Human Rights Abuse Database: Jaoudat Abouazza
On May 30, 2002, the Cambridge, MA, police stopped Mr. Abouazza, a Canadian citizen and Palestinian activist, for an alleged traffic violation. Without charging him or reading him his rights, police handcuffed Mr. Abouazza and took him to the Cambridge police station. Soon after his arrival at the station, FBI agents asked him repeatedly about his connections to terrorism. He had none.
Mr. Abouazza’s hearing was scheduled for the following day, a Friday. The prosecution claimed that the speaker wiring found in Mr. Abouazza’s car was "incendiary" and that his flyers announcing a non-violent protest of the Israeli Independence Day celebration were "suspicious." The prosecution’s request to deny bail was granted, and over the weekend, while Mr. Abouazza was in custody, the FBI questioned him seven more times.
Upon Mr. Abouazza’s release on his own recognizance on Monday, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) took him into custody at the Bristol County Correctional Facility in North Dartmouth, MA, where he was subjected to regular beatings by the guards, was frequently held in solitary confinement, and was abused by fellow inmates, because the guards had told them that Mr. Abouazza was a member of the Taliban.
While Mr. Abouazza was in INS detention, his court date for his initial traffic violation arrived. When Mr. Abouazza failed to appear (he was not allowed to appear), the judge ruled, despite Mr. Abouazza’s attorney’s protests, that Mr. Abouazza was in default for failure to appear. A warrant was issued for his arrest.
At his INS hearing, Mr. Abouazza requested that he be permitted to voluntarily leave the U.S. and return to Canada. The government objected, claiming, "This man doesn’t respect the immigration laws; "therefore, "we must up the ante." The immigration judge, however, found absolutely no reason not to allow Mr. Abouazza to return to Canada. Neither the FBI nor the police had any evidence that he constituted a security risk.
Jaoudat Abouazza returned to Canada on July 9th. His traffic violations had resulted in a month-long detention, beatings, and an outstanding warrant for failure to appear in court, which prevents him from ever returning to the U.S.