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Rotting in Prison for Hosting the Wrong House Guest? The War on Terror's Insane Abuses Continue
http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/no-separate-justice-campaign-takes-war-terrors-dastardly-legal-tools
Tucked behind federal courthouse buildings in lower Manhattan is the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC), a detention facility that mostly holds prisoners before their cases go to court.
For nearly three years, a Muslim-American named Syed Fahad Hashmi was held under restrictive conditions inside the walls of the MCC. Before he had his day in court on charges of providing material support to al Qaeda, Hashmi was locked in solitary confinement, confined to his cell for 23 hours a day and only allowed out for one hour of recreation--in a cage. After striking a plea deal with the federal government in April 2010, he was sentenced to 15 years, and was moved to a prison in Colorado. His crime was hosting an acquaintance at his London apartment who went on to deliver clothes to a high-level militant linked to al Qaeda in Pakistan. Hashmi fell victim to “material support” laws that have effectively enshrined guilt by association into law.
Today, the 33-year-old Hashmi remains under solitary confinement at the Administrative Maximum Facility (ADX) near Florence, Colorado, a maximum security federal prison. In total, he’s toiled under the harsh confines of solitary confinement for six years, doing untold damage to his mental health.
Hashmi is one of hundreds of Muslims caught up in America’s draconian, post-9/11 system of criminal justice, where dubious criminal charges, solitary confinement and Special Administrative Measures that restrict who an inmate can speak to have become the norm. Nearly 90 percent of all terrorism cases have resulted in a conviction since 2001.
“It’s a rigged game for Muslims,” says Faisal Hashmi, Fahad Hashmi’s brother. “You’re guilty until proven innocent.”
20 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
Mornin', sunshine! 
... but I swear, I don't recognize it anymore. We've molded into an amalgamation of our WWII enemies. 
... The charge is not that he actually provided military gear to al Qaeda, but that he allowed an acquaintance, Junaid Babar, to stay in his apartment for two weeks, and that this acquaintance brought military gear with him in a suitcase and later gave the gear to al Qaida. In addition, Hashmi's lawyer found out that the items being labeled as "military gear" were socks and rainproof ponchos.[5]
His arrest is based on the testimony of the man he is accused of aiding and abetting, Junaid Babar, who turned informant in a successful attempt to get a reduction in his own 70-year prison sentence. Again, Junaid had stayed for a short while in Hashmi's apartment in London, bringing "military gear" in a suitcase.[5][6]...
/... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syed_Fahad_Hashmi
His arrest is based on the testimony of the man he is accused of aiding and abetting, Junaid Babar, who turned informant in a successful attempt to get a reduction in his own 70-year prison sentence. Again, Junaid had stayed for a short while in Hashmi's apartment in London, bringing "military gear" in a suitcase.[5][6]...
/... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syed_Fahad_Hashmi
