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'Injustice' decried in conviction of Muslims
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
By Danielle Sanzone
The Record
http://www.troyrecord.com/articles/2009/08/05/news/doc4a78fd56e5a06730396981.txt
ALBANY — The feelings of injustice were blatant at a rally and presentation marking the fifth anniversary of the arrests of two Albany Muslims.
Mohammed M. Hossain, owner of the Little Italy pizzeria in Albany, and Yassin Aref, an imam or spiritual leader at the Masjid As-Salam mosque, were both sentenced to 15 years in prison for offenses their attorneys, friends, and family claim were the result of the two mosque leaders being entrapped by an FBI informant.
More than 100 protesters carrying signs and joining in the chants attended the peace march which started in front of the Washington Armory and ended at the Central Avenue mosque under the watchful eyes of several Albany Police officers.
The event, including several speakers at the mosque, was organized by the Muslim Solidarity Committee which was founded in 2006 after the two were convicted.
"I am shocked that our country imprisons the innocent. It's wrong, it's immoral, and it's un-American," said Lynne Jackson, a volunteer with the committee. "Their crime was being Muslim. It's disgusting."
Aref's attorney, Steve Downs, said that the arrests and convictions were made with a tactic called preemptive prosecution which was a result of the country's war on terror.
"The fact that these prosecutions are directed exclusively at one religious community — Muslims — not only violates Constitutional protections, which forbid the prosecution of people who have no intention of committing a crime, but also discriminates against Muslims," he said.
A diverse crowd attended the event including people of all colors and creeds.
Jun Yasuda, a peace activist and Japanese Buddist monk who lives at the Grafton Peace Pagoda, was praying and methodically drumming as she walked to the mosque.
"They were so wronged and there has been so much suffering because of it," said Yasuda who attended a similar event last year. "They need to be given more justice."
Huma Ahmad, a Muslim born in India but who has lived in Albany since she was five-years-old, also attended the demonstration. "I wanted to support the Muslim community and show the injustices in this case. This is my town too," she said.
"I definitely feel like I've been profiled before at airports and other places. Unfortunately, it means I cannot do things without thinking that someone is watching me," she added giving the example of a time she wanted to take a picture at an airport but decided people might think she looked suspicious.
When the march was over, members of area organizations like Grannies for Peace, Women Against War, and the Chatham Peace Initiative went inside the religious temple, setting aside their shoes as part of the Islam tradition. Aref wrote a speech for the event, which was presented by a relative, and the young daughter of another man purportedly entrapped talked about how she felt with her father's life imprisonment.
"My father is in prison. And for what? Nothing. I mean nothing at all," said Lejla Duka, the eldest of five children whose father Dritan Duka is in a prison in Colorado.
Hossain, who helped found the Central Avenue mosque, was convicted of all 27 counts associated with money laundering in a fake missile plot. He is in a federal prison in New Jersey. Aref, a Kurdish refugee was convicted of 10 of the 30 counts in a month-long trail held in the fall of 2006 in U.S. District Court. He is imprisoned in Illinois.
Appeals for the cases were dismissed in 2008 but their attorneys are hoping to form a different kind of appeal by March 2010.
Danielle Sanzone may be reached at 270-1292 or by email at dsanzone@troyrecord.com.
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