Abu Marzook’s illegal detention in the US ends with long flight to Jordan

Empowering Weak & Oppressed

Khalil Marwan

Muharram 09, 1418 1997-05-16

World

by Khalil Marwan (World, Crescent International Vol. 26, No. 6, Muharram, 1418)

The two-year ordeal of Dr Mousa Abu Marzook finally ended when he landed in Amman, Jordan on May 6. Throughout his incarceration in the US on trumped-up charges levelled by Israel, the political head of Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic group, maintained his innocence and said that he was a political prisoner.

That he was flown out of the US in a military plane confirmed his political prisoner status without the Americans realising the irony of their own action. Upon landing in Amman, Abu Marzook issued a three-page statement through his lawyers saying that his ordeal stemmed from an American prejudice against Muslims and Palestinians. He also phoned his wife, Nadia al-Ashi and their six children residing in Falls Church, Virginia.

Abu Marzook’s ordeal started nearing its end at the beginning of last month when the zionists said they no longer sought his extradition to Israel to stand trial, allegedly for terrorist activities. On April 30, Jordanian information minister Samir Mutawae announced that king Husain had agreed to allow him back to Jordan, without conditions, two years after he was expelled from there and jailed in the US.

Abu Marzook’s lawyer, Michael Kennedy, said that Israel did not have credible evidence for a trial and had acted out of fear that it would lose a high-profile case. The whole issue highlighted the manner in which the US judicial system, already tainted, is held hostage by Israeli interests. Ultimately, the Israelis kicked their own benefactors in the teeth. They will no doubt get away with this outrage as well as they have done on so many occasions in the past.

Abu Marzook was arrested at New York’s John F Kennedy airport in July 1995 as he returned from a trip to the Middle East. Although never formally charged, he was detained since Israel sought his extradition on the spurious allegations that he had masterminded a string of bombings. He repeatedly denied the allegations and insisted that he was a political prisoner.

Abu Marzook had legally resided in the US since 1982. Four out of his six children are American-born citizens. There is nothing on his record to show that he was anything but a decent, law-abiding resident concerned about the plight of the Palestinian people.

The Israeli decision not to press for extradition was not motivated by compassionate. There was no case against Abu Marzook. His detention and incarceration were illegal.

The only evidence given by the Israelis was the ‘confession’ of Mohamed Salah, a Chicago-area Palestinian-American who was arrested by the Israelis in December 1993 as he went to distribute some donations for humanitarian work among the Palestinians. This was perfectly legitimate and legal business but in Israel, even humanitarian aid to the victims of Zionist brutality is a crime.

Salah was tortured and forced to sign a confession in Hebrew, a language he does not understand. This is how ‘confessions’ are extracted in Israel. Torture, too, is officially sanctioned and applied.

Abu Marzook’s case, like that of so many other Muslims who are involved in the struggle against Zionist atrocities, ended up in the court of judge Kevin Duffy, himself a well-known Zionist. Duffy scandalised himself when he not only admitted the Zionist-fabricated evidence against Abu Marzook but also blurted out statements that reflect his total lack of grasp of even the elementary principles of law.

In his May 7, 1996 decision, Duffy stated that it is his belief that ‘extradition matters are mostly and rightly in the sphere of ‘executive influence’ and that the judiciary’s role is to facilitate the job of the executive branch of government’ [emphasis added].

Duffy has perhaps never heard the term ‘separation of powers.’ Theoretically at least, the American judiciary is not an agent of the executive branch. Its job is not to facilitate the political goals of various administrations, let alone their foreign allies. But then, US policy under Bill Clinton is made in Tel Aviv, not Washington. Even US laws, it is now confirmed, are subservient to Israeli interests.

The US government held an innocent man, deprived his family and children of their rights because the Zionists - in Israel and the US - wanted it to be so.

Muslimedia - May 16-31, 1997

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