[NY Times - 4/17/02] NEW YORK (AP) - Alleging widespread abuse of hundreds of Middle Eastern men detained on immigration violations after Sept. 11, civil rights attorneys said they planned to sue Attorney General John Ashcroft and other U.S. officials.
A draft copy of the class action lawsuit, expected to be filed in federal court Wednesday, alleges the plaintiffs have been subjected to unreasonable and excessively harsh conditions.
The Center for Constitutional Rights in Manhattan released the draft Tuesday, saying the suit would be the first filed on behalf of the detainees, some still behind bars.
"There's no explanation for why they're being held," center attorney Barbara Olshansky said. "These people are being treated worse than criminals."
In some cases, detainees were "placed in tiny, windowless cells for over 23 hours a day," the suit alleges. "Many class members have suffered physical and verbal abuse by their guards. Some were badly beaten."
Spokesmen for the Justice Department and Immigration and Naturalization Service would not comment before the suit is filed. But INS spokesman Bill Strassberger said the government insists on a high standard of treatment for detainees.
The draft complaint cites several examples, including the case of Asif-ur-Rehman Saffi, a native of Pakistan, who was arrested at La Guardia Airport in New York on Sept. 30 after his tourist visa expired. Although an immigration judge ordered him to be deported, the lawsuit alleges he was jailed until March and locked in an isolation unit. Guards allegedly subjected him to strip searches and "severe beatings to the point of unconsciousness," the suit said.
The lawsuit asks a judge to issue an order protecting the detainees' due process rights and to appoint a monitor to oversee their treatment.
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only.
[posted 4/17/02]
Acts of Resistance | The New Normalcy | R&R Main
Page
Join Refuse
& Resist!
305 Madison Ave., Suite 1166, New York, NY 10165
Phone: 212-713-5657
email: info@refuseandresist.org