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Miami Herald – May 27, 2004
CAIR protests conditions of Al-Arian confinement
By Vickie Chachere
TAMPA, Fla. - A national Islamic civil rights organization said Thursday the conditions under which former university professor Sami Al-Arian is being held are inhumane, while his wife compared his treatment to the abuse of Iraqi prisoners.
Al-Arian has been held for 14 months at the Coleman Federal Penitentiary on charges that he used an Islamic think-tank and a charity he founded to raise money for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Al-Arian, a former University of South Florida professor, is being held in a unit designed to house disruptive prisoners, though he has not been convicted of a crime.
Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on Islamic-American Relations, and Al-Arian's wife Nahla, said he is held 23 hours a day in a small cell, continues to be strip-searched despite a judge's order that
such searches stop and has been denied access to religious services. Al-Arian is only allowed one 15-minute telephone call a month, they said.
"Maybe my husband is not tortured physically, but mentally and emotionally," Nahla Al-Arian said. "I want this nightmare to end."
CAIR said it had sought access to Al-Arian to inspect the conditions under which he is being held, but were denied by the warden, who cited security reasons.
A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office declined comment.
Al-Arian's attorneys have raised issue in court several times during the months he has been confined and continue to complain to District Judge Thomas McCoun.
McCoun has upheld the Justice Department's decision to keep Al-Arian at the prison rather than the local jail, where most people awaiting federal trial are held...
Awad said in one of the more recent incidents, Al-Arian and Hammoudeh were stripped searched in front of other prisoners following a videotaped court conference earlier this month...
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/8776740.htm
Tampa Tribune – May 28, 2004
Group criticizes Al-Arian's prison conditions
Elaine Silverstrini,
TAMPA - A Muslim civil rights group complained Thursday about what it says are inhumane prison conditions for Sami Al-Arian and his co-defendant Sameeh Hammoudeh.
Officials from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which describes itself as the nation's largest Islamic civil rights group, said they were denied access to the Coleman Federal Correctional Complex where Al-Arian and Hammoudeh are being held pending their trial on terrorism-related charges.
Nihad Awad, executive director of CAIR, spoke at a news conference in front of the U.S. District Courthouse in Tampa. He said members of his group received complaints and asked for permission to interview the prisoners and inspect the facility.
On Thursday, federal authorities denied their request, said Ahmed Bedier, the Florida communications director for CAIR.
Awad said there are complaints that the men frequently are strip-searched and otherwise humiliated...
http://www.tampatrib.com/
St. Petersburg Times –May 28, 2004
CAIR denied prison visit with Al-Arian
By Graham Brink
TAMPA - The Council on American-Islamic Relations was denied a request this week to visit Sami Al-Arian to check on his physical and psychological condition.
Officials with the group said federal corrections officials did not give them a specific reason for the denial.
CAIR spokesman Ahmed Bedier said the group has received numerous complaints about conditions at the federal prison where Al-Arian and fellow defendant Sameeh Hammoudeh are being held. Bedier described the confinement as "un-American."
"We don't want any special treatment for Muslim detainees," Bedier said at press conference outside the federal courthouse in Tampa on Thursday. "We want equal treatment."
Federal agents arrested Al-Arian, Hammoudeh and two other men in February 2003 on charges that they supported and raised funds for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a terrorist group.
The two other men were released on bail. Al-Arian, a former University of South Florida professor, and Hammoudeh were sent to the Coleman Federal Correctional Complex in Sumter County, which normally houses only inmates who have been convicted, not people awaiting trial...
CAIR's executive director Nihad Awad said the conditions are set up to wear the defendants down. He said the two men are still strip-searched, at times even when they have not come in contact with any people from outside the prison.
"It sends a message that it's a deliberate act to break him down," Awad said...
http://www.sptimes.com/
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