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<font face="Garamond" size=5 color="#990000"><b>Sami Al-Arian Subjected
to Worst Prison Conditions since Florida<br>
</font><font face="Garamond" size=3 color="#333333">Despite grant of
bail, government continues to hold him<br>
</font><font face="Garamond" size=2 color="#6D5444"> <br>
</font><font face="Garamond" size=3>Hanover, VA - July 27, 2008 -<br>
</b></font><font face="Garamond" size=2 color="#6D5444"> <br>
</font><font face="Garamond" size=3>More than two weeks after being
granted bond by a federal judge, Sami Al-Arian is still being held in
prison. In fact, <b><u>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.</u></b> <br>
On July 12th, Judge Leonie Brinkema
pronounced that Dr. Al-Arian was <i>not</i> a danger to the community
<i>nor</i> 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.<br>
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.<br>
<b><u>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.</u></b> 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.<br>
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. <b><u>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.</u></b> Although he was in great pain
throughout the trip, guards refused to loosen the
handcuffs. <br>
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. <br>
</font><font face="Garamond" size=4 color="#990000"><b>Make a Difference!
Call Today!<br>
</b></font><font face="Garamond" size=2 color="#6D5444"> <br>
</font><font face="Garamond" size=3>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. <br>
Friends, we are asking you to make a
difference again by calling:<br>
<br>
<b><u>Pamunkey Regional Jail</u>: (804) 365-6400 (press 0 then ask to
speak to the Superintendent's office)</b>. 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.<br>
<br>
- 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.<br>
- Be <b>polite</b> but <b>firm</b>.<br>
<br>
- After calling, click
<a href="http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001d4jy5Bv7La0SPDzQxdMWL8PcSEnWP-bCUiwc5S6tKcXylt5mfmbbtBmwfMYx1BHvX0_9iNnrWOCjpVF1Vy_lDgxbmEP7yo5LamM36T-mgFvmwCfjOpO8SzceiDxVGdiUcDubaaYw6P5QKBbxRKV26g==">
here</a> to let us know you called.<br>
<br>
Don't forget:
</font><font face="Garamond" size=3 color="#0000CC"><b><i><u>your calls
DO make a difference.</u></i></b></font><font face="Garamond" size=3>
<br><br>
<br><br>
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<font size=3 color="#FF0000">Freedom Archives<br>
522 Valencia Street<br>
San Francisco, CA 94110<br><br>
</font><font size=3 color="#008000">415 863-9977<br><br>
</font><font size=3 color="#0000FF">
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