First paragraph (Teaser):

The political prisonner Ali Khalid Abdullah has been transfered to a another prison in what seems to be the latest act of persectuion against this tireless revolutionnary.

Rest of the text:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, February 21, 2002

International Campaign to Free Ali Khalid Abdullah
c/o Pushing Forward
2716 SE 21st Street
Portland, OR 97202, USA
free...@disinfo.net
(503) 232-5817 (ask for Todd)
www.angelfire.com/dc/freeali

Ali Khalid Abdullah, a New Afrikan political prisoner has been unjustly
labelled a "suspected security threat" and "suspected terrorist" by the
Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC.)

These accusations came at the same time as Ali's sudden transfer from
the Thumb Correctional Facility to another state-level prison.

Since his incarceration in 1990, Ali has devoted nearly all of his spare
time to improving the lives of himself and those around him. Among other
things, he has run an anti-drug program for fellow prisoners, earned a
Bachelor’s degree, and produced dozens of conscious pamphlets distributed
the world over. Despite his many positive efforts, he has been denied
parole five times and subject to unfair treatment on numerous occasions.

The latest case of this unfair treatment began on February 12. A question
arose in the prison mail room at the Thumb Correctional Facility, as to
whether Ali should be allowed to receive a leaflet mailed from Puerto
Rico containing slogans such as "Smash Sexism." It was eventually
decided that he should be allowed to receive it.

Shortly after, he was subjected to an unusual and unexplained cell
search, in which many of his letters, literature, and photographs where
confiscated.

Later that evening, he was called to the Control Center at the prison and
was given "a notice of intent to conduct an administrative hearing."
The notice indicated what materials were confiscated and stated that Ali
was "a suspected security threat, [indicated by] group literature and
photographs depicting possible terrorist activity, [and] uprising against
institutions and government [and] organized from several countries."

During this type of hearing, a prisoner is evaluated, and if deemed a
threat to security, then she/he is reclassified to a higher prison level
and is transferred to that level. In many cases, prisoners are
transferred to federal prisons. Ali is at risk of being formally charged
by the state, with the FBI headquarters and the US Justice Department
being notified.

An hour after receiving this notice, Ali was told to "pack up and get
ready to be transferred." The next day (February 13) he was moved to
Kinross Correctional Facility, a state-run institution in Kincheloe,
Michigan.

These events are highly disturbing and suspicious. They occurred shortly
after Ali's 6th parole hearing on February 7, which had given him a level
of optimism at first. Abdullah had a good record at the Thumb
Correctional Facility, and prior to these incidents had no reason to
believe that he had done anything to upset the authorities there.

These incidents are also, of course, being carried out within the context
of the U.S. government's current "War on Terrorism", which in addition
to bringing carnage on Afghanistan, is being used as a pretext for
clamp-downs on human rights, and officially-sanctioned prejudice within
the US. Shortly after September 11, Abdullah was interrogated on the
basis of his name and his faith. Similarly, his treatment over the past
week is likely a product of the bigoted attitudes and policies coming
to light in recent months.

The International Campaign to Free Ali Khalid Abdullah is calling on
all concerned people to support him as best as they can. All those who
criticize the so-called "War on Terrorism," racism and the prison system
have a chance to turn their words into concrete, productive actions by
having Ali's back in this time of need.

Despite such unfair treatment, Ali has remained committed to his work for
positive social change. Now, he needs your help to clear his name and get
these charges dropped so he can move on to winning his freedom and
continuing with his work.

At this point, we are asking everyone to write to the MDOC Officials
listed below; and those with steady jobs to send some financial aid to
Ali (c/o the campaign). In addition to the usual legal and living
expenses, his money is still at the previous jail and won't reach
him for up to a month.

Attached is a form letter designed to help Ali fight these unfounded
charges. Please edit it to fit your own circumstances, and mail it to
the list of addresses below. This will show the prison officials that people
around the world know the facts about Ali, and are driven to support him.
We need the highest level of public attention on this case as possible,
to prevent any further persecution of Ali.

All that said, please know that this is a very sensitive situation and we
need to proceed carefully. This is NOT the time to be hostile and
confrontational. The goal here is to prove that Ali is not a terrorist
threat and to get him free, not to confront prison officials on their
issues. Any anger or political rhetoric would only be used as further
evidence against Ali.

"These moments are very precious & we are under determined pressure &
peril by these people — thus to overcome this i’ll need maximum effort
and support," says Ali. "State your complaint, concerted concern and push
for clearing my name and this sudden suspicion off of me with tact!"

Letters or e-mails of support can be sent to Ali in care of the campaign:

International Campaign to Free Ali Khalid Abdullah, 2716 SE 21st
Street Portland, OR 97202, USA. free...@disinfo.net.

For reasons described above, please refrain from sending anything with
"anarchy" or similar logos until this matter is corrected.

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ABOUT ALI KHALID ABDULLAH

Ali Khalid Abdullah is a New Afrikan Political Prisoner in Michigan, USA.
He has been incarcerated since 1990. Ali has a Bachelor's degree from
Spring Arbor College, ran the People Against Drugs program at Thumb
Correctional Facility and is an internationally-published author. He is
serving a 10-to-20-year sentence for "assault with intent to rob while
armed." This trumped-up charge stems from action he took against a high-level
drug dealer, who allowed a runner to rape the 11-year-old daughter of a customer
- as payment for the customer's drug debt.

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ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO FREE ALI KHALID ABDULLAH

The campaign was founded by Abdullah's friends and supporters around
the world in December 2001. We are working to win his freedom through
practical, tactful methods and to help distribute his writings.
Contact us to get involved.

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FORM LETTER:

[ADDRESSEE]

[YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS]

[DATE]

Ms./Mr.------------,

I am writing in conerns to Mr. Ali Khalid Abdullah, inmate # 148130, a
prisoner formerly at
Thumb Correctional Facility who was recently transferred to the Kinross
Correctional Facility. I learned of his case through an internet news
service run by civil rights advocates.

I am concerned about Mr. Abdullah’s transfer, but more importantly, I
am very concerned about the recent implication made by the Michigan
Department of Corrections labeling Mr. Abdullah as a “suspected
terrorist”. From my understanding this implication has been stemmed
from an incident with the mailroom supervisor, Mary Henderson at Thumb
Correctional Facility, and has been followed up with some strange
events, which ultimately led to Mr. Abdullah’s transfer.

Mr. Abdullah had a mail hearing on February 12, 2002 over some mail
rejected by Mailroom Supervisor Henderson, which was decided by ARUS
Leonard and Singer not to be threatening material. After this hearing
Mr. Abdullah returned to his unit, around 11:05 am, where he was met by
Officer Ross and Officer Powell with “orders from Inspector Hutchins to
pack up all letters, books, and printed materials and send [them] to
him”.

This concerned Mr. Abdullah and around 12:15 pm he placed calls to his
mother and his friend Cynthia Ritsher to tell them what was happening.
He asked them to call the Warden and the Director’s Office to inquire
about the matter.

Later that day, around 5:08 pm, Lt. McDonald called Mr. Abdullah to the
Control Center where he handed Mr. Abdullah a Notice of Intent to Conduct
an Administrative Hearing. In the notice the following was stated:

“Suspected STG literature, photographs, depicting possible terrorist
activity, uprising against the institution or government. Organized
from several countries.”

However, this I find strange as all of these materials now being deemed
a possible threat to security or some kind of connection to a terrorist
group(s) had already been approved by the mailroom supervisor as being
acceptable and not a threat to security. And now, suddenly these same
materials are being confiscated under suspicion to be linked to terrorist
activity and/or groups? This seems a bit inconsistent and suspicious
to me.

After receiving this notice from Lt. McDonald and receiving the rest of
his property that was not confiscated, Mr. Abdullah returned to his unit
once again. Approximately twenty minutes later Mr. Abdullah was told
to “pack up—you’re being transferred in the morning.”

Once again, this seems suspicious. Mr. Abdullah was having no problems
with the authorities at Thumb, had no misconduct tickets, and had not
even five days before attended his parole hearing which Mr. Abdullah
described as being a positive experience. And then suddenly, all of the
events, as described above, unfolded and Mr. Abdullah was transferred
and under suspicion of being a security threat and under suspicion of being
connected to terrorist group(s).

This is not the only time that Mr. Abdullah has been falsely harassed
under the guise of supposed terrorism. Following the horrible events
September 11, Mr. Abdullah was interrogated because of his Muslim name.
After which, friends of Mr. Abdullah contacted Arthur D. Stine at the
Department of Human Rights for the MDOC with their concerns.

I feel Mr. Abdullah is being unjustly labelled and is being punished
under false allegations. These allegations could destroy Mr. Abdullah’s
possibility of obtaining parole in which he has worked so hard to obtain.
Mr. Abdullah is not a terrorist, he is a very caring and hard working
individual who believes that we can live better lives if we take the time
to learn about the negativity in our society and work to change it. He
has reached out to many people and extended only love and understanding
and tries to help them with the very limited resources that he has to
work with.

Mr. Abdullah has also accomplished some amazing things while incarcerated,
he has earned his Bachelor’s degree from Spring Arbor College in Michigan
and he ran an anti-drug program while at Thumb Correctional Facility
called People Against Drugs. These are not acts of terrorism, but acts
of self-improvement and compassion, something that should be rewarded
of prisoners and not used to punish them further.

I thank you for your time in reading this and any for any efforts you may
make to look into this situation.

Sincerely,

[YOUR NAME]

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PLEASE SEND TO:

Director [current director is resigning as of March 2nd.
thus, no name is necessary]
Department of Corrections
Grandview Plaza Building
P.O. Box 30003
Lansing, MI 48909

Mr. Dan Bolden, Deputy Directory
Correctional Facility Administration
Grandview Plaza Building
P. O. Box 30003
Lansing, MI 48909

Senator Joesph F. Young, Jr.
415 Farnum Building
Lansing, MI 48913
FAX: 517.373.9320
senj...@senate.state.mi.us

Senator Jackie Vaughn, III
920 Farnum Building
P. O. Box 30036
Lansing, MI 48909-7536

ACLU of Michigan
60 West Hancock
Detroit, MI 48201-1324
FAX: 313.578.6811