Boston, November 7, 2002
http://www.iacboston.org/amerjubranAt 8 am on Monday, November 4 INS and FBI agents raided the Cumberland, RI home of Palestinian activist Amer Jubran and detained him at the INS holding center in Providence. He has now been transferred to the ACI correctional facility in Cranston, RI.
On inquiry, Jubran's lawyer Barry Wilson was told only that Jubran was being held pending investigation of violations of unspecified INS statutes. His INS lawyer, Nelson Brill, was informed on November 7 by INS officer Mike Clifford at the INS service office in Providence, RI that the INS is planning to detain Amer indefinitely. No reasons have been provided for indefinite detention, as required by INS regulations. Attorney Brill has moved for a formal bond proceeding to be scheduled immediately.
Supporters should be prepared on short notice to demonstrate and pack the court whenever this bond hearing is scheduled, and should write immediately to INS District Director Steven J Farquahar (address below) demanding Amer Jubran's immediate release and decrying this illegal raid and detention.
Supporters see the hand of homeland security behind this illegal detention, which follows the pattern of detentions of Palestinian activists around the country. The INS is attempting to use a smokescreen of INS technicalities to try to deny Jubran his right to stay in the country, but the real issue is his refusal to cooperate with the FBI in attacking the Anti-war movement and his outspoken activism in defense of the rights of the Palestinian nation. Two days before the INS/FBI illegal raid and Jubran's detention, on Saturday, Novemeber 2, Jubran had led a march through the streets of Boston past the Israeli consulate to demand an end of all U.S. support for Israel and full rights for the Palestinian nation.
Jubran has been a prominent activist in protests in the Boston area in defense of Palestine. On June 10, 2001 he led a demonstration in Brookline, Mass protesting a Zionist celebration of Israeli independence, and was arrested on fabricated charges made by a Zionist agitator. All charges were dropped after a five month peoples campaign by the Committee to Defend Amer Jubran and the International Action Center exposed the flagrant police and city misconduct in trying to shut down a legal protest while in the pay of the Zionist festival.
Jubran has worked with the A.N.S.W.E.R. coalition on numerous protests against the brutal and genocidal Israeli occupation of Palestine, including a march of 2500 on April 6, 2002 from Government Center to the Israeli consulate protesting Israeli massacres and war crimes that intensified in March; frequent pickets in front of the Israeli consulate; and a march on June 9, 2002 to again protest the Zionist Israeli Independence Day festival, this time held on the Boston common. He has participated and spoken at national A.N.S.W.E.R. demonstrations against the Bush administrations' wars, including the April 20, 2002 march of over 100,000 in Washington DC in defense of Palestinian rights and the Intifada.
Jubran's detention is part of a pattern of homeland security illegal detentions of Palestinian activists, here in New England and around the country. In May the Cambridge, Ma police, INS and FBI illegally detained Palestinian activist Jaoudat Abouazza (see http://www.iacboston.org/abouazza ) also because of his activism in defense of Palestine. Abouazza was subjected to FBI brutality attempting to coerce him into attacking and informing on the anti-war movement. A vigorous grassroots campaign led by the A.N.S.W.E.R. coalition succeeded in getting him released to Canada, where he has continued to be harrassed by the FBI.
Supporters of Amer Jubran are urged to write letters to
USINS District Director Steven J. Farquharson Room 1700, JFK Federal Building Boston, MA 02203
with copies to:
Commissioner James W. Ziglar
Immigration and Naturalization Service
425 I Street
NW Washington, DC 20536protesting the illegal detention of Amer Jubran and demanding his immediate release and that a bond hearing be set immediately.
Letters are also needed from prominent members of the community, clergy, mosques, employers, coworkers and others attesting to Amer's character, his involvement with the community, and good name in support of reasonable bail being set.
Supporters can write to Amer at:
Amer Jubran,
ID # 122331 Intake Service Center
P.O. Box 8249
Cranston, RI 02920
International Action Center
39 West 14th Street, Room 206
New York, NY 10011
email: iacenter@action-mail.org
En Espanol: el_iac@yahoo.com
web: http://www.iacenter.org
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