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Comment by awesomepantsm | Hacker News Reader

>If no one knows where he is, it's more likely that it's what Marcus wants at the moment rather than what the FBI wants.

Oh come on...

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He could call his attorney have him release a statement right? Are you saying he is being denied access to a lawyer? Because that's a very serious charge and it would very silly of the FBI. IDK if I were arrested I would pray that the police abuse their power and deny me access to an attorney.

Would you? Would you like them to detain you unjustly for your entire life for example? Personally, I'd prefer the state to act within the bounds of Justice.

He is not a US citizen -- do those rights extend to him? (no snark, I don't know)

> He could call his attorney have him release a statement right?

How many people traveling to the US from the UK, just to attend a conference, have an attorney they can call in the US?

What about your free public defender? Can't you tell him to make a statement or to contact someone?

You have to be assigned a free public defender by court, requiring a hearing, before you have one to call. That makes it impractical to use one when you are detained without being brought before a magistrate, even if you have the opportunity to make a phone call.

They don't just give them out when you get arrested. Often you have to file paperwork, prove you're indigent, and prove you made an effort to hire an attorney.

Moreover, most public defenders are overworked. They will do their job (hopefully), but they are not your secretary. (I'm sure most will make those phone calls, out of being a decent human being, not because it's their job)

When the US government kidnaps non US-citizens they don't give you the chance to call your lawyer. You get stripped, beaten, sodomised and sedated. If you're lucky you get released after a few months of torture.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khalid_El-Masri

>Khalid El-Masri (born June 29, 1963) is a German and Lebanese citizen who was mistakenly abducted by the Macedonian police in 2003, and handed over to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). While in CIA custody, he was flown to Afghanistan, where he was held at a black site and routinely interrogated, beaten, strip-searched, sodomized, and subjected to other cruel forms of inhumane and degrading treatment and torture. After El-Masri held hunger strikes, and was detained for four months in the "Salt Pit," the CIA finally admitted his arrest and torture were a mistake and released him

"interrogated, beaten, strip-searched, sodomized, and subjected to other cruel forms of inhumane and degrading treatment and torture"... so exactly like hanging out with my ex.

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