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Torture in the Sanctuary City
All friends of liberty will welcome the recent Sanctuary City declarations of Somerville Mayor Curtatone and the Cambridge City Council. It will be even better if they take their resolutions seriously.
On May 30 of 2002, Jaoudat Abouazza was stopped by Cambridge police ostensibly for an elapsed vehicle registration. Cambridge had been a “Sanctuary City” for 17 years.
The police searched his car and found a stack of flyers announcing a protest of the upcoming Israel Day celebration. Soon Abouazza would find himself in a holding cell being interrogated by members of the FBI.
On the following day, Abouazza was indicted on a laundry list of charges. He would never have the opportunity to defend himself. For three more days he was repeatedly questioned by FBI concerning his political beliefs and associations, without his court appointed attorney. The day after his pre-trial hearing the INS took him into custody.
Interrogations continued, along with an escalating pattern of physical and psychological abuse. He was moved to Bristol County Jail, where one guard punched him in the stomach; another called him “Taliban.” He was introduced to the other prisoners as a “terrorist.”
He was repeatedly awakened in his cell by federal agents, who showed him flyers and pictures of political associates and asked him questions. He was placed in solitary confinement for refusing to answer questions. At no time was his lawyer present.
On June 16 he was taken from his cell and four of his teeth were yanked out without anesthesia. Finally he was deported to Canada.
During Abouazza