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<h2><b>
<a href="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</a></b></h2><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=4><b>500 Pearl
Street, 9 floor ceremonial courtroom at 9:40<br><br>
</font><font size=3>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 18, 2008<br>
</b>Contact: Katherine Hughes<br>
katherinehugh [at] gmail.com<br>
Dr. Dhafir Support Committee <br><br>
<b>Syracuse Doctor Sentenced to 22 Years in Prison for Helping Iraqi
People Heads to Appeals Court August 28 in New York City <br><br>
</b>Oral arguments in
<a href="http://www.dhafirtrial.net/2008/02/16/dr-dhafirs-appeals-brief-submitted/">
the case</a> of Dr. Rafil Dhafir and the Help the Needy charity will be
heard at the <a href="http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/">Second Circuit Court
of Appeals</a> in New York City on August 28th, 2008, at 10:00 a.m.,
Daniel Patrick Moynihan U.S. Courthouse,
<a href="http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/travel.htm">500 Pearl Street</a>,
New York. <br><br>
Almost five and a half years to the day that he became the first and only
U.S. citizen jailed for resisting
<a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15385.htm">U.S.
economic sanctions against the people of Iraq</a>, 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. <br><br>
<a href="http://www.johnpilger.com/page.asp?partid=170">Sanctions</a>
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
<a href="http://www.commondreams.org/views/070700-103.htm">Denis
Halliday</a> 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,
<a href="http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1084">“We think the price is
worth it.”</a> <br><br>
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
<a href="http://www.dhafirtrial.net/?p=261">he worked tirelessly</a> 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
<a href="http://www.afsc.org/newengland/bigcat/tpc.php?TID=036">depleted
uranium</a> on the Iraqi population which was experiencing
<a href="http://www.johnpilger.com/page.asp?partid=115">skyrocketing
cancer rates</a>. <br><br>
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,
<a href="http://www.forusa.org/fellowship/nov-dec06/KatherineHughes.html">
alleged “guilt by association”</a> meant that the charities’ assets were
frozen and their principals arrested. Yet despite new investigative
powers, government authorities have
<a href="http://www.ombwatch.org/article/articleview/3303/1/432?TopicID=3">
failed to produce evidence</a> of terrorist financing by any of these
Muslim charities. <br><br>
<a href="http://www.jubileeinitiative.org/DhafirOperationImminentHorizon.htm">
Arrested just weeks before the start of the Iraq war</a>, the federal
government repeatedly pitched this case as one that had
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43278-2004Oct18.html">
national security implications</a>, 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
<a href="http://www.dhafirtrial.net/?p=169">found guilty</a> 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
<a href="http://www.dhafirtrial.net/2005/01/26/strongdr-dhafirs-trial-concluded-todaystrong-today/">
Medicare fraud</a>. He is the only person ever to be incarcerated for
violating the Iraq sanctions. <br><br>
“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.” <br><br>
On the day of Dr. Dhafir’s sentencing the New York Civil Liberties Union
(NYCLU) issued
<a href="http://www.dhafirtrial.net/cny-chapter-statement-on-dhafir-case/">
a statement</a> that said, <br><br>
“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.” <br><br>
The
<a href="http://www.dhafirtrial.net/about-this-site/dr-dhafir-support-committee/">
Dr. Dhafir Support Committee</a> hopes that Dr. Dhafir will find justice
through the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Dr. Dhafir is
<a href="http://wrmea.com/archives/May-June_2007/0705012.html">currently
incarcerated</a> in the federal penitentiary at Terre Haute, Indiana.
<br><br>
For more information on this case:
<a href="http://www.dhafirtrial.net/" eudora="autourl">
www.dhafirtrial.net<br><br>
</a>-<br><br>
More about the appeal
<a href="http://www.dhafirtrial.net/2008/02/16/dr-dhafirs-appeals-brief-submitted/">
here</a>.<br><br>
This
<a href="http://www.dhafirtrial.net/about-the-case/fundraising-video/">
video shows Dr. Dhafir speaking</a> at a fundraiser for Help the Needy.
It was shown as part of the court proceedings.<br><br>
Dr. Dhafir’s 45-page statement, given to the media at his sentencing, is
available
<a href="http://www.dhafirtrial.net/about-the-case/dhafir-sentencing-statement/">
here</a>. <br><br>
See
<a href="http://www.dhafirtrial.net/2006/03/02/the-iraqi-doctor/#more-287">
this article</a> written by a relative of one of Dr. Dhafir’s patients.
<br><br>
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