4 Iranians Challenge Detention
Brothers have been held since 2001 in what their lawyer calls ‘post-9/11 hysteria.’ U.S. officials cite support for a group on terrorist list. Locked up more than two years as a security threat and accused of supporting terrorists, four Iranian brothers are challenging Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft’s decision to hold them without bail in a case their attorney said stemmed from “post-9/11 hysteria.” The Mirmehdi brothers — Mohammed, Mostafa, Mohsen and Mojtaba, who once worked as real estate agents in the San Fernando Valley — have been in custody since Oct. 2, 2001. U.S. officials wanted to deport them, but immigration judges intervened, finding that they would be persecuted if forced to return. Full Story