] On Mar. 20, the FBI arrested Hawash at gunpoint in
] Intel's parking lot near Portland for reasons that remain
] confidential. A 38-year-old American citizen with a wife
] and three children, he has not been charged with a crime.
 . . .
] Hawash is being held as a "material witness" under a 1984
] law that the Justice Department believes should let the
] government detain American citizens at will for an
] arbitrary length of time. A well-researched Washington
] Post article from last fall (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A31438-2002Nov23)
] said the Justice Department
] has imprisoned at least 44 people, including seven U.S.
] citizens, under the same law, with some held for many
] months and possibly for more than a year.
 . . .
] U.S. District Judge Robert Jones, who is overseeing the case,
] held a secret hearing last week and concluded that Hawash has
] so far been lawfully detained. But Jones did give the Justice
] Department a deadline, ordering prosecutors to take Hawash's
] testimony before a subsequent closed-door hearing on April 29.

I very much agree with the last paragraph of this article:

] If prosecutors can show good cause why they need to ask someone
] vital questions about terrorist activities, let them. But
] detaining American citizens indefinitely as "material witnesses"
] to undisclosed crimes is unreasonable and unjust, and it sets
] a very worrying precedent.

CNet News: [Hawash] Guilty until proven innocent