On November 22 immigration judge Robert Newberry ruled against Haddad’s application for political asylum, filed last October. The decision gave approval to the government’s moves to deport the Muslim community leader and his family. Like hundreds of others detained on suspicion of "terrorism" in the aftermath of attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001, Haddad has been held by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) on an immigration technicality. No criminal charges have been filed against the Lebanese-born man. "The government’s case [against me] is built on perception and manipulation rather than facts and evidence," he wrote in a 12-page open letter following hearings last October and November that led to the deportation order.

In the document Haddad answers in detail the ruling by Newberry, who accepted the claims of government attorneys that the Muslim cleric is associated with "terrorism" and is a threat to U.S. national security.

Prior to his arrest on Dec. 14, 2001, Haddad was a leader of the Islamic Center of Ann Arbor and a teacher of high school students at the Michigan Islamic Academy. He was also a founder of the Global Relief Foundation (GRF), an Islamic charity that provided relief and education aid to people in 22 countries, including Chechnya, Albania, Jordan, and Iraq, as well as to Palestinians in the occupied territories.

At the hearings, Haddad said that the pro-Washington Lebanese government would persecute him for his alleged connections with terrorism. "I fear torture, imprisonment, and even death," he said.

"The newspapers there were claiming that my brother was a terrorist," Mazen Haddad reported of his two visits to Lebanon over the past year.  
 
Global Relief Foundation
Government attorneys presented Haddad as a terrorist because of his involvement with the foundation, classified by the U.S. Justice Department as "terrorist" a week before the asylum hearing. Government officials have presented no evidence to substantiate the charge other than to say that the foundation once received calls from Wadih el-Hage, who is currently serving a life sentence in connection with the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

"The government alleges that el-Hage made a call to GRF in the U.S. and a few to the GRF in Belgium, which the GRF never denied and explained that the calls were made in connection with a relief project el-Hage was trying to get funding for," Haddad wrote. "GRF denied the request and that was the end of that."

U.S. attorneys asked Haddad about trips he made to Pakistan in the 1980s, implying that he had made contacts with future al-Qaeda members. Haddad denied the charge, explaining that it is based on the testimony of a "totally discredited self-proclaimed terrorist expert."

In an attempt to present more solid evidence, the government introduced photographs of "sophisticated communication equipment" which allegedly belonged to the charity.

Haddad wrote that the equipment was from a warehouse that foundation members had "used to temporarily store some relief items." The judge said that Haddad’s affidavit to that effect was of "dubious validity.’" He then quoted government statements that the radios were the same as those used by an antigovernment group in Egypt. "Well, what if the Unibomber drove a Dodge Caravan like the one GRF owned?" asked Haddad in his letter. "Would that make us his accomplices?"

In his ruling against asylum, Judge Newberry said that "a plethora of public evidence circumstantially links [Haddad] to terrorist elements."

At the end of December 2002, Haddad and his attorneys filed an appeal with the Federal Board of Immigration Appeals challenging the deportation order and denial of political asylum.

Four months earlier, he and his supporters had won an important victory when the American Civil Liberties Union, several Detroit-area newspapers, and U.S. Representative John Conyers successfully sued the government to open his hearings to the public. Prior to the victory, Haddad had been through three closed immigration hearings.

The Free Rabih Haddad Committee has won the support of many individuals and organizations. Thousands have signed petitions supporting the demand for his release. Meetings, rallies, and protests involving hundreds have been held in Chicago, Detroit, and Ann Arbor. On the one-year anniversary of his imprisonment, more than 150 people protested outside the federal building here, chanting, "Where is Rabih? Where is justice?"

Fighting for Haddad’s freedom is not just about one person, Asad Tavsin, a leader of the defense committee and the Muslim Community Association told the crowd.

Salma Al-Ruhsaid, Haddad’s wife, has challenged the frame-up in the media and before Congressional hearings. The Ann Arbor city council and University of Michigan student government have passed resolutions of support.

The defense committee has appealed for funds to help support Haddad’s family. Checks should be made to "Rabih Haddad" with "for the family" written on the memo line and mailed to: The Free Rabih Haddad Committee, P.O. Box 131092, Ann Arbor, MI, 48113-1092. The committee is urging all who support Haddad’s fight to write to him in prison. Cards and letters should be addressed to: Rabih Haddad H-3, Monroe County Jail, 100 E. 2nd Street, Monroe, MI, 48161.
 
 
Related articles:
Court backs government attack on Islamic charity  
 
 
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