Portland attorney released after evidence points to another suspect
Material witness law allows arrest without charges
The bottom line is that, as far as the Justice Department is concerned, if you're Muslim and attend particular mosques that are suspect, you're presumed guilty until you're proved innocent. That's not the way our Constitution is supposed to work.... I hope this serves as a reality check for the Justice Department, but given the things that have happened already, I think they're beyond embarrassment.
- Dave Fidanque, Oregon chapter director of the American Civil Liberties Union
Well, Brandon Mayfield is finally out of jail. Of course, his name has hardly been cleared, but at least he is a free man- or what passes for one in post-9.11 Amerika.
From all indications, Mayfield's only crime was trying to be a good Muslim. Apparently, that was enough to arouse suspicion and justify depriving him of his freedom.
Mayfield was arrested on a material witness warrant, under a statute that allows the government to hold a potential suspect without formally charging them. The statute carries a high-level of secrecy.
Mayfield's family has insisted he is innocent. They also say he has not been out of the country for at least a decade, and could not have been in Spain.
It is not clear whether the investigation against Mayfield has been dropped.
If coincidence, suspicion, and an adherence to an "unpopular" religion are sufficient to jail an American citizen indefinitely, how safe are any of us? In a world where anyone can be jailed indefinitely without charges, can any American really sleep safely? Are our constitutional rights just so much parchment to be stomped on in the Bush Administration's war against terrorism? Is this the America we want- where your life can be turned into something out of a Franz Kafka novel at a moment's notice?
Before you laugh this off, consider Brandon Mayfield's case. Mayfield runs a small, struggling law practice in suburban Portland,OR. He hasn't been outside the us in 10 years, and he hasn't been outside the state of Oregon in two. Somehow, though, the US government was able to hold him as a material witness on evidence that was circumstantial at best. If not for the publicity Mayfield's plight drew, he might well still be behind bars. Welcome, to post-9.11 Amerika, y'all....
And who will stand up on your behalf when they come for you?
