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Action Alert: March 14, 2005
Nine Days After Assault on Detainee:
Attacker Still on Duty; Detainee Punished with Transfer, Segregation
Tell Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE): Stop the Cover-up!
Tell Congress: Investigate the Abuses
On March 5, 2005, at the San Pedro detention center in California, ICE agent
M. Lopez laughed at and made fun of immigration detainee Abdel-Jabbar
Hamdan’s illness and refused to let him use the bathroom, then brutally
assaulted detainee Mohammed Mirmehdi after Mohammed and his brother Mostafa questioned Lopez’s treatment of Mr. Hamdan.
Nine days later, ICE officials Gloria Kee and Victor Cerda seem to have
ignored the more than 100 letters, emails, faxes and phone calls they
received from concerned citizens and advocacy organizations–demanding
immediate medical care for Mr. Hamdan and Mohammed Mirmehdi, that Lopez be removed from duty while an investigation proceeds, and that Mr. Hamdan and all four of the Mirmehdi brothers be freed from unjust detention.
ICE spokesperson Virginia Kice claimed that Mohammed Mirmehdi hit Lopez and
both men fell down and were bruised. But the ACLU visited Mohammed and
stated that the marks on his body are not compatible with that story, and
indicate that excessive force was used against Mohammed.
While scandals grow around torture by US officials overseas, ICE officials
are attempting to cover up torture and abuse by one of their own agents in
San Pedro, California:
– ICE is refusing to hand over its digital and Polaroid photographs of
Mohammed Mirmehdi’s injuries, and its videotape of the assault and the
events leading up to it. Attorney Marc Van Der Hout, attorney for Mr. Hamdan
and the Mirmehdi brothers, specifically requested copies of these materials
in a March 7 letter to Gloria Kee and other officials.
– ICE has refused to provide medical care to Mohammed Mirmehdi–who is in
severe pain and may have bone fractures–despite a formal request from his
lawyer that a doctor be sent to see him immediately.
– ICE moved Mohammed to the Santa Ana jail as punishment following the
incident and is holding him in segregation (solitary confinement) and
refusing to allow him regular access to his attorneys.
– ICE has not removed agent Lopez from duty. He is still working at the San
Pedro facility. Likewise, two guards employed by the private security
company MVM who were present during the incident–D. Barnes and T.
Logan–have not been removed from duty, even though they failed to sound an
alarm during Lopez’s assault and their only intervention was to try to
prevent other detainees from witnessing it.
– ICE is still refusing to allow the media to do in-person interviews with
Mohammed Mirmehdi (are they waiting for his visible bruises to go away?),
his brothers, Mr. Hamdan, or any of the other detainees who witnessed the
March 5 incident.
Contact ICE to ask: Why hasn’t ICE given the lawyers a copy of the videotape
and photographs? Why has Mohammed Mirmehdi not yet seen a doctor? Why is he being punished with transfer and segregation? Why hasn’t Mr. Hamdan received medical treatment? Why are Mr. Hamdan and the Mirmehdi brothers still detained? Why is the media banned from interviewing them in person?
Gloria Kee, field operations director of ICE Detention and Removal Office in
Los Angeles, 606 South Olive Street, 8th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90014; phone
213-830-7913 or 213-830-7970; fax 213-830-7973; email gloria.kee@dhs.gov
Victor Cerda, head of ICE Detention and Removal Office in Washington, 801
“I” St., NW, Suite 900, Washington, DC 20536; phone 202-514-8663; fax
202-353-9435; email (c/o ICE Chief of Staff Shelly Han), shelly.han@dhs.gov
Send copies to Mr. Hamdan’s support committee at mail@adclaoc.org and to the
Coalition for the Human Rights of Immigrants at chri@itapnet.org
ALSO, contact your senators and representatives to urge them to ensure a
thorough investigation into the March 5 assault on Mohammed Mirmehdi, and
all other incidents of torture and abuse in US detention centers: call via
the Congressional Switchboard at 202-224-3121 or get the contact info for
your representative and senators through http://www.house.gov/writerep and
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Press inquiries about the Hamdan and Mirmehdi cases can be directed to
attorneys Stacy Tolchin and Marc Van Der Hout at 415-981-3000, ext. 320.
Press inquiries about the Hamdan case can also be directed to Ahilan
Arulanantham at the ACLU Southern California, 213-977-9500.
Mr. Hamdan’s support committee can be reached through the Arab American
Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) Los Angeles/Orange County Chapter,
714-535-1719, mail@adclaoc.org
For background on the assault, see the March 5 action alert at:
http://la.indymedia.org/news/2005/03/123418.php or
http://www.lifeorliberty.org/libertyblog/archives/000078.html
and press coverage at:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050310/news_1n10brothers.html
http://www.grandforks.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/north
ern_california/11084995.htm
This message distributed by / Este mensaje distribuido por:
Coalition for the Human Rights of Immigrants (CHRI)
Coalicion para los Derechos Humanos de los Inmigrantes
339 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012
tel 212-254-2591 / 888-575-8242 fax 212-674-9139
–>> To get on the CHRI email list (average 4-5 messages a week), sign up
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