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posted by Fnord666 on Friday December 21 2018, @05:47PM   Printer-friendly
from the 1984-is-not-a-guide-book dept.

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

A Southern California man has become the latest person to sue the federal government over what he says is an unconstitutional search of his phone at the Los Angeles International Airport.

According to his lawsuit, which was recently filed in federal court in Los Angeles, Haisam Elsharkawi had arrived at LAX on February 9, 2017 and was headed to Saudi Arabia to go on a hajj, the Muslim religious pilgrimage.

After clearing the security checkpoint, Elsharkawi, an American citizen, was pulled aside from the Turkish Airlines boarding line by a Customs and Border Protection officer, who began questioning him about how much cash he was carrying and where he was going. Elsharkawi complied with the officer's inquiries and dutifully followed him to a nearby table.

"As the questioning continued and became increasingly aggressive, Mr. Elsharkawi asked if there was a problem and whether he needed an attorney," the complaint states. "Officer Rivas then accused Mr. Elsharkawi of hiding something because of his request for an attorney."

Soon after, another agent, Officer Rodriguez, began searching Elsharkawi's pockets and discovered his phone. Rodriguez asked Elsharkawi to unlock his phone, which he declined to do. He then also refused to answer further questions without having an attorney present.

Another officer told Elsharkawi that he was not under arrest and as such had no right to an attorney—at which point he asked to be released.

Source: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/12/man-sues-feds-after-being-detained-for-refusing-to-unlock-his-phone-at-airport/


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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Saturday December 22 2018, @01:40AM (1 child)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Saturday December 22 2018, @01:40AM (#777400) Journal

    I'm not buying it either. The victim inquired about a lawyer, and that inquiry drove the agents bugfuq, so they decided to fuck him over.

    Besides, this is the US of A. We're supposed to have rule of law, and all that. If you are to be accused, or charged, or incarcerated, the people who are infringing on your freedom are supposed to CLEARLY communicate to you what those charges are. AND - they are supposed to allow you access to a lawyer.

    Starting Score:    1  point
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  • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Saturday December 22 2018, @08:40PM

    by fustakrakich (6150) on Saturday December 22 2018, @08:40PM (#777650) Journal

    We're supposed to have rule of law, and all that.

    Well, we won't get it until the voters start to care enough to stop reelecting crooks. It's as simple as that.

    --
    La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..