Convicted Muslim converts entrapped by the FBI Press TV (2.5 mins.)

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“On July 4th America Celebrated the Rule of Law. On July 9th the Senate Will Vote to Bury It.”

Once passed by the Senate, the FISA bill will then immediately be sent by the Democratic Congress to an eagerly awaiting and immensely pleased President Bush, who will sign it into law, thereby putting a permanent and happy end to the scandal that began when — in December, 2005 — he was caught spying on the communications of American citizens in violation of the law. (more…)

To the Editor:

In reply to the question: “Do we want Dhafir’s justice to be America’s”? in the Feb. 21, Post-Standard:

I believe that when one is denied justice we are all denied justice. Lies enslave us all.

On Feb. 26, 2003, Dr. Rafil Dhafir was stripped of his human rights, his dignity, his medical license, his good name, and his freedom for 22 years.

What they cannot take away fro mDr. Dhafir is God’s love for him. God who lives in sick people he cared for and tried to heal. God who lives in the poor , suffering and dying Iraqi people, mostly children to whom he got food, medicine and clothing in spite of world leaders’ blockades and dictators’ death thtreats against him.

In the Feb. 21 Post-Standard, the question was asked: “Do we want Dhafir’s justice to be America’s?” I would rather have Dr. Dhafir’s judgment than his accusers’ (who showed him no mercy) on judgement day before God.

Jeanne DeSocio
Liverpool, New York

It took a month of lobbying but the Post Standard finally published Mohamed Khater’s letter.  It was followed by this editor’s note:

“Our Sept. 19 story did state that Dhafir was prosecuted for planning to use contributions to support a terrorist organization. And you are right–Dhafir was never charged or tried on any terrorism charge.
“Government prosecutors did bring up terrorism allegations before the judge in the sentencing stage in hopes of achieving a longer prison sentence. The Post-Standard editorialized on that tactic, calling it unfair.
“Our Sept. 19 story did not fully explain that all, and thus was misleading. When the error was brought to our attention we ran a correction on Oct. 11. On the same day we published a letter on the topic from the Dr. Dhafir Support Committee.
“Some of the other assertions in your letter are far less convincing, however. Our staff writers reported accurately that the jury convicted Dhafir of multiple fraud counts based on government evidence that he used money intended for his charity for business investments in Syracuse and the Middle East. To convict Dhafir, the jury was required to find that he intentionally defrauded donors.
“He was also convicted of intentionally evading taxes, intentionally defrauding Medicare, and making false statements to Medicare when asked about it. The judge, in calculating restitution, concluded that Dhafir defrauded donors of more than $500,000, defrauded Medicare of $316,000 and evaded $400,000 in taxes.”

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Katherine: As someone who sat through almost all of the 14 weeks of proceedings, below are my thoughts on the Editor’s Note:

* Defrauding donors of $500,000.

Dr. Dhafir had money in the Middle East and, on occasion, instead of sending dollars to the Middle East, he exchanged his money in the Middle East for money collected here in this country. Although this kind system of “mixing money” is anathema to western culture, it is a common way of doing business in Arab and Muslim cultures (this system of exchange is known as Hawala). It was clear from the trial that Dr. Dhafir had employed this system of “money exchange” on occasion, but the government gave no evidence to support the view that Dr. Dhafir had stolen the money.

See: Case Not Proven, which addresses the charges other than Medicare charges.

* Defrauded Medicare of $316,000

The whole Medicare case (25 counts) was based on a single rule called “incident to” (incident to the Dr.’s treatment). The government does not dispute that patients did indeed receive medical care and chemotherapy medicine. It is saying that because Dhafir’s office filled the forms in wrongly, the office is entitled to no reimbursement. Medicare fraud usually consists of fictitious patients and imaginary illnesses, Dhafir’s case had none of this.

On the day Mrs. Dhafir was sentenced the head prosecutor, Michael Olmsted, was asked how much of the $62,000 that Mrs. Dhafir was to pay back to Medicare was spent on Medicine, he was unable to say.

Dr. Dhafir was asked the same question and said that 90% of it was spent on medicine, and that in 2002 Medicare reimbursed his office less than it had spent on medicine alone. A look at the records would confirm or refute this, but Dr. Dhafir has been continually denied access to his own records that were taken from his house and office on the day of his arrest.

For coverage of the Medicare part of the case see: Dr. Dhafir’s Trial Concluded Today.

And: Dr. Dhafir letter to Medicare.

* $400,000 in taxes

Dr. Dhafir’s charity, Help the Needy, was using the tax exemption number of another charity. This is not uncommon practice among charities and many charities do this without penalty. According to Barrie Gewanter of the NYCLU, ordinarily this kind of think is addressed by the State telling the charity that they are doing wrong, shutting it down until it’s sorted out, and then letting them operate again. (See “Access” with George Kilpatrick: A panel discussion about the case of Rafil Dhafir in the wider context of civil liberties. WCNY Public Television, Wednesday, October 26th, 11pm.)

The $400,000 in taxes are because Dhafir himself donated very generously over the years. (According to the government, he donated $1.4 million over the years.) The government is also currently going after the taxes it says should have been paid by other people who donated to Help the Needy. It is holding the Dhafir’s responsible for that loss of tax revenue and has, consequently, has put a lien against the Dhafir family home.

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Some things to think about:

Seven government agencies investigated Dhafir for five years, how much did this cost the taxpayer? Why was the defense not allowed to address at trial the fact that the government only brought these charges after finding no link to terrorism? (This turned into a brick wall that the defense kept hitting, prosecutors could hint at more serious charges, but the defense was never allowed to follow this line of questioning.)

If the government was indeed interested in restitution, why didn’t it let Dhafir work for the 33 months that he was held without bail before sentencing? He could easily have paid off all the money in this way. He was a wealthy man while working, earning around $500.000 a year, with very little outgoing expenses: he lived in the same house for many years and his mortgage was paid off long ago, and drove a 1992 Nissan Sentra unitl 2002.

Medicare people who testified were confused about the “incident to” rule. Government Agent Cynthia Pangallo who had testified for the government in 10 cases involving Medicare did not know when the “incident to” rule went into effect. This is despite the fact that the prosecution contacted her during the proceedings to prepare testimony and that she had three weeks during the Christmas break to prepare her testimony before appearing on the witness stand.

Mrs. Dhafir testified that under “electronic filing” Medicare did not accept anyone else’s number other than Dr. Dhafir’s. (Much of the case revolved around whether Dhafir’s office should be reimbursed at 85%, as it would if a nurse practitioner was administering care, or at 100%, if the doctor himself was administering care.)

To the editor:

The gangster, Tookie Williams, founder of the violent Crips gang, was rehabilitated and then executed in prison.

He denounced violence and reached out to vulnerable children by writing books to influence young people not to make the same poor choices he made.

Dr. Rafil Dhafir, physician and humanitarian, founder of the charity, Help the Needy, was incarcerated and sentenced to 22 years in proson. His life choices were to study hard, pray devotedly, teach God’s love and help the needy. Should he denounce humanitarianism and write books to discourage children from making the choices he made?

Dhafir chose God’s Law of Compassion over the U.S. government’s cruel policy and laws pertaining to a blockade against destitute people of war-devastated Iraq.

He sent vital supplies and money to Iraq to prevent permanent disabilities and to save the lives of many of the houndreds of thousands suffering, dying Iraqi children under the age of 5.

Most Americans do not understand that money laundering and wire fraud are methods commonly used to help the needy in nations ruled by brutal dictators.

The Iraqi people, mostly children, have been caught in the crossfire of rival gangs of greedy, violent national leaders.

I hope and pray that the leaders of international gangs will be rehabilitated, denounce greed and violence and set an example of good choices for the children of the world.

To the Editor:

This is in reply to Mike Greco’s letter of Sunday, November 20.
Sir, you ask why various supporters keep speaking about Dr. Dhafir when
Dr. Dhafir has been found guilty of multiple charges. My response is
that as a “court-watcher” during Dr. Dhafir’s trial, I would not agree
that the government proved guilt in those many charges. I would also
contend that the last-minute introduction of extra elements into the
sentencing by the government, elements which the government prosecutors
would not allow during court proceedings, was totally unjust. This was a
legal move, but an unjust move, preventing Dr. Dhafir and his lawyers
from offering defense against such allegations. This caused an extension
of years in the sentence.

Life is precious. Dr. Dhafir has been put away for the rest of his
active adult life on government “suspicions” which he had no adequate
opportunity to answer. What you are hearing and reading from community
leaders is a clear, clarion call for justice. My Christian teaching
asks me to work for justice. There is a story in our Christian
scriptures which tells of a widow who persists in asking a judge for
justice until, out of sheer annoyance or frustration, he hears her case.
(Luke 18:2-5). Can we, who believe an injustice has been done, do any
less? You will continue to hear calls for justice, not only in the case
of Dr. Dhair, but in other instances where the government’s overzealous
efforts have “questionably” closed Muslim charities and/or sent Middle
Easterners into jailed oblivion.

Quoted in the movie “Good Night & Good Luck”, about Edward R. Murrow and his confrontation of Sen. Joseph MCarthy in the 1950’s: from Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar”, — “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves. . .” — Act I, sc. 2, l. 138

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Remembering how Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus,
denying cooperation with the “whites only” segregation rule in
Birmingham, Alabama in the 1950’s, our pastor asked us during
worship, “And what will you do if someone gets ‘picked on’ while you’re riding the bus?”

Dr. Rafil Dhafir, a 57-year-old Iraqi-born U.S. citizen and Rome, NY
oncologist, who founded a Muslim charity called “Help the Needy” to send food, clothing, and medical aid to adults and children in Iraq during the crushing U.S./UN-sponsored sanctions — this man, highly esteemed by friends and colleagues –this man has been “picked on”.

Dr. Dhafir was “picked on” by the government’s “selective prosecution” in his case. This began with the high-handed manner in which he was arrested, (80 plus agents during that day and 150 Muslim families interrogated), and the repeated denial of bail for a white-collar crime during his 19 months of imprisonment before trial. (This allowed only abbreviated access to his lawyers and defense documents.)

During the trial, the government’s case that charity funds didn’t go where promised was met with receipts for food and clothing presented by the defense. That some money went for the building of mosques and self-help projects was shown to be specially funded.

Charges with regard to Medicare were shown to be caused by confusion in billing practices, were exaggerated by the government as to the amount, and could have been resolved by the request of a refund.

If the charity had not fulfilled all the legal procedures required, it would have been possible for NY State to shut it down until it had completed all the necessary forms and information. Testimony was given of applications made and held up. This was not grounds for imprisonment.

Other sources of confusion regarding handling of funds were presented, without giving convincing reasons for the government’s implication of selfish or criminal intent. And, of course, the breaking of the sanctions on Iraq to get food and clothing to those in need was not unique to Dr. Dhafir. Others (i.e. Voices in the Wilderness) had done the same–and were simply fined! Could one deny trying to help in the face of such need? And some U.S.businesses were breaking the sanctions and being fined, as well.

Lastly, the element of “terrorism connections”, with which Dr. Dhafir was never charged in court, and which the government prosecutors did not allow to be mentioned, was allowed to figure in the sentencing. This lengthened his sentence by an additional 8 to 9 years. There was never an opportunity for the defense to deal with this in court, other than by comment at the time of sentencing.

The manner of arrest, imprisonment without bail, and harsh sentencing where others have had fines or less, leads to the conclusion that this was “selective prosecution” by the government–that this happened because Dr. Dhafir is a Muslim U.S. citizen of Iraqi birth. A sense of Christian justice would indicate that we should not allow our government to “bear false witness”, and we should not allow harsher treatment for an Iraqi-born, Muslim U.S. citizen than for other U.S. citizens or even non-citizens who happen to be non-Muslim, non-Arab, charged with the same wrongdoings.

Pray about this matter, about our government and a sense of justice, and write to your congressperson, senators, governor, and attorney-general. Let them know that Christians stand for justice. Write to Dr. Rafil Dhafir, Jamesville Correctional Facility, P.O. Box 143, Jamesville, NY 13078, and let him know that his concern for the poor is appreciated.

In Christian love & partnership,
Linda Bergh, court-watcher at the trial of Dr. Dhafir.

For those that have ears to hear, another viewpoint of the proceedings in this case is available: www.dhafirtrial.net

I believe history will show this sentencing as the gross miscarriage of justice that it is, occurring in a dark time when civil liberties in this country were not respected.
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Katherine Hughes is a concerned citizen, a local potter and a voracious reader of history and current events. She started to attend the trial because she felt that she did not know enough about the case to make any judgment of innocence or guilt. She became so concerned at the shockingly inadequate coverage of the Post-Standard that she started a website that offers another view of the trial proceedings. She took a year out from school because she believes passionately in the need to preserve civil liberties for all.

Journalists should take a look at her website and then contact her only if prepared to give Edward R. Murrow-type investigative reporting of this case. Please leave contact information below and Katherine will give a timely response.