[Peace] Fwd:[ANSWER]: Jaoudat Abouzza released w/ help of mass campa

[jencart]

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MASS CAMPAIGN
HELPED TO WIN RELEASE
OF PALESTINIAN ACTIVIST
JAOUDAT ABOUZZA
FROM INS CUSTODY

After 41 days of illegal detention, Palestinian activist 
Jaoudat Abouazza is now a free man in Canada. Abouazza was  arrested May 30 by Cambridge police as part of a national  wave of arrests targeting Palestinian activists, was held  in INS custody, subjected to extreme conditions to the 
point of extracting his teeth by force.  Yet, he stood up 
for his principles and retained his personal integrity in 
the face of enormous pressure. 

A strong public defense campaign involving hundreds of 
letters to INS officials, protests and visits and 
investigations has finally led to Jaoudat Abouazza's 
voluntary exit to Canada, where he is a citizen.

BACKGROUND OF THE CASE

On the evening of May 30, Abouazza was stopped by the  Cambridge, Massachusetts police on the pretext of a minor  traffic violation.  Without being charged with a crime or  read his rights by the arresting officers, he was 
handcuffed and brought to the Cambridge police station.  Within hours, Abouazza would find himself in jail being 
interrogated by the FBI for suspicion of "terrorism." Over  that weekend he was held without bail and interrogated 7  times at all hours of day and night without a lawyer 
present.  The reason cited in court was the presence in  his car of leaflets for a June 9 Boston demonstration 
called by A.N.S.W.E.R. protesting an "Israeli Day" 
festival in Boston along with electric wire.  He was then  held for the INS who picked him up and brought him to 
Bristol County Jail on Tuesday, June 3. 

While in jail, Jaoudat was subjected to repeated beatings  and arbitrary lockdowns and solitary confinement. On 
Sunday, June 16, guards removed him from his cell and 
forcibly held him down in a chair while several teeth were  extracted from his mouth, and half of a broken tooth was  left in his mouth to continue to bleed. Members of the 
Jaoudat Abouazza Defense Committee who visited that 
evening saw the wounds in Jaoudat's mouth. He was not  provided with antibiotics or pain killers. Two days later 
a delegation including the Executive Director of the Civil  Liberties Union of Massachusetts, the Canadian Consular  Agent, and Jaoudat's state court lawyer visited him, and  demanded medical records about the treatment Jaoudat had  received. Subsequently Jaoudat's primary care physician  Dr. Lana Habash attempted to visit and examine Jaoudat but  was denied access to examine him. Dr. Habash requested all  medical records, but received incomplete records from the  jail which were inconsistent with each other, with what  Jaoudat has told his doctor and Defense Committee members,  and with what Defense Committee members have directly  observed (for example, the records refer to only one 
extraction while Defense Committee members witnessed  multiple wound sites). The supervising doctor refused to  speak with Dr. Habash. Dr. Habash sent a letter of concern  to Amnesty International outlining the conditions, and 
Amnesty International has sent a letter to the INS 
demanding an investigation.

Subsequently, the jail barred the Executive Director of 
the Civil Liberties Union of Mass and Jaoudat's state 
court lawyer from the jail. On subsequent visits they also  barred the two Defense Committee members who had visited  Jaoudat on the day the tooth extraction occurred. They  also demanded he sign forms in English that he didn't 
fully understand, and when he refused, they threw him in  solitary.

Jaoudat had a hearing before an immigration judge on June  27, which he attended by video conferencing. Over 100 
supporters demonstrated outside and then