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Dear friends,We'll have new information on Farouk's situation soon. As of now, he's still in Hudson County Jail. The case got good coverage yesterday (Wednesday, 12/10/03) on WBAI's "Wake Up Call" with Errol Maitland interviewing Jeff Fogel, legal director at the Center for Constitutional Rights and one of Farouk's attorneys, on a number of human rights issues, including the Farouk case. Many thanks to Errol and Jeff. The updates below are about a demonstration in York, PA, last Saturday organized by activists who were very helpful to Farouk during his stay there, and about a significant victory in a case Joel Kupferman, another of Farouk's attorneys, has been working on. Also, a statement about the conclusion of Amer Jubran's case. 1. Palestine Chronicle, 12/7/03: Protesters Rally for Human Rights in York, PA 2. York Daily Record, 12/8/03: York Demo Called a Start 3. 12/9/03: A Victory in the No-Spray Suit 4. Amer Jubran Committee: We Will Not Be Intimidated 1. Palestine Chronicle, 12/7/03: Protesters Rally for Human Rights in York, PA Protesters Rally for Human Rights in York, PA Sunday, December 07 2003 @ 04:32 PM EST "A native of Ramallah he was arrested in April, 2002, and held for deportation only after he became a producer on a popular WBAI’s Radio show .." By WILLIAM HUGHES Despite freezing temperature, plus snowy and slushy conditions on the ground, about 50 stouthearted protesters rallied at the York County, PA prison and also at a distribution plant owned by the Caterpillar Corporation. The Convergence for Human Rights sponsored the event, which was held on Sat., Dec. 6, 2003, and endorsed by over 66 groups (www.october18.org). “We are out here protesting the government’s treatment of immigrants, the USA Patriot Act and the erosion of our rights since 9/11,” said Keith Dobson of York, PA. He continued, “We are also here to protest Caterpillar profiting from people’s misery by selling its bulldozers to Israel, which it uses to destroy Palestinians’ homes and for collective punishment, too, that is a violation of both the Geneva Convention and human rights.” Beth Zovko, a student at York College, who hails from Pittsburgh, PA, was one of the activists that marched in the cold from York Co. Prison to the Caterpillar plant, which was situated a few miles away. “I’m here today to spell out my sense of indignation at the injustice that is going on right now in my country. I think that it is appalling that our civil rights are being thrown away.” Both the prison, which holds hundreds of immigrant detainees under suspect legal authority, for the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (BICE), and the Caterpillar plant, are located just outside of York, a town of 41,000. The Caterpillar plant’s reputation has been sullied by the fact that it distributes parts, which are used to manufacture armored bulldozers that have ended up being utilized by the Israelis occupation Forces (IOF) to oppress the indigenous Palestinian people (See for details, Ronald L. Bleier's “Israeli Terror,” 07/03, “The LInk,” ameu.org.) Another young protester, who didn’t want me to use his name, said, “I came up here to York, just to let the world know how much I care about Rachel Corrie. What the Israelis did to her was a terrible crime.” Corrie was a 23-years old peace and justice activist from Olympia, WA. She was killed on March 16, 2003, at the Rafah refugee camp, in Occupied Gaza, by an Israeli driving a bulldozer that was made by Caterpillar. It is clear from the photos taken at the crime scene, that the driver deliberately ran over her, not once, but twice! Since 9/11, BICE has been warehousing political asylum seekers in facilities, like York County Prison. BICE comes under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Justice Dept., which is headed by Attorney General John Ashcroft. BICE has refused, in violation of international law, to release the names of all of its detainees, many of whom are of Arab descent. Farouk Abdel-Muhti, age 55, is one of the victims of BICE. He has not been charged with any criminal offense. A native of Ramallah, in Occupied Palestine, he was arrested in April, 2002, and held for deportation only after he became a producer on a popular WBAI’s Radio show, in NYC. His program championed the nationalist cause of the Palestinians (wbai.org). Abdel-Muhti, despite suffering from high blood pressure, was held in solitary confinement at the York Co. facility. On Oct. 30, 2003, he was shifted to the Bergen Co. jail, at Hackensack, NJ. A Habeas Corpus proceeding, which is challenging the legality of his imprisonment, is pending in federal court. Robert F. Merrill, of York, is one of Abdel-Muhti’s most vocal supporters. He said, “I just don’t appreciate detention without fairness, justice and good solid evidence.” Merrill has also written two songs advocating the cause of freedom for the wrongly jailed Abdel-Muhti. The authority of the Feds to deport an immigrant, even without a public trial and based on secret evidence, predates the “USA Patriot Act.” It was Sen. Arlen “Magic Bullet” Specter (R-PA) and then House member, now Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), who pushed that Star Chamber-like device back in the late 90s. The “Homeland Security Law,” passed in 2002, greatly enhanced the Bush-Cheney-Ashcroft Gang’s power to terrorize the immigrant community. Sadly, it was endorsed by pseudo liberals, like: Sen. Joseph “The Chicken Hawk” Lieberman (D-CT), Rep. Tom “Sharon Clone” Lantos (D-CA) and Sen. Barbara “Babs” Mikulski (D-MD). Steve Baker, also from York, and a protester, underscored, “I don’t imagine that everyone would feel this as an important issue. I think it’s because they don’t happen to be sitting in jail, with no trial date, no bail and no attorney. If they could put themselves in ‘that’ position, then they could begin to understand the importance of us being here today.” York’s roots date to colonial days. During the American Revolution, it even served as the capital from 1777-78, after the British military forces had taken Philadelphia and the embattled Contintental Congress was forced to flee that city. York is located 15 miles north of the Mason-Dixon Line, and 30 miles east of Gettysburg, where one of the most historic and lethal battles of the Civil War was fought in the summer of 1863. Many of today’s protesters were from York County, which has a population of 381,000. York is also 50 miles directly north from Baltimore, Maryland. There was a extremely heavy police presence at both the prison and the Caterpillar plant sites, which seemed all out of proportion to the modest number of protesters. I noticed police vehicles from the York Co. Sheriff, Southwestern Region, Springettsbury Township and the PA State Police. In addition, officials from at least one federal agency were on the grounds, and on the rooftops, of the York Co. Prison, which is a sprawling complex that also houses female inmates. Finally, John K. Stoner, of Akron, PA, who is active with the “Every Church a Peace Church” organization, blasted the indifference of the main stream American churches to the present serious civil and human rights situation in this country. He said,” The Christian community has betrayed Jesus who it claims to follow. Jesus was about nonviolent struggle for justice. When the Church aligns itself with imperial power, coercive power and homicidal violence, it leaves Jesus far behind. This is what President George W. Bush is doing, and what we need is for the Church to take up the passion for justice and social change that Jesus was all about.” Source: The Palestine Chronicle – www.palestinechronicle.com 2. York Daily Record, 12/8/03: York Demo Called a Start Organizers of Saturday’s small human rights demonstration called it a start. By SHAWN LEDINGTON Daily Record staff Monday, December 8, 2003 After two dozen people from Pennsylvania and Maryland gathered Saturday in Springettsbury Township to call attention to a wide range of U.S. government policies, organizers said it won’t be the last time they’ll gather in York County. Keith Dobson, one of the protest organizers, said the protest, which was believed to be the first of its kind in York County, was just the beginning of more to come. A group of about 25 people marched in the snow and slush from Springettsbury Park to the York County Prison and then to the Caterpillar plant on Memory Lane. The rally Police followed the peaceful protesters every inch of the way. The law enforcement presence included officers in riot gear, undercover officers who were videotaping and photographing participants and media, explosive detection units, officers on rooftops, and Department of Homeland Security personnel. Part of the presence was to make sure the marchers were safe along their route. Paula Knudsen, staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, said she was shocked by the number of police officers. She represented the coalition through its permit process and will represent its interest if Springettsbury Township bills the group for the police presence. Organizers of the rally, who are mostly from York County, said the snowstorm created a hurdle that limited the number of people who attended — just by how much was unclear Saturday. Dobson and other organizers said the protest came together for a few reasons. One reason, he said, is what he called the rising level of frustration among Americans concerned with how the U.S. government is handling everything from the war in Iraq and homeland security to working class people losing their jobs as their companies move abroad to take advantage of cheaper labor practices and fewer restrictions. People are growing more frustrated as the government takes money away from human beings’ basic needs, said Ben Price, a Green Party member from Cumberland County who, in 2002, ran against U.S. Rep. Todd Platts, R-York County. “Those issues are bringing a lot of people together who had been staying home uninvolved with the direction of our country recently,” Price said. A common thread At Saturday’s protest, people calling themselves progressive liberals, anarchists and Christians stood together for a common cause even though they don’t all agree on many issues or tactics, said Dobson, a York resident and anarchist. The connection, Dobson said, is human rights. “These groups have been energized by what’s going on in the world,” Price said. But instead of going to Washington, D.C., where several protests happen daily, the Convergence on Human Rights “is turning to our neighbors,” Price said. Craig Ilgenfritz said York has always had its share of small-scale vigils and protests such as those that have been held at York’s Continental Square since Sept. 11. But this is the first one he knows of that is bringing outsiders to York. He said two movements brought people together: the movement that has concerns about the U.S. Patriot Act, which gives the government authority to detain undocumented immigrants without charging them, and a movement to assist Palestine, “which has gradually lost all assistance from the world.” York County is seeing how the world impacts their life — such as when manufacturing jobs move abroad, taking jobs with them. “Working people in York County are left with poor choices,” he said. Ilgenfritz said there are no challenges to bringing people to York to protest except the logistics of working with the government to make sure it can happen legally, and, perhaps, the weather. Patrick McKale, a Baltimore resident who participated Saturday, said the rally created a grassroots movement in York County. “The best thing about it was that until today there was no network for social justice in York County,” he said. “This will snowball. It will only get bigger and bigger each time we do it.” Reach Shawn Ledington at 771-2048 or by email at sledington@ydr.com. Alou Traore is being held at York County Prison for returning from a visit with his sick father in Africa. By CARYL CLARKE Daily Record staff Monday, December 8, 2003 Alou Traore of the Republic of Mali, West Africa, puzzles over his yearlong detention by immigration officials. “I spent 14 very good years in this great country and raised up with my wife an ideal family,” Traore said recently from the York County Prison. “I have never ever been involved in any kind of violation in this country,” Traore said. “I was at the point of accomplishing my American dream by becoming a legal, permanent resident when I was unfairly arrested in November 2002.” The kicker, according to one supporter, is that Traore has coached fellow African natives to become naturalized U.S. citizens. Mary M. Dore, president of the Guineans Association Inc. for Delaware Valley, stated in a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice last December that Traore is a valued member of the West African community of more than 10,000 people in the Philadelphia area. He owns two African Audio Video stores in Philadelphia and works for Palace Travel. It’s cases like Traore’s that attracted the attention of some 25 to 30 people from the Green Party, CIRCLE of York, Every Church is a Peace Church and unaffiliated individuals, who gathered Saturday at the York County Prison. They came to protest the federal government’s immigrant incarceration practices. Traore fled Mali in 1989 to escape the political unrest that two years later erupted in a murderous coup, according to U.S. State Department documents. That coup toppled the government he had supported. His wife joined him in the United States in 1990. Both entered the country legally. But in 2002, he was arrested for having made an illegal re-entry to the United States nine years prior without proper documentation, according to Lance Payne, the Philadelphia district spokesman for the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Attorney Andre Michniak of Philadelphia said his client had gone to West Africa in 1993 to visit his gravely ill father. The bureau, at that time called the Immigration and Naturalization Service, had granted Traore’s request to leave the country and to return, his attorney said. Payne said the return was illegal, while the attorney contends his client had permission. Payne said immigration officials sent Traore a document in 1998 charging him with the illegal entry. The immigration judge who heard Traore’s case ordered him deported, Payne said. Traore appealed, and the Bureau of Immigration Appeals denied his claim in October 2002. He was arrested by immigration officers the next month. He turned to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals for relief. In August, the court ordered that the deportation be stayed until it reaches a decision. “He has gone through all the procedures,” Payne said. “When the court makes a decision, we will know which way to go.” “This man has abided by all the regulations,” Michniak, the attorney, said. “Even the immigration judge said he had no question about Traore’s credibility.” He said the judge denied his client asylum because Mali’s government has improved. Michniak said Traore deserves permission to remain in the United States because of his strong American ties and American children. The chief of consulate matters for the Embassy of Mali in Washington, D.C., Mamounou Toure, said he has visited Traore four times in prison. In October, the ambassador of Mali came with him. “What Americans don’t know is that Alou is feeding more than 60 persons a month in Mali (from his earnings),” Toure said. “We are a poor country. He is not a criminal. He just work, work, work hard. He is not working for himself, he is working for everyone.” Toure said he does not understand why Traore has not been released on bail so he can return to his family and community. “He is a well-known person,” Toure said. “He wouldn’t leave. He can show up every day to present himself to the authorities.” Saturday’s protest Stories like that of Traore’s drew the folks who gathered Saturday outside the York County Prison. The prison houses about 670 immigrants for the agency, making it one of the nation’s largest federal immigration detention centers, Warden Tom Hogan said. John Stoner of Akron, Lancaster County, said it is important for citizens to speak up in person. He said he participated because the government violates human rights with its massive incarceration of immigrants. Bill Hughes of Baltimore teaches at Dundalk (Md.) Community College. He came out of concern about the Patriot Act, which he believes gives the Department of Homeland Security too much power to jail immigrants. The Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement is part of the Department of Homeland Security. “The government is forgetting we have a Constitution and Bill of Rights,” Hughes said. “It’s a slippery slope we are on. It’s immigrants today. Who will it be tomorrow?” Kathleen Lucas, an advocate associated with CIRCLE in York, said: “You have to ask yourself if this serves the public interest to put them in prison so selectively. To me it looks racist.” Along that line, Asa Hutchinson, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s undersecretary for borders and transportation, said Tuesday that a selective program would cease. He said the mandatory registration of all Middle Eastern men in the United States had yielded no national security leads, according to a report in USA Today. The government will shift its focus from whole categories of people to individuals. Traore’s attorney welcomed the York County rally, because people in Washington listen to public opinion, he said. Detention deprives many American children of a parent, Michniak said. The children often lose their medical care, housing, clothing and food. “It affects all of us,” Michniak said. “We all know what happens when families are broken.” He added: “It’s one thing to detain a violent criminal, it’s another thing to detain a person with no criminal history and hold them for deportation.” Immigration official responds Payne disagrees. “Every person detained in York County violated the terms of their visa or has a criminal conviction,” Payne said. He drew a line between the bureau and the immigration courts. The immigration judge or the Board of Immigration Appeals reviews and decides each case, Payne said. The bureau enforces the judge’s and board’s orders. Almost all cases can be presented to an immigration judge for bond, he said. The judge decides whether to deport a person, set bond, or continue to hold the person with no bond. The immigrant and the government both have appeal rights. “We are only following the rules established for the immigration service,” Payne said. York immigration attorney Steve Converse said people should consider not only the massive price of detention but also the human cost involved. Some families will never recover. He did not see a profit motive in the rush to detain. He pointed to U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge. “It’s a power thing from Ashcroft to Ridge and on down,” Converse said. “They have the power to detain for no other reason than they have the power. They prefer power to being judicious.” Payne responded by saying due process procedures exist for immigrants. Decisions are not arbitrary. They’re all subject to scrutiny by the Executive Office of Immigration Review. Converse isn’t convinced and said he was glad people wanted their voices heard on the subject. “It’s a bizarre gulag we are seeing in operation,” he said, “that does not do credit to our country.” Reach Caryl Clarke at 771-2032 or caryl@ydr.com 3. 12/9/03: A Victory in the No-Spray Suit A VICTORY IN THE FIGHT AGAINST TOXIC PESTICIDE SPRAYING FEDERAL COURT REVERSES DECISION ON PESTICIDE SPRAYING, UPHOLDS CITIZENS' RIGHT TO SUE UNDER CLEAN WATER ACT In a case termed "absolutely crucial" by environmental organizations, the Court of Appeals' Second Circuit in New York City upheld claims by anti-pesticide activists and reversed a lower court decision that had dismissed a lawsuit against the city of New York for massive and indiscriminate spraying toxic pesticides to kill mosquitoes. The suit had been brought 3-1/2 years ago by the No Spray Coalition and others under a number of statutes, including the Clean Water Act. Subsequent court decisions had narrowed the lawsuit to the Clean Water Act, only. Earlier this year, District Court Judge John Martin had rejected even that attempt, ruling that the Clean Water Act was not designed to stop pesticide spraying, since pesticides are covered by other laws that do not allow for citizen lawsuits. But on Tuesday, December 9, a three-judge Appeals Court panel overturned the lower court's ruling, stating that the Clean Water Act clearly "authorizes 'any citizen' to bring suit to enforce its requirements, regardless of whether the alleged violation of CWA also constitutes a substantial violation" of other laws. "We therefore vacate the judgment and remand for further proceedings," the judges wrote. Mitchel Cohen, an individual plaintiff in the case and a coordinator of the No Spray Coalition, was ecstatic over the ruling: "Yes Virginia, there is a Sanity Clause," Cohen said. Cohen went on to say: "On every front, the health and safety of people and the preservation of the environment are being devastated by the enormous tonnage of pesticides dumped, engineered, and sprayed on us. Thousands of people have been made seriously ill by the indiscriminate spraying of malathion and pyrethroids in New York City and around the country, ostensibly to kill mosquitoes said to be carrying West Nile virus. This 'cure' is far worse than the disease, considering the huge numbers of people being poisoned by the spraying. "The Environmental Protection Agency simply lied about the pesticides' dangers, just as they lied about the extremely toxic plumes of chemicals emanating from the World Trade Center following 9-11. To this day, the cover-up continues. Our lawsuit is aimed to put an end to the government's reckless disregard for the health and safety of people and the environment." The lawyers for the Coalition -- Karl Coplan of the Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic, and Joel Kupferman of the New York Environmental Law and Justice Project -- were also pleased by the decision: "The Second Circuit re-asserted the right of the average person to sue in the Courts under the Clean Water Act," Coplan said. "This is a terribly important ruling; it stops a bad situation from being made even worse." The Plaintiffs in the case are the No Spray Coalition, National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides, Disabled In Action, Save Organic Standards New York, Valerie Sheppard, Mitchel Cohen, Robert Lederman, and Eva Yaa Asantewaa. The Anti-Pesticide lawsuit is now remanded back to the lower court where it will most likely be heard in time for next year's round of spraying. [Full text of decision at http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov:81/isysnative/RDpcT3BpbnNcT1BOXDAyLTk0ODRfb3BuLn BkZg==/02-9484_opn.pdf#xml=http://10.213.23.111:81/isysquery/irlfa15/1/hilite ]
********************************************* The No Spray Coalition now must raise tens of thousands of dollars to fund the looming Court case. Whatever you can contribute is desperately needed and gratefully accepted. No donation is too small ... or too large! Please make out checks / money orders to "No Spray Coalition" and send to: PO Box 334, Peck Slip Station, NYC 10272-0334. You can also contribute by credit card by going to the website at www.nospray.org. Thank you!!!! ********************************************* No Spray Coalition PO Box 334 Peck Slip Station NYC 10272-0334 Hotline: (718) 670-7110 Website: www.nospray.org Listserve: SprayNo@yahoogroups.com ==================================================================== Amer Jubran Committee: We Will Not Be Intimidated November 6, 2003 > Todays proceeding the long-delayed and final hearing in the case of Amer Jubran saw the complete collapse of all pretenses to fairness, justice and objectivity. Despite the governments insistence to the contrary, this case has always been an effort to silence voices that speak out for Palestinian liberation and against the policies of the United States and its client state Israel. Nothing about todays proceedings has succeeded in silencing those voices. > > > After being denied adequate time to review fifty pages of government documents submitted a week before his final trial (and four months after the June 24 deadline for disclosing evidence), after being denied his fundamental right to be represented by effective council, and after being compelled to testify without any legal representation at all, after realizing there is no possibility for due process in this court, Amer decided to request of the court that he be granted voluntary departure from the United States. In March 2004, unless the government continues its persecution of him, he will return to his home in Jordan. > > > Amer was offered three choices at todays trial: proceeding with a lawyer that he did not trust to represent him, representing himself despite his lack of legal expertise, or submitting to direct questions from the judge without any legal representation at all. When Amer was first arrested and interrogated by the INS and FBI, he refused to answer any questions without a lawyer present; today, he found himself in the same situation. In fact, this entire proceeding was an extension of the illegitimate process that began in November of 2002, and, from the first illegal arrest to todays farcical hearing, it has had only one motiveto silence Amer as a political activist and to intimidate the members of his community. It has unequivocally failed. > > > The government has never presented sufficient evidence to challenge Amers immigration status; in fact, for almost a year, it presented no evidence at all. But immigration courts are the legal equivalent of a stacked deck, and cases like this are not settled on the basis of evidence. Amers decision to take voluntary departure came from his refusal to facilitate the fundamentally unfair process through which he was dragged. Although innocent, he was left with no options to make a legitimate defense, and the government made it clear that it was willing to damage and destroy the lives of Amers ex-wife, her family, and even their former neighbors to pursue its case against him. Had the trial gone forward, it would have allowed the government to prolong the use of these proceedings as a means of conducting an illegitimate investigation not only into details of Amers life irrelevant to the merits of the immigration case, but also, more frighteningly, into the lives of many other > immigrants who are vulnerable to government harassment. > > > After Amers first trial, on July 24th, the judge remarked that the prosecution didnt seem to have a case; all but one of the original charges against Amer had been dropped, and the government had no witnesses and no evidence to present. Since the burden of proof in immigration cases rests on the defense, not the prosecution, the government had hoped that it could intimidate Amers ex-wife into refusing to testify, but she appeared in court, and after a grueling four hours of testimony, the judge, convinced, indicated that he was prepared to rule in Amers favor. The prosecuting attorney, however, claimed that his wife was sick and received a two-month continuance; a month later, he delayed the trial another six weeks because, apparently, he had to drive to a pre-arranged event in Indiana on the trial date. (Despite this, he was in his office on the morning of the date in question.) > > > Eight days before Amers final trial on November 6th, the government gave Amers lawyer a 52-page packet of evidence, comprising 19 separate items and revealing an extensive (and, until that point, secret) investigation involving at least 12 different federal agents. The packet was intended as a threat, but not to Amer; page after page of questionable reports, contradictory testimony, and incomplete forms clearly showed that the government harassing policies extend beyond Amers ex-wife and her family. As the judge remarked, the packet didnt contain anything that cast prior testimony into doubt, but in order to prepare a response, Amer instructed his lawyer to request a continuance, which the judge refused to grant. Although the government, with no basis, had delayed the case for months, Amer was not allowed a mere two weeks to review new evidence and prepare a defense against it. > > > When the motion for a continuance was denied, Amers lawyerwithout Amer's consent and against his explicit instructionsmade an arrangement with the prosecuting attorney and the judge that would have opened up lines of questioning about matters unrelated to the marriage case, including Amers legitimate political activities. The judge then intended to grant the prosecution another continuance, which would give the government yet another opportunity to investigate every possible avenue indicated by the already irrelevant testimony. In this kind of court, the original charges are of no importance, and it does not matter if the defendant meets the burden of proof; the process of investigation has no legitimate legal goal and no limit except the governments willingness to spend time and money, terrify innocent people, and ruin lives, particularly the lives of immigrants and the poor--the groups of people that their investigation placed pressure on. > > > In light of the arrangement made in his absence between both lawyers and the court, it became clear that Amer's lawyer was acting as an officer of the court and not in Amer's best interest. After declaring his intention to seek alternate council, Amer asked for another continuance in order to seek such council, but the judge denied this request as well, insisting that Amer would either have to represent himself (which Amer repeatedly stated he was unwilling to do) or proceed forward without legal representation, and faced with questions not from an advocate but from the judge himself. When the prosecution asked for delays, they were granted no matter the reason, but when Amer asked for a continuance on wholly valid grounds, the judge, ironically, cited Amer's right to a quick and speedy trial, as well as the pressure placed on the court by the defense committee itself. Faced with this nightmare logic, coupled with the prospect of an endless, boundless investigation that would > threaten the vulnerable, Amer felt that his only choice was to request voluntary departure. > > > After more than a decade of fighting for justice in the United States, Amer is returning to his home -- or at least as much of a home as a Palestinian refugee can claim. Even as the media and hate-pedalers in Washington would like to convince us otherwise, there are many advantages to living in the Arab World, even apart from being closer to family. This is not the end of his life, but the beginning of a new part of it. Amer can return with his head held high knowing that he did not cave in to the intimidation tactics of the US government. > Those of us who have stood with Amer and who have seen the unfairness and political motivations of this process up close, believe he made the best possible decision given the circumstances. During the Red Scare of the 50's and the political grand juries of the 70's and 80's, people of principle who refused to participate in the government's illegal witchhunt could invoke their fifth amendment rights to avoid participating. The immigration courts allow no such right, which begins to make it more clear why the government is targeting immigrants as it seeks to suppress dissent at home against its brutal and misguided policies abroad. The best way Amer could take a principled stand when the Judge refused to give him time to secure ethical legal representation was to seek voluntary departure. We admire him for making this principled choice, we admire him for his fearlessness, and we will each intensify our own voice and courage so that the voice for justice in Palestine will not > waver. We call on all of you to raise your voice for justice for Palestine and to fight against the anti-democratic campaign of repression being carried out by the US government. We will not be intimidated and we will not be silent! > The Amer Jubran Defense Committee > http://www.amerjubrandefense.org 12/11/03: Farouk Abdel-Muhti has now been held for 595 days ========================================================= Committee for the Release of Farouk Abdel-Muhti PO Box 20587, Tompkins Square Station, New York, NY 10009 Phone: 212-674-9499 Email freefarouk@yahoo.com Website: www.freefarouk.org ========================================================= |
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