Mazen Al-Najjar was released on bail December 15, having spent three and a half years in prison without being charged with a crime.

Al-Najjar, formerly a professor at the University of South Florida, helped run an institute for Middle Eastern affairs and the Islamic Committee for Palestine, which U.S. officials claim were fronts for "terrorists." They asserted that he was associated with an organization in Palestine called Islamic Jihad and called him a threat to "national security."

In May, a district court judge in Miami ruled that Al-Najjar's detention violated the constitutional right to due process and ordered a hearing in which, for the first time, the defendant would be able to confront his accuser and the evidence presented against him.

An immigration judge ruled on December 6 that the summary Al-Najjar had received did not have enough information for him to be able to defend himself, and that he should be released on bond. Neither judge, however, has ruled on the alleged evidence itself.

U.S. attorney general Janet Reno initially issued a stay to block Al-Najjar's release on bail from an INS detention center near Tampa. She later reversed her order, authorizing his release December 15. Instead, her Justice Department is now aggressively seeking to deport Al-Najjar.

"The nation has been well-served by the efforts of the INS to remove Mr. Al-Najjar expeditiously from the country," Reno stated. "We anticipate that he could be deported from the United States soon."

On December 7 Reno initially ordered a 45-day stay of release for Anwar Haddam, an Algerian man jailed four years in Virginia, then took no further action. Haddam was quietly released that same night.

For his part, Al-Najjar has stated that he will fight the deportation order, and will also speak out about others who are wrongly jailed. "I'll be an advocate of human dignity every day of my life," he said.

Since the 1996 Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, signed by the Clinton administration with bipartisan backing in Congress, the INS has been allowed to arrest or detain noncitizens without identifying either their accuser or the evidence against them. At least 13 of these cases have been overturned on appeals.

According to the St. Petersburg Times, there are more than two dozen individuals nationwide, almost all of whom are Arab and Muslim, who are being held on the basis of "secret evidence," even though federal judges have ruled that the practice of using secret evidence violates constitutional rights. The INS admits to only 11 of these, including Hany Kiareldeen, a Palestinian man who was held for 19 months before being released last October, and Nasser Ahmed, an Egyptian man held for three and a half years.
 
 
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YS in Iceland joins actions in support of Palestinian struggle
 
 
 
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