Jubran was brought into the courtroom handcuffed and shackled by six armed guards.

After the bail was set, a picket line took place in front of the federal building celebrating his release. Supporters chanted, "Free, Free Palestine; Free Amer Jubran."

Jubran was arrested in the early morning hours of November 4. FBI and Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) agents entered his home without producing a search warrant or even asking permission. The cops attempted to interrogate Jubran about his activities in support of the Palestinian struggle for a homeland. When he insisted on a lawyer, INS agents arrested him.

Jubran was informed only days before the bond hearing of the reason for his detention: immigration authorities said one piece of paperwork in his application for residency had the year 1998 entered where it should have been 1997. Jubran has been a permanent U.S. resident for three years.

Attorney Nelson Brill, who represented Jubran in the INS court, explained in a press conference after the hearing, "They combed over his files for weeks to find some technicality to charge him. They arrested him three years after he received his green card and two days after he participated in leading a demonstration of thousands against U.S. war against Iraq in downtown Boston."

In 2001 Jubran was arrested on fabricated charges after a demonstration in Brookline, Massachusetts, protesting a Zionist celebration of Israeli independence. After a five-month defense campaign all the charges were dropped.

Supporters of Amer Jubran sent many letters to the INS district director in Boston to demand freedom for Jubran. Boston City Council member Chuck Turner, as well as Jubran’s landlord and supervisor at work, were present in the court room as character witnesses.

Bina Ahmad, a first-year law student at Northeastern University, was one of the supporters who waited in the hallway outside the court room. She said, "Amer is a political prisoner. They are just trying to make something up on him. It is a violation of the civil liberties of all of us."

The INS has said it will not appeal the bail decision. A hearing on the charges around his application for residency is scheduled for February.

Ted Leonard is a meatpacking worker in the Boston area.  
 
 
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