We, the NLG-NYC Muslim Defense Project, condemn the racist law enforcement practices at the core of the NYPD’s stop and frisk program, currently being challenged by our colleagues at the Center for Constitutional Rights in Floyd v. City of New York. We join the Muslim American Civil Liberties Coalition (MACLC) and the Islamic Leadership Council (Majlis ash-Shura) in their call for community-led change of the NYPD. The NYPD’s stop and frisk program, like its well-documented mapping and surveillance program of Muslim New Yorkers, criminalizes entire communities based only on racial or religious identity.
Continue reading “NLG-NYC Muslim Defense Project Calls for an End to NYPD’s “Stop and Frisk””
Standing with Lynne: The NLG-NYC Muslim Defense Project Calls for Medical Treatment and Ongoing Support for a Freedom Fighter
We, the NLG-NYC Muslim Defense Project, voice our deep concern about the treatment and health of political prisoner Lynne Stewart, and urge prison authorities to move quickly to provide the cancer treatment she needs. For more than three years, Lynne, who is 73 years old, has been held at the Carswell Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas, thousands of miles away from her family and community in New York City.
As members of the radical legal community, we will not allow the government to silence Lynne and isolate her case from public discourse. While the government has attempted to use her case to instill fear in others who defend the oppressed and advocate for dignity and human rights, we recognize Lynne as among the ranks of freedom fighters who do not stand down in the face of government repression of marginalized groups. She has dared to speak out for them.
Throughout her legal career, Lynne defended those who so many had abandoned: Muslims, people of color, and those individuals the government labeled “terrorists.” Lynne did not shy away from placing her clients’ cases in the larger political context under which they occurred, under the umbrella of the U.S. government’s war on terror used to justify the occupation and complete dismantling of entire countries in the Muslim world, to justify larger police and military defense budgets and funding of the prison industrial complex. Sadly, her own case became an example of government overreach and vindictiveness–from the political motivations compelling her prosecution to judicial coercion of an unduly harsh punishment.
Even while fighting her appeal, she has never stopped devoting her time to helping others; she spends these days supporting and advocating for other women imprisoned with her. She continues to speak out in support of human rights and radical causes from the confines of her own cell.
We demand that Lynne not only receive the immediate treatment she needs, but call on her peers in the progressive and radical community to continue to stand by her. We cannot forget the larger context within which Lynne’s own targeting and incarceration take place, i.e., as a restraint on us to provide zealous advocacy to those who the government has marked as its enemies. For her courage and strength to defend and fight for others at the expense of her own liberty, we are forever indebted to our freedom fighter Lynne Stewart and send our solidarity and love in this time of struggle.
Latest updates at lynnestewart.org
To send Lynne a letter, write:
Lynne Stewart #53504-054
Federal Medical Center, Carswell
P.O. Box 27137
Ft. Worth, TX 76127
The Muslim Defense Project (MDP) of the New York City Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG-NYC) was formed to combat the anti-Muslim rhetoric and policies that have created a comprehensive system of illegal surveillance, predatory prosecutions, and the targeting of entire Muslim communities — in New York City and beyond. We stand in solidarity, as members of these communities and their allies, to seek the elimination of laws that enable the discrimination of Muslims. We will arm our communities with the knowledge and information they need to protect themselves. We will put our legal skills to use defending those who have fallen prey to predatory prosecutions. We recognize that community ties through trust and activism have been under attack over the past several years, and we endeavor to safeguard and build those precious relationships. Through organizing and activism, we seek to build a strong front by developing alliances with other communities who have also been the subject of the government’s repression. Together, we will fight this government onslaught on our fundamental rights — as history has taught us that the rights of one community or individual belong to us all.
To learn more about the Muslim Defense Project, please visit www.nlgnyc.org/mdp.
NLG-NYC Muslim Defense Project Condemns Israel for Continued Occupation of Gaza
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
muslimdefense at nlgnyc.org
NLG-NYC Muslim Defense Project Condemns Israel for Continued Occupation of Gaza
NEW YORK (November 24, 2012) – The Muslim Defense Project (MDP) of the New York City Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG-NYC) condemns Israel for its continuing occupation of and its current attacks on Gaza. We furthermore condemn the Obama administration for its seemingly blind obedience to Israel’s cynical, illegal, and ultimately genocidal position towards the Palestinian people.
The current cease-fire does not diminish the destruction and death Israeli forces brought to Gaza nor does it address the root cause of Israeli-Palestinian violence, which is Israel’s 45-year-long colonial project of occupation. The current Israeli terror campaign against Gaza has seen the killing of dozens of children, as well as the targeting of critical infrastructure, media outlets, and the bombing of the al-Nuseirat refugee camp. The atrocities will continue so long as Israel remains committed to an agenda of the occupation and subjugation of the Palestinian people.
Continue reading “NLG-NYC Muslim Defense Project Condemns Israel for Continued Occupation of Gaza”
NLG-NYC Newsletter Fall 2012 – Special Occupy Wall Street Edition
The new issue of New York City News is here! This issue reports on the Chapter’s work over the last year with Occupy Wall Street, the Stop Stop and Frisk campaign, the Muslim Defense Project, and other important work of the Chapter. New features include clickable links to articles and video from the Spring Fling. View the issue here or click on the cover below.
Gathering for Prayers Is An Act of Courage: NLG-NYC Muslim Defense Project Stands in Solidarity with Muslims This Eid (Statement)
As the month of Ramadan comes to a close, the National Lawyers Guild- Muslim Defense Project (NLG-MDP) stands alongside Muslims who will be gathering in prayer and celebration in communities across the country.
Today, merely gathering as a Muslim has become an act of courage in the face of terror. Indeed, the last few weeks have been marked by horrifying instances of hatred around the United States. The day after Wade Michael Page, who had ties to white supremacy groups, brutally attacked members of the Sikh community at their gurdwara in Oak Creek, Wisconsin , a mosque was also burned to the ground in Jopelin, Missouri. This mosque had been the subject of persistent attempts at arson. In Morton Grove, Illinois, a man shot at an Islamic center where 500 Muslims had gathered for Ramadan prayers. And in the suburb of Lombard, a soda bottle filled with household chemicals was thrown at an Islamic school, also during Ramadan prayers. Continue reading “Gathering for Prayers Is An Act of Courage: NLG-NYC Muslim Defense Project Stands in Solidarity with Muslims This Eid (Statement)”
National Lawyers Guild-New York City Chapter (NLG-NYC) Muslim Defense Committee Commemorates the Anniversary of the Egyptian Revolution and the Ongoing Struggle of the People of Egypt
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Bina Ahmad, 608-658-4228
Beena Ahmad, 917-806-1997
National Lawyers Guild-New York City Chapter (NLG-NYC) Muslim Defense Committee Commemorates the Anniversary of the Egyptian Revolution and the Ongoing Struggle of the People of Egypt
NLG-NYC Muslim Defense Committee demands the end of U.S. aid to the Egyptian military
NEW YORK (January 25, 2012) – Today marks the one-year anniversary of the Egyptian revolution, the popular challenge that ousted former President Hosni Mubarak from his thirty-years of brutal dictatorship. The revolution inspired and sparked other democratic uprisings throughout the globe, including the Occupy movement. We commemorate and honor our Egyptian brothers and sisters for this once seemingly impossible feat, and stand in solidarity with their ongoing struggle for democracy and human rights in Egypt. Since the revolution began one year ago, hundreds of Egyptians have been violently killed and thousands wounded at the hands of Egypt’s military, the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF). The Egyptian military, once seen as supportive of the revolution has now revealed its true colors as it attempts to undermine the people’s movement through secret decision-making, violent crackdowns on the civilian population using prohibited weapons – such as U.S. made torture tools – against peaceful protesters, continuance of military tribunals for civilians, kidnapping of revolutionaries, and refusal to cede power to the people.
As U.S. lawyers, legal workers, and activists, we condemn the U.S. government’s financing of the Egyptian military, through monetary aid as well as the sale of weapons used against peaceful protesters. We call on the U.S. government to immediately cease all exports to Egypt of U.S. made tear gas, weapons and torture tools used by the Egyptian military against peaceful Egyptian protesters.
The erosion of democracy in Egypt mirrors our own. The recent passage of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) empowers our armed forces to enter in civilian law enforcement and selectively suspend both due process and habeas corpus for terror suspects, including U.S. citizens, captured on U.S. soil even outside of an armed conflict zone. It is no coincidence that President Obama would sign such a law here while maintaining military and financial support of the Egyptian military who also rob their people of their most basic rights through indefinite detention and torture. As we see the ever shrinking democracy in our own country, we stand alongside our Egyptian brothers and sisters in fighting to reclaim our most basic human rights and freedoms.
The National Lawyers Guild, founded in 1937, is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States. Its headquarters are in New York and it has chapters in every state.
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NLG “Know Your Rights” Booklet Now Available in Arabic, NLG-NYC Establishes Muslim Defense Committee
The NLG National Office‘s popular “Know Your Rights” booklet is now available in Arabic and may be downloaded here. The 14-page booklet was published in response to the ongoing unwarranted surveillance of Muslim, Arab and South Asian communities by local and federal law enforcement agencies. Call the NLG National Office at 212-679-5100 to order a free print copy of the booklet.
The New York City Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG-NYC) recently formed its Muslim Defense Committee to provide legal support to the Muslim, Arab and South Asian communities in the New York metropolitan area and beyond. Read the Muslim Defense Committee’s November 14, 2011 statement in which it condemns the NYPD and CIA surveillance, harassment, infiltration and persecution of Muslim, Arab and South Asian communities and demands an independent investigation. Learn more about the work of the NLG-NYC’s Muslim Defense Committee by emailing [email protected].
New York City Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG-NYC) Condemns NYPD and CIA Surveillance, Harassment, Infiltration, and Persecution of Muslim, Arab, and South Asian Communities and Demands an Independent Investigation
For Immediate Release: November 14, 2011
Contact: Bina Ahmad, 608-658-4228; Lamis Deek, 212-226-3999; Garrett Wright, 646-459-3012
The New York City Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG-NYC) condemns the ongoing joint NYPD-CIA surveillance, harassment, infiltration, deliberate disruption, and persecution of New York City and area Muslim, Arab, and South Asian communities.
A series of articles released by the Associated Press has documented and made public a massive domestic spying apparatus set up by the NYPD with active participation from the CIA. This program destroys these communities’ privacy, liberty, security, and right to exist free from government interference.
The joint NYPD-CIA operation puts these communities under an endless and competing system of surveillance that includes police monitoring of mosques, homes, elementary schools, colleges and universities, restaurants, community and political organizations, stores, other institutions of civic and social life. The NYPD utilizes a “Demographics Unit” to deploy hundreds of undercover officers, countless informants, and technological surveillance to place entire communities under illegal surveillance. Over the years, an aggressive campaign of predatory prosecution was launched wherein informants, who themselves were induced with financial and immigration incentive to act as provocateurs, entrapped Muslims so as to justify the brutal war on Muslims at home and abroad.
Despite the revelation by the Associated Press series that the NYPD targeted these communities on the basis of religion and race within New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, Commissioner Kelly initially deceived the public by denying the existence of this program before the New York City Council earlier this month. The NYPD has yet to disavow the use of such a program.
The NLG-NYC condemns these racist, Anti-Muslim, unconstitutional, and immoral governmental assaults on freedom, dignity, and justice. These attacks are the latest in a long history of racist profiling and targeting of communities of color, including the shameful NYPD-FBI COINTELPRO campaign of murder and frame-ups directed against the Black Panther Party and Young Lords Party, as well as the ongoing NYPD racial profiling of African Americans and Latinos through abusive policing practices.
The NLG-NYC joins the Muslim Communities of New York and New Jersey in demanding the following:
- The immediate cessation and disclosure of all surveillance, and infiltration operations targeting Muslim, Black, Arab, and South Asian communities and the passage of anti-racial profiling legislation.
- An end to predatory prosecutions and the entrapment schemes that law enforcement agencies have been conducting in New York and throughout the United States.
- Attorney General Eric Schneiderman publicly address and investigate these abuses by the NYPD, in response to Sen. Kevin Parker’s letter, dated October 5, 2011.
- The establishment of an independent commission to investigate the role of the CIA and to oversee the surveillance operations of the NYPD to ensure that no additional misconduct and constitutional violations occur.
- The establishment of guidelines that clearly state, once and for all, what practices are prohibited and intolerable in a free society.
- Ongoing oversight of all future actions of the NYPD.
The National Lawyers Guild, founded in 1937, is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States. Its headquarters are in New York and it has chapters in every state.