Abu-Ali appealed, only to get more bad news. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit not only upheld the conviction but overturned the sentence on the grounds that the prior Court had deviated from federal sentencing guidelines, which call for life in prison. Judge Lee then re-sentenced Abu-Ali to life in prison.
There are a number of take-aways from the Ali case. One is the complete and pathetic impotence of anyone who finds himself trapped between two sovereign but cooperating states. A second is the emotional and financial catastrophe for the family of the detained or convicted that begins well before a prosecutor is able to produce an indictment. A third corruption of due process occurs when either side indicts un-named conspirators, or introduces them as witnesses in court, without revealing their identity or the content of their testimony.
Finally, the Abu-Ali case may well represent a new twist in that quaint term, "extraordinary rendition." Abu-Ali was a young man who was diverted from returning to his home in the US, and was instead snatched out of a college classroom during an exam and "rendered" to prison in a country not his home where inmates have a history of being mistreated. That is one of the classic definitions of "extraordinary rendition."
Moreover, other hallmarks of "extraordinary rendition" also appear to be present: "disappearance," lack of due process, intermittent or non-existent consular services, and absence of legal counsel.
The only difference here is that most of the parties to this "disappearance" knew exactly where Abu-Ali was most of the time. Those who didn't know had the greatest need to know: The Abu-Ali family, who would make the arrangements for legal representation and try to ensure civilized treatment for their kin.
Prism discussed this issue with Mariam Abu-Ali.
She told us, "He wasn't buried in a secret CIA black hole prison, but we were not aware of his detention until the FBI raided our home a week later, and after that we had no access to him at all for over a month. So at this time we were not even sure if he was dead or alive."
She added, "The US government also denied any involvement in his detention, so we did not know of the joint interrogations until much later/ post our lawsuit."
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