BRANDON MAYFIELD

My name is Brandon Mayfield.  I am a US citizen, an army veteran and an attorney in Portland , Oregon .  I am also a convert to Islam.

In May of 2004, I was arrested at my law office.  Although I tried to keep my client files confidential, federal agents seized them.  My wife was at home with our three children when dozens of federal agents searched it for more than five hours and took away various things.

I was then taken off to jail for two weeks and held as a material witness to the terrorist bombings in Madrid , Spain which had happened two months before.  It turns out the FBI believed I had done the bombing – even though I had never been to Spain !  In fact, I had not been out of the country for ten years.  They said experts had made a "100 percent positive identification" of my fingerprints at the bomb site and that I could be executed for my crime.  It also turns out they used the Patriot Act to keep me under surveillance and conduct secret searches of my home and my office before arresting me.  They took away computer files, photos and DNA evidence.  What would have happened to me if the Spanish police had not looked at those fingerprints and proved they belonged to someone else?

The FBI later admitted it had made a mistake and apologized to me.  I think they came after me because I am a Muslim.  I am thinking of suing the government.