U.S. in danger of repressing human rights
Makau Mutua warns actions in wake of Sept. 11 moving nation toward police state

By CHRISTINE VIDAL
Contributing Editor

In its efforts to prevent a repeat of the tragic events of Sept. 11, the United States is moving perilously close to creating in our own nation a police state where human rights are denied, according to a professor in the Law School who is a human rights expert.

While domestic and international law provide safeguards to prevent the government from impermissible intrusions into the lives of individuals, scores of people rounded up by law enforcement officials in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks remain in custody. Some have been cleared of any charges, but not released. Others are being held on "frivolous" charges, such as overstaying their visas, says Makau Mutua, professor of law and co-director of UB's Human Rights Center.

And the detention of people who may have information about the Sept. 11 attacks is expected to continue with the recent announcement that the Justice Department wants to question more than 5,000 male foreigners who came to the U.S. from Middle Eastern and other countries where al-Qaeda operatives may be plotting new attacks. Although the attorney general has denied it, this action targets Arabs and Muslims, says Mutua.

In addition, President Bush has declared an "extraordinary emergency" that empowers him to order military trials for suspected international terrorists and their collaborators, bypassing the American criminal justice system, its rules of evidence and its constitutional guarantees. Such trials would not satisfy American constitutional and international human rights standards.

"I am concerned about the security of innocents," he said. "I understand the need for the government to investigate, track down and bring to justice the people responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks, but those efforts must be done within the law and the confines of the constitution and international law. That basic fact is fundamental and cannot be negotiated, because once you start to negotiate human rights, you slide down toward a police state."

Over the past two decades, as well as during most of the Cold War, the U.S. used the rights its citizens enjoyed as part of a democracy to criticize governments that deprived people of basic human rights, Mutua said.

"It would be ironic if the U.S. resorted to similar tactics in the face of a threat to security," Mutua said. "It would be unfortunate if the U.S. were to do what it has criticized in other governments."

Rounding up individuals because they belong to a particular ethnic or religious group is a violation of both domestic and international law, Mutua said. Detaining people simply because they are of Muslim or Arabic descent is a "worrisome trend" that dredges up echoes of the interment of people of Japanese descent in the U.S. during World War II.

And reports in the media that traditional civil liberties might have to be cast aside if investigators are to extract information from jailed suspected associates of Osama bin Laden are "chilling," Mutua said.

There must be a balance between national security and the rights of the individual, he emphasized.

"Clearly, we want to be safe and we want the horrible events of Sept. 11 not to be repeated," Mutua said. "I do want the government to take security measures, but at the same time, I do not want it to create a police state where human rights are abridged and denied."

The U.S. government had a responsibility to show the evidence linking bin Laden to the terrorist attacks in order to secure his surrender.

"That is not to say that justice should not be pursued. The U.S. has an obligation to find the people responsible for these attacks and bring them to justice," Mutua said. "But there are legal ways to do that without adding to the suffering of people here and elsewhere.

"It is playing loose with the law for the richest country in the world to bomb the poorest under these circumstances without evidence."