[act-ma] Pack the Courtroom for Tarek Mehanna

[Marilyn Levin]

Pack the Courtroom for Tarek Mehanna


When: Thursday, October 27, 2011, 9:00 am

Where: Moakley Federal Courthouse • 1 Courthouse Way • Boston

 

On Monday, October 24 the trial of Dr. Tarek Mehanna is scheduled to begin with Jury Selection. At that time, Dr. Mehanna will have spent close to two years in pre-trial solitary confinement under 23 hour lockdown.

  <http://justicewithpeace.org/files/u414/tarekmehanna_1.jpg> The FBI and the Massachusetts US Attorney are accusing Dr. Mehanna of “material support for terrorism” and related charges. His real offense in the eyes of the US government was his courage as a Muslim and a man of conscience: his opposition to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; his vocal support for other Muslims falsely imprisoned by the US government and; his refusal to work as an informant for the FBI in the Muslim community. For these stands he now faces the possibility of life in prison.

The court proceedings leading up to Tarek’s trial have already shown a disturbing pattern familiar in “anti-terrorism” cases against Arabs and Muslims across the country. These include:

*	The use of secret evidence.
*	Inflammatory accusations fed to the press by government prosecutors in advance of trial. (In Tarek’s case, these accusations do not appear in the official indictment and no evidence has been presented to support them.)
*	Manipulation of informants and cooperating witnesses through a system of threats and rewards for giving testimony favorable to the government’s case.
*	Criminalization of dissent under the rubric of “material support for terrorism.”

All who care about basic rights—the right to political dissent, the right to due process, equality before the law—and all who oppose the systematic denial of these rights to Arabs and Muslims, must stand in solidarity with Dr. Mehanna and his family. Please help us fill the courtroom on October 27th.
 

For more information, see www.freetarek.com <http://www.freetarek.com/> .


“… Let's be clear: I am not in prison because I ever engaged in some "terrorist act." Not even my lying accusers have charged me with ever having attempted to hurt a soul.  … Rather, I am here because of my holistic belief in the tenets of Islam at a time when there is unrelenting pressure from the powers of the world to redefine it according to their whims and desires. I am here because in the so-called 'battle for hearts and minds,' I have, by Allah's grace, kept my heart and mind free from becoming casualties.  …” – Tarek Mehanna, Letter from Prison, May 17, 2010
 

	

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