http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/17/nyregion/17TERR.html?pagewanted=all # # February 17, 2001 # # Judge Extends Legal Rights Beyond U.S. # # By BENJAMIN WEISER # # A federal judge in Manhattan has ruled that foreign suspects # who are interrogated abroad by American law enforcement officials # are entitled to the same Fifth Amendment right against # self-incrimination as suspects who are questioned in the United # States. # # The decision, which was unsealed yesterday in Federal District # Court in Manhattan, is the first to apply the Constitutional # standard to such interrogations, wrote the judge, Leonard B. # Sand. It could have a broad impact on the government's # investigations abroad, particularly in terrorism cases. # # Judge Sand also ruled that the familiar Miranda warnings, which # are traditionally read to all suspects in the United States, # must also be administered to foreign suspects who are interrogated # by American agents abroad. # [snip] # # "What he has done," said H. Richard Uviller, a law professor # at Columbia University, "is universalized this provision of the # Bill of Rights." # # Professor Uviller said the decision was "significant insofar # as it controls the trial of accused foreign terrorists in American # courts." # # "They are treated almost exactly as if the interrogation had # taken place at One Police Plaza," the professor said. # # "It's a sound opinion," he added, "on a novel subject justified # by all of the best authority, as well as good sense." # # The government will not appeal the ruling, said Herbert Hadad, # a spokesman for the United States attorney's office in Manhattan, # who refused further comment. # [snip] # # The judge found the question important because of the "increasing # regularity" with which American law enforcement officials "are # dispatched and stationed beyond our national borders."