Home : Immigrants' Rights : Asylum/Refugees

ACLU In Federal Court Today To Prevent Deportation Of Egyptian To Torture (06/30/2008)
PHILADELPHIA – The American Civil Liberties Union and ACLU of Pennsylvania were in a federal appeals court today challenging the government's efforts to deport an Egyptian torture victim. The government claims to be relying on unreviewable "diplomatic assurances" from Egypt that it will not torture him upon his return. Last January, in the first decision of its kind, a federal district court sided with the ACLU and ordered the government to stop the deportation of Sameh Khouzam based on such secret and unreliable promises and release him under conditions of supervision. However, the Bush administration appealed this ruling, claiming that the executive branch has unfettered authority to deport Khouzam and to detain him indefinitely pending his legal proceedings.

Egyptian Torture Victim Released From Immigration Detention (01/15/2008)
SCRANTON, PA - Egyptian national Sameh Khouzam was released from detention today days after a federal judge ruled that the U.S. government cannot rely on secret and unreviewable “assurances” from the Egyptian government that it will not torture him upon his return. Last Thursday, the judge granted Khouzam’s habeas corpus petition and ordered that he be immediately freed from a Pennsylvania prison, where he has been held since May. Khouzam is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union.

Court Rejects Government’s Attempt to Deport Egyptian to Torture (01/10/2008)
SCRANTON, PA – In the first decision of its kind, a federal judge today ordered the government to stop the deportation of Egyptian national Sameh Khouzam based on a secret and unreliable “assurance” from the Egyptian government that it will not torture him upon his return. The judge called for Khouzam’s immediate release from jail under reasonable conditions of supervision and granted his habeas corpus petition. The American Civil Liberties Union, which filed a lawsuit on Khouzam’s behalf, applauded the judge’s ruling.

ACLU Asks Court to Bar Government From Deporting Egyptian National to Torture (08/30/2007)
SCRANTON, PA - At a hearing today in federal court, the American Civil Liberties Union argued that the U.S. government cannot deport an Egyptian national back to Egypt based on "diplomatic assurances" from the Egyptian government that it will not torture him upon his return. The ACLU also asked that he be immediately released from detention, where he has been held since May.

Government Apologizes for Unlawful Arrest and Detention of Iraqi Refugee (08/23/2007)
SEATTLE -- The American Civil Liberties Union today announced that the United States government has apologized to Abdulameer Yousef Habeeb, an Iraqi refugee whom federal agents unlawfully stopped, interrogated, arrested, imprisoned, and sought to deport. At the request of federal officials and the ACLU, a federal district court judge in Montana vacated a 2006 ruling upholding Habeeb's arrest and detention. The government also provided Habeeb compensation for its mistreatment of him.

Khouzam v. Chertoff - Brief of Amici Curiae: Organisation Mondiale Contre la Torture and The Redress Trust (04/22/2008)
Amici Curiae Brief for Organisation Mondiale Contre la Torture and The Redress Trust in Support of Petitioner-Appellee Sameh Sami S. Khouzam, and For Affirming the Judgment of The District Court

Khouzam v. Chertoff - Brief of Amici Curiae: Human Rights Watch, et al. (04/22/2008)
Brief of Amici Curiae: Human Rights Watch, etal. Amnesty International, Center for Constitutional Rights, International Commission of Jurists, and International Federation for Human Rights

Khouzam v. Chertoff - Brief of Amici Curiae Scholars of International Human Rights Law (04/22/2008)

Khouzam v. Chertoff - Amici Curiae Brief for The American Center for Law and Justice and The European Centre for Law and Justice (04/18/2008)
Amici Curiae Brief for The American Center for Law and Justice and The European Centre for Law and Justice in Support of Petitioner-Appellee Sameh Sami S. Khouzam, and For Affirming the Judgment of The District Court

Khouzam v. Hogan - Memo and Order (01/10/2008)

Testimony of Dr. Allen Keller for the House Immigration Subcommittee Hearing Detention and Removal: Immigration Detainee Medical Care (10/04/2007)

Testimony of Tom Jawetz for the House Immigration Subcommittee Hearing Detention and Removal: Immigration Detainee Medical Care (10/04/2007)

Testimony of Edwidge Danticat for the House Immigration Subcommittee Hearing Detention and Removal: Immigration Detainee Medical Care (10/04/2007)

Testimony of Francisco Castaneda for the House Immigration Subcommittee Hearing Detention and Removal: Immigration Detainee Medical Care (10/04/2007)

Testimony of June Everett for the House Immigration Subcommittee Hearing Detention and Removal: Immigration Detainee Medical Care (10/04/2007)

Khouzam v. Chertoff (03/07/2002)
The ACLU and the ACLU of Pennsylvania (2007) prevailed in their case on behalf of an Egyptian Coptic Christian who had been detained and who claimed he had been tortured by the Egyptian government because he refused to convert to Islam. After permitting Sameh Khouzam to stay in the United States for nine years based on evidence that he would probably be tortured if he returned to Egypt, the U.S. government changed its position in 2007 and sought to deport Mr. Khouzam based on diplomatic assurances from the Egyptian government that Mr. Khouzam would not be tortured upon return. As a result of the ACLU's advocacy, a federal court granted Mr. Khouzam an indefinite stay of deportation to Egypt.