FBI apologizes to detainees

EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- The head of the FBI in Indiana publicly apologized for the detention of eight Egyptian men from Evansville, who were held as part of a terrorism investigation just weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks.\nSaying the secretive detentions came at a time of unprecedented fear in the nation, FBI Special Agent Thomas V. Fuentes acknowledged Wednesday that the detention caused the men and their families distress and humiliation long after the government cleared them of suspicion.\n"The situation that happened to you was horrible," Fuentes told former detainee Tarek Albasti during a meeting at the Islamic Center of Evansville. "On behalf of the FBI, I will apologize."\nFuentes, in front of a crowd of about 100 local Muslims, also said he would push through paperwork that would formally clear Albasti, an Evansville restaurant owner, and the seven other men detained for a week with him by federal terrorism investigators in October 2001.\n"I will get all the records changed so that they will reflect the investigation is over and that they are, in fact, not terrorists," Fuentes said.\nFuentes issued the apology after finding out from Albasti's wife, Carolyn Baugh, that Albasti had recently been detained at airports and questioned about his connections to Egypt.\nThe meeting at the Islamic center was set up with local Muslims by U.S. Attorney Susan Brooks, the top federal prosecutor for the southern district of Indiana.\nBrooks said she wanted to answer questions about new homeland security laws and federal terrorism investigations. She also said she wanted to assure Muslims that her office would aggressively prosecute "hate crimes" aimed at them.\nAlbasti and seven other Egyptians were detained as "material witnesses" after the FBI received information that the men might be involved in a terrorist threat. Neither they nor their attorneys were given details about why they were detained.\nFuentes said he couldn't reveal the details that led to their detention, but said at the time the information seemed valid and urgent.\n"I'm not apologizing for the fact that the FBI did what it did based on the information we had at the time," Fuentes said. "At the time, the decision seemed right."\nFuentes said they are currently investigating leads from captured al Qaeda operatives who claim there are attacks of "horrifying" proportion planned for the Midwest.