Friday, July 23, 2004

Farouk Abdel-Muhti dies in Philadelphia

I turned on the radio yesterday and caught the end of a report about the death of Mr. Abdel-Muhti. He had just finished a speech when he collapsed. The cause of his death was not clear to me.

Mr. Abdel-Muhti was an activist in Palestine who broadcast reports live from trouble spots, including the Israeli takeover of Arafat's compound. After FBI and INS harrassment, he was arrested and detained for two years in various jails in the United States without ever having been charged with anything. He was held in one jail in "the hole" for eight months in a 23+-hour lockdown, being permitted only 45 minutes per day out of the cell, without ever being told why. Pressure from human rights groups and others finally resulted in a judge ordering him either to be charged or released. He was released in April of this year.

Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! conducted an interview with Mr. Abdel-Muhti at the time of his release.

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