- Hamid Hayat's story takes place in the months and years
following the horrific 9/11 attacks.
There was a lot of fear in this country that
there would be future attacks and there was a lot of really
important law enforcement work done, to keep us all safe.
But sometimes the law enforcement work that was done
became driven by fear too much.
The story of Hamid's wrongful conviction actually starts
a few hours north of Lodi, California,
in a little ski village in Oregon.
That's where a man named Naseem Khan lived.
He was 28 years old, a convenience store employee.
(slide flips)
(gentle music)
(slide flips)
(gentle music)
They recruited Naseem Khan to become an informant
somebody who they hoped would
in the United States and provide them with
any information about so called sleeper cells.
And pretty soon, Naseem Khan went from being
a convenience store employee who made seven Dollars
an hour, to being an FBI informant on the federal
government payroll. He made hundreds
of thousands of dollars.
(slide flips)
(gentle music)
(slide flips)
(gentle music)
The Hayat family had no connection whatsoever
to terrorist activities, or politics of any kinds.
Naseem began reaching out to Hamid, inviting him to become
friends with him. Now, Naseem was more than 10 years older
than Hamid when this happened, and for his part,
Hamid couldn't believe his luck.
Here was this cool guy, older with apparently endless money
and a fancy car, who wanted to be friends with Hamid?
(slide flips)
(gentle music)
(slide flips)
(gentle music)
But every tip Naseem brought to the FBI
didn't pan out.
Over and over and over again his tips turned out
to be worthless. Turns out Naseem Khan
had a reputation for lying.
His own mother later called him, "A bag full of lies,
"air and deceit."
So there was a lot of pressure on the government
to show that they'd gotten results from Naseem Khan
and his information, and when Naseem began feeding them
information about 19-year-old Hamid Hayat,
the government was listening.
Pretty soon, skinny, little Hamid started talking
a big game too.
He told him Naseem that on a trip to Pakistan,
he participated in a Taliban attack. When Naseem said,
that he, Naseem, wanted to go to a terrorist training camp,
Hamid even said he thought that was cool.
But every time Naseem tried to urge Hamid to take
a step himself to become involved in terrorist activities,
or extremism of one kind or another, Hamid always refused
over and over even as he tried to impress,
this cool older friend.
(slide flips)
(gentle music)
That's when Naseem Khan smelled a particular opportunity.
Naseem kept calling him, urging him to go join
a terrorist training camp, "This is your moment."
He told Hamid.
"This is your opportunity, to go get trained
to participate in extremist activities."
But again and again on these recorded phone calls,
(slides flip)
(gentle music)
But just a few days later, on June 3, 2005,
the FBI was at the Hayat family home, and they brought
Hamid in for questioning.
(slide flips)
(gentle music)
- We see skinny, little Hamid in a chair, pushed up
against the wall in front of a cluttered desk.
He's faced with two big FBI agents.
Now as soon as the cameras are turned on,
these agents accuse Hamid, they say, "We know you went,
to a terrorist training camp, while you were in Pakistan,
for between three and six months."
- Hamid immediately denies this, but the agents
start using lies to break down Hamid's resistance.
They tell him that he'd failed a polygraph,
that he apparently had taken earlier in the day.
They tell him that they have satellite imagery of a camp
in Pakistan, and they imply that that imagery
shows Hamid at the camp.
And Hamid looks completely at sea, he's obviously terrified.
He tells the officers over and over again,
Now, the agents asked him to describe this terrorist
training camp. At first, he tells them that he went
to this training camp in the middle of the cold season,
but then he changes it to the warm season.
He tells them that it was in rural Afghanistan,
but when the agents won't accept that he switches it,
to rural Pakistan. The story doesn't make any sense.
And eventually the officers after this goes on for hours,
start feeding Hamid the information
that they want him to describe.
- It's getting pretty clear that these agents
are frustrated, because Hamid's story
doesn't make any sense.
So what do they do?
They need corroboration. These agents bring in
Hamid's father, Umer Hayat.
(slide flips)
(gentle music)
(slide flips)
(gentle music)
That's where things really go off the rails.
Umer describes it as being in a vast underground basement,
filled with 1,000 terrorists who are practicing
pole vaulting, while being dressed up like Ninja Turtles.
Later on, Umer would say he got this whole story
from the movie, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles."
The agents keep questioning him and they keep
questioning Hamid. The stories don't improve over time.
But by the end of the night, they have what they need.
(slide flips)
(gentle music)
(slide flips)
(gentle music)
(slide flips)
(gentle music)
(slide flips)
(gentle music)
(slide flips)
(gentle music)
- Maybe worst of all, the government put on
a piece of evidence, indicating that they'd found
on Hamid's person a Taweez.
A travel prayer, something you carry with you,
like a talisman for safety, as though it were evidence
of jihadi activity.
Hamid's attorney didn't challenge that, didn't explain
that was an ordinary travel prayer,
carried by thousands of people.
(slide flips)
(gentle music)
(slide flips)
(gentle music)
(slide flips)
(gentle music)
(slide flips)
(gentle music)
(slide flips)
(gentle music)
(slide flips)
(gentle music)
(slide flips)
(gentle music)
(slide flips)
(gentle music)
(slide flips)
(gentle music)
- One by one, these alibi witnesses are testifying
by live video feed from Pakistan, to tell the court
that Hamid Hayat was completely innocent.
He didn't go anywhere for a weekend,
let alone three months.
In addition, Dennis brought forward false confession
experts, people who played the video of Hamid's confession
and showed how everything he said was fed to him
by federal agents, and Dennis also brought forward
an expert in Islamic Studies, who pointed out
that that travel prayer was a perfectly
ordinary religious document.
With all of this new information, the case took
a sharp turn. In August 2019, the court threw out
Hamid's conviction, and after 14 years in prison,
(cries)
(slide flips)
(gentle music)
(slide flips)
(gentle music)
(slide flips)
(gentle music)
- It shows that we need to reform the way interrogation
happens across the board, from the FBI down
to the smallest local agencies.
There are good people working on changing the way
interrogation works, so that we can identify
real perpetrators with accuracy, while making sure
innocents like Hamid, don't have to endure years
of wrongful incarceration.
(slide flips)
(gentle music)
(slide flips)
(gentle music)
(slide flips)
(gentle music)
(slide flips)
(gentle music)