Source: Los Angeles Times
On September 13, 2002 the Los Angeles Times reported on "Randall B. "Randy" Hamud, [who] has represented four San Diego residents held as material witnesses because they knew Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid Almihdhar, who lived in San Diego in 2000 and were among the hijackers who crashed a jet into the Pentagon. Hamud has also represented more than 20 other Middle Eastern immigrants questioned or detained by the federal government, as well as the mother of Zacarias Moussaoui, the man facing trial as the suspected '20th hijacker.' Hamud is the first to admit that he is an unlikely person to have become a spokesman for the Arab American and Muslim community, because he has always considered himself a secular American. Hamud said government leaks have been unfair, painting his clients as enemies of the state when they were nothing more than 'casual acquaintances' of the terrorists. And Hamud said he believes that measures taken by Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft, including the extended detention of people held as material witnesses, violates basic tenets of American justice. 'This is what happens when people condone racial and religious profiling,' he said."