Discrimination
ACLU CASE ON BEHALF OF UNFAIRLY DETAINED MUSLIM MAN CURRENTLY IN SETTLEMENT TALKS
6.26.08
Abdullah al-Kidd
The ACLU National Office, in conjunction with the state affiliate, initiated a lawsuit last fall on behalf of a Muslim man who was unfairly detained and mistreated at the Oklahoma Federal Transfer Center during March of 2003. The case of Al-Kidd v. Sugrue was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma to vindicate the rights of plaintiff Abdullah al-Kidd following harsh treatment he received while in custody at a facility supervised by defendant Warden John Sugrue.
The lawsuit is currently in settlement talks. This development follows a ruling favorable to the plaintiff by the federal judge in the case.
Al-Kidd, an African-American native of the United States, converted to Islam while he was in college. His parents, siblings, wife and child were all born in the United States. The FBI had contacted him several months prior to his detention in order to investigate a case in which al-Kidd was not a suspect but a potential material witness.
Having booked a round-trip, coach-class ticket to Saudi Arabia to further his studies at a well known university there, al-Kidd was humiliatingly arrested by FBI agents in front of numerous onlookers at Dulles International Airport near Washington, D.C. on March More >
Immigration Controversy Continues
8.23.07
MALDEF & ACLU
House Bill 1804, passed during the 2007 session of the Oklahoma Legislature and signed by Governor Brad Henry, will require local law enforcement, state agencies, municipal government and small businesses to enforce federal immigration restrictions. The new law, the Oklahoma Taxpayers and Citizens Protection Act (OTCPA), will take effect on November 1, 2007.
ACLU of Oklahoma Legal Director C.S. Thornton and Program Coordinator Tamya Cox have been analyzing the OTCPA in conjunction with the ACLU National Immigrants’ Rights Project to determine what portions of the statute might be vulnerable to challenges on constitutional grounds. In addition, Thornton, Cox and Legal Intern Manish Rajwar have met extensively with representatives of advocacy groups involved with Oklahoma’s residents of Latin American descent.
Affiliate representatives met in Tulsa with advocates from the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and other organizations on June 2, 2007. Later in the day, ACLU staff participated in a public meeting at Tulsa’s East Central High School with concerned members of the Hispanic community.
A conference featuring a presentation about the OTCPA by David Blatt of Tulsa’s Community Action Project was held in Tulsa on June 5, 2007. The ACLU joined in discussion with representatives from advocacy groups and More >
JOANN BELL REPRESENTS ACLU AT THE UNITED NATIONS
6.23.07
UN delegates, Joann Bell second from right
Representatives from four local ACLU offices joined Lenora Lapidus of the ACLU Women’s Rights Project and Ashwini Hardikar of the ACLU Human Rights Program at the 51st Annual International Commission on the Status of Women and Girls hosted by the United Nations at its headquarters in New York. ACLU of Oklahoma Executive Director Joann Bell and ACLU personnel from Delaware, Michigan and Puerto Rico participated in sessions held March 5-7, 2007.
The goal of the sessions attended by the ACLU delegates was to insert language on conditions of incarceration into a one-page proposal on the treatment and rights of women and girls. Bell was chosen as a delegate because Oklahoma incarcerates women at a higher rate per capita than any other state in the U.S.A. Bell was also selected due to personal activism she initiated several years ago on behalf of a pregnant immigrant who was being held in the Oklahoma County Jail.
The efforts of the ACLU delegation were ultimately successful. Language protecting the rights of girls in custody was included in the violence and discrimination section of the Report issued by the Commission on the Status of Women and Girls.
The violence and discrimination section More >
