'Free Rabih Haddad and Salma Al-Rashaid!'
Chicago protest hits racist witch-hunt of immigrants
By Beth Semmer
Chicago
Over 100 people jammed the sidewalk in front of the
Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) offices here on
Feb. 12 to protest the U.S. government's cruel witch-hunt
against the family of Rabih Haddad and Salma Al-Rashaid. On
Dec. 14, 2001, police arrested Haddad at his Ann Arbor, Mich.,
home, in front of his young children, for alleged visa
violations.
The protest, organized by the Chicago Coalition Against War
& Racism (CCAWR) at noon in busy downtown Chicago, was very
visible. Banners, placards and leaflets informed the lunchtime
crowds about the case. People passing by warmly received the
chants and literature. Passing motorists, especially cab
drivers, gave many honks of approval.
Haddad is an immigrant from Lebanon, an assistant imam at
his local mosque and a member of the board of trustees of the
Islamic charity Global Relief Foundation. On the day he was
arrested, the charity's offices were raided, its assets frozen
and its Chicago offices ransacked.
Haddad has a master's degree in mechanical engineering from
the University of Nebraska. He entered the U.S. legally and was
in the process of applying for permanent residency-making his
detention for visa violations highly unusual. Since his arrest
Rabih has been held in solitary confinement without charges and
denied bond. Neither he nor his lawyers have been permitted to
learn anything about the government's so-called evidence
against him.
On Jan. 17, U.S. marshals spirited Haddad out of Michigan in
secrecy, away from his supporters and attorneys, to Chicago's
Metropolitan Correctional Center.
Stripping immigrants
of their civil liberties
The case of Rabih Haddad has garnered national attention as
symbolic of the current racial profiling of people of Arab,
Middle Eastern, Muslim and South Asian nationality or religion.
The Ann Arbor City Council and the University of Michigan
Student Assembly have both passed resolutions supporting
Haddad's right to a fair trial. Two members of Congress, Lynn
Rivers (D-Ann Arbor) and John Conyers (D-Detroit), have spoken
out in his defense.
Four newspapers--the Detroit Free Press, the Ann Arbor News,
the Detroit News and the Metro Times--and the American Civil
Liberties Union have recently filed lawsuits challenging the
constitutionality of holding Rabih's immigration hearings in
secrecy.
This is CCAWR's third demonstration in support of Haddad and
his family. A protest on Jan. 19 at the Metropolitan
Correctional Center in downtown Chicago was joined by a
contingent from Ann Arbor that included Rabih's wife Salma
Al-Rashaid, who spoke about the horrible conditions he faced in
prison and the hardships his incarceration imposed on their
family.
Immediately upon Al-Rashaid's return to Ann Arbor, in a move
that appeared to be retaliation for her public protests, the
government began deportation proceedings against her and three
of the couple's four children, ages 4 to 12.
The demonstration on Feb. 12 coincided with a deportation
hearing in Detroit. Among the speakers were Emma Lozano of
Centro Sin Fronteras, Jose Landoverde of Latinos United,
Dorothy Pagosa of the 8th Day Center for Justice, Jim Fennerty
of the National Lawyers Guild, Hakim Husien of the Palestine
Aid Society and Christine Geovanis of Chicago Indymedia. Rally
chair Andy Thayer of the Chicago Anti-Bashing Network read from
a letter he had received from Haddad thanking the coalition for
its help and describing in detail the inhumane conditions he
faced in the MCC.
A scheduled speaker from the Committee for a Democratic
Palestine was a victim of police harassment on his way to the
rally. His brief lockup seemed to be a case of profiling
inspired by the previous day's warning by Homeland Security
czar Tom Ridge that attacks" were imminent.
President George W. Bush, Attorney General John Ashcroft and
many in Congress have decreed that the Bill of Rights does not
apply to several hundred thousand people in this country. The
Chicago Coalition Against War & Racism will continue to
protest against this and all attacks on immigrants and their
civil liberties.
Reprinted from the Feb. 28, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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