DhafirTrial

The U.S. government framed Dr. Dhafir’s case in the media in order to gain a successful “terrorism” prosecution, while maintaining during trial that he was no more than a common thief who faced 60 counts of white-collar crime.  Michael Powell of the Washington Post called the government’s strategy “shadow boxing” in an article he wrote just before Dhafir’s case came to trial. As a result of this strategy, Dr. Dhafir has no meaningful way within the legal system to challenge his conviction.

The government’s strategy: Jeffrey Breinholt wrote the game plan for its prosecution of Dr.Rafil Dhafir in a “Terrorist Financing” paper published just after Dhafir’s arrest, and 20 months before his case came to trial (Dr. Dhafir and HTN are listed on p.20 under “clean money cases”); Ashcroft announced on the day of the HTN arrests that “funders of terrorism have been arrested”; Just before Dhafir’s trial began, then NY state governor Pataki claimed, the arrests proved the existence of “…terrorists living here in New York state among us…who are supporting or aiding and abetting those who would destroy our way of life and kill our friends and neighbors”; District Attorney Suddaby and head prosecutor Olmsted announced Dhafir’s “links to terrorists” just before the sentencing (see two pages from the Syracuse Post-Standard attached) on the second page the paper says, “Prosecutors asked Mordue before Dhafir’s trial not to allow lawyers from either side to mention possible terrorism links, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Olmsted said. They didn’t want an appeals court to look at that evidence and overturn Dhafir’s conviction because they thought it was put in just to inflame the jury, he said.” And, as you know, Rafil and other HTN defendants who took plea bargains are all now listed on the government’s list of successful “terrorism” prosecutions.

Dr. Dhafir was “sneaky,” as Michael Olmsted called him, because lives were at stake in Iraq (at least one HTN volunteer in Iraq had been killed and there was correspondence at trial showing they discussed whether to continue with sending aid as it was so dangerous). The government was sneaky so that it could get a successful prosecution in “it’s war on terror” that couldn’t be overturned on appeal: Dr. Dhafir got 22 years in prison; DA Suddaby was made a federal judge; head prosecutor Olmsted became the Interpol representative to the UN.; Judge Mordue was made Chief Judge. And the U.S. justice system has no way for Dr.Dhafir to challenge what happened to him.