Muslims Have Constitutional Rights Too, You Know

Politicians, especially those with an “R” after their name, love to talk about their fidelity to the Constitution. Actually abiding by that ancient document, though? Nah, they're not so keen on that; just try finding “indefinite detention” in the Bill of Rights or permission for carrying out preemptive attacks on sovereign nations without so much as a declaration of war.

So while GOP congressmen and the likes of Glenn Beck might feverishly warn about impending Obama-fascism – the latter mere months after musing about declaring supporters of Texas Congressman Ron Paul enemies of the state – you won't find them raising much hell about the case of Gulet Mohamad, a 19-year-old American citizen who has been detained and tortured in Kuwait and placed by the Obama administration on the U.S. “no-fly” list, denying him his right to return home.

I'm sure it has nothing to do with his name.

As Kelley Vlahos reported last week here at Change.org, Mohamad came to the U.S. at the age of 2 along with his parents as a war refugee. After spending the next 15 years of his life in America, he traveled to Yemen – not a crime, by the way – to study and visit relatives. Earlier this month, though, he was picked up by Kuwaiti authorities and subjected to brutal, inhumane treatment.

According to a lawsuit filed this week by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Mohamed is currently “being detained in a Kuwaiti deportation facility after a week of torture, beatings, and threats to his life by captors speaking English and Arabic.” So his family should just place a call to the friendly, helpful folks at the nearby U.S. embassy, right? Well... “instead of working for Mr. Mohamed's return to the United States,” the lawsuit recounts, U.S. officials “have placed Mr. Mohamed on a no-fly list that is making it impossible for Kuwait to deport him.”

“The United States is depriving Mr. Mohamed of perhaps the most basic prerogative of American citizenship: the right to be in the United States,” the suit notes. “This is patently unconstitutional, and it is up to this Court to bring Gulet Mohamed—an American citizen—back to his country."

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, notes that Mohamed isn't even facing any allegations of wrongdoing, and names Attorney General Eric Holder, FBI Director Robert Mueller and Director of the Terrorist Screening Center Timothy Healy as defendants. At the first hearing in the case, Judge Anthony Trenga said the treatment of Mohamed appears to be a "clear violation" of his rights, according to the Associated Press.

As the heads of the House subcommittee on the Constitution, Reps. Trent Franks (R-AZ) and Mike Pence (R-IN) ought to be concerned about credible allegations an American citizen is being tortured and denied his right to return home without even being charged with a crime. If a large, all-powerful federal government is what they fear, it's not so much Michelle Obama's campaign againt obesity they should fear – it's stories like this one.

Join Change.org's Elizabeth Renter in calling on Congressment Franks and Pence to hold hearings and demand answers about the Obama administration's use of the no-fly list to force U.S. citizens into a state of “involuntary exile.”

Have a story tip? Email us at criminaljusticetips@change.org. And keep up with the site using Facebook, Twitter and RSS.

Photo Credit: Mr. T in DC