The Coalition to Protect People’s Rights

March 6, 2006

Assalamu Alaikum

Chicago is brighter today, thanks to a new justice coalition - The Coalition to Protect People’s Rights - which has come into being in Chicago. It is against torture. The Council of Islamic organizations is a part of it. This morning we had a press conference condemning use of evidence acquired through Israeli torture of Muhammad Salah.

Please Join the Coalition on Monday Morning Prayer Vigil:Monday, March 6th 10 AM – 12 PM
Federal Plaza - Dearborn & Adam, Down town Chicago
Members of the Coalition American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee-Chicago
Arab American Action Network
Chicagoland Committee for Civil Liberties and Rights
Civil Rights Education Center
Council on American Islamic Relations – Chicago
Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago

Statement of the Coalition:
The Coalition to Protect People’s Rights has united in order to raise public awareness about the United States government’s violation of Mr. Muhammad Salah’s due process rights. The Coalition, which is comprised of civil rights groups, human rights groups, community-based organizations, and concerned individuals, advocates for the safeguarding of people’s rights protected by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Please join our Coalition in this effort to protect human rights and Mr. Muhammad Salah’s right to a fair trial.

An American citizen of Palestinian descent, Mr. Salah traveled from his home in Bridgeview, IL to Israel in 1993 to provide monetary assistance to Palestinian families. At the Gaza border-crossing, over twenty Israeli soldiers arrested and detained him. The Israeli Secret Service then systematically tortured him during an 80-day interrogation and forced Mr. Salah to sign a confession in Hebrew, a language that Mr. Salah does not understand. The Israeli Military Court sentenced him to five years in prison. After serving his sentence, he returned home to his family in the U.S. in 1997.

When he returned, the U.S. government had launched an investigation and had listed him on a list of Specially Designated Terrorists. Mr. Salah is the only U.S. Citizen to be place on that list. As a result of this designation, all of the Salah family assets were frozen, and he was prohibited from receiving any goods or services from any U.S citizen not licensed to do so. Mr. Salah had to obtain permission from the Department of Treasury to get a job, to retain an attorney, to open a bank account, and to receive medical care. As a result of these restrictions, his entire family suffered consequences and now lives in fear of eviction. Mr. Salah suffered these restrictions on his rights without being notified as to the reasons and without an opportunity to challenge his placement on the list.

Not until 2001 did the United States federal government re-launch a grand jury investigation into Mr. Salah’s case. Then, in 2004, the U.S. charged Mr. Salah with aiding a terrorist organization based on the Hebrew confession, obtained through torture in 1993. He is scheduled to stand trial in the fall of 2006 in the United States District Court of the Northern District of Illinois. Mr. Salah’s lawyers moved to suppress the 1993 Hebrew confession as evidence. Starting on March 3, 2006, the court will hold hearings on whether the court will admit this confession as evidence. The court has closed to the public the portion of the hearing in which Mr. Salah’s Israeli interrogators will testify as to their methods of interrogation. The closing of the hearing further violates Mr. Salah’s Sixth Amendment Constitutional rights and the first amendment right to a full, fair and public trial.

As residents of Bridgeview, Mr. Salah and his wife have long been active members in their community, where they have raised their five children. Please join us in supporting Mr. Salah’s right to a fair and open trial by becoming a member of our coalition. We consider your membership to be a show of support and not an obligation to take on any coalition tasks. Please feel free to contact the Coalition for additional information or to become more directly involved in the Coalition’s campaign to protect the civil rights and human rights to which we all are entitled.

Thank you,
cpprchicago@yahoo.com
The Coalition to Protect People’s Rights