Washington Post: Lawyer Says Unraveled Charges Show Peril of Secret Evidence

shanek · 27th June 2003, 03:16 PM

Exactly what Ashcroft promised wouldn't happen, and what Republicans everywhere are denying is happening:

Quote:

Mohamed Atriss spent six months here in the Passaic County Jail based on accusations by county prosecutors that he had ties to terrorism -- allegations prosecutors called so sensitive that they had to be kept secret from Atriss despite his constitutional right to confront evidence against him.

Today, the superior court judge who took the secret evidence last November unsealed the hearing transcript, revealing that the allegations were based largely on inaccurate information that Atriss and his lawyer said they could have rebutted, if only they had been allowed to see it.

Quote:

Atriss said he may file a civil suit against county authorities. "To think they kept me in jail on this!" he said with tears in his eyes.

According to the transcript, prosecutors told Judge Marilyn Clark that Atriss co-owned a check-cashing business in Jersey City with a man "classified by the FBI as a terrorist." In an interview today, U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie said the man named in the transcript was never classified as a terrorist but was a subject in a 1996 FBI investigation of a terrorist group.

Atriss said he and the man were in business together for a brief time in 1987. He said prosecutors would have discovered that if they had searched state business records.

Quote:

Christie said that federal authorities have "no information" that the company named in the transcript has terrorist ties.

Passaic County Prosecutor James Avigliano declined today to discuss the accuracy of the claims in the transcript. "I would absolutely do it over again based on the information I had," he said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...ml?nav=hptoc_n

It's horrible that they would deny Atriss his rights. It's unthinkable that they would do so with such flimsy evidence. And it's despicable that they say they would do it again!

27th June 2003, 03:16 PM	#1
shanek by Charles M. Schulz Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 15,990	Washington Post: Lawyer Says Unraveled Charges Show Peril of Secret Evidence Exactly what Ashcroft promised wouldn't happen, and what Republicans everywhere are denying is happening: Quote: Mohamed Atriss spent six months here in the Passaic County Jail based on accusations by county prosecutors that he had ties to terrorism -- allegations prosecutors called so sensitive that they had to be kept secret from Atriss despite his constitutional right to confront evidence against him. Today, the superior court judge who took the secret evidence last November unsealed the hearing transcript, revealing that the allegations were based largely on inaccurate information that Atriss and his lawyer said they could have rebutted, if only they had been allowed to see it. Quote: Atriss said he may file a civil suit against county authorities. "To think they kept me in jail on this!" he said with tears in his eyes. According to the transcript, prosecutors told Judge Marilyn Clark that Atriss co-owned a check-cashing business in Jersey City with a man "classified by the FBI as a terrorist." In an interview today, U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie said the man named in the transcript was never classified as a terrorist but was a subject in a 1996 FBI investigation of a terrorist group. Atriss said he and the man were in business together for a brief time in 1987. He said prosecutors would have discovered that if they had searched state business records. Quote: Christie said that federal authorities have "no information" that the company named in the transcript has terrorist ties. Passaic County Prosecutor James Avigliano declined today to discuss the accuracy of the claims in the transcript. "I would absolutely do it over again based on the information I had," he said. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...ml?nav=hptoc_n It's horrible that they would deny Atriss his rights. It's unthinkable that they would do so with such flimsy evidence. And it's despicable that they say they would do it again!
	__________________ "James Randi is awesome!" —Ian Bernard, primary host of Free Talk Live "It really does take people like Penn & Teller or James Randi to be able to see through these deceptions, and so those are perhaps the people we should be paying the most attention to." —Harry Browne, 4/10/2004 I know there is a lesson to be learned here somewhere, but I don't know what it is.