Four Muslims detained by the U.S. for months without charge after the Sept. 11 attacks filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government for illegal detention and abuse.
The four men were allowed to return to the United States to participate in the case, but only under tough conditions including confinement to their hotel rooms and a ban on speaking to anybody outside the case.
The men, who were cleared of any charges, say they suffered inhumane and degrading treatment in a Brooklyn detention center, including solitary confinement, severe beatings, incessant verbal abuse and a total blackout on communications with their families and attorneys.
The Center for Constitutional Rights, which is handling the men’s case, say that they will be deposed over the next two weeks in a class action suit against the U.S. government over the treatment of more than 1,200 Muslim and South Asian men caught after Sept. 11.
CCR legal director Bill Goodman says the government’s restrictions on the men were highly unusual in a civil case and a sign of what he called government "paranoia over Muslim and Middle Eastern men."
The four are among eight named plaintiffs in the case, which names former Attorney General John Ashcroft, FBI Director Robert Mueller, immigration officials and prison officers among the defendants. The suit, originally filed in 2002, seeks compensation and punitive damages.
Abuse
A 2003 report by the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General showed that some prison officers slammed prisoners against walls, twisted their arms and hands in painful ways, stepped on their leg restraint chains and punished them by keeping them restrained for long periods.
The report also said videotapes showed that some prison officers "misused strip searches and restraints to punish detainees and that officers improperly and illegally recorded detainees' meetings with their attorneys."
The Federal Bureau of Prisons said it fired two people, demoted two more and six had been suspended for periods from two days to 30 days.
"It means a lot to our clients that finally someone is being held accountable for the brutality they experienced," said CCR attorney Matthew Strugar.
"But we believe the responsibility for these abuses goes further up the chain of command at the Bureau of Prisons and we are disappointed more individuals have not yet been held accountable."
Hey i have a relative that just came from that center because the FBI tried to get something on him tax fraud, he was in there for 2 months came out this month of january. He told me alot of the imams and muslims in there actually everyone of them were innocent, they just put them in there to satisfy that they got some one. But no one went near the muslims because they all workout and have bulging arms and my relative told me they had a strong bond and kept close to eachother which made them very strong. Al hamdullah my father didnt experience any of these abuse. Just to tell everyone since the patrioat act was in store over 400 arrests have been made. And only 1 person was suspicious or had an alleged link to al qaeda. That means that you might know someone who knows someone else who knows that guy then that girl then that guy that guy that guy that guy and thats considered an alleged link
Last edited by mahdisoldier19; 01-24-2006 at 05:37 PM.
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