Arab Talk Radio: Civil Liberties in Peril: The Case of Muhammad Saleh

An American citizen of Palestinian descent, Mr. Muhammad Salah traveled from his home in Bridgeview, IL to Israel in 1993 to provide monetary assistance to Palestinian families. At the Gaza border-crossing, over twenty Israeli soldiers arrested and detained him. The Israeli Secret Service then systematically tortured him during an 80-day interrogation and forced Mr. Salah to sign a confession in Hebrew, a language that Mr. Salah does not understand. The Israeli Military Court sentenced him to five years in prison. After serving his sentence, he returned home to his family in the U.S. in 1997.

When he returned, the U.S. government had launched an investigation and had listed him on a list of Specially Designated Terrorists. Mr. Salah is the only U.S. Citizen to be placed on that list. As a result of this designation, all of the Salah family assets were frozen, and he was prohibited from receiving any goods or services from any U.S citizen not licensed to do so. Mr. Salah had to obtain permission from the Department of Treasury to get a job, to retain an attorney, to open a bank account, and to receive medical ca! re. As a result of these restrictions, his entire family suffered consequences and now lives in fear of eviction. Mr. Salah suffered these restrictions on his rights without being notified as to the reasons and without an opportunity to challenge his placement on the list.

Not until 2001 did the United States federal government re-launch a grand jury investigation into Mr. Salah's case. Then, in 2004, the U.S. charged Mr. Salah with aiding a terrorist organization based on the Hebrew confession, obtained through torture in 1993. He is scheduled to stand trial in the fall of 2006 in the United States District Court of the Northern District of Illinois. Mr. Salah~Rs lawyers moved to suppress the 1993 Hebrew confession as evidence. Starting on March 3, 2006, the court will hold hearings on whether to admit this confession as evidence. The court has closed to the public the portion of the hearing in which Mr. Salah's Israeli interrogators will testify as to their methods of interrogation. The closing of the hearing further violates Mr. Salah's Sixth Amendment Constitutional rights and the public's First Amendment right to a full public trial.