Abdulameer Yousef Habeeb

Abdulameer Yousef Habeeb is an Iraqi artist and calligrapher living as of 2008 as a refugee in the United States. His detention in Havre, Montana, on April 1, 2003, apparently due to ethnic profiling, led eventually to an apology and compensation from the United States Department of Justice.

Admission to the U.S. Habeeb was originally admitted to the United States as a refugee after being persecuted under the regime of Saddam Hussein. The Iraqi government executed Habeeb's brother Abdallah in 1982; they imprisoned Habeeb himself twice, most recently in 1997, tortured him, and left him with scars. Habeeb's father, a prominent business and community leader among Iraq's Rabia tribe, had been a supporter of the old Hashemite monarchy; he was killed in 1999. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees granted Habeeb refugee status, and he was admitted to the U.S. in July 2002. He took up residence in Kent, Washington.

On June 13, 2007, Jeffrey Sullivan (U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington) gave Habeeb a formal statement that "the United States of America acknowledges that, by not registering under NSEERS, you did nothing wrong. The United States of America regrets the mistake." On July 16, 2007, Judge Haddon consequently vacated his original judgment, so it will not stand as a precedent.