Fw: [PRISONACT] Muslim Tortured in US Prison

["Nello Margiotta" <animarg at tin.it>]

   From: Zapata Vive <ZapataVive at gmx.de>
   To: zapatistapdx at lists.riseup.net, forum at umprowe-freiburg.de
   Subject: [zapatistaPDX] Muslim Tortured in US Prison (Indymedia)
   Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2001 17:02:35 +0100 (MET)

   Muslim Tortured in US Prison (english)
   Sun Nov 4 '01 (Modified on 10:25am Sun Nov 4 '01)

   Aziz Butt said that the autopsy report revealed marks on Rafiq
   Butt's body suggesting he had been subjected to severe torture
   before his death. The report found multiple fractures in his
   cousin's legs and chest, as well as deep bruises on the body, Aziz
   Butt said.
     Muslim Tortured in US Prison
   A relative of a Pakistani who died in FBI custody last week claimed the
   detainee was tortured by U.S. prison authorities.

  Rafiq Butt, 42, was taken into custody by the FBI after the September 11
   terror attacks on New York and Washington. He was arrested in New York,
   where he had been living for several years.

   The FBI claimed that Butt died of cardiac arrest. He was being detained
as
   a material witness and had not been charged with a crime.

   Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported on Butt's death on October 24,
   identifying him as 55-year-old Muhammed Butt, and quoting a criminal
   justice official as saying that he died "of natural causes from a
pre-existing heart
   condition."

   "He did not have anthrax. He was taking antibiotics but he did not have
   anthrax," Emily Hornaday told AFP by telephone.

   According to AFP, Butt had been handed over to the INS (Immigration and
   Naturalization Service) on September 20 and had spent the last three
weeks
   of his life in the Hudson County jail in northern New Jersey. Hornaday
said
   he was "in the process of being deported."

   Butt's body arrived in Lahore a few days ago and was immediately sent to
   Mayo Hospital Lahore for an autopsy, according to Aziz Butt, the dead
man's
   cousin.

   Aziz Butt said that the autopsy report revealed marks on Rafiq Butt's
body
   suggesting he had been subjected to severe torture before his death. The
   report found multiple fractures in his cousin's legs and chest, as well
as
   deep bruises on the body, Aziz Butt said.

   A spokesman for the Mayo hospital could not be reached for comment.

   Aziz Butt said his family had faced serious difficulties in having his
   cousin's body returned to Pakistan. He claimed FBI officials deliberately
   delayed  sending the body back and initially insisted on burying the
corpse in the
   United States.

   He added that his family was considering legal action against the FBI and
   other relevant U.S. agencies, who he claims are responsible for his
   cousin's  death.

   "They have surpassed our police, which is blamed for custodial and
   extra-judicial killings," said an emotional Aziz Butt. "Of course it was
a
   murder.
   They have killed him without any proof."

   Turkish News online reported Thursday that some of the Muslim men jailed
   during the U.S. investigation of the September 11 attacks are complaining
   about being held in solitary confinement, stripped, blindfolded,
physically
   abused by guards or cellmates and deprived of sleep.

   "I was treated worse than an animal," said Yazeed al-Salmi, a former
   housemate of one of the alleged hijackers. A Saudi living in California,
   al-Salmi said he was released last month from the Metropolitan
Correctional Center
   (MCC)  in Manhattan.

   Al-Salmi's case was also detailed in an October 15 article in the
   WashingtonPost.

   "They don't call you by name. They call you [expletive] terrorist,"
   Al-Salmi  said in the Post article of his jail guards. During his
"humiliating and
   terrifying" detention, the Post said, he missed three weeks of school and
   wasevicted from his apartment.

   U.S. authorities disputed some of the specific allegations and have
denied
   any pattern of abuse against the more than 1,000 people who were
initially
   detained.

  But an INS district director in Texas, Anne Estrada, admitted to the Los
   Angeles Times in an October 15 article that such problems do exist for
some
detainees being held at local jails.

   "Sometimes there are some misunderstandings and miscommunications about
   what our standards are, and sometimes we have to reach out to the county
jails
   so they understand," Estrada said in the Times article.

   Some of the detainees are being held in solitary confinement on material
   witness warrants, immigration violations or other charges. U.S.
authorities
   say they are attempting to find out if they have any links to the
September 11
   attacks or if they have any information that may advance the
investigation.

   Recently, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) demanded the U.S.
   Justice Department reveal more about the identity of detainees and why
they
   are  being held, the daily Turkish News reported.

   ACLU official Anthony Romero wrote a recent letter to Attorney General
John
   Ashcroft requesting that the information should be released "to assure
the
   American public that the government's investigation is both thorough and
   fair."


   As many as 100 people are being held in federal lockups in New York City
   alone as part of the investigation.

   Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman Linda Smith said accusations against guards
   in New York are unsubstantiated. Among the allegations, she said, are
that
   prisoners have been blindfolded and denied access to attorneys.


   On October 23rd Amnesty International press release expressed concern
about
   two prisoners in New York's MCC who were "reportedly denied exercise;
given
   certain foods which they cannot eat on religious grounds; [and] kept
   in cold cells, with only one blanket."

   Both the L.A. Times and the Washington Post articles detailed cases in
   which lawyers had trouble contacting their detainee clients, or in which
some
   prisoners were initially not allowed to contact their lawyers. Amnesty's
   statement also expressed concern about prisoners being "denied prompt
   access to lawyers or relatives."

   The only glimpse of the detainees' life behind bars has come from a few
   prisoners who have either been released or made appearances in open
court.

   Usama Awadallah, a Jordanian college student from San Diego, was held as
a
   material witness for a month before he was charged October 19 with lying
to
   a grand jury about whether he knew one of the hijackers.