No Separate Justice (NSJ) vigil took place on Monday, July 6th from 6-7PM outside the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in lower Manhattan, a federal prison where people accused of terrorism-related offenses have been held in solitary confinement for years, even before they have been tried.
Monthly vigils are held on the first Monday of every month and each month different cases of abuses by the Criminal “Justice” system and the FBI are highlighted to counter the “Official” story that isn’t what it seems.
The July 6th vigil focused on the issues of paid government informants, agent provocateurs and solitary confinement. NSP covered and updated vigil attendees on recent cases in the news including the arrest of the two women in Queens on terrorism related charges, the police violence in Boston against a possible terrorism suspect, the life of Kalief Browder, and the torture amendment to the NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act) among other important news stories. NSJ seeks to place the abuses we highlight on a monthly basis in a larger global context and recognize that many of them are abuses identified and experienced by others.
NSJ will continue to build a growing voice of people of conscience and shine a light together to expose the human rights abuses happening across our country in these cases. We have plenty of signs to share.
First to speak was Shahana Hanif, a public housing organizer and an Alumni of Brooklyn College who attributed BC for giving her her voice and reciting versus of the Koran yet, she also learned at BC that her “thoughts were dangerous, a cause for suspicion and to be watched and surveilled”.
She mentioned the name of Fahad Hashmi, another BC alumni, who was surveilled, arrested and placed in pre-trial solitary confinement and subjected to Human Rights Violations “happening right on American soil in front of our eyes”.
Shahana spoke about the Associated Press’ release in 8/2011 of the NYPD’s surveillance program which made the students question friendships and what was said and around whom.
Shahana learned of an undercover NYPD officer was amongst them “asking questions about Jihad and other controversial topics”. The NYPD “officer” branched out and started running in Queens circles which brought her in contact with the 2 young women, Noelle Valentzas 28, and Asia Siddiqui, 31, who held strong political views against the invasion in the Middle East, and who were arrested for “Bomb making” back on 4/2/2015.
“It was their Political beliefs that likely made them targets”, said Shahana, and the fact that they came from very poor backgrounds and had issues of homelessness and mental health. The NYPD can make it’s way onto campuses without any pushback. The war on “terror” is here to dehumanize and criminalize “black and brown bodies both here and abroad. The continuation of the Police State after these arrests, it was announced that the NYPD was getting ADDITIONAL FUNDING for expanded surveillance.”
Next to speak was Victor Pate from CAIC, Campaign for Alternatives to Isolated Confinement. Victor was also a victim of solitary confinement numerous times over a period of time while imprisoned for 15 years. “It’s one of the worst forms of torture that can placed upon someone who is already incarcerated and to be further incarcerated and further dehumanized”. Victor Pate went on to speak about the case of Kalief Browder, the 16 year old who was arrested for allegedly stealing a backpack. Kalief was never charged or tried and was held in Pre Trail status, spent 2 of the 3 years in solitary confinement and was also physical and psychologically beaten by inmates and guards in Rikers Island. Kalief was never convicted and his case was eventually thrown out after the prosecutors could not get Kalief to take a plea. He stood to his convictions and it cost him his life. Kalief could not recover from the torment he lived through. He made many attempts at suicide while in and out of Rikers. He finally succeeded on June 15th.
“Being in solitary confinement does something to you, it actually develops mental health issues. If you did not go in there with one, believe me, when yo come out you will have one”, Victor said. “Being in a cell by yourself for 23-24 hrs a day with no human contact whatsoever, with nothing to stimulate the mind is too horrific to fathom. Imagine people being held in solitary confinement for years and sometimes decades. Then they are expected to come out and act humanely when they are being treated so in humanely”.
The moderator for NSJ spoke briefly about the pattern shown by the first 2 speakers of how the NYPD, through the use of paid informants, and other institutions Create circumstances that “didn’t before exist, then take those people and put them into a inhumane prison system”. The situation has taken a “Cart before the Horse, the punishment is determined before anything even happens”.
Next to speak was Justin Mazzola from Amnesty International on the legalities and the legislation involved, how the Gov has created this war on “terror”.
Justin began by speaking about the Military budget and the NDAA, National Defense Authorization Act that Obama signed into law New Years eve 2011-12, granting himself the right to indefinitely detain any American citizen he suspects of “terrorism” without the Right to Due Process of law. He mentioned the McCain/Feinstein Amendment, a piece of legislation that was passed and approved by the U.S. Senate, codifying the existing US law prohibiting torture and the executive order signed by Obama in 09. So it prevents the President from recinding that order and to say that enhanced interrogation tech are OK. It would prohibit EIT used by the CIA post 911; water boarding, forced nudity, forced sexual acts, placing hoods over a detainees head or using duck tape to cover the eyes, beatings, electric shocks, burns or other forms of physical pain, use of military dogs or use of hypothermia or heat injury, mock executions or the deprivation of food, water or medical care.
Justin said the Amendment does not address the controversial section 2-22.3 in the Army field manual; Isolated Confinement, is allowed under special authorized circumstances. People classified as “Enemy Combatants”, what people are often called when picked up by the Gov, and are not covered under the Geneve Convention for treatment as POW.
Please see the Full vigil here, A small donation of even $1 is greatly appreciated to keep up this work https://youtu.be/W7Xa-IbGRFc
Learn more at no-separate-justice.org <http:// no-separate-justice.org/>,
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