Opinion ID: 3065072
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Al-Kidd

Text: Plaintiff-Appellee al-Kidd was born Lavoni T. Kidd in Wichita, Kansas. While attending college at the University of Idaho, where he was a highly regarded running back on the University’s football team, he converted to Islam and changed his name. In the spring and summer of 2002, he and his thenwife were the target of a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) surveillance as part of a broad anti-terrorism investigation allegedly aimed at Arab and Muslim men.2 No evidence of criminal activity by al-Kidd was ever discovered. Al-Kidd 1 All facts are taken from al-Kidd’s first amended complaint, unless otherwise indicated. 2 Al-Kidd is Muslim, but is African-American and not of Arab descent. 12272 AL-KIDD v. ASHCROFT planned to fly to Saudi Arabia in the spring of 2003 to study Arabic and Islamic law on a scholarship at a Saudi university. On February 13, 2003, a federal grand jury in Idaho indicted Sami Omar Al-Hussayen for visa fraud and making false statements to U.S. officials. On March 14, the Idaho U.S. Attorney’s Office submitted an application to a magistrate judge of the District of Idaho, seeking al-Kidd’s arrest as a material witness in the Al-Hussayen trial. Appended to the application was an affidavit by Scott Mace, a Special Agent of the FBI in Boise (the Mace Affidavit). The Mace Affidavit described two contacts al-Kidd had with Al-Hussayen: alKidd had received “in excess of $20,000” from Al-Hussayen (though the Mace Affidavit does not indicate what this payment was for), and al-Kidd had “met with Al-Hussayen’s associates” after returning from a trip to Yemen. It also contained evidence of al-Kidd’s contacts with officials of the Islamic Assembly of North America (IANA, an organization with which Al-Hussayen was affiliated),3 including one official “who was recently arrested in New York.” It ended with the statement, “[d]ue to Al-Kidd’s demonstrated involvement 3 The IANA is identified in the Al-Hussayen indictment as an organization with the “purpose of Da’wa (proselytizing), which included the website dissemination of radical Islamic ideology the purpose of which was indoctrination, recruitment of members, and the instigation of acts of violence and terrorism.” The IANA’s web site currently disseminates a list of goals which include, inter alia, to “[u]nify and coordinate the efforts of the different dawah oriented organizations in North America and guide or direct the Muslims of this land to adhere to the proper Islamic methodology”; “[s]pread the correct knowledge of Islam”; “[w]iden the horizons and understanding . . . among Muslims concerning different Islamic contemporary issues”; “[a]ssist the oppressed and tyrannized scholars, Islamic workers and Muslim masses in any locality”; and “[c]reate programs and institutions that will serve the English-speaking Muslims of North America.” Islamic Assembly of N. Am., About IANA, at http://www.iananet.org/ about.htm (accessed June 10, 2009). Al-Hussayen, then a computer science graduate student at the University of Idaho, was accused of registering and running the IANA’s web site. AL-KIDD v. ASHCROFT 12273 with the defendant . . . he is believed to be in possession of information germane to this matter which will be crucial to the prosecution.” The Mace Affidavit did not elaborate on what “information” al-Kidd might have had, nor how his testimony might be “germane”—let alone “crucial”—to the prosecution of Al-Hussayen. The affidavit further stated: Kidd is scheduled to take a one-way, first class flight (costing approximately $5,000) to Saudi Arabia on Sunday, March 16, 2003, at approximately 6:00 EST. He is scheduled to fly from Dulles Interna- tional Airport to JFK International Airport in New York and then to Saudi Arabia. . . . It is believed that if Al-Kidd travels to Saudi Arabia, the United States Government will be unable to secure his presence at trial via subpoena. In fact, al-Kidd had a round-trip, coach class ticket, costing approximately $1700. The Mace Affidavit omitted the facts that al-Kidd was a U.S. resident and citizen; that his parents, wife, and two children were likewise U.S. residents and citizens; and that he had previously cooperated with the FBI on several occasions when FBI agents asked to interview him. The magistrate judge issued the warrant the same day. Pursuant to the material witness warrant, al-Kidd was arrested two days later at the ticket counter at Dulles International Airport. He was handcuffed and taken to the airport’s police substation, where he was interrogated. Thereafter, he was detained for an aggregate of sixteen days at the Alexandria Detention Center in Virginia, the Oklahoma Federal Transfer Center, and the Ada County, Idaho, Jail. He was strip searched on multiple occasions and confined in the highsecurity unit of each facility. During transfer between facilities, al-Kidd was handcuffed and shackled about his wrists, legs, and waist. He was allowed out of his cell only one to 12274 AL-KIDD v. ASHCROFT two hours each day, and his cell was kept lit twenty-four hours a day, unlike other cells in the high-security wing. On March 31, after petitioning the court, al-Kidd was ordered released, on the conditions that he live with his wife at his in-laws’ home in Nevada, limit his travel to Nevada and three other states, report regularly to a probation officer and consent to home visits throughout the period of supervision, and surrender his passport. After almost a year under these conditions, the court permitted al-Kidd to secure his own residence in Las Vegas, Nevada, as al-Kidd and his wife were separating. He lived under these conditions for three more months before being released at the end of Al-Hussayen’s trial, more than fifteen months after being arrested.4 In July 2004, al-Kidd was fired from his job. He alleges he was terminated when he was denied a security clearance because of his arrest. He is now separated from his wife, and has been unable to find steady employment. He was also deprived of his chance to study in Saudi Arabia on scholarship. Al-Kidd was never called as a witness in the Al-Hussayen trial or in any other criminal proceeding.