Detained by the US government.

• Position: War and War Hysteria

Below is a letter sent by Pastor Rabih Haddad from his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in downtown Chicago. Haddad is well known in the Ann Arbor/Detroit area as an ecumenical leader and assistant Imam of a local mosque. He is co-founder of the Global Relief Foundation, the second largest Muslim charity in the US, which has had its assets frozen since December 14, 200], even though the government has yet to produce any evidence against it.

Haddad, along with thousands of others, has been racially profiled by our government for being Arab and Muslim. He was locked up in solitary confinement in December 2001 without criminal charges and denied bond, without the government releasing any of the alleged "evidence" against him. The Detroit Free Press, Detroit Metro Times, Congressman John Conyers and the ACLU have sued Atty General Ashcroft to open the closed court hearings, which even his family, have been barred from.

Mr. Haddad's letter is addressed to a member of the Chicago Coalition Against War & Racism (CCAWR).

January 27, 2002

Dear Mr. Thayer,

Thank you so much for your kind and thoughtful letter of January 22. I do greatly appreciate your interest and efforts for my release. Please extend my regards and gratitude to all members of CCAWR.

I am sorry to say that I was not able to see the protests because the window in my cell is "whited out" to allow light in but not for me to see anything out. I was able, however, to hear about it from other inmates who own small radios and heard it on the news.

Allow me to take this opportunity to bring you slightly into my world here at MCC Chicago. I am in a 6' x 9' solitary cell that seems to have been designed for extremely violent or extremely troublesome inmates.

The bed is situated in the center of the room with about a foot and a half on either side of it to the wall. The bed is a metal slab with four legs bolted to the floor and fitted on all four corners with special fittings to hold straps if it should become necessary.

I have a camera fixed on me right outside my door that has completely deprived me of any kind of privacy since that door has a small window which allows them to check and see if I'm still there around the clock.

It's for my safety, they say.

I am allowed one 15 minute call to my family every 30 days. My food is handed to me through a slit in the door 2-1/2" x 12". The same opening is used to put the cuffs on me before the door is opened for any reason. I am...