Council takes on Patriot Act [Fairbanks Daily News-Miner] If critics of the USA Patriot Act are correct, the Fairbanks City Council may have spent more time pondering a... Read More |
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The Bill of Rights wins with the Lawless team [Fairbanks BORDC] During this past weekend Mike Lawless, carrying a copy of the Bill of Rights in his pocket and the Fairbanks... Read More |
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Proposal rebukes Patriot Act [Fairbanks Daily News-Miner] JUNEAU—Inspired by a resolution passed by the Fairbanks City Council, Senate Minority Leader Johnny Ellis, D-Anchorage, is working on a... Read More |
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House Takes Stand Against Patriot Act [Santa Fe New Mexican] By an overwhelming vote, the House on Monday passed legislation putting the state on record as opposing many provisions of... Read More |
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Santa Fe Police Detain Library Patron [American Libraries] A St. John’s College Library visit by a former public defender was abruptly interrupted February 13 when city police officers... Read More |
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Librarians try to alter Patriot Act [San Francisco Chronicle] Along with the usual reminders to hold the noise down and pay overdue fines, library patrons in Santa Cruz are... Read More |
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Red Alert for Bill of Rights! [The Village Voice] The Justice Department ... seems to be running amok ... This agency right now is the biggest threat to personal... Read More |
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Portland case could put to test Patriot Act [Oregon Statesman Journal] PORTLAND — The government’s expanded spying powers under the USA Patriot Act could face their first test in open court... Read More |
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Judge Rejects Challenge to FBI Spy Powers [U.K. Guardian Unlimited] PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - The FBI does not have to explain why it applied for search warrants to bug homes... Read More |
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DOJ Drafts Sweeping Expansion of the UPA [The Center for Public Integrity] (WASHINGTON, Feb. 7, 2003) -- The Bush Administration is preparing a bold, comprehensive sequel to the USA Patriot Act passed... Read More |
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Ashcroft Out of Control [The Village Voice] Many of the new security measures proposed by our government in the name of fighting the "war on terror" are... Read More |
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It was a good day for the 6th Amendment [NorthJersey.com] Score one for the 6th Amendment. U.S. District Judge Michael Mukasey ruled on Tuesday that the government must allow lawyers... Read More |
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Supreme Court Justice Scalia Bans Media [Common Dreams News Center] CLEVELAND—Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has banned broadcast media from an appearance Wednesday where he will receive an award for... Read More |
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Court stiff-arms privacy challenge [Los Angeles Times] WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court on Monday turned away a preliminary challenge to the government's expanded powers to wiretap and search people... Read More |
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Ashcroft: Criticism of DOJ "aiding terrorists" [Declan McCullagh's Politech] The Washington Post yesterday said in an editorial: >Mr. Ashcroft may not like the criticism. But his job... Read More |
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Group raises funds to send delegate to Juneau [Fairbanks Daily News-Miner] A fundraising campaign began in an upstairs room at University Community Presbyterian Church Sunday when a woman whipped out a... Read More |
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Ex-Intel VP Fights for Detainee [Wired.com] Friends of an Intel programmer who is being held in a federal prison can't help but shake their heads in... Read More |
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House Judiciary Chairman Hesitant on UPA II [FOX News] WASHINGTON — The Bush administration's plans to expand a post-Sept. 11 anti-terrorism law face resistance from a powerful House Republican... Read More |
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Local Officials Rise Up to Defy The Patriot Act [The Washington Post] ARCATA, Calif. — This North Coast city may look sweet -- old, low-to-the-ground buildings, town square with a bronze statue... Read More |
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GOP calls for wider powers to track citizens [Seattle Post-Intelligencer] WASHINGTON — With the war on terrorism lagging behind the war in Iraq, Republicans in Congress and the White House... Read More |
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Libraries Rally Against USA Patriot Act [FOX News] PATERSON, N.J.—Librarians across the country are rising up against the USA Patriot Act, shredding records and making other attempts to... Read More |
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Conservatives Rise for the Bill of Rights! [The Village Voice] A significant development in the movement to resist the Ashcroft-Bush dismembering of the Bill of Rights is the growing coalition... Read More |
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Chief Architect of Patriot Act to Quit [Los Angeles Times] WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is losing another key foot soldier in its war on terrorism. Viet Dinh, the chief... Read More |
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Fighting the Patriot Act—Now It's Alaska! [CounterPunch.org] The Bush Administration and Attorney General John Ashcroft may have been able to pull a fast one in the wake... Read More |
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Town criminalizes compliance with Patriot Act [CNN] ARCATA, California (AP) — More than 100 cities and one state have passed resolutions condemning the USA Patriot Act, saying... Read More |
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Senate passes resolution questioning Patriot Act [Fairbanks Daily News-Miner] JUNEAU—The state Senate passed a resolution late Tuesday expressing concern over the federal USA Patriot Act, an antiterrorism measure passed... Read More |
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Alaska Passes Anti-Patriot Act Resolution [ABC News] May 23—Alaska has joined a growing national rebellion against the USA Patriot Act, voting to oppose the massive federal anti-terrorism... Read More |
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Anti-Terror Power Used Broadly [The Washington Post] The Justice Department has used many of the anti-terrorism powers granted in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks... Read More |
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Ashcroft Defied on City Hall Steps [The Village Voice] "As New Yorkers living in the city most affected by September 11, we acknowledge the need to protect our safety,... Read More |
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US threatens mass expulsions [BBC News] More than 13,000 Arab and Muslim men in the US are facing deportation after co-operating with post-11 September anti-terror measures,... Read More |
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Patriot Act of 2001 casts wide net [The Washington Post] Long-sought details have begun to emerge from the Justice Department on how anti-terrorist provisions of the USA Patriot Act were... Read More |
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N.J. Judge Unseals Transcript In Terror CaseBy Dale Russakoff
The Washington Post (website)
6/25/2003 PATERSON, N.J., June 24—Mohamed Atriss spent six months here in the Passaic County
Jail based on accusations by county prosecutors that he had ties to terrorism—allegations
prosecutors called so sensitive that they had to be kept secret from Atriss despite
his constitutional right to confront evidence against him.
Today, the superior court judge who took the secret evidence last November unsealed
the hearing transcript, revealing that the allegations were based largely on inaccurate
information that Atriss and his lawyer said they could have rebutted, if only they
had been allowed to see it.
"We are glad to expose these transcripts for what they are—slanderous, hearsay,
double- and triple-hearsay, unsubstantiated allegations," said attorney Miles Feinstein,
with Atriss at his side in his law office. "It illustrates the dangers and irreparable
harm that comes from secret evidence."
Atriss said he may file a civil suit against county authorities. "To think they
kept me in jail on this!" he said with tears in his eyes.
According to the transcript, prosecutors told Judge Marilyn Clark that Atriss
co-owned a check-cashing business in Jersey City with a man "classified by the FBI
as a terrorist." In an interview today, U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie said
the man named in the transcript was never classified as a terrorist but was a subject
in a 1996 FBI investigation of a terrorist group.
Atriss said he and the man were in business together for a brief time in 1987.
He said prosecutors would have discovered that if they had searched state business
records.
According to the transcript, prosecutors told Clark that Atriss, who ran a travel
services business, ordered travel documents from a Brooklyn company that the FBI
said was known for selling documents to terrorists and had ties to the "Russian
Mafia."
Christie said that federal authorities have "no information" that the company
named in the transcript has terrorist ties.
Passaic County Prosecutor James Avigliano declined today to discuss the accuracy
of the claims in the transcript. "I would absolutely do it over again based on the
information I had," he said.
The transcript was released after a lawsuit was filed by several newspapers,
including The Washington Post.
The Atriss case drew international attention last July 31 when Passaic County
Sheriff Jerry Speziale led television news crews on a raid of Atriss's travel services
business here, and revealed that Atriss had sold fake identification documents to
two of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers. Federal authorities denounced the raid, saying
they had investigated the ID sales and found no evidence linking Atriss to terrorists.
County authorities charged Atriss with 26 counts of selling fraudulent identification
documents to Hispanic immigrants and conspiring to do so. They still alleged that
Atriss had terrorist ties, and Clark set bail at $500,000—consistent with a charge
of first-degree murder—after the secret hearing. That proceeding marked the only
criminal case in the United States since the Sept. 11 attacks in which secret evidence
was presented against the defendant.
The allegations began to fall apart in January, when a state appellate judge
ruled that Clark had not shown that Atriss posed a risk to national security. Soon
afterward, prosecutors met with Atriss, Feinstein and FBI agents, and dropped all
but one felony charge of selling fake documents. Atriss pleaded guilty and went
free in March.
The newly released documents show that the case was rife with miscommunication.
County prosecutors told Clark they believed the FBI was still investigating Atriss
for terrorist ties, though they hadn't been able to get through to the FBI to confirm
this, according to the transcript. Christie said that he and the FBI had made clear
that they had no interest in Atriss. Close |
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Report on UPA Alleges Civil Rights Violations [The New York Times] WASHINGTON, July 20—A report by internal investigators at the Justice Department has identified dozens of recent cases in which department... Read More |
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House Takes Aim at Patriot Act Secret Searches [Reuters] WASHINGTON (Reuters)—The U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to roll back a key provision, which allows the government... Read More |
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Toughen Patriot Act, attorney general says [Anchorage Daily News] United States Attorney General John Ashcroft told federal and local officials Monday the USA Patriot Act should be expanded, not... Read More |
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War on Terrorism Increasingly Used in War on Drugs [Drug Policy Alliance] A Watauga County prosecutor is using a law intended to combat terrorism to fight the spread of methamphetamine laboratories in... Read More |
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Justice Department Opposes "Sneak and Peek" Ban [The Washington Post] WASHINGTON (Reuters)—The U.S. Justice Department on Friday opposed a bid to ban the government from conducting secret "sneak and peek"... Read More |
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A tiny town shouts "Whoa!" to Patriot Act [The Seattle Times] TONASKET, Okanogan County—If this is a hotbed of sedition, they're hiding it pretty well. In fact, the most suspicious group... Read More |
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