He's not a citizen, so I could care less. > -----Original Message----- > From: Dana Tierney [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Monday, October 16, 2006 6:26 AM > To: CF-Community > Subject: Re: Republicans Suspend Habeas Corpus > > Here for instance, is this ok? This is in today's paper. This guy > apparently broke an immigration law and was sentenced to 175 days in > custody. Fair nuff. But that was five years ago, and they still haven't > gotten around to releasing him. He is still in jail for no apparent > reason, is that alright with you? > > Unbelievable. > > 1 Man Still Locked Up From 9/11 Sweeps > > By MARTHA MENDOZA | Associated Press > October 16, 2006 > > In a jail cell at an immigration detention center in Arizona sits a man > who is not charged with a crime, not suspected of a crime, not considered > a danger to society. > > But he has been in custody for five years. > > His name is Ali Partovi. And according to the Department of Homeland > Security, he is the last to be held of about 1,200 Arab and Muslim men > swept up by authorities in the United States after the Sept. 11, 2001, > terror attacks. > > There has been no full accounting of all of these individuals. Nor has a > promised federal policy to protect against unrestricted sweeps been > produced. > > Human rights groups tried to track the detainees; members of Congress > denounced the arrests. They all believed that all of those who had been > arrested had been deported, released or processed through the criminal > justice system. > > Just this summer, it was reported that an Algerian man, Benemar "Ben" > Benatta, was the last detainee, and that his transfer to Canada had closed > the book on the post-9/11 sweeps. > > But now The Associated Press has learned that at least one person - > Partovi - is still being held. The Department of Homeland Security insists > he really is the last one in custody. > > "Certainly it's not our goal as an agency to keep anyone detained > indefinitely," said DHS spokesman Dean Boyd. Boyd said the department > would like to remove Partovi from the United States but that he refuses to > return to his homeland of Iran. > > And so he remains, a curious remnant of a desperate time. > > --- > > Within hours of the Sept. 11 attacks - before it was even clear if they > were over - the FBI was ordered to identify the terrorists who had managed > to slip so smoothly into American society and to catch anyone who might > have been working with them. The FBI operation was called PENTTBOM; it was > swift and fierce, and the stakes couldn't have been higher. > > When in doubt, the orders came, arrest now and ask questions later. To > make this easier, law enforcement officials were authorized to use > immigration charges as needed. The risk of allowing terrorists to slip > away just because there wasn't ample evidence to hold them on terror > charges could not be tolerated. And thus hundreds of individuals who were > not terrorists, nor associated with terrorists, were temporarily taken > into city, county and federal custody. > > They were caught in their bedrooms while they slept, pulled from the > restaurant kitchens where they worked, stopped at the border, even federal > offices where they had gone to seek help. In the end, then-Attorney > General John Ashcroft's call for "aggressive detentions" in the > unprecedented sweeps netted more than 1,200 individuals in less than two > months. > > The initial reaction to the sweeps was confusion. Members of Congress, > leading civil rights organizations, Arab and Muslim activists, even the > Justice Department's internal watchdogs, didn't know how to react. > > "After 9/11, everyone was caught off guard. There was so much secrecy > surrounding the government's policies that it took a number of months > before the public and civil-liberties groups began unraveling what the > government was doing," said Lee Gelernt, an American Civil Liberties Union > attorney. > > Then came demands, from Congress, from the Justice Department's Inspector > General, from the ACLU and Human Rights Watch and from Arab and Muslim > activists, that these individuals must be accounted for. > > To date that hasn't occurred. > > "The fact is the United States has not come forward with information on > what happened to these people, or released their names," said Rachel > Meeropol, a staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, an > advocacy organization that represents several detainees being held in > Guantanamo. "Our understanding is that the majority of these people who > were swept up on immigration violations were then held in detention until > they were cleared of any connection to terrorism. We believe that accounts > for the vast majority of people who were swept up." > > Here's what is known: 762 of the 1,200 PENTTBOM arrestees were charged > with immigration violations at the behest of the FBI because agents > thought they might be associated with terrorism. Partovi was one of these > 762. Much as Partovi used a false passport, nearly all of these detainees > had violated immigration laws, either by overstaying their visas, entering > the country illegally, or violating some other immigration law. > > Unlike Partovi, almost everyone was either deported or released within a > few months. > > There were still at least 438 other individuals who were not accounted > for. Most of those individuals, said Justice Department officials, were > released within days. But at least 93 were charged with federal crimes and > processed through the courts, and an unknown number were deemed material > witnesses. > > As the years passed, said the ACLU's Gelernt, public concern faded. > > "Initially there was a lot of attention on the 1,200 people, but we're > still not sure exactly what happened to all of them," said the ACLU's > Gelernt. > > The repercussions are still being felt, say advocates. > > "Those 1,200 were taken in on pseudo-immigration charges," said Jennifer > Daskal of Human Rights Watch. "It really is a black mark on the U.S. and > it undermines our intelligence gathering because it creates distrust > between law enforcement officials and communities where those officials > should be building rapport and trust." > > "People lost years of their lives and families were ripped apart in the > frenzy of fear," said Kerri Sherlock, director of policy and planning at > the Rights Working Group, an advocacy organization in Washington D.C. "Do > we really want to be a country that locks people up without guaranteeing > their basic constitutional rights?" > > --- > > In June 2003, the Justice Department's inspector general, an in-house > auditor, found widespread abuses in the way immigration laws were used to > hold people suspected of terrorism in the months following 9/11. The > inspector general made 21 recommendations aimed at protecting individuals' > civil rights. Twenty of those recommendations have been adopted. > > The last recommendation calls for the Justice Department and the > Department of Homeland Security to formalize policies, responsibilities, > and procedures for managing a national emergency that involves alien > detainees. After the inspector general's report, the Justice and Homeland > Security departments agreed with the recommendation and began negotiating > over language. Officials at both departments say those negotiations are > still going on. > > "The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice > continue to work toward the development of formal joint policies and > approaches for the handling of such national security cases during periods > of national impact," said Homeland Security Department spokesman Dean > Boyd. > > However, Boyd stressed that guidelines were set up in 2004 to make sure > detainees' rights are being protected on a case-by-case basis. > > "We learned from the past," he said. "We evaluate each situation to make > sure it's being handled fairly." > > Tim Lynch, a lawyer with the libertarian think tank Cato Institute, said > guidelines are not enough. > > "I don't think the guidelines will mean very much in an emergency if they > don't have the binding force of law," he said. "We shouldn't be surprised > if those guidelines aren't followed if there's another massive attack." > > --- > > When the AP wrote Ali Partovi to ask for an interview, he called collect > from the Florence Correctional Center, a privately run detention center in > Arizona where he is held. Adamantly, he said he did not want to be > interviewed and that he wanted to remain private, even though he said > understood his case files, including litigation he files himself, are part > of the public record. > > He later reportedly told a public affairs officer at the facility that he > is too busy for an interview - perhaps preparing his many legal appeals. > > In his lawsuits - there have been seven so far - Partovi claims he is a > victim of civil rights abuses and demands between $5 million and $10 > million in restitution. The most recent was filed in July. > > The staff at the jail where he was first held "poured hot coffee on my > body, they also poured cold ice water on my body," he wrote in one, > claiming that staffers also cuffed his hands and feet, which caused "my > ankle and lower extremities to swell abnormally." > > "It is my firm belief that I am constantly subjected to physical abuse > (because) of my ethnicity, I am Iranian of Persian birth," he wrote in > another, filed this summer. In that lawsuit he claimed that immigration > officers forced him to kneel while handcuffed, and then kicked and punched > his stomach and kidneys. > > "As you can imagine, this is very, very painful when you are cuffed from > behind," he wrote. > > A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney said that office was aware of the > lawsuits but could not comment on them. A detention center spokesman said > he was not aware of any lawsuits and could not respond. > > Partovi doesn't have a lawyer, and he told the AP he doesn't want one, > choosing instead to represent himself, gleaning expertise from the prison > library. > > He did have a lawyer once, when he was arrested in Guam in the fall of > 2001, trying to enter the country on a fraudulent Italian passport. > > "Mr. Partovi came into Guam International Airport using a false passport. > He explained about having been married to a Japanese women and the > arrangement wasn't working out. He applied for political asylum, and I > believe the federal government thought he might be a terror suspect," said > Curtis Charles Van de Veld, who was hired by the federal government to > represent him. > > Partovi was sentenced to 175 days in custody, which he had already served > by the time he pleaded guilty in 2002. Then he was turned over to the > Department of Homeland Security. > > Until the AP contacted him, Van de Veld didn't realize his former client > was still in custody. > > "I'm surprised he hasn't contacted me," he said. > > http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/50726.html > >
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