Judge delays ruling on case of Palestinian

A lawyer for the ex-USF teacher argues he has been jailed three years in violation of his constitutional rights.

By SUSAN ASCHOFF

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 19, 2000

MIAMI -- A Tampa college teacher jailed three years on secret government evidence that he has ties to Middle East terrorists finally got his day in federal court Tuesday.

But after a two-hour hearing, U.S. District Judge Joan A. Lenard said she would need more time before issuing a ruling on whether Mazen Al-Najjar's detention violates his constitutional rights.

About 40 family members and friends came by bus from Tampa. First they filled the downtown Miami sidewalk with placards asserting his innocence, then they filled seats in the courtroom. In a city focused on the fate of a Cuban boy, passing motorists and courthouse employees were not sure what to make of the group gathered for an unknown Palestinian who wants to stay in the United States.

Al-Najjar, a former University of South Florida Arabic teacher and head of his East Tampa mosque, was arrested in May 1997 and ordered deported for overstaying a student visa. He was denied bail while appealing his case when the government alleged in secret evidence shared only with the immigration judge that he has ties to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

In opening Tuesday's hearing, Lenard said she had not examined the secret evidence. Al-Najjar's attorney asked her not to do so: "Secret evidence makes a mockery of the judicial process," said David Cole, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center and one of five attorneys now representing Al-Najjar.

"The only three federal courts that have addressed this issue in the last decade found the use of secret evidence unconstitutional," said Cole.

Al-Najjar is one of about two dozen immigrants across the country involved in secret evidence cases. All are Arabs or Muslims. The practice is unconstitutional and targets those with unpopular political views, critics say.

Particularly unjust in Al-Najjar's case is the lack of a written record of what was shared with the immigration judge who denied him bail, making appeals and reviews virtually impossible, Cole said.

Justice Department attorney Ethan Kanter insisted Al-Najjar's lack of legal residence permits the government to keep him detained indefinitely.

The 42-year-old Palestinian and his wife, Fedaa Al-Najjar, are both appealing their deportations in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. Their three daughters, all U.S. citizens, were in court Tuesday, alternately waving at their father or yawning over the proceedings.

The eldest, 11-year-old Yara, cried when her father first entered, rid of his Bradenton jail jumpsuit but wearing the same shirt and pants that he had on when he was arrested three years ago. Immigration and Naturalization Service officers refused to let him change into the suit brought by his wife.

Federal agents say Al-Najjar used his position at a USF-affiliated think tank as a front to raise funds for terrorists and aid their entry into the United States.

Al-Najjar says he is being punished for his politics. FBI and INS agents have asked him about his associates at the think tank and the members of his mosque.

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