While Attorney General John Ashcroft's office views the arrest of Mazen Al-Najjar on Nov. 24 as another victory in the battle against terrorism, Al-Najjar's supporters see it as the latest loss in the battle for the right to due process. In its zeal to deport Al-Najjar, the Department of Justice may be ignoring conclusions of the judicial system as it declares that Al-Najjar has ties to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Al-Najjar is being held on a final order of deportation that does not include any criminal charges or any charges of terrorist affiliation, said his attorney Martin Schwartz. However he's still being haunted by previous unproven allegations.
Al-Najjar's ordeal began in May 1997, when he was detained by the Immigration and Naturalization Service and denied bail, based on secret evidence. The evidence, the government claimed, proved that Al-Najjar had ties to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad through his involvement with the World and Islam Studies Enterprise, a think-tank affiliated with the University of South Florida, and the Islamic Committee for Palestine (ICP), an organization that worked to present the Palestinian cause from a Palestinian point of view.
The evidence, which the government refused to share with Al-Najjar and his defense team, kept Al-Najjar locked up for 1,307 days while his case wound its way through the courts. After numerous proceedings, he was finally released last December after U.S. Immigration Judge Kevin McHugh ruled that there was no evidence that he was affiliated with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and that there was no evidence he was a threat to national security. McHugh said in his ruling, "The Court finds, based on the evidence presented at the public portions of the remand bond predetermination proceedings, that there are no facially legitimate and bona fide reasons to conclude that [Respondent] is a threat to national security."
Of the allegations that Al-Najjar's duties at WISE and the ICP included fundraising for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, McHugh concluded, "The Court finds it remarkable that out of five-hundred videotapes that were seized, from which a thirteen-minute composite tape was created, not one excerpt of the composite depicted [Al-Najjar] engaging in fundraising for any organization. … Even if the Court found that the evidence demonstrated that the ICP raised money for the PIJ at this event, it was not illegal to do so until 1997. … However, in this case, there is still no evidence that [Al-Najjar] raised funds for the PIJ or sent funds to the PIJ. In conclusion, the Court finds that the evidence does not demonstrate that [Al-Najjar] engaged in fundraising for the PIJ through the ICP." That ruling did not stop the Justice Department from stating in a press release dated Nov. 24, 2001, "Al Najjar also had established ties to terrorist organizations …"
The statement went on to say, "The ICP and the World and Islam Studies Enterprise are front organizations that raised funds for militant Islamic-Palestinian groups such as the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and Hamas."
Both WISE and the ICP have been defunct since 1995 when both the FBI and USF investigated them. No criminal charges were ever filed against anyone affiliated with either organization. This information was absent in the Department of Justice's statement. Calls to the Department of Justice for comment were not returned.
The statement also says that the INS regularly detains individuals under a final order of deportation if they are a flight risk or a security threat and that Al-Najjar is being held under this standard. However, the conditions of Al-Najjar's arrest and detention are anything but standard, according to his attorney Martin Schwartz.
After his most recent arrest, Al-Najjar was taken to the Federal Correctional Complex Coleman in Coleman about 75 miles outside Tampa. It's generally a place for those convicted of serious crimes, such as murder and rape, said Al-Najjar's brother-in-law Sami Al-Arian, not for INS detainees. Al-Najjar is in the segregated housing unit where he sits alone in a cell for 23 hours a day with only one hour in the recreation cage. To date, he has been allowed to make only one phone call, and Al-Arian has been told that he may not receive visits from his wife and children for 30 days. Five books were sent to Al-Najjar via his attorney, but after 24 hours those books had yet to be delivered, said Al-Arian.
"He's not even allowed to the library," said Al-Arian of the conditions his brother in-law is currently enduring. "They didn't even give him a copy of the Koran."
Generally those detained pending deportation are taken to INS facilities in Miami or Bradenton, said Schwartz. When those facilities are full, the INS may contract with county facilities to provide space. He's perplexed as to why his client is being held in the maximum-security unit of a federal penitentiary. "Mazen Al-Najjar was ordered deported for overstaying his student visa and has no criminal record," he said. "It is highly probable he is the only foreigner ordered deported for such a minor immigration violation ever to be housed at FCC Coleman."
A formal request will be made to move Al-Najjar to the Bradenton facility, where the conditions will be better, said Schwartz
Al-Najjar's legal team is still contemplating their legal strategy, said Schwartz, but their position is clear. "It is our legal position that the INS is abusing its position by detaining him. We don't believe that Mazen Al-Najjar should be detained at all, let alone in a maximum security facility."
The government has had several years to find a country willing to accept Al-Najjar, and they have not done that, said Schwartz. Al-Najjar is not a citizen of the United Arab Emirates, where the INS is attempting to send him, and that country has not agreed to accept him, he said. Al-Najjar is a stateless Palestinian, and no nation is required to accept him. Although he's never been charged with a crime and a judge has ruled that he is not a threat to national security, Al-Najjar is not receiving the same treatment as others awaiting deportation. "There seems to be no justifiable reason for that," said Schwartz.
Contact Staff Writer Rochelle Renford at 813-248-8888, ext. 163 or
rochelle.renford@weeklyplanet.com.
This article appears in Dec 6-12, 2001.