Repression watch

[Matthew X]

UNITED STATES: POLITICAL REPRESSION Aug 22 2002

U.S. Law Enforcement Acting With Impunity

The U.S. government's investigation of the September 11 attacks has been 
marred by arbitrary detentions, due process violations, and secret arrests, 
Human Rights Watch says in a new report. Some 1200 non-citizens have been 
secretly arrested and incarcerated in connection with the September 11 
investigation, although the government has not disclosed the exact number. 
The vast majority are from Middle Eastern, South Asian, and North African 
countries.
Having suffered no repurcussions from these abuses against Arabs in America 
and having seen that it can disappear American citizens like Jose Padilla 
without interference by the courts, U.S. law enforcement is increasing its 
targeting of political activists. In Denver, the FBI kidnapped James Ujaama 
and flew him to Virginia where the government is holding him as "a 
potential witness in an ongoing grand jury probe of terrorism." Ujaama 
operates StopAmerica.org, which contains dissenting views about U.S. 
foreign policy. In Seattle earlier this month, police arrested Kwame 
Garrett and Merciful Allah, both well-known critics of the Seattle Police. 
In a phone call from jail, Garrett said that police officers rushed up to 
them with weapons drawn, shouting, 'jaywalking!' and beat the two with 
batons and sprayed them with pepper spray.
Attorney General John Ashcroft is preparing for mass detentions of 
political dissidents. Plans were recently disclosed that the Justice 
Department is preparing to build concentration camps to house U.S. citizens 
labeled "enemy combatants." The Bush Administration asserts that the label 
allows it to deny citizens basic rights including access to the courts, 
even though the courts have consistently ruled against this.
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