[Ppnews] Sami Al-Arian Subjected to Worst Prison Conditions since Florida

[Political Prisoner News]

Sami Al-Arian Subjected to Worst Prison Conditions since Florida
Despite grant of bail, government continues to hold him

Hanover, VA - July 27, 2008 -

More than two weeks after being granted bond by a federal judge, Sami 
Al-Arian is still being held in prison. In fact, Dr. Al-Arian is now 
being subjected to the worst treatment by prison officials since his 
stay in Coleman Federal Penitentiary in Florida three years ago.
        On July 12th, Judge Leonie Brinkema pronounced that Dr. 
Al-Arian was not a danger to the community nor a flight risk, and 
accordingly granted him bail before his scheduled August 13th trial. 
Nevertheless, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) invoked 
the jurisdiction it has held over Dr. Al-Arian since his official 
sentence ended last April to keep him from leaving prison. The ICE is 
ostensibly holding Dr. Al-Arian to complete deportation procedures 
but, given that Dr. Al-Arian's trial will take place in less than 
three weeks, it would seem somewhat unlikely that the ICE will follow 
through with such procedures in the near future.
        Not content to merely keep Dr. Al-Arian from enjoying even a 
very limited stint of freedom, the government is using all available 
means to try to psychologically break him. Instead of keeping him in 
a prison close to the Washington DC area where his two oldest 
children live, the ICE has moved him to Pamunkey Regional Jail in 
Hanover, VA, more than one hundred miles from the capital. 
Regardless, even when Dr. Al-Arian was relatively close to his 
children, they were repeatedly denied visitation requests.
        More critically, this distance makes it extremely difficult 
for Dr. Al-Arian to meet with his attorneys in the final weeks before 
his upcoming trial. This is the same tactic employed by the 
government in 2005 to try to prevent Dr. Al-Arian from being able to 
prepare a full defense.
        Pamunkey Regional Jail has imposed a 23-hour lock-down on Dr. 
Al-Arian and has placed him in complete isolation, despite promises 
from the ICE that he would be kept with the general inmate 
population. Furthermore, the guards who transported him were abusive, 
shackling and handcuffing him behind his back for the 2.5-hour drive, 
callously disregarding the fact that his wrist had been badly injured 
only a few days ago. Although he was in great pain throughout the 
trip, guards refused to loosen the handcuffs.
        At the very moment when Dr. Al-Arian should be enjoying a 
brief interlude of freedom after five grueling years of imprisonment, 
the government has once again brazenly manipulated the justice system 
to deliver this cruel slap in the face of not only Dr. Al-Arian, but 
of all people of conscience.
Make a Difference! Call Today!

Last April, your calls to the Hampton Roads Regional Jail pressured 
prison officials to stop their abuse of Dr. Al-Arian after only a few days.
        Friends, we are asking you to make a difference again by calling:

Pamunkey Regional Jail: (804) 365-6400 (press 0 then ask to speak to 
the Superintendent's office). Ask why Dr. Al-Arian has been put under 
a 23-hour lockdown, despite the fact that a federal judge has clearly 
and unambiguously pronounced that he is not a danger to anyone and 
that, on the contrary, he should be allowed bail before his trial.

- If you do not reach the superintendent personally, leave a message 
on the answering machine. Call back every day until you do speak to 
the superintendent directly.
- Be polite but firm.

- After calling, click 
<http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001d4jy5Bv7La0SPDzQxdMWL8PcSEnWP-bCUiwc5S6tKcXylt5mfmbbtBmwfMYx1BHvX0_9iNnrWOCjpVF1Vy_lDgxbmEP7yo5LamM36T-mgFvmwCfjOpO8SzceiDxVGdiUcDubaaYw6P5QKBbxRKV26g==>here 
to let us know you called.

Don't forget: your calls DO make a difference.




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