Today's Editorials: Rudy's 9/11 Problem

NYT ... argues that Rudy Giuliani failed in his duty to protect emergency personnel and construction workers at ground zero because his administration did not require them to wear respirators during the clean up. "Unfortunately, the price is now being paid by thousands of workers who have developed lung and other ailments," the editors write ... argues that a more urgent international response is needed to curb or contain Iran's nuclear program: Unless "leaders are offered far more attractive rewards -- yes, we're talking about a grand bargain -- and threatened with far more painful punishments -- yes, that could mean another spike in world oil prices -- there is no chance of changing their behavior" ... urges the Senate Finance Committee to craft legislation to improve education tax breaks that would allow more lower- and middle-income students to attend college ... notes that the finances of the presidential candidates should help voters size "up the contenders and whom and what they actually work for" and zero-in on John Edwards and Rudy Giuliani for particular scrutiny.

LAT ... notes that the Supreme Court sided against a Los Angeles-area couple who sued L.A. County because the police raided their house while they were naked in bed: "While the facts in this case are unusual, not to say humorous, the bottom line is important: Even when police follow the law, pursuit of the guilty will sometimes inconvenience -- and embarrass -- the innocent" ... urges the Los Angeles City Council to pass a law that would close a loophole allowing the apartment building owners to work around the city's rent-stabilization laws ... criticizes a proposal in the California state legislature that would allow illegal immigrants to receive state financial aid for public colleges and universities. "There is a finite amount of financial aid available to California students," the editors reason. "To grant aid to illegal immigrants, the state would have to deny it to some high school graduates who are legal residents."

WaPo ... blasts Sen. Many Landrieu (D-La.) for holding up the District of Columbia's plan to allow Mayor Adrian Fenty to take over the city's schools. The editors ask, "Why is it Ms. Landrieu's business how Washington chooses to govern its public schools?" and argue that her "interference may result in school repairs going undone and positions going unfilled" ... encourages the Environmental Protection Agency and President Bush to allow California to craft its own vehicle emissions regulations and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to sue if they do not ... criticizes the House for caving into pressure from the Teamsters by voting to uphold the ban on Mexican truckers on U.S. roads.

WSJ ... argues that it would be a mistake for the federal government to block almost any of the mergers waiting to be approved this year, noting that while no "doubt many mergers will turn out to be bad business call," most "enhance competition by creating healthier companies" ... laments that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac successfully lobbied Congress to gut a measure Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) had proposed to step up regulation of the government sponsored enterprises ... slams Rep. Jack Murtha (R-Penn.) for threatening two collogues after they questioned a $23 million earmark for Murtha's district that had been tacked onto an intelligence bill last week.

USA Today ... recommends that the international community level war-crimes charges against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir "unless he stops playing dangerous games" with his country's civilians and the relief workers sent to help them.

By Rob Anderson |  May 22, 2007; 9:08 AM ET
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Dear Sir / Madam

I am 46 years old, Canadian citizen and native of Pakistan (muslim). I was an immigration consultant in Canada and as part of my business , I had an office in New York.
During 2001 immediately after the Sept 11, event the US govt arrested me on Oct 25, 2001 on anonymous call, as a material witness for the 9/11 world trade centre terrorist attack. A detail investigation by the FBI and USA Naval intelligence dept was conducted and I was cleared, but even then govt put me in front of Grand jury , and I was cleared and the case was dismissed by the Grand jury of the US Federal Court .
Approximately after 2 weeks , before I was released from custody the US Govt imposed a new charges of Fraud and money laundering , under the advice of my attorney , I pleaded guilty and I was sentenced to prison for five years (which was four years more, what I pleaded). In which I had already spent 3 years in Detention jail, during the case , I had about 14 months left to finishing my sentence ,(instead of appealing, I preferred to applied for Treaty Transfer to Canada, because if the case is in the appeal, defendant is not eligible for transfer back to his home country).
While at prison, I learned from the case manager Miss Mause, that my citizen was incorrect in the FBOP's (Federal Bureau of Prison) computer system as Pakistani instead of Canadian.
Its important to note , that all of my Canadian identifications (passport , citizenship card , S.I.N , Health card , Driving license etc) were under FBI's possession, with a great deal of concern, I wrote a letter to the Canadian Consulate in Buffalo, N.Y to notify such mistake and requested them to fix this problem. This is especially important for Treaty Transfer back to Canada.
The Canadian Consulate official sent a letter to the jail to correct my citizenship status, however FBOP ignored the request and the citizenship status in the FBOP computer still reflect Pakistani instead of Canadian (Note:- I would be required to obtain visa to visit Pakistan) .In contrast , the deportation letter received from US Immigration dept, Contained the correct citizenship status of Canada.
At the hindsight, I believe that the FBOP intentionally left the citizenship as Pakistani, so that they could retained me at their facility, while the govt is planning to file new charges against me 3rd time.
Approximately six weeks before my released date on Jan 30 ,2006 I was notified by the FBOP that I was being transferred from Ellenwood , PA to MDC (Metropolitan Detention Centre) in Brooklyn N.Y, it was explained to me, that the purpose of this transfer was in preparation for deportation back to Canada, (after few days, I signed the immigration deportation papers, with my consular Miss Chen).
But immediately after my arriving to MDC Brooklyn, I discovered during a phone call with my family in Montreal, that RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) official had contacted my sister and brother-in-law regarding the whereabouts of my wife and my current situation, there was no explanation given by the RCMP official to the purpose of the call and he left his phone number and asked my wife to call him back immediately, my wife called the RCMP official and left messages in his voice mail. Then the official contacted my brother-in-law again and had asked him to tell my wife not to call again, because there is nothing good nor anything bad.
Meanwhile the AUSA ( United States Attorney) office Investigator and FBI brought me to their office to be interrogated without an attorney present, even AUSA told in the court to the judge on March 16, 2006 that he arranged attorney for me before my arrival from Ellenwood PA to MDC Brooklyn, N.Y, on Transcript; page 11, Transcript line No: 14 to 23.

AUSA:- He (Khalid Awan) was writ in the cause of a grand jury investigation. He clearly had criminal exposure. So to protect his interest I made an application to the duty magistrate for counsel to be appointed.
THE COURT:- Initially he was brought here by a Court to testify before the grand jury?

AUSA:- That is correct, Your Honour.


THE COURT:- When he arrived here, you made arrangements for an attorney to be pointed to request him?

AUSA:- Yes, Your Honour.

This interrogation started with the AUSA office Investigator stating that my family will be arrested in Canada if I refused to answer their questions.
At this point I am certain that my family is in great danger for reasons that I am not aware of. I was scared that my family would be harassed by these people along with the Canadian RCMP official, I strongly believe that the RCMP is doing this intentionally in collaboration with FBI official to further harass me to admit charges, that I never committed.
Without knowledge of the reasons why the Canadian RCMP agency was involved. I was surprised that RCMP official directly approached my family instead of me without proper explanation, and its also shocked for me, that how RCMP got the phone number of my family (because before my arrest, I don't have any single record in any police dept, of any country).
I was intimated and pushed to the edge during this interrogation, I was determined to provide anything these USA officials wanted to make them happy even is the questions made no sense, because I want them to stop the harassment to my family.
On March 15, 2006 I completed the term of my imprisonment and was to be released from American Custody and deported back to Canada. Before that I was arrested again 3rd time, and charged with providing "material support to a foreign terrorist" and money laundering (to a organization and person, which are not designated by the USA govt and belongs to Sikh religion).
These charges emerged while I was still in prison and without the capability of providing any type of support. It was even difficult for me to get enough financial assistance to pay legal fees. I could not have provided any material support while I was in prison for five years and I could not launder any money because I did not have any.
AUSA filed three counts of indictment against me.

Conspiracy to provide material support.
Provide a material support to the foreign terrorist.
Money laundering to support terrorism.

(Please note, that in my previous case govt charged me for money laundering and fraud from Jan 1999 to 2002 and "its mentioned in the plea-agreement by the AUSA that no further money laundering charges will be brought against defendant from Jan 1999 to April 2002" even then govt indict me for money laundering from 1998 to Nov 2001 (Which is double Jeopardy and violation of 5th Amendment of U.S Constitution.)
In Oct 2006, during pre-trial hearing on the motion's filed by my attorney the first two counts of my indictment were dismissed by the judge, stating that there is a lack of facts and figures.
After two weeks AUSA re-indicted me again. I believe this is a desperate act of the AUSA to cover up a huge embarrassment . Further this hastily drawn indictment was full of factual errors and creative legal theories.

Since I was first arrested by the American govt, I believe that I have been singled out, isolated and discriminated against primarily because of my race and religion, in addition to the fact that I don't know any information that the American govt is trying to pressure out of me.

I do not understand the American laws and this is what led to my pleading guilty in the first case. I have difficulty understanding the new charges also.

I have been charged under, section 2339(a) of Title 18 of the United States code, which makes it illegal to provide material support to a foreign terrorist.

Please understand, I am not a terrorist, I do not know any terrorist and I have had no connections with or to any known or unknown terrorist. I have been incarcerated for last 5 years and I had no money to provide or launder.

The law enforcement have in America is pressuring me to provide information to them that I really do not have or know. I am a Canadian Citizen and nearly all of my family is in Canada, including my wife and kids. I don't know any information to tell them to help their investigation.
Because of this , I am being treated unfairly and my rights under the American constitution are being violated. I am being held here in further detention against my will for crimes which I could have never committed, because I was in prison.

I believe, that I am a victim of the discrimination that was outlined in the July 3, 2006 issue of Time magazine (Page 29, column 3). In this article section 2339(a) & (b) are discussed and criticized "as most suspects are charged under these two sections. However, the justice dept here in America admits that of the more than 218 guilty pleas that it has obtained, most are for minor investigation issues that are uncovered deeding the course of their terrorism investigation. This suggest, according to the article that the Attorney General's office have is not concerned about the rights or fairness or the manner in which it achieves convictions for the people they arrest. Furthermore, criticizes have noted that one of the patterns to emerge from these domestic prosecutions is that suspect seen too incompetent to carry out the deeds they are accused of. The Deputy Attorney General acknowledges that the Dept of Justice's goal is " preventions through prosecution's" and this is done with no regard for an individual's rights.

I agree that these guilty of terrorism should be prosecuted . But as the above mentioned article suggest , innocent people should not be targeted because of their race or religion.
I am not a terrorist and I should not be targeted and treated unfairly and unjustly.
I need your assistance desperately in my case, as I believe that I am being treated unjustly here. I would like to send you my attorney's contact information and provide you with legal documents related to my case, so that you may become more familiar with my situation.

Please also note, that I appeared in the court , for no guilty of my 2nd superseding indictment on Aug 02, 2006 and on Aug 03, 2006 FBOP officials placed me in the SHU (Segregation Housing Unit) out of these months, I placed in the SHU isolation from Aug 03, 2006 to March 6, 2007 for unknown "Pending Investigation" in these 215 days of my segregation and isolation, I don't have a single phone call access to my family, no legal calls to my attorney and Canadian Council, my legal mail opened in my absence, no medical treatment for my injured shoulder (even I went for hunger strike for 3 and half day) I harassed by the various jail officials and lot of other problems too which already been submitted in the attention of the FBOP higher authorities, but no action taken on them, after writing the court, instead of receiving the response or any action on my complaints, jail officials removed /moved me from MDC federal facility to Nassau County Jail .
My suffering has gone on for far too long, and I need your help to bring my suffering to an end. I want to return home to my family, because my imprisonment was injustice and will remain a great injustice forever.

May God bless you and be with you in your efforts to champion the cause of human rights, and the suffering of innocent prisoners and restore hope, faith and love to peoples all over the world.

Sincerely,

KHALID AWAN
FBOP NO. 50959-054

Posted by: mohsin gondal | May 22, 2007 01:56 PM

Reading Mr Mohsin Gondal's story above leaves me feeling totally anguished and outraged.

This abuse of power, abortion of justice and democratic rights, and malicious distortion of events by people in positions of power eats away at the integrity of our democratic and justice systems in the Western World, and creates a cancer in our society. Our kids see this and they don't respect institutions of authority. Who can blame them?

I grew up under the Apartheid Regime in South Africa, and there is NO DIFFERENCE between the behaviour of the US officials towards Mr Gondal, as well as Australian David Hicks, and countless, faceless and nameless others, and the perpetrators of crimes of prejudice under Apartheid.

The word "Apartheid" was often translated as meaning "A Part Hate", which is not grammatically correct, but spot-on in terms of the spirit.

Posted by: Annalie Killian | May 22, 2007 09:27 PM

The homourable court will finalised this case on 25 may 2007.

Posted by: khalid awan | May 22, 2007 11:04 PM

In reading Mr. Gondal's plea for help I anguished and sad. But I am not helpless.

I question who and what it is America truly represent, surely not democracy.

I will pray for Mr. Gondal's safety and return to his family. I will also pray that our Creator will take vengence upon those responsible.

Posted by: Liberty | May 23, 2007 09:22 AM

In reading Mr. Gondal's plea for help I anguished and sad. But I am not helpless.

I question who and what it is America truly represent, surely not democracy.

I will pray for Mr. Gondal's safety and return to his family. I will also pray that our Creator will take vengence upon those responsible.

Posted by: Liberty | May 23, 2007 09:22 AM

Canadian / Pakistani Khalid Q Awan Facing Unjustice .

Khalid Q Awan detainee is now facing different preplanned, Fabricated charges in NewYork USA during his jail period,Khalid Awan is now looking forward your special attention and help towards this case for saving his innocent life. As we know, he is innocent and you can do further correspondence with him in detention centre NewYork USA and his attorney Khuram and Maher LLP NewYork to find out the reality and truth, and to bring the reality in front of the world that no innocent face that kind of the situation in future.
Khalid Q Awan detainee himself disagree with the charges imposed on him by the FBI, The charges are not related with him by all means. How can be possible a person in jail /custody since 9/11 now become terrorist while he proved not guilty in the same court in the past. So he is looking forward your help to get the justice and Clear and fair investigation in these imposed fabricated charges. It is possible with the involvement of the organizations like your's, so that the innocent will come back to his normal life This is the mission of the human rights commission that innocents to be protected in all over the world from injustice ,and illegal Custody.
As by the press reports and by governments officials, In the court room only FBI representatives and some press reporters were present and no one else was there to see what is going over.

Help requested from high officials in Canada, U.S.A, and UNO & also from the NGOS who work for the human rights in all over the world.
Once again the request for find out the truth and reality in the above case.
With best wishes and regards
The sisters and whole family of Khalid Q Awan from Canada,and pakistan.
we pray for americans, please co-operate with us ,
The court will announce a decision on 25 may 2007.

Dear Sir / Madam

I am 46 years old, Canadian citizen and native of Pakistan (Muslim). I was an immigration consultant in Canada and as part of my business , I had an office in New York.
During 2001 immediately after the Sept 11, event the US govt arrested me on Oct 25, 2001 on anonymous call, as a material witness for the 9/11 world trade centre terrorist attack. A detail investigation by the FBI and USA Naval intelligence dept was conducted and I was cleared, but even then govt put me in front of Grand jury , and I was cleared and the case was dismissed by the Grand jury of the US Federal Court .
Approximately after 2 weeks , before I was released from custody the US Govt imposed a new charges of Fraud and money laundering , under the advice of my attorney , I pleaded guilty and I was sentenced to prison for five years (which was four years more, what I pleaded). In which I had already spent 3 years in Detention jail, during the case , I had about 14 months left to finishing my sentence ,(instead of appealing, I preferred to applied for Treaty Transfer to Canada, because if the case is in the appeal, defendant is not eligible for transfer back to his home country).
While at prison, I learned from the case manager Miss Mause, that my citizen was incorrect in the FBOP's (Federal Bureau of Prison) computer system as Pakistani instead of Canadian.
Its important to note , that all of my Canadian identifications (passport , citizenship card , S.I.N , Health card Driving license etc) were under FBI's possession, with a great deal of concern, I wrote a letter to the Canadian Consulate in Buffalo, N.Y to notify such mistake and requested them to fix this problem. This is especially important for Treaty Transfer back to Canada.
The Canadian Consulate official sent a letter to the jail to correct my citizenship status, however FBOP ignored the request and the citizenship status in the FBOP computer still reflect Pakistani instead of Canadian (Note:- I would be required to obtain visa to visit Pakistan) .In contrast , the deportation letter received from US Immigration dept, Contained the correct citizenship status of Canada.
At the hindsight, I believe that the FBOP intentionally left the citizenship as Pakistani, so that they could retained me at their facility, while the govt is planning to file new charges against me 3rd time.
Approximately six weeks before my released date on Jan 30 ,2006 I was notified by the FBOP that I was being transferred from Ellenwood , PA to MDC (Metropolitan Detention Centre) in Brooklyn N.Y, it was explained to me, that the purpose of this transfer was in preparation for deportation back to Canada, (after few days, I signed the immigration deportation papers, with my consular Miss Chen).
But immediately after my arriving to MDC Brooklyn, I discovered during a phone call with my family in Montreal, that RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) official had contacted my sister and brother-in-law regarding the whereabouts of my wife and my current situation, there was no explanation given by the RCMP official to the purpose of the call and he left his phone number and asked my wife to call him back immediately, my wife called the RCMP official and left messages in his voice mail. Then the official contacted my brother-in-law again and had asked him to tell my wife not to call again, because there is nothing good nor anything bad.
Meanwhile the AUSA ( United States Attorney) office Investigator and FBI brought me to their office to be interrogated without an attorney present, even AUSA told in the court to the judge on March 16, 2006 that he arranged attorney for me before my arrival from Ellenwood PA to MDC Brooklyn, N.Y, on Transcript; page 11, Transcript line No: 14 to 23.

AUSA:- He (Khalid Awan) was writ in the cause of a grand jury investigation. He clearly had criminal exposure. So to protect his interest I made an application to the duty magistrate for counsel to be appointed.
THE COURT:- Initially he was brought here by a Court to testify before the grand jury?

AUSA:- That is correct, Your Honour.


THE COURT:- When he arrived here, you made arrangements for an attorney to be pointed to request him?

AUSA:- Yes, Your Honour.

This interrogation started with the AUSA office Investigator stating that my family will be arrested in Canada if I refused to answer their questions.
At this point I am certain that my family is in great danger for reasons that I am not aware of. I was scared that my family would be harassed by these people along with the Canadian RCMP official, I strongly believe that the RCMP is doing this intentionally in collaboration with FBI official to further harass me to admit charges, that I never committed.
Without knowledge of the reasons why the Canadian RCMP agency was involved. I was surprised that RCMP official directly approached my family instead of me without proper explanation, and its also shocked for me, that how RCMP got the phone number of my family (because before my arrest, I don't have any single record in any police dept, of any country).
I was intimated and pushed to the edge during this interrogation, I was determined to provide anything these USA officials wanted to make them happy even is the questions made no sense, because I want them to stop the harassment to my family.
On March 15, 2006 I completed the term of my imprisonment and was to be released from American Custody and deported back to Canada. Before that I was arrested again 3rd time, and charged with providing "material support to a foreign terrorist" and money laundering (to a organization and person, which are not designated by the USA govt and belongs to Sikh religion).
These charges emerged while I was still in prison and without the capability of providing any type of support. It was even difficult for me to get enough financial assistance to pay legal fees. I could not have provided any material support while I was in prison for five years and I could not launder any money because I did not have any.
AUSA filed three counts of indictment against me.

Conspiracy to provide material support.
Provide a material support to the foreign terrorist.
Money laundering to support terrorism.

(Please note, that in my previous case govt charged me for money laundering and fraud from Jan 1999 to 2002 and "its mentioned in the plea-agreement by the AUSA that no further money laundering charges will be brought against defendant from Jan 1999 to April 2002" even then govt indict me for money laundering from 1998 to Nov 2001 (Which is double Jeopardy and violation of 5th Amendment of U.S Constitution.)
In Oct 2006, during pre-trial hearing on the motion's filed by my attorney the first two counts of my indictment were dismissed by the judge, stating that there is a lack of facts and figures.
After two weeks AUSA re-indicted me again. I believe this is a desperate act of the AUSA to cover up a huge embarrassment . Further this hastily drawn indictment was full of factual errors and creative legal theories.

Since I was first arrested by the American govt, I believe that I have been singled out, isolated and discriminated against primarily because of my race and religion, in addition to the fact that I don't know any information that the American govt is trying to pressure out of me.

I do not understand the American laws and this is what led to my pleading guilty in the first case. I have difficulty understanding the new charges also.

I have been charged under, section 2339(a) of Title 18 of the United States code, which makes it illegal to provide material support to a foreign terrorist.

Please understand, I am not a terrorist, I do not know any terrorist and I have had no connections with or to any known or unknown terrorist. I have been incarcerated for last 5 years and I had no money to provide or launder.

The law enforcement have in America is pressuring me to provide information to them that I really do not have or know. I am a Canadian Citizen and nearly all of my family is in Canada, including my wife and kids. I don't know any information to tell them to help their investigation.
Because of this , I am being treated unfairly and my rights under the American constitution are being violated. I am being held here in further detention against my will for crimes which I could have never committed, because I was in prison.

I believe, that I am a victim of the discrimination that was outlined in the July 3, 2006 issue of Time magazine (Page 29, column 3). In this article section 2339(a) & (b) are discussed and criticized "as most suspects are charged under these two sections. However, the justice dept here in America admits that of the more than 218 guilty pleas that it has obtained, most are for minor investigation issues that are uncovered deeding the course of their terrorism investigation. This suggest, according to the article that the Attorney General's office have is not concerned about the rights or fairness or the manner in which it achieves convictions for the people they arrest. Furthermore, criticizes have noted that one of the patterns to emerge from these domestic prosecutions is that suspect seen too incompetent to carry out the deeds they are accused of. The Deputy Attorney General acknowledges that the Dept of Justice's goal is " preventions through prosecution's" and this is done with no regard for an individual's rights.

I agree that these guilty of terrorism should be prosecuted . But as the above mentioned article suggest , innocent people should not be targeted because of their race or religion.
I am not a terrorist and I should not be targeted and treated unfairly and unjustly.
I need your assistance desperately in my case, as I believe that I am being treated unjustly here. I would like to send you my attorney's contact information and provide you with legal documents related to my case, so that you may become more familiar with my situation.

Please also note, that I appeared in the court , for no guilty of my 2nd superseding indictment on Aug 02, 2006 and on Aug 03, 2006 FBOP officials placed me in the SHU (Segregation Housing Unit) out of these months, I placed in the SHU isolation from Aug 03, 2006 to March 6, 2007 for unknown "Pending Investigation" in these 215 days of my segregation and isolation, I don't have a single phone call access to my family, no legal calls to my attorney and Canadian Council, my legal mail opened in my absence, no medical treatment for my injured shoulder (even I went for hunger strike for 3 and half day) I harassed by the various jail officials and lot of other problems too which already been submitted in the attention of the FBOP higher authorities, but no action taken on them, after writing the court, instead of receiving the response or any action on my complaints, jail officials removed /moved me from MDC federal facility to Nassau County Jail .
My suffering has gone on for far too long, and I need your help to bring my suffering to an end. I want to return home to my family, because my imprisonment was injustice and will remain a great injustice forever.

May God bless you and be with you in your efforts to champion the cause of human rights, and the suffering of innocent prisoners and restore hope, faith and love to peoples all over the world.

Sincerely,

KHALID AWAN
FBOP NO. 50959-054


Posted by: Arshad malik | May 23, 2007 12:33 PM

I request all the media and all human rights organizations to help us in this matter and be a source of Awan's freedom. We are dieing to see him. He is innocent. This is an appeal from a sister who cannot do anything sitting very far away from USA. Whoever can help, please help us in this matter, please do something for Mr. Khalid's freedom, he is really an innocent person and true muslim only.
Looking forward for help in the above stated matter..........

Posted by: saima | May 24, 2007 12:57 AM

I can assure you that not all of the correspondence sent out by this prisoner by first class mail goes to where he sends it. The BOP routinely "loses" mail from these types of political prisoners.. The mail goes first to the AUSA handling the case(copies sent by fax or e-mail for instant scrutiny) and if the AUSA deems the letter OK it goes on..if not...it is deliberately lost..this severely limits any BOP prisoner from garnering support..How do I know this,,,,I was a political prisoner for a decade..Any requests for help to Senators, Representatives,,peace organizations,,,never made it...even when I certified the mail...They often took out the original letter and stuffed letter with garbage letter..supposed Legal mail which was allowed to be sealed, was routinely opened, copied, and resealed..Many of these legal mail letters never made it to attorney or news organizations. I do not know Mr. AWAN or have any opinion on his guilt or innocence but I do know that he will have much trouble seeking outside help because of this "policy" of interfering with mail.

Posted by: robert Lipka | May 25, 2007 08:30 AM

I can assure you that not all of the correspondence sent out by this prisoner by first class mail goes to where he sends it. The BOP routinely "loses" mail from these types of political prisoners.. The mail goes first to the AUSA handling the case(copies sent by fax or e-mail for instant scrutiny) and if the AUSA deems the letter OK it goes on..if not...it is deliberately lost..this severely limits any BOP prisoner from garnering support..How do I know this,,,,I was a political prisoner for a decade..Any requests for help to Senators, Representatives,,peace organizations,,,never made it...even when I certified the mail...They often took out the original letter and stuffed letter with garbage letter..supposed Legal mail which was allowed to be sealed, was routinely opened, copied, and resealed..Many of these legal mail letters never made it to attorney or news organizations. I do not know Mr. AWAN or have any opinion on his guilt or innocence but I do know that he will have much trouble seeking outside help because of this "policy" of interfering with mail.

Posted by: robert Lipka | May 25, 2007 08:32 AM

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