Another U.S. Citizen has been whisked away by the FBI and held incommunicado without facing charges or having access to an attorney. (If you've been sleeping, we got rid of the Bill of Rights a while back...) Story from Boing Boing. Here's an excerpt:
In an open letter to senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), Intel SVP Steven McGeady writes:
On Thursday morning, March 20, a long-time employee of mine, Mike (Maher) Hawash, was arrested outside Intel's Hillsboro offices and taken into custody by the FBI and members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force. We later learned he was being "detained" as a material witness. Simultaneously, FBI agents in bulletproof vests and carrying M-16s woke Mike's wife and three children in their Hillsboro home, searched it for four hours, and presented Mrs. Hawash with a grand jury subpoena.
All of the court documents in this case are sealed. Mike was held incommunicado from his wife and attorneys for several days. When they did contact him, neither he, his attorneys, nor anyone else knows why he is being detained. Mike is a long-time U.S. citizen, originally of Palestinian birth and previously of Jordanian nationality. He has been a U.S. citizen for many years, having attended college in Texas. He worked for me at Intel on and off for 10 years. (...)
The only thing anyone can think of is that, long before 9/11/01, Mike and his wife donated to Global Relief, a once-respected international aid organization that since October 2002 has fallen into disrepute. But there is no way Mike could have known this at this time. My wife is a recently-naturalized U.S. citizen, originally from Northern Ireland, another victim of terrorism. If our donations to Northern Irish aid were to be mis-directed, without our knowledge, would I have FBI agents kicking down my door? Would my wife be put into federal prison?
Read the rest of the letter, and read more about the case via The RegisterPosted by Brian at April 2, 2003 12:10 AM | TrackBack