PATERSON - Activists rallied in front of the Passaic County Jail on Monday,
pleading for federal authorities to meet the needs of six detainees of the
9/11 investigation who have been on a hunger strike for the past week.
Five are asking to be transferred to the Hudson County Jail, where contact
visits are allowed. The sixth, Farouk Abdel-Muhti, vows to continue the fast
until authorities set him free.
"We would consider the issue once they stop the disruptive behavior," Gill
said.
Advocates said the detainees would not end their strike, fearing the INS
offer is a "malicious ploy."
"They're [the INS] just saying that to get them [the detainees] to stop
drawing attention to themselves," said Jeannette Gabriel, one of the
organizers. "Why won't they transfer them first? It doesn't make sense."
The group of about 30 activists, mainly affiliated with human rights
organizations, held signs and chanted for nearly two hours in the bitter
cold on the corner of DeGrasse and Main streets.
The detainees were picked up as part of the government's post-9/11
anti-terror sweep and are being held on minor infractions, most for
overstaying visas, that normally would not result in jail time. They began
refusing food last Tuesday morning and have only had water and juice since
then, advocates said.
Rebekah Seif, the wife of detainee Mohammed Seif, was among the protestors,
with 17-month-old Yasmeen in tow.
"This has ripped my family apart," Seif, of Middlesex, said. "I'm a citizen
and so is my daughter, and we were working on his papers. But they took him
anyway."
Those seeking a transfer have complained about food and air quality at the
Passaic jail, but mainly want contact visits with family.
John Sargis, a science teacher at John F. Kennedy High School in Paterson,
spent his day off protesting. "The government is shredding the Bill of
Rights," Sargis said. "We can't stand by and let that happen."
There are about 100 detainees being held in Hudson, with similar numbers in
Passaic. The INS pays the Paterson jail $77 a day for each detainee. Some
have been in custody for 13 months.
County officials maintain the 50-year-old facility meets state and federal
standards. However, the jail is not equipped for contact visits.
"It would create a significant safety risk," sheriff's spokesman Bill Maer
said.
Maer said the detainees are offered meals, and kept apart from the rest of
the population for monitoring. The detainees are weighed and examined daily
by medical personnel, authorities said.
Detainee advocates said several of the hunger strikers have fainted and
vomited within the past few days. Maer said that wasn't true.
During the recent Islamic holy month of Ramadan, detainees in the county
jails in Hudson and Passaic staged a hunger strike and demanded to be
released. However, the strike ended after a few days with no compliance from
the government.
Nationwide, the INS has arrested close to 1,200 people, mostly Arab and
South Asian men, since the terror attacks. About two-thirds have been
released or deported. Around 400 remain in custody, and 55 are being held on
federal charges ranging from fraud to forgery.