Early Friday morning, the Immigration and Naturalization Service detained a well-known Palestinian activist named Farouk Abdel-Muhti. Three New York police officers and an INS agent, all in civilian dress, came to Abdel-Muhti’s Queens apartment without a warrant. They claimed they wanted to ask Abdel-Muhti some questions about September 11th. They said they believed there were weapons and explosives in the apartment. When Farouk’s roommate, Bernard McFall refused to open the door, they threatened to break it down, entering without a warrant.

The INS and NYPD raided his home in Queens three weeks ago but he wasn’t there, because he was at an early morning interview at Pacifica station WBAI-New York. He learned of the raid from his son, Tarek, and his roommate, Bernard McFall who works for the Environmental Protection Agency. After this first raid, we interviewed Farouk Abdel-Muhti.

Guests:

• Farouk Abdel-Muhti, coordinator, Palestinian National Alliance. He was detained by the INS on Friday morning by three NYPD detectives. Almost three weeks earlier, the INS and NYPD raided his house in Queens.
• Gilma Camargo, attorney, American Association of Jurists. Camargo is the lawyer for Farouk Abdel-Muhti.
• Shakir Balosh, former INS detainee, recently released from more than 6 months in a federal detention facility — most of it spent in solitary confinement at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. He was released two weeks ago and deported to Canada. He is originally from Pakistan. The Center for Constitutional Rights has filed a class action suit against the INS that includes his case.

Music:

• “Reclaim The Land”, Khayumbia, is Kharabia Rayford (vocals, percussion) & Yumi Steve Hooks (bass, guitar, flute and keyboard).