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For Release: December 1, 2003 Contact: David Wilson, 212-674-9499, freefarouk@yahoo.com Local Activists March in Newark for Detained Palestinian Led by a battery of drummers and chanting "Free Farouk," about 80 New York and New Jersey activists marched through downtown Newark in the early afternoon of Nov. 29 to protest the US Department of Homeland Security's continued detention of a man they had often collaborated with over the years, Palestinian immigrant Farouk Abdel-Muhti. Abdel-Muhti has been held for more than a year and a half by US immigration authorities, who claim they need to keep him in detention while they attempt to carry out a 1995 deportation order. His attorneys argue that the government must release him since he is stateless and no country has accepted him. "They destroyed his village, they drove him from his land: How can he go home?" Samia Halaby, a prominent Palestinian artist and member of Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition, asked the protesters during a brief rally in front of the Peter W. Rodino Jr. Federal Building at the conclusion of the march. "Where can they send him?" "Back to Queens," someone in the crowd shouted. "Back to us," others yelled. Abdel-Muhti has lived in the New York area since the early 1970s; he was arrested in Corona, Queens in April 2002, just one month after he began helping set up interviews with Palestinians on New York community radio station WBAI-FM. Other speakers included Roger Calero, an editor of the socialist weekly The Militant who recently defeated immigration authorities' efforts to deport him; Abdel-Muhti's grown son Tarek, who was born in the US; Kevin Gilroy of the Partisan Defense Committee; Stephen Durham of the Freedom Socialist Party; Daniel Vila of the Committee for the Release of Farouk Abdel- Muhti; and Darryl Lamont of the newly formed New Jersey Committee to Free Farouk Abdel-Muhti. Abdel-Muhti sent a statement to the demonstration thanking his supporters for showing "how to win in unity, without distinction of race, religion, color or ethnicity, under the slogan 'the people united will never be defeated.'" Since his arrest, Abdel-Muhti has been held in several county jails in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. His most recent transfer was from York, Pennsylvania on Oct. 30 to the Bergen County Jail in Hackensack, New Jersey. Local activists have responded angrily to a Nov. 19 incident at the Bergen jail in which prison guards allegedly assaulted the 56-year old Abdel-Muhti during a routine search of his cell. The guards claimed he had been "stockpiling" his medication for high blood pressure. So far prison authorities have apparently not investigated the assault. Instead, they placed Abdel-Muhti in solitary confinement from Nov. 26 through Nov. 29, supposedly as a punishment for retaining the medicine. --30--
Vol. 67/No. 43 December 8, 2003 New Jersey prison guards assault Palestinian fighter Farouk Abdel-Muhti (feature article) BY MARTÍN KOPPEL Farouk Abdel-Muhti, an outspoken defender of Palestinian self-determination who has been jailed for more than a year and a half and faces deportation, was assaulted November 19 by guards at the Bergen County Jail in Hackensack, New Jersey. His supporters report that prison authorities, targeting him for his political views, confiscated his personal possessions, including the Militant and other reading material, and denied him medical treatment. The Committee for the Release of Farouk Abdel-Muhti issued an action alert urging that messages be sent to immigration officials to demand that he be freed immediately and to protest the abusive treatment against him. A march and rally to demand Abdel-Muhti’s release were called for Saturday, November 29, at 12:30 p.m. in Newark, New Jersey (see calendar). Defenders of Abdel-Muhti report that the incident began when prison officials carried out a search of all cells in a wing of the Bergen County jail where 62 immigration detainees are being held. In the cell where Abdel-Muhti is being held, they went through his reading material, including the Militant, the Revolutionary Worker, Northstar Compass, and pamphlets by the Partisan Defense Committee—publications which the Palestinian activist receives regularly, as allowed by the prison’s own rules. “The two officers became abusive, calling the publications ‘antigovernment’ and telling Abdel-Muhti to ‘shut the f___ up’ and to ‘go back to Palestine,’” the defense committee bulletin reported. They shoved him against the wall, kicked him to the ground, and punched him on the side of the head. Then they confiscated his publications, address books, and medicine, which was prescribed for high blood pressure and a thyroid condition. “Abdel-Muhti, who is 56 and in poor health, did not resist in any way,” the defense campaign bulletin noted. The next day, prison authorities filed a disciplinary report against Abdel-Muhti, claiming he was concealing medicine. As the Militant goes to press, he is still being denied medicine and medical attention. Abdel-Muhti was recently transferred to the Bergen County Jail from the York County Jail in York, Pennsylvania. As part of the authorities’ unsuccessful efforts to break his spirit and isolate him, the political activist has been moved around to several county jails, first in New Jersey and then in York. A well-known advocate of Palestinian self-determination, Abdel-Muhti was arrested in New York on April 26, 2002. He faces the threat of deportation from the United States, where he has resided since the 1970s. The immigration police have kept him locked up for the past 19 months without a hearing and without filing any criminal charges against him. Behind prison walls, Abdel-Muhti has continued to speak out and write about the Palestinian struggle and other fights for justice, and has been receiving newspapers and other publications. Militant editor Argiris Malapanis stated, “We are demanding that the prison authorities immediately return all of Farouk’s reading materials and other possessions. Their assault on him, the denial of medical care, and the attempt to suppress his right to literature are outrages that should be protested by everyone who supports elementary human rights.” Protest messages should be sent to David Venturella at the Office of Detention and Removal, Department of Homeland Security: fax (202) 353-9435; tel. (202) 514-8663; e-mail: davidventurella@dhs.gov, with copies to the defense committee at freefarouk@yahoo.com. Vol. 67/No. 43 December 8, 2003 Free Farouk Abdel-Muhti! (editorial) We urge all defenders of democratic rights to send messages to immigration authorities to call for the immediate release of Palestinian fighter Farouk Abdel-Muhti, protest the brutal assault on him by prison guards, and demand the return of all the reading materials and medicine they confiscated from him (see news article linked below). We also urge you to build and turn out for the November 29 rally on his behalf in Newark, New Jersey. This outrageous treatment of the Palestinian militant by his jailers is part of the government’s repeated attempts to isolate him and break his fighting spirit. Those efforts have failed, however, thanks both to Abdel-Muhti’s courageous refusal to give up his fight for justice and to those who have campaigned for his freedom. What is needed now is to step up efforts to publicize the facts about his case and win the broadest possible public support for the demand that he be released immediately. Abdel-Muhti has been locked up in immigration jails in New Jersey and Pennsylvania for more than a year and a half without charges filed against him and with the threat of deportation hanging over his head. As he told the Militant in an interview from behind bars last December, the U.S. government’s threat to deport him is part of a nationwide wave of arrests and harassment of immigrants, especially from the Middle East and South Asia. Government officials have explicitly targeted his political activities as an opponent of Washington’s policies and a defender of the Palestinian struggle for a homeland. Immigration cops have more than once threatened to deport him and turn him over to Israeli police if he does not give them information about other individuals in the United States and Palestine. Over the past decade the U.S. government has expanded the number of deportable offenses as well as the powers of the federal cops to summarily detain and deport immigrants. In the name of “fighting terrorism” Washington has rounded up hundreds of people, holding many indefinitely without charges. At the same time, the immigration police has stepped up its terror raids in workplaces and elsewhere. These raids target workers and their unions—as in the recent arrests of 250 janitors at Wal-Mart stores across the country—and aid the bosses’ efforts to superexploit workers lacking legal protection. As a result, hundreds of thousands of workers have faced victimization by the hated migra. At a time of continuing working-class resistance, an increasing number of immigrant workers have refused to be intimidated and have stood up to fight. Several have won important victories in their antideportation struggles—from immigrant rights fighter Julieta Bolívar in Chicago to Perspectiva Mundial associate editor Róger Calero. Farouk Abdel-Muhti is among those behind bars who have refused to bend their knee, remaining true to his convictions as a fighter for Palestinian self-determination. Let’s join forces to demand: Stop the abusive treatment of Farouk Abdel-Muhti! Return his literature and personal possessions! Free him now! ========================================================
On June 25, 12 activists in the movement that forced the U.S. Navy to leave the Puerto Rican island of Vieques were arrested by FBI agents. They 12 face up to 20 years in prison on charges of conspiracy to destroy federal property stemming from their participation in a celebration of the U.S. Navy’s departure from Vieques on May 1, which led to the residents pushing down the perimeter fence and pouring through the gate of the abandoned Camp García base. The Navy occupied 2/3 of the small Puerto Rican island and used it for target practice and military maneuvers for six decades, driving many residents off their land. The Vieques12 are the latest in a long line of Puerto Rican patriots Washington has sought to imprison in their effort to undercut support for the fight against U.S. colonial rule over Puerto Rico--not only on the island but in the United States. Five Puerto Rican patriots remain locked up in U.S. prisons for their activities in support of independence, including Oscar Lopez Rivera, who has been imprisoned for 22 years on frame-up charges of “seditious conspiracy.” López’s real crime in the eyes of the U.S. government is his involvement in the struggle against Washington’s colonial domination of his country. An international campaign is under way to demand medical treatment for López Rivera. Join a discussion on why working people and other democratically minded people in the U.S. should demand that all Puerto Rican political prisoners be freed and support the fight for Puerto Rico's independence. Hear: Representative, Pro-Libertad Freedom Campaign Martín Koppel, Socialist Workers Party Friday, December 5 Dinner 6:30 pm & Forum 7:30 pm Pathfinder Books, 545 8th Ave., 14th floor, Manhattan (Between 37th and 38th Sts. Take the A or C to 34th or 42nd Sts.). Tel: (212) 695-7358 Suggested Donation: $5.00 dinner/ $5 Forum Habrá traducción al español Pathfinder Books’ hours are Thurs. & Fri., 5:30-7:30 pm; Sunday, Noon - 4:30 pm We also urge you to join ProLibertad, the Vieques Support Campaign,
and others in a picket line to protest the sentencing of the Vieques 12,
on Thursday December 4 at 5:30 PM in Ralph Bunche Park, 42nd St. and 1st
Avenue =========================================================
By LAURI LEBO For The Evening Sun Organizers say Saturday's rally in support of immigration detainees at the York County Prison may attract considerably more than the 1,000 protesters they initially expected. The Convergence for Human Rights rally, to be held at the prison in Springettsbury Township, was planned to draw attention to the stories of detainees, who rally organizers say are victims of human rights violations. The event is drawing widening support, according to Craig Ilgenfritz of York, a Convergence for Human Rights spokesman. The prison is the site of one of the largest detention centers for the federal Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the country and houses approximately 500 detainees. The federal policy of detaining asylum-seekers existed well before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But in the past two years, more people have been detained on apparently minor infractions, Ilgenfritz said. Many noncitizens arrested on minor immigration violations are being detained indefinitely in prison even though they have not been charged with a crime, he said. The rally will include a demonstration at the now-closed Caterpillar plant near the prison, where the group will protest the sale of company bulldozers to Israel. Ilgenfritz said that after a suicide bombings by Palestinians, Israel uses specially fitted bulldozers to destroy the bomber's entire settlement a form of collective punishment that punishes people who had nothing to do with the bombing. Both Israel's use of the bulldozers and the Department of Homeland Security's policy of locking up asylum seekers violate international law, Ilgenfritz said. Rally participants say they hope the demonstration will make residents of York County aware of their connection to worldwide human rights abuses, Ilgenfritz said. The rally was originally scheduled Oct. 18 by a group of self-described anarchists and communists, but was postponed and later rescheduled for Saturday after concerns the event had lost its focus. In preparation, Ilgenfritz said, organizers held classes throughout the region, including Philadelphia and Baltimore, "educating people on the issues in terms of this rally." As part of a compromise with Springettsbury Township officials, protesters, who are converging at Springettsbury Park, have agreed to be confined to specific areas. In addition, no back packs or bags will be allowed and police reserve the right to search people, Ilgenfritz said. Springettsbury Township police could not be reached for comment. Also, while rally organizers have not yet received an invoice, township officials have said they may bill them for police protection, which could include local and state police as well as fire police, Ilgenfritz said. But Ilgenfritz said billing people for the right to express themselves is a violation of the First Amendment. The problems of various detainees are outlined on the Convergence for Human Rights' Web site: www.october18.org But the rally is not only about specific detainees. Rather, their cases illustrate what organizers consider to be large-scale human rights abuses. A recent case in York County is Ashraf al-Jailani, a permanent legal resident from Yemen, brought to York County Prison last month for a bond hearing. He has been imprisoned for more than a year, suspected of having terrorist connections. But since his arrest, he has not been formally charged, nor has the FBI interviewed him. In March, Judge Walter Durling ordered al-Jailani freed on $1,500 bail, but the Department of Homeland Security blocked the order, and a government immigration lawyer filed a motion in July asking for bail to be revoked. His attorney, Farhad Sethna, said he is hopeful the judge will decide this week whether to grant his client bail. Meanwhile, one of the other men whose arrest has garnered widespread attention remains in prison, caught in a deportation quagmire. Earlier this month, Farouk Abdel-Muhti, who has been imprisoned for the past 18 months, was transferred from York County Prison to Bergen County Prison in New Jersey. His case caught the attention of immigration-rights groups because he was arrested based on a 1995 deportation order, but the arrest came one month after he started a New York radio show airing the grievances of Palestinians. But because he was born in the West Bank in 1947, a region that is now disputed territory, Abdel-Muhti is essentially stateless. His birth certificate says he is from Jordan. But in 1967, during the Six Day War, Israel occupied the West Bank and it has remained disputed territory since. Neither Israel nor Jordan will take him. But the United States refuses to let him out of prison. U.S. District Judge Yvette Kane in Harrisburg is considering a renewed petition, and immigration officials in Newark are scheduled to review Abdel-Muhti's eligibility for release under supervision. http://www.eveningsun.com/Stories/0,1413,140%257E9956%257E1802276,00.html 12/2/03: Farouk Abdel-Muhti has now been held for 585 days =========================================================
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