This twisting of a narrow law designed to secure testimony into a broad preventive detention authority has resulted in some notorious abuses. Just days after 9/11. the FBI arrested eight Egyptianborn men in Evansville. INone a naturalized American citizenas material witnesses. based on a bogus tip that they planned to fly a plane into the Sears Tower in Chicago. The men were held for more than a week in solitary confinement before being released. Many months later. the FBI issued a rare public apology to these men. That apology. while necessary. could not repair the damage that had been done to them and their families in the form of lost business. tainted reputations. and the accusing stares of their friends and neighbors. The case of Abdallah Higazy further highlights the danger that can occur when this authority is abused. Shortly after 9/11. the 30yearold Egyptian graduate student with a valid visa. was picked up after a security guard at a hotel located across the street from Ground Zero claimed to have found an aviation radio in the room where Higazy had stayed on 9/11. Higazy was held for more than a month in solitary confinement until he ultimately confessed that the radio was his. Higazy was then charged with lying to the FBI for initially denying possession of the radio.
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