[mobglob-discuss] Mass arrests of Muslims in LA

[Macdonald Stainsby]

Notice this is only "news" on the British wires. Welcome to the new 
Gestapo.

Macdonald
-=-
BBC News World Edition
Thursday, 19 December, 2002, 11:37 GMT
Mass arrests of Muslims in LA

Families protested against the detention of relatives US immigration 
officials in Southern California have detained hundreds of Iranians 
and other Muslim men who turned up to register under residence laws 
brought in as part of the anti-terror drive.

Reports say between 500 and 700 men were arrested in and around Los 
Angeles after they complied with an order to register by 16 December.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) is refusing to say 
how many people were arrested but said detainees were being held for 
suspected visa violations and other offences.

The arrests sparked angry protests in Los Angeles by thousands of 
Iranian-Americans waving banners which read "What's next? 
Concentration camps?" and "Free our fathers, brothers, husbands and 
sons".

Official radio in Iran also reported the arrests and the protests, 
which it said were mounted by families of the detainees who converged 
on Los Angeles.

Deadline

Under the new US immigration rules, all male immigrants aged 16 and 
over from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Syria had to register with 
authorities by Monday unless they had been naturalised as citizens.

Immigrants from other mainly Muslim states have been set later 
deadlines for registration.

Community groups said men had been arrested in Los Angeles and nearby 
Orange County as well as San Diego.

California is home to about 600,000 Iranians who have been living in 
exile since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

One of the Iranian-American demonstrators in Los Angeles, Ali 
Bozorgmehr, told the French news agency AFP that his community was 
being targeted unjustly.

"All Iranians that live in America are hard-working people... They 
love this country and all... are against terrorism," he said.

'Shocking'

Ramona Ripston, executive director of the Southern California chapter 
of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the arrests were 
reminiscent of the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War 
II.

"I think it is shocking what is happening," she said.

"We are getting a lot of telephone calls from people. We are hearing 
that people went down wanting to co-operate and then they were 
detained."

Islamic community leaders said many detainees had been living, 
working and paying taxes in the US for up to a decade and had 
families there.

"Terrorists most likely wouldn't come to the INS to register," said 
Sabiha Khan of the Southern California chapter of the Council on 
American Islamic Relations.

She said the detainees were "being treated as criminals, and that 
really goes against American ideals of fairness, and justice and 
democracy".

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2589317.stm>
-- 
Yoshie

-------------------------------------------
Macdonald Stainsby
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green
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--
In the contradiction lies the hope.
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