In February 2003, Farouk Abdel-Muhti was moved to York Pennsylvania, delaying his case by months and making it more difficult for his legal team. On April 26, 2002, Farouk Abdel-Muhti (A# 21 063 913) was arrested by the Absconder Task Force at his home. The well-known Palestinian rights activist was then detained by the INS on the basis of an outstanding deportation order from 1995 (issued while Farouk was in the hospital)

Since that time a habeas petition has been filed. The petition alleged that Farouk is a stateless Palestinian who cannot be deported and that his continued detention for deportation is therefore unlawful and goes against the Supreme Court's decision in Zadvydas v. Davis, setting six months as a reasonable time to effect a deportation.

From the beginning the INS has claimed that Farouk's case is just a standard detention and has nothing to do with his political activism. His defense committee holds that Farouk's detention is just part of a wider effort to repress activism as resistance grows to the current administration's illegal war policies and its failed economic policies.

Please contact INS Assistant Commissioner for Detention David J. Venturella (see contact info above) and politely but firmly demand Farouk be returned to the New York area and released.

Join the weekly vigils Fridays, 12 noon to 1pm, at the INS office at 26 Federal Plaza, Broadway and Worth, Manhattan (4/5/6 to City Hall/Brooklyn Bridge walk west and north, N/R/Q/W to Canal, walk west and south)

Contact:
Committee for the Release of Farouk Abdel-Muhti:
212-674-9499, freefarouk@yahoo.com
http://www.freefarouk.org
Mac, 646-489-4375

PLEASE send copies of your correspondence to detentionalertnyc@yahoo.com and freefarouk@yahoo.com

Immigration News Briefs (INB), a weekly English-language summary of U.S. immigration news, is forwarded out to the email list of the Coalition for the Human Rights of Immigrants (CHRI). If wish to subscribe directly to INB, or to the CHRI email list (which includes INB and local NYC area events, average 4-5 messages a week), write to nicajg@panix.com (indicate "CHRI list" or "INB only").