We're working on a case that will make your hair stand on end.

Our client, Naji Hamdan, a U.S. citizen, was detained and tortured this fall for three months by the United Arab Emirates with United States involvement. Naji is still in prison there, now under the custody of local officials who charged him with terrorism-related offenses based on coerced confessions.

Urge Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton to intervene and get Naji released by signing our petition.

For over two decades, Naji and his family lived in Hawthorne, California, where he ran an auto-parts business and helped manage the Islamic Center of Hawthorne, a mosque and community center. He was also monitored by the FBI. The past two years were especially intense. Naji's brother, Hossam, and others who know him from his activities at the Islamic Center have all said that he's a peaceful family man who would never support violence or engage in terrorism.

Because of the U.S. government, Naji was a victim of violence. He was severely beaten and kicked with military boots, strapped into an electric chair and threatened with its use.

Urge Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to intervene and get Naji released by signing our petition.

In 2006, Naji decided to relocate to the United Arab Emirates for business and family reasons. This summer, FBI agents traveled from Los Angeles to the U.A.E. to continue their questioning of Naji. Six weeks later he was taken into custody by agents of the U.A.E. state security forces and detained incommunicado for the next three months.

His brother and his wife, Mona, both U.S. citizens, were frantic. They contacted the ACLU/SC for help. On November 26, 2008, one week after lawyers for the ACLU/SC filed a lawsuit alleging that the U.S. government was responsible for his detention, Naji was transferred from U.A.E. state security custody to the Al Wathba prison in Abu Dhabi where he remains to this day, charged with terrorism-related offenses.

Urge Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton to intervene and get Naji released by signing our petition.

After the transfer, Naji was able to finally contact his family and detailed to an American consular official how he was severely tortured while in U.A.E. state security custody and forced to confess to crimes that he did not commit.

His torturers blindfolded Naji, so he couldn't see them. Naji heard one of the interrogators speak native English with an American accent. He told Naji to cooperate with the local interrogators or else. The other interrogators asked him questions about topics only federal agents would know.

From all angles, his imprisonment looks like it's been done at the request of the U.S. government, and his interrogation, which included severe torture, was done with participation of a U.S. federal official. If the U.S. government requested or participated in his detention and torture in the U.A.E., the United States government has violated this U.S. citizen's most fundamental rights.

Urge Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton to intervene and get Naji released by signing our petition.

Naji's situation is now urgent. If his prosecution is allowed to proceed in the U.A.E. based on evidence obtained through torture, Naji will receive a deeply unfair trial and unjust sentence.

Urge Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton to intervene and get Naji released by signing our petition.

Please help us urge Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for Naji's release and that he be assured his due process rights. In addition, the role played by the U.S. government in causing Naji's detention and torture must be thoroughly investigated. Naji must be treated as all Americans deserve to be treated, with dignity and respect for their rights.

We're working on a case that will make your hair stand on end.

Our client, Naji Hamdan, a U.S. citizen, was detained and tortured this fall for three months by the United Arab Emirates with United States involvement. Naji is still in prison there, now under the custody of local officials who charged him with terrorism-related offenses based on coerced confessions.

Urge Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton to intervene and get Naji released by signing our petition.

width="250" height="188" class="image_left" />For over two decades, Naji and his family lived in Hawthorne, California, where he ran an auto-parts business and helped manage the Islamic Center of Hawthorne, a mosque and community center. He was also monitored by the FBI. The past two years were especially intense. Naji's brother, Hossam, and others who know him from his activities at the Islamic Center have all said that he's a peaceful family man who would never support violence or engage in terrorism.

Because of the U.S. government, Naji was a victim of violence. He was severely beaten and kicked with military boots, strapped into an electric chair and threatened with its use.

Urge Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to intervene and get Naji released by signing our petition.

In 2006, Naji decided to relocate to the United Arab Emirates for business and family reasons. This summer, FBI agents traveled from Los Angeles to the U.A.E. to continue their questioning of Naji. Six weeks later he was taken into custody by agents of the U.A.E. state security forces and detained incommunicado for the next three months.

His brother and his wife, Mona, both U.S. citizens, were frantic. They contacted the ACLU/SC for help. On November 26, 2008, one week after lawyers for the ACLU/SC filed a lawsuit alleging that the U.S. government was responsible for his detention, Naji was transferred from U.A.E. state security custody to the Al Wathba prison in Abu Dhabi where he remains to this day, charged with terrorism-related offenses.

Urge Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton to intervene and get Naji released by signing our petition.

After the transfer, Naji was able to finally contact his family and detailed to an American consular official how he was severely tortured while in U.A.E. state security custody and forced to confess to crimes that he did not commit.

His torturers blindfolded Naji, so he couldn't see them. Naji heard one of the interrogators speak native English with an American accent. He told Naji to cooperate with the local interrogators or else. The other interrogators asked him questions about topics only federal agents would know.

From all angles, his imprisonment looks like it's been done at the request of the U.S. government, and his interrogation, which included severe torture, was done with participation of a U.S. federal official. If the U.S. government requested or participated in his detention and torture in the U.A.E., the United States government has violated this U.S. citizen's most fundamental rights.

Urge Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton to intervene and get Naji released by signing our petition.

Naji's situation is now urgent. If his prosecution is allowed to proceed in the U.A.E. based on evidence obtained through torture, Naji will receive a deeply unfair trial and unjust sentence.

Urge Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton to intervene and get Naji released by signing our petition.

Please help us urge Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for Naji's release and that he be assured his due process rights. In addition, the role played by the U.S. government in causing Naji's detention and torture must be thoroughly investigated. Naji must be treated as all Americans deserve to be treated, with dignity and respect for their rights.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. - A lawsuit filed in federal district court today charges that the city of Moreno Valley and its police force, acting in conjunction with the California Board of Barbering and Cosmetology, conducted a series of racially-targeted, warrantless raids on barbershops owned and patronized by African Americans under the false pretext that the searches were solely part of a health and code inspection.

The suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and Seyfarth Shaw LLP details how armed Moreno Valley police officers, accompanied by city and state inspectors, burst into barbershops without warning last year. The officers then carried out extensive searches unrelated to any potential health or code violations in a clear example of racial profiling.

'The Moreno Valley police unmistakably targeted these businesses because their owners and clientele are African American. There was no evidence of criminal activity at these locations and no reason that these once-thriving businesses were singled out other than racial profiling,' said ACLU/SC Staff Attorney Peter Bibring. 'These raids were a blatant violation of these business owners' civil rights and reminiscent of a dark era in our own shameful past that should never be repeated again.'

On April 2, 2008, five Moreno Valley police officers, carrying guns and wearing body armor, swarmed the Hair Shack, where Kevon Gordon has been in business for more than 20 years, with two city code officers and three inspectors from the California State Board of Barbering and Cosmetology. In an atmosphere more akin to a narcotics raid than a civil code and business inspection, officers blocked the entrances, questioned employees and rummaged through the storefront business.

'Officers treated my employees and customers like criminals simply because of the color of our skin. It was sickening,' Gordon said. 'I have lost good customers and had my reputation called into question in a community where I've been working for 20 years. I wouldn't wish this on anyone.'

That day officers also targeted four other African American barbershops, including Fades Unlimited. At Fades Unlimited, officers went further in running criminal warrant checks on barbers and customers. When one barber objected to this treatment, an officer handcuffed him and detained him in a police car for 10 minutes before finally freeing him.

'The Moreno Valley Police Department's actions in this instance were unmerited, unlawful and have serious consequences for our clients and the community,' said Stacy Shartin, a partner at Seyfarth Shaw LLP. 'Especially in this economic climate, our government agencies need to be taking steps to encourage the growth of small businesses, not helping to put hard-working people out of business.'

The lawsuit demands that both the Moreno Valley Police Department and the California Board of Barbering and Cosmetology adopt polices to protect against racial profiling, and limit the role of local law enforcement in administrative inspections intended to regulate business, health and city code violations.