Citizen justice advocates have events planned heading into the weekend in a show of solidarity with those they believe are unjustly imprisoned...
Yassin Aref, the Albany imam convicted of material support for terrorism along with pizzeria owner Mohammed Hossain after a 2006 FBI sting, is preparing to file a new appeal asking for a new trial. This after Aref discovered significant new evidence about his case.
Kathy Manley, with the law firm Kindlon Shanks, says the evidence was apparently shown to the trial judge and the appeal court, but not to either the defense attorneys or to the jury at trial.
Project Salam's Lynne Jackson is circulating an online petition that asks the judge who would hear the appeal, Honorable Thomas McAvoy — who was also the Aref-Hossain case trial judge — to give it serious consideration.
Friday night, Aref supporters will gather at the Central Avenue Mosque, Masjid As Salam.
Saturday, Jackson will set out on a 133-mile walk from Albany to Binghmaton to deliver a petition to support the motion for a new trial. Jackson expects to arrive in Binghamton the morning of Tuesday, July 23rd. Aref is serving his 15-year sentence at the low-security federal prison in Loretto, PA. His release date is October 2018.
Sign the Petition for Yassin Aref - A Case of Mistaken Identity
Rally and March - Friday, July 12, 6:00 PM, Albany, NY
Journey for Justice - Deliver petition to home court of the judge by walking to Binghamton, NY
Walk Route - List of beginning and ending locations for each day, July 12 to July 23
Muslim Solidarity Committee: http://nepajac.org/Aref&Hossain.htm
Meanwhile, Brendan Maslauskas Dunn is involved with Citizen Action and Occupy Utica in the organization of a series of protests in Utica Friday and Saturday in solidarity with 30,000 thousand inmates involved in a hunger strike in California. Details and links follow...
WHAT: Rally and Picket in Solidarity with California Prison Hunger Strikers
WHEN: Friday July 12 at 5:00pm, State Office Building on Genesee Street outside
the parole office.
AND
Saturday July 13 at 12:00pm, meet at Dunkin Donuts at Oneida Square on
Genesee Street. We will travel to Oneida County Jail, Marcy Correctional
Facility and Mid-State Correctional Facility to drop banners in solidarity
with strikers. Solitary confinement and many other forms of abuse exist in
local prisons
Members of Incarcerated Flavors and other organizations will have a peaceful protest Friday, July 12 at 5:00pm in front of the State Office Building in Utica on Genesee Street. The local parole office is located here, making this a good place to raise awareness of the statewide hunger strike and work stoppage in California prisons. Prisoners in Washington State and other states as well as Palestinian prisoners are also participating in this strike. We will then meet at Dunkin Donuts the following day on Genesee Street at Oneida Square to travel to three local prisons to show solidarity with the prisoners. The strike starts today, July 8th, and will continue indefinitely until core demands of the prisoners are met. This is also a strike against solitary confinement which has been condemned as torture by the international community.
If your organization is interested as being an organization in solidarity with this protest, if you are interested in participating, or would like to help make signs and banners, please contact Brendan at maslauskas84@gmail.com or 315 240-3149.
SIGN THE PETITION:
http://www.change.org/petitions/support-pelican-bay-shu-prisoners-five-core-demands-hunger-strike
FIND OUT MORE INFORMATION:
http://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/
BACKGROUND
(on solitary confinement) http://ccrjustice.org/solitary-factsheet
