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Amnesty Calls for Humane Treatment of Investigation Detainees
WASHINGTON,
Oct 25 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Amnesty International this week called on law enforcement authorities to abide by international law standards in the detention of hundreds of men in the investigation following the September 11 terror attacks on New York and Washington.
The London-based international human rights group said in its statement released Tuesday that it was "disturbed" by reports that many detainees were denied access to lawyers or visits with family, and by reports of the physical conditions in which some of the detainees were kept.
Since September 11, nearly 700 people, mostly of Middle Eastern background, have been detained under charges of immigration violations or on "material witness" orders, whereby the detainee is held because of personal encounters with those suspected to be behind the terror attacks.
A Washington Post article on October 15, which detailed concerns surrounding the investigation detainees, said that although it is not clear how long a material witness may legally be held, those held under immigration violations can be held nearly indefinitely, especially if deportation proceedings are begun.
"Some of these people have done nothing more than give someone a ride in their car," said a senior federal law enforcement official, who preferred not to have his name published in the Post article, adding that some are held for more than a week without being able to contact a lawyer or family members.
Amnesty said in its statement that international standards dictate "prompt access to counsel for detainees" as a basic right, and that particularly in light of new detention authorities granted to police after September 11, it is vital to "safeguard against abuse, even during emergency situations."
Some lawyers have been given "gag" orders forbidding them from reporting on proceedings in their cases, the statement said.
An October 15 article in the Los Angeles Times also looked into the issues surrounding the investigation and detentions.
The Times said it contacted several defense lawyers and civil rights monitors in an attempt to find out more about the detainees and their treatment, and the paper said every single contact complained that their clients had been detained too long and most had suffered some form of mistreatment or unwarranted adversity.
The group also expressed concern regarding possible violations of international standards for humane treatment in the process of these detentions.
It gave the example of two men being held in solitary confinement in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York who are reportedly denied exercise, kept in cold cells with only one blanket, subjected to full strip searches twice a day despite having only non-contact visits, and shackled at the hands and feet whenever they leave their cells.
The men were only being held as material witnesses, but their conditions were worse than those of some convicted prisoners. Amnesty says that according to standards for prisoner treatment, "all prisoners should receive at least one hour's daily outdoor exercise; that restraints should be used only when strictly necessary and that chains and irons should not be used as restraints."
Last week, seven of the eight men being held in Evansville, Indian were released without charge after being held for a week in a Chicago prison.
The men were taken into custody after a U.S. magistrate ruled they were material witnesses in a grand jury investigation in Alexandria, Virginia, Associated Press (AP) reported.
All the men are Egyptian and their family members were not told why they were being held in the first place.
Jerry Baugh, the father-in-law of one of the men, Tarek Albasti, the 29-year-old owner of an Italian restaurant in Evansville, said the family did not know why the men were under investigation.
Baugh, whose daughter met Albasti while she was studying at a college in Egypt in the early 1990s, said he believed his son-in-law was targeted because he was taking flying lessons, AP reported.
"He's grateful to be going home," said Kenneth Cunniss, the lawyer representing Albasti. "He cooperated fully and they released him."
Cunniss said a court ordered "gag" prevented him from commenting on his client's case.
The other men have been identified as Tarek Eid Omar, 26; Khaled Salah Nassr, 25; Yasser Shahin, 24; Adel Ramadan Khalil, 46; Hesham Salem, 28; Ahmed Attia Hassan, 26; and Fathy Saleh Abdelkhalek, 34.
A ninth Evansville man, Mohammed Youssef, also remains detained.
Meanwhile, news agencies reported that a Pakistani national who was detained after September 11 and awaiting deportation died of "natural causes" in a northern New Jersey jail, according to a criminal justice official.
Muhammed Butt, 55, died Tuesday "of natural causes from a pre-existing heart condition," Emily Hornaday told Agence France-Presse (AFP) by telephone from Trenton.
"He did not have anthrax. He was taking antibiotics but he did not have anthrax," she said.
Butt had been "in custody by the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) in the process of being deported," she said.
He was staying in a Hudson County jail in northern New Jersey which had a contract with the federal government to house detainees.
Jacob Delemos, a spokesman for the Hudson County executive's office, said Butt had been arrested "during that time after September 11 during the FBI's aggressive approach to the investigation."
He had been handed over to the INS on September 20 and was held at Hudson the past three weeks, Delemos said.
Hornaday said Butt had lived in the New York borough of Queens and had no next-of-kin in the United States.
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