Dr. Sami Al-Arian and Ali Al-Marri

last day of protest

Today was full of surprises. For the first time it was drizzling, but no worries, my posters were waterproof. Nancy wasn't could not come today i was all psyched to do it alone all day. Who do i see across the street? None other than matt. i thought he must be doing some business but he crossed the street and came over to stand with me. i found out quite a few things about matt that i didn't know before.

about 10 minutes later a young man, 20 some thing, came over and asked me why should al-marri be freed. according to him when bush said he is enemy combatant, he is. he can be held for as long as the government wanted. then he started the whole spiel about the us giving the world democracy, women the right to vote, etc.

at times the discussion got quite heated, matt and i took turns debating with him. i gave him my card, he reluctantly took it and put in his pocket. then i tried to give him a loose change dvd, which he refused to take it saying he is an american he has a right not to take it. i wanted to say yes as an american you have a right to stay ignorant but he didn't give me a chance.

shortly after he left, a car stopped near us and the man leaned over a woman passenger and said some thing. it turns out he had seen the sign earlier in the week and looked up on the internet about al-arian. he was very appreciated of our effort. he belonged to peace and justice organization of rockford. he also signed our petition.

matt left at ~1:15. soon afterwards bob came over to say hello and sign the petition. he also signed for harriet who stayed in the van. several women asked what was going on, one woman read both sides of the info paper i had given her.
by now the drizzle had stopped and the sun almost peeped.

the judge was supposed to rule on the al-arian case. i could find out what the ruling was. it is not reflected in his web site. his weight loss has been updated to 55 lbs in 60 days of hunger strike. i even sent him an email but have received no response. it does not seem promising.

elaine Hopkins has written a blog, which can be accessed at : http://peoriastory.typepad.com/ .

mike miller's column will appear in tomorrow's journal star.

Dr. Sami Al-Arian and Ali Al-Marri

tuesday night at 10 o'clock i was panicking because the wearher forcast was rain, rain and more rain every day rest of the week. paint i used to make posters was water soluble. it is odd enough to see a woman crazy enough to stand on the corner of a street holding two posters. but to see words of the posters bleeding into each other would be funny indeed.

i have made a commitment for the whole week. what do i do? i call nancy! she is not home. i leave a rambling message. she calls back around 10:30. no sweat, she'll put the clear plastic - bring the posters in the morning. a sigh of relief.

it rains off and on all night. i am some where in a public place out of nowhere bush appears grabs my upper right arm and kinda pushes me to go somewhere, he's gone, instead 3 or 4 plain clothes people surround to take me away.... i wake up. it has been a long time since i remembered a dream so vivedly.

nancy excuses herself from a meeting at work and comes with me to protest for an ~ an hr.

generally, people look but are afraid or indifferent to ask any questions.one woman honks the horn vigorously and givs a thumbs up sign.do i know her? a man honks his horn and gives a thumbs down. i don't know him that's for sure. one man riding bike yells he/they should be hanged. who? al-arian, al-marri or both? why?
mike miller of peoria journal star stops by to ask a few questions. he's going to write a cloumn to appear on saturday in journal star.
no rain!!

thursday, march 22
as usual nancy comes shortly after i arrive. it had rained earlier but the weather is quite warm and pleasant for the duration. look who joined us? none other than doug! he holds one sign nancy holds the other. few minutes later harry comes by riding his bicycle

to answer his question i sit next to the man on the bench waiting for the bus. he understands the sitauation very well. he himself had been wrongly arrested and imprisoned for two months. he's looking for a lawyer. nancy talks to him. next thing i see she is taking him to the doctor or hospital, he is limping i help him get in her car.

what is going on in the land of the free and home of the plenty?

Dr. Sami Al-Arian and Ali Al-Marri

march 18, 07

dear friends

starting tomorrow I plan to protest every day of this week from 12 noon - 2 pm in front of the federal building (corner of monroe and main). I have two signs: one for dr. al-arian and another for al-marri - the peorian. please join me if u can. thank u.

thank u mark for helping me with the posters.

ill have a petition for people to sign.

for more info check out these sites

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/03/16/1410255

http://www.freesamialarian.com/home.htm

http://collegefreedom.org/marri.htm

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/02/1533231

http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR511822006?open&of=ENG-2M4

March 19, 07
day 1
never having taken an initiative like this before, i was a little apprehensive at first, but once i situated myself in front of the federal building at the corner of main and monroe it was just like the papn protest i have participated so many times on saturdays from noon - 1 pm at the corner of university and main.

the first person who talked to me may have been a peoria journal star worker. he knew a lot about al-marri: he is from qatar and his wife and children are in saudi arabia. that was good to know, i have been unsuccessfully have been trying to find their whereabouts.

there was quite a bit of traffic and most people seemed curious. one women while waiting for the light to turn green asked me where he was now. i don't don't who she was referring to, al-marri or al-arian. my response: virginia, where i believe both of them are being held.

several pedestrians stopped by, one man was really angry, nancy had joined me shortly before he came. i could identify with his frustration: how could this all be happening? i gave him loose change dvd and 11 remarkable facts about 9/11. he said he was going to make copies and pass them around, he may even join big papn protest tomorrow evening at 5 pm at the same place.

other reactions from pple in cars: one woman started laughing, one man gave thumbs down, one gave thums up, one honked horn, most others gave just curious looks.

tomorrow ill have a petition for the release of al-marri and al-arian for pple to sign, copies of which i'll send to members of congress and white house. if u can't make it during the day, please remember to sign the petition in the evening.

thank you nancy for taking time from your lunch hr to join me.

yesterday was quite a busy day, protest for dr al-arian and al-marri earlier in the day, more protest at 5pm against the war followed by the peoria disposal company and ending with monthly meeting of peoria area peace network. i started writing the journal but didn't send it. today i found out WMBD did air our interviews.
i met some more wonderful people in the evening protest. lot of people really do care! razia

Dear friends, thank you for writing, its heart warming to receive messages of encouragement.

March 20, 07
Day 2
Today as i pulled in to park by the side of library on Main Street, the car in front had a jimmy Dennis bumper sticker. I thought of Tonya but it was Nancy already there to join me in the protest.

i came to know of jimmy Dennis thru Jim and Tonya who have taken up his cause: to save him from death row, they along with hundreds of others believe he was wrongly convicted of murder. they have build a web site for him: http://www.jimmydennis.org/

as i was saying I got so excited to see Nancy that i almost forgot to put money in the meter, again Nancy came to the rescue. later on i saw at least two may be more city parking enforcement vehicles pass by every few minute.

As we were crossing Monroe Street we saw WMBD-local CBS TV- car parked in front of the library. We had hardly put down the extraneous stuff we were carrying, than the young woman was there with her camera and microphone. She interviewed both of us. I don't know if it made it to the air or not, still it was nice to be noticed and that is the whole point, to make public aware of the wrongful imprisonment of people on mere suspicion in this land of the free.

Soon afterwards Mike, a Vietnam veteran, came on his bike. Nancy and I were delighted to see him. He stayed for a while and like the rest of us vented his frustration at the absurdity of the whole state of affairs.

Nancy left a few minutes before 1 pm and Mike stayed for a few minutes holding the poster on his bike.

Most people as usual were curious, some stopped by to ask who these men were and if I am related to them in some way, what I hope to accomplish, etc.

One guy driving a big SUV made a point to show me his thumbs down, and at the end while I was walking to my car holding posters hanging down with backs facing each other, another man pulling out of an alley in a big truck yelled "yeah let those terrorists be free to kill more people” he wasn't interested in my pronouncement that these men have not killed any one nor they have anything to do with any other killing. They are the victims of a witch-hunt.

One woman signed our petition. In the evening all the people who were at the PAPN protest also signed the petition.