US accused Over Muslim Detentions

BBC

The US indefinitely detained some 70 Muslim men after the 11 September attacks on baseless accusations of terrorist links, US rights bodies say.
The US Justice Department held the men under a federal law as witnesses likely to flee, Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union say.

In a new report, the US is criticised for not arresting the men as criminal suspects, and later releasing many.

The Justice Department says the witness ruling is crucial to crime-fighting.

The material witness law was designed to allow the detention of witnesses thought to have information relating to a crime but who might flee.

Judges were willing to co-operate with FBI calls for detentions in the weeks and months after 11 September 2001 as authorities attempted both to investigate the attacks and to prevent fresh strikes.