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7. Right Of The Media To Report Facts, And Not Be Killed 

Freedom of the press is a basic right to be exercised by the media and by the people: the media to report, the people to read, look, and listen. It was enshrined in the First Amendment, the U.N. Charter and the ICCPR because a free people must be able to hear many versions of “the truth” in order to decide whom to believe, and whom to vote for. 

The Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. § 101) calls for development of “a comprehensive plan” for “securing ... information technology,” seen as a clear violation of the First Amendment.  

By Sept. 15, 2001, a few reporters questioned what George Bush did immediately after 9/11. When their questions were published; they were immediately fired in Texas, Oregon and San Francisco. 

Report 7.2 

Customs Seizes FBI Documents Sent to Journalist: John Solomon (Eric Lichtblau, “FBI Admits Secret Seizure of Documents from AP and Opens an Inquiry,” New York Times, April 24, 2003.) 

Report 7.3 

Immigration Officials Detained Resident Journalist: Roger Calero (“Journalist Wins Fight to Remain in United States,” The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, May 20, 2003.) 

Report 7.4 

U.S. Guards Threatened BBC Journalists on Guantanamo Tour (Vikram Dodd, “American Military Bans BBC Crew From Guantanamo Bay for Talking to Inmates,” Guardian, June 23, 2003.) 

Report 7.5 

U.S. Fire in Iraq Killed Seven Journalists (“IFJ Calls For Iraq Probe After Palestinian Journalist Shot Dead By U.S. Troops,” International Federation of Journalists, Aug. 18, 2003.) 

Report 7.6 

U.S. Censored Embedded Journalists (Peter Phillips, “Corporate Media and Homeland Security Move Towards Total Information Control,” Dissident Voice, April 26, 2003.)  

Report 7.7 

U.S. Detains Iranian Journalists 126 Days (“Freed Iranians Accuse U.S. Of Torture,” Agence France Presse, Nov. 4, 2003.) 

8. Right To Privacy from Surveillance  

Immediately after 9/11, Bush called on Congress to swiftly pass the Patriot Act (“Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism”), a 131-page bill that became Public Law 107-56. The act expanded the powers of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978, which created a court to oversee FBI surveillance in foreign intelligence investigations.  

The government established a new technology called MATRIX to make it easier for local, state, and U.S. law enforcement agencies to exchange information, without an avenue for public review. 

Constitutional scholars found that the Patriot Act violates the constitutional right to privacy in the First and Ninth Amendments, U.N. Charter Art. 55, and ICCPR articles. 

Report 8.1 

Attorney General Implements His Registration System (David Cole “13,000 Arabs and Muslims in U.S. Face Deportation and John Ashcroft Attempts to Expand Patriot Act,” Democracy Now!, June 9, 2003.) 

Report 8.3 

Immigration Failed To Notify Non-Citizens of Second Registration (“As Immigrant Registration Deadlines Loom Once Again, ACLU Sees Trap for Arabs and Muslims,” American Civil Liberties Union, Oct. 30, 2003.)  

Report 8.6 

Judge Limited Patriot Act Application; Then Amended Opinion (Linda Deutsch, “Part of Patriot Act Ruled Unconstitutional,” CNN.Com, Jan. 26, 2004; Humanitarian Law Project v. Ashcroft, 309 F.Supp.2d 1185).  

Report 8.7 

Federal Legislation Threatens Right to Privacy of Medical Records (P.L. 107-56; Citizens for Health et al v. Tommy Thompson, Secretary of Health and Human Services, No. 03-2267, April 2, 2004.) 

9. Right of Libraries Not To Report on Readers 

The Patriot Act expanded the FBI’s authority to obtain people’s records. Section 215 lets the FBI seize any record of any entity, including libraries and bookstores, without proving the person whose records are being sought was involved in terrorism.  

Section 215 allows the FBI to obtain whole databases, including records of citizens not suspected of any wrongdoing, and forbids anyone to say their records were searched. 

By October 2002, the FBI had visited 178 libraries to ask for their records. Many found ways to object, relying on the constitutional right to read involved in freedom of the press, the right to privacy, and ICCPR arts. 17-19. 

Report 9.1 

FBI and Homeland Security Checking Out Library Patrons (James Ridgeway, “FBI Snoops at Libraries,” Refuse and Resist, Apr. 8, 2003.) 

Report 9.3 

Republicans Change Rules To Keep Library Oversight (AP, “Bush Prevails as House Refuses to Curb Patriot Act,” FreeRepublic.com, July 8, 2004.) 

10. Right Of Universities To Accept Foreign Scholars And Students 

Since 9/11, when foreign students have been accepted to do graduate work in U.S. universities, they must go to the U.S. Consul in their country to apply for student visas. Consular officials have the new Government Technology Alert List (genetic engineering, biochemistry, microbiology, flight training, neurology, urban planning, etc.). And they have the List of State Sponsors of Terrorism (Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, N. Korea, Sudan, Syria.)  

If a student is from one of the countries on the second list and is studying one of the “sensitive” subjects on the first list, the Consular officials send the application to Washington for review, which can take six months or more. 

Physics Today said in 2003 said these rules could affect 600,000 foreign students. In 2002-2003, students from Middle Eastern countries, Pakistan, Malaysia and Indonesia faced six to 12 month delays. Most of those delayed were from China, India, or a Muslim or Arab country. 

These actions violate the academic freedom incorporated in the First Amendment, and the right to travel (see 11.) 

Report 10.1 

New Student Exchange & Visitor Information System Targets International Students (Robert M. O’Neil, “Academic Freedom and National Security in Times of Crisis,” Academe, May/June 2003.) 

Report 10.2 

Foreign Scientists, Technology Students at Risk: Adrian Ow Yung Hwei, et al. (Mark Clayton, “Academia Becomes Target for New Security Laws,” The Christian Science Monitor, Sept. 24 2002.) 

Report 10.3 

Mandatory Security Checks Hit Certain Foreign Students: 600,000 May Be Affected (Jim Dawson, “Post-September 11th Visa Woes Still Plague International Students and Scientists,” Physics Today, June 2003.) 

Report 10.4 

INS Detained Kuwaiti Immigrant Mathematics Professor: Hasan Hasan (Ben Ehrenreich, “Passport to Hell,” Orange County Weekly, Oct. 11-17, 2002.)  

11. Right To Travel  

More than 25,000 non-citizen airport personnel have been laid off under post 9/11 rulings of Department of Homeland Security and Transportation Security Administration. There are no statistics indicating that this has heightened airport security.  

The right of people with passports to travel to and from the U.S. was reaffirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court in the late Cold War period. The right to travel within the U.S. and to the U.S. without unreasonable search and seizure is part of the Fourth Amendment protections. The ICCPR articles repeatedly spell out this right.  

Report 11.1 

Activists Kept Off Airplanes: Nancy Oden, et al. (“Caught in the Backlash,” American Civil Liberties Union, Nov. 2002; “Protesters Detained in Milwaukee,” The Progressive, April 27, 2002.) 

Report 11.3 

INS Stopped, Deported Syrian-Canadian Man to Syrian Jail: Maher Arar (Arar to Sue Ashcroft,” CBC News, Jan. 22, 2004.) 

Report 11.4 

U.S. Denied Entry to Ex-UK Official, Spanish Lawyer, British Journalist: Bernadette Devlin McAliskey, et al. (Lara Flanders, “Security threat? Bernadette Devlin McAliskey Barred Entry to the U.S.,” CounterPunch, Feb. 22, 2003.) 

Report 11.5 

Bush Preventing U.S. Citizens from Traveling to Cuba (Cindy Domingo, “Peace & Freedom,” WILPF, Winter 2004.) 

To be continued... 

Berkeley resident Ann Fagan Ginger is a lawyer, teacher, activist and the author of 24 books. She won a civil liberties case in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1959. She is the founder and executive director of the Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute, a Berkeley-based center for human rights and peace law. 

Contents excerpted from Challenging U.S. Human Rights Violations Since 9/11, edited by Ann Fagan Ginger (© 2004 Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute; Prometheus Books 2005) Readers can go to http://mcli.org for a complete listing of reports and sources, with web links. 

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