“Find out just what people will submit to, and you have found the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue until they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”– Fredrick Douglass
Public Truth Hearing
Saturday, March 11th
1:00 - 4:00 PM
Chicago-Kent School of Law
566 West Adams Street, Room 510
Learn the Truth about the U.S. Government’s Case Against Muhammad Salah! Say no to TORTURE!! Say no to FEAR !!
Program Will Include
Panel on Torture and Due Process (Speakers TBA)
Statement from Muhammad Salah
Testimonies from Maryam Salah and Human Rights Experts.
Sponsored by: The Coalitio n to Protect People’s Rights, NLG-Chicago-Kent Chapter, Chicagoland Coalition for Civil Liberties and Rights, Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights, Chicago Media Action, Arab American Action Network, CAIR-Chicago, Southwest Youth Collaborative. If you would like to endorse this event, please email s_adely@yahoo.com.
Background on the Case:
An American citizen of Palestinian descent, Mr. Salah traveled from his home in Bridgeview, IL to Israel in 1993 to provide monetary assistance to Palestinian families. At the Gaza border-crossing, over twenty Israeli soldiers arrested and detained him. The Israeli Secret Service then systematically tortured him during an 80-day interrogation and forced Mr. Salah to sign a confession in Hebrew, a language that Mr. Salah does not understand. The Israeli Military Court sentenced him to five years in prison. After serving his sentence, he returned home to his family in the U.S. in 1997.
When he returned, the U.S. government had launched an investigation and had listed him on a list of Specially Designated Terrorists. Mr. Salah is the only U.S. Citizen to be placed on that list. As a result of this designation, all of the Salah family assets were frozen, and he was prohibited from receiving any goods or services from any U.S citizen not licensed to do so. Mr. Salah had to obtain permission from the Department of Treasury to get a job, to retain an attorney, to open a bank account, and to receive medical car e. As a result of these restrictions, his entire family suffered consequences and now lives in fear of eviction. Mr. Salah suffered these restrictions on his rights without being notified as to the reasons and without an opportunity to challenge his placement on the list.
Not until 2001 did the United States federal government re-launch a grand jury investigation into Mr. Salah’s case. Then, in 2004, the U.S. charged Mr. Salah with aiding a terrorist organization based on the Hebrew confession, obtained through torture in 1993. He is scheduled to stand trial in the fall of 2006 in the United States District Court of the Northern District of Illinois. Mr. Salah’s lawyers moved to suppress the 1993 Hebrew confession as evidence. Starting on March 3, 2006, the court will hold hearings on whether to admit this confession as evidence. The court has closed to the public the portion of the hearing in which Mr. Salah’s Israeli interrogators will testify as to their methods of interrogation. The closing of the hearing further violates Mr. Salah’s Sixth Amendment Constitutional rights and the public’s First Amendment right to a full public trial.
As residents of Bridgeview, Mr. Salah and his wife have long been active members in their community, where they have raised their five children. Two of whom are attending college on full scholarships. The Coalition to Protect People’s Rights has united in order to raise public awareness about the United States government’s violation of Mr. Muhammad Salah’s due process rights. The Coalition, which is comprised of civil rights groups, human rights groups, community-based organizations, and concerned individuals, advocates for the safeguarding of people’s rights protected by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Please join our Coalition in this effort to protect human rights and Mr. Muhammad Salah’s right to a fair trial.
Thank you,
