
Page 91 and 92: told them I told them I had no idea
Page 93 and 94: y subletting their apartment. Altho
Page 95 and 96: The post-scripts to the stories of
Page 97: I could not ask questions. What’s
Page 101 and 102: get all these kinds of questions—
Page 103: Human Rights Watch and the American
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