On the occasion of International Day in Support of Victims of Torture (this Friday), I wanted to ask my fellow Kossacks to simply sign and fax a letter (pasted at bottom of entry) to President Obama (202-456-2461) to help one of our fellow Americans who has been convicted on evidence produced under conditions of torture.
Ahmed Abu Ali was a young Arab-American studying abroad in Saudi Arabia in 2003 when he was abruptly arrested by Saudi security forces and held for twenty months, during which time he was interrogated - notably not only by the Saudis, but also FBI agents.
In the past, I have written about the much more well-known case of Sami Al-Arian and the overzealous and overly right-wing prosecutor named Gordon Kromberg who is hounding him. When Abu Ali's lawyer approached Kromberg in 2005 to ask for help to have his client extradited to the US (Kromberg is the Assistant US Attorney for Virginia, whence Ahmed hails), Kromberg infamously retorted, "He’s no good for us here, he has no fingernails left."
In any case, Ahmed was in fact extradited, only to be indicted with a conspiracy to assassinate then-President Bush. The government just had one little problemo: the only "evidence" they could muster was Ahmed's confession, which he gave while in Saudi custody, which he claims was a result of torture (oh yeah, he also wasn't read his Miranda rights or given access to a lawyer). Lucky for the government, presiding Judge Gerald Lee didn't think that this torture stuff and denial of basic civil rights was really relevant either, arguing that Ahmed was outside the US after all.
I know what you're thinking: Saudi Arabia? Torture? Given how much of a beacon Saudi Arabia is in promoting human rights, I too was initially incredulous until I came across this statement:
"The [Saudi] Government's human rights record remained poor. Citizens have neither the right nor the legal means to change their government. Security forces continued to abuse detainees and prisoners, arbitrarily arrest and detain persons, and hold them in incommunicado detention. In addition there were allegations that security forces committed torture."
That's when I began to think that Ahmed might be telling the truth. Nevertheless, given that this statement comes from some obscure, radical left-wing outfit called the US State Department [?], I was not overly surprised (although still disappointed) that the judge wouldn't entertain the possibility that Ahmed was in any way "pushed" to "confess" by means..."less than voluntary", having heard a convincing testimony from anonymous Saudi security officials who assured the court that Saudi Arabia never practices torture (by an unexpected coincidence, their anonymity prevented the defense from being able to attack their credibility...).
Unfortunately, on November 22, 2005, a Virginia federal jury pronounced Ahmed guilty, with the judge subsequently sentencing him to thirty years. To make matters worse, the goverment recently won an appeal to have Ahmed resentenced, possibly for life (the Judge will rule next month).
To this end, I wanted to ask everybody to sign the letter below and fax it to President Obama by this Friday, which is International Day in Support of Victims of Torture . It shouldn't take you more than two minutes.
I personally know Ahmed's family, and it's hard to describe how devastating it is to have your son/brother taken away from you for the rest of your life. For God's sake, 30 years for a crime you didn't commit is horrendous enough, but to be behind bars until the end of your days - just the thought of it is almost too difficult to bear.
Below is the text of the letter, which you can send as is.
In solidarity,
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Text of letter:
(Your name)
(Your address)
June 26, 2009
President Barack H. Obama
President of the United States of America
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington DC, 20500
Fax #: 202-456-2461
Dear President Obama,
My name is (first name)____ (last name)____ and I am writing to you from (city, state). In honor of International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, I ask you to initiate an investigation of the case of Ahmed Abu-Ali, a fellow American who has been wrongly convicted and imprisoned on the basis of a confession video that he made under torture while in a Saudi prison.
Ahmed, a Muslim American Texan native, was arrested in the middle of an exam in June 2003 while he was studying in Saudi Arabia at the behest of the United States government. He was held in jail for 20 months without charges or access to an attorney and sent back to the United States, where he was tried and convicted of conspiring to commit acts of terrorism on the basis of a false confession that was elicited in a Saudi prison through torture.
The United States government ordered Saudi Arabia to arrest Ahmed Abu-Ali in an attempt to connect him to a Virginia group. Apparently when it failed to do so, it ordered Saudi Arabia to extract whatever it can from him. Saudi Arabia tortured Ahmed and extracted a false confession. Meanwhile, the family reached out to the State Department, the Justice Department, the FBI, and even the White House, which sent them a letter of good wishes. All of these efforts by the government were in evasion of the family’s inquiry into the fate of their son. When the family finally sued in Washington, after losing hope in getting a straight answer from the government, Judge John Bates ordered the government to provide the court with everything related to its knowledge of or engagement in Ahmed’s arrest, detention, or treatment in Saudi Arabia. Instead of coming clean, the Justice Department fabricated an indictment, and in a two-month period from the judge’s order, it brought him from Saudi Arabia to be tried on nothing more than the primary evidence it had: the false confession video.
Mr. President, this is one of those cases where the government did not have to do rendition; their subject was already in a country notorious for torture and all what they had to do was request his detention. The Saudis had no interest in Ahmed’s detention; they were simply the agents of the United States. During the trial, many serious errors were committed even by the admission of the appeals court, but they were conveniently labeled as "harmless errors." Ahmed Abu-Ali’s torturers testified via video conference without the threat of penalty for perjury, and they swore audaciously in the court that Saudi Arabia does not torture, while the judge refused the defense’s request to show the jury State Department reports proving that Saudi Arabia is notorious for torture!
Mr. President, we appreciate the fact that you spoke and acted forcefully against torture, and we appreciate your principled stance on this and many other issues. While prohibiting future torture is a preventive remedy, it is no consolation to anyone in our prisons whose conviction was based on evidence obtained through torture. We urge you to initiate a comprehensive review/investigation of all cases in which evidence was tainted by torture, starting with the case of Ahmed Abu-Ali. We strongly urge you on this important day to send a strong message that our nation is not only willing to correct its course into the future, but is also willing to right the wrongs that have been done based on torture.
Respectfully Yours,
(include signature here)
(Your name)