[Detroit Free Press - 1/29/02] The Detroit Free Press filed a lawsuit Monday in federal court asking for access to the deportation hearings of an Ann Arbor Muslim leader jailed for overstaying his visa. Rabih Haddad, cofounder of the Global Relief Foundation, a charity based in Bridgeview, Ill., has been in government custody since Dec. 14. He was arrested the same day federal agents raided his group's Bridgeview offices claiming the charity had been funding terrorism.
Since his arrest, Haddad has had three hearings in immigration court in Detroit, all of which were closed to the public. Government officials have not explained why secrecy is necessary. "It's important that justice be conducted in the open," said Free Press Managing Editor Carole Leigh Hutton. "Even the most serious and sensitive cases can't be conducted in secrecy." The Free Press asked the court for a preliminary injunction requiring the government to give "access to all future proceedings related to Haddad."
The paper also wants transcripts of the earlier hearings and copies of all documents related to the case. In the lawsuit, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, U.S. Chief Immigration Judge Michael Creppy, and U.S. Immigration Judge Elizabeth Hacker were named as defendants.
The Herald Co., Inc., which owns the Ann Arbor News, is a co-plaintiff in the lawsuit. Herschel Fink, lawyer for the Free Press, said the results of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 should not be a loss of freedoms. "These kinds of proceedings have traditionally been open in our country," Fink said. "The people in our country have a right to know what goes on in our courts." He stressed that the lawsuit was not about whether it was appropriate to detain or deport Haddad. "Our concern is whatever takes place must take place in public," he said.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds. The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan and the National ACLU were to announce today that they also will file a lawsuit against Ashcroft on behalf of U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., the Detroit News and the Metro Times.
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[posted 2/1/02]
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