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| Majed Hajbeh, 44, pictured at the Hampton Roads Regional Jail in 2005, is seeking release pending his deportation.
(The Virginian-Pilot file photo) |
By TIM McGLONE
The Virginian-Pilot
Majed Hajbeh is a man without a country.
The 44-year-old Palestinian has bounced from one Virginia jail to another for nearly four years, without any criminal conviction in this country. For the past 15 months, he's been held in solitary confinement - 23 hours each day in a cell alone.
He is being detained in an immigration administrative process that could last the rest of his life, according to his lawyers. His initial infraction: He checked single, instead of divorced, on his application for a green card.
Immigration authorities, however, suspect him of being a Jordanian terrorist and want him deported.
Hajbeh, with the help of a Washington law firm, this month filed a lawsuit in Norfolk federal court seeking his release, or at the very least his removal from solitary confinement. The government filed papers this week seeking to block that request.
Hajbeh's case highlights the government's hard-line efforts - since the 2001 terrorist attacks - to keep potentially dangerous non citizens behind bars, even without filing criminal charges. But Hajbeh's case stands out both for the length of time he's been in jail and the government's evidence linking him to terrorist activity.
He was convicted in absentia in his native Jordan of plotting the bombings of an American school and other targets. That 1999 conviction occurred while he was living in Woodbridge, Va. The Jordanian government would later overturn the convictions of his co-defendants, acknowledging the charges were trumped up and the defendants were tortured into confessing. The Jordanian government also apologized. Hajbeh's conviction stands because he has never returned to Jordan.
The U.S. government refuses to accept Hajbeh's innocence. At one point in its investigation, a federal agent suggested that Hajbeh had ties to two Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers.
Meanwhile, Hajbeh's wife, who had a minor stroke recently, and their seven children muddle through life in Northern Virginia with limited resources.
The Virginian-Pilot interviewed Hajbeh in 2005 when he was being held at the Hampton Roads Regional Jail. He had been in custody for two years and was awaiting a court ruling on his request to remain in the country. That request was denied and his appeals that followed failed.
In late 2005, Hajbeh was moved to the Piedmont Regional Jail in Farmville, about 150 miles from his family in Woodbridge. He was transferred "because he is a difficult detainee," an immigration official said in a court filing and he is being housed in solitary confinement because of his suspected ties to terrorism.
Jail officials and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement denied requests by The Pilot to interview him.
He has been ordered to be deported to Jordan, but that order was suspended because of evidence that he would face torture if he is returned there. Immigration authorities are searching for another country, possibly Israel, where he could live freely with his family.
"He is, in fact, stateless," his attorney wrote in a court filing.
In ordering Hajbeh deported, an immigration judge cited the incorrect information Hajbeh checked on his papers when he entered the country in 1993. Hajbeh said it was an honest mistake. Because it was an administrative procedure, the judge did not take into account the fact that Hajbeh was acquitted in federal court of a criminal charge of falsifying the document.
The judge also cited his Jordanian conviction. Hajbeh's attorneys argued unsuccessfully that he has never been charged in this country with being a terrorist.
"To give the government unchecked power to unilaterally and arbitrarily designate someone as a terrorist is draconian at the least," one of Hajbeh's former attorneys wrote in a 2005 court brief.
Born in 1962 in the West Bank, Majed Talat Hajbeh and his parents moved to Kuwait in 1967 and then to Jordan during the first Gulf War. He had married in 1988 but divorced in 1992.
Hajbeh arrived in Chicago in 1993, joining other family members who fled Jordan to escape unrest.
During a brief return to Jordan that year to tend to his sick son, Jordanian intelligence authorities detained Hajbeh for 13 days in an effort to force him to become a spy, according to court papers filed by his attorneys. The Jordanians beat the bottoms of his feet and rubbed salt in the wounds, burned him with cigarettes and forced him to ingest unidentified pills, the attorneys said.
"When he was not being tortured himself he could hear the screams of other victims," the papers say.
Hajbeh returned to Jordan again and remarried his ex-wife, Najwa Abualhija. They and their children returned to the United States.
A devout Muslim, Hajbeh settled in Murfreesboro, Tenn., working in factories and studying and teaching his religion at the local mosque. He even converted Priscilla Alnabulsi, the daughter of a co-worker, to Islam.
Hajbeh moved his family to Northern Virginia where he could pursue religious studies. He had hoped to obtain a doctorate and become a Muslim teacher.
He returned to Jordan for brief visits through the 1990s, he said, to visit sick family members. It was during these visits that the Jordanian government alleged that Hajbeh led and financed a group called the Reform and Defiance Movement, which planted bombs at an American school, a hotel and other government offices. No one was injured in the explosions.
After the 2001 attacks in the United States, the Department of Homeland Security mounted an effort to root out suspected terrorists and people with falsified immigration papers. Hajbeh was one of them.
During his immigration proceedings, family and friends testified on his behalf, and his attorneys submitted 31 affidavits from supporters, all of whom spoke of Hajbeh's pacifism.
Hajbeh "would always be lecturing and advising on the true values of Islam: no crime, no adultery, no stealing, no violence," according to a statement from a long time friend, Eyad Ahmad.
They also submitted news reports and records from Jordan detailing Hajbeh's torture, the convictions that were overturned and the subsequent conviction of the "real perpetrator" of the bombings, according to the court records here.
Alnabulsi said she testified about the federal agent who came knocking on her door in 2003, asking questions about Hajbeh. The agent called Hajbeh a fundamentalist and asked if he ever talked about meeting two of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers.
"There's no way that ever happened," said Alnabulsi, who started a "Free Hajbeh" petition online that has more than 250 signatures.
Hajbeh's oldest child, Sumaya, 16, is signature No. 201.
"My family has been going through a lot of things which we shouldn't have to go through in a country like USA," his daughter writes. "We really are having a hard time living without a father."
Hajbeh's wife said in a brief telephone interview this week that the family subsists on food stamps and help from friends and from her husband's brothers, who live in this country.
She said it's been especially difficult since she had a stroke earlier this month and had to spend three or four days in the hospital. She has recovered and is on medication.
"If we find another country, we will go," she said. "We would rather stay here."
"It's been a pathetic, pathetic thing that's happened to him," said Annandale, Va., attorney Ashraf W. Nubani, who represented Hajbeh during the federal criminal case that was dismissed.
"The problem is we treat non citizens differently," he said. "The post-Sept. 11 atmosphere was ripe for these types of cases."
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to questions e-mailed to her earlier in the week. A spokeswoman for the Jordan embassy in Washington also did not respond to questions.
Some organizations that lobby for tighter immigration rules argue that the government isn't doing enough to close loopholes that have allowed terrorists, such as some of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers, to enter the country and remain here illegally.
"Five years after 9/11, progress is slow toward protecting the American people against the real likelihood that terrorists are exploiting U.S. immigration policies," Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said in a statement this fall upon release of a report on illegal immigration.
Hajbeh is expected to get a hearing in Norfolk federal court soon. No date has been set.
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What it means to America
Judging from the comments of some on this board some has forgotten what it means to be a democracy. For some reason because of the Bush administration who has manipulated our citizens for so long, there seems a contingent of folks who will drape themselves in the American flag but forgot what the constitution or bill of rights are to this country. Without these documents we are nothing special. Since most of us are not Native Americans, we are all immigrants. I say, Justice for all and Justice has not even come close presently, to doing right by this man and several other Middle-eastern Americans who have been wrongly discriminated against. Then we have those whose families build the idea of entitlement and the right to discriminate through manipulation, the idea that all do not share this right. I wonder when or if those who support this right wing view will be held accountable. What if I blame the white world for Timothy Mcvay who was responsible for the Oklahoma City Bombings?
Very unfortunate.
It is, however, one case in thousands. How many Palestinians have been granted refugee status? How many Africans, Russians, Jews, Hispanics, have been given a chance to succeed in this great country. There is a reason why people are literally dying to get here... And it is not because things like this gentleman's case are the rule. This is the exception. I feel for this man, and I hope that all of the information is verified and he may be set free. To think that this country is in the business of breaking families apart or falsely imprisoning foreigners is absurd. This family is getting food stamps, medicine, and health care for... Let's see... Nothing. This is the rule, not the exception. This country is a beacon of hope for everyone in the world. We are not perfect, but we are darn close. Find a better opportunity in this world, I challenge anyone. Think about the treatment you and your family would get in Arab countries. Welfare? Health care? Come on, people.
Some of these comments really make you wonder
Did they even read the article? With some of the comments I read (send him back, serves him right, etc) I think that the terrorists have won. We are throwing away our freedoms and rights for a false sense of security. It is sad. And it terrifies me that people actually applaud this action. And the very same people have the gall to call themselves "patriots." In reality, they are the kind of people our forefathers fought to secure our rights and freedoms. They are disgusting.
Looks like we missed one.....
Sorry America.....After three combat tours with the 101st Airborne Division in Iraq, I thought we had gotten them all..my apologies.
Better Safe Than Sorry
There are too many left leaning apologists shooting off their mouths about this.
The mind set of the Islamist is world dominiation and death to all infidels. They simply can't be trusted. Why waste valuable resources on someone of dubious character?
Don't keep this character in jail indefinitely at taxpayers expense. Send him back from whence he came. If his family wishes to be reunited with him provide them with the opportunity to accompany him.
Stop equivocating. Stop making excuses for him.
Let's do what is in the best interests of the law abiding citizens of this country, and send him home.
Better to be safe than have regrets for being naive.
Take the time to read the facts
Please try to take the time to read the article in it's fullest before you pass judgement. This man was charged and found guilty in abstentia - he wasn't even there. And all those charges have been dropped. They were made up. It didn't happen. He didn't comspire to kill Americans. He lived here, trying to teach the peaceful ideas in his religion and live a life guiding others to peace.
There is an instant I don't think anyone is reading... when he went back home to see family, they tortured him in order to make him a spy. He wouldn'tdo it! The United States is not even his nation of orgin, but he wouldn't do it. Why is that not patriotic? Might he be "difficult"? No doubt. I would be. The country that is advertised to stand for fairnes, justice, the country, the US, that I had been tortured and still refused to spy on has locked me up. And won't even listen to me. I would be "difficult" as well. Just because someone is different, doesn't make him a terrorist. Hatred = terrorist
Innocent man Unwrongfully jailed
Since he isn't a citizen nor anything in the governments eyes might they not give him refugee status...thats what the u.s. and israel have been doing to palestineans for decades....Israel takes land and palestineans run to seek refuge...who pulls whos' strings..Do we dance for Israel or does Israel dance for the U.S. come on sending this man and his family to Israel for deportation is exactly how the predjudiced people of the 40's, 50's and early 60's acted as they sent their african american slaves off to be linched...We are no better now than we were then only now we are smarter and can hide our secrets better...The truth of the matter is we should be called the U.S. of arian nation then we wouldn't spent all our time trying to help different cultures and then trying to weed out the different cultures from around us.....the only foreigners allowed here without any trouble are hispanics cuz our gov. lets them work cheaper than us ...so, if u r a useful foreigner then ur welcome here
What has happened to the integrity of America?
This event is par for the course from what has to be the dumbest president and vice president this country has ever had. We went from having the sympathy and help of the entire world after 9/11 to being hated and ridiculed by most of the world. From their trumped up reason to go to war with Iraq to eliminating the 400 year old right of Habeas Corpus, to allowing prisoner torture and extrodinary rendition (kidnapping), to terrible care for thousands of our wounded soldiers, a war costing two billion a week that is bankrupting the country, denying global warming... It goes on and on. I hope our Supreme Court members who decided to select our president for us are proud of themselves--putting in an ignorant jerk who is more interested in "working out" and bicycling than in thinking about the harm that he has done to this country. I hope we can recover from his disastrous legacy but I fear that our grandchildren will still be paying for his folly.
4 years in prison
America prides itself on its democratic heritage.But,the world sees hypocrisy. The one act of terror 911 brought the true colors of America to the fore. A bigoted,racist inhumane America surfaced from hibernation.
Mr Hajbeh typifies the real America under the mask. A hateful America for whoms non-whites and non-Christians are the enemy.
Creating Enemies
There is an addle-minded majority in the country that continues to neglect the founding principles this country was founded on. The motivation for this negligent attitude is pure fear. History has proven many times that these delusions of fear only lead to acts of hate. What is happening to this man is a result of pure fear. We continue to judge people in our country by how a person looks. Shame on us!! We have created an enemy of this country in this man. If he has hate in his expression, it is because we put it there. It is the same hate that created Osama Bin Laden. We have been creating enemies of our country in the middle east for the past 40-50 years, and will continue to do so until we start living by the principles we claim to possess. God Bless America!! God Save the Bill of Rights!!!
Behaving like facists
It's hard to believe that the posters wanting to deport, imprison or shoot this guy read the story: "He was convicted in absentia in his native Jordan of plotting the bombings of an American school and other targets. That 1999 conviction occurred while he was living in Woodbridge, Va. The Jordanian government would later overturn the convictions of his co-defendants, acknowledging the charges were trumped up and the defendants were tortured into confessing. The Jordanian government also apologized. Hajbeh's conviction stands because he has never returned to Jordan." This man scares you because he looks like your enemy. But his only crime is checking the wrong box on a form and fleeing trumped up charges and torture. What happened to "innocent until proven guilty"? Or have the sunshine patriots decided to suspend that right as well? You cowards weaken this nation, not the people who defend the Bill of Rights and insist on due process.
Let him go!!
Unless there is substancial evidence that he is in fact a terriost, then I think the law should let him go and live here in America. The USA has always been the promise land. Many of our ancestors came here to settle by immigration. One man should not be punished because of his race or language or because his last name resembles that of a terriost. If the tables were turned we would see the truth of what this man is going through. We cannot Stereotype, any man of different races can be a terriost too.
A mistake was made...
but the mistake that was made was simply not shipping him off to his home country as soon as they detained him. Why is he still here? It is bad enough that my tax dollars are spent feeding American Thugs in prison. Now I am paying for him too? Get rid of him!
Single or Divorced
I don't think he should be compensated. Again when people come into this Country of the USA, they must learn English...
That is to read and write...if he didn't understand what he was filling out then he should have asked a question...A lot of people think this a joke...Well he found out that our Government isn't taking this stuff likely since Sept. 11th.
This goes for all Nationalities, not just the Middle Eastern people, but all the people who want to live and come to America.
Not defending the guilty but...
The arab terrorists that committed the worst assault on American soil are dead. They died on Sept 11th. Why is the American government constantly trying to re-kill them? Does it sting that bad?
Gross Injustice
This is obviously a gross injustice based on the fact that this man's own goverment(Jordan) of which I assume he is still a citizen has not lifted a finger to help him. This is very typical of this part of the world when one of their citizens has trouble elsewhere. We should hope that our own goverment would not do the same with us. The question here is only why he checked the wrong box on his immigration application and what are the laws regarding this infraction. Otherwise I see no need in detaining him and if deportation is the answer to the infraction then the proceeding should continue with haste or he should be released to his family.
Just the government
Why should we worry about this.. Our wonderful judicial system seems to be at work.. This man has been in jail for four years for clicking single instead of married or divorced.. Man I'm glad I did my taxes right this year. We live in a country that kills first and asks questions later or in this case incarcerates firsts... Like our tax dollars couldnt be spent on other things...
Suspension of Habeas Corpus & Patriot Act........
are nothing more or less than a play straight out of the playbook of the Great Emancipator, Father Abraham the Righteous, who set the set two precedents here by being the first Republican Hack to imprison those who the administration doesn't approve of before guilt is established.
Has Been Happening to Us!!
If you can afford Equal Justice under the law. You can maim, kill or what have you. If you can not afford Equal Justice Under the law, you are subject this type of governmental racketeering. This is not new. The Patriot Act did not begin this behavior. It has helped reveal some of the criminal govermental behavior. So where is the power of the people. Where is the "out rage" Let the man go, deport him, or charge him. four years is not a little amount of time not to mention in confinement. Can you imagine a life time of this type of treatment. Not all minorities are crying wolf when they complain about the system. Although for some time it has not been systematic racism. It is systematic socio-economic favor. Cash and cary justice. If you can't afford it, you don't get it in far to many circumstances. In this matter there is no Constitution. There is no rule of law. "How Barbaric"
No Sense
This story just doesn't make sense. The Jordanians torture him to become a spy? In America? And after that ordeal he comes and goes as he pleases, with out a bit of care that he could be tortured again? Then he has no difficulty getting his bride and family into this country, when others wait decades for the same permission. Things just don't add up.
Send them Home
Why in the world is this person and his family still in the United States.
They should have long ago been sent back to Jordan to live with his devout Muslim friends who are killing Americans, not living here on taxpayer money.
Hmmm...
I don't know what the whole story is, but I can say if there isn't anything to convict him of, then why is he still being held? I would be pretty upset about it too so is it any wonder that he is a difficult detainee? Four years for what? And the people running the jail think that this is ok? Are we all just going to go along with this stupidity? The scary part is that "alleged" terrorists are being held indefinitely today and some people feel good about that, but what will we do tomorrow when any schmuck accuses us of being terrorists or whatever else and we are housed indefinitely? I think back to WWII when some were housing people in concentration camps and people went along with that and thought it was good and we see where that ended up... So let's see we lock up border patrol agents who are protecting our borders and let the criminals go and then we lock up people who don't even have charges against them, just suspicion...
Let me get this straight. This man legally imigrates to this country, gets a job, pays taxes and is thrown into solitary because he checked the wrong box on a form? Yet, we allow millions of others to illegally enter the country, and knowingly give them welfare, health care and all the other benifits that the government can dream up. And oh yeah, give them credit cards and mortgages. And when something is said about them being here illegally, they stage prottests and scream about how they have a right to be here. And in stead of doing something to correct the problem, (and not give them amnesty), we sit back and and allow it to happen. Let's get real. Where is the justice? I have come to believe that our government has gone off the deep end. Oops, it just struck me .... he's not a protected species like to folks down south across the river. Hajbeh's biggest mistake was that he tryed to obey our immigration laws.
Send them home
Once he is cleared or time is served. I would have him and his whole family all deported.
red flag
I'm sure there are some examples of people being mislabeled and jailed unjustly. But this is a situation in which a convicted fugitive lied on a U.S. government document. He had previously been accused of terrorism before he came to the u.s. How did he get into the country? What are his ties to the 9/11 pilots? With all of these red flags how can he be released back into the community? The best resolution would be to deport him back to Jordan.
A poor excuse
The "why take any chances" argument was used to put Japanese-Americans into internment camps during World War II. The illegal imprisonment of 120,000 men, women and children for four years was motivated "largely by racial prejudice, wartime hysteria, and a failure of political leadership," according to the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians. Now we have the Patriot Act. How many times must this nation learn that you cannot toss out the Bill of Rights every time you get scared? Our credibility around the world is damaged every time we behave like a banana republic instead of a great democracy. Our own citizens become more and more cynical every time conservatives convince us to cut and run from our ideals. Evil men and women will always try to take advantage of good men and women. Does that mean good can only prevail by being evil?
What to Do In Times Like These?
This article tries very hard to make Hajbeh look like the victim. He may very well be. However, in times like these, what is the government to do? If he were released and then caught up in a terrorist plot, we would be reading another 'anti-government' article, this time about how the authoriities just let him slip by (i.e. Sept. 11 attackers). Let's stop enabling and remember that he is in this situation because of something He did!. He is a victim of his own undoing. Five years ago, Americans hadn't forgotten September 11, the way so many of them have now. Today, many sit back and complain about President Bush, not believing that the steps he has taken have foiled terrorist plots in this country since that awful day. Why take any chances, especially five years ago, of getting in trouble (lying on a government document) when the U.S. is on 'high alert' for terrorism? No one wants to see an innocent person locked up, but no one wants to see 9/11 again, either.
Animal Farm?
Welcome to the animal farm, where all men are equal but some men are more equal than others.
Judge Judy, where are you?
This sounds like a great bit for a reality criminal show. You could entitle it something like "I didn't do it" and have a number of contestents ask questions as they find out the truth. Then, to see who wins, the criminal would tell the truth at the end. Oh, wait a minute, I'm not sure that would work, would it? Well, I guess we will have to trust our flawed, bureaucratic, but hard-working justice system. It's all we have.
Land of the Free?
This is a travesty of justice that should make us all ashamed. This is the kind of nation we have become and under provisions of the so-called patriot acts, this could happen to any one of us as well. Hajbeh should be freed and compensated for the injustice done against him. The rest of us need to think about what kind of country we want to live in.