In an article titled “Man Held (and Held) on Suspicion,” Los Angeles Times staff writer Patrick J. McDonnell reports on the case of Hady Hassan Omar, Jr. Excerpt:
As far as federal authorities are concerned, it remains an open question whether Hady Hassan Omar Jr. is linked to terrorism.
The 22-year-old native of Egypt and aspiring antiques dealer was arrested the day after the Sept. 11 hijackings and sits in a maximum security prison north of New Orleans.
He is among the longest-held detainees picked up in the sweeps that followed the terrorist attacks. Omar’s case demonstrates the government’s determination to use all avenues to block the release of anyone about whom officials harbor doubts. Omar, like many others, is jailed on unrelated immigration charges. No criminal charges have been filed.
But federal authorities are appealing to an immigration board in suburban Washington to deny Omar bond. The government contends he remains a danger to the community, even though he passed a polygraph test. “Compartmentalization of terrorist activity would mean that subject could pass polygraph,” states one confidential document in Omar’s case, meaning that plots might have been structured to keep participants in the dark on key aspects.
Friends and family of the former waiter at an Italian restaurant in Fort Smith, Ark., view him as a nice guy victimized by coincidence. “He loves America,” said his wife, Candy Kjosa, a native of Arkansas who has an infant daughter, Jasmine, with Omar.
But, from the standpoint of the FBI, Omar has at least three strikes against him: He is a young Arab man, he was a passenger on a commercial jet on Sept. 11 and, most crucially, he booked his plane reservation via the Internet at the same Kinko’s copy shop in south Florida that was used by suspected hijackers Mohamed Atta, also an Egyptian, and Ahmed Ibrahim A. Al Haznawi.
Omar insists he was not involved in the terrorist strike and didn’t know the hijackers. He has stuck to his story.
Because polygraph “tests” have no scientific basis, have an inherent bias against the truthful, and yet are easily defeated through the use of simple countermeasures that polygraphers cannot detect, no reliance should be placed on them one way or the other.