[119183] in Cypherpunks
secret evidence laws
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Anonymous)
Tue Oct 19 06:16:17 1999
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 11:49:08 +0200 (CEST)
Message-Id: <199910190949.LAA24806@sofuku.monster.org>
From: Anonymous <nobody@replay.com>
To: cypherpunks@algebra.com
Reply-To: Anonymous <nobody@replay.com>
So some swarthy non-citizen is held in jail for 19 months
on "secret" evidence.
http://www.newsday.com/ap/rnmpwh0o.htm
Lawyer Says Reno Plot Has No Merit
By JEFFREY GOLD Associated Press Writer
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- After spending 19
months in jail, a Palestinanian man suspected of
plotting to kill U.S. Attorney General Janet
Reno is one step closer to freedom.
An immigration appeals court has found no
merit to secret evidence implicating Hany
Mahmoud Kiareldeen in such a scheme, his
lawyers said Monday.
Kiareldeen remains in custody, however,
pending a ruling on a request by the U.S.
Immigration and Naturalization Service to keep
him behind bars while it decides whether to ask
Reno to review the decision, the lawyers said.
``The bottom line here is that every judge in the
immigration service who has looked at this
evidence has found that it does not support the
charges that he is a threat to national security,''
said one of the lawyers, David Cole.
The 3-0 decision Friday by a panel of the U.S.
Board of Immigration Appeals granted
Kiareldeen permanent resident status, Cole
said. The INS has asked for a stay of that ruling
until Oct. 29 so it can consider whether to
petition Reno.
Messages left after business hours Monday for
INS representatives in Washington and Newark
were not immediately returned.
Kiareldeen, 31, was arrested by the INS in
March 1998 and accused of overstaying his
student visa, the only charge against him. He
has maintained his innocence.
Summaries of secret FBI evidence given to the
judge said Kiareldeen plotted to kill Reno
because of her role in prosecuting the terrorists
responsible for the 1993 World Trade Center
bombing, that he was a suspected member of an
unnamed terrorist organization and that he made
a threat against Reno.
Kiareldeen lawyers blamed the allegations on a
``disgruntled'' ex-wife, who testified against
Kiareldeen last year.
Friday's ruling upheld a decision in April by an
immigration judge who saw the secret evidence
and said it was not convincing. That judge said
Kiareldeen should be released on $1,500 bail,
but the INS obtained a stay from the appeals
board and he stayed in federal custody.
Only the INS and five immigration judges have
seen the evidence, compiled by the FBI. The
use of secret evidence is permitted in
immigration proceedings.
