Something Worse Then Rendition- It Still Involves Torture and It Could Happen to an American Citizen on Their Next Trip Abroad

Naji Hamdan's case is one I have been closely working on for the past three months. It now has developed into one of the worst possible things that could happen to an American abroad and much worse then rendition. Extraordinary Rendition is described as the extrajudicial transfer of a person from one state to another, particularly with regard to the alleged transfer of suspected terrorists because suspects are taken to countries where torture during interrogation remains common, thus circumventing the protections the captives would enjoy in the United States or other nations who abide by the terms of United Nations Convention Against Torture.

CAIR issued a press release in which it was stated that "We are concerned that an American citizen has been detained by a nation thatis a close ally under highly suspect circumstances and in potential violation of international human rights law," said CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush. "That our own government has not been able to find a timely resolution regarding this grave matter is further disconcerting."

In Naji's case the ACLU filed a lawsuit believing that the United States government, the FBI, had lead to the detention of Naji while he was on a business trip to Abu Dhabi in the UAE by the state security services. Naji was held for over 80 days with little known about why he was held. In another article, Ahilan Arulanantham of the ACLU stated

"If the U.S. government is responsible for this detention and we believe it is, this is clearly illegal because our government can't contract away the Constitution by enlisting the aid of other governments that do not adhere to the Constitution's requirements," said Ahilan Arulanantham of the ACLU's southern California office.

It is quite extrodinary that it would be true, however, the fact that this indefinate detention was going on there was reason to believe he was being treated with all the necessary care.

However, like I mentioned the situation has developed in a particularly scary way. Naji was transfered this Monday to a state criminal prison in Abu Dhabi and made a call to his brother in the US who found out that he was being charged with "criminal and terrorism" related charges and that all of these statements came in order for them (state police) to stop hurting him.

In a way now the United States is implicated in "TORTURE". Not only has our state department failed to meet with Naji and take care of his needs, provide for him but they also let him be tortured by a foriegn government. Any trial that comes out of this will be an absurd mockery of Judiciary implementation as it will all be based on the premise that this person confessed to things under severe duress.

In today's Press Release the ACLU describes the type of torture Naji expereinced:

On December 2, Naji Hamdan, who lived in the Los Angeles area for two decades, was allowed a phone call to his brother, Hossam Hemdan, a resident of Los Angeles. Hamdan reported to his brother that he had been transferred to a regular prison on November 26. Hamdan told his brother that his captors routinely beat him and kept him in a freezing underground room during his months-long detention by state security forces. The torturers sometimes beat him in the location of his liver, knowing that he has a liver condition, and denied him his prescription liver medication throughout his detention. His torturers also beat him on the soles of his feet, deprived him of sleep by shining a bright spotlight on his face for hours at a time, and engaged in other abuses. The torture was so severe that he often passed out from the pain, Hamdan told his brother. The agents also threatened to punish Hamdan’s wife and family if he did not confess to their allegations.

Human Rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have documented the U.A.E.’s practice of torturing prisoners, and in particular state security detainees.

You can read more in the Miami Herald article here.

This is a revolving post, so I will keep it up to date with all actions, or link to it. I just feel bad I had not posted this up earlier when we issued the press release. I was caught up with the Wiesenthal Center case and an Amicus Brief.