Sweep's size startles even Justice Dept.

WASHINGTON -- Attorney General John Ashcroft said Tuesday that the Justice Department has charged 104 people on criminal violations -- more than twice the number previously made public -- in its sweeping terrorism investigation.

An additional 548 people are being held on immigration violations such as overstaying their visas, illegally entering the country or using fake passports.

None of the 652 people facing immigration and federal criminal charges has been charged with plotting the Sept. 11 terrorist strikes on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

But Ashcroft said he believes some of the people in custody are connected to the 19 hijackers who slammed commercial planes into those buildings and a field in rural Pennsylvania, killing more than 4,000 people.

Of the 104 people facing criminal charges, 55 are in custody. The remainder are being sought or have been released on bond. Charges for 11 others were not made public because they are sealed under court order.

The increase in the number of suspects charged with criminal violations caught the Justice Department by surprise. But it reflects the fast-moving pace of the investigation, said Mindy Tucker, spokesperson for the Justice Department. "It's moving very quickly and it's very fluid," she said.

An unspecified number of people also are being held as material witnesses in the terrorism investigation. Federal law prohibits identifying them.

Ashcroft singling out a handful of the suspects for their alleged ties to the hijackers and bin Laden.

He said the phone number of Mohamed Abdi of Virginia was found in the car that one of the hijacker left at Dulles Airport. And Faisal M. Al Salmi of Arizona is charged with lying about his association with Hani Hanjour, one of the hijackers.

The list includes well-known suspects such as Lotfi Raisi, who is suspected of teaching four of the hijackers how to fly in Arizona. Raisi is being held in London for lying on his pilot's license application about a previous knee injury.

But the list of also includes suspects who have been dismissed from suspicion in the Sept. 11 attacks.

Ashcroft made the comments against a backdrop of growing concern on Capitol Hill about the secrecy of the investigation. Several groups have criticized the Justice Department for holding people on minor charges without explaining how they are connected to the terrorist plot.

Members of Congress Tuesday raised the first serious challenges to steps the Bush administration is taking to fight terrorism, including asking whether secret military tribunals are appropriate and if withholding information on hundreds of detainees makes sense.

Pointedly raising questions for the first time since Sept. 11, leading senators set a week of hearings on many of the issues beginning today, and called on Ashcroft to testify -- an indication they think he may have gone too far and possibly abrogated constitutional rights.

Responding to the list, the American Civil Liberties Union said Ashcroft did not go far enough.

"By releasing fragmentary information today, Attorney General Ashcroft finally seems to have recognized that who the government chooses to arrest and hold in custody cannot be kept a secret under our system of government," said Tim Edgar, legislative counsel to the ACLU.

In a memo Tuesday to the attorney general, Amnesty International called for full disclosure and accused the government of mistreating some detainees.

"Amnesty International is concerned that many of those detained during the 11 September sweeps are held in harsh conditions, some of which may violate international standards for humane treatment," the organization said in the memo, citing several allegations of mistreatment.

The arrests are necessary to prevents future terrorist attacks, Ashcroft said. The suggestion that the rights of those being detained have been lost in the war on terrorism is "simply not true," he said.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department has quietly tightened the rules that govern the detention of foreigners, letting the government keep a foreigner behind bars even after a federal immigration judge has ordered him to be released for lack of evidence.

The change allows the Immigration and Naturalization Service to automatically set aside any release order given by an immigration judge in cases where the service believes an immigrant is a danger to the community or a flight risk. To have the ruling set aside, the service must simply file a form announcing that it plans to appeal the decision to the Board of Immigration Appeals. If that board orders the alien released, the INS also can set aside that order under the new regulation by taking the case to the attorney general.

The new rule, signed by Ashcroft on Oct. 26, went into effect on Oct. 29 with no public notice.

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