Katherine’s Writing


 

Denis Halliday, Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and head of the UN Humanitarian Program in Iraq 1997 and 1998, said of Dr. Dhafir’s case:

I am stunned by the conviction of this humanitarian, especially as the US State Department breached its own sanctions to the tune of $10 billion. The policy of sanctions against Iraq undermined not only the UN’s own charter, but the Declaration of Human Rights and the Geneva Convention as well. (more…)

Today is the 14th anniversary of the arrest of Dr. Dhafir and other Help The Needy (HTN) charity associates who were subjected to high-profile arrests in the early morning of February 26, 2003, just weeks before the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Simultaneous to the arrests, between the hours of 6 and 10 a.m., law enforcement agents interrogated 150 predominantly Muslim families because they had donated to HTN. Dhafir was never released. (more…)

Today is the 13th anniversary of Dr. Dhafir’s arrest when 150 Muslim families were also interrogated because they had donated to Help the Needy (HTN), the charity that Dr. Dhafir founded.  HTN was sending food and medicine to starving Iraqi civilians during the brutal 13-year-long U.S. and U.K.-sponsored UN embargo on that country. According to UN statistics, 6,000 Iraqi children under the age of five were dying every month from malnutrition and diahorrea.  Dr. Dhafir has paid a heavy price for his crime of compassion; he is currently in his 14th year of a 22-year sentence. Please write to let him know that he is not forgotten and that his humanitarian outreach is appreciated: Rafil Dhafir, #11921-052-Unit GB, Federal Medical Center Devens, PO Box 879, Ayer MA 01432

 

I’ve always loved Sebastião Salgado’s photographs and saw an exhibition at the Glasgow Museum of Modern Art (GoMA) many years ago: stunning.  This beautiful talk by Salgado is food for the soul (16 mins); very uplifting; and much needed for the times in which we live. Katherine

Katherine will be giving a short talk about civil liberties and Dr. Dhafir’s case at the Petit Branch Library in Syracuse, New York, today at 3 p.m.

Read Katherine’s two most recent articles: Fairness and Justice? and Anatomy of a “Terrorism” Prosecution

See a Memorandum that Dr. Dhafir’s attorney Charles Swift has recently submitted for a 2255 Habeas Corpus Petition. New evidence from a FOIA request exposes the government’s duplicity in its prosecution of the case.

Members of the Dr. Dhafir Support Committee gave out post cards on Marshall Street in Syracuse, New York, today between noon and 2 p.m. to commemorate the 12th anniversary of the arrest and incarceration of Dr. Rafil Dhafir, and the interrogation of 150 local Muslim families. It was a more satisfying endeavor than creating a spectacle for the media as we were able to reach people directly.  (more…)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 18, 2014

Contact:

Charles Swift, Director & Counsel

Constitutional Law Center for Muslims in America (more…)

A Notice of Appearance  by retired Lieutenant Commander of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps, Charles Swift, was filed yesterday on Dr. Dhafir’s case. Dr. Dhafir is in his twelfth year of a 22-year prison sentence for sending humanitarian aid to Iraq during the U.S. and U.K.-led UN sanctions. Dhafir recently submitted a 2255 Habeas Corpus petition by himself.  Swift has now taken over as counsel.

 

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