Secret Evidence

Listening to NPR this morning, I heard a story (listen to it here) about Ahmed Abu-Ali, a US citizen born in Texas and raised in Virginia. He was arrested in June of 2003 while taking an exam at Medina University in Saudi Arabia, where he was studying Islamic Sciences, by Saudi security seemingly at the behest of the US. He has been held in Saudi Arabia ever since without being charged, nor has he even been told why he was arrested. For more background on this case read these stories here, here, and here.

As it is, this case is a total corruption of US civil liberties and should make everyone wary of the actions of this administration. The recent major development of this case, as reported by the NPR story, was the submission of a motion to dismiss by the Justice Department base on secret evidence. Let me repeat that - SECRET EVIDENCE. This motion was submitted in lieu of an order by the federal judge to provide evidence of detainment or to bring charges against Abu-Ali.

"Secret evidence" is alleged evidence the government possesses, but deems to sensitive to release, even to the defendant and his attorney. You probably see the problem right there. How can a defendant and his attorney rebut evidence that they are not allowed to see? Supposedly, the Justice Department has used this classification of evidence in the deportation proceedings of a variety of non-US citizens since September 11th. Never has it been used in a case involving a US citizen until now. Extraordinary and preposterous don't come close to describing this legal move.

If anyone tries to make the case to you that it is ok if we give up some of our civil liberties in exchange for more security, this story is all you need to show them how misguided that belief is. The Justice Department and this administration is arguing that it has the right to arrest and detain indefinitely anyone without filing charges or even allowing the defendant or the defendant's attorney access to the alleged evidence that led to the arrest.

This is where head explodes in disbelief. Is this really the America that you want to live in?

Update: The World Organization for Human Rights USA has a very informative timeline of events for this case.