Government apologizes to Iraqi refugee for wrongful detention

[Purveyor]

Source: Associated Press

SEATTLE - The Justice Department has apologized and paid $250,000 to an Iraqi refugee wrongly detained in 2003 when he stepped off an Amtrak train in Montana to stretch his legs.

Abdul Habeeb, 41, of suburban Kent, spent eight days in custody before officials realized their mistake. They dropped deportation proceedings against him the following month, but Habeeb sued in 2005, seeking an apology and financial compensation _ both of which he received, according to a settlement agreement released Thursday.

"You are an Iraqi who was admitted into the United States as a refugee," Acting U.S. Attorney Jeff Sullivan in Seattle wrote in a June 13 letter to Habeeb. "You did nothing wrong. The United States of America regrets the mistake."

"Apologies are issued by the federal government when we're wrong," Sullivan said Thursday. "Maybe we don't do it as often as we should, but in this case we were wrong, and I felt good about signing the letter."

Habeeb, an artist who says he was repeatedly jailed under Saddam Hussein's regime, came to the U.S. in 2002, settling in the Seattle area. He was on his way to take a job at an Islamic newspaper in Washington, D.C., when the train stopped in Havre, Mont., about 75 miles from Canada, on April 1, 2003.


Read more: http://www.helenair.com/articles/2007/08/23/ap-state-mt/d8r70ktg0.txt

[Ian David]

1. Did Bush let him meet the turkey he pardoned on Thanksgiving, too? n/t

[EFerrari]

2. WTF have we become.

[wtmusic]

3. You'll get an apology all right -- if you sue their ass.

"Acting US Attorney Jeff Sullivan" could have saved everyone a lot of time and frustration by doing the right thing four years ago.

[Supersedeas]

4. oops, just a minor slip to be buried in the news cycle - more Lohan please

[tom_paine]

5. "Sorry about those shocks to the nuts."