US can Keep Post-September 11 Detainees Names Secret: Supreme Court

13/01/2004| IslamWeb

Despite pleas from human rights advocates, the US Supreme Court allowed the US government to keep as an ongoing secret the names of hundreds of people detained in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks. The court declined to hear a case challenging the administration of President George W. Bush's refusal to disclose the identities of hundreds of people arrested following the attacks in New York and Washington that killed some 3,000 people. The court did not comment on its decision. The ruling upholds a June 17 federal court decision which allowed the US Justice Department to maintain secrecy around those detained during the investigation into the September 11 terror attacks. The Justice Department cited security concerns as the reason for its refusal to release the names of more than 700 detainees, most of whom were Muslims and Arabs living in the United States. Many of those arrested have since been released or deported from the country. Of those arrested, only Moroccan-born French national Zacarias Moussaoui has been formally charged with any crimes relating to the September 11 attack on Washington and New York. Attorney General John Ashcroft called the decision upholding the constitutionality of the secret detentions a "victory," and stressed that the Bush administration is committed to maintaining appropriate civil rights protections in the United States. The request for a Supreme Court review of the case was filed in September by the Center for National Security Studies, which was joined by some two dozen human rights groups and news organizations. The groups petitioned the court to release the names of those detained and their attorneys, the dates and place of their arrests, and what they were charged with. The court found however that the government's decision not to release the information did not violate the groups' rights to freedom of speech and freedom of the press under the US Constitution. Ashcroft welcomed the Supreme Court's decision. "We are pleased the court let stand a decision that clearly outlined the danger of giving terrorists a virtual roadmap to our investigation that could have allowed them to chart a potentially deadly detour around our efforts," he said in a statement. But civil rights groups were disappointed. "These are the detainees whose rights were abused by the Department of Justice," said Wendy Patten, an official with the Washington office of Human Rights Watch, adding that there was little doubt that secrecy had facilitated these abuses. An internal Justice Department report in June, along with a followup report last month, confirmed that those arrested had been subjected to some abuses in detention. Of the 762 people found guilty of immigration violations in the wake of the attacks, 54 had been held for more than 90 days authorized by counterterrorism legislation passed by Congress in October 2001, according to the report. William Schulz, executive director of Amnesty International USA, said his organization was "deeply disturbed." "Secret arrests and detentions constitute a serious human rights violation and should not be allowed in the US or anywhere else in the world," Schulz said. "They provide a tempting environment in which additional human rights abuses are likely to occur." **PHOTO CAPTION*** U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, August 5, 2003 file photo. (REUTERS/Larry Downing)