WASHINGTON – Immigrants arrested in the United States may be held indefinitely on suspicion of terrorism and may not challenge their imprisonment in civilian courts, the Bush administration said Monday, opening a new legal front in the fight over the rights of detainees.
In court documents filed with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., the Justice Department said a new anti-terrorism law being used to hold detainees in Guantanamo Bay also applies to foreigners captured and held in the United States.
Ali Saleh Kahlah Al-Marri, a citizen of Qatar, was arrested in 2001 while studying in the United States. He has been labeled an “enemy combatant,” a designation that, under a law signed last month, strips foreigners of the right to challenge their detention in federal courts. He represents the first detainee inside the United States to come under the new law.
A woman’s attempt to pass a counterfeit $20 bill at a gas station was foiled when the clerk realized something odd: It was blank on one side. Leah R. Jarolimek, 21, of Cedar Grove, was charged with a felony count of forgery after her failed attempt to buy chips and cigarettes, according to a complaint filed Friday in Sheboygan County Circuit Court.
Four people taken hostage by a gunman at a pharmacy overpowered their captor Monday after he demanded prescription drugs and fired several shots, authorities said. The 90-minute standoff ended when the hostages, who were barricaded inside the store with the gunman, hit him with something, Sheriff’s Deputy B.E. Ferrell said. None of the hostages was harmed, but the suspect was taken to a hospital, Ferrell said.
The widows of two combat veterans sued the government Monday for not allowing Wiccan symbols on their husbands’ military headstones. The Department of Veterans Affairs allows military families to choose any of 38 authorized headstone images. The list includes commonly recognized symbols for Christianity, Buddhism, Islam and Judaism, as well as those for smaller religions. The lawsuit was filed by Roberta Stewart, whose husband, Nevada National Guard Sgt. Patrick Stewart, was killed in combat in Afghanistan last year, and Karen DePolito, whose husband, Jerome Birnbaum, is a Korean War veteran who died last year.
San Francisco abandoned its bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics after plans for a new bayfront stadium collapsed when the San Francisco 49ers football team said they intend to move to Silicon Valley. Los Angeles and Chicago are now the remaining U.S. candidates to hold the games.
From Herald staff reports
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