NOTE for the press--new information about the Palestinian deportation flight is included in the urgent action below.

For information and interviews around the case of Munir Lami, contact:
Rose Lami abu_anwar_lami@yahoo.com

For more information about the case of Muhammed Abu Shaker, contact Mac Scott at smack@tao.ca

For information about the case of Farouk Abdel-Muhti, contact freefarouk@yahoo.com or 212-674-9499.

NEW INFORMATION: Stop the deportation of Muhammed Abu Shaker to Gaza! After losing his sight in prison, Munir Lami faces deportation! Are officials planning to deport Farouk Abdel-Muhti?

Coalition for the Human Rights of Immigrants (CHRI) has received information that the US Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (BICE), a division of the Department of Homeland Security, is preparing a mass deportation flight of as many as 100 Middle Eastern men and women, including Palestinians, Jordanians and Egyptians. The flight is expected to make at least two stops: in Cairo, Egypt, and Amman, Jordan.

According to the information received, this charter flight was originally scheduled to depart on the night of Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2003, or in the early morning hours of Wednesday, Aug. 13, from the area of Buffalo, New York. The flight was subsequently postponed and is now expected to depart on the night of Monday, August 18, 2003 (or possibly in the early hours of August 19). Most of the detainees to be included on the flight have already been transferred from points around the US to the Batavia Federal Detention Center near Buffalo.

On Saturday, August 16, 2003, it was learned that the BICE is planning to include Gaza-born Palestinian Muhammed Abu-Shaker on the August 18 flight. The BICE presumably plans to fly him to Cairo, then transport him via land across the Egyptian desert and through Israeli military checkpoints into Gaza.

Mr. Abu Shaker is 51 years old, has been living for 3 years in New Jersey with his girlfriend; they have a 19-month old US citizen child. He was arrested by immigration authorities on October 16, 2001, and charged with overstaying his visa; he was released from detention in August 2002 after news media exposed the US government's plan to deport him to Gaza via Egypt. Mr. Abu Shaker was planning to apply for refugee status in Canada when he was taken back into custody by the BICE recently. He is now being held at Batavia in preparation for the deportation flight. If he is deported to Palestine, his girlfriend and child will be unable to join him. His family will be destroyed, and he will be forced to make his way without contacts and without family in the midst of a war zone.

Also scheduled to be on the flight to Jordan is Munir Lami, a Palestinian man who has lived in the US for 16 years. He has raised nine children in this country and has eight grandchildren. Mr. Lami is 54 years old, has diabetes and lost his vision while in jail, due to a post-surgery infection which was not treated adequately. Because of this, he has filed a lawsuit against the government. His family is concerned for his safety if he is deported; they say he will face discrmination in Jordan as a Palestinian, and that he has no one to take care of him there. They want him released so they can take care of him.

CHRI has reason to believe that the Palestinian National Authority is under intense pressure from US officials to break international law and Israeli rules by issuing travel documents to stateless Palestinians --including New York area activist Farouk Abdel-Muhti, who has been detained by immigration authorities since April 2002. Mr. Abdel-Muhti, who turned 56 on August 9, has been held in a segregation unit at York County Prison since February of this year. As of Saturday, August 16, Mr. Abdel-Muhti was still at York and had not been transferred to Batavia.

Information about a deportation flight of Palestinians on May 14 of this year was later confirmed in a Reuters story published July 28. In that deportation, at least 25 people were kept handcuffed during the long flight; on May 16, six Palestinians among the group were taken overland from Amman, Jordan, through Israeli checkpoints to the occupied West Bank. Another group of Palestinians was reportedly deported to Gaza via Egypt.

CHRI urges supporters of human rights to contact:

David J. Venturella, BICE Office of Detention & Removal: 202-514- 8663; fax 202-353-9435

William Cleary, BICE regional director in Buffalo: 716-551-4741, ext. 2530

Members of Congress (Congressional Switchboard): 202-224-3121

PLEASE SEND FAXES and leave phone messages IMMEDIATELY and CALL again first thing on Monday morning, August 18, 2003. This flight is scheduled to leave on MONDAY NIGHT! (It may be further delayed due to the August 14 blackout, so please continue to make calls beyond August 18. We will post updated information as soon as possible.)

DEMAND that Muhammed Abu Shaker (A# 7214 2691) *NOT* be included on the deportation flight, and that he be allowed to continue to Canada to apply for refugee status.

DEMAND that Munir Lami (A# 2911 1272) *NOT* be included on the flight, and that he be released on humanitarian parole so his family can take care of him.

DEMAND that information about these taxpayer-funded deportation flights be made public, that detainees not be restrained during the flight, and that their human rights and dignity be respected.

DEMAND that NO ONE be included on the flights:

- WHO is stateless and/or a refugee, lacks adequate travel documents, and/or has not been informed that they have been issued travel documents;

- WHO fears for his or her safety if deported, especially if passing through hostile countries;

- WHO is currently engaged in legal battles or ongoing investigations relating to their detention or deportation (including probes by the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) into detainees' credible claims of abuse); or

- WHO is seeking to gain refugee status in a third country.

For more information (and send copies of your correspondence with BICE to) Coalition for the Human Rights of Immigrants (CHRI), 339 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012; tel 212-254-2591; fax 212-674-9139; chri@itapnet.org

Committee for the Release of Farouk Abdel-Muhti
PO Box 20587, Tompkins Square Station
New York, NY 10009
212-674-9499