[Ppnews] Appeal for Syracuse Doctor Sentenced to 22 Years in Prison for Helping Iraqi People

Mon Aug 25 15:08:12 EDT 2008

<http://www.dhafirtrial.net/2008/08/19/pr-for-oral-arguments/>Press 
Release: Dr. Dhafir’s oral arguments for appeal in NYC, August 28, 2008

500 Pearl Street, 9 floor ceremonial courtroom at 9:40

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 18, 2008
Contact: Katherine Hughes
katherinehugh [at] gmail.com
Dr. Dhafir Support Committee

Syracuse Doctor Sentenced to 22 Years in Prison 
for Helping Iraqi People Heads to Appeals Court August 28 in New York City

Oral arguments in 
<http://www.dhafirtrial.net/2008/02/16/dr-dhafirs-appeals-brief-submitted/>the 
case of Dr. Rafil Dhafir and the Help the Needy 
charity will be heard at the 
<http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/>Second Circuit 
Court of Appeals in New York City on August 28th, 
2008, at 10:00 a.m., Daniel Patrick Moynihan U.S. 
Courthouse, 
<http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/travel.htm>500 Pearl Street, New York.

Almost five and a half years to the day that he 
became the first and only U.S. citizen jailed for 
resisting 
<http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15385.htm>U.S. 
economic sanctions against the people of Iraq, Dr 
Rafil Dhafir, a Syracuse oncologist who helped 
raise almost $5 million in humanitarian supplies 
for the Iraqi people, will have his appeal heard 
at the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City.

<http://www.johnpilger.com/page.asp?partid=170>Sanctions 
initiated against Iraq in 1991 were the most 
severe in human history, and resulted in the 
premature deaths of well over a million Iraqi 
people. The American government’s refusal to lift 
them, despite worldwide appeals, led to the 
high-profile resignations of UN humanitarian 
coordinators 
<http://www.commondreams.org/views/070700-103.htm>Denis 
Halliday and Hans Von Sponeck. When Halliday 
resigned in 1998, he stated: “I’ve been using the 
word ‘genocide’ because this is a deliberate 
policy to destroy the people of Iraq. I’m afraid 
I have no other view.” The sanctions also drew a 
memorable response from Bill Clinton’s Secretary 
of State, Madeleine Albright who, when asked on 
the CBS program 60 Minutes in the mid 1990s if 
the sanctions-related deaths of a half million 
Iraqi children were worth it, replied, 
<http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1084>“We think the price is worth it.”

It is against this backdrop that numerous groups 
from around the globe gathered funds and 
humanitarian supplies to be delivered directly to 
the people of Iraq, completely bypassing the 
regime of Saddam Hussein. Dr. Dhafir’s charity, 
Help the Needy, was founded in the1990s to buy 
food, clothing, and medical supplies. For 13 
years <http://www.dhafirtrial.net/?p=261>he 
worked tirelessly to help publicize the plight of 
the Iraqi people, personally donating $1.4 
million of his own money to the charity. As an 
oncologist, he was also concerned about the 
effects of 
<http://www.afsc.org/newengland/bigcat/tpc.php?TID=036>depleted 
uranium on the Iraqi population which was 
experiencing 
<http://www.johnpilger.com/page.asp?partid=115>skyrocketing cancer rates.

But Dr. Dhafir and Help the Needy came under the 
gun sights of the Bush administration that, 
following the events of September 11, 2001, 
raided and closed down six major and many smaller 
Muslim charities, accusing each of funding 
terrorism. In each case, 
<http://www.forusa.org/fellowship/nov-dec06/KatherineHughes.html>alleged 
“guilt by association” meant that the charities’ 
assets were frozen and their principals arrested. 
Yet despite new investigative powers, government 
authorities have 
<http://www.ombwatch.org/article/articleview/3303/1/432?TopicID=3>failed 
to produce evidence of terrorist financing by any of these Muslim charities.

<http://www.jubileeinitiative.org/DhafirOperationImminentHorizon.htm>Arrested 
just weeks before the start of the Iraq war, the 
federal government repeatedly pitched this case 
as one that had 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43278-2004Oct18.html>national 
security implications, and Dr. Dhafir was held 
without bail for 31 months. This denial of bail 
greatly impeded his legal defense, yet no charges 
related to terrorism were ever filed, nor were 
any links to terrorists proven. Unable to get Dr. 
Dhafir to accept a plea agreement, the government 
piled on the charges and, after a lengthy trial, 
he was <http://www.dhafirtrial.net/?p=169>found 
guilty on 59 counts of; violating federal 
regulations related to economic sanctions imposed 
against Iraq, money laundering, mail and wire 
fraud, tax evasion, visa fraudall related to 
running the charity–and 
<http://www.dhafirtrial.net/2005/01/26/strongdr-dhafirs-trial-concluded-todaystrong-today/>Medicare 
fraud. He is the only person ever to be 
incarcerated for violating the Iraq sanctions.

“Each year, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office 
of Foreign Assets Control collects millions of 
dollars in penalties from American Corporations 
who have violated these sanctions (from oil 
companies, banks, food and beverage companies, 
and entertainment companies),” says Katherine 
Hughes of the Dr. Dhafir Support Committee. “No 
executive of any such corporation has faced 
criminal charges. Individuals, businesses, and 
organizations that have openly defied the 
sanctions have faced only fines. Criminal 
prosecutions have only been made against Muslims 
and people of Middle Eastern origin accused of 
violating these economic sanctions. And unlike 
those corporations, there was no profit motive in Dr. Dhafir’s case.”

On the day of Dr. Dhafir’s sentencing the New 
York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) issued 
<http://www.dhafirtrial.net/cny-chapter-statement-on-dhafir-case/>a 
statement that said,

“Every person charged with a crime in the US 
deserves and is entitled to fair and equal 
treatment under the law. In many ways, Dr. Dhafir 
was presumed guilty long before the trial began, 
and of much more than indicated by the charges 
filed against him. For the NYCLU, this case 
raises serious questions as to whether Muslims 
accused or charged with crimes in the US can 
truly receive a fair trial. Our government should 
not tout the conviction of Dr. Dhafir or the 
harsh sentence imposed by the court as a “win,” 
or as any kind of advancement in national 
security. When ‘justice” is pursued with 
religious and ethnic prejudice, and through 
actions that intimidate and isolate an entire 
community, there is no victory - there can be no 
advancement in national security, or faith in the 
promise of equal treatment under law.”

The 
<http://www.dhafirtrial.net/about-this-site/dr-dhafir-support-committee/>Dr. 
Dhafir Support Committee hopes that Dr. Dhafir 
will find justice through the Second Circuit 
Court of Appeals. Dr. Dhafir is 
<http://wrmea.com/archives/May-June_2007/0705012.html>currently 
incarcerated in the federal penitentiary at Terre Haute, Indiana.

For more information on this case: www.dhafirtrial.net

-

More about the appeal 
<http://www.dhafirtrial.net/2008/02/16/dr-dhafirs-appeals-brief-submitted/>here.

This 
<http://www.dhafirtrial.net/about-the-case/fundraising-video/>video 
shows Dr. Dhafir speaking at a fundraiser for 
Help the Needy. It was shown as part of the court proceedings.

Dr. Dhafir’s 45-page statement, given to the 
media at his sentencing, is available 
<http://www.dhafirtrial.net/about-the-case/dhafir-sentencing-statement/>here.

See 
<http://www.dhafirtrial.net/2006/03/02/the-iraqi-doctor/#more-287>this 
article written by a relative of one of Dr. Dhafir’s patients.

Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

415 863-9977

www.Freedomarchives.org  
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