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Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| US Tortures Palestinian Activist Your Help Needed |
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| yunus |
| 06/22/02 at 09:03:24 |
| Salaam Help is URGENTLY needed. You might be able to: > Stop the illegal detention and brutalization of Palestinian > Activist Jaoudat Abouazza! > > Please come to the emergency Defense Committee meeting at > 6 tomorrow night, Monday 6/17 to plan immediate action to > safeguard Jaoudat's safety and demand his immediate release. > > This evening, Sunday June 16, two members of the Jaoudat > Abouazza Defense Committee were able to see Jaoudat in INS > custody in the Bristol County Correctional Facility in North > Dartmouth, MASS. They learned that at 10:00 AM Sunday > morning, prison officials forcibly removed 4 molars from > Jaoudat's mouth entirely without novacaine or any other > anesthetic. This constitutes midareview torture, with unknown > permanent damage or effects on Jaoudat's use of his mouth > and jaw. This followed a week in which prison officials, > guards and stooges engaged in other forms of brutality and > torture against Jaoudat, including punching, solitary > confinement, threats and racist epithets. FBI agents have > continued to harrass and intimidate him and they showed him > a defense committee leaflet and threw him into an isolation > cell, telling him they could keep him there as long as they > wanted. > > On the evening of May 30, Abouazza was stopped by the > Cambridge police on the pretext of a minor traffic > violation. Without being charged with a crime or read his > rights by the arresting officers, he was handcuffed and > brought to the Cambridge police station. Within hours, > Jaoudat would find himself in jail being interrogated by the > FBI for suspicion of "terrorism." > > The evidence? He was Palestinian and in possession of > leaflets calling for the protest of the Israeli Independence > Day Festival on June 9th in Boston. > > "The government's shameful policy of racial profiling is now > rapidly expanding to include political profiling," said Carl > Messineo, a lawyer with the Partnership for Civil Justice > and a member of the A.N.S.W.E.R. Steering Committee. "This > was always the true goal of the attack on civil rights > engineered by John Ashcroft: to stifle dissent by trying to > intimidate people from speaking out against injustice. > > "On June 29, thousands will turn out at the FBI's Washington > headquarters to show they won't be intimidated by these > tactics," Messineo continued. "For every one person they > place into administrative detention, as they have done to > Abouazza, there will be scores who will take to the streets. > It is the mass mobilization of the people that will turn > back this extremist and repressive government program." > > Jaoudat is still being detained. Initial motions by his > lawyer for a bail hearing and an official arraignment on the > charges of his original arrest were circumvented in a > pattern now familiar in the detention of Arabs and Muslims > across the nation after September 11. Held over the weekend > in jail, he was interrogated more than seven times by the > FBI _ sometimes awakened at 1:00 a.m. for questioning. > Although he had already obtained a lawyer, she was present > at none of these proceedings. By the time of his arraignment > in court on the Monday following, the INS had already filed > a detainer. Jaoudat was moved to an INS detention facility > in the early hours of the morning on Tuesday, June 4. > > Incredibly, at Abouazza's pre-trial hearing on June 12, he > was found in default for failure to appear at his pre-trial > hearing, after the efforts of his attorney Emily Karstetter > to secure his transfer to the courtroom were rejected by the > court. > > Jaoudat was of course unable to appear because he remains in > INS detention. Efforts by his lawyer to either secure his > transfer to the courtroom or arrange for videoconferencing, > which the facility Jaoudat is being held in is equipped for, > were both denied. The court found Jaoudat in default and > issued a warrant for his arrest. > > Expanded powers of domestic surveillance put into place in > the last week of May have made it easier to target political > dissidents. The Justice Department and the FBI appear to > have begun a new wave of arrests, specifically targeting > Palestinian political activists. The case of a Palestinian > student organizer in Chicago and the case of Jaoudat > Abouazza here in Boston are two prominent examples. Both > occur in the context of increasingly vocal criticism of > Israel, and U.S. support for Israeli policies, in which Arab > and Muslim immigrants have played a significant role. On > April 20, 100,000 people marched on Washington to protest > Bush's "war on terrorism." The large presence of Palestinian > activists made itself felt across the country. > > In Boston, Abouazza has been a leading activist in the > Palestinian struggle. His photograph appeared in the Boston > Globe as one of the leaders in a local march against the > Israeli occupation on April 6th that drew close to 2,000 > activists--the largest to date in Boston. He has > participated in weekly protest vigils in front of the > Israeli Consulate. Several of those protests have come under > heavy surveillance by the Boston police, who have repeatedly > photographed demonstrators and their license plates. > > His arrest on May 30 occurred a little more than a week > before a major protest against the Israel Day Festival > planned for June 9th in which Abouazza has been a key > organizer. Flyers for the protest which were found in his > car were cited by the prosecutor in court as a reason to > continue holding him. > > The increasing criminalization of dissent in the United > States in the aftermath of September 11th endangers the > rights of all of us, citizens and immigrants alike. We urge > everyone who is concerned for fundamental human rights to > act now in defense of Jaoudat Abouazza. > > We urge people to attend the meeting Monday night to > plan immediate action to safeguard Jaoudat's safety and > confront the INS, and to SEND LETTERS OF PROTEST to > > USINS District Director Steven J. Farquharson > Room 1700, JFK Federal Building > Boston, MA 02203, > > with copies to: > Commissioner James W. Ziglar > Immigration and Naturalization Service > 425 I Street, NW > Washington, DC 20536 > > and > > Jaoudat Abouazza Defense Committee > c/o International A.N.S.W.E.R. > (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) > 31 Germania Street > Jamaica Plain, MA 02130 > 617/522-6626. > > http://www.iacboston.org/ANSWER > > abouazzadefense@yahoo.com > > Please also send copies of your letters to Jaoudat himself, &gp; and write to Jaoudat, at the address below: > > Jaoudat Abouazza > Bristol County Jail and House of Correction (North > Dartmouth) > 400 Faunce Corner Road > North Dartmouth, MA 02747 > > 1 West > ID#120541 > > (Unit and ID number should be written on the lower left of the > envelope.) > |
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