Sameh Khouzam is free

Sameh Khouzam, an Egyptian persecuted and tortured in his homeland for his religious beliefs, was freed yesterday after seven months in York County Prison. The York Dispatch has coverage, including photos of his homecoming.

Andy in Harrisburg

Sameh Khouzam free tomorrow?

We just found out that the Third Circuit Court of Appeals denied the government's request for a stay of the release of Sameh Khouzam. Unless the government tries any other legal maneuvering, Sameh will walk out of York County Prison tomorrow a free man with protection from the Convention Against Torture.

There was quite a bit of media coverage, both national and in PA, on the decision last week. The best story I saw was in the New York Times, which included insight from academics on how this case will affect future cases.

Philip G. Schrag, a professor of law at Georgetown University and an expert on asylum issues, said the ruling was significant.

"The importance of this case," he said, "lies in its rejection of the Bush administration's claim that secret diplomatic assurances by a foreign government that it will not torture a person preclude judicial review."

The American Civil Liberties Union, which represented Mr. Khouzam, echoed that view. And Marc D. Falkoff, assistant professor of law at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb and counsel for 16 Yemenis held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, said the ruling could have sweeping implications for those detained at Guantánamo.

"It's tremendously important," Mr. Falkoff said. "It's not a binding precedent outside the jurisdiction of the Third Circuit but the ruling has persuasive authority in any federal court and, without a doubt, it will be brought to the attention of any federal judge who has a case pending where a detainee or prisoner is challenging the government's right to transfer him to a country where he might be tortured."

Andy in Harrisburg

Victory! Sameh Khouzam wins indefinite stay of deportation

Today a federal judge in the Middle District of Pennsylvania granted Sameh Khouzam an indefinite stay of deportation. The opinion by Judge Thomas Vanaskie had some beauts. Here are a few of our favorites:

Finally, the public interest will be advanced by granting a stay. As
noted above, protection against torture is an essential component of the rule of law and a democratic society. While Khouzam may have no right to be in the United States, he most assuredly has a right not to be tortured. Granting a stay of removal to assure proper observance of the applicable law serves the public interest...

The protection against torture on which the principle of non-return rests is a fundamental right that is important to the rule of law and essential to a democratic society...

[N]o showing has been made by Respondents that removal based upon diplomatic assurances by a country known to have engaged in torture is consistent with the CAT (Convention Against Torture)...

Respondents' construction of the REAL ID Act to bar any judicial review of the Secretary of Homeland Security’s decision to terminate an alien's deferral of removal raises substantial constitutional questions.

There is still more to come as our legal team tries to spring him from jail. Justice 1, Torture 0.

Andy in Harrisburg

Senator Casey, Rep. Pitts rise up for what's right

We are happy to report that Senator Casey has sent letters to Secretary of State Rice and Secretary of Homeland Security Chertoff on behalf of Sameh Khouzam, and Rep. Joe Pitts gave a speech on the House floor on Wednesday on Sameh's behalf. Casey and Pitts both called on the executive branch to stop the deportation proceedings and follow the United States' obligations under the Convention Against Torture.

Please thank Senator Casey and Rep. Pitts for doing the right thing!
Case: 202-224-6324
Pitts: 202-225-2411

Andy in Harrisburg

Temporary stay for Sameh Khouzam

Sameh Khouzam will not be sent to Egypt tomorrow to be tortured. Today a federal judge in the Middle District of PA ruled that Sameh has a stay until June 18. Our legal team has until June 11 to respond to a 100-page brief by the government.

Meanwhile, today both the New York Times and the York Daily Record featured the story in their papers.

Andy in Harrisburg

Amnesty sends global alert

If the ACLU yelling from the rooftops didn't give you enough of an idea of how serious the situation is with Sameh Khouzam, Amnesty International has just sent an action alert. Around the world. Here is part of it:

Amnesty International continues to receive well-supported allegations of torture and ill-treatment in Egypt. Some people taken to police stations in connection with minor offences are tortured or ill-treated to force them to confess; others are detained without being accused of anything.

The torture takes various forms. The most frequently reported methods are beatings; electric shocks; suspension by the wrists and ankles and in contorted positions for long periods; and threats that the victim or their relatives will be killed, raped or otherwise sexually assaulted...

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in English or your own language:
- expressing concern that Sameh Khouzam may be at risk of torture or ill-treatment if returned to Egypt, and calling on the US authorities to halt his deportation;
- calling on them never to rely on diplomatic assurances when deciding whether a person is at risk of torture or ill-treatment if transferred to another country;
- calling on them to reaffirm the absolute nature of the obligation under international law not to transfer any person to a country where there are substantial grounds for believing that he or she would be in danger of being subjected to torture or other ill-treatment.

APPEALS TO:

The Honorable Condoleezza Rice
Secretary of State
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street, N.W.
Washington DC 20520, USA
Fax: +1 202 261 8577
E-mail: Secretary@state.gov
Salutation: Dear Secretary of State

The Honorable Michael Chertoff
Secretary of Homeland Security
US Department of Homeland Security
Washington DC 20528, USA
Fax: +1 202 456 2461
Salutation: Dear Secretary Chertoff

COPIES TO:

The Honorable Alberto Gonzales
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington DC 20530 0001, USA
Fax: +1 202 307 6777
Email: AskDOJ@usdoj.gov
Salutation: Dear Attorney General

and to diplomatic representatives of the USA accredited to your country.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.

Andy in Harrisburg

Website dedicated to saving Sameh

Sameh Khouzam's friends have started a website with important and helpful information about his situation. Check it out at www.savesameh.org.

Andy in Harrisburg

Two days 'til torture?

Sameh Khouzam, left, with local activist and friend of the ACLU Kathleen Lucas

With his stay scheduled to run out on Thursday, Sameh Khouzam is still in great peril and still in detention at York County Prison, but the ball is rolling. Some great work by some great folks, including but not limited to my colleagues from the ACLU of PA and the ACLU, has gotten the word out there about what is happening to Sameh and the Bush administration's partnership in torture with the Egyptians.

We sent out this press release this afternoon and have already received hits from the AP and UPI. The AP story was even picked up my media outlets in Israel and France. Since the press release is only ten hours old, we'll surely get some more coverage tomorrow.

The legal team is hard at work in the courts, and we have to keep the pressure on our public officials! To his great credit, Rep. Joe Pitts and his staff have been working it from their end. Now that we've had a few days to figure out who to contact, we're adding a few additional contacts. Please call the Department of State at 202-647-4000 and Immigration and Customs Enforcement at 202-282-8000. These are the public comment lines. The message is simple:

The United States is a signatory to the Convention Against Torture. Under this treaty, the United States has an obligation to not send a person to a country where he/she will be tortured, which is the very outcome that a U.S. federal court found would occur if Sameh were sent back to Egypt.

Every bit of public pressure helps.

Update- Tuesday, 2:55pm: The message to State should be directed to John Bellinger, legal counsel to Secretary Rice, and the message to ICE should be directed to Julie Myers, the head of ICE.

The (sad) state of due process

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses
Yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door."

Sameh Khouzam is an Egyptian and is a Coptic Christian. Coptic Christians in Egypt number in the millions but over the years have come under increasing threat from Islamic leaders and the state police. Under threat of torture due to his religious beliefs and his refusal to convert to Islam, Sameh fled Egypt in 1998 and came to the United States. U.S. authorities detained him when he arrived in the United States.

Sameh then spent eight years in US prisons, including York County Prison, while he awaited the outcome of his application for asylum. In 2004, he won a "deferral of removal" under the Convention Against Torture (CAT) (PDF) to stop his deportation, and in 2006, he finally walked free. He has been living in York and working in Lancaster since that time.

In January, the Department of Homeland Security decided to revoke his deferral of removal, which they have the power to do. (Incredibly, a department within the executive branch has the power to overrule a ruling from a federal court, a power that the ACLU opposes.) Under the conditions of his release, Sameh checks in with the government once every three weeks, which he has done faithfully since his release.

Despite knowing that his deferral had been revoked since January, the government just informed Sameh on Tuesday that he will be deported back to Egypt. On Friday. And then they said that they told him on Tuesday so that he would have time to challenge it legally. They gave him 72 hours to challenge, even though they’ve known for four months.

We are urging people to call Senators Specter and Casey and Reps. Pitts and Platts. We are asking them to contact DHS and the Department of State to intervene on Sameh’s behalf. These calls need to be made this afternoon! Congress is not in session, so these Congressmen should be in their home offices:

Senator Specter: 215-597-7200
Senator Casey: 570-941-0930
Rep. Platts: 717-600-1919
Rep. Pitts: 717-393-0667

Sameh's right to due process has been trampled, and he is under threat of religious persecution in Egypt. An activist friend of ours says, "His life is on the line."

Update: 3:00pm: We just received word that Sameh received a stay until June 7 from the federal court in the Middle District of Pennsylvania. Thankfully, there is someone remaining in the government who recognizes the right to due process.

This positive outcome, however, does not detract from the point that DHS' handling of this situation is seriously flawed. If they made a decision in January to deport him on June 1, the sensible and just action to take would have been to inform him immediately in order to give him time to respond. 72 hours for a response before sending him back to his torturers is not just.

Andy in Harrisburg