unfit news

Tue Nov 25 19:52:16 CET 2003

Bush's entourage trashed Buckingham palace's gardens. Queen is just 
about to learn what does it mean to have gun-totting, museum-looting 
barbarians over.
http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/content_objectid=13652625_method=fu
ll_siteid=106694_headline=-GROUND-FARCE-1-name_page.html

The police in the Third World country of Florida, ruled by the 
Emperor's brother, clearly overstepped their authority by bullying 
and brutalizing not only the protesters but also the legal observers 
of the protests. This behavior is equivalent of shooting the UN peace-
keepers in the war zone. I hope the participants slap State of 
Florida with a battery of lawsuits.
http://nlg.org/news/statements/ftaa_letter.htm

The immigrant front:

1
Muslim women employees of New York Metropolitan Transit Authority are 
now forced to comply with the uniform rules that ban their headgear 
(scarves). Curiously, the ruling apparently do not affect sikh 
turbans worn by men. Women were employed as they were, and they could 
wear their scarves before - with no impediment to their job 
execution. Suddenly, now that became a problem...

2
On several occassions I received a report that US groundlessly denied 
a visitor visa to an old parent of a person residing in the U.S. 
Those old people do not overstay their visas, do not work in the US, 
are not a burden to anybody (except their families), and clearly do 
not pose a terrorrist or any kind of threat. Therefore the actions of 
the US immigration authorities are capricious and bred out of current 
atmosphere of malice and animosity towards immigrants, and as such 
should be subjected to the global public scrutiny. Those decisions 
are cruel and short-sighted in particular when the invited parent is 
coming to help her over-worked US resident daughter caring for a 
newborn, a future US citizen. Do US immigration authorities really 
desire to share the responsibility for a dysfunctional generation of 
Americans who did not receive enough love in infancy due to the 
arbitrary and obtuse decision of some low-level schmuck in some far-
away outpost of the Empire?

3
The following is a continuation of the sad story of Farouk Abdel-
Muhti - a Palestinian activist held by US immigration for 578 days so 
far - with no trial or charges being brought against him.

He can't be deported because there is no State of Palestine. That's 
not his fault. And after so many days in prison for no reason, he 
must be furious.

Being an eloquent, outspoken activist, by now he must be pain in the 
neck to the guards, too. They, of course, are not guilty for his 
imprisonment, but it is their job to guard him, and to feel his 
resentment.

Eventually, they got fed up with him, took their nametags off, beat 
him up, and carried his personal items, including medicine, away. 
Interestingly, they were mad at his possession of certain 
publications, legally printed in the U.S., and protected under the 
First Amendement.

Here we have three layers of illicit behavior by the US authorities:
1) arbitrary imprisonment/detention - Farouk should be released for 
habeas corpus reasons
2) infringement of constitutionally guaranteed free speech - the 
publications should be returned to Farouk
3) torture - Farouk's lawyers should sue prison for maltreatment and 
ask for compensation

ivo

------- Forwarded message follows -------
For Release:       November 24, 2003

Contact:           David Wilson, 212-674-9499, freefarouk at yahoo.com

NJ Officers Assault Detained Palestinian Activist,
Confiscate "Anti-Government" Publications

On the evening of Nov. 19 law enforcement officers pushed, kicked and
punched a well-known New York-area Palestinian activist, Farouk
Abdel-Muhti, in the Bergen County Jail in Hackensack, NJ, after
finding leftist publications in his cell. Abdel-Muhti and his
supporters say that the assault follows a pattern of harassment of
Abdel-Muhti for his political activities. Abdel- Muhti has been
detained for more than a year and a half by US immigration
authorities, who claim they need to hold him while they attempt to
carry out a 1995 deportation order.

The Nov. 19 incident began with an investigation in the wing of
the prison where Abdel-Muhti is being held along with 61 other
immigration detainees. Abdel-Muhti was not the target of the
investigation, but in the course of their inquiry, officers
decided to search all detainees' cells. Among Abdel-Muhti's
papers two officers found several leftist publications--including The
Militant, The Revolutionary Worker, Northstar Compass and pamphlets 
by the Partisan Defense Committee--which the publishers regularly 
send to Abdel-Muhti as a gift.

The two officers became abusive, calling the publications "anti-
government" and telling Abdel-Muhti to "shut the fuck up" and to
"go back to Palestine." The officers, who were not wearing name
tags, pushed Abdel-Muhti against the wall on at least two
occasions, kicked him to the ground, and punched him on the side
of the head. They then confiscated his personal property,
including papers, address books and medicine, which was
prescribed by the prison clinic for high blood pressure and a
thyroid condition. Abdel-Muhti, who is 56 and in poor health, did not
resist in any way.

The next day the prison filed a disciplinary report claiming that
Abdel-Muhti was concealing medicine. As of Nov. 24 he had still not
received new medicine, and the clinic had not examined him for
injuries he may have received from the officers, even though he had
first requested the examination on Nov. 19.

Abdel-Muhti's lengthy detention has attracted attention in the
media and in activist circles because of his claim that he has
been singled out for his work on Palestinian issues. The
government detained him in April 2002, one month after he began
helping New York community radio station WBAI set up interviews
with Palestinians in the Occupied Territories.

Abdel-Muhti's legal team, which includes attorneys from the
Center for Constitutional Rights and the National Lawyers Guild,
argues that the government must release the activist since he is
stateless and no country has accepted him. In October the team
filed an updated brief in Abdel-Muhti's year-old habeas corpus
petition, which is based on the Supreme Court's June 2001 ruling
in Zadvydas v. Davis.

The incident in the Bergen County Jail comes just as Judge Yvette 
Kane of Harrisburg, PA, is considering the renewed petition, and 
about a week before immigration officials in Newark were scheduled to 
review Abdel-Muhti's eligibility for release under supervision.

                          --30--

11/24/03: Farouk Abdel-Muhti has now been held for 577 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 at yahoo.com
             Website: www.freefarouk.org
=========================================================

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