Terror cases unravel, ethnic profiling alleged

The headlines suggested terror in the heartland: two Arab-Americans carrying a big wad of cash and hundreds of cell phones arrested in Ohio, and three others with a thousand cell phones and photos of a five-mile-long bridge detained in Michigan. But the perception of a national security threat, aired on cable news channels throughout the week, is unraveling, leading the FBI and prosecutors to back off and provoking a storm of protest from Muslim-American groups who allege ethnic profiling. Prosecutors in Ohio dropped terrorism charges on Aug. 15 against the two men from Michigan, saying they could not prove that the men were involved in a terrorist plot. On Aug. 14, the FBI said it had found no evidence that three Texas men of Palestinian heritage who were arrested on Aug. 11 had terrorist ties or were planning to blow up the Mackinac Bridge in Michigan. The arrests in Ohio and Michigan apparently were a response to urgings from federal authorities last winter to be on the lookout for people buying large numbers of cell phones. Police agencies say the phones have been used to detonate bombs. Ali Houssaiky and Osama Sabhi Abulhassan of Dearborn, MI, were arrested on Aug. 8 in Ohio. They had in their possession $11,000 in cash and several hundred cell phones. They were charged with soliciting or providing for an act of terrorism, money-laundering and a misdemeanor charge of lying to police. They walked out of jail after posting a reduced bond on the misdemeanor charge, the only one remaining. Houssaiky and Abulhassan acknowledged buying about 600 phones in recent months at stores in southeast Ohio, according to an affidavit filed to support the arrest. Before being arrested, they said they planned to buy up to 300 phones at $25 each. The two said the phones were for the owner of a Dearborn gas station, the affidavit said. Officials also said they found $11,000 cash, airplane passenger lists and information on airport security checkpoints in their car. Prosecutors have not provided details about the passenger lists. Houssaiky's mother, Nada Houssaiky, said the security information consisted of training notes for her job as an airport passenger service agent at Detroit Metro Airport. Abulhassan said he believes the men were targeted because they are Arab-Americans. He referred to a comment by Larry Mincks, an Ohio sheriff involved in the arrests, who said last week his police department did not profile based on ethnicity but said the suspects' background "caused a bit of a stir." "If that's not profiling, I don't know what is," Abulhassan said. Three men from Texas–Adham Othman, Louai Othman and Awad Muhareb–were arrested in Caro, MI, with about 1,000 cell phones in their possession and with digital photos they had shot of the Mackinac Bridge. They were initially charged with gathering material related to terrorism–the phones–and surveillance of a vulnerable target–the bridge. Michigan State Police said just three days later that the men were not planning to blow up the bridge, and the FBI said it had found no terrorist links. The men were released on Aug. 22 after posting $10,000 bail. While the terrorism charges were dropped, they now each face one count of conspiring to traffic in counterfeit goods and carrying out an unlawful activity involving a financial transaction. They could each face up to 25 years in prison if convicted. "I'm just glad we're out," Louai Othman said. "These are outrageous charges.... We're just trying to make a living." Nabih Ayad, the trio's lawyer, said the men were targeted because they are of Arab descent, and called the arrests a "breakdown of the criminal justice system." Ayad said that the men traveled from state to state buying the cell phones because they were more expensive in Texas and because many stores place limits on the number of phones that can be purchased. "They were in Wisconsin and they drove to the [Upper Penninsula] and then down here," he said. "The Mackinac Bridge was an amusement to them. On the camera there's 50 pictures, 20 of the bridge. The rest are a deer, ducks, flowers and trees." Ayad also said their families in Dallas were suffering because of the arrests. "People are driving by and yelling, calling them terrorists," he said. Muslim American groups have called the arrests a rush to judgment that reflects increased targeting of Arab-Americans since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The number of reported incidents of harassment, violence and other forms of discrimination against Muslims in the United States has soared in recent years, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations. In 2005, the group reported 1,972 such cases, more than triple the 602 cases reported in 2002. "This is a very alarming trend, and we have every right to be concerned," said Imad Hamad, Midwest regional director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. Arsalan Iftikhar, the Council on American-Islamic Relations' national legal director, said the number of incidents always jumps after an international terror scare or acts of war. "There's a definite correlation," he said. "It's an instant spike, and then it drops again as the fallout slows down." Most of the incidents that the council has recorded involve employment discrimination, religious accusations, racial profiling and problems with due process in the legal system. About 10 percent of the incidents involved hate crimes, the group said, and 15 percent to 20 percent stemmed from what it identified as claims of government harassment. "They don't stop white guys with a bunch of cell phones," Iftikhar said. "If they did that, there would be an uproar. But do it to Arab-Americans and nobody says anything."