Mohammed Jaweed Azmath and Ayub Ali Khan (also known as Syed Gul Mohamed Shah) are two Indian men who were wrongly accused of involvement in the September 11 terrorist attacks.[1][2]
One day after the September 11th attacks, the men were detained in Texas for possible immigration violations. Their apartment in Jersey City was searched the following weekend. According to The Washington Post, writing one week after the attacks, "Mohammed Jaweed Azmath, 47, and Ayub Ali Khan, 51, both from India, were taken into custody Wednesday on an Amtrak train in Texas, carrying $5,000 in cash, hair dye and box cutter knives -- weapons said to have been used by the hijackers."[3] The subjects were profiled as potential drug smugglers because they purchased train tickets with cash immediately before departure, and appeared nervous when questioned.[4]
As of October 25, 2001, the men were being held in New York as material witnesses.[5] Investigators said they had offered Azmath, Khan, Zacarias Moussaoui and Nabil al-Marabh "the prospect of reduced sentences, money, jobs and new identities within the US" if they assisted investigation into the attacks, while threatening to inject them with a "truth serum", identified as sodium pentothal, or to transfer them to countries with more brutal interrogation techniques.[6] (see also torture by proxy, extraordinary rendition) The four men were cited by a number of media pundits raising discussion of whether torture should be practiced within the United States, and whether it would be effective.[7][8]
In December 2001, The New York Times reported that 'three months of intensive investigation' had failed to link the men with the attack. The men's circumstance appeared to be coincidence - they had lost their employment managing news stands in Newark, and were relocating to Texas to open or work at a fruit stand. They had used box cutters to open bundles of newspapers. After their flight to San Antonio was stopped in St. Louis after the attacks, they boarded a train to complete the trip, which was stopped for a "routine drug search".[2]
Несмотря на то, что их причастность к нападениям была оправдана, прокуратура предъявила им несвязанное дело о «мошенничестве, связанном с неоплаченными платежами по кредитным картам на несколько сотен тысяч долларов». [2] Мужчины заключили сделку о признании вины , поскольку доказывание своей невиновности оставило бы их в тюрьме гораздо дольше, чем признание своей вины. [9] Впоследствии они согласились на депортацию за иммиграционные нарушения. [2]
Оба мужчины заявили о жестоком обращении под стражей, первые 12 месяцев из которых они провели в одиночной камере . По словам Азмата, «меня заставляли стоять на морозе на открытом воздухе по четыре-пять часов в день, чтобы заставить меня признаться в преступлении, которого я не совершал». По словам адвоката Хана, каждый раз, когда его приводили в суд, его в кандалах швыряли к стене. Достигнув Индии, они подали иск против Соединенных Штатов. [9]