With more than 1,000 people detained since the Sept. 11 attacks, there are profound differences in their legal situations -- depending on their nationality, why they are being held and where.
Legally, those detained fall into three categories: a small number held as material witnesses, about 200 on immigration violations, and the majority held on federal, state or local criminal charges unrelated to the attacks.
But as a practical matter, there are many more distinctions. At one end of the spectrum are citizens of Saudi Arabia, whose embassy has aggressively tried to find them and retained well-established private lawyers to represent them.
At the other end are those held on immigration violations who may not have lawyers at all. Unlike those facing criminal charges, they have no right to government-assigned legal counsel. And lawyers fear that many may be in detention without the knowledge of a lawyer or their embassy.
The government has not revealed the names or nationalities of those detained, nor has it said how many of the non-Immigration and Naturalization Service detainees have been released or on what charges they are being held.
In many cases, people arrested on relatively minor state criminal charges, for which they normally would have been quickly allowed out on bail, have been denied bond. Some have had their files sealed or their hearings closed.
Washington -- Attorney General John Ashcroft disclosed yesterday that the government had apprehended suspects who are believed to have had advance knowledge of the Sept. 11 hijackings.
He said that three Arab men who lived in Michigan had been found in possession of airport diagrams, false immigration forms, a fraudulent American visa and a false alien identification card, and that they were "suspected of having knowledge of the Sept. 11 attacks."
He did not name the men, but other law enforcement officials have identified them as Karim Koubriti, 23; Ahmed Hannan, 33; and Youssef Hmimssa.
The men had previously been identified by law enforcement officials as Arab immigrants who were believed to be part of al Qaeda and whose suspicious belongings had been found in a Detroit apartment last month.
Although some senior law enforcement officials said previously that they believe the men are connected in some way to the Sept. 11 attacks, Ashcroft's remarks yesterday were the first time a senior government official had acknowledged those suspicions publicly.
They said Ashcroft's mention of an airport diagram apparently referred to the airport in Amman, Jordan.
Ashcroft cited their detention as proof of the value of a nationwide effort by federal law enforcement agencies to round up immigrants with possible ties to terrorists.
On Sept. 17, FBI agents raided a Detroit house at 2653 Norman St., looking to question Nabil Al-Marabh, a suspected member of the al Qaeda network. Al- Marabh's name was on an apartment in the building, but he was gone.
Instead, the FBI found Koubriti, Hannan and a man named Farouk Ali-Haimoud inside the apartment. According to an affidavit by Robert Pertuso, the Detroit FBI agent heading the investigation, the men told him that they had lived in the apartment for only two weeks and that Al-Marabh may have lived there earlier.
Inside the apartment, agents found Skychefs Detroit Metropolitan Airport identification badges for Hannan and Koubriti, who both once worked there as dishwashers, and a day planner with notations in Arabic. Pertuso said some of the notes related to a U.S. military base in Turkey. There were also notes about "the American foreign minister" and Alia International Airport in Amman.
Agents say Koubriti told them that the documents, which also included passport pictures and false identifications, belonged to another man, Hmimssa, who had previously lived in the apartment. Hmimssa was later arrested in Iowa. He, Koubriti and Hannan were indicted on charges of fraud and misuse of documents.
Al-Marabh was arrested on Sept. 19 in a suburb of Chicago. Al-Marabh, who is now being held as a material witness in New York, had held a commercial driver's license and permit to haul hazardous materials.
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