: Quid Pro Show: Muslims Trade Legal Wins and Losses

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In a week destined to form a dozen Law and Order episodes, a frenzy of legal activity has encirled U.S. Muslims over terrorism charges. Benevolence International Foundation head Enaam Arnaout, arrested since last year, was charged with perjury after evidence was presented (mostly from a raid on the BIF Bosnia office) that seemed to contradict earlier statements against militancy – namely lots of firearms and Bin Laden pix (hey, who ever said anything about the appearance of impropriety?). On the other hand, a judge threw out a case in which a Jordanian student was detained indefinitely as a material witness and not charged with a crime. “Relying on the material witness statute to detain people in order to prevent potential crimes is illegitimate,” she wrote. To top it all off, after attorney Lynne Stewart was busted for allegedly transferring messages to Al-Qaeda from her client, the court has had a hard time finding new lawyers who won’t demand assurances that their attorney-client privileges not be violated as well (damn pesky laws). It’s enough to make you wonder if anyone, Muslim defendants or the federal prosecution, is thinking more than 2 minutes ahead of themselves.

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