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Swept Up in a Dragnet, Hundreds Sit in Custody and Ask, 'Why?'
By JODI WILGOREN
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/25/national/25DETA.html?ei=1&en=5cef1803fc919ad3&ex=1007720228&pagewanted=all
Osama Elfar was dozing on a hard bench under the ever-present drone of the
prison television set when a guard's voice crackled over the intercom,
"Happy birthday." Otherwise, Nov. 9 would have passed without Mr. Elfar
even noticing he had turned 30.
"When you're here, you don't know day from night, Thursday from Friday
it's all the same," Mr. Elfar said in a telephone interview from the
Mississippi County Correctional Facility in Charleston, Mo. "A new decade
start for me. Unfortunately, I was locked up."
An Egyptian who came to the United States five years ago to attend a
Florida flight school, Mr. Elfar recently worked as a mechanic for a small
airline in St. Louis. He has been in jail for two months and began a
hunger strike on Friday to protest his incarceration.
Mr. Elfar is among hundreds of little- known foreigners swept up in a vast
dragnet after the terrorist attacks some of whom have rsums suspiciously
like those of the 19 hijackers, and others who have spent days, weeks and
now months in prison for immigration violations that before Sept. 11 would
probably have been ignored or resolved with paperwork. Government
officials say that the aggressive response is warranted by the
extraordinary situation, and that they are simply enforcing longstanding
laws.
"Sept. 11 has forced the entire government to change the way we do
business," said Mindy Tucker, a spokeswoman for the Justice Department.
"Our No. 1 priority right now is to prevent any further terrorist attacks.
Part of that entails identifying those who may have connections to
terrorism who are here in America and making sure they're not in a
position to carry out any further terrorism."
Over all, more than 1,200 people have been detained as part of the
sweeping investigation, including men traveling the country with large
amounts of cash and box cutters, and those who sought information on
crop-dusters and flying lessons on large jets.
But a senior law enforcement official said for the first time last week
that just 10 to 15 of the detainees are suspected as Al Qaeda
sympathizers, and that the government has yet to find evidence indicating
that any of them had knowledge of the Sept. 11 attacks or acted as
accomplices.
While most members of this small group are being held in New York on
material witness warrants, some 500 others almost twice as many as
previously believed are in federal custody on immigration charges for
violations like overstaying their visas or lying on documents.
A handful of those arrested are believed to have known some of of the
suspected hijackers. Osama Awadallah, for instance, wrote about one of
them in a college exam book, prosecutors say. Another student, Mohdar
Abdallah, is in jail because his name was found on a slip of paper in a
rental car one of the hijackers parked at Dulles International Airport in
Washington before his suicide mission.
Others seem to have drawn suspicion for more coincidental reasons. An
Egyptian antiques dealer from Arkansas named Hady Hassan Omar made plane
reservations on a Kinko's computer around the same time one of the
hijackers did so at the same place; he spent two months in jail before
being released on Friday. A Pakistani gas station attendant was just a few
minutes ahead of Mohammed Atta, the suspected ringleader, in the line to
renew his driver's license; he was denied bail by a Miami judge.
Of those snared in the government's net, many have cooperated with the
F.B.I., admitted that they violated their visa agreements and agreed to
leave the country. But they remain in jail.
Now, as the Justice Department seeks to interview 5,000 young men who have
arrived here from the Middle East on temporary visas in the past two
years, immigration attorneys and Arab-American community leaders are
worried that cooperation may lead to the same fate as that of those
already detained.
"The impact of all this is alienating the very community whose confidence
and support is critical to a successful investigation," said Lucas
Guttentag, director of the immigration rights project of the American
Civil Liberties Union.
The F.B.I. has so far denied a Freedom of Information Act request filed by
a coalition of 21 Arab-American and human rights groups demanding a list
of who is jailed, where and why. Earlier this month, six members of
Congress made a similar request. Ms. Tucker said that the department was
prevented from releasing some information because judges have sealed
criminal cases, and that some information has been given to Congress.
"People don't want to step forward to help with bail," said Randall Hamud,
a San Diego lawyer who represents three detained students, one of whom has
been released. "They're afraid if they give money, they'll be put on an
F.B.I. hit list."
Mr. Elfar, the man who turned 30 in the detention center, said he was
expecting F.B.I. questions because he had entered the country to study at
the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla., as did
one of the hijackers. Agents picked him up on Sept. 24 at Lambert-St.
Louis International Airport, where he had been repairing planes for Trans
States Airlines, a small regional carrier, for several years.
Investigators seized Mr. Elfar's address book, phone bills and computer.
On Oct. 5, he was given a lie detector test.
A month ago, Mr. Elfar, who is from Alexandria, Egypt, was granted a
"voluntary departure," which means he must leave the country but would not
be blocked from returning. He was supposed to fly out by Friday; instead,
he is still in jail.
"He's willing to buy a ticket, but they're not finalizing this," said
Dorothy Harper, Mr. Elfar's lawyer. "Whether they're investigating more,
whether they just want to keep him around for a while, I don't know."
Already fasting during daylight hours because of Ramadan, Mr. Elfar said
Friday that he was starting a hunger strike and would only drink a glass
of water each sunset to fulfill his religious obligation of breaking the
fast.
"A lot of things that were on my mind I do not believe it anymore, like
the fair trial, the free speech," he said.
Though the government has provided scant information, the story of the
detainees has begun to emerge through interviews with their lawyers,
relatives and friends. Here are a few of their stories.
Ali al-Maqtari
In the two months he spent in a detention center in Mason, Tenn., Ali
al-Maqtari had a lot of time to think about why he had lost his liberty.
But even now, two weeks after he was released with a simple, "You're free
to go," he is unable to explain it.
"They said this is a free country, right?" he said. "But for two months I
was locked up, I suffered there and my wife had to leave the Army, and for
something I didn't do. I really don't understand it, and no one will
explain it to me."
Immigration officials will not discuss the matter. But court papers show
that Mr. Maqtari was detained because authorities found two box cutters in
his car, along with postcards of New York City, as he drove to Fort
Campbell, Ky., where his wife was reporting for Army duty on Sept. 15.
Although an immigration judge asked the government to present more solid
evidence for holding Mr. Maqtari, the government declined to do so, saying
only that he might be part of a larger terrorist "mosaic." "What may seem
trivial to some may appear of great moment to those within the F.B.I. or
the intelligence community," wrote Michael E. Rolince, the F.B.I.'s
international terrorism section chief, in an Oct. 11 affidavit justifying
Mr. Maqtari's detention. He added that the bureau was unable to rule out
the possibility he was linked to the Sept. 11 attacks.
Mr. Maqtari, 26, was born in Yemen, studied in France and came to the
United States on a tourist visa last year with hopes of becoming a French
teacher. He met Tiffinay Hughes, a native of North Carolina and a convert
to Islam, through an online chat room, and they were married in June. He
had planned to study at Southern Connecticut State University in New
Haven, but his wife, a member of the National Guard, wanted to enlist, so
he drove her to Fort Campbell.
At the gate, the two were ordered out of their car and questioned while
the car was searched, Mr. Maqtari said. His lawyer, Michael J. Boyle of
New Haven, said her picture had already been posted at the guardhouse
because she had picked up her military orders in Massachusetts on Sept. 13
wearing an Islamic head covering. While he was taken to Memphis for
questioning, she was trailed by guards around the base for weeks, while
other soldiers openly asked her if she was a spy. She said base officers
encouraged her to take an honorable discharge, and she finally did so on
Oct. 28.
Meanwhile, Mr. Maqtari was held at the West Tennessee Detention Center for
weeks, able to speak by phone to his wife once a week. On Oct. 1, an
immigration judge agreed to release him on $50,000 bond, but the
immigration service appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals, saying
he was a danger to the community. The board said the service could
continue to hold Mr. Maqtari, but asked for additional proof. A month
later, when the service had provided no more proof than the Rolince
affidavit, the board said Mr. Maqtari could go.
The couple has moved back to New Haven, where both plan to study education
and look for work.
"I just want to get my life back," he said. "I just hope people will trust
me now."
David Firestone
Ahmed Abou el-Kheir
Ahmed Abou el-Kheir was among the first wave of people arrested following
the Sept. 11 attacks. He arrived in the United States on a tourist visa on
Sept. 7. He was arrested and has been in jail ever since on a variety of
charges.
Details are scant as to why Mr. Kheir, 28, came under suspicion. All
documents pertaining to his status as a material witness are under seal.
Law-enforcement authorities declined comment on the case.
In a recent telephone interview from the Passaic County jail in New
Jersey, where he is being held, Mr. Kheir, an Egyptian citizen, said he
believed there was suspicion he had "a relationship with one of the
hijackers." He said he was shown an array of photographs, apparently of
suspected hijackers, and was asked whether he knew any of them.
"I'm sure that I didn't know any of them," he said. One person familiar
with the investigation said a polygraph test of Mr. Kheir raised some
questions about the veracity of his answers.
Mr. Kheir contended he was arrested because "I was Egyptian and Arabic and
Muslim this is the reason they hold me."
Mr. Kheir was picked up in the days after the attacks and initially
charged with trespassing in the suburban Maryland hotel where he was
staying, said his lawyer, Martin R. Stolar. At some point in late
September, while still in custody, Mr. Kheir was charged as a material
witness.
On Oct. 11, however, investigators dismissed the material witness order.
But before he could be released, Mr. Kheir was served with an arrest
warrant charging that he had failed to pay a $250 fine for a 1998
disorderly conduct charge in the Bronx, Mr. Stolar said.
On Oct. 12, Mr. Kheir appeared before a judge in the Bronx, Mr. Stolar
said. The warrant was vacated, and he was given a conditional discharge.
Mr. Stolar then learned that there was another request to detain his
client, this time from the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Documents charged that Mr. Kheir, who had visited the United States on two
previous occasions, had held jobs while on a tourist visa.
Because of these violations, Mr. Kheir was eventually ordered to leave the
country, Mr. Stolar said. So far, Mr. Kheir has not been able to go
anywhere. The immigration service will not deport him without his
passport, which the F.B.I. still has. Mr. Stolar said he has been calling
the two agencies, trying "to get the two of them together, so the I.N.S.
can pick up the man's passport and get the guy on the airplane."
Benjamin Weiser
Yael Antebi
At 2:30 a.m. after Halloween night, when she heard the knock on the door
at her Columbia, Mo., apartment, Yael Antebi was on the phone, calling her
father in Israel, where it was morning.
Her father didn't have time to answer before Ms. Antebi, 21, was arrested
by immigration agents, taken to Kansas City and put in jail there. Ms.
Antebi came to the United States in late September to visit her boyfriend,
and the two of them, like dozens of other young Israelis here, had found
work selling plastic toy helicopters and puzzles in shopping mall kiosks.
While her immigration papers were valid, Ms. Antebi was detained because
her tourist visa prohibited employment, an offense that, in normal times,
rarely results in detention. She was not alone. Around the country, at
least 70 other young Israelis, including her boyfriend, have been detained
on similar charges.
It was an anxious time for Ms. Antebi's parents, who live near Haifa; they
got the message that their daughter had called, but all day, whenever they
tried to call back, there was no answer.
"We were very worried," said her mother, Uta Antebi. "And then when she
was able to call us, late the next day, we were very upset to find out
that she was in jail." Ms. Antebi was worried, too. "I was never arrested
before," she said. . "I had never been in jail. The people were nice to
us, but it's a scary situation. Everyone said it wouldn't be very long,
but as the days went on, we got more and more worried."
The logistics of calling her family in Israel made matters more
complicated. Detainees were only allowed to make collect calls within the
United States. For Ms. Antebi, the only route to her parents was through
Yoav Cohen, a New York relative, who would arrange a conference call.
"Yoav and my parents were great, and did everything they could to help,"
she said. "I was lucky. They got me a lawyer, and I was released Monday.
The sad thing is, my boyfriend is still in there, and there's nothing I
can do to help him."
Ms. Antebi has agreed to go back to Israel, and she expects to leave next
week. She is eager to see her parents and her two younger brothers, one of
whom just went into the army.
"When I got out, and I called, I told him, this is the one moment in your
life when you go into the military, and here I am, getting all the
attention," she said. "I really hope my boyfriend is out by the time I
leave."
Tamar Lewin
Mohammed Refai
Mohammed Refai became a detainee on Sept. 18, after federal investigators
in Arkansas found documents that appeared to connect one of the terrorist
hijackers, Saeed Alghamdi, with an apartment complex in Akron, Ohio.
Mr. Refai, a Syrian immigrant, was one of a handful of Middle Eastern
residents who lived in the complex. Initially, investigators believed Mr.
Refai, 40, knew something about the terrorists who carried out the Sept.
11 attacks. At the Gas O Clean gas station he ran in Akron, investigators
discovered he was selling cigarette lighters with knives in them. A
polygraph test he took indicated deception. In interviews with his
girlfriend, investigators learned that Mr. Refai had considered naming
their child Osama. And at his home, they found video footage of bridges
and power plants in Chicago, Washington and Niagara Falls, N.Y.
But Bradley Ortman, Mr. Refai's lawyer, said that investigators have
cleared Mr. Refai of having connections to terrorists. According to
newspaper accounts, investigators apparently have decided that the
documents from Arkansas involved a case of mistaken identity, the
cigarette lighters were just trinkets and Osama bin Laden was not the
Osama proposed as his child's namesake. Mr. Refai has told investigators
the videos were vacation shots.
Mr. Refai is still being held, however, accused of obtaining a green card
by entering into a sham marriage with an American citizen in April 1998.
The couple divorced 18 months after marrying.
Mr. Refai's ex-wife, Susan Hinzman, was recently charged with making false
statements about their relationship.
Mr. Ortman said Mr. Refai was awaiting a deportation hearing.
Pam Belluck
Basem Diab
Nearly nine months pregnant, Basima Diab sits by the phone most days,
waiting for her husband, Basem, to call from the detention center where he
has spent the last two weeks.
She worries about whether he has enough blankets. "It gets very cold in
there," she said.
With their 3-year-old daughter in tow, the Diabs, both 34, came from Syria
on tourist visas nearly a year ago, hoping for a taste of the relaxed
social norms that draw so many from the Middle East to the suburbs outside
of Disneyland.
A few months later, Mrs. Diab began what has been a difficult pregnancy,
with frequent trips to the emergency room to treat her diabetes. The
health care has been so good that the couple decided to stay in the United
States until the baby was born, if not longer.
To cover the doctor visits and rent on their apartment in Stanton, Calif.,
Mr. Diab started loading trucks at Sasha Cosmetics, a company in
Huntington Beach, Calif. "He's an educated guy, an engineer," Niazi Azhak,
the owner, said. "But he couldn't find work anywhere else."
Nor was he supposed to. Under the terms of his visa, working is a
deportable offense. Yet Mr. Diab stacked boxes at the plant for several
weeks, earning roughly $1,500 a month, about 10 times what he might have
made in Syria, his wife said. Then, 15 minutes after he showed up for his
shift on Nov. 7, Mr. Diab was taken away by federal agents.
At a minimum, immigration officials said, Mr. Diab overstayed his visa,
and would likely get a hearing before an immigration judge in the next few
weeks. In the meantime, his former employers have said they would buy the
family plane tickets back to Syria, while others in the Middle Eastern
community in Orange County would try to find money for bail, if the judge
granted it, and food for Mrs. Diab.
Greg Winter
Nacer Fathi Mustafa
Nacer Fathi Mustafa and his father, Fathi Mustafa, went to Mexico on Sept.
9, on what was supposed to be a four-day business trip to buy leather
jackets to sell at their store in Labelle, Fla.
Because of the attacks, they could not fly back until Sept. 15, and when
they got to the airport in Houston, Mr. Mustafa, 29, and his 65-year-old
father were detained by immigration officials who said their passports had
an extra layer of laminate of the sort sometimes used to fraudulently
insert a different picture.
The elder Mr. Mustafa, a Palestinian who is a naturalized American
citizen, was released after 10 days, but sent home to Florida wearing a
leg monitor to track his movements. His son, who was born in the United
States and had a prior arrest record, was kept in jail for more than two
months, and finally got home to his wife and two young daughters on
Wednesday, after law-enforcement officials cleared his passport.
"It's been very hard," Mr. Mustafa said. "My 18-year-old brother was
working in the store, but he doesn't know very much, and I've lost about
$50,000. I don't know yet if we'll be able to go on. This is a small town
and your reputation means everything."
His detention was difficult for his family. His wife, Sabreen, does not
have a driver's license, so she had to be driven everywhere she needed to
go by members of the extended family. And Diana, who is 5, and Jeneen, who
is 8 months old, were bewildered by their father's absence.
"I'd call every day, and talk to Diana, and she would ask when I'd be
home, and I would tell her in a week," Mr. Mustafa said. "I told her I was
working. I didn't want to say I was in jail."
Even so, he said, Diana must have heard people talking, because when he
returned she asked about jail. "So I asked her, 'What's jail?' and she
didn't really know," he said. "I'll tell her about it when she's older."
Mr. Mustafa's father still has the leg monitor attached, but expects that
it to be removed this week.
"It has been embarrassing for him," said his son. "He basically doesn't go
out much, but if he goes to the bank, he sees people looking at him. It's
changed his life a lot."
Tamar Lewin
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WE AFFIRM THAT INJUSTICE ANYWHERE IS A THREAT TO JUSTICE EVERYWHERE!!!!
"O you who believe, fasting is made obligatory on you as it was made for
those before you, so that you may achieve Taqwa (God Consciousness).
(Fasting) for a fixed number of days; but if any of you is ill, or on a
journey, the prescribed number (Should be made up) from days later. For
those who can do it (With hardship), is a ransom, the feeding of one that
is indigent. But he that w ill give more, of his own free will,- it is
better for him. And it is better for you that ye fast, if ye only knew.
Ramadhan is the (month) in which was sent down the Qur'an, as a guide to
mankind, also clear (Signs) for guidance and judgment (Between right and
wrong). So every one of you who is present (at his home) during that month
should spend it in fas ting, but if any one is ill, or on a journey, the
prescribed period (Should be made up) by days later. God intends every
facility for you; He does not want to put to difficulties. (He wants you)
to complete the prescribed period, and to glorify Him in that He has
guided you; and perchance ye shall be grateful." (Holy Qur'an 2:183-185)
Information on Fasting In Islam: http://www.inin.net/fasting.htm
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