[Peace-discuss] Detainee -- confirming our concerns

[Barbara Dyskant]

Hi, this was in The New York Post, which usually is sensationalist in suppport
of the war.  

IMMIGRANT'S 
JAILHOUSE BLUES 
By JEN VITALE and LEONARD GREENE 
JAILHOUSE BLUES:
Shaheen Khan speaks to her husband Mohammed, who remains jailed in New Jersey
while his immigration case is examined.
- Rick Dembow 

December 2, 2001 -- The American dream has turned into a nightmare for a
Hicksville, L.I., family that claims to be an innocent victim of the FBI's new
policy of sweeping arrests in the search for U.S.-based terrorists. They say
eight FBI agents stormed their house on Oct. 23 and handcuffed Pakistani
immigrant Mohammed Khan in front of his three crying children and his wife,
Shaheen. Two hours later, the feds cleared Khan but handed him over to INS
officers, who have suggested to the family's lawyer that there is an
anomaly in
their immigration case. Khan has been in custody in Passaic County Prison in
New Jersey ever since. "I am in here with hardened criminals, and I am
terrified," Khan, 35, told The Post in a telephone interview from jail. "How
could this happen? I am a peaceful man," he said. "I pay my taxes and give to
police and firefighter funds. I've done nothing wrong." The Khans came to the
United States in 1991. They applied for political asylum as they were members
of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's toppled government. The couple had
feared for their lives in Pakistan after the military-backed Nawaz Sharif
regime took power there in August 1990 and won a heated and violent election
the following year. After filing papers with the INS, the Khans were not
advised of a court date for their case until 1998, according to their
attorney,
Roland Gell. By that time, the couple had three American-born children. Gell
said the judge rejected their asylum plea in the 1998 hearing, but advised the
family they could appeal the ruling and lodge a motion for their case to be
reviewed. That appeal is still pending, Gell said. INS spokeswoman Karen
Kraushaar would not comment on the specific case. "If the FBI says they're not
interested in an individual, then it's up to the INS to resolve their pending
immigration," she said. An FBI spokesman confirmed Khan was no longer part of
their investigation but would not comment on his arrest. "This guy's not a
threat to anybody," Gell said. "The FBI has no interest in him, and the INS is
just taking the hard line." Meanwhile, Shaheen Khan, 37, is having a difficult
time explaining the situation to her three children - Faryaal, who turns 10
this week, Palvisha, 8, and Daniel, 4. With her husband's job as a Brooklyn
store manager now in jeopardy, the family also is facing a financial crisis.
"Soon I will have to sell the house and the cars," said Shaheen. 














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