The US government has agreed to pay $300,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by an Egyptian arrested after the 11 September attacks. Ehab Elmaghraby was detained for nearly a year and deported after being cleared of links to terrorism. He charged that his constitutional rights were violated by the detention and deportation.
According to the NY Times:
"The lawsuit accuses Mr. Ashcroft and the F.B.I. director, Robert S. Mueller III, of personally conspiring to violate the rights of Muslim immigrant detainees on the basis of their race, religion and national origin, and names a score of other defendants, including Bureau of Prison officials and guards at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
A 2003 report by the Justice Department's inspector general found widespread abuse of the noncitizen detainees at the Brooklyn center after 9/11, and in recent months, 10 of the center's guards and supervisors have been disciplined."
A class action lawsuit on similar alegation is pending before the same judge.