Pushing Forward writes "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE!!
Thursday, Feb. 14, 2002



Political Prisoner Ali Khalid Abdullah Transferred
After Cell Search, Five Days After 6th Parole
Hearing.


***UPDATE: The International Campaign to Free Ali
Khalid Abdullah has learned that Ali may have been
transferred to the Kinross Correctional Facility
in Kincheloe, Michigan. CALL FOR PHONE SUPPORT
SUSPENDED.***



The International Campaign to Free Ali Khalid
Abdullah received word from Ali Tuesday night
(Feb. 12th) that he was to be transferred from Thumb
Correctional Facility in Lapeer, Michigan (where he
has been held captive for the last several years of
his 12 year imprisonment) to an unknown location. He
has told us that he will not be able to contact any of
us for the next several days until he is transferred
and his money (which isn't much) catches up to him.
This afternoon a worker from the Michigan Department
of Corrections told a member of the Campaign that Ali
has been transferred to the Kinross Correctional
Facility, 16770 South Watertower Drive, Kincheloe, MI,
49788, (906) 495-2282. This is a state prison. We
have not, however, received absolute verification of
this from Ali himself. Until further notice, however,
we are suspending our request for supporters to phone
and fax the Michigan Department of Corrections.



Ali's transfer is unusually disturbing because he was
given Tuesday night's notice after a day full of
strange interactions with the prison authorities at
Thumb Correctional Facility. The first occurred in
the morning when a question arose in the prison mail
room as to whether Ali should be allowed to receive
a leaflet mailed from Puerto Rico containing slogans
such as "Smash Sexism!" It was eventually decided
that he should be allowed to receive it. Shortly
after, (roughly, 11:15AM) he was subjected to an
unusual (and unexplained) cell search, in which many
of his letters, literature, and photographs where
confiscated. Later that evening, he was called to
the Control Center at the prison and was given "a
notice of intent to conduct an administrative hearing."
The notice indicated what materials were confiscated
and then went on to state that Ali was "a suspected
security threat, [indicated by] group literature and
photographs depicting possible terrorist activity,
[and] uprising against institutions and government
[and] organized from several countries." During this
type of hearing, a prisoner is evaluated, and if
deemed a threat to security, then she/he is
reclassified to a higher prison level and is
transferred to that level. In many cases prisoners are
transferred to federal prisons.

No more than an hour later, at around 6PM central time
Tuesday evening, Ali was told to pack up and get ready
to be transferred. These events are highly disturbing
and suspicious for several reasons. For one, they
occurred only five days after Ali's 6th parole hearing
on January 7. In a letter received by us on January
10th, Ali expressed optimism, saying that this was his
first parole hearing that he walked away from feeling
somewhat positive. It is also strange because Ali has
a good record at Thumb Correctional Facility, and prior
to these incidents had no reason to believe that he
had done anything to upset the authorities there.



These incidents are also, of course, being carried
out within the context of the U.S. government's
current "War on Terrorism", which in addition to
being the cause of untold death and suffering among
the people of Afghanistan, is being used as a pretext
for a clamp-down on civil liberties and political
dissent inside the U.S.



This is a developing situation. We will make news
available as soon as possible. For more information,
do not hesitate to contact us. It is realistic that
we will need some type of representation from an
attorney, either to battle a reclassification decision
or to battle a denial of parole. For this means we
are asking for donations so that we can find Ali
some decent representation, so if you can, send a
money order to the campaign contact info listed above
but make the check or money order out to Todd Fifield.
i will hold onto any donations earmarked for ?Ali
defense fund? until they are needed, and if it turns
out that we do not need to hire an attorney after all,
i will return your donation if so desired. Thank you
all for the support.



In Solidarity,



International Campaign to Free Ali Khalid Abdullah,

c/o Pushing Forward,

2716 SE 21st Street,
Portland, OR 97202, USA,

freeali@disinfo.net,

(503) 232-5817 (ask for Todd),

www.angelfire.com/dc/freeali



Ali?s new address:


Ali Khalid Abdullah #148130,

Kinross Correctional Facility,

16770 south Watertower Drive,

Kincheloe, MI 49788."