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January 23, 2008

US: Supreme Court Rejects Muslim Murderer's Claim

On October 29, 2007 we reported on the case of prisoner Abdus-Shahid M. S. Ali, who was then taking his case to the US Supreme Court.

He argued that religious items - a prayer rug and a Koran - and other items worth $177 had been seized from him when he was transferred to another penitentiary. Ali is serving a 20-year jail term for murder.

Now, news from Associated Press via Fox News, Boston Globe, the Baltimore Sun reports that yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the inmate cannot sue the government over his losses.

Under the Federal Tort Claims Act, which Ali was using to sue the government, correctional officers are, the Supreme Court decreed, immune from prosecution. Justice Clarence Thomas said that the law "forecloses lawsuits against the United States for the unlawful detention of property by 'any,' not just 'some,' law enforcement officers."

The four who supported the ruling were Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Justice Antonin Scalia.

Those who disagreed were Justice Stephen G. Breyer, Justice Anthony Kennedy, Justice David H. Souter and Justice John Paul Stevens.

This is what we wrote in October:

News from Fox News and Asociated Press reports that today, the case of Muslim convicted murderer Abdus-Shahid M.S. Ali was taken up the US Supreme Court (case Ali vs Federal Bureau of Prison, 06-9130).

Ali has been sentenced to a 20-year jail term for committing first-degree murder in the District of Columbia. He states that when he was moved from a federal penitentiary in Atlanta to Big Sandy penitentiary in Inez, Kentucky in 2003, two copies of the Koran and his prayer rug went missing, and have not been returned to him. Additionally stamps and other items worth $177 did not get returned to him. He maintains that he handed the items to prison officers, expecting them to be delivered to Inez.

He has already taken his case to two federal courts, who have turned down his claims. The issue at stake here is whether or not federal prison officers are "law enforcement officers" which would make them exempt from claims against them. This exemption was ruled in the Federal Tort Claims Act of 1946.

Permission for Ali to take his case to the Supreme Court was given on May 29 this year. The following is found on the Supreme Court website:

06-9130 ALI V. FED. BUREAU OF PRISONS
DECISION BELOW:204 Fed. Appx. 778
CERT. GRANTED 5/29/2007
QUESTIONS PRESENTED:

Under 28 U.S.C. 2680(c), the Federal Tort Claims Act's waiver of sovereign immunity does not extend to "[a]ny claim arising in respect of * * * the detention of any goods, merchandise, or other property by any officer of customs or excise or any other law enforcement officer." The question presented, over which ten circuits are divided six-to-four is:

Whether the term "other law enforcement officer" is limited to officers acting in a tax, excise, or customs capacity.

Ali claims that because of the 9/11 events, Muslim prisoners have endured "very hard times and bad treatment". He has written that "the many prison employees think that they can hurt you best taking your personally owned property". He writes that he has been harassed "year after year" on account of his faith, which he "practiced... to the fullest"

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at January 23, 2008 8:38 AM

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