Magistrates’ Court Orders One Week Remand of Arab Political Leaders who Took Part in the Gaza Freedom Flotilla

ADALAH PRESS RELEASE

2 June 2010

Magistrates’ Court Orders One Week Remand of Arab Political Leaders who Took Part in the Gaza Freedom Flotilla

Legal defense team: “The court’s decision to detain the Arab political leaders who took part in the Gaza Freedom Flotilla is discriminatory and constitutes selective prosecution. They are not being detained because of their Israeli citizenship but because they are Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel. Instead, the Israeli military, which attacked the ship and its passengers, should be investigated for violations of international law.”  

(Haifa, Israel) Last night, 1 June 2010, Judge Dina Cohen of the Magistrates’ Court in Ashkelon, after a nine-hour hearing before a packed courtroom, decided to extend the detention of Arab political leaders — Mr. Muhammed Zeidan, the Chairman of the High Follow-up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel; Sheikh Raed Salah, the Head of the Islamic Movement in Israel (northern branch); and Sheikh Hamad Abu Daabes, the Head of the Islamic Movement in Israel (southern branch)  — and Ms. Lubna Masarwa of the Free Gaza Movement and Al Quds University for one week, until 8 June 2010.

The four Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel were arrested from the ship Mavi Marmara, part of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, which was attacked by the Israeli navy on 31 May 2010. Adalah Attorneys Hassan Jabareen and Orna Kohn, as well as Attorney Hussein Abu Hussein, and Attorney Khaled Zabargha of the Al Mezan Legal Center in Nazareth represented the four before the court.

While no indictment has been issued, the state argues that a range of criminal offenses could apply, including conspiracy to commit an offense, and possession and use of weapons. The state prosecution clearly emphasized in court that their request to remand the leaders was made in accordance with the state’s policy of investigating and detaining citizens of Israel who participated in the Gaza Freedom Flotilla.

In the view of the legal defense team, the state’s request and the court’s decision contradict the basic principles of criminal law, which require that individuals should be criminalized solely on the basis of their individual deeds. The prosecution argued that the Israeli naval soldiers were attacked by the passengers on the ship; however, they did not furnish any evidence to demonstrate that one of these four individuals had participated in or were responsible for the attack. 

Further, the legal defense team asserts that the decision discriminates against the detainees and amounts to selective prosecution due solely to their national belonging. They are not being detained because of their Israeli citizenship but because they are Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel.  

The attorneys raised numerous preliminary arguments before the court in arguing for the release of the four leaders. They argued that the Israeli courts had no jurisdiction over the case, as the ship had been in international waters at the time of the Israeli navy’s attack. The state prosecution was unable to respond to the question of what the legal authority of the Israeli military was to attack the boat in international waters.

The attorneys also argued that the detention was illegal, prima facie, as the law requires those arrested to be brought before a court within 24 hours. In this case, however, the four individuals were kept in detention for almost 40 hours before being brought to court. The state prosecution and the police argued that the hours of detention should be calculated only from time that the ship reached the Ashdod Port. The defense attorneys countered that since their liberty was taken from them when they were arrested on the ship, the detention began with their arrest. They were not allowed to meet a lawyer and were not brought before a judge within the limits of the law.

Adalah will submit an appeal against the decision to remand them in custody to the District Court of Beer el-Sabe tomorrow, 3 June 2010.

Adalah (“Justice” in Arabic) is an independent human rights organization and legal center based in Israel. It works to promote and defend the rights of Palestinian citizens of Israel and Palestinians living under occupation in the OPT before Israeli courts. Visit our website: www.adalah.org

CAIR Denounces Radio Talk Show Host Michael Savage

Contact: Ibrahim Hooper, +1-202-488-8787 or +1-202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; Rabiah Ahmed, +1-202-488-8787 or +1-202-439-1441, rahmed@cair.com; Amina Rubin, +1-202-488-8787 or +1-202-341-4171, arubin@cair.com, all of CAIR


Host does not 'represent the views of Citrix Systems or Citrix Online'


WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today thanked Citrix Systems, Inc. for agreeing to drop its advertisements from Michael Savage's nationally-syndicated radio program because of the host's anti-Muslim views.


CAIR recently reported that Savage, whose "The Savage Nation" airs on more than 300 radio stations nationwide, screamed attacks on Muslims, Islam and the Quran, Islam's revealed text, during his October 29, 2007, program.


To listen to Savage's bigoted statements, go to: http://www.cair.com/audio/savage_102907.asp


SEE: National Radio Host Goes on Anti-Muslim Tirade www.cair.com/ArticleDetails.aspx?ArticleID=23608&&name=n&&currPage=1&&Active=1


The Washington-based Islamic civil rights and advocacy group called on radio listeners of all faiths to contact companies that advertise on Savage's program to express their concerns about the host's anti-Muslim bigotry. (He has since stepped up his attacks on Islam and Muslims in response to CAIR's advertiser campaign.)


In a letter to CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad, a Citrix official wrote:


"Citrix Systems, Inc. and Citrix Online, LLC are in receipt of numerous communications from representatives, members and constituents of your organization.


"On behalf of Citrix Systems and Citrix Online, I want to share with you and your organization that free speech is a valued constitutional right that is respected by Citrix Systems and Citrix Online; however we want to make clear that the opinions expressed on the Michael Savage program -- or any other program we advertise in -- do not in any way represent the views of Citrix Systems or Citrix Online.


"Separately, please know that effective Monday, November 5, 2007, Citrix Online ended its advertising relationship with the Michael Savage program."


Citrix is a global leader in application delivery infrastructure, including www.gotomypc.com, www.gotomeeting.com, www.gotoassist.com, www.gotowebinar.com.


"We appreciate Citrix's principled action to disassociate itself from Michael Savage's hate-filled rhetoric," said CAIR Communications Coordinator Amina Rubin. "We urge other local and national companies running ads on Savage's program to follow Citrix's example in support of religious tolerance."


Rubin added: "Free speech is a precious right that we fully support and strive to protect. We are not seeking to curb Mr. Savage's freedom of speech, but to demonstrate that Americans and American companies will not tolerate hatred and bigotry."


CAIR, America's largest Muslim civil liberties group, has 33 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.


SOURCE Council on American-Islamic Relations

CAIR on IslamoFacism Week of Hatred

‘ISLAMO-FASCISM’ WEEK SPEAKER MEETS WITH EUROPEAN 'NEO-NAZIS' - TOP
Robert Spencer is main speaker for upcoming Islamophobic campus tour

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 10/21/2007) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) revealed today that the main speaker for an upcoming series of "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week" lectures at university campuses nationwide recently offered a keynote address at a European gathering that included representatives of racist or "neo-Nazi" political parties.

Author Robert Spencer, who is scheduled to appear beginning next week at universities such as Brown, DePaul and Dartmouth, is regarded by American Muslims as one of the nation's worst Islamophobes. His virulently anti-Islam website promotes the idea that life for Muslims in the West should be made so difficult that they will leave.

Spencer recently spoke at a so-called "Counterjihad Brussels 2007" conference in Belgium attended by those with links to far-right parties such as Filip Dewinter of Vlaams Belang (Belgium) and Ted Ekeroth of Sverigedemokraterna (Sweden). Both parties have been accused of either having a racist platform, a neo-Nazi past or having links to neo-Nazis and other racists.

Vlaams Belang is the successor to the Vlaams Blok party, which was banned in 2004 for being an illegal racist political faction. (Vlaams Belang's founders were Nazi collaborators in World War II.)

Of Sverigedemokraterna, the International Herald Tribune wrote: “Sverigedemokraterna, or the Sweden Democrats, have been part of this country's political landscape for almost 20 years, but they were considered too close to the Nazi-inspired far-right to contend for large numbers of votes.” (7/7/06)

SEE: European Organizations Gather in Brussels to Organize Resistance to Islamization and Shariah


SEE: Court Rules Vlaams Blok is Racist


Robert Spencer's Jihad Watch Board Vice President "Hugh Fitzgerald" wrote on that hate site: "Only one group, only one belief-system, distinguishes itself by appearing incapable of fitting in. And that is Muslims, and Islam ... if one really knew what Islam contained ... then how could any decent person remain a Muslim?"

He also recommended that western nations be "Islam-proofed the way a house is child-proofed," compared Muslims to Nazis and urged that they be boycotted: "[I]t should not be hard to find ways to limit the spread or practice of Islam. And if in addition to whatever local, state and federal government officials do, private parties simply conduct their own boycott of goods and services offered by Muslims, in the same way that they would have refused to buy, in 1938, a German Voigtlander camera..."

Other speakers on the "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week" tour include Ann Coulter, who refers to Muslims as "rag heads," and Daniel Pipes, a supporter of the internment of Japanese-Americans in World War II and of the views of French racist Jean-Marie Le Pen.

“All those who value religious tolerance and diversity should be concerned about the growing links between European racists and American Islamophobes,” said CAIR Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper.

Publicity for the tour got off to a bad start when it was revealed that the poster promoting the campus events used a photograph that purportedly showed a Muslim woman being stoned to death, but which was in fact an image from a fictional movie.

CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 33 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair.com; CAIR Communications Coordinator Rabiah Ahmed, 202-488-8787 or 202-439-1441, E-Mail: rahmed@cair.com; CAIR Communications Coordinator Amina Rubin, 202-488-8787 or 202-341-4171, E-Mail: arubin@cair.com

SEE ALSO:

WA: MUSLIMS UPSET BY CAMPUS EVENT - TOP
Janet I. Tu, Seattle Times, 10/20/07


A controversial week of events, billed as Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, launches at the University of Washington and some 100 other colleges next week — drawing condemnations from Muslim groups here and across the country.

The UW College Republicans, organizer of the local events, say the week is intended to foster awareness of the terrorist threat posed by a small number of extremists within Islam.

But some local Muslims say the week fosters Islamophobia and racism and attempts to paint all Muslims as terrorists.

Beginning Monday, the group plans to hand out information sheets describing what the week's activities are all about.

And it's hosting two events open to the public: a showing of "Suicide Killers," a documentary about suicide bombers, at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Smith Hall, and a talk by conservative author and talk-show host Michael Medved at 7 p.m. Thursday in Kane Hall.

Amin Odeh, a board member with the local Arab American Community Coalition, said he agrees that "radical anything is dangerous — radical Muslims, radical Christians, radical Jews. Education is needed."

But Odeh says Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week makes too general a link between extremism and Islam, and that the term "Islamo-fascism" links fascism with an entire religion.

"Unfortunately, when people hear the term they don't think of only a small group of extremists, but of Islam in general," he said.

Hala Dillsi, a member of the UW Muslim Student Association, believes Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week promotes fear and intolerance. She is distributing green armbands and encouraging people to wear T-shirts that are green — traditionally the color associated with Islam — on Wednesday in solidarity with local Arabs and Muslims.

The student group also is organizing a forum Oct. 29 in which professors and local Muslims discuss and answer questions about Islam.

Members of the Muslim Student Association, along with other organizations, also plan to hold protests outside Wednesday and Thursday evening's Awareness Week events.

Assistant Chief Ray Wittmier with the UW Police Department said his department is meeting with student organizers on all sides "to make sure everybody stays safe."