Civil rights eroding, Muslims say

DANIA BEACH· Before more than 200 people gathered to discuss civil rights Saturday, Kussay Al-Sabunchi told his harrowing tale. He was half naked when federal agents pulled him from his Orlando home last April, pinned him to the ground and arrested him, he said. He had failed to disclose on his 2001 immigration application that he was found guilty in 1997 of violating his ex-wife's restraining order by sending her flowers.
 
The oversight landed Al-Sabunchi, 40, in court facing deportation to his native Iraq. A judge found him not guilty of purposely lying on his immigration documents and three months ago charges were dropped. Al-Sabunchi, a computer engineer, advised the Muslims in the audience to be careful."It was very, very difficult. They really freaked me out. We still have post-stress syndrome," he said after the program, referring to himself and his wife.Members of the Council on American Islamic Relations-Florida said Al-Sabunchi is one of countless others who have been victims of overzealous authorities. Providing security while preserving the rights of foreign-born U.S. residents is one of the biggest challenges for democracy in the United States in the post-9-11 climate, speakers at the symposium said. They included Randall Marshall, legal affairs director at that American Civil Liberties Union of Florida; David Cole, a lawyer and law professor at Georgetown University; and Amy Goodman, host of the radio show Democracy Now.Many Muslims who attended Saturday's event said they still think they are under scrutiny since the 9-11 attacks."Muslims in America have been made the scapegoats in the witch hunt that ensued after 9-11," said Parvez Ahmed, chairman of the board for the council in Florida. "Our freedoms have been compromised by invoking fear and paranoia."Speakers criticized the Patriot Act, which has been used to expand law enforcement's surveillance powers. The provision allowing FBI agents to search public library records and conduct secret searches without a warrant were called most troubling.Cole said what is taking place in the country now is "the most massive campaign of ethnic profiling since World War II," and that the United States is setting double standards by allowing one set of rules to apply to foreign-born residents who are not American citizens.Cole questioned why about 5,000 people were detained after 9-11 as part of the government's preventive campaign. "Could you imagine if 5,000 American citizens were picked up and held without any charges?" he asked.The questions hit home with many who came to the three-hour event at the Wyndham Hotel in Dania Beach. Samar Jarrah, of Port Charlotte came to hear Goodman and learn more about Brandon Mayfield, the Oregon lawyer who had been falsely linked to a rail bombing in Madrid. Authorities said they had mistakenly matched his fingerprint to one found near the deadly scene. Mayfield's wife, Mona, was among the panelists "It could happen to me. It could happen to you," Jarrah said. "This shouldn't be happening in the United States."