Denis Hoppe
P.O. Box 7292
Ann Arbor, MI 48107
Rabih Haddad, H-3
Monroe County Jail
100 E. 2nd Street
Monroe, Michigan 48161
Sunday January 12, 2003Dear Rahih,
I was at the Ann Arbor Federal building for the December 14th rally in your defense,
and I heard your son read a statement. I’m sure you wish you were with
him and all your family, and out of that prison. To my pleasant surprise, I met
at the Rabih Haddad rally an elderly Quaker woman I had not seen for years since
the time I rode a bus from East Lansing to protest the US war against Nicaragua.
I lost the leaflet with the address, but I found it again with the Rojer Calero
Defense committee table at a conference against the impending war on Iraq. So
I write to you.
I think it is terrible the way you are isolated in prison. There is a massive
attempt to deport little people who go out of the country for Thanksgiving and
then are detained and deported for the slightest irregularity on their immigration
forms. Rojer Calero wrote about this in the Militant while he was detained at
the Houston INS detention center.
But there are also signs that the Government is backing off. For example, a Yemeni
guy who had actually worked in Ann Arbor was accused of “plotting” but
then the judge surprisingly threw out the government’s charges.
From The Militant issue of Jan. 20th:
“
BY PETER THIERJUNG
DETROIT--Mohamed Alajji, a local resident, was freed here December 27 after being
jailed by federal authorities for more than a week on trumped-up charges. Following
a "probable cause" hearing, U.S. Magistrate Steven Pepe ruled that
federal prosecutors did not have sufficient grounds to continue to hold Alajji
or to pursue charges of Social Security fraud against him. The government used
the fraud charges to keep him in jail while fishing for a way to prosecute him
on charges related to "terrorism"--a tactic it has used to jail hundreds
of people over the past year.
Alajji, a truck driver, was arrested December 19. Federal cops said they had
received "tips" from an estranged brother-in-law and unnamed informers
that Alajji was planning a terrorist attack in Michigan. The brother-in-law later "recanted" his
claims, authorities said… ‘
I hope the government will back off your case and allow you to return to normal
life.
Sincerely, Denis Hoppe