Court declines S. Florida 9/11 case

Posted on Tue, Feb. 24, 2004

WAR ON TERROR
Court declines S. Florida 9/11 case

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to decline hearing the virtually secret 9/11-related case of a South Florida immigrant has broad implications for basic legal rights.

By NOAH BIERMAN

nbierman@herald.com


The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to hear the case of a South Florida man whose legal status is being kept in near complete secrecy as part of the government's war on terrorism.

Civil libertarians have been watching the case closely. But even those with the keenest interest have absorbed the case in only dribs and drabs because most facts have been shielded from public view. The case would have remained anonymous if not for an accident from a clerk and the curiosity of a reporter.

Mohamed Kamel Bellahouel, 34, is an Algerian national who is married to an American woman in Deerfield Beach. A former country veterinarian, he was waiting tables at a Middle Eastern restaurant in Delray Beach at the same time several Sept. 11 hijackers were training in South Florida.

In October 2001, federal agents detained him for five months on an immigration hold because they believed he may have served two hijackers food and, possibly, attended a movie with one of them. His immigration lawyer, David Silk, said FBI agents scrutinized him and found no reason to charge him.
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http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/states/florida/counties/broward_county/8025847.htm