On September 11, 2001, Mojtaba, Mostafa, Mohsen and Mohammed Mirmehdi were living quiet lives in Van Nuys as real estate agents. Just a few weeks later, the four brothers, all Iranian immigrants, were arrested on immigration charges. They spent three and a half years in federal detention centers, all the while never charged with violating the Patriot Act, but branded as terrorists by Homeland Security for having once participated in a demonstration calling for democracy in Iran. Today, they face deportation on immigration charges and isolation from a middle-eastern community that is afraid to associate with anyone under government suspicion.
California Connected takes a look at a case that begs the question: In an attempt to secure our safety in a post-9/11 world, has our government gone too far?
Information on the Mirmehdi Brothers’ case
- “Stalemate Lengthens Brothers’ Detention”, Washington Post, March 5, 2005
- “Exonerated in terror case, 4 brothers still locked up”, San Francisco Chronicle, January 25, 2005
Immigrants’ Rights
- “Intelligence Center for Los Angeles Region Begins Its Work”, Los Angeles Times, July 28, 2006
- Immigrant Solidarity Network
Stories of Arab-American life after 9/11
- Legal Aid for Muslim Immigrants, California Connected story
ACLU Report
More on USC’s Annenberg School of Journalism:
- School of Journalism, USC Annenberg
- Immigration Outpost, USC’s News21 fellows
- News21
- Student Journalists’ Major-League Project, Center for Citizen Media: Blog
Listen to the commentary
September 8th, 2006 at 9:20 pm
This is a great travesty of justice perpetrated on four innocent brothers. Government owes them reparation for unwarranted and inhumane abuses they suffered in the hands of the inmates and the jailers, alike, while incarcerated for nearly four years!
Shame on U.S. immigration!
September 9th, 2006 at 2:51 pm
I think that what has happened to the Mirmehdi brothers is a crime and I hope they get millions of dollars from the US government for their wrongful emprisonment and terrible treatment. It won’t undo the harm that has been done but it will be a big step in the right direction. As a REAL American, I apologise to the Mirmehdi brothers for America’s atrocious behavior and hope that some day they can forgive us.
The Mirmehdi brothers’ case is a perfect example of why the Patriot Act should be eliminated. No one, not even terrorist, should be denied due process of law regardless of where they are held captive. I use to be proud to be an American but the Republicans have changed all that. I’ll take President Clinton’s sexual misdeeds any day compared with the travesty of justice we are currently sowing. The sexual misdeeds reflected badly on Clinton as a person but he never soiled America ideals the way President Bush has.
Just today, the government admitted to having secret prisions. Personally I think President Bush should be impeached. He acts as if he is above the law and that he can “bend” the law to suite his purpose. Apparently, we can do anything we want as long as it is in the name of terrorism. President Bush’s war on terror has done more harm to America then it will ever do to the terrorists! I don’t know that we can afford to have him in office two more years.