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Acknowledgements

This report was researched and written by Anjana Malhotra, Aryeh Neier fellow for Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union. The primary editor of the report and project manager was Jamie Fellner, U.S. Program director for Human Rights Watch. Lee Gelernt, senior attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union Immigrants’ Rights Project, Jim Ross, general counsel for Human Rights Watch, Joseph Saunders, deputy program director for Human Rights Watch, and Robin Goldfaden, staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union Immigrants’ Rights Project also reviewed and edited this report. Ann Beeson, associate litigation director for the American Civil Liberties Union, provided valuable assistance in coordinating the report. Keramet Reiter, associate for the U.S. program provided research assistance and prepared the report for publication. Human Rights Watch staff Andrea Holley, publications director and Fitzroy Hepkins, mail manager, provided production assistance. Paul Jacobs and Miranda Johnson provided research assistance throughout the report. Manu Krishnan assisted in proofreading the report.

Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union would like to thank the many individuals in the United States and abroad who made invaluable contributions to our understanding of the Department of Justice’s use of the material witness law as a post-September 11 policy. We are particularly grateful to the material witnesses, their families, and their counsel who gave the testimony that forms the core of this report.

Because of the Department of Justice’s efforts to keep all of the post-September 11 material witness arrests secret, finding the witnesses was a difficult endeavor, made possible only with the help of many people, including: Adem Carroll, the Islamic Circle of North America, Sin Yen Lee, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the many activists working with the New York Post-September 11 Civil Rights Coalition, Islamic Circle of North America, Counsel on American Islamic Relations, Muslim Public Affairs Council, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the Migration Policy Institute, as well as the ACLU Affiliates of Eastern Missouri, Nevada, and Oregon. We also wish to acknowledge the guidance provided throughout this report by Stephen Schulhofer, professor, New York University School of Law, Michael Wishnie, professor of clinical law, New York University School of Law, Wendy Patten, former advocacy director of Human Rights Watch, Benita Jain, Immigrant Defense Project, Nancy Morawetz, professor of clinical law, New York University School of Law, and Anil Kalhan, associate-in-law at Columbia University.

Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union are grateful to the Open Society Institute for its support of the Aryeh Neier Fellowship. We would also like to give special thanks to Gara LaMarche, vice president of the OSI for initiating the fellowship. Human Rights Watch would also like to thank the Open Society Institute and Peter Lewis for their support of our work on U.S. post-September 11 policies.