Contact: 703 920-2968 - (www.alif.com)

(WASHINGTON, DC - 01/04/2000) - UNCIVIL LIBERTIES the video documentary brings to the living rooms of America the Kafkaesque ordeal of one secret evidence victim, a former University of South Florida professor Dr. Mazen Al-Najjar, and the surreal government case against him and his wife as will as an array of Constitutional scholars, Congressmen, and civil rights leaders who are campaigning to restore dignity to the Constitution.

"By shedding light on this troubling practice and the human cost it exacts, we hope decent people will demand an end to it" said documentary director and producer Hazim Bitar. "UNCIVIL LIBERTIES is a catalyst for grassroots action so people can take it back to their communities as real evidence of systematic persecution in the US against Arabs and Muslims" Bitar added.

So unconstitutional is this practice it prompted Congressman David Bonior, the House Democratic Whip, to call secret evidence "the worst law ever passed in the United States Congress this century." Congressman Bonior is the sponsor of HR2121, a resolution, that if passed, will end the use of secret evidence .

Is this conspiracy theory or is it the dawn of another disturbing episode in the struggle for civil liberties in America. For 30 or so Arab and Muslim secret evidence victims and their families, it’s as real as the years they have languished behind bars on secret charges neither they nor their lawyers can defend against. The documentary UNCIVIL LIBERTIES ensures their ordeal never goes unreported.

While President Clinton lectured to a captive audience of Chinese students at Beijing University about the "the right to be treated with dignity, the right to express one's opinions . . . to associate freely with others", Muslim and Arab political dissidents in the US were being rounded up and jailed using secret evidence.

-- On August 6, 1999 the Washington Post wrote "The use of secret evidence is antithetical to the premises of our judicial system."

-- The ACLU stated "The use of secret evidence is a feature of totalitarian governments, not of a democracy . . . Secret evidence in the form of classified information often consists of nothing more than rumor and innuendo. It is often unverified and unverifiable."

Read what Arab and Muslim American leaders are saying about UNCIVIL LIBERTIES the video documentary:

"UNCIVIL LIBERTIES is truly an asset to all those fighting to abolish this unconscionable practice."
Dr. Hala Maksoud, President American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)

"For all those who care about civil rights, UNCIVIL LIBERTIES is a must see."
Aly Abuzaakouk, Executive Director American Muslim Council (AMC)

"By bringing the Department of Justice's use of secret evidence out of the dark and into the light, UNCIVIL LIBERTIES can help end the secret evidence nightmare."
Dr. James J. Zogby, President Arab American Institute (AAI)

"UNCIVIL LIBERTIES is an eye opener...It is a must to watch".
Nihad Awad, President Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)