Oct. 26, 2003

The abusive situation at Coleman Prison for Dr. Sami Al-Arian and Sameeth Hammoudeh worsens.

Judge McCoun has refused to allow any visits by attorneys and seems to waiting for instructions from the Justice Department.

Judge McCoun is not willing to discuss his positive assessment of the prison conditions as compared to those of the internationally respected Amnesty International (AI) which stated, in part, “placing two men 23 hours a day in a 70-square-foot cell does not meet American Correctional Association guidelines of “at least 80 square feet of total floor space per occupant” when confinement exceeds 10 hours a day.” …”the circumstances of their recreation inside these fairly small cages when compared to that available to convicted inmates on the nearby open-air recreation yards stands in stark contrast.”

AI concludes, “The prolonged cellular confinement, lack of exercise, frequent shackling and other deprivations imposed on Al-Arian and Hammoudeh are inconsistent with international standards and treaties.” This is a pattern that is becoming very familiar as this administration and the justice department sacrifice human rights in the largely unsuccessful search for terrorists. There is no possible way the detainees can get a fair trial as long as they are held in the abusive conditions of the Coleman gulag.

There are reports that Judge McCoun did not visit the detainees but conferred only with the prison authorities. AI did visit with them in a more thorough examination of this situation.

Judge Moody has refused access to the evidence by the media and therefore the public is not able to ascertain the nature and credibility of the reports released by the government. The penalties established by Judge Moody for anyone who is in violation of his orders creates an impediment for the defense. While Al-Arian is allowed to see the evidence, neither he nor any potential witness is allowed to talk about the evidence. The only explanation we can think of for this is that there is no evidence against him, and the government does not want us to know that.

There is little effort by the media to demand access to the evidence. Apparently, there is still great fear of being cut-off from government generated news on which they rely.

I encourage you to write both judges:

Honorable Thomas B. McCoun III and Honorable James Moody

U.S. District Court, 801 North Florida Avenue, Tampa FL 33602

-Dwight Lawton, Tampa