As
Kamran Shaikh, a Pakistani foreign national who’s apparently been in the U.S. since 1991, was arrested on immigration charges. But the big news story is that he’s an accused terrorist.
I had a small taste of Counterterror in February when I went with Farouk’s son Tariq to visit him at Hudson County Jail. ICE deportation officer, spokesman and gatekeeper Kerry Gill told me I could not videotape Tariq visiting his father. But I needed something to show this human story besides interviews, so I followed Tariq from Queens to New Jersey on the subway, the PATH, and coming out of the prison itself.
We soon found ourselves surrounded and searched by police officers, who had us put our hands on the hood of a car and searched through everything we had on us. The upshot was I was requested to turn over my tapes, a “Free Farouk!” poster, and notes I had taken on immigrant detention cases. If I did not comply I’d face prosecution. I complied.
I bugged the agency to give me back my tapes for months, and was finally told I could come to New Jersey to pick them up. Just as I was about to get on the PATH train, my cell phone rang. It was Detective _____ from Counterterrorism. He told me the investigation was still ongoing and it would take some more time for the tapes to be reviewed.
Later the Detective told me he wanted to “interview” me and Tariq, “just to put this whole matter to rest.” I stalled for a couple of weeks and asked some people I knew at the Center for Constitutional Rights for advice. Then the Detective suddenly called me and said “I’m going to give you your property back” — said he’d like to meet me and turn it over to me. We set up a place to meet on the street.
Instead, two other officers met me at the agreed spot. One was FBI, the other Port Authority. They said they’d like to sit down somewhere nearby and talk. We found a hotel lobby and they started asking me about my documentary. They asked why I was videotaping Tariq on the PATH train and outside the jail. I explained that I needed visuals to show him visiting his father. They had a tough time grasping this.
Pretty soon, though, it was clear they were interested in Tariq. They asked me whether he was violent, could ever be violent. I stonewalled and said I’d need a lawyer around to answer questions about someone else’s capacity for violence. They asked me why I videotaped Tariq waving a sword and yelling “jihad!” For a split second I had no idea what they were talking about.
Then I remembered I’d hung out with Tariq at his home the night before we went to the jail, videotaping him doing various things, and at one point he’d taking down this ceremonial sword that was mounted on the wall and clowned around with it.
What I didn’t know at that moment was that they’d already arrested Tariq hours earlier.
