WASHINGTON, Dec 24: Many Muslims and Pakistani civil liberties groups have filed a lawsuit against US Attorney-General John Ashcroft and the Immigration and Naturalization Service for “unlawfully” arresting hundreds of Muslims.

According to the lawsuit, filed in the United States district court for the central district of California, the INS unlawfully arrested large numbers of people between Dec 16 and Dec 18 in Los Angeles when they came forward to comply with new special registration requirements.

The lawsuit seeks an immediate injunction to avoid similar detentions.

The lawsuit, filed by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Alliance of Iranian Americans, Council on American Islamic-Relations, and the National Council of Pakistani Americans, states that the arrests were illegal because the government did not obtain the necessary arrest warrants.

It says that the fear of mass illegal arrests created by these detentions will obviously inhibit compliance by people facing similar registration deadlines in the near future.

The Muslim advocacy groups are seeking:

1. An injunction ordering the government not to arrest any additional persons in the “special registration” process without appropriate arrest warrants as required by existing federal laws;

2. An injunction preventing the deportation of detainees who have avenues available to legalize their status; and

3. An injunction requiring that the INS does not hold detainees without bond or bond hearings if the detainees have a mechanism to legalize their status.