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Our guests tonight on Political Prisoner radio are Laila Yaghi and Siraj Davis. Laila is the mother of Ziyad Yaghi, a young U.S. citizen of Palestinian heritage who is accused of being part of a terrorist conspiracy. Laila and her supporters, including Siraj Davis, are fighting to prove that Ziyad is completely innocent of any crime.
Ziyad Yaghi is a 24 year old American citizen, from Jordan originally, who has lived in the U.S. since the age of two. He has been accused of attempting to commit terrorism abroad in an indictment which infers that trips abroad by a Muslim are part of a terrorist conspiracy. Ziyad visited Jordan in 2006, the country of his birth. Unfortunately the US Indictment appears to have misinterpreted this intention, and states instead that he was seeking armed conflict. In 2007, Ziyad and his friend Omar sought to visit the west bank and Masjid al-aqsa, one of Islams most famous and revered sites and one which holds particular appeal for Ziyad as he is from Palestinian heritage.
On July 27, 2009, dozens of heavily armed Swat and hostage rescue team members arrested seven North Carolina men on terrorist-related charges, even though Department of Justice (DOJ) officials said the men weren't serious threats to US domestic or foreign interests and no evidence suggested ties to Al Qaeda or other militant groups.
Ziyad's mother and supporters are fighting to prove that he was just a young Muslim man who traveled as millions of young people do, seeking different cultures and experiences. It is discriminatory to assume that if a Muslim man engages in a trip to the Middle East that it is seditious conspiracy, yet if a non Muslim man were to do the same then it is soul-searching and adventure.
Kazi Toure is a former U.S. political prisoner and has been a longtime community organizer and freedom fighter against oppression. He is said to be the Black person convicted of seditious conspiracy. He served nearly ten years in prison from 1982-1991. He has served as co-chair of the National Jericho Movement and worked for Amnesty for Political Prisoners in the United States 2005-2009. He was a Co-chair of the American Friends Service Committee's Prison Program, 1997-2005.
Mr. Torue was also a A.N.C. Delegate of the South African Truth and Reconcilation Committee in 1996. He was a N.G.O. Delegate to the United Nations Conference on Racism, 2001. Currently he works as trial consultant/paralegal, Law Office of Attorney Barry P. Wilson and he continually struggles for the liberation of all oppressed people.
Our guest tonight for the 12/13/2012 edition of Political Prisoner Radio on Black Talk Radio Network is former Political Prisoner and the director of The Freedom Archives, Claude Marks. The Freedom Archives contains over 10,000 hours of audio and video tapes that date from the late-60s to the mid-90s and chronicle the progressive history of the Bay Area, the United States, and international solidarity movements.
They have also created the multiple awarding documentary COINTELPRO 101, which introduces viewers new to this history to the basics and directs them to other resources where they can learn more.
This Thursday, former Weather Underground member and political prisoner Linda Evans joins the broadcast. She was sentenced to 40 years in prison for allegedly by guns with a fake id that many legal analysts called “excessive”. She spent 16 years incarcerated for her political activities before President Bill Clinton commuted her sentence. Current Attorney General Eric Holder worked in the pardons office at the time.
According to the organization she works with now, LSPC, Linda Evans is co-author of the booklet, “The Prison Industrial Complex and the Global Economy". Linda received her B.A. and M.A. in Humanities while she was in prison.
Since her release, she has been active in several moments and work concerning the children of Political Prisoners & POW. She also has been working in the Occupy Movement and was part of the Occupy San Quentin movement. We will ask her to explain her role in the people’s revolution of the 60’s and 70’s and what can oppressed people do to meet today’s challenges.
