October 24^th, 2007

Rafe Coburn writes about how to get an innocent man to admit to being a terrorist: the story of Abdallah Higazy.

Abdallah Higazy was staying in a hotel in New York City on September 11 and the hotel emptied out when the planes hit the tower. In his room, a radio was found that can be used to talk to airline pilots. FBI agents threatened Mr. Higazy, that his family in Egypt would be tortured if he didn't confess that he was connected to the events of 9/11, so he confessed even though he's innocent. It turned out that an actual pilot had forgot the radio in the room that Mr. Higazy was staying in.

This is what you get if you allow "coercion". This is what you get if you give law-enforcement officials too much power. It's a prime example of racial profiling and an important reminder that threatening people cannot be part of fighting terrorism. Ever.