At last nights "BayFF" public meeting on pending anti-terrorist
legislation, John Gilmore made what I felt was a very good point in the
Q&A:
Who is representing the 500+ people detained in the ongoing Sept. 11
investigation?
Even assuming the Feds are being good at picking up people fitting
profiles, there are doubtless innocents in the detained group. My
understanding is that most are being held as material witnesses, under
immigration rules (recently revised), not formally charged with any
crime -- and hence not eligible for public defenders.
The two panelists representing general civil rights causes, Robert Rubin
(Legal Director, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the SF Bay Area)
and Ann Brick (Staff Attourney, ACLU of Northern California) were
disturbingly uninformed on the issue, Ann's comment was "nobody's
contacted us" (well, um, yes...).
As the names of the detainees haven't been released (this might
compromise the investigation), yet the detainees may not have access to
council, this seems to be, as one audience member commented, a catch-22.
Press coverage on this topic is sparse at best. I've found one Yahoo
story dating from Oct 2 which claims the detainees "were permitted to
consult a lawyer" and were provided "documents in their native
language".
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011002/pl/attack_detentions_dc_1.html
Anyone here have data on the situation?
Peace.
--
Karsten M. Self