February 22, 2006

Under Lock and Sea-Tac
In solitary confinement, Saudi immigrant fights deportation

By R.V. MURPHY
Contributing Writer

Melinda McRae laughs and calls her former co-worker Majid al-Massari “kind of a computer nerd.” Therefore, McRae and her colleagues at the University of Washington School of Nursing were surprised when the UW computer security expert didn’t show up for work for a couple of days and were even more surprised when FBI agents showed up to seize computers in his office.

The Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested al-Massari on July 22, 2004. Since then, he’s been held in solitary confinement at the federal detention center in Sea-Tac. Only his lawyers are allowed to visit, and al-Massari’s limited to one telephone call a week. Hanging over al-Massari’s head: deportation to his home country of Saudi Arabia, where he could be tortured and killed.

After his arrest, an immigration court found al-Massari deportable because of an “aggravated felony,” an attempted drug purchase of cocaine in 2003. The court ruled that al-Massari’s not eligible for political asylum even though his father, brother, uncle, and cousin have been tortured by the Saudi government.

His attorneys are appealing that ruling, explains Ibrahim Al-Husseini, a board member of the Arab-American Community Coalition, an organization trying to raise money for al-Massari’s defense. “We want to go before an immigration board,” he says. “Not just one judge, a panel.”

Those close to the case say that al-Massari will probably lose that appeal, but then his lawyers will appeal to the Ninth District Circuit Court.

Deportation proceedings never would have begun against al-Massari if immigration officials had processed his 1997 application for asylum in the 180 days allowed by law. Instead, it took six and a half years for officials to get to al-Massari’s petition and then deny it because time had elapsed. Al-Massari was then picked up a little over a month later.

“ Majid is a political case,” says his lawyer, Paul Soreff. “And a lot of it goes back to his father.”

Dr. Mohammed al-Massari started the first public human rights organization in Saudi Arabia in the early ’90s. He was among a group of professors who wrote a letter to the royal family (friends of the Bush family) that was critical of the Saudi government. The government’s response was to imprison and torture the professors. Dr. al-Massari currently lives in London and remains an outspoken critic of the government.

Majid al-Massari left Saudi Arabia in 1994 to come to the United States. He was more fortunate than his brother, who was badly beaten while in custody. Nevertheless, an immigration judge ruled that Majid (who has appeared on his father’s London radio show speaking out against the Saudi government) would not be endangered if he were deported to Saudi Arabia.

Critics of Dr. al-Massari have tried to link him to Al Qaida and Osama bin Laden, but Soreff notes, “even if your father was a terrorist that doesn’t make you a terrorist. Majid’s always preached nonviolence. He has Al Qaida information on his computer because he wanted to know what the other side was doing.”

Al-Massari’s case provides a textbook example of how the government can paint someone as a “national security threat.” In his court case, the government noted that al-Massari was attending school in New Mexico but then “suddenly” moved to Whidbey Island, where there are naval bases. In fact, al-Massari made the move because his stepmother lived on Whidbey Island.

The government also made an issue of al-Massari having computer hacking books when the FBI and ICE searched his apartment. When UW hired him as a computer security expert in 2000, they sent him to take courses on computer hacking.

Even if al-Massari wins his case, his co-attorney, Damon Shadid, says that by the time he gets out, he will have spent as much as three years in solitary confinement.

“ He’s an ordinary guy,” says McRae, who has written updates on a web site to keep al-Massari’s co-workers informed. “A lot of this is about harassment.” 

[To help]

The AARC estimates it will cost more than $100,000 in legal fees in Majid’s defense. Contributions can be made to The Arab-American Community Coalition, PO Box 31642, Seattle, Wa., 98103.

Majid enjoys letters of support. Send them to the Federal Detention Center, addressed as follows:

ALMASSARI, MAJID
Reg# 02755-461 Unit:SHU
PO Box 13900
Seattle, WA 98198-1090