------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Feb. 21, 2002 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
FROM BEHIND THE WALLS: MUSLIM LEADER DECRIES PRISON CONDITIONS By Jane Cutter Ann Arbor, Mich. A recent letter to a supporter from Rabih Haddad reveals that the Ann Arbor-area Muslim community leader is being held under inhumane conditions in Chicago. Haddad, a Lebanese immigrant, was arrested by the Immigration and Naturalization Services and taken from his home on Dec. 14, allegedly for overstaying his visa. However, it is clear to many that his arrest and detention are part of a wider pattern of racist profiling and roundups of Arab and Muslim men in this country in the wake of 9/11. Haddad is founder of the Global Relief Foundation, an Islamic charity. The U.S. government froze the organization's assets in December, although no evidence of links to "terrorists" has been produced. Haddad was initially held in the Monroe County Jail in Michigan, in the Metro Detroit area. There his wife and four children were able to visit regularly and talk on the phone. Despite an outpouring of support from the Ann Arbor community, he was denied bond after several hearings conducted in secret. Even Congressional Rep. John Conyers was barred from attending. Haddad, who taught religion classes and volunteered extensively in Ann Arbor, was declared a "threat to the community" because he owns a registered hunting rifle. Since then Haddad has been moved, without notice, to Chicago. He is being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC). LETTER FROM INSIDE THE CELL Haddad's letter to a member of the Chicago Coalition Against War and Racism describes in detail the conditions under which he is being held. "Allow me to take this opportunity to bring you slightly into my world here at MCC Chicago. I am in a 6' x 9' solitary cell ... The bed is situated in the center of the room with about a foot and a half on either side ... The bed is a metal slab with four legs bolted to the floor and fitted on all four corners with special fittings to hold straps ... "I have a camera fixed on me right outside my door that has completely deprived me of any kind of privacy since that door has a small window which allows them to check and see if I'm still there around the clock. It's for my safety, they say. "I am allowed one 15-minute call to my family every 30 days. My food is handed to me through a slit in the door ... The same opening is used to put the cuffs on me before the door is opened for any reason. I am allowed three showers a week for which I have to be cuffed to walk 10 paces to the shower that has a door similar to my cell's door. I'm only uncuffed after I'm inside and the door is locked. "I also get one hour of recreation five days a week ... I am led, cuffed, from my cell to a cage (literally) just down the hall that is the same size as my cell. In it is a homemade stationary bicycle that has no resistance and thus is worthless for exercising. I have to wait until the cage is empty because I cannot be put in there with anyone else, for my own safety, they say." In a postscript, Haddad also described "waves of cockroaches" in his cell at night. The conditions detailed by Haddad are very similar to those endured by prisoners in Control Unit or Super Maximum prisons, such as California's Pelican Bay State Prison. Solitary confinement, with almost no human contact or stimulation for 23 hours or more a day, is the hallmark of such prisons. Such treatment is a form of torture. The United Nations Convention Against Torture states that torture is any act by which severe pain or suffering, physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted with the knowledge or agreement of public officials as punishment, to obtain a confession, or to intimidate or coerce. The extreme isolation of human beings clearly inflicts psychological pain. Even court rulings in the United States have acknowledged this, although the findings have been limited to those who are already especially vulnerable--those with mental disabilities. In Madrid v. Gomez, for instance, Judge Thelton B. Hen derson ruled in 1995 that the isolation of mentally disabled prisoners constituted a form of psychological torture. However, psychological research has indicated that extreme isolation, even in the absence of prior mental disability, can lead to symptoms such as hallucination. The conditions under which Haddad are being held seem intended to break his spirit. However, he remains strong. "I have been treated like the worst criminal you can imagine when I have not even been charged with a crime, save overstaying my visa, which I was in the process of remedying. All of this has done nothing but harden my will and strengthened my resolve to overcome and persevere. Your efforts and the efforts of others are like torches of hope that light my way in this deep and dark tunnel that I've entered and I am eternally grateful for that." Haddad's supporters ask that letters, faxes and phone calls protesting his treatment be directed to: Patrick J. Fitzgerald, U.S. Attorney, Northern District, Illinois, 219 S. Dearborn St., 5th floor, Chicago, Ill. 60604. Phone (312) 353-5300; fax: (312) 353-2067. Metropolitan Correctional Center, (313) 233-0567, push option 4 for "staff directory" and ask to speak to Mrs. Kenner, the warden's secretary. Write letters of support to Rabih Haddad, #30189-039, Metropolitan Correctional Center, 71 W. Van Buren St., Chicago, Ill., 60605. Send letters certified mail, return receipt requested. - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. 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