Iraq-born American physician jailed for charity given to people of Iraq in violation of U.S. embargo.
U.S. and U.K.-inspired UN sanctions initiated against Iraq in 1991 were the most severe in human history, and resulted in the premature deaths of well over a million Iraqi people. Dr. Rafil Dhafir of Syracuse, New York, founded the charity Help the Needy in direct response to this humanitarian catastrophe. For 13 years he worked openly to help publicize the plight of the Iraqi people and to raise funds to help them. According to the government, Dr. Dhafir donated $1.4 million of his own money over the years. However, in the aftermath of 9/11, the U.S. government targeted for prosecution many prominent Muslims across the country, particularly those associated with Muslim charity. Arrested on February 26, 2003, Dr. Dhafir was held without bail for 31 months and then sentenced to 22 years in prison.
Three senior UN officials resigned because of the Iraq sanctions, including Denis Halliday, former UN Assistant Secretary General and Head of the UN Humanitarian Program in Iraq 1997-98. Halliday resigned, he said, because he was “unwilling to implement a genocidal policy” that undermined “not only the U.N.'s own charter, but the Declaration of Human Rights and the Geneva Convention as well.” Speaking at Syracuse University in 2007, Mr. Halliday said he is honored to be associated with Dr. Dhafir and believes it is only a matter of time before Dr. Dhafir's courage is recognized.
Dr. Dhafir's humanitarian outreach is an example to us all and we the undersigned respectfully petition that Dr. Dhafir's sentence be commuted to time served.
www.dhafirtrial.net
Updates
Reached 500 supporters
June 15, 2010
June 12, 2010
The government locked Dr. Dhafir away for the crime of helping the dying, but we are closing in on 500 signatures to prove they cannot bury the truth. Send this link to everyone you know and force them to look at the blood on the hands of the Department of Justice.
Reached 100 supporters
December 21, 2009
December 21, 2009
The government is banking on us staying quiet while Dr. Dhafir rots in a cage for the crime of compassion. We are about to hit one hundred signatures and I need everyone to blast this link out right now to force their hands.
6 Comments
This is so wrong. He was just trying to help starving people. Free him now!
Keepin a man behind bars for giving money to kids and families who had nothing is just evil. My heart goes out to his family.
22 years for charity? are you kidding me? total miscarriage of justice.
I remember when this happened. Everyone knew he was being targeted for his religion. Let the man go home to his family already.
He is a hero in my book. No one should be punished for showing humanity.
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Iraq-born American physician jailed for charity given to people of Iraq in violation of U.S. embargo.
U.S. and U.K.-inspired UN sanctions initiated against Iraq in 1991 were the most severe in human history, and resulted in the premature deaths of well over a million Iraqi people. Dr. Rafil Dhafir of Syracuse, New York, founded the charity Help the Needy in direct response to this humanitarian catastrophe. For 13 years he worked openly to help publicize the plight of the Iraqi people and to raise funds to help them. According to the government, Dr. Dhafir donated $1.4 million of his own money over the years. However, in the aftermath of 9/11, the U.S. government targeted for prosecution many prominent Muslims across the country, particularly those associated with Muslim charity. Arrested on February 26, 2003, Dr. Dhafir was held without bail for 31 months and then sentenced to 22 years in prison.
Three senior UN officials resigned because of the Iraq sanctions, including Denis Halliday, former UN Assistant Secretary General and Head of the UN Humanitarian Program in Iraq 1997-98. Halliday resigned, he said, because he was “unwilling to implement a genocidal policy” that undermined “not only the U.N.'s own charter, but the Declaration of Human Rights and the Geneva Convention as well.” Speaking at Syracuse University in 2007, Mr. Halliday said he is honored to be associated with Dr. Dhafir and believes it is only a matter of time before Dr. Dhafir's courage is recognized.
Dr. Dhafir's humanitarian outreach is an example to us all and we the undersigned respectfully petition that Dr. Dhafir's sentence be commuted to time served.
www.dhafirtrial.net
Updates
Reached 500 supporters
June 15, 2010
June 12, 2010
The government locked Dr. Dhafir away for the crime of helping the dying, but we are closing in on 500 signatures to prove they cannot bury the truth. Send this link to everyone you know and force them to look at the blood on the hands of the Department of Justice.
Reached 100 supporters
December 21, 2009
December 21, 2009
The government is banking on us staying quiet while Dr. Dhafir rots in a cage for the crime of compassion. We are about to hit one hundred signatures and I need everyone to blast this link out right now to force their hands.
6 Comments
THEY ARE MAKING AN EXAMPLE OUT OF HIM. SICKENING.
This is so wrong. He was just trying to help starving people. Free him now!
Keepin a man behind bars for giving money to kids and families who had nothing is just evil. My heart goes out to his family.
22 years for charity? are you kidding me? total miscarriage of justice.
I remember when this happened. Everyone knew he was being targeted for his religion. Let the man go home to his family already.
He is a hero in my book. No one should be punished for showing humanity.
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THEY ARE MAKING AN EXAMPLE OUT OF HIM. SICKENING.