Sameeh Hammoudeh Shackled while Praying

TAMPA-
2/16/04

On Friday Ryan Berry, head of the U.S. Marshal Services in Tampa,
interrupted Sameeh Hammoudeh's prayers, handcuffed him and placed
chains around his waist. Hammoudeh, along with Dr. Sami Al-Arian,
was praying one of the five daily prayers required in the Islamic
religion, after a day of examining evidence at the Federal
Courthouse in Tampa. As had occurred on a daily basis, the men had
been granted permission by another marshal to pray the afternoon
prayer, which does not take longer than five minutes to perform. The
official who interrupted Hammoudeh displayed utter disrespect for
and ignorance of the Islamic faith when he disrupted his prayer and
chained him.

For the past few weeks, this same official has been badgering
Hammoudeh and Al-Arian, telling them repeatedly to "speed up" their
examination of thousands of documents of evidence. There are an
estimated 100,000 documents to be examined, not including 15
additional boxes of which the men were recently informed. Since they
have already spent close to ten months at Coleman Federal
Penitentiary without being able to examine evidence, it is Al-
Arian's and Hammoudeh's right to be able to go through the
evidence without time restraints.

The Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace condemns the
unnecessarily harsh, humiliating and disrespectful actions of this
official and asks all concerned citizens to write to Judge Thomas
McCoun. Please emphasize the following points:

- Sameeh Hammoudeh's and Sami Al-Arian's constitutional first
amendment right to freely practice their religion was violated by
the official's actions. He owes them an apology and should
promise to treat them with respect and dignity.

-As the trial is a year away, the men should be adequate time to
examine evidence crucial to preparing a proper defense.