by Munira Syeda

Naji Hamdan is a U.S. citizen who, since August 2008, has been in detention in the United Arab Emirates. He is a father of three children, the youngest of whom is 1 and the oldest 16. He lived in Southern California for more than 20 years, and was a respected community leader and activist in the Muslim community.

Hamdan’s detention has been marked by allegations of torture, lack of access to an attorney and family members, a four-month detention without formal charges being filed, and, according to a suit filed by the ACLU late last year, FBI’s surveillance and interrogation of Hamdan.

In a signed statement given to U.S. consular officer Sean Cooper in U.A.E., Hamdan said he was kicked, made to sit in an electric chair with threats that he might be electrocuted, punched and slapped, blindfolded, and beat with a large stick. (Abu Ghraib detainees were regularly tortured by the U.S. military in a similar manner. See Participant Media’s “Standard Operating Procedure.” Another Participant Media film, “The Visitor,” deals with a character who is detained in the U.S.).

After the ACLU filed suit against the U.S. government on FBI’s involvement, Hamdan was moved to criminal custody in U.A.E. and now faces terrorism-related charges, based on a coerced confession. Amnesty International started an online petition for people to plead Hamdan’s case.

Hamdan has previously cooperated with the FBI and granted interviews to FBI agents. However, he was never charged with a terrorism-related charge, nor brought to trial in the U.S.

You can read more about it from the LA Times and  DailyBreeze.com

Hamdan’s troubling situation raises a number of key issues:

1. Is the FBI involvement true, and does that amount to renditions – a CIA practice in which terrorism suspects and prisoners are taken to friendly countries and interrogated, sometimes under harsh conditions – widely criticized by human rights organizations?

2. If there was evidence of wrongdoing on Hamdan’s part, then wouldn’t our government have prevented Hamdan from leaving the U.S. and worked diligently to apprehend him and bring him to justice?

3. Which U.S. government agency or official approved allowing or even possibly recommending the torture of a U.S. citizen and depriving him of basic civil and human rights? How can we hold those behind this decision accountable?

The Hamdan case presents a unique challenge to the incoming Obama Administration, which has sought to correct past civil and human rights abuses by taking positive action on shutting down Guantanamo Bay and CIA’s secret prisons, as well as banning torture.

However, the Obama Administration appears to have left the door open to possibly using renditions. (See Director Gavin Hood’s thriller “Rendition”).

Meanwhile, Hamdan’s family, supporters and community groups race against time.

Hamdan may be brought to trial in the U.A.E. soon. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. There is zero chance for appealing the decision. Hamdan’s own government, bogged down by bureaucracy or other such matters, watches on…and takes little action…to ensure due process and a fair trial for one of its citizens.

Now, we turn to the American public for help.

To help a fellow American, we urge you to do the following:

1. Please help spread the word about Naji Hamdan’s case. Link this post to your website and blogs.

2. Join Amnesty’s call for action on Naji Hamdan’s case.

takepart with the Council on American-Islamic Relations

Munira Syeda is the Communications Coordinator for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in the Greater Los Angeles Area.

(Photo from the ACLU)