By Munir K. Nasser
Washington, DC
Arab and Muslim American leaders claimed a small victory when a Congressional committee passed an amendment to a notorious law that allows secret evidence to be used against members of their communities.
The House Judiciary Committee voted on Tuesday to pass a compromise version of the 1996 Immigration and Nationality Secret Evidence Repeal Act that would give alien detainees the same rights as defendants in criminal cases. The bill will go now to the full House and the Senate for a vote.
Since 1996, the Justice Department has been using secret evidence in deportation cases, almost all of which have targeted persons of Arab ethnicity and Muslim religious affiliation. Under this act, numerous individuals of Palestinian and Iraqi origin who courts have ruled should be deported, continue to sit in detention indefinitely, without the possibility of release, since the Immigration Service cannot physically deport them.
The US government lost several secret evidence prosecutions in 1999, and numerous immigrants who had been labeled "threats to national security", and held without charge on the basis of secret evidence, have been released after lengthy legal battles. At least four federal judges have ruled that the use of secret evidence is a violation of the defendant's rights to due process.
According to the new amendment, a detained person would be given an unclassified summary of the classified information. This summary would give the alien substantially the same ability to make his defense, as would disclosure of the classified information. It would be the only part of the classified information given to the immigration judge. The judge would therefore not be prejudiced by information not shared with the detainee.
Leaders of the Arab and Muslim American communities hailed the vote in Congress as a proof of their increasing power to influence decision-making at the highest level. Many of them believe secret evidence is unconstitutional and that it is used disproportionately against members of the Muslim and Arab-American communities. A number of detainees have been held for up to four years based on evidence that is not revealed to them or their attorneys.
Hala Maksoud, President of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), believes the Arab American community has suffered tremendously because of the 1996 Immigration Act. She told Albawaba.com that the federal government's determination to keep using secret evidence, even when ordered not to do so by a federal judge, is shocking.
Maksoud said she is very happy because this amendment basically gives the right to a detainee to look at the same evidence that the judge will review. "So basically, there will not be secret evidence used against the person, and it will definitely have a great impact on our community," she said.
She cautioned, however, that this amendment does not address the whole issue of secret evidence. "I think the secret evidence act should not be part of the American judicial system and we are going to fight until it is removed with help from members of Congress and all civil rights groups in the US," she stressed.
Maksoud said ADC would continue to help all the detainees in US jails who are held on secret evidence. "We believe this amendment should address the situation of detained people like Mazen Al-Najjar and the other eight or nine people that remain in jail," she said.
Dr. Mazen Al-Najjar, a Palestinian immigrant and former Professor at the University of South Florida, has been held for over three years in prison without charge and on the basis of evidence withheld from himself, his attorneys and the public. The nature of the allegations against him remain completely unknown. According to his attorney, the government could not produce any evidence that he had at any time committed, or advocated violence, or engaged in any fundraising for groups considered to be "terrorist organizations" by the government.
Nihad Awad, Executive Director of Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in Washington praised the Judiciary Committee for passing the amendment. He told Albawaba.com: "This is one of the few but first victories that our community has been longing for. We are not used to see successes on Capital Hill. We are used to seeing bad legislation, laws and resolutions that are anti Muslim and anti Arab. I believe it is an opening, but we are still at the beginning."
Awad expects there is a good chance that the amendment will pass the House and the Senate. "Our community has to mobilize itself now to contact their representatives in Congress to convince them of the importance of repealing the Secret Evidence Act," he noted. "This is a good exercise for our community to show how the process works, and how they can impact Congress. The passing of the amendment at the Judiciary Committee came as a result of the contacts that the community made to their representatives. It has paid off."
Awad explained that this success came as a result of hard work at the grassroots level. "A few months ago people said it is hopeless," he said. "Six months ago we didn't have more than seven Congress people supporting the bill. In July, we had 329 people who voted against the use of secret evidence against detainees."
This is a significant advance in civil liberties for the American Muslim community, according to Awad. He believes that community grassroots mobilization shows that the system works for the empowerment of the community. He said his organization sent action alerts to 1500 mosques nationwide, and it reached tens of thousands of activists who respond very quickly and contact their representatives by using e-mail, phone calls and letters. "They now understand how the process works," he said. "In some cities, people go and meet with the staff of their representatives themselves. We hope to use these methods to mobilize our community for voting in the presidential elections in November," he stressed – Albawaba.com
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
