[1781] in peace2
CHANGE OF DATE!
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Julia Steinberger)
Tue Jun 11 16:52:37 2002
Message-Id: <200206112052.QAA14961@m12-182-19.mit.edu>
To: peace-announce@MIT.EDU
Date: Tue, 11 Jun 2002 16:52:04 -0400
From: Julia Steinberger <julias@MIT.EDU>
*** CHANGED TO TOMMORROW, WEDNESDAY, 6/12 (instead of Thursday 6/13)
PROTEST THE DETENTION OF PALESTINIAN ACTIVIST
JAOUDAT ABOUAZZA
CHANGED TO WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 9:00 a.m.
Cambridge District Court, 3rd St., East Cambridge
(three blocks from the Lechmere stop on the Green Line T)
download pdf flyer with pictures at:
http://www.iacboston.org
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
(enter 284 Amory St)
http://www.iacboston.org/directions
617/522-6626
http://www.iacboston.org/ANSWER ANSWERBoston@iacboston.org
