Panel Participants Speak
out for Civil Liberties
Julia Shearson wants the US government
to explain why she was detained Jan. 8 while entering the
country from Canada through the Peace Bridge border crossing
in Buffalo.
Ms. Shearson has no criminal record. She is a US citizen,
whose ancestors came here on the Mayflower and eventually
settled in Ohio in 1813. She taught at Harvard University.
"As a law-abiding American citizen, being handcuffed
and detained at the US-Canadian border as a suspected terrorist
was a defining moment for me," said Ms. Shearson, executive
director of the Ohio Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations. "It gave me a glimpse of what lies ahead
if we Americans so easily surrender our cherished rights,"
she said.
Ms. Shearson of Geneva, Ohio, who is a convert to Islam,
was one of the panelists who spoke at a meeting in West
Toledo about being detained by US authorities while returning
from Canada after routine visits.
About 40 people attended the forum at the Sanger branch
of the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library. The session was
sponsored by the Arab Community Center for Economic and
Social Services, Dearborn, Mich.; the Arab American Institute,
an advocacy group in Washington; the American Civil Liberties
Union of Ohio, and the Greater Toledo Association of Arab
Americans.
"By telling these stories, we hope to help defend our
Constitution and the values of equality and liberty,"
she said.
Abe Dabdoub, 39, the plant manager for Material Sciences
Corp. in Walbridge, a Saudi Arabia-born, Monclova Township
resident, also shared his story.
A Canadian citizen naturalized as a US citizen a year ago,
Mr. Dabdoub told how he was handcuffed and detained by US
authorities for 2 1/2 hours in August at the Ambassador
Bridge crossing in Detroit when returning after a 1 1/2-day
visit with his relatives in Windsor, Ont.
Mr. Dabdoub was frisked, fingerprinted, and questioned before
he was released. The officers told him they weren't at liberty
to tell him why he was being detained, he said.
"Since then, I've had it happen to me 11 straight times,"
he said.
The forum was part of Liberty and Justice for All, a campaign
to defend civil liberties and human rights, Linda Mansour,
a Toledo lawyer who opened the meeting, said. (Courtesy
Toledo Blade)
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070309/NEWS14/703090416
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