DATE CHANGE: February 10 @ 6pm: Vigil in Front of Notorious Manhattan Prison

Date 

Add to My Calendar Monday, February 10, 2014 12:00am

Location 

Join CCR Monday, February 10th (please note date change) for a vigil outside the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in lower Manhattan. This is the first monthly vigil organized by a critical new campaign that CCR is proud to be part of. “No Separate Justice” will expose and work to end a pattern of human rights and civil liberties abuses in “War on Terror” cases in the U.S. criminal justice system. Vigils will be held on the first Monday night of every month outside the MCC.

There will be performances by Peace Poet Luke Nephew and opera singer Christine Moore, with remarks by CCR Staff Attorney Pardiss Kebriaei and brother Faisal Hashmi among others.

What: "No Separate Justice" campaign first monthly vigil
When: Monday, February 10th at 6:00 p.m. (Reoccuring on the first Monday of every month)
Where: Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC), 150 Park Row & Pearl Street
RSVP: Tell us you plan to attend and invite your friends here on Facebook

Abuses are happening nationwide, but the MCC is itself a site of abuse and torture. Prisoners in the MCC have been held for years in 22- to 24-hour solitary confinement and under gag orders euphemistically known as Special Administrative Measures (SAMs), even before they have been tried. According to the UN’s independent expert on torture, solitary confinement of more than 15 days can constitute torture. Despite its Manhattan location, conditions at the MCC are hidden from public view; requests for access by human rights monitors and the press have been repeatedly denied.

This first vigil on February 10th will focus on CCR client Fahad Hashmi, a former Brooklyn College student who was held in pre-trial solitary confinement and under SAMs for nearly three years at the MCC. Fahad was prosecuted for “material support” for terrorism based on allegations that he stored an acquaintance’s luggage, containing waterproof socks and ponchos meant for Al Qaeda, in his apartment for two weeks and allowed the acquaintance to use his cell phone to call co-conspirators. In the face of a possible 70-year sentence, and after years in crushing conditions, Fahad pled guilty to one count of material support in exchange for a 15-year sentence. Today, he is serving his sentence in the harshest federal prison in the country, the Administrative Maximum (ADX) prison in Florence, Colorado. He has now been held in 22- to 24-hour solitary confinement for nearly seven years.

Join us on February 10 to demand humane conditions for Fahad and bring attention to the injustices in his case. And come back on the first Monday night of every month to help us shed light on abuses in other cases and build the No Separate Justice Campaign.

Last modified 

February 10, 2014