By Miral Sattar

2006

I had been following Uzair Paracha’s trial closely in the news. I, like many others, was confident the jury would announce a ‘not guilty’ verdict.

Uzair Paracha, 26, is a Pakistani native and a graduate from the elite business school IBA, Institute of Business Administration. He is a legal immigrant who grew up in both the US and Karachi, Pakistan. To further his family’s ventures, he started his real estate business in February 2003. On March 28, 2003, he was arrested by FBI agents at his office and taken to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Manhattan.

Uzair Paracha’s father had asked him to check the immigration status for a friend of a friend, Majid Khan. Unbeknownst to Paracha, Majid Khan was a suspected Al-Qaida operative. After Uzair Paracha made that call to the INS, he was arrested for impersonating an Al-Qaida operative.

In November 2005, a jury found Paracha guilty of terrorism charges for helping a suspected al-Qaida operative sneak into the US. He could face up to 75 years in prison for making a phone call.

The verdict surprised and shocked me. It reminded me of Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird,” a novel which takes place in the 1960s. Lee’s story revolves around two children and their father, Atticus Finch. In the novel, Atticus defends Tom Robinson, a black man wrongly accused of sexually assaulting a racist’s daughter. Despite Atticus’ strong defense, the jury in the novel finds Tom Robinson guilty.

Surely, a lot has changed since the 1960s. After all, isn’t justice blind? In the novel Atticus states:

“But there is one way in this country in which all men are created equal – there is one human institution that makes a pauper the equal of a Rockefeller, the stupid man the equal of an Einstein, and the ignorant man the equal of any college president. That institution, gentlemen, is a court. It can be the Supreme Court of the United States of the humblest J. P. court in the land, or this honorable court which you serve. Our courts have their faults, as does any human institution, but in this country our courts are the great levelers, and in our courts all men are created equal.”

But the legal system consistently fails the very people it is supposed to defend. The government offered Paracha a plea to plead guilty a month before his trial. If Paracha plead guilty he would only have to serve five years. Since Paracha had already served three, that meant he would only have had to serve 15 more months. He went to trial to clear his name and instead could now face up to 75 years in prison. After 5 short hours of deliberation Paracha’s jury found him guilty on all accounts.

According to his friends and family, Uzair Paracha was on the path to success. He traveled back and forth between NYC and Pakistan for his family ventures. In Pakistan, Paracha’s father worked in Karachi, shipping clothing made in Pakistan to companies in the United States such as K-Mart. Paracha’s father is a well known philanthropist in Karachi, Pakistan who has built schools, orphanages and hospitals. During one trip in 2003, Paracha says he was subject to 72 hours of interrogation and torture until he told the FBI what they wanted to hear. According to Paracha his confession was a direct result of fear and exhaustion during his interrogation.

The U. S. Government has kept Uzair Paracha in solitary confinement for almost three years. Before his detainment, Uzair Paracha weighed 170 lbs. Currently, his weight is at 114 lbs. He is held in solitary confinement in a room the size of an average household closet. There is no heat and the light is on 24 hours a day.

The Paracha family tragedy is doubled. Paracha’s father, Saifullah Paracha, has been held as an enemy combatant since 2003. Right now, he is detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. There has been pressure from the United Nations to close down the camp due to inhumane conditions for inmates. The Bush Administration recently released the names of the detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay. There are approximately 500 inmates imprisoned at the military base without any formal charge. The prisoners at Guantanamo Bay are imprisoned indefinitely.

Even more than 40 years after Harper Lee’s novel was written, I find myself asking, is justice really blind? Racial bias and prejudice again have won. Uzair Paracha awaits sentencing at the Metropolitan Correctional Center. As the war against terror continues, we realize justice is not blind. For some, America is the land of opportunity, but for others who arrive here it is the land of crushed spirits and dreams.
Urge Congress to shut down Guantonomo Bay and Secret Prisons by sending a letter to your Congressman
Urge Attorny General Gonzales to appoint an independent council and release all Torture Documents though the ACLU.
Stop force feeding of detainees on the hunger strike through Amnesty International
Write a letter about the prisoners held at Bagram in Afghanistan
Educate yourself.
Sign the petition for Uzair Paracha and Saifullah Paracha. Sign here

Send to Kindle