A LETTER TO SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY AND THE CASE OF HELP THE NEEDY'S DR. RAFIL DHAFIR

Dr. Rafil A. Dhafir was sentenced to 22 years in federal prison on Thursday, October 27th, 2005 for sending humanitarian aid to starving Iraqi civilians through his charity Help the Needy. Background on Rafil Dhafir at: http://www.jubileeinitiative.org/FreeDhafir.htm and http://www.dhafirtrial.net/ and http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10859.htm

You can send letters of support to:

Rafil A. Dhafir (Prisoner # 11921-052)
11921-052
FCI-Fairton
P.O. Box 420
Fairton, NJ 08320

And here is info about what prisoners can receive:

You cannot send anything other than cards and letters. Prisoners can also receive funds sent via Western Union and postal money orders. Books and magazines must be sent directly from the seller/publisher. I think you can get more detailed info at www.bop.gov.

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PLEASE HELP MY REQUEST BE HEARD FOR EQUAL TIME BE HEARD

A LETTER TO SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY AND THE CASE OF HELP THE NEEDY'S DR. RAFIL DHAFIR

By Katherine Hughes ( khughes@syr.edu ) - Dec 5, 2005 (see later updates below)

Below is a copy of an email that I sent to the Dean of Syracuse University's Law School after attending a lecture there. The lecture was entitled "A LAW ENFORCEMENT APPROACH TO TERRORIST FINANCING" and Dr. Dhafir's case along with his charity, Help the Needy, was being presented as an example of this approach.

Dr. Dhafir's three prosecutors were present along with Jeff Breinholt, Deputy Chief of Counterterrorism Section in the United States Department of Justice. Mr. Breinholt is also a research and practice associate of the Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism. This institute is hosted at the Syracuse University Law School.

Išve contacted the professor who hosted the lecture on two occasions but I have had no reply. I made and appointment with the dean of the law school and it was cancelled. I hope to have an appointment confirmed for this coming week.

Please write to: Dean Hannah Arterian, Syracuse University, 446 College of Law, Syracuse, NY 13244 , email: arterian@syr.edu . Ask that court watchers from the Dhafir case be invited to give a presentation to the class that heard the lecture about criminal prosecution of terrorist financing.

Thank you, Katherine ( khughes@syr.edu )

Conact Information:

Dean Hannah Arterian Syracuse University 446 College of Law Syracuse, NY 13244 Email: arterian@syr.edu Thomas Maroney, Professor (His class hosted the lecture) Syracuse University 446 College of Law Syracuse, NY 13244 Email: tjmarone@syr.edu William Banks, Professor of Law and Director Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism Syracuse University E.I. White Hall, Suite 287 Syracuse, New York 13244 Email: wcbanks@syr.edu Nancy Cantor, Chancellor and President Syracuse University 300 Tolley Administration Building 300 Comstock Avenue Syracuse, New York 13210 Email: ncantor@syr.edu

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Dear Dean Arterian,

I have contacted you before about my concern for what is happening to civil liberties in this country. We corresponded by email in the spring about bringing Elaine Cassel, author of "The War on Civil Liberties", to campus.

I am contacting you again in regard to the case of Dr. Rafil Dhafir. The law school hosted a lecture with Jeff Breinholt and the three Dhafir prosecutors, Michael Olmstead, Steve Green and Greg West.

As someone who sat through the 17-week trial of Dr. Dhafir, in response to an invitation from the ACLU, I am concerned that an esteemed law school would be providing this kind of platform for the government without giving a chance for the other side to be heard. I believe this is true particularly because the government lobbied the judge successfully to disallow the charge of terrorism being part of the trial (while at the same time continuing to smear Dr. Dhafir with this charge in the media). This ruling turned into a brick wall that the defense kept hitting during the proceedings, and I give examples of this on my website: www.dhafirtrial.net

The government has never provided any evidence that Dr. Dhafir helped fund terrorists. On the contrary his charity, Help the Needy, was one of the few charities getting aid through to starving Iraqi civilians. Over the course of the twelve years of brutal US sanctions, half a million children under the age of five died. Indeed, Assistant UN Secretary Denis Halliday resigned because of what he called a "genocidal policy" against Iraq.

There are another ten or so people who responded to the call for "court watchers" from the ACLU. We are all extremely concerned about what happened at the law school. In the interest of fairness, these same students, who heard the prosecution's view of the facts, should be able to hear another perspective. Certainly the view of the court watchers was never made available by the paper to the general public. I am hoping that we haven't yet reached that point in academia. I hope you will be willing to set up a forum where the other side of this case can be heard.

This case has never been about just Dr. Dhafir for me; what has happened in his case is merely a symptom of a much greater problem. The degree to which individuals are complicit in what is happening will determine what kind of world we will leave to our children. This is the reason why I believe it is so vital that people have an opportunity to be informed of the whole story.

Below is an article that I wrote after the sentencing; it gives a good summary of the case and of my own concern about what is happening to civil liberties in this country. I am still available for the Friday December 2nd appointment if it becomes free again. Otherwise I look forward to meeting with you some time next week.

Sincerely, Katherine Hughes

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Below is the post that advertised the lecture on the Institute of National Security and Counter Terrorism website: http://www.law.syr.edu/academics/centers/insct/news.asp

A Law Enforcement Approach to Terrorist Financing

The 9/11 Commission recommended that U.S. counter-terrorism efforts focus on tracking and preventing terrorist financing, not only to decrease their capability directly but also to learn about their networks and operations in order to disrupt them. The U.S. employs a number of anti-terrorist financing strategies ranging from freezing the assets of designated foreign terrorist organizations to prosecuting those who provide material support to foreign terrorist organizations.

Deputy Chief of the Department of Justice's Counterterrorism Section, Jeffrey Breinholt, and Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York, Gregory West, will discuss these strategies generally and the challenges of investigating and prosecuting those involved in financing terrorists.

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Letter From Rafil Dhafir To Katherine Hughes

Written November 29th, 2005

Dear Katherine,

I am grateful that your card was the first piece of mail I received here and frankly I was surprised. [I had sent a card saying I had contacted the people he had asked me to contact to write to Judge Mordue about distribution of Help the Needy's money.]

There is no doubt that you and all those who will help making sure that HTN money goes to the needy in Iraq will be rewarded for this noble effort.

I just finished my first week here and I have been out only 4 hours total. The rest I am locked in solitary. No one takes the time to explain to me why. I am unable to contact my lawyer as they refused, nor speak to my wife. Jamesville (prison) was heaven compared to this Gestapo concentration camp. I have no idea if this is temporary or permanent. Everybody lies here, the warden, the captain, the so called counselor, etc. Can never get any one version from anybody as to whatšs going on.

Just to give you an example, I take a diuretic HCT2 for blood pressure, 12.5mg daily. They said they could not provide it for me. Instead they gave me a 50mg tablet (very small tiny pill) and said I am to take a fourth of a tablet a day. Išve never seen this even in Voodoo medicine in Africa. No one even had the brain to think how am I going to cut this tiny pill into 4!!!!

I guess life goes on. I am holding alright under the circumstances in this mad world.

It comforts me to know that there is a God and that there is a garden of bliss after we die and I sure look forward to be one of the lucky ones.

Thank you for being kind and thoughtful. Please give my best to all and wish you all a happy holiday.

Rafil Dhafir

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Video of Dr. Dhafir speaking at a fundraising event for Help the Needy

Heres the URLs:
Quicktime version:
http://www.a39.net/Dhafir/Dhafir.html
Flash version:
http://www.a39.net/Dhafir/DhafirFlash.html

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UPDATE FROM DEC 10, 2005

Thank you everyone who wrote to the Dean and others at Syracuse University Law School, I now have an appointment with the class professor for Monday, December 19, at 2pm. My experience of the last 13 months tells me that this would not have happened without this action; I appreciate it very much.

I am working on an article right now that puts what happened at the law school into the wider context that I have experienced over the last 13 months of being involved with this case. Within this context I will speak to specific instances of the law school lecture that addressed the Help The Needy (Dr. Dhafir's charity) case.

This is the end of the semester for me and I am glazing and firing my ceramic work. I am putting the article aside and hope to get back to it as soon as I possibly can.

If people still feel they want to write to the dean and or others at SU, they might consider suggesting that the law school hold a conference to discuss what is happening to civil liberties and the rule of law in this country. I believe it is particularly relevant to SU because three of the Help the Needy defendants are SU alumni, and many of the 150 Muslim families interrogated on the morning of the arrests have ties to the university.

Two speakers I would suggest for a conference on this topic are:

Elaine Cassel, author "The War on Civil Liberties." Cassel is a practicing attorney and a professor of law and psychology. Her book gives an overview of what is happening in the courts and has a full chapter on Islamic charities entitled, "Guilt by Association: The Islamic Charities." The Help the Needy case receives a brief mention.

And

Jennifer Van Bergen, author of "The Twilight of Democracy." Van Bergen is a journalist with a law degree and her book explains the legalities of what is happening in this country in terms that are easily accessible the lay reader. Criminal defense lawyer Lynne Stewart says on the back cover:

"Jennifer Van Bergen has been in the talented vanguard of Constitutional defenders. If she tells us that this is the twilight of democracy, we better take off our sunglasses and start organizing before dark."

Best, Katherine - ( khughes@syr.edu )