John Ascroft is unremorseful as hundreds of Americans of Pakistani origin languish in US jails
FIRST the good news? American democracy is not quite deaf. Its riposte to the Justice Department for cruelty to 762 immigrants — most of them Pakistanis — taken into custody during the nationwide terrorism probe after 9/11 came by way of a blistering 198-page report by Inspector General Glenn Fine. Shaken up by the heart-rending testimony of those dehumanized, the Bush Administration’s modus vivendi for detainees now calls for a saner approach.
Well the bad news? “We make no apologies,” said the smug Attorney General Ashcroft after being grilled by the lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Instead, he has asked for additional death penalties in terrorism cases. The guy has an attitude problem, say many.
Tearing down the foundations of American democracy, he has sworn to persevere with his (un) “holy war” in “keeping America safe”. Thus, in his messianic world of moral certitude, setting a “pattern of physical and verbal abuse”, Ashcroft challenges all the rules by employing shocking and un-American tactics of torture and hurt.
Warns the Washington Post: “A cavalier attitude toward civil liberties, an inability to concede mistakes, a refusal to see imperfections in the criminal justice system, a zealously irrational belief in the death penalty — the Attorney General is far more dangerous than any of the immigrants he wrongly detained.”
And opposite of Ashcroft is Adem Carroll.
There is something about him that draws a sigh of sadness. Looking into his limpid pools of deep hazel eyes, that seem to tell it all, one just cannot pass by without halting to hear his tale. As the handsome young man with a becoming beard recounts his encounter after encounter with Pakistanis crushed and broken by the mighty wrath of John Ashcroft, one quickly falls in step with him to record the nuances of injustice and hurt America has heaped upon people not her own.
Can Adem Carroll be called a soldier of God?
He tells me shyly that he converted to Islam while living next to a saint’s tomb in Morocco in the eighties, “and then a meeting with Turkish dervishes in New York led to an academic study of Islamic culture which ripened into faith, formalized in 1988. Step by step.....Insha’Allah I am still learning the way.”
Since the fateful day of the felling of Twin Towers, Adem has done his own fire fighting to save fellow Muslims, indiscriminately rounded up. In the lengthening shadows of the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn — the most notorious prison in America that has dealt the maximum abuse on Muslim detainees — I meet Adem who has come every Saturday for full four months to join in the protests and help the wives and children of prisoners locked up inside. He works for the Islamic Circle of North America, a humane outfit but with a shoestring budget.
The sporadic media reports on detainees has left Adem cynical. “They have a scattershot approach.... always sending different reporters out who are new to this issue.... and now The New York Times says that 13,000 more are slated to be deported from the current NSEERS Special Registration program.”
According to him, like the American government, the media here makes no distinction between undocumented and those who have applied for 245-i amnesty status or have some valid but pending status and still facing deportation in this draconian climate. “I see that the government (and often lazy media) overlooks these important differences, and simply labels these people ‘illegal’.”
“We have cases of men married to citizens in valid marriages detained at Special Registration because they have minor charges against them (NOT convictions — hence they are counted as guilty before proven innocent!). Also we have other men in good marriages whose previous marriages are being challenged. If there was a marriage that did not work out or was in fact a “green card marriage” this may well invalidate the current marriage based sponsorship and the man cannot become a permanent resident.”
Still others lost their job in the economic slowdown post 9/11 and therefore the basis of their work visa, explains Adem. Some have found new visas based either on employment or something else, but the time intervening they may have been out of status-another grounds for removal apparently. “And of course even long term permanent residents can be deported if an old misdemeanour is declared to be an “aggravated felony” — smoking pot as a teenager for example... we know of several of these cases as well.”
Ashcroft has tried defending his policy of long-term detention, claiming that bail cannot be granted because a high proportion skip bond. “I challenge the validity of the 85 per cent bail jumping figure Ashcroft invokes. One cannot generalize for all classes of prisoners equally!” says Adem.
Nor has the Attorney General responded satisfactorily to the well documented cruel and unusual conditions at Brooklyn prison. “It is easy for him to say he will not stand for violence — however, the entire treatment of this class of detainee constitutes a form of torture, as Amnesty International has also documented.”
In responding to the Inspector General’s report, Ashcroft claims that 14 of 18 allegations of abuse have been unsubstantiated because of lack of evidence. “However, the report makes clear that video footage at the Brooklyn isolation cells have been conveniently destroyed. Also the detainees have almost all been deported. Of course there is now “insufficient evidence” given this cover up,” says Adem, who calls Ashcroft a “liar”.
“ I am concerned that by wrapping himself in the flag, Mr Ashcroft may continue to impose his politics of fear. Just as Weapons of Mass Destruction have been overstated, so too the range of terror threats domestically. The media, our Congress and our people must wake up to his manipulation.”
Adem Caroll, tells me that Pakistanis continue to be “greatly affected, and we continue to get several new cases each week”. Mr N (Adem is loath to give his true identity) was recently referred by the Pakistani Consulate. He was arrested picking up a friend near the Canadian border. Mr N wears a long beard, and was accused of smuggling in people, a charge he denies. “His bail has been fixed at $15,000, but the family says it has no credit cards or property and cannot raise the full amount. His wife and brother-in-law seem to have no steady employment.”
Adem also talks of Javaid Iqbal, a Pakistani national who was deported to Pakistan in March 2003 after spending more than 15 months in detention. “He was never informed of his right to counsel. Iqbal nevertheless managed to obtain an attorney two months after his detention; however, the attorney couldn’t meet him for two more months because of facility denials and by that time it was too late. Also, Iqbal reported that six guards frequently assaulted him and threatened him while in jail.”
Who should be responsible for such injustice to Pakistanis?
“Despite his blithe and arrogant denials, I believe John Ashcroft should be held responsible for the human rights abuses that took place on his watch. Often innocent men were classified as “Special Interest” and held in harsh conditions for very long periods and in my experience, prison officials claimed this was because of “orders from Washington”,” says Adem who wants Ashcroft forced out of office.
Several detainees at the infamous Brooklyn prison even told Adem that “they believe they saw Ashcroft at one of the many FBI interrogations!”
Just imagine? The inexorable Attorney General himself hanging in the shadows where prisoners shackled and abused were exposed to the worst witch-hunt by the FBI!
As for Adem Carroll? He may not be able to help Pakistanis for long. “Our resources are drying up.”
John Ascroft is unremorseful as hundreds of Americans of Pakistani origin languish in US jails 
