Da: "Graeme Bacque" Oggetto: [stop-polabuse] Fwd: Shakir Baloch Update: Guards taunt prisoners with accusations about September 11th Data: mercoledì 19 dicembre 2001 8.12 ------------forwarded message------------ Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2001 19:09:08 -0500 (EST) From: Ontario Coalition Against Poverty To: announce@ocap.ca Subject: Shakir Baloch Update: Guards taunt prisoners with accusations about September 11th Guards taunt prisoners with accusations about September 11th ------------------------------------------------------------ * Shakir reveals details of terrible conditions in detention. * Further background on Shakir's case emerge. * Canadian consulate in NYC acts, after public pressure from other of the US border mounts. * Details of steps you can take next ------------------------------------------------------------- Following the bombings of the World Trade Centre, Shakir Baloch was in New York City on one of his frequent stays in the US, where he has at times attended school and worked. On September 20th, he was arrested and has been held since then in terrible conditions in a detention centre in Brooklyn. His whereabouts were not known until at least six weeks later, at which time he was permitted two phone calls, one made to let friends in NYC know he was alive and the other he was led to believe was to Legal Aide, but the call put through by the jail guards neither reached an answering machine nor legal assistance of any kind. Granted Canadian citizenship in 1994, Shakir Baloch is a certified medical practitioner in Pakistan who worked with the poor and in several hospitals within the socialized health care system in Pakistan. Shakir has spent the past 10 or so years attempting to gain equivalent certification in North America, working for a limosine company in order to make money. He has a close relationship with his 14 year old daughter, who was diagnosed with diabetes in 1997, with whom he has now been unable to speak for nearly 3 months. Shakir's actual whereabouts remained a mystery to his family and his friends, until his wife and a lawyer were able to crack the wall of secrecy built by the American Government and the Immigration and Naturalization Services. He is being charged with illegal entry into the US, but is being held with others under conditions which are a far cry from 'standard' immigration detainees. Held in cells measuring 6 1/2 feet by 7 feet, Shakir and fellow inmates are held under bright lights 24 hours a day. Physically searched each time they go to see their lawyers with full-body stripsearches, the detainees are shackled in handcuffs and leg iron once outside of their cells. Denied access to any medical care for weeks, Shakir has described humiliating and insulting treatment by guards who mock the detainees for their religious beliefs. Hallal conditions are not accessible and it is not possible to get honest answers about whether or not pork is an ingredient in their meals - as a result, the prisoners have lost their appetites. Describing 90% of his fellow inmates as being of South Asian or Arabic descent, Shakir has told his counsel the men are repeatedly subjected to taunts by the prison staff about alleged involvement in the terrorist attacks of September 11th. For 8 weeks, people were questioned by the FBI, the investigators demanding to know if the detainees 'knew anyone who was involved' in the terrorist attacks. He tells of at least two men having attempted suicide, one by banging his head against a wall, the other by trying to hang himself with a bed sheet. Shakir describes feeling "surprised - we are human beings but not criminals." After public pressure mounted on the Canadian side of the border, the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Canadian Consulate stepped in to attempt to move Shakir's case forward - to get a hearing scheduled and have him deported to Canada, to end his nearly 3-month-long imprisonment. However, the American authorities maintain they are still 'investigating' Shakir and he does remain in jail. OCAP and American supporters ask that you write to Attorney General John Ashcroft, the authority in the US who has the power to ignore the decisions of Immigration Judges and detain people for as long as he wishes, and who is also responsible for the extremist and racist US Patriot Act. Prepared by refugee rights and asylum seekers defence groups in the US, the email flyer which follows provides specific context and demands with which to write to Ashcroft and it is important for Shakir that his particular case be mentioned in any contact you make. Attorney General Ashcroft can be contacted at the following: US Department of Justice 950 Pennsylcanian Ave, NW Washington, DC 20530-0001 (202) 353-1555 (telephone) AskDOJ@usdoj.gov (email) Please remember that a letter carries the most weight. Details for this update were provided by Shakir's counsel in NYC, after a meeting with Shakir this past Sunday December 16th 2001. Do not hesitate to contact OCAP for more information. (Ph: 416 925 6939 e-mail: ocap@tao.ca)