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U.S. NEWS Wednesday 6 July 2022

Feds settle suit alleging abuse by men detained after 9/11

By GARY FIELDS staying visas and deported immigration officials ques-
Associated Press back to their home coun- tioning the legality of the
WASHINGTON (AP) — The tries. But before that hap- prolonged detentions and
Justice Department settled pened, many were held in even though there were no
a decades-old lawsuit on detention for months, with indications they were con-
Tuesday filed by a group little outside contact, espe- nected to terrorism.
of men who were rounded cially with their families. Compounding that, they
up by the government in They were, according to faced "a pattern of physi-
the weeks after the Sept. the 9/11 Commission re- cal and verbal abuse" par-
11, 2001 attacks and held port, arrested as "special in- ticularly at the federal jail in
in a federal jail in New York terest" detainees. Immigra- Brooklyn. Conditions were,
in conditions the depart- tion hearings were closed, the report said, "unduly
ment's own watchdog detainee communication harsh."
called abusive and harsh. was limited, and bond was "I am glad that the case
The settlement announced denied until the detainees is coming to an end after
Tuesday calls for a $98,000 were cleared of terror- two decades of litigation.
payout to be paid out A sign for the Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Prisons is ist connections. Identities However, it is a bittersweet
among the six men who displayed at the Metropolitan Detention Center in the Brooklyn were kept secret. conclusion for me," said
filed the suit and were held borough of New York, July 6, 2020. Associated Press A review conducted by Benatta, in a statement
without terrorism charges the Justice Department's released by the Center for
at the Metropolitan Deten- the MDC, Dennis Hasty, to 11 attacks. Soon, more inspector general said Constitutional Rights, one
tion Center in Brooklyn. indemnify him for the settle- than 1,000 were arrested the Justice Department's of the plaintiff attorneys,
The men — Ahmer Iqbal ment of your claims. This will in sweeps across the New "hold until cleared" policy along with Covington &
Abbasi, Anser Mehmood, resolve all of your claims in York metropolitan area meant a significant per- Burling LLP, and attorneys
Benamar Benatta, Ahmed this litigation." and nationwide. Most were centage of the detainees Michael Winger and Alex-
Khalifa, Saeed Hammou- "I don't know that the di- charged only with over- stayed for months despite ander Reinert.q
da, and Purna Raj Bajra- rector of the Bureau of
charya — said they were Prisons has ever signed a
detained in restrictive con- letter of this nature before
ditions and in some cases, to individual clients, so
abused by members of the that is unique," said Rachel
staff. Meeropol, senior staff at-
The settlement is some- torney with the Center for
what unusual because Constitutional Rights, who
federal courts at nearly ev- represents the men.
ery level, including the Su- Meeropol called the court
preme Court, had thrown battle a failure of the jus-
out large chunks of the tice system, pointing to limi-
lawsuit. A federal district tations on claims against
court judge threw out the federal officials.
remaining part of the suit The Justice Department did
last year. Though the plain- not immediately comment.
tiffs filed an appeal, there The lawsuit originally sought
had been little action in the accountability from high-
case for months. level members of George
Though the Justice Depart- W. Bush administration, and
ment does not admit guilt a settlement was reached
as part of the settlement in 2008 with the original five
agreement, Bureau of Pris- plaintiffs. Others were add-
ons Director Michael Car- ed.
vajal wrote a letter to each In 2017 the Supreme Court
of the men saying the Jus- threw out parts of the suit
tice Department had de- but tossed one claim,
termined they were "held against the former warden
in excessively restrictive of the federal lockup, back
and unduly harsh condi- to a lower court. A federal
tions of confinement and a judge in Brooklyn dismissed
number of individuals were the remaining parts of the
physically and verbally suit last year, finding that
abused by certain MDC of- the men did not have the
ficers." right to sue for their inju-
The letter went on to say ries, though the judge did
that "Under the excep- not address whether there
tional circumstances of this were constitutional viola-
unique case and before tions.
the facts have been fully The settlement closes a
litigated or there has been chapter on a troubling
any final judgment by the era in federal criminal jus-
court in this case the Fed- tice when Muslim, Arab
eral Bureau of Prisons has and South Asian men were
agreed to provide funds rounded up in the days
to the former Warden of and weeks after the Sept.