Keynote Luncheon: The Rule of Law in a Time of Terror

David Nevin, Esq., Nevin Benjamin & McKay, LLP
On February 26, 2003, Sami Omar Al-Hussayen was a 34-year old Saudi graduate student at the University of Idaho, a few months away from completing his Ph.D. and returning home to life as a university professor. On that day over 100 federal agents descended on the sleepy college town of Moscow, Idaho, arrested Sami at 4 a.m. in the presence of his terrified wife and 3 children, and then fanned out around the community interrogating Middle Eastern students, some of them for five to six hours. Sami was charged with multiple counts of Providing Material Support to Terrorism, and, in an 8-week trial in the spring of 2004, acquitted and freed – but not before spending 511 days in solitary confinement. Intended as a high water mark in the war on terrorism, Sami’s case is instead viewed as an example of government overreaching, and is frequently cited in Congressional debates on extension of the Patriot Act. In this address, Mr. Al-Hussayen’s lead counsel provides some insight into the surprising intensity of the government’s investigation and prosecution, and considers the value of citizen oversight of police behavior in this most volatile and politically charged area of law enforcement.