Detentions following the September 11, 2001 attack

Soon after the September 11, 2001 attacks, the U.S. government began detaining people who fit the profile of the suspected hijackers: mostly male, Arabic or Muslim non-citizens. By late November, more than 1200 people had been detained and held incommunicado.

Some opponents of the detentions labelled these detentions "secret", implying that such detentions are contrary to American democratic principles of openness and freedom.

Opponents also criticized the detentions for singling out Arabs, Muslims or foreigner, implying that this was "racial profiling" at its worst.

At that time the government announced that it suspected 10 to 15 of the detainees as being al Qaeda sympathizers, but said that no evidence links them directly to the attacks. Most of these people are being held in New York on material witness warrants. Opponents of the detentions claimed that the government had no valid grounds for such a massive number of detentions, especially without any evidence.

About 500 detainees are in federal custody on immigration charges.

About 70 young Israelis have been detained, mostly on charges of tourist visa violations.

Detainees

Osama Awadallah wrote about one of the hijackers in a college exam book.

Mohdar Abdallah's name was found on a slip of paper in a rental car one of the hijackers parked at Dulles International Airport.

Hady Hassan Omar, an Egyptian antiques dealer from Arkansas, made plane reservations on a computer at Kinko's about the same time one of the hijackers did so at the same place.

Osama Elfar (November 9, 1971- ), an Egyptian from Alexandria, Egypt, came to the United States in 1996 to attend Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla., the same flight school one of the hijackers attended. He worked as a flight mechanic for Trans States Airlines at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport for several years. On September 24, he was arrested by FBI agents, who also seized his address book, phone bills and computer. On October 5, he was administered a lie detector test. He has been detained at Mississippi County Correctional Facility in Charleston, Missouri since. In early November, he received a "voluntary departure", which forces one to leave the country but does not forbid a later return. On November 23, he was scheduled to depart, but he was not released. He began a hunger strike that day; as he was already fasting during the day for Ramadan, he now only drinks a single glass of water at sunset. He is being represented by Dorothy Harper.

Ali al-Maqtari, 26, was born in Yemen, studied in France and came to the United States on a tourist visa in 2000 hoping to become a French teacher. In June 2001, he married Tiffinay Hughes, a native of North Carolina and a convert to Islam, whom he met through an online chat room. They moved to New Haven, Connecticut, where he planned to study at Southern Connecticut State University that fall. Hughes, a member of the United States National Guard, wanted to enlist in the U.S. Army. On September 13, while wearing a head scarf, she picked up her military orders in Massachusetts to go to Fort Campbell, Kentucky. While Al-Maqtari drove her there, her photograph was posted at the Fort Campbell guardhouse. Upon their arrival on September 15, he was taken to Memphis, Tennessee for questioning. Two box cutters and postcards of New York City were found in the car. They were both administered polygraph tests; Hughes was informed that the tests showed that she and her husband had lied, and that the results were being sent to the Pentagon.

Guards followed Hughes around the base, while other soldiers openly asked her if she was a spy. On October 28, she took an honorable discharge, as encouraged by base officers.

Al-Maqtari's detention began on September 17 at the West Tennessee Detention Center in Mason, Tennessee. He was allowed to speak on telephone with his wife once a week. On October 1, an immigration judge agreed to release him on $50,000 bond, but the Immigration and Naturalization Service appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals, claiming he was a danger to the community. The board said the service could continue to hold Mr. Maqtari, but asked for additional proof.

On October 11, Michael E. Rolince, the FBI's international terrorism section chief, submitted an affadavit which asserted, "What may seem trivial to some may appear of great moment to those within the F.B.I. or the intelligence community." The affadavit also asserted that the bureau was unable to rule out the possibility al-Maqtari was linked to the September 11 attack, and that he might be part of a terrorist "mosaic". No further evidence was submitted. In mid-November, the board said he could be released.

In June of 2002, they will have to appear before court to prove that their marriage is for real, and not for a Green Card.

He is being represented by Michael J. Boyle of New Haven.

Ahmed Abou el-Kheir, 28, of Egypt, came to the United States on a tourist visa on September 7, staying at a hotel in suburban Maryland. Mr. Kheir was arrested the week of the attack and charged with trespassing in the hotel. He was detained in the Passaic County jail in New Jersey, shown photographs of the hijackers, and was administered a lie detector test. In late September, while still in custody, Mr. Kheir was charged in sealed documents as a material witness. On October 11, investigators dismissed the material witness order.

Within twenty-four hours, before he was released, he was served with an arrest warrant charging that he had failed to pay a $250 fine for a 1998 disorderly conduct charge in the Bronx. On October 12, he appeared before a judge in the Bronx. The warrant was vacated, and he was given a conditional discharge.

Then the Immigration and Naturalization Service requested to detain him, charging that he had held jobs (he had worked as a dishwasher) while on a tourist visa on his two previous visits to the United States. His deportation was ordered, but the INS will not deport him without his passport, which is in the FBI's custody.

He is being represented by Martin R. Stolar.

Yael Antebi, 21, a red-headed woman from Haifa, Israel, came to the United States in late September to visit her boyfriend, also Israeli, on a tourist visa. Both worked selling toys in shopping mall kiosks, a violation of the visa. While leaving a message on the telephone for her father, she was arrested by INS agents at 2:30 AM CST November 1 from her apartment in Columbia, Missouri. She was detained until November 19.

Hady Hassan Omar was held without trial and placed in solitary confinement for 73 days. For a long period after his arrest, he was not allowed access to an attorney. One of prison guards told him, "The attorney general just signed a new law today. We can keep you here as long as we like." He was subjected to repeated interrogations. He threatened hunger strikes, but was told by prison officials that they would just strap him to a gurney and force-feed him through a tube up his nose. After 73 days, he threatened suicide, and finally officials decided that he was innocent and released him.

Ali K. Steitiye, 41, was arrested October 24, 2001 while driving in Portland, Oregon on charges related to being part of an alleged terror cell. This followed an episode on September 29, when a sheriff's deputy happened upon Steitiye and five others firing guns at a gravel pit near Washougal, Washington. He was convicted in June, 2002 for weapons and fraud charges, and sentenced to two and one half years in prison. He was also listed in an indictment against the Portland Seven as an unindicted co-conspirator.

Although his sentence was finished in December of 2003, Steitiye was being held pending his deportation to Lebanon, where he planned to join his family. In March of 2004, a secret indictment hand up new charges against Steitiye, stating that he illegally possessed a machine gun, and being an ex-convict in possession of a weapon.

Earnest James Ujaama was arrested July 22, 2002 on a material witness charge, and later indicted for providing material resources to al-Qaeda. He later pled guilty and received a two year sentence, and in return provided information on terrorist activities.

Brandon Mayfield was arrested May 6, 2004 on a material witness charge, on the basis of a fingerprint found after the 11 March, 2004 Madrid attacks. Although Spanish authorities were doubtful that the identification was correct, he was held for two weeks until they conclusively identified the fingerprint as belonging to another man.

External Links and References

THE DETAINEES: Swept Up in a Dragnet, Hundreds Sit in Custody and Ask, 'Why?', The New York Times, November 25, 2001 (http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/25/national/25DETA.html)

Hady Hassan Omar's Detention, The New York Times, October 27, 2002 (http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/27/magazine/27DETAIN.html)

Hijack 'suspects' alive and well, BBC, September 23, 2001 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1559151.stm)

See also : September 11, 2001 attacks