Witness to Abuse - Human Rights Watch

target, 272 the state police ordered the family members out of their car and searched them.
The police, joined by the FBI, took the Elbarasses to the station for seven hours of
questioning.
In doing a computer search on Elbarasse, the FBI discovered that he had a connection
to an ongoing criminal trial of men in Chicago charged with providing material support
to Hamas. 273 That evening, a federal judge in Illinois issued a material witness warrant
for Elbarasse while he was held in a Maryland jail. Two weeks later, a Maryland federal
court ordered Elbarasse released from jail and held under house arrest after his family
and friends put their houses up as collateral for a bail of one million dollars. All
documents in his case remain under seal.
Ayub Ali Khan
On September 12, 2001, the FBI arrested Ayub Ali Khan and Mohammed Azmath at
the Amtrak railroad station in San Antonio, Texas. The two friends from India had just
lost their old jobs working together as managers of a newsstand in New Jersey’s Newark
Penn Station and were relocating to Texas for new work. They had begun their trip to
Texas on a plane that was scheduled to fly from Newark, New Jersey to San Antonio,
Texas on September 11, 2001. Because of the attacks that day, their plane was grounded
in St. Louis, Missouri. Azmath and Khan completed their journey to San Antonio by
train, like many other passengers. Shortly before the train reached San Antonio, federal
agents approached Azmath and Khan on the train based on a “suspicious tip” from
other passengers. 274 The government arrested Azmath and Khan after they discovered
they possessed around $5000 cash, box-cutters, and “a prayer rug and other religious
paraphernalia.” 275 In other words, the FBI detained the two men because they had some
money, had an instrument commonly used by people who work in newsstands among
other occupations, and were Muslim non-citizens. Surely, but for the last attribute, they
would never have been detained.
272
To obtain a search warrant for Elbarasse's home and car, the government asserted in its affidavit that a
review of the video showed "the cables and upper supports of the main span" of the bridge. Elbarasse’s
daughter “said the cables simply got in the way as they were filming the scenery below the bridge.” Jerry
Markon and Eric Rich, “Virginia Family Defends Video of Bay Bridge,” Washington Post, August 26, 2004.
273
HRW/ACLU telephone interview with Stanley Cohen, attorney for Ismael Selim Elbarasse, New York, New
York August 27, 2004.
274
Interview with Ayub Ali Khan.
275
Jack Douglas Jr., “Pair on Train Initially Were Thought to Be Drug Suspects,” Fort Worth Star Telegram, Oct.
28, 2001 (quoting police report of initial arrest of Shah and Azmath).
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