Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace
5/16/2004
Dr. Al-Arian Not Permitted to Attend Hearing, Harsh Conditions
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On Friday, Dr. Sami Al-Arian and his attorneys learned that he would
not be permitted to attend a hearing in his case taking place this
Monday, May 17.

Dr. Al-Arian was denied the right to attend the hearing even though
in a previous hearing on March 11, the magistrate judge overseeing
the case stated that he would be brought back to Tampa within two
months.

In fact, since his detention on February 20, 2003, Dr. Al-Arian has
not been allowed to attend most of the hearings in his case. So long
as he is not in Tampa, Dr. Al-Arian cannot examine the evidence
located there in the government’s possession. Even though the judge
has stressed publicly that Dr. Al-Arian should be able to examine all
of the evidence in a timely manner, this has clearly not been the
case. By repeatedly denying requests by attorneys to bring both Dr.
Al-Arian and Sameeh Hammoudeh to Tampa to attend hearings and review
evidence, Magistrate Thomas McCoun has placed tremendous stress on
the defendants, their attorneys, and their families.

Dr. Al-Arian has had to wait for over a year to receive summaries and
transcripts of phone calls and other evidence which have been in the
government’s possession for years. He was given over 20,000 pages of
documents that were in no logical order, chronological or otherwise,
all of which will require at least a month just to organize. This
systemic inefficiency, along with the time it takes for the
government to hand over evidence in the case, is psychologically
straining and debilitating to Dr. Al-Arian.

It is part of a longstanding policy by the judge and the government
to keep Dr. Al-Arian from participating in his own defense and to
isolate him from his family, attorneys and evidence located in Tampa.

Moreover, recently the inhumane conditions in Coleman Federal
Penitentiary, 75 miles away from Tampa, under which Dr. Al-Arian has
been held have been exacerbated. When he is granted a phone call with
his attorneys, usually after much pleading, his hands are cuffed and
more recently, shackled to his waist. This obviously makes it
extremely difficult for him to hold the receiver, let alone take
notes. This action is especially unreasonable and harsh considering
he is locked in the room alone at the time, posing danger to no one.
Such conditions can only be described as physically torturous,
humiliating, and gratuitously punitive.

Although Dr. Al-Arian and his co-defendant Sameeh Hammoudeh are the
only pre-trial detainees in the entire facility, they are held under
much harsher conditions than the other detainees. Since March 27,
2003, they have been held in the Special Housing Unit (SHU), a
section of the prison reserved to temporarily house convicted inmates
who misbehave. While the legal limit of placing regular inmates in
the SHU is one year, Dr. Al-Arian and Mr. Hammoudeh have been there
for 14 months. The stark discrepancy in treatment undoubtedly
demonstrates that the men are being discriminated against.

The denial of their right to attend hearings, coupled with the
psychological torture they endure on a daily basis (including cruel
treatment by the guards), make a fair trial nearly impossible for Dr.
Al-Arian and Mr. Hammoudeh. These conditions must change immediately.

At a time when the United States is taking measures to prove its
humane treatment of prisoners abroad, it must do the same with its
political detainees at home. Persistently keeping Dr. Al-Arian and
Mr. Hammoudeh in complete isolation and under abusive treatment from
prison officials have had irreversible physical and psychological
effects.

Action Alert:
We encourage you to write to:
Judge Thomas B. McCoun III, U.S. District Court, 801 North
Florida Ave., Tampa, FL 33602

-Ask him about Al-Arian’s due process rights and inhumane treatment
and ask that he be moved closer to family, lawyers, and evidence in
the case.