From: valston-AT-email.arizona.edu
Subject: NYTimes.com Article: Detentions After Attacks Pass 1,000, U.S. Says 
Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2001 15:38:20 -0500 (EST)


This article from NYTimes.com 
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Detentions After Attacks Pass 1,000, U.S. Says

October 30, 2001 

By NEIL A. LEWIS


 

WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 - Justice Department officials said
today that the number of people who had been detained in
connection with the Sept. 11 attacks had surpassed 1,000,
and civil liberties advocates said the government's refusal
to disclose the identities of those held and the charges
against them raised the possibility of secret detentions. 

The arrests have been shrouded in confusion and secrecy,
with the Justice Department providing a running tally but
declining, in most cases, to provide names and details. 

Justice Department officials said today that they were
slowly releasing information about some of the arrests but
were prohibited from doing so in some cases and were not
required to do so in many others. 

Mindy Tucker, a Justice Department spokeswoman, stressed
that all of those arrested had had access to lawyers. She
said Attorney General John Ashcroft was confident that all
the actions of law enforcement officials in the
investigation had been consistent with the law and the
Constitution's protections. 

Nonetheless, a coalition of civil liberties groups said
today that it would file a lawsuit against the government
demanding that officials identify who has been arrested,
what charges have been filed against them and where they
are being held. 

"While certain aspects of the F.B.I. investigation into the
terrorist attacks need to be secret, we do not live in a
country where the government can keep secret who they
arrest, where they are being held, or the charges against
them," said Kate Martin, the director of the Center for
National Security Studies, one of several groups that
called on the government today to give out more
information. 

"The secret detention of more than 800 people over the past
few weeks is frighteningly close to the practice of
`disappearing' people in Latin America," she said in a
statement. 

Gregory T. Nojeim, the legislative counsel of the American
Civil Liberties Union, said today that he and a few others
from his organization met on Friday with Robert S. Mueller
III, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation,
to ask for more information about those arrested. He said
Mr. Mueller was largely unresponsive and provided no
information. 

Ms. Tucker, the Justice Department spokeswoman, said those
detained fell into three categories: a small number of
material witnesses, about 180 people charged with
immigration violations and, the largest group, those being
held on federal, state or local criminal charges unrelated
to the Sept. 11 attacks. 

Ms. Tucker said the number of those arrested in connection
with the investigation of the terrorist attacks was now
1,017; most of those people are still in custody. 

In the early days of the investigation, the Justice
Department acknowledged that two people had been arrested
on material witness warrants. Ms. Tucker said more had been
held on such warrants but she would not say how many; the
arrest files of everyone in that category have been sealed
because of a continuing grand jury investigation. 

Of those arrested on possible immigration violations, she
said, all are believed to have some connection to terrorist
organizations or have some information, although none have
been charged with terrorist crimes. 

Ms. Tucker said the arrests on immigration charges for
people suspected of having some involvement in terrorist
activities reflected the department's new approach
emphasizing prevention of terrorist acts. Attorney General
Ashcroft said last week that the department would prosecute
people suspected of association with terrorist groups on
whatever charges they could find in order to get them out
of the country or in jail. 

Ms. Tucker said that before the terrorist attacks, the
department had never disclosed the identities of people
charged with immigration violations. Now, she said, the
department is beginning to release details of some of the
cases, though not the names of those arrested. 

The department has released the names of some people
charged with federal criminal violations, but Ms. Tucker
said some of those cases have been sealed by judges at the
request of prosecutors. 

David Cole, a lawyer with the Center for Constitutional
Rights, which is part of the coalition seeking more details
from officials, said today that it was possible that the
government had done nothing improper but that it was
impossible to tell without more information. He said there
were anecdotal reports of detainees unable to reach lawyers
and of lawyers unable to reach their clients. 

The most common news reports of abuse involve mistreatment
of prisoners of Middle Eastern background at jails.
Prosecutors in Brooklyn are investigating charges that a
prisoner detained in connection with the terrorist
investigation had been beaten by a guard at the
Metropolitan Detention Center. The prisoner, Mohammed
Maddy, was indicted today on a variety of criminal charges,
including lying to the F.B.I. and immigration officials. 

The F.B.I. is also investigating a complaint that a
20-year-old student from Pakistan was beaten by inmates
while guards stood by in a Mississippi jail. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/30/national/30DETA.html?ex=1005474300&ei=1&en=dc00f01bdf585c70



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