Monday, April 09, 2007

 

Dhafir Witness, Tuesday April 10th Noon , Justice Ctr.

Sgt Powlina of Justice Ctr. says “The Government” told me to do it

Legal Counsel Tells How He Was Denied Access to Dr. Dhafir in Jail

Witness Tuesday 12 PM Justice Center Syr. NY

Syracuse NY—Supporters of Dr. Rafil Dhafir (www.FreeDhafir.org ) will be gathering for a Witness at 12 PM noon Tuesday April 10th 2007 in front of the Justice Center (Prison) at 555 South State Street in Syracuse NY.

"This will be our third witness where we will go to where we believe a crime was committed by the government against Dr. Dhafir. The crime at the Justice Center was intimidating Dr. Dhafir’s legal team and denying Dr. Dhafir his right to legal counsel“, said organizer Madis Senner. The first witness was held at the Ashcroft speech at SU, the second was at the Federal Bldg. this past Tuesday. “We will be following in the tradition of the prophets to tell our community, country and world that rules were broken, people intimidated and prosecutions were politically motivated by the US attorneys in the Northern District of NY”, Senner said. The witness will consist of prayers and testimony.


Who is “THE GOVERNMENT”—Suddaby?, Ashcroft?, Rove?
Court documents and testimony reveal that Sgt. Powlina of the Justice Center claims he was told by “THE GOVERNMENT” to deny Royce Hawkins part of the legal team access to see Dr. Dhafir on November 17th 2003 the day after his picture at a support rally for Dhafir appeared in the Syracuse Post Standard. Hawkins as a routine course of business had been going to the Justice Center for four years prior to this and had never been denied access previously.

From the Fourth Bail Motion: “The continued detention of Dr. Dhafir has
brought to the front clear violations of his Sixth Amendment right to counsel.
….We find it extremely significant that the prison officials told us that the
decision to bar these individuals came from the Government. We do not think that
it is proper for the Government to unilaterally decide who should or should not
assist us with Dr. Dhafir's defense. When we were advised of this decision, we
asked the authorities why our letters to them were shared with the Government.
We were not given a response. These actions/decisions are clear Sixth Amendment
violations”.
http://www.jubileeinitiative.org/DhafirBailInfo.htm


Devereaux Cannick, Dr. Dhafir’s lawyer, speaking at the hearing for the
fourth bail moion; “A sergeant Powlina at the Justice Center called me in one
day and shared a letter that I had sent to him and told me that he was
instructed by the government not to let this person in. The government
maintains that it offered—gave no such instruction, but for some reason
Powlina finds himself under this belief, that it was the government who told him
that these people who were part of the legal defense team prior to my getting
involved with this case should no longer have access. And then I
further asked him, do you think that the government should unilaterally dictate
who should be part of my legal team? Maybe they should just decide that I
should not be here as well.” (page 19) http://www.jubileeinitiative.org/dhafir_motion.pdf


Who is Sgt Powlina referring to when he says “THE GOVERNMENT”? Was it the US attorney’s office? Or was it someone higher up in the Justice Dept. or Homeland Security that was pulling the strings? Was it Karl Rove?

Did Federal Authorities Push County Civil Servants?
The witness will give Royce Hawkins the chance to tell his story. Senner said that this incident had a chilling affect on Dr. Dhafir’s supporters, particularly within the Muslim community. “When they moved Rafil a few days later on the holiest of holy days in Islam we said “uncle” and cancelled a large rally we had planned, “Senner said.

“We hope that hearing this story will help our community understand why we feel Dr. Dhafir was railroaded”, Senner said.

“Given the current scandal regarding the US attorney’s office I would have to believe that some high up “loyal Bushie” told Powlina to deny access to Royce; If that is the case who gives them (Feds) the right to tell our county civil servants what to do? This deserves an investigation to determine if our county and state laws were violated.” Senner concluded.
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