Editorial Note:  The FBI and INS have pulled out all the stops to win their nefarious deportation case against Palestinian Activist and our good friend, Amer Jubran.  They have:

*Entered the homes of our defense witnesses in Rhode Island and South
  Carolina in the early hours of the morning

*Detained and harrassed defense witnesses for up to nine hours,
  entering their homes in Rhode Island and South Carolina in the
  earlyhours of the morning. 

*They have interrogating and intimidated them regarding their planned
  testimony on Amer's behalf on Thursday of this week. 

*They placed Amer's fingerprints on a confession that he refused
   to sign.

We are asking everyone who reads this to make the calls requested below to protest their plans to deport Amer.

Today, we received the following communication from the Amer Jubran Defense Committee with a letter from his attorney to the judge who will decide on his case on Thursday:

Thank you so much!

Les Blough

UPDATE ON LATEST FBI ACTIONS IN THE FINAL WEEK BEFORE AMER JUBRAN'S 7/24 DEPORTATION HEARING:

On July 24, the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (BICE) of the Department of Homeland Security will hold its final hearing in its ongoing attempt to deport Palestinian-rights-activist Amer Jubran.

We have learned this past week that the FBI has attempted to intimidate Amer’s primary witnesses—his ex-wife and members of her family—by visiting them in their homes and in some cases detaining them for lengthy interrogations.

On Thursday, July 17, Amer’s lawyer, Nelson Brill, delivered a letter to the judge, alerting him to these FBI actions:

"...I am compelled to write to Your Honor today to inform this Court of recent circumstances which I believe have caused serious harm, and potentially raise prejudicial issues, in regards to my ability to present my planned witnesses …

"Yesterday, I had a very disturbing telephone conversation with my primary witness, Ms. […], (the former spouse of Mr. Jubran), who has filed an Affidavit in support of her bona fide marriage to the Respondent and who is the primary witness that I plan to present at our hearing on July 24th.

"In a visibly shaken voice, [she] informed me that on this past Monday, July 14th, her sister, […], (a United States citizen) was taken from her home in Rhode Island in the early morning hours by a group of officers from the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI and held for over nine hours at the Department of Homeland Security¹s office located in Providence, Rhode Island. According to both [Respondent’s former spouse] and the Respondent (who himself received a phone call from [the former spouse’s sister] upon her release that same evening), she was interrogated regarding the Respondent, her knowledge of his former marriage to her sister, […], and what kinds of testimony she could or would give on July 24th. As a direct result of her lengthy detention and interrogation, [she] has informed both her sister, […], and her former brother-in-law, the Respondent, that she fears for her safety and that of her family; that she does not want anyone (including her own sister) to contact her; that she is unwilling to come forward to be a witness in this case and that she will replace her telephone number with an unlisted number (which she had done so as of Tuesday, July 15th, when I tried to contact her and was informed the number has been unlisted). For these reasons, I cannot now communicate with [her] and thus cannot find out any of the facts of what happened to her while detained on July 14th, nor why she will not appear as a potential witness in this case.

"In our telephone conversation, [the Respondent’s former spouse] also informed me that a group of officers came to her own apartment in South Carolina on this same day, Monday, July 14th, but that she did not answer the door to her home and that they left shortly thereafter. This is not the first time this has occurred, as [she] has been the subject of several unsolicited telephone and in-person interviews with both Department of Homeland Security and FBI officers in South Carolina since Respondent was arrested on the instant Notice To Appear in November, 2002. In these interviews, [she] informed me that she has repeatedly been questioned about the bona fides of her former marriage to the Respondent and has consistently reiterated the true nature of their marriage in these unsolicited interrogations of her.

"In light of last Monday¹s detention of her sister, [she] has now expressed to me her deepest reservations on coming to Boston and appearing to testify before this Court. She expresses fears for the safety of her children, for herself and regrets the harm caused to her family and her own relations to her family members as a direct result of the government¹s continuing interrogations of her and her family members. Given her fear and level of anxiety at this point, I honestly do not know whether my primary witness, [the Respondent’s former spouse], will actually appear in person on July 24th, although I have tried to convince her to appear and give her testimony. … I realize that Your Honor must take no position in this regard, but I must express for the record my deepest professional concerns with the conduct of the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and any other agency that may have been involved in the unconsented and unsolicited interrogations and detentions of potential witnesses to this trial. I believe such interrogations are only harmful to the full and fair presentation of evidence in this case."

Nelson Brill, Legal Counsel for Amer Jubran

During the last preliminary hearing, the immigration judge had expressed surprise at the lack of witnesses or any substantial evidence to support the government's case for deportation. These latest FBI actions must be viewed as a last, desperate attempt to use illegal police power to win a case in which the government has no evidence or witnesses of its own.

It is crucial that we redouble our efforts to show to the Department of Homeland Security that we will not stand for this abuse of public institutions and police powers. As the different branches of our federal government grow more and more monolithic, our only real defense against an incipient police-state is loud public outcry.

Please make an extra effort to join us in this final week of actions: stand in solidarity with Amer at the BICE (formerly INS) for his final deportation hearing on July 24, and make calls this week both to the prosecutor in his case and the Department of Homeland Security. (Details below.)

__________________________________________________________________________

PICKET/RALLY TO PROTEST THE BICE DEPORTATION HEARING:

 

Noon, Thursday, 7/24/03, at the JFK Federal Building, Government Center, Boston by the Government Center T stop on the Green Line.

 

FINAL TELEPHONE CAMPAIGN: On July 23rd, please place all calls to

Tom Ridge, Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security 202-282-8000

 

--Demand to speak to his personal assistant and if the operator refuses, have the operator call on your behalf and ask the personal assistant where to direct a call regarding Amer Jubran's deportation proceedings. The call will likely be directed to Asa Hutchinson, the Undersecretary of Border and Transportation Security. (Ask the operator to check with Tom Ridge's personal assistant anyway. This assures us that he will hear about a flood of calls regarding Amer Jubran.)

 

and ... 

 

Rick Neville, Prosecuting Attorney for Amer Jubran's Trial 617-565-3140.

 

Ask them -

 

-Why did the INS (now BICE) facilitate an FBI interrogation regarding Amer

  Jubran's political activities?

 

-Why did INS threaten to indefinitely detain and later arrest Mr. Jubran only

 after he insisted on his right to have a lawyer present during the

 FBI interrogation?

 

-Why did INS force Mr. Jubran to put his fingerprints on a false confession

  when he refused to sign it?

 

-Why has the Office of Internal Audit failed to respond to the complaint

 against INS (regarding his civil liberties violations) filed by Mr. Jubran over

 5 mos ago (the 120 day time limit on the complaint investigation ended

 July 4)?

 

- Why, after dropping all charges against Mr. Jubran except for the claim

  that two forms certifying Mr. Jubran's marriage were completed on

  different dates, does BICE continue to attempt their illegitimate

  deportation proceedings against Mr. Jubran?

 

- Why have federal agents harrassed and interrogated Mr. Jubran's ex-

  wife and her family in a last-ditch effort to silence those who will testify on

  his behalf?

 

- When they don't answer your questions (and they won't), provide your

  own answers:

 

Because the government has no legitimate case against Mr. Jubran and is only using the Department of Homeland Security and its subsequent bureaus as tools to politically repress and silence activists and any dissent.

 

- Demand that all charges be dropped and that deportation proceedings

   against Mr. Jubran end immediately.

- Be sure to tell Neville that you called his boss, Tom Ridge, in Washington.

- And keep them on the phone as long as you can.

 

For more information on Amer Jubran's case, see:

 

 www.amerjubrandefense.org

_______________________________________________

 

Jubran-coordinators mailing list:

 

Jubran-coordinators@amerjubrandefense.org

http://www.amerjubrandefense.org/mailman/listinfo/jubran-coordinators

_______________________________________________

 

Jubran-announce mailing list: Jubran-announce@amerjubrandefense.org

http://www.amerjubrandefense.org/mailman/listinfo/jubran-announce