OpinionsEditorials

Civil liberties should be upheld

Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, more than 900 people have been arrested and jailed under suspicion of terrorist involvement.

Allegations are now surfacing that those arrested, many of Middle-Eastern descent, are being beaten, denied the right to an attorney and deprived of other rights.

In Texas, a man from Saudi Arabia was detained, denied an attorney and deprived of a mattress, a blanket, a drinking cup and a clock to let him know when to recite his Muslim prayers, his lawyers said.

In Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana, U.S. immigration officials cut off all lawyer visits and phone calls for detainees for a full week after the attacks, a move which officials are now conceding was a mistake.

And in Mississippi, a 20-year old student from Pakistan said he was stripped and beaten in his cell by inmates who were angry about the attacks while guards failed to intervene or give him proper medical care. The FBI is investigating the allegation.

Across the country, similar reports are surfacing about how detainees have been denied basic civil liberties, the very liberties that our country is fighting “a war on terrorism” to protect.

The individuals who have been arrested may or may not know something about the terrorist attacks, however, this is no excuse to mistreat them and deny them the basic civil liberties guaranteed to everyone else.

The United States is supposed to be a better country than that.

These liberties and rights that prisoners are being denied of are the same ones that President Bush and the military are fighting to protect.

As the war on terrorism rages on, our country needs to realize that by mistreating anyone held in custody lowers all of us to the level of the terrorists who have a complete disregard for human life.

Other Stories

Unsigned editorials represent the opinion of the Campus Times Editorial Board.

Previous article
Letter to the Editor
Next article
Halloween Live

Latest Stories

Related articles

Editorials

New York subway shooting exposes issues with NYPD

The New York Police Department failed its one mission – to serve and protect – when a masked gunman opened fire on the 36th Street Brooklyn subway station on April 12, leaving about 23 people injured with five in critical condition.
Editorials

U.S. should take responsibility for Afghan refugees

In the frantic final days of the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan following 20 years of war, American troops helped evacuate about a half million refugees, mainly Afghan soldiers and civilian contractors, along with their families.
Editorials

Muslims deserve freedom

An estimated one million Chinese Muslims have disappeared across Xianjiang, China, and speculation pertaining to their possible imprisonment in relation to their religious status were proved true after leaked documents highlighted a network of detention camps used to imprison Chinese Muslims.
Editorials

Feds finally call out white supremacy

Last week the Department of Homeland Security finally deemed white supremacy as a primary security threat in response to countless mass shootings that have claimed the lives of over 100 people in the last six months.