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For Immediate Release
November, 13 2009, 12:30pm EDT
Contact:
Mason Clutter, (202) 580-6930 or mclutter@constitutionproject.
Family Members of 9/11 Victims Welcome the Federal Prosecution of Some Detainees While Criticizing Use of Military Commissions for Others
*September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows available for media inquiries**
WASHINGTON
In light of the announcement by Attorney General Eric
Holder designating several alleged 9/11 conspirators held at Guantanamo
to be tried in civilian federal courts in New York, the organization
September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows announced its
support for the decision. The September Eleventh Families for Peaceful
Tomorrows represents family members of 9/11 victims and advocates for
trying the detainees in U.S. federal courts, and not in military
commissions. They believe it is of the utmost importance for those
accused of these heinous acts to be treated in a constitutionally sound
manner. Only in that way will they get the justice they deserve.
Representatives
from The September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows will be
available for a conference call with the press at 2:30 pm today.
Representatives available include Donna March O'Connor, John Leinung,
Valerie Lucz, Talat Hamdani, Loretta Filipov, and Nancy Meyer. To join the call, please dial 1-800-816-4134, access code 69922.
Talat Hamdani lost her first-born 23
year old son, Mohammad Salman Hamdani, at WTC II on September 11, 2001.
Salman worked at Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Manhattan. He was
an NYPD Cadet and NYS Certified Paramedic. He responded to the call of
duty voluntarily. Being a Muslim American, his noble actions were
investigated and the family was notified six months later, on March 20,
2002, that his remains were indeed found near the second tower on
October 23, 2001. Salman is also mentioned in the Patriot Act for his
heroism as a Muslim American. Talat's husband also died of a broken
heart on July 21, 2004. Talat Hamdani has since become an activist for
civil liberties and human rights.
Nancy Meyer is
an Environmental Education Consultant and Project Director, September
11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows. She is the sister-in-law of
United Flight 93 victim Lauren Catuzzi Grandcolas and mother of three
living in rural Nebraska, where she is a School Board member.
John
M. Leinung is the step-father of Paul J. Battaglia, WTC Tower 1, 100th
floor, Marsh & McLennan. Paul was 22 yrs. old, a 2000 graduate of
Binghamton University School of Management. He was the former General
Manager of WHRW, the B.U. radio station.
Donna Marsh O'Connor, Liverpool, NY, teaches writing and rhetoric
at Syracuse University. She lost my daughter Vanessa Lang Langer on
9/11. She worked in the WTC Tower II. She was four months pregnant
and her body was found whole and intact on 9/24/2001.
at Syracuse University. She lost my daughter Vanessa Lang Langer on
9/11. She worked in the WTC Tower II. She was four months pregnant
and her body was found whole and intact on 9/24/2001.
Adele Welty is a retired social worker who currently is a
member of Peaceful Tomorrows. She had four children and seven
grandchildren, and lives in the same house she resided in when her son,
Firefighter Timothy Welty, was born. He was lost in the line of duty at
the World Trade Center on 9/11 and left a young son and daughter. In
2004, Adele traveled to Afghanistan to meet with civilian families
affected by the military campaign there. She also participated in a
delegation to Amman, Jordan, in 2005, bringing humanitarian supplies
to Iraqi refugees from Falluja. In 2007, she spoke at a Human
Rights Conference in Guantanamo, Cuba and joined activists protesting
the prison there. In 2008, she attended a meeting of LaOnf in Erbil,
Iraq and helped kick start the PT LaOnf Campaign here in the states.
She has been active in calling attention to challenges faced by
underrepresented minorities affected by 9/11, and has lobbied to remove
negative provisions from proposed immigration legislation. She opposes capital punishment and testified for the defense in the Moussaoui trial.
member of Peaceful Tomorrows. She had four children and seven
grandchildren, and lives in the same house she resided in when her son,
Firefighter Timothy Welty, was born. He was lost in the line of duty at
the World Trade Center on 9/11 and left a young son and daughter. In
2004, Adele traveled to Afghanistan to meet with civilian families
affected by the military campaign there. She also participated in a
delegation to Amman, Jordan, in 2005, bringing humanitarian supplies
to Iraqi refugees from Falluja. In 2007, she spoke at a Human
Rights Conference in Guantanamo, Cuba and joined activists protesting
the prison there. In 2008, she attended a meeting of LaOnf in Erbil,
Iraq and helped kick start the PT LaOnf Campaign here in the states.
She has been active in calling attention to challenges faced by
underrepresented minorities affected by 9/11, and has lobbied to remove
negative provisions from proposed immigration legislation. She opposes capital punishment and testified for the defense in the Moussaoui trial.
The Constitution Project is a politically independent think tank established in 1997 to promote and defend constitutional safeguards. More information about the Constitution Project is available at https://constitutionproject.org/.
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BREAKING: a federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to immediately release on bail Rumeysa Ozturk, a Muslim grad student at Tufts University who was abducted and abused by ICE agents, all because she wrote an editorial, yes, an editorial, critical of the Israeli government's genocide.
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— CAIR (The Council on American-Islamic Relations) ( @cairnational.bsky.social) May 9, 2025 at 11:12 AM
"There is no evidence here as to the motivation, absent consideration of the op-ed, so that creates unto itself a very significant substantial claim that the op-ed—that is, the expression of one's opinion as ordinarily protected by the First Amendment—form the basis of this particular detention," the judge continued, adding that Öztürk's "continued detention potentially chills the speech of the millions and millions of people in this country who are not citizens."
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Mahsa Khanbabai, Öztürk's attorney, toldCourthouse News Service she's "relieved and ecstatic" that her client has been ordered released.
"Unfortunately, it is 45 days too late," Khanbabai lamented. "She has been imprisoned all these days for simply writing an op-ed that called for human rights and dignity for the people in Palestine. When did speaking up against oppression become a crime? When did speaking up against genocide become something to be imprisoned for?"
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"When did speaking up against genocide become something to be imprisoned for?"
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Foreign nationals—and some U.S. citizens wrongfully swept up in the Trump administration's mass deportation effort—are imprisoned in facilities including private, for-profit detention centers, where there are widespread reports of poor conditions and alleged abuses.
These include denial of medical care, insufficient access to feminine hygiene products, and rotten food at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center, where Öztürk—who, according to Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), has received no religious or dietary accommodations and had her hijab forcibly removed—is being held.
Öztürk also suffers from asthma and told Sessions via Zoom Friday that her attacks have increased behind bars due to stress. Dr. Jessica McCannon, a pulmonologist, testified that Öztürk's asthma appears to be poorly controlled in ICE custody, according to
courtroom coverage on the social media site Bluesky by freelance journalist Joshua J. Friedman.
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) was among those who on Friday demanded Öztürk's immediate release, while other lawmakers and human rights and free speech defenders celebrated Sessions' decision.
"Rümeysa Öztürk has finally been ordered released," Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said on social media. "She has been unlawfully detained for more than six weeks in an ICE facility in Louisiana, more than 1,500 miles away from Somerville. This is a victory for Rümeysa, for justice, and for our democracy."
In the United States, we guarantee free speech. No one here will lose their rights and freedom for publishing an op-ed. This is a win for the rule of law. Rümeysa is free!
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— Representative Becca Balint ( @balint.house.gov) May 9, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Seth Stern, director of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation, said in a statement that "it is unfathomable that in the United States legal system, it takes 45 days for a judge to rule that people can't be put behind bars for writing op-eds the government doesn't like."
"Without a system committed to its principles, the Constitution is just words on paper, and they don't mean much if this can happen here," Stern continued. "Öztürk's abduction and imprisonment is one of the most shameful chapters in First Amendment history."
"We're thankful that Judge Sessions moved it one step closer to an end and we call on the Trump administration to release Öztürk immediately and not attempt to stall with any further authoritarian nonsense," he added.
Amid President Donald Trump's defunding threats and pressure from ICE officials, universities have told "many hundreds" of international students that they have lost their immigration status and must immediately self-deport. These notifications were based on the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) termination of students' records on the Student Exchange and Visitor Information System (SEVIS), a database used by schools and authorities to access visa information.
Although DHS admitted in court that it had no authority to use SEVIS to revoke students' status, the Trump administration still canceled more than 1,800 visas before reversing course last month pending an ICE policy revamp.
In addition to moving to deport pro-Palestine students, the Trump administration is sending Latin American immigrants—including wrongfully expelled Maryland man Kilmar Abrego García—to a notorious prison in El Salvador, and the president has repeatedly threatened to send natural-born U.S. citizens there.
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On Friday, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said that Trump and his advisers are "actively looking at" suspending habeas corpus as a means of overcoming judicial pushback against the administration's deportation blitz.
"Well, the Constitution is clear—and that of course is the supreme law of the land—that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended in a time of invasion," Miller told reporters at the White House. No foreign entity has invaded the United States since Japanese forces landed in the Aleutian Islands in the then-territory of Alaska during World War II.
Critics pointed out that Miller's proposal is, in fact, blatantly unconstitutional.
"Since it appears needs to be said: The authority to suspend habeas corpus lies with Congress, not the president, and is only legal during extreme circumstances of rebellion or invasion," Democratic pollster and strategist Matt McDermott said on Bluesky. "Stephen Miller is full of shit."
It wasn't just Democrats and Palestine defenders who cheered Sessions' ruling Friday. Billy Binion, who covers "all things injustice" for the libertarian website Reason, said on social media that the government's "entire case against her is that... she wrote an op-ed."
"Hard to overstate how bleak—and frankly embarrassing—it is that the Trump administration wants to jail and deport someone for speech," he continued. "In America."
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