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Tuesday, July 22, 2003
THE BATTALIflj
Report finds 34 ‘credible
civil rights complaints
By Curt Anderson
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Fall 2003
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845-1971
WASHINGTON — Justice
Department investigators found
that 34 claims were credible of
more than 1,000 civil rights and
civil liberties complaints stem
ming from anti-terrorism efforts,
including allegations of intimi
dation and false arrest.
According to a report
Monday, Glenn A. Fine, the
Justice Department’s inspector
general, looked into allegations
made between Dec. 16, 2002,
and June 15 under oversight pro
visions of the USA Patriot Act.
Many complaints were from
Muslims or people of Arab
descent who claimed they were
beaten or verbally abused while
being detained.
Among these are a claim by a
Muslim inmate that he was
ordered to “remove his shirt so
that the officer could use it to
shine his shoes” and a complaint
from an Egyptian national that
he was improperly arrested by
the FBI after the Sept. 11 terror
ist attacks.
The report also substantiated
a claim by a federal prison
inmate who said he was told by
a prison doctor, “If I was in
charge, I would execute every
one of you ... because of the
crimes you all did.” The doctor
received a verbal reprimand
from the Bureau of Prisons, the
report said.
In other cases, an immigra
tion official allegedly held a
loaded gun to the head of a
detainee, while another was said
to have “rudely” asked a person
being detained if he “wanted to
kill Christians and Jews.”
The FBI was accused of ille
gally searching an Arab-
American’s apartment, vandaliz
ing it and seizing property, later
to return “to plant drugs in the
complainant’s home,” the report
says. A complaint from a natu
ralized citizen of Lebanese
descent contends that the FBI
and other federal agents raided
his home searching for an AK-
47 assault weapon based upon
false information.
Most of the credible com
plaints remain under investiga
tion, the report said. None of the
individuals or locations involved
was named in the report.
The Justice Department
inspector general is required to
monitor and issue regular
reports on allegations of civil
rights and civil liberties viola
tions as part of the USA Patriot
Act, a law Congress passed
shortly after the terrorist attacks
that broadened government
powers of surveillance and
investigative methods.
Justice Department
spokesman Mark Corallo said
Monday that the agency is “com
mitted to pursuing every allega
tion of civil, liberties violati®
by federal law enforcemento!
cers.” But he added that thertt
lively small number of creils
complaints makes it “prettycltj
that this is not a huge problem,'
But Anthony Romero,m
live director of the Amenci
Civil Liberties Union,
latest report shows “there wasi
pattern of violating immigr®
rights” by the Juste
Department after the Sept II,
2001, attacks.
The latest report follows on
by Fine in June that washigl
critical of the departmen;
detention of 762 people«
immigration violations afte
attacks. That report said s
detainees were held for as
as eight months, sometimes mis
treated and kept confined for:
hours a day.
“Will the Justice Departnc
ever admit that it has g(
far?” said Rep. John Conyersi
Michigan, senior Democrat#
the House Judiciary Commitie
Three previous compli-
investigated by Fine’s
were closed during the sit-
month time frame because [k
allegations could not be subs!*
tiated. These included an
gration detainee who said k
was beaten and denied it
treatment and a prison i
Sat
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MOSUL,
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in a blaze
Tuesday wh<
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U-S- niilitar
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who said a guard slammed!
food tray into his face,causin'!
nosebleed.
NEWS IN BRIEF
Power plant under scrutiny
TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
Transportation Services
FLEET
PARKING
TRAFFIC
TRANSIT
HOUSTON (AP) - Federal officials plan a public
meeting next week to discuss for the first time
their review of tiny cracks in two instrumentation
tubes which have kept one of the two power
generating units at a nuclear plant near Bay City
shut down.
Scott Burnell, spokesman for the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, said the public meeting
in Bay City next Monday will give the nuclear plant
a chance to explain to people what the prol
was and how they have fixed it.
Officials at the South Texas Project nui
plant said they have finished their repairs an!
have narrowed down the cause to two possibili
ties.
Representatives with the nuclear plant update:
the NRC about what they think caused thecrad 1
and the facility's long term monitoring ari
inspection plans during a meeting last week!
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