cells not fit for a dog

international | rights, freedoms and repression | event notice Wednesday November 08, 2006 17:20 by free prison-scapegoat - Dutch prisons inhumane

Minister guilty of putting people in firehazard environment

cells not fit for a dog caused a fire that killed and maimed asylumseekers and a person who was put in there because he was visiting his child who was kept in the Netherlands while he lived abroad. Now the finger is pointed at one of the victims and he is mede into a scape goat. It is a miracle he survived the Dutch prison for so long as many die in there. The governement does not print exact figures of the amount. Regularly prisoners have to go a full day without water. There is no way they can sit or lie down without cooling off too much and the light and cold make it a torture.

Call for Action on

Wednesday 8 NOVEMBER 1.00 p.m.

Amsterdam, Prinsengracht Court House

Appeal of the Schiphol "arsonist"
"There must be a scapegoat, while Verdonk keeps out of range"

A year on and Ahmed Isa Al-Jabail is still in preventive custody for
alleged intentional arson, while the maximum sentence for such an offence
is eight months!

Reconstruction of the incident by the Van Vollenhoven team points in a
completely different direction and even excludes intent altogether: Ahmed
was woken by the alarm only to find himself on fire. Most likely, he
dropped his insufficiently extinguished cigarette butt on the foot of his
bed instead of on the floor before he fell asleep.

Ahmed Isa is being made into a scapegoat, while being subjected to inhuman
treatment. He has been exposed to light 24-7 and is being deprived of
medical or psychological care.

His lawyer, Eduard Damman, argued in vain for his release at the Haarlem
lawcourt.

We see Ahmed primarily as a victim.
Survivors of the Schiphol inferno have pledged their support and signed a
petition for Ahemed?s release. They will support his cause on the steps of
the Prinsengracht Court House on Wednesday.

Join us there, and bring an ashtray as a symbol of protest!

--------- letter from the survivors --------

Honourable Members of the Court, Mr Attorney-General,

I, the undersigned, was being held at Schiphol East Detention Centre in
the night of 26-27 October, when a devastating fire broke out.

As a victim of the blaze, I wish to pledge my sympathy and support for my
fellow-victim Ahmed Al-Jaballi. In my honest opinion, Mr Al-Jabali is
wrongfully being accused of intentional arson.

I regard Ahmed as one of the victims of the fire, and appeal to the Court
to consider my support for Al-Jaballi in the decision whether to extend
Ahmend?s preventive custody.

I sincerely feel that it would be a rank injustice to prolong Mr Jabali's
preventive custody and appeal to the Court to end this situation
forthwith.

As a victim of the blaze, I am of the opinion that my request should carry
some weight with regard to the Court?s decision.

Yours sincerely,

Name
Cell No.
Signature