7:30 pm, Thursday, Feb. 19
DePaul University - Loop Campus
Lewis Law Center #241
25 East Jackson Blvd (Jackson & Wabash), Chicago

Haddad was cofounder of the Global Relief Foundation (GRF) and was imprisoned for two years, most of it in solitary confinement, on a technical visa violation. In December 2001 John Ashcroft's "Justice" Department shut down Global Relief Foundation, making it the first organization to fall prey to the USA PATRIOT Act's provision allowing the Justice Department unilaterally destroy organizations without proving anything in court. All that's needed are vague, unsubstantiated charges of "terrorism," on John Ashcroft's say-so. As a result, millions of dollars in aid flowing to needy civilians in Chechnya, Ethiopia, Palestine and elsewhere was cut off. To date, GRF's assets remain frozen by the federal government, which still hasn't proven anything against GRF.

Last year, when Haddad's immigration lawyer missed a filing deadline by one day, the government seized the opportunity to deport Haddad to Lebanon, a tacit admission that it had no case against GRF or him (why else would it let a "dangerous terrorist" go free?).

Thursday night's forum will be headlined by Michel Shehadeh, one of the "L.A. 8" defendants and a leader of the National Council of Arab Americans and the Free Palestine Alliance. For more information on the forum, please go to chicago.indymedia.org/newswire/display/35979/index.php