DhafirTrial

Published in The Post-Standard, Jan 9, 2005.

I have been attending the trial of Dr. Rafil Dhafir for two days a week since it started in October.* Before attending this trial I was under the mistaken impression that the newspaper’s job was to inform the public so that people would have a basis for judgment as to the innocence or guilt of a person. My experience of the paper’s reporting on this trial shows me that my belief couldn’t have been further from the truth. (more…)

Letter submitted to Syracuse New Times, January 9th 2005.

I have been regularly attending the trial of Dr. Rafil Dhafir since it started in October. During the course of the trial I have heard stories of Dr. Dhafir’s arrest and of the 85 agents and the helicopter media coverage of the event. I wonder where all the media people are now? I haven’t seen them in court. (more…)

By ELAINE CASSEL

From Counterpunch.org

01/05/05 — On Sunday, Jan 2, Dana Priest, writing in the Washington Post,
described the plans of the Pentagon and the Justice Department to imprison indefinitely, perhaps for life, persons it wants “removed” from society. Having committed no crime, but believed to be associated with “terrorism” however that is defined at any given moment in time “the people will live in prison camps modeled on American prisons. (more…)

By Michael Powell Washington Post 10/18/04

SYRACUSE, N.Y., Oct. 18 — Federal prosecutors heralded the arrest 19 months ago as another blow in the Justice Department’s war on terrorism. More than 85 federal agents descended on the home of a prominent local doctor, Rafil Dhafir, handcuffing him in his driveway and hauling away dozens of boxes of books and records .(more…)

From washingtonpost.com
Long-Term Plan Sought For Terror Suspects

By Dana Priest

Administration officials are preparing long-range plans for indefinitely imprisoning suspected terrorists whom they do not want to set free or turn over to courts in the United States or other countries, according to intelligence, defense and diplomatic officials. (more…)

One Year On, ‘Help the Needy’ Case Still Shrouded in Mystery, Innuendo
by Madeleine Baran The NewStandard 2/29/04
A Muslim doctor from Syracuse remains behind bars for sending money to starving Iraqis – a “crime” for which non-Muslims are usually slapped on the wrist.

A year ago, two federal investigators and a New York state trooper followed Dr. Rafil Dhafir, a prominent physician, as he pulled out of his driveway around seven in the morning and headed to work at his medical clinic outside Syracuse. (more…)

By Katherine Hughes
Sent to the Post-Standard on November 15th, 2004. (Unpublished.)

INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY

I am attending the trial of Dr. Rafil Dhafir as a court watcher at the invitation of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). I’m writing this editorial to strongly encourage other people to attend the trial and witness the proceedings. This is not a request for people to come to the trial to support Dr. Dhafir’s innocence or guilt, it is a request for people to come to the trial as active citizens in a democracy in order to ensure that another citizen of that same democracy receives due process. The right to be held innocent until proven guilty is a right that is extended to all of us and I believe it is incumbent upon each of us, as citizens of a democracy, to ensure this right for each other. (more…)

From Democracy Now

By Amy Goodman. Friday, August 20th 2004.

An Iraqi-American doctor faces life in prison for violating economic sanctions against Iraq. He has spent the last year and a half in prison awaiting trial and has been denied bail six times. He is believed to the only U.S. citizen ever to be held in prison for violating the sanctions. We speak with his friend and a community activist as well as Voices in the Wilderness founder Kathy Kelly. [includes rush transcript] (more…)