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Dear all, <br>
<br>
Thank you so very much for all your supporting emails, telephone calls
and offer to help the Muslim community in this difficult time. I
have been thinking about writing something about "Lodi terrorism
case" but was unable to do so because I could see the same card
played over and over again. Our administration is creating a culture of
fear, division, anger, frustration, confusion and hate so they can expand
their agenda. <br>
<br>
I would like to assure you that I am very concern about the safety and
security of our country, I live here, my friends, family members and
children live here but scapegoating the entire community is not the route
we should be taking. As I learned more about the case it became Crystal
clear that the Muslims and Arabs are not granted the same rights that our
Constitution guarantees for all of its citizens. Over two weeks have
passed and so far both Hamid and Umer have been charged only with lying
to federal investigators about Hamid's visit to Pakistan in 2003.<br>
<br>
Please read the report written by Sunaina Maira ( a friend and partner in
struggle for justice )and Veena Dubal, activists, on their trip to Lodi
after the Hayat arrests. <br>
<br>
Thanks,<br>
Samina<br>
<br>
<i><u>PS. Both imams cases would be heard in San Francisco and I will
need help from all of you to fill up the court room for support and
solidarity. We will keep you posted.</u></i>
<a href="http://www.amuslimvoice.org/">www.amuslimvoice.org</a>. <br>
<br>
The FBI "witch-hunt" in Lodi<br>
<br>
By Veena Dubal and Sunaina Maira<br>
<br>
On June 7Th 2005, national and international media attention focused on
the small, agricultural town of Lodi, located approximately forty miles
south of Sacramento. The FBI arrested and detained two individuals, both
Pakistani-Americans, who they suspected had AL-Qaeda affiliations.<br>
<br>
The investigation was presented as a "terrorism case" by the
government and news sources. The initial affidavit released to the
media said that U.S.-born Hamid Hayat, had attended a terror-training
camp in Pakistan along with "hundreds" of other terrorists, and
returned to the US intending to "attack . . . hospitals and large
food stores." This kind of detail resulted in a flood of
sensationalized media coverage, portraying 23-year old Hamid as a
prospective mass murder and his father, Umer Hayat, a 47-year old ice
cream truck driver, as the financial supporter and mastermind of an
alleged "Lodi terrorist cell".<br>
Neither allegation, however, was in the affidavit filed with a federal
court in Sacramento the same day.<br>
<br>
The FBI retracted their affidavit alleging Hamid's plot to attack
domestic targets and began downplaying the seriousness of the presumed
threat the men posed. Both Hamid and Umer were ultimately charged only
with lying to federal investigators about Hamid's visit to Pakistan in
2003.<br>
<br>
Three other Muslim men from Lodi, among them two respected imams, were
also detained on suspected visa violations. One of the imams had
actually been the target of FBI surveillance beginning three years ago
when a secret court used the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)
to approve wiretapping of Mohammed Adil Khan.<br>
<br>
While the Justice Department has maintained that it was not deliberately
trying to precipitate an anti-Muslim witch hunt, the difference between
the two affidavits - the one released to the media and the one filed in
court - as well as recent FBI activity in Lodi, speak a different
story. None of the five men have been charged with carrying out or
planning to commit any act of violence.<br>
<br>
The many inconsistencies in the case and the hysteria it stoked coincided
very neatly with Bush's campaign to renew and expand the 2001 Patriot
Act, which can only be justified if there was an ongoing "terrorist
threat" and the public continues to fear that there are Muslim or
Arab terrorists in their midst.<br>
<br>
On June 14, we traveled up to Lodi to assess the impact of the arrests
and surveillance of the local South Asian community, which is estimated
to consist of over 2500 Pakistanis, some of whom have been living in the
town for three generations. Basim Elkarra, Executive Director
of the Sacramento office of CAIR (Council on American Islamic
Relations) has been diligently organizing in response to the arrests and
interrogations of local Pakistanis by FBI agents swarming into town and
warned us prior to our arrival about the extent of surveillance and the
fear the community felt. But no amount of warning could have
prepared us for the state of near siege in the town.<br>
<br>
As soon as we stepped out of our car in Lodi, we were made aware of the
FBI's presence. Not only is the entire Muslim community being
surveilled by the FBI, which had interviewed many of its members,
sometimes without an attorney present, in the days following the arrest -
so are the attorneys and activists who are making sure that
constitutional rights are upheld. During our brief visit with Mr.
Elkarra and civil rights attorneys from the ACLU, a man with a large
afro-wig in a blue SUV circled us and took photos. When we tried to
approach him, he fled, only to return later to take more photographs. His
conspicuous appearance made us realize the extent to which the FBI
harassment is not at all a secret investigation: it is an overt act
of intimidation of the community at large.<br>
<br>
One of the attorneys we spoke to noted that the community feels
"terrorized." Residents believe that they are being
interrogated by the FBI and placed under<br>
automatic suspicion because they are Muslim..<br>
<br>
Pakistanis who attended the "Know Your Rights" workshops held
by CAIR in Stockton, Lodi, and Pleasanton were all subject to obvious FBI
surveillance. One Muslim mother told an attorney that her young child was
followed from her home to an ice cream store by an FBI car. Others
complained that they were taken out of their places of employment by the
FBI for questioning and then could not return because their co-workers
became suspicious of them.<br>
<br>
The most shocking of these reports was that of an incident where the FBI
stormed the Hayat home, when only women and children were present, by
ramming down the front door and putting a gun to a woman's head.
When her eleven-year old daughter passed out, she was denied medical
attention, a gross violation of human rights that outraged even the local
emergency care personnel.<br>
<br>
After handing out "Know Your Rights" fliers to community
members who have been repeatedly questioned, we went to visit the Lodi
mosque that is under FBI scrutiny. The mosque is a small, humble
structure - a former Jehovah's Witness church - next to the cannery where
Pakistani men have worked as fruit packers, in some cases for more than
thirty years. South Asian and Latino children were <br>
playing basketball together across from the mosque while older South
Asian men sat on the grass, presumably relaxing after a long day's
work.<br>
<br>
Most of the Muslims who attend this mosque speak Pashtu and are from the
Northwest Frontier area of Pakistan. Some have family that had been
in the area since as early as 1908, working on the railroads. They told
us that the FBI began coming to Lodi immediately after September
11Th, making "friends" with mosque members. The men all
seemed undaunted by the FBI siege. However, it was clear within
minutes that beneath the welcoming, calm exterior, was a harassed,
interrogated, and scared community.<br>
<br>
One man described to us, without looking around, exactly where each
federal agent's car was parked; we saw the three large, black-tinted SUVs
just yards from the mosque and the courts where the young boys were
playing. Another middle-aged man said calmly, "Let them come
ask us questions; we have nothing to hide." While this
resilience was encouraging, we were reminded by another Pakistani
man who had already been questioned several times that while he did
not mind speaking to the FBI, it was frightening for his wife and
children. In addition, this has led to a racist backlash by some Lodi
residents agitated by the lurid media reports about Islamic terrorists
and sleeper cells.<br>
<br>
The government's investigation in Lodi has been conducted in a way that
does not respect the legal rights and dignity of the Muslim
community: individuals have been systematically discouraged from
exercising their right to an attorney and have been disallowed access to
attorneys; there has been at least one detention of an individual who was
not read his Miranda warnings; and women and children have been
intimidated and denied medical care. Perhaps equally disturbing,
however, is that the general public has been given new reason to fear
South Asians and Muslims as presumed terrorists. A community that
has made this area home for over one hundred years has been investigated,
intimidated, and cast under a shroud of suspicion, all within days.<br>
<br>
Veena Dubal is a JD/PhD student at the University of California at
Berkeley, Boalt Hall, and Sunaina Maira is an Associate Professor of
Asian American Studies at the University of California at Davis.
Both are volunteers with the SF Bay Area organization, ASATA - Alliance
of South Asians Taking Action.<br>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
The Freedom Archives<br>
522 Valencia Street<br>
San Francisco, CA 94110<br>
(415) 863-9977<br>
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