[Imc] Press Conference / Rally in 20 minutes

[Clint Popetz]

I didn't see it go out to the IMC list...from http://www.friendsoflarry.org/


MEDIA ADVISORY
For Immediate Release June 10, 2002

Community Supporters of Detained Man Hopeful for Speedy Hearing

URBANA - On Friday, June 14 at 10 a.m. people in solidarity with an
imprisoned international student from the University of Illinois will
hold a press conference featuring a statement from the prisoner, Ahmed
Bensouda.  Bensouda's supporters are hopeful that he will be granted
bond on Friday and that his Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial
will be upheld.  However, given that the United States has detained
hundreds non-residents for many months without a hearing, his
supporters are prepared to begin a campaign for Bensouda's freedom.

The press conference will take place outside the Champaign County
Correctional Center, near the corner of Main and Vine streets in
Urbana.

To illustrate that Bensouda's fate is shared by hundreds of others,
supporters will launch a website about Bensouda featuring the generic
name "Larry".  The site will be launched at 10 a.m. on Friday, and it
will be called www.friendsoflarry.org.

Ahmed Bensouda has been a politically active international student at
the University of Illinois, engaged in Palestinian solidarity efforts
including a boycott campaign against companies that sell military
equipment to Israel.  The FBI arrested Bensouda on the afternoon of
May 30 and later turned him over to the INS, which claimed that he was
in violation of his student visa.  Bensouda remains imprisoned in
DuPage County, Illinois where he awaits a bond hearing.

For more information, contact:
Raana Ahmed (217) 201-1547 rahmed at uiuc.edu
Jason Schultz (217) 417-0535 jamusa at hotmail.com