The Evanston Police Department will interview an Arab Northwestern student Friday at the request of the federal government, EPD Cmdr. Michael Perry said Wednesday.
Hisham Zaid, a McCormick senior, is not a suspect in any criminal investigation and is the third such NU student to be interviewed, Perry said.
Perry declined to comment on the reason for the interviews.
Zaid, who holds a Jordanian passport, said an EPD detective told him the FBI wanted him to answer questions because he holds a student visa from a country where members of the al-Qaida terrorist network lived.
Attorney General John Ashcroft requested last fall that local police departments to talk to men from countries where al-Qaida cells might be located.
Although Zaid said he would accept some infringements on his civil rights because of the seriousness of the situation, this is as far as he would go.
“You don’t rock the boat at this point,” Zaid said. “You rock the boat the second (the investigator) starts asking about my political beliefs. That’s when it’s wrong.”
Zaid, who identifiies himself as a Palestinian and whose father is a member of the Palestinian Authority government, said the interviews aren’t worth objecting strongly about.
“In the U.S., you take a lot of things for granted,” Zaid said. “We come from a society where interviewing and interrogation happens on a daily basis. I don’t come from a society where I could say I want a lawyer present. You don’t look the right way, you’re going to be slapped around.”
Zaid said he doesn’t think he was targeted because of his father’s political affiliation. He said that, like many students from Arab countries, since Sept. 11 he has tried to avoid “black spots” on his record, even paying his tuition well in advance.
Perry said that the students EPD approached have cooperated, although they could have declined the interview requests. All are allowed to have lawyers present and to choose the interview location, but EPD offered no help in finding legal counsel.
“We don’t want them to feel intimidated or uncomfortable because they’re not suspects,” Perry said.
Zaid’s lawyer Khaled Khateb, of the Muslim Bar Association in Chicago, will be present at Zaid’s interview, which probably will take place at a coffeehouse he chooses.
Khateb said he has advised about six other visa-holders through similar interviews, but Zaid is the first student. No one he has counseled had any information regarding the attacks or any other terrorist activity, he said.
“No one argues that Sept. 11 wasn’t one of the worst tragedies in this country’s history,” Khateb said. “(But) I don’t think that (the interviewing) is necessary and I think it serves to alienate some members of the Arab and Muslim community.”
Khateb said he helps clients in Zaid’s position with answering requests for information, such as if they know anyone involved in terrorist or criminal activity. He would advise clients not to meet with governmental officials or do anything for the government.
“I let them know that essentially means ‘Do you want to be a spy?'” Khateb said.
EPD tried to reach a number of students but could not locate them from their last known addresses, Perry said.
Perry referred other questions to Dean Polales, a U.S. assistant district attorney in Chicago.
Polales was unavailable for comment. The FBI in Chicago referred The Daily to another district attorney, who also declined to comment.
NU Vice President for University Relations Alan Cubbage said no one from the FBI asked University Police to interview students, but he said that EPD would conduct the interviews instead of UP if the students live off-campus.
Cubbage said administrators would have cooperated with federal officials had they been approached.
“Obviously the university understands and certainly complies with all federal laws,” Cubbage said. “At the same time, Northwestern is always sensitive to the privacy rights of its students, which also are governed by federal law.”
Government officials approached NU’s University Registrar Suzanne Anderson for the names of between five and 10 students after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, she said. They did not specify why they wanted the names of those students or ask for any other information beyond names and addresses, she said.
