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<font size=3><a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/" eudora="autourl">
http://www.counterpunch.org/<br>
</a></font><font face="Verdana" size=2 color="#990000">April 5,
2010<br><br>
</font><h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4><b>Not Just
Guantánamo<br><br>
<br>
</i></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5 color="#990000">The
Ongoing Torture of Syed Fahad Hashmi
</b></font></h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>By BILL
QUIGLEY <br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=6 color="#990000">T</font><font size=3>
oday in New York City, the U.S. is torturing a Muslim detainee with no
prior criminal record who has not even gone to trial. <br><br>
For the last almost three years, Syed Fahad Hashmi has been kept in total
pre-trial isolation inside in a small cell under 24 hour video and audio
surveillance. He is forced to use the bathroom and shower in full
view of the video. He has not seen the sun in years. He takes
his meals alone in his cell. He cannot see any other detainees and he is
not allowed to communicate in any way with any prisoners. He cannot
write letters to friends and he cannot make calls to anyone but his
lawyer. He is prohibited from participating in group prayer.
He gets newspapers that are 30 days old with sections cut out by the
government. One hour a day he is taken into another confined room
where he is also kept in total isolation. <br><br>
Children are taught that the U.S. Constitution protects people accused of
crimes. No one is to be punished unless their guilt or innocence
has been decided in a fair trial. Until trial, people are entitled
to the presumption of innocence. They are entitled to be defended
by an attorney of their choice. And the Eighth Amendment to the
U.S. Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.<br><br>
The punishment of Mr. Hashmi has been going on for years while he has
been waiting for trial. In addition to the punitive isolation he is
subjected to today, he was denied the attorney of his choice. He was
allowed only counsel investigated and pre-approved by the
government. He is not allowed to look at any translated documents
unless the translator is pre-approved by the government. He is not
allowed any contact with the media at all. One member of his family
can visit through the heavy screen for one hour every other week unless
the government takes away those visits to further punish him. The
government took away his family visits for 90 days when he was observed
shadow boxing in his cell and talked back to the guard who asked what he
was doing. <br><br>
If the Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment, what is the
impact of forced isolation? Medical testimony presented in his case
in federal court concluded that after 60 days in solitary people’s mental
state begins to break down. That means a person will start to
experience panic, anxiety, confusion, headaches, heart palpitations,
sleep problems, withdrawal, anger, depression, despair, and
over-sensitivity. Over time this can lead to severe psychiatric
trauma and harms like psychosis, distortion of reality, hallucinations,
mass anxiety and acute confusion. Essentially, the mind
disintegrates.<br><br>
That is why, under international standards for human rights, extended
isolation is considered a form of torture and is banned. The conditions
and practices of isolation are in violation of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights, the U.N. Convention against Torture, and the U.N.
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination.<br><br>
In 1995, the U.N. Human Rights Committee stated that isolation conditions
in certain U.S. maximum security prisons were incompatible with
international standards. In 1996, the U.N. special rapporteur on torture
reported on cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment in U.S. supermax
prisons. In 2000, the U.N. Committee on Torture roundly condemned
the United States for its treatment of prisoners, citing supermax
prisons. In May 2006, the same committee concluded that the United States
should “review the regimen imposed on detainees in supermax prisons, in
particular, the practice of prolonged isolation.”<br><br>
John McCain said his two years in solitary confinement were torture. “It
crushes your spirit and weakens your resistance effectively than any
other form of mistreatment.” The reaction of McCain and many other
victims of isolation torture were described in a 2009 New Yorker article
on isolation by Atul Gawande. Gawande concluded that prolonged
isolation is objectively horrifying, intrinsically cruel, and more
widespread in the U.S. than any country in the world. <br><br>
Who is this man? Syed Fahad Hashmi grew up in Queens and attended
Brooklyn College. He became an outspoken Muslim activist. He moved
to London and received a master’s degree in international relations
there.<br><br>
Yet the federal judge hearing his case continues to approve of the forced
isolation and the rest of the restrictions on this presumably innocent
man.<br><br>
The reason that this is allowed to continue is that Hashmi is accused of
being involved with al Qaeda. <br><br>
Mr. Hashmi is accused of helping al Qaeda by allowing rain gear
(raincoats, ponchos and socks) that were going to Afghanistan to be
stored in his Queens apartment, he allowed his cell phone to be used to
contact al Qaeda supporters and he made post-arrest threatening
statements. <br><br>
Supporters of Fahad have demonstrated outside his jail, set up a website
– <a href="http://www.freefahad.com">www.freefahad.com</a> and have
worked for years to alert the public to his torture. Articles by
Amy Goodman, Chris Hedges and Jeanne Theoharris have been written over
the past several years documenting and protesting these human rights
violations.<br><br>
But, once accused of connections with terrorism or al Qaeda, apparently,
the U.S. constitution and international human rights apparently do not
apply. Torture by the U.S. is allowed. Pre-trial punishment
is allowed. The presumption of innocence goes out the window.
Counsel of choice is not allowed. Communication with news media not
allowed. <br><br>
The trial of Syed Fahad Hashmi is set for April 28, 2010 in New
York. Till then he will continue to be tortured by the U.S.
government whose star spangled banner proclaims it to be the land of the
free and the home of the brave.<br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=2><b>Bill Quigley</b> is legal director
of the Center for Constitutional Rights and a law professor at Loyola
University New Orleans. He can be contacted at
<a href="mailto:quigley77@gmail.com">quigley77@gmail.com</a>. <br><br>
<br><br>
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