The INS has held Abdel-Muhti, 55, in a series of prisons in New Jersey for nearly 11 months without a hearing and without filing any criminal charges against him.

Abdel-Muhti told the Militant that harassment at the York County jail began immediately on his arrival. A "counselor" warned him to "behave" or else he would be placed in the "hole"--solitary confinement. He had been moved several times from cell to cell. As of February 26 he was in a cell by himself, allowed to leave it only for 45 minutes per day. "I am only allowed to take a shower once every three days--and only for eight minutes at a time, with cold water," he said. In the New Jersey jail his showers were not restricted.

"I called my son in New York, and when we spoke in Arabic they cut off the phone call and told me it was ‘illegal.’"

The prison bosses even carry out petty harassment against him, like changing the spelling of his name from Farouk to "Faruk."

The jailers charge for virtually everything, including the salt, pepper, and sugar that prisoners use on poor-quality food. Telephone calls to New York cost $5.00 for the first minute.

Abdel-Muhti is well-known in the New York area for his work on behalf of the Palestinian struggle. He has been active in the Palestine Education Committee and the Palestine Aid Society, and has spoken at events in defense of the Cuban Revolution. Before his arrest, he had been hosting a regular program on WBAI radio in New York on the resistance by Palestinians in the occupied territories.

The immigration cops say they are holding him on the basis of a 1995 deportation order. Although they had not acted for the previous seven years, early in the morning of April 26, 2002, INS agents and New York city cops showed up at his apartment, claiming they wanted to question him about the September 11 attacks. They threatened to break down the door, asserting that they believed there were weapons and explosives in the apartment. Once inside--without a warrant--they arrested him and carted him off to jail. As they left, one of the cops turned to his roommate, Bernie McFall, and said, "We’ll get you next."

His defenders are waging a campaign to stop his deportation and to support his right to stay in this country, where he has lived since the 1970s. A February 8 fund-raiser in Manhattan attracted more than 100 people.  
 
Punitive transfer
"This transfer interferes with Farouk’s constitutional right to legal representation," said MacDonald Scott of the National Lawyers Guild and one of the attorneys defending Abdel-Muhti. "The removal so far from the venue where his case is being heard goes against his due process rights."

Abdel-Muhti’s lawyers have filed a complaint and habeas corpus petition--a motion for his release--in a U.S. district court in Newark, New Jersey. The motion argues that under a 2001 Supreme Court ruling barring indefinite detention, the INS must either deport or release individuals after holding them for six months.

Asked why Abdel-Muhti had been transferred, a spokesperson for the Newark INS office denied it was to punish him, stating that the agency "routinely, for administrative purposes, moves detainees."

Defenders of the Palestinian activist, however, say that prison authorities have tried--unsuccessfully--to stop him from speaking out and drawing in other prisoners into political activity. In January Abdel-Muhti carried out an eight-day hunger strike together with five other inmates to protest their continued detention.

The York County jail, located in south-central Pennsylvania, is notorious for its brutal conditions.

As the U.S. government has stepped up its attacks on immigrant workers, INS jails have filled to overflowing, and the agency is now contracting out for jail space from state and local prisons. In 1999 the York County jail became the largest INS detention jailhouse in the country. In 2000 INS prisoners comprised 44 percent of the inmate population there.

In a 2000 letter to the INS, Amnesty International drew attention to a series of abuses and arbitrary disciplinary practices at the York County prison, concluding that conditions there "are in no way appropriate for the treatment of persons exercising their right to seek the protection of the United States."

In his call to the Militant to report on his punitive transfer, Abdel-Muhti also expressed appreciation for receiving copies of the paper, its sister publication in Spanish, Perspectiva Mundial, and other literature. In the Paterson jail, other inmates would come over and borrow papers and books.

The Committee for the Release of Farouk Abdel-Muhti has urged supporters of democratic rights to protest his transfer and demand his release by contacting INS assistant commissioner David Venturella by fax: 202-353-9435, phone: 202-305-2734, or e-mail: David.j.ven-turella@usdojgov.gov. Abdel-Muhti can receive letters at: Faruk Abdel-Muhti, #75122, York County Prison, 3400 Concord Road, York, PA 17402-9580.  
 
 
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