Canadian Palestinian Jailed in Boston - Take a look at this

[j]

This is a news story I read about in a weekly free paper called "The Weekly Dig" in Boston. I went to boston.indymedia.org for this story. See what's happening in Boston:


BOSTON TORTURE VICTIM:
SUPPORT URGED FOR JAILED PALESTINIAN

By Frank Neisser
Boston

Palestinian activist Jaoudat Abouazza was detained in Boston May 30 on the pretext of minor traffic violations. He was held and interrogated at least seven times in one weekend by the FBI. During this time Abouazza wasn't given access to a lawyer. He was moved to Immigration and Naturalization Service custody on June 4.

Why was Abouazza detained over traffic matters routinely
handled with minor fines? His captors cited leaflets in his
car promoting a legally permitted pro-Palestinian protest
scheduled to take place at the June 9 Israeli Independence
Day Festival in Boston.

Abouazza is a leader in the local Palestinian community. He
has been at the forefront of marches for Palestinian rights
and demonstrations in front of the Israeli Consulate.

While in INS custody at the Bristol County House of
Correction in North Dartmouth, Abouazza has been grossly
abused. Four of his teeth were forcibly extracted. Guards
removed him from his cell and held him down in a chair while his teeth were pulled.

This occurred at 10 a.m. on June 15. The effects were
visible to visitors from the Jaoudat Abouazza Defense
Committee at 6 p.m. that evening.

Abouazza has also been beaten, arbitrarily thrown into
isolation, and left on a cold floor without furniture or
socks.

The INS didn't permit Abouazza to appear at his district
court hearing on the original charges, despite a habeas
order from the court that he be produced. Over the
objections of his lawyer, the judge found Abouazza in
default for failing to appear and issued a warrant for his
arrest.

On June 27 Abouazza will have a hearing before INS Judge
Shapiro at the JFK Federal Building in Boston. The Jaoudat
Abouazza Defense Committee is mobilizing a demonstration at
noon in front of the building to demand that Abouazza be
freed immediately and that those responsible for the brutal
abuse against him be brought to account.

Supporters are urged to send letters demanding his immediate release to: INS District Director Steve J. Farquharson, Room 1700, JFK Federal Building, Boston, MA 02203. Send copies to: Commissioner James W. Ziglar, Immigration and Naturalization Service, 425 I Street NW, Washington, DC 20536, and to the Jaoudat Abouazza Defense Committee, c/o International ANSWER, 31 Germania St, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130.

Copies of these protests and letters of solidarity can also
be sent to: Jaoudat Abouazza, Bristol County Jail and House
of Correction (N. Dartmouth), 400 Faunce Road, North
Dartmouth, MA 02747, GB Unit, ID#120541 (put unit and ID on
lower left corner of the envelope).

- END -


The tooth extraction has been under question but he is indeed being held by the INS under some bullshit. I am having trouble finding out what happened on June 27th....

I'll keep y'all posted as I learn more....

j

[j]

I pulled this from Boston.com (the Boston Globe's Website):

Palestinian avoids deportation


By Cindy Rodríguez, Globe Staff, 6/28/2002

To the Immigration and Naturalization Service, he was an illegal immigrant who sneaked into the country and lied about it. But to dozens of people rallying yesterday outside the John F. Kennedy federal building in downtown Boston, Jaoudat Abouazza was a cause celebre, a man who they say was detained by the INS for three weeks simply because he is a Palestinian activist.



More than 60 people chanted ''Stop the racist frame-up charges! Free Jaoudat now!'' They say Abouazza, 24, should not have been detained by the INS. A few hours later, in a packed courtroom, Immigration Judge Leonard Shapiro decided that Abouazza should be allowed to voluntarily return to his home in Canada. An INS attorney had wanted Abouazza deported, which would automatically bar him from reentering the United States.

Abouazza's legal woes began May 30 when he was charged by Cambridge police for driving a car with stolen license plates. After three days in custody, INS stepped in and detained him because its computer database showed that he had tried to enter the country from Canada without the proper visa. He was turned away at the border, but later sneaked in, INS officials say.

Abouazza's lawyer, Nelson Brill, said his client suffered serious harm while in INS custody at the Bristol County House of Correction. Brill said a guard punched Abouazza because he smiled. Other guards allegedly yelled ''Taliban!'' at him. And a dentist at the jail pulled four teeth out on a Sunday morning without his client's permission. Medical records that Brill received noted that Abouazza was bleeding from his mouth and in pain and that is why the dentist extracted his molars. Abouazza told Brill that was a lie. INS officials declined to comment.

Word about the alleged tooth-pulling spread via e-mails to various human rights organizations in Boston. College students and workers showed up at the rally, asking about the incident. ''Have you gotten to see his mouth?'' one man asked Brill. ''No, I haven't,'' Brill replied.

INS officials declined to talk about the case. But during the hearing an INS attorney said Abouazza was a flight risk.

Abouazza is expected to be released from detention in a few days. He said, via a TV conferencing monitor hooked into the courtroom, that he would immediately return to Canada, where he has lived since he was a child.

For Brill, the judge's decision was a victory.

''I wanted to fight this. But if I had asked for a trial it would've meant he would have to stay in prison longer. He just wanted to get out,'' Brill said.

This story ran on page B2 of the Boston Globe on 6/28/2002.

It seems that the tooth extraction was real. *What do y'all think about this crazy situation???

j