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For immediate release: December 7, 2003
Immigration Authorities Transfer NYC
On Friday, December 5, 2003, U.S. immigration authorities
transferred Palestinian activist Farouk Abdel-Muhti from Bergen
County Jail in Hackensack, New Jersey, to Hudson County
Correctional Center in Kearny, New Jersey. Abdel-Muhti was taken
from Bergen together with several Latin American detainees early
on December 5; the group of detainees spent the day being
processed and photographed at the offices of Bureau of
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (BICE) in Newark, New Jersey,
before being transferred to Hudson. Immigration officials refused
to answer Abdel-Muhti's questions about where he was being taken,
but told the Latin American detainees they were being prepared
for deportation.
Immigration officials failed to notify Abdel-Muhti's attorneys of
his transfer or of any change in his situation. As a stateless
Palestinian, Abdel-Muhti has no country willing to accept him. In
November 2002, Abdel-Muhti filed a habeas corpus petition
demanding that the US government release him, based on the
Supreme Court's June 2001 Zadvydas v. Davis decision mandating
the release of detainees whose deportation orders cannot be
carried out within a reasonable period of time--generally six
months. On November 25, 2003, in an answer to the government's
latest response to the suit, attorneys Shane Kadidal and Jeffrey
Fogel of the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) urged federal
judge Yvette Kane of the Middle Pennsylvania district to order
Abdel-Muhti's immediate release.
The latest move comes as Abdel-Muhti is recovering from a Nov. 19
attack in which Bergen County guards hit him, pushed him to the
ground, verbally abused him and confiscated his medication,
correspondence and reading materials. Abdel-Muhti was preparing
to file a formal complaint about the incident when he was
transferred out of Bergen County Jail.
Abdel-Muhti's transfer came two days after several Palestinian
detainees were shipped out on a deportation flight from the US,
headed for the West Bank and Gaza, via Jordan and Egypt,
respectively. Officials apparently sought to keep the latest
flight secret; a similar flight on August 19 of this year sparked
press attention and public controversy, leading deportation chief
David Venturella to defend the agency's actions on the Pacifica
Radio program "Democracy Now!"
The move also came after more than 75 people marched to the
immigration offices in Newark last Saturday, November 29, to
demand Abdel-Muhti's release. Supporters believe Abdel-Muhti has
been singled out by the US government for his activism in defense
of human rights and Palestinian liberation.
Abdel-Muhti has lived in the New York City area for more than 25
years; he is 56 years old and suffers from high blood pressure,
arthritis and a hernia. Hudson County Correctional Center is the
sixth detention facility where Abdel-Muhti has been held since
his arrest on April 26, 2002. He was held at Middlesex, Camden
and Passaic county jails in New Jersey before being transferred
last February to York County Prison in south-central
Pennsylvania. He was held in solitary confinement at York until
his transfer on October 30 of this year to Bergen County Jail in
Hackensack, New Jersey.
12/7/03: Farouk Abdel-Muhti has now been held for 591 days
WRITE to Farouk:
Farouk Abdel-Muhti
Committee for the Release of Farouk Abdel-Muhti
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