Is this another one that Holder won't go near? MCM
>From Corey Robin: Dear friends and colleagues: We're writing to update you on the case of Syed Fahad Hashmi, our former student at Brooklyn College who is still being held in solitary confinement awaiting trial on four counts of providing material support to Al Qaeda. We'd like to ask you to email this new Administration about his case (to do so, please go to: <http://www.educatorsforcivilliberties.org/HashmiRights.html>http://www.educatorsforcivilliberties.org/HashmiRights.html). Despite our efforts last year, former Attorney General Michael Mukasey renewed the Special Administrative Measures (SAMs), which have kept Hashmi in deep isolation for two years. The SAMs require, among other things, the 24-hour surveillance of Hashmi inside and outside of his cell (he must shower and use the toilet in view of the camera) and prohibit Hashmi's lawyers from communicating with the media about their contact with Hashmi. In January 2009, his lawyers filed a pre-trial motion to contest these conditions, offering expert testimony about the long-term detrimental physical and mental effects of solitary confinement and sensory deprivation. That motion was denied by Judge Loretta Preska, a Republican appointee and reputed favorite of former President George W. Bush. On issue after issue, in fact, Judge Preska has consistently ruled in favor of the prosecution, often taking it upon herself to make the prosecution's case against the defense. Much of the evidence continues to be classified: while Hashmi's lawyers have been cleared to see it, Hashmi may not. Except for one fact, we are no more confident today than we were last year that Hashmi will receive a fair trial. That one fact, of course, is that we now have a new president who came to office, in part, on the promise to reverse the Bush Administration's policies subverting civil liberties. Already, the Obama Administration has taken action to that effect: ordering the closure of Guantánamo, banning the use of torture, transferring terrorism suspects into the federal judicial system, and releasing information about torture and inhumane treatment of high-profile detainees. We are hopeful about these reforms, but we want to ensure that they are felt in less high-profile cases like Hashmi's-and in cases within the federal justice system itself. While the Obama Administration has acted to remedy some of the civil rights abuses abroad, we must turn its attention to abuses here at home. In addition to these developments, we also are heartened by the rise of a movement devoted to Hashmi's case, in New York and elsewhere. This movement is led by Muslim American students, whose increasing activism has been one of the more positive developments in recent years, and it has been joined by concerned citizens and antiwar activists across the country. We also have received excellent press coverage: Nat Hentoff devoted two columns to the case in the Village Voice; the New York Times ran a thoughtful piece on Hashmi's confinement; and The Nation published Jeanne Theoharis' article on "Guantanamo at Home." The links for these articles are here: <http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-11-05/columns/a-brooklyn-college-grad-experiences-the-constitution-in-a-cage/>http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-11-05/columns/a-brooklyn-college-grad-experiences-the-constitution-in-a-cage/ <http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-11-12/columns/caged-citizen-will-test-president-obama/>http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-11-12/columns/caged-citizen-will-test-president-obama/ <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/05/nyregion/05hashmi.html?scp=1&sq=syed%20hashmi&st=cse>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/05/nyregion/05hashmi.html?scp=1&sq=syed%20hashmi&st=cse <http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090420/theoharis>http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090420/theoharis Hashmi's case goes to trial in September. We believe now is the time to renew our three-point call for the federal government, in the words of the petition you signed last year, "to review and alleviate the conditions of Hashmi's detention, particularly his solitary confinement and the SAMs imposed upon him; to remove or revise the constraints on his right to a fair trial; and to guarantee that his actions - rather than his constitutionally protected statements, beliefs, and associations - constitute the basis of the government's case against him, in court and in the public arena." We ask that you email Attorney General Eric Holder, urging him to turn his attention to these civil liberties issues at home - and that you forward this message and ask others to do the same. To send the email, please go to <http://www.educatorsforcivilliberties.org/HashmiRights.html>http://www.educatorsforcivilliberties.org/HashmiRights.html Sincerely, Corey Robin and Jeanne Theoharis Educators for Civil Liberties --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's "News From Underground" newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the "Unsubscribe or change membership" link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the "Unsubscribe" button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
