MIM demands release information about detainees 

MIM joins the growing number of organizations 
demanding that the U.$. government release 
information about the hundreds of people who have 
been arrested and detained since September 11th, 
held without charges and denied access to lawyers 
and family. These people are being held under 
conditions the u.s. likes to decry as archaic in 
other countries: secret proceedings, gag orders 
and material witness warrants make up the 
government's investigation into the September 11th 
attacks. And now the u.s. government is talking 
about deporting some of the detainees to countries 
where torture is legal so that they can be 
questioned without pesky legal restrictions 
getting in the way. Information about these people 
is extremely difficult to get because the 
government is keeping it secret. As the ACLU wrote 
in its letter to General Ashcroft on October 17th:

"We are compelled to rely on press reports in 
significant part because of the lack of official 
information from the government. These reports, if 
accurate, raise fundamental due process issues 
that we hope the Department will promptly address. 

"According to a front-page story in The Washington 
Post on October 15th, for example, at least some 
of those detained have apparently had only 
'limited access' to lawyers and no contact with 
their families. In an October 15th article, the 
Los Angeles Times reported that immigration 
officials in Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana 'cut 
off' all lawyer visits and phone calls for 
detainees for a full week after the attacks, 
apparently based on a misunderstood directive. And 
according to today's Los Angeles Times, four more 
cases have 'surfaced in which young men allegedly 
are being kept from their attorneys and confined 
in jails without proper food or protection.' An 
earlier Washington Post story indicated that as 
many as 400 of those detained have been cleared of 
any connection to terrorist activity; yet, the 
government was apparently unwilling to disclose 
how many of those are still in detention."

The ACLU joined the growing demand for information 
from the government on the detainees and called on 
General Ashcroft to respond to specific questions:

·  How many people have been detained by the 
federal government since September 11th as part of 
its terrorism investigation? How many are now 
being detained? What is the nationality and/or 
ethnicity of those initially detained and those 
still in detention? 

·  What are the criteria that the government is 
using in requesting secret proceedings or the 
entry of gag orders? Is the government insisting 
on secret proceedings in every case? How many gag 
orders have been issued and what is their scope? 

·  On what basis have individuals been detained so 
far? Specifically, how many have been held on 
immigration charges? How many have been held on 
criminal charges (whether federal, state or 
local)? How many have been held as material 
witnesses? Are there individuals being held on 
other grounds? 

·  What is the maximum time that anyone is held 
before charges are filed, and how quickly are 
detainees brought before a judge to review their 
detention? 

·  Do counsel have access to the detainees, 
regardless of the basis of detention, and both 
before and after the filing of charges? How many 
of those remaining in detention are represented by 
lawyers? 

·  Of the total number detained since September 
11th, how many have been charged with terrorism or 
terrorist-related activities? How many have been 
cleared of any connection to terrorism? How many 
of those cleared of any terrorist connection are 
still in detention, and on what basis? 

·  In how many cases has the government relied on 
secret evidence, undisclosed to either the 
detainee or the detainee's counsel? 

·  What is the government's policy regarding the 
release of material witnesses who have testified 
before the grand jury or whose testimony can 
otherwise be preserved? Is there any limit on the 
time that a material witness can be detained 
without the filing of charges?

MIM joins the ACLU in demanding immediate answers 
to these question and we go further to call for 
the immediate release of all detainees. We do not 
recognize the terrorist u.s. government as a 
purveyor of justice. The u.s. government is 
incapable of protecting its people from terrorist 
attacks because it is carrying out these attacks 
around the world. We know that the criminal 
injustice system is just used as a tool of social 
control in this country and these secret arrests 
and detentions are just one more way of targeting 
oppressed nationalities.