[1778] in peace2
Political prisoner in Cambridge
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Julia Steinberger)
Fri Jun 7 16:33:05 2002
Message-Id: <200206072032.QAA16070@biohazard-cafe.mit.edu>
To: peace-announce@MIT.EDU
cc: nsdemir@MIT.EDU, arab-request@MIT.EDU, amfarid@MIT.EDU
Date: Fri, 07 Jun 2002 16:32:52 -0400
From: Julia Steinberger <julias@MIT.EDU>
Palestinian jailed in Cambridge under "terrorism" laws
Okay, guys, this is right here, right now. Are we responsible
citizens of a democracy, or passive tools of a dictatorship?
We can and must get this man out of jail.
***EMERGENCY ACTION***
WHAT: PROTEST THE DETENTION OF PALESTINIAN ACTIVIST JAOUDAT ABOUAZZA
WHEN: Thursday, June 13, 9:00 a.m.
WHERE: Cambridge District Court, 3rd St., East Cambridge (three blocks
from the Lechmere stop on the Green Line T)
On the evening of May 30, a young Palestinian activist, Jaoudat
Abouazza, was stopped by the Cambridge police. 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. 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.
Under legislation in force since 1996 (the Counter-terrorism and
Effective Death Penalty Act), now bolstered by the recent USA Patriot
Act, Jaoudat can now expect indefinite detention by the INS. In case
after case since September 11, Arab and Muslim immigrants have been
imprisoned by the INS, generally for minor infractions or
irregularities in their immigration papers, and then held
incommunicado, denied access to lawyers or family, with no procedures
for appeal or judicial intervention. Under provisions for "secret
evidence", they may never even learn the nature of the case against
them. 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.
Here 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 occurs 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 June 9th which were found in his car were cited
by the prosecutor in court as a reason to continue holding him. People
who are familiar with the history of this protest will recognize that
this is not the first time Palestinian free speech rights have come
under assault by the police here in Boston.
A similar protest in Brookline last year was illegally suppressed by
the local police; its leader, Amer Jubran, was arrested on trumped up
assault charges which were ultimately thrown out of court as
completely groundless - but only after a militant national campaign in
his defense. His lawyers later revealed through motions of discovery
that the police had been in communication with the Israeli consulate,
and had given them the names and photographs of Palestinian
demonstrators. Such actions represent a serious threat of retaliation
against them if they should return home and against family members
still living in the occupied territories. This shameful history of
illegal arrests and detention and the unconstitutional suppression of
Palestinian free speech rights must stop.
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. Abouazza's pre-trial hearing will be held on Thursday, June
13, at the Cambridge District Court on 3rd St. at 9:00 a.m. Join us to
protest his continuing detention. We also urge people to send letters
of protest and solidarity to our office (contact information below) so
that they can be forwarded both to the judge as soon as he is assigned
and to Jaoudat himself.
Jaoudat Abouazza Defense Committee 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 ANSWERBoston@iacboston.org
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