: Hundreds of Arabs Still Detained in U.S. Jails

The dragnet for those of Middle Eastern descent has expanded recently. But all anyone knows is that Arabs are locked up (which is all some want to hear). How many (or for how long) is another matter. “The government simply will not tell us,” said Hussein Ibish of the Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. With the exception of the relatively well publicized Rabih Haddad case, few details are available due to Attorney General John Ashcroft’s sensitivity to “public scrutiny.” Furthermore, Michigan Democratic Rep. John Conyers finds it astonishing that “while the INS is fixated on detaining and rounding up countless Arab-Americans without any justification, it has failed to take basic steps to ensure that visas are not issued to known terrorists,” a reference to the visas issued posthumously this week to two 9/11 hijackers.

Zahed Amanullah is associate editor of altmuslim.com.  He is based in London, England.