Not Just Guantanamo: U.S. Torturing Muslim Pre-Trial Detainee in New York City

Today in New York City, the U.S. is torturing a Muslim detainee
with no prior criminal record who has not even gone to trial.

For the last almost three years, Syed Fahad Hashmi has been
kept in total pre-trial isolation inside in a small cell under 24 hour video
and audio surveillance. He is forced to
use the bathroom and shower in full view of the video. He has not seen the sun in years. He takes his meals alone in his cell. He
cannot see any other detainees and he is not allowed to communicate in any way
with any prisoners. He cannot write
letters to friends and he cannot make calls to anyone but his lawyer. He is prohibited from participating in group
prayer. He gets newspapers that are 30
days old with sections cut out by the government. One hour a day he is taken into another
confined room where he is also kept in total isolation.

Children are taught that the U.S. Constitution protects
people accused of crimes. No one is to
be punished unless their guilt or innocence has been decided in a fair
trial. Until trial, people are entitled
to the presumption of innocence. They
are entitled to be defended by an attorney of their choice. And the Eighth Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.

The punishment of Mr. Hashmi has been going on for years
while he has been waiting for trial. In
addition to the punitive isolation he is subjected to today, he was denied the
attorney of his choice. He was allowed only counsel investigated and
pre-approved by the government. He is
not allowed to look at any translated documents unless the translator is
pre-approved by the government. He is not allowed any contact with the media at
all. One member of his family can visit
through the heavy screen for one hour every other week unless the government
takes away those visits to further punish him. The government took away his family visits for 90 days when he was
observed shadow boxing in his cell and talked back to the guard who asked what
he was doing.

If the Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment,
what is the impact of forced isolation? Medical testimony presented in his case in federal court concluded that
after 60 days in solitary people's mental state begins to break down. That means a person will start to experience
panic, anxiety, confusion, headaches, heart palpitations, sleep problems,
withdrawal, anger, depression, despair, and over-sensitivity. Over time this can lead to severe psychiatric
trauma and harms like psychosis, distortion of reality, hallucinations, mass
anxiety and acute confusion. Essentially,
the mind disintegrates.

That is why, under international standards for human rights,
extended isolation is considered a form of torture and is banned. The
conditions and practices of isolation are in violation of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, the U.N. Convention against Torture, and the U.N.
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

In 1995, the U.N. Human Rights Committee stated that isolation
conditions in certain U.S. maximum security prisons were incompatible with
international standards. In 1996, the U.N. special rapporteur on torture
reported on cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment in U.S. supermax prisons. In 2000, the U.N. Committee on Torture
roundly condemned the United States for its treatment of prisoners, citing
supermax prisons. In May 2006, the same committee concluded that the United
States should "review the regimen imposed on detainees in supermax prisons, in
particular, the practice of prolonged isolation."

John McCain said his two years in solitary confinement were
torture. "It crushes your spirit and weakens your resistance effectively than
any other form of mistreatment." The
reaction of McCain and many other victims of isolation torture were described in
a 2009 New Yorker article on isolation by Atul Gawande. Gawande concluded that prolonged isolation is
objectively horrifying, intrinsically cruel, and more widespread in the U.S.
than any country in the world.

Who is this man? Syed
Fahad Hashmi grew up in Queens and attended Brooklyn College. He became an
outspoken Muslim activist. He moved to
London and received a master's degree in international relations there.

Yet the federal judge hearing his case continues to approve
of the forced isolation and the rest of the restrictions on this presumably
innocent man.

The reason that this is allowed to continue is that Hashmi
is accused of being involved with al Qaeda.

Mr. Hashmi is accused of helping al Qaeda by allowing rain
gear (raincoats, ponchos and socks) that were going to Afghanistan to be stored
in his Queens apartment, he allowed his cell phone to be used to contact al
Qaeda supporters and he made post-arrest threatening statements.

Supporters of Fahad have demonstrated outside his jail, set
up a website - www.freefahad.com and
have worked for years to alert the public to his torture. Articles by Amy Goodman, Chris Hedges and
Jeanne Theoharris have been written over the past several years documenting and
protesting these human rights violations.

But, once accused of connections with terrorism or al Qaeda,
apparently, the U.S. constitution and international human rights apparently do
not apply. Torture by the U.S. is
allowed. Pre-trial punishment is
allowed. The presumption of innocence
goes out the window. Counsel of choice
is not allowed. Communication with news media not allowed.

The trial of Syed Fahad Hashmi is set for April 28, 2010 in
New York. Till then he will continue to
be tortured by the U.S. government whose star spangled banner proclaims it to
be the land of the free and the home of the brave.