BOISE, Idaho - Former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft could be called to testify in a lawsuit that claims a student was wrongly imprisoned in a computer terrorism case, a federal judge ruled Wednesday. ADVERTISEMENT
U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge rejected Ashcroft's argument to toss out the lawsuit because he was entitled to absolute immunity since his position at the Department of Justice was prosecutorial.
Abdullah al-Kidd, who played football for the University of Idaho, claimed government wrongfully arrested him in the case against a fellow student, Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, in 2003.
They both worked for the Islamic Assembly of North America, a Michigan-based charitable organization that federal investigators said funneled money to activities supporting terrorism and published material advocating suicide attacks on the United States.
A jury acquitted Al-Hussayen of using his computer skills to foster terrorism and of three immigration violations after an eight-week federal trial. But Al-Hussayen — who was only months from finishing his doctorate study at the University of Idaho — was eventually deported to Saudi Arabia.
Al-Kidd was never called to testify, but he spent two weeks in jail as a material witness and was later released to the custody of his wife with strict limitations on where he could travel.
His lawsuit claimed Ashcroft was personally liable for violating his rights because after the terrorist attacks Ashcroft "created a national policy to improperly seek material witness warrants, oversaw the execution of such warrants, and failed to correct the constitutional violations of conducting such actions," according court documents. Al-Kidd said the investigation and detainment not only caused him to lose a scholarship to study in Saudi Arabia, but that it cost him employment opportunities.
The ruling also means U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez and others in the Department of Homeland Security could be called to testify in the lawsuit.
"We are literally reviewing it at this minute and no, we have not made any decisions at this time," Charles Miller, spokesman for the Justice Department's civil division, said of the ruling.
Al-Kidd's attorney, Lee Gelernt with the ACLU's national headquarters in New York, called the ruling a "vindication" for al-Kidd.
"It will hopefully deter the government from using the material witness statute in the future in the way they did after Sept. 11," Gelernt said.
Al-Kidd is asking the judge to declare that the federal government's actions were unconstitutional, to order the FBI and other agencies to expunge any records relating to the unlawful detention of al-Kidd and others, and for unspecified damages.
