“After nearly two years in immigration detention, Palestinian-American activist Farouk Abdel-Muhti is finally getting a chance to present his case in court,” said the Committee for the Release of Farouk Abdel-Muhti. The statement reported that Kane scheduled the hearing for the federal court in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

A well-known advocate of Palestinian self-determination and defender of Cuba’s socialist revolution, Abdel-Muhti—who has lived in the United States since the 1970s—was arrested in New York on April 26, 2002. No charges were filed against him.

The immigration police have kept Abdel-Muhti locked up since his arrest while they seek his deportation. The Palestinian revolutionary has been shuttled among several prisons in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, as the authorities try without success to isolate him and break his spirit.

Abdel-Muhti first filed his habeas petition in November 2002, after he had been detained for more than six months. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling has mandated the release of immigration detainees jailed for that period, when their deportation orders cannot be carried out within a “reasonable period of time.”

The defense committee urges defenders of democratic rights to attend the March 30 hearing, and to continue to press the government to drop its deportation proceedings. Supporters of Abdel-Muhti’s defense campaign will be organizing transportation from the New York area. The defense committee can be contacted at 212-674-9499. Further information can be found at www.freefarouk.org.  
 
 
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