Is Patriot Act fair? An attorney, and others, have doubts
By LETITIA STEIN
Published March 28, 2004
TAMPA - When the FBI singled out thousands of Arab men for interviews after the Sept. 11 attacks, David Cole faced no questions. Federal authorities said this scrutiny would make him safer.
On Saturday, however, the Washington attorney spoke in Tampa of a different result.
"Imagine you're picked up and locked up in the United States of America. You ask, "Why am I locked up?' And the answer is, "No charge,' " he told about 150 people at a speech organized by WMNF-FM 88.5, the American Civil Liberties Union and a group called Tampa: Safe AND Free, which is pressing to repeal some of the expanded law enforcement powers of the USA Patriot Act.
If it happened to American citizens, Cole predicted, there would be public outrage, and the politician behind the arrests would lose his job.
But noncitizens have fewer avenues to fight and more to lose, he said.
As an attorney, Cole defended Mazen Al-Najjar, a former University of South Florida instructor suspected of terrorist ties who was arrested on visa violations and held in jail for 31/2 years on secret evidence before Sept. 11.
"What Mazen Al-Najjar experienced before Sept. 11, an entire community is experiencing now after Sept. 11," said Cole, who argued that the law unfairly has been used to target Arab and Muslim men.
He cited figures that only three of the 5,000 foreign nationals detained since Sept. 11 have faced terrorism-related charges. Two were acquitted, Cole said, and questions cloud the conviction.
In Tampa, Al-Najjar was detained again after the Sept. 11 attacks. The stateless Palestinian was deported in August 2002. He never was charged with a crime.
The Patriot Act expanded the government's authority to collect personal information.
In some cases, it lowered the standard of proof officials needed for approval to do so. Law enforcement agents could keep investigations secret and enjoy wider use of wiretaps.
Attorney General John Ashcroft championed the law as a crucial weapon in the nation's antiterrorism arsenal.
During a speech this fall in Tampa, he credited the Patriot Act with helping to dismantle four terrorist cells in the United States.
Some Muslim Americans, however, say it has resulted in discrimination.
"I have a brother whose name is Mohammed, so he was questioned," said Nesreen Hammad, who lives in Brandon and attended Cole's speech. Her cousins submitted to FBI interviews in Fort Lauderdale.
"I am an American citizen. I grew up without hate," she said, fingering the translucent, white hijab veiling her hair. "Just because I wear this, people discriminate against me."
In the two years since the law's passage, an unusual alliance of conservatives and liberals has coalesced to charge that the act is dangerous and obtrusive. On April 15, the Tampa City Council will hear the case during a public hearing on a resolution that denounces provisions in the Patriot Act that erode local rights and civil liberties.
Similar resolutions have passed in 270 cities and municipalities nationally. A coalition of activists, lawyers, religious organizations and academics support the Tampa proposal spearheaded by Tampa: Safe AND Free.
"I began to be contacted by Muslims in Tampa who were asked to submit to voluntary FBI interviews," said organizer Rochelle Reback, a Tampa criminal defense attorney. "I became very concerned when I looked at the Patriot Act and learned about the lack of judicial oversight of government activities."
She praised the Tampa City Council for hearing debate on an emotional topic that pits national security against civil liberties arguments.
The resolution, which denounces terrorism, calls upon local representatives in U.S. Congress to repeal offending provisions.
