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Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace<br>
April 12, 2008<br><br>
Dr. Al-Arian Placed in Punitive Detention<br><br>
VIRGINIA-- At 1 a.m. on Saturday, Dr. Sami Al-Arian was moved by<br>
hostile prison guards from a regular holding cell at the Howard
County<br>
Detention Center in Jessup, Maryland, to the "Special Housing
Unit."<br>
The SHU is an extremely punitive and restrictive section of the
prison<br>
where inmates are placed in solitary confinement 23 hours a day,<br>
usually in freezing temperatures. Prisoners are normally moved there<br>
for violating prison rules. However, in the case of Dr. Al-Arian, he<br>
has always been placed there without reason or any explanation. In
the<br>
SHU, prisoners are subjected to continuous, deafening alarm sounds
and<br>
have little contact with the outside world. With no medical<br>
supervision, this is an extremely dangerous place for Dr. Al-Arian
to<br>
be during his hunger strike, which is on its 41st day. Dr. Al-Arian<br>
was also held in solitary confinement for 37 months before and
during<br>
his trial. This was a deliberate attempt by the government to break<br>
him down physically and psychologically and to prevent him from<br>
preparing for his trial. <br><br>
Amnesty International has written several letters decrying the
prison<br>
conditions of Dr. Al-Arian, calling his treatment "gratuitously<br>
punitive" and "inconsistent with international standards for
humane<br>
treatment."<br><br>
The Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace urges all
conscientious<br>
individuals and organizations to contact the Howard County Detention<br>
Center and call for humane treatment of Dr. Al-Arian. We also call
on<br>
media outlets to cover these abuses, which so far have received no<br>
attention. <br><br>
TAKE ACTION<br><br>
Call the Howard County Detention Center and ask that Dr. Al-Arian be<br>
removed from the Special Housing Unit, where he does not belong, and<br>
that the prison ensures he is given proper medical treatment during<br>
his hunger strike. The number is (410) 313-5200. <br><br>
--<br>
PRESS CONFERENCE ON TUESDAY TO DEMAND RELEASE OF SAMI AL-ARIAN<br><br>
Press
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Contact: Dowoti Desir,<br>
Executive Director<br>
The Shabazz Center<br>
ddesir@theshabazzcenter.org<x-tab> </x-tab>
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Dept. of Justice Must Keep its Promise <br>
to Release Palestinian Professor on Hunger Strike<br><br>
Press Conference:<br>
Tuesday, April 15, 2008 <br>
To Demand the Release of Dr. Sami Al-Arian<br><br>
Who:The Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial, Educational and<br>
Cultural Center, American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights, and the<br>
Council on American Islamic Relations<br><br>
WHAT: Press Conference to Call for the Release of Hunger Striking<br>
Palestinian Professor Sami Al-Arian<br><br>
WHEN: Tuesday, April 15, 2008, 11 A.M.<br><br>
WHERE: The Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and
Educational<br>
Center 3940 Broadway, New York City, N.Y. 10032 (212)
568.1341<br><br>
SPEAKERS:<br>
THE HONORABLE RAMSEY CLARK<br>
SARA FLOUNDER,Co-Director, The International Action Center<br>
IMAM SIRAJ WAHAJ<br>
IMAM TALIB ABDUR-RASHID, CAIR-NY Civil Rights Director, Sr.<br>
HEIDI BOGHOSIAN, Executive Director of the National Lawyers' Guild<br>
ALIYA LATIF, Civil Rights Director Council on American-Islamic
Relations<br><br>
LAILA AL-ARIAN, Daughter of Sami Al-Arian<br><br>
MALAAK SHABAZZ, Daughter of El Hajj Malik El Shabazz -- Malcolm
X<br><br>
NEW YORK, NY. - Friday, April 11, is the scheduled release date of
Dr.<br>
Sami Al-Arian, a Palestinian professor on a hunger strike, who has<br>
been imprisoned for more than five years. But the Department of<br>
Justice, through its continuous abuse of the grand jury system, is<br>
threatening to keep him imprisoned for many years. <br>
This Tuesday, April 15, at 11 A.M., American Muslim Taskforce on
Civil<br>
Rights and Elections, hosted by the Malcolm X & Dr. Betty
Shabazz<br>
Memorial, Educational Center and Cultural Center, will hold a press<br>
conference to demand Dr. Al-Arian's release as promised.<br><br>
Sami Al-Arian, 50, was a tenured professor of computer engineering
at<br>
the University of South Florida. He was arrested in February 2003
with<br>
much fanfare, and charged in a bloated terrorism conspiracy case. A<br>
jury acquitted him of the most serious charges in December 2005. <br>
Under a plea agreement reached in 2006, Dr. Al-Arian should have
been<br>
released last April at the latest. By forcing him to testify,<br>
prosecutors are violating that agreement. For more on the case,
please<br>
visit
<a href="http://www.freesaminow.com/" eudora="autourl">
www.freesaminow.com<br><br>
</a>Dr. Al-Arian began a hunger strike on March 3 to protest
continued<br>
government harassment. That day, Dr. Al-Arian was informed that he<br>
would be called to testify before a grand jury in Virginia.
"The<br>
mistreatment of Dr. Al-Arian is part of the overall oppression of
the<br>
Palestinian people. This is cruel punishment," said Agha Saeed,<br>
chairman of the American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and<br>
Elections (AMT). "The government is playing a cat and mouse game
with<br>
him. They did not decide to do this until the last minute, just as<br>
he's about to be released. This amounts to psychological torture."
<br><br>
"Malcolm X stated, "Any person who claims to have deep feelings
for<br>
other human beings should think a long, long time before he votes to<br>
have other men kept behind bars - caged. Behind the bars, a man
never<br>
reforms- he can't forget those bars." The past decades have
been<br>
marred by the erosion of civil liberties and the systemic silencing<br>
through incarceration, torture, and deportation of non-conformist<br>
voices. Unfortunately our brothers and sisters in the Islamic<br>
community are the latest victims of such practices. The continued,<br>
unwarranted incarceration of Dr. Al-Arian is a violation of his
human<br>
rights." Dowoti Desir, Executive Director, The Shabazz
Center,<br><br>
If you'd like more information on this topic, please visit<br>
<a href="http://www.freesaminow.com/" eudora="autourl">
www.freesaminow.com</a> , or to schedule an interview with any of
the<br>
speakers at the press conference, please call 212-568.1341 or email<br>
ddesir@theshabazzcenter.org<br><br>
--<br><br>
PUBLIC RADIO PROGRAM COVERS AL-ARIAN CASE:<br>
Please click on the link below to listen:<br>
<a href="http://wunc.org/tsot/archive/sot0408c08.mp3/mediafile_view" eudora="autourl">
http://wunc.org/tsot/archive/sot0408c08.mp3/mediafile_view<br><br>
<br><br>
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