Khalid awan 's case ,A great example of Harassment,threats

Mr. Awan has filed court documents that assert he falsely confessed to crimes because FBI agents threatened him with lethal injection and said that they would have RCMP officers arrest his sisters in Montreal. "I tried to give answers so they would be pleased and not give me the death penalty," Mr. Awan wrote in court documents.
Khalid Awan had a reputation as an international man of mystery.
Born in Pakistan on Jan. 15, 1962, he later immigrated to Canada where he opened an immigration consulting business near Toronto. He carried a card saying he was a member of the Karachi Bar Association.
He expanded into the U.S., spending much of his time in New York, though maintaining contact with his sisters in Montreal.
Awan's legal woes across the 49th parallel began when he was arrested after 9/11 for federal credit card fraud charges.
While incarcerated at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, he chatted up fellow prisoners about his close ties to the Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) and in particular Paramjit Singh Panjwar, who is one of India's 10 most wanted fugitives.
He tried to recruit one of those men into the group, urging him to make contact with Panjwar once he was out of jail.
But the would-be recruit went to police instead and the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force launched a probe in 2003. Awan was captured on wiretaps talking about his support for the terrorist group. He even called Panjwar in Pakistan from the detention centre.
Other New York fundraisers for the Khalistan group cooperated with police and testified against Awan.
They all said they would collect thousands of dollars and then give it to Awan to send to Pakistan. They knew it was to be used for "the KCF's ongoing attacks in India, including bombings of buildings and bridges in Punjab, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh."
After money arrived in Pakistan, Panjwar would call the U.S. and confirm its receipt. He described Awan to one of the witnesses as "a good friend" and "trustworthy."
"At one meeting, Awan showed photographs of himself and Panjwar and explained that he and Panjwar were very good friends."
Snapshots seized from Awan's Garden City, N.Y., residence were entered as exhibits at his trial, showing Panjwar sitting cross-legged on the floor in Pakistan, flanked by supporters, sharing biscuits and a cup of tea.
The indiscreet Canadian recounted dinners he had with Panjwar and members of Pakistan's Intelligence Service, known as the ISI, which has long supported Sikh separatist groups.
"According to Awan, at one of the meetings an ISI colonel praised Awan for his work, calling him a 'silent mujahid' or silent warrior," the court document says.
"Awan also explained that in addition to KCF leader Panjwar and Pakistani ISI officers, these meetings included Ameer Ul-Azeem, a leader of Jamaat-e-Islam, a fundamentalist political party."
Awan also sent another man to travel with him to Pakistan "to meet Panjwar and receive military training in weapons and explosives at a KCF training camp."
The court heard that while Awan is Muslim, he worked with Sikh separatists because destabilizing India would help the Pakistani cause in the disputed state of Kashmir.
While much of the case built against Awan came from his indiscreet phone calls and associates who cooperated with police, the 45-year-old provided some of the most damning evidence against himself in a February 2006 interview with U.S. agents.
"Awan told the agents that he had transferred $60,000 to $70,000 (to Panjwar)," the court was told. "Awan said he knew the money 'was going to be used for bad things' which Awan described as 'shooting and killing of innocent people . . . in India.'
"Awan told agents that he was friends with Panjwar because Panjwar was a terrorist. He also said that he knew the KCF killed people in India and described the methods that the KCF used to smuggle terrorists into India to conduct the attacks."

A Canadian immigration consultant convicted of fraud and supporting overseas terrorism was sentenced yesterday to 14 years in prison, years after authorities picked him up in 9/11 sweeps around New York.
Khalid Awan, a Muslim and naturalized Canadian of Pakistani descent, wasn't ultimately convicted of any links to al-Qaeda. Rather, U.S. authorities in the Eastern District of New York used a series of elaborate in-prison stings to establish he supported a terrorist group of another religion, Sikh militants known in India as the Khalistan Commando Force.
U.S. officials alleged the 45-year-old was known during frequent travels to Pakistan as a "silent mujahed," which means holy warrior in Islam - although in this case the suspect was said to be a kind of free-floating radical, with links to Sikh and Muslim extremists, as well as Pakistani intelligence.
A New York jury last year convicted Mr. Awan of lending financial and other forms of support to KCF members who had staged deadly attacks against Indian civilians. This conviction led to the sentence meted yesterday.
He once faced very different allegations. Mr. Awan was first arrested in a New York suburb in October, 2001, and held as a material witness to the 9/11 attacks. FBI officers would later testify an anonymous tip accused Mr. Awan and men he knew of having links to one of the hijackers.
That allegation went nowhere, but the tip led to searches of a property east of New York, which in turn led to Mr. Awan's 2004 conviction on a credit-card fraud conspiracy. Police claimed they unearthed a scheme in which he allegedly stole identity profiles from immigrants who came to him seeking his help getting Canadian citizenship. As Mr. Awan was about to complete his fraud sentence in 2006, U.S. officials laid new charges against him: supporting terrorism.
Mr. Awan placed several calls from jail to The Globe and Mail last summer. He claimed to be the victim of "creative legal theories" and religious profiling. He said he had operated a legitimate immigration business with branches in Pakistan, New York, and Markham, Ont.
"I am not a terrorist, I do not know any terrorists," he said at one point. He also embarked on a letter writing campaign to a host of Canadian officials, urging them to intervene and help prove his innocence.
U.S. officials presented incriminating evidence in court. Mr. Awan was caught on tape calling a leader of the Sikh terrorist group, in India, from prison. And several Sikh witnesses testified against him, including one he had met in jail.
In conversation, Mr. Awan frequently compared himself to Maher Arar, a Canadian once accused of links to terrorism but who has been exonerated by a judge.
Mr. Awan has filed court documents that assert he falsely confessed to crimes because FBI agents threatened him with lethal injection and said that they would have RCMP officers arrest his sisters in Montreal. "I tried to give answers so they would be pleased and not give me the death penalty," Mr. Awan wrote in court documents.

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2007/09/365622.shtml

http://www.nysun.com/article/37251

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2007/09/366009.shtml

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2007/09/366008.shtml

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/War_Terror/2007/09/19/4508984-cp.html

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=1f41bd91-556e-4987-89c6-d592a9f80bb4

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=1f41bd91-556e-4987-89c6-d592a9f80bb4&p=2

http://news.sympatico.msn.cbc.ca/Air+India+probe+to+encompass+terrorism+funding/TopStories/ContentPosting.aspx?isfa=1&newsitemid=airindia-funding&feedname=CBC-TOPSTOIRES-V2&show=False&number=0&showbyline=True&subtitle=&detect=&abc=abc

http://jacksnewswatch.com/2007/09/21/registered-charities-bankroll-terrorism-rcmp/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/regional/story/2007/09/070917_pakistani_sentenced_as.shtml

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5gUpMKFk9Jpv8ClaBe4jt0EnSLMwQ

http://article.wn.com/view/2007/09/13/Canadian_gets_14_years_for_funding_terrorists/

http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2007/08/89029.html

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/america/2007/05/what_did_you_feel_on_911.html

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http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=ac724bfb-744a-4d1b-b93b-166288ca375a&k=66028

http://www.charchaa.com/pakistani_in_us_convicted_of_aiding_sikh_militants#comment-260

http://www.canada.com/cityguides/winnipeg/info/story.html?id=f66f6880-a995-4d59-b34c-8a65e2988325&k=20661

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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070913.SENTENCE13/TPStory/TPInternational/America/

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http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/index.html

http://article.wn.com/view/2007/09/13/Canadian_gets_14_years_for_funding_terrorists/

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=d8af3b33-c3b0-4d3b-961f-ef719719c1a2&k=42984

http://www.homelandsecurity.org/bulletin/070914.htm

http://publish.portland.indymedia.org/en/2007/09/365435.shtml

http://micropakistan.org/blog/2007/03/12/an-open-letter-to-the-president/

http://fray.slate.com/discuss/user/Profile.aspx?UserID=18489

http://fray.slate.com/discuss/forums/thread/304078.aspx

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http://www.canada.com/findit/search/searchword/index.html?q=canadian%20khalid%20awan

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=ac724bfb-744a-4d1b-b93b-166288ca375a

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http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2007/07/362842.shtml?discuss

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http://www.homelandsecurity.org/bulletin/070914.htm

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http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=1f41bd91-556e-4987-89c6-d592a9f80bb4

http://www.canada.com/cityguides/winnipeg/info/story.html?id=f66f6880-a995-4d59-b34c-8a65e2988325&k=20661

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http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/09/27/airindia-funding.html#skip300x250
Mr. Awan has filed court documents that assert he falsely confessed to crimes because FBI agents threatened him with lethal injection and said that they would have RCMP officers arrest his sisters in Montreal. "I tried to give answers so they would be pleased and not give me the death penalty," Mr. Awan wrote in court documents.
A letter of Khalid Awan from Jail.
Complete Real Innocent Khalid awan Canadian
Dear Sir / Madam
I am 46 years old, Canadian citizen and native of Pakistan (Muslim). I was an immigration consultant in Canada and also member of Canadian Bar Association as part of my business , I had an office in New York.
During 2001 immediately after the Sept 11, event the US govt arrested me on Oct 25, 2001 on anonymous call, as a material witness for the 9/11 world trade centre terrorist attack. A detail investigation by the FBI and USA Naval intelligence dept was conducted and I was cleared, but even then govt put me in front of Grand jury , and I was cleared and the case was dismissed by the Grand jury of the US Federal Court .
Approximately after 2 weeks , before I was released from custody the US Govt imposed a new charges of Fraud and money laundering , under the advice of my attorney , I pleaded guilty and I was sentenced to prison for five years (which was four years more, what I pleaded). In which I had already spent 3 years in Detention jail, during the case , I had about 14 months left to finishing my sentence ,(instead of appealing, I preferred to applied for Treaty Transfer to Canada, because if the case is in the appeal, defendant is not eligible for transfer back to his home country).
While at prison, I learned from the case manager Miss Hause, that my citizen was incorrect in the FBOP’s (Federal Bureau of Prison) computer system as Pakistani instead of Canadian.
Its important to note , that all of my Canadian identifications (passport , citizenship card , S.I.N , Health card , Driving license etc) were under FBI’s possession, with a great deal of concern, I wrote a letter to the Canadian Consulate in Buffalo, N.Y to notify such mistake and requested them to fix this problem. This is especially important for Treaty Transfer back to Canada.
The Canadian Consulate official sent a letter to the jail to correct my citizenship status, however FBOP ignored the request and the citizenship status in the FBOP computer still reflect Pakistani instead of Canadian (Note:- I would be required to obtain visa to visit Pakistan) .In contrast , the deportation letter received from US Immigration dept, Contained the correct citizenship status of Canada.
At the hindsight, I believe that the FBOP intentionally left the citizenship as Pakistani, so that they could retained me at their facility, while the govt is planning to file new charges against me 3rd time.
Approximately six weeks before my released date on Jan 30 ,2006 I was notified by the FBOP that I was being transferred from Allenwood , PA to MDC (Metropolitan Detention Centre) in Brooklyn N.Y, it was explained to me, that the purpose of this transfer was in preparation for deportation back to Canada, (after few days, I signed the immigration deportation papers, with my consular Miss Chen).
But immediately after my arriving to MDC Brooklyn, I discovered during a phone call with my family in Montreal, that RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) official had contacted my sister and brother-in-law regarding the whereabouts of my wife and my current situation, there was no explanation given by the RCMP official to the purpose of the call and he left his phone number and asked my wife to call him back immediately, my wife called the RCMP official and left messages in his voice mail. Then the official contacted my brother-in-law again and had asked him to tell my wife not to call again, because there is nothing good nor anything bad.
Meanwhile the AUSA ( Astt United States Attorney) office Investigator and FBI brought me to their office to be interrogated without an attorney present, even AUSA told in the court to the judge on March 16, 2006 that he arranged attorney for me before my arrival from Allenwood PA to MDC Brooklyn, N.Y, on Transcript; page 11, Transcript line No: 14 to 23.
AUSA:-
He (Khalid Awan) was writ in the cause of a grand jury investigation. He clearly had criminal exposure. So to protect his interest I made an application to the duty magistrate for counsel to be appointed.
THE COURT:-
Initially he was brought here by a Court to testify before the grand jury?
AUSA:-
That is correct, Your Honour.
THE COURT:-
When he arrived here, you made arrangements for an attorney to be pointed to request him?
AUSA:-
Yes, Your Honour.
This interrogation started with the AUSA office Investigator stating that my family will be arrested in Canada if I refused to answer their questions.
At this point I am certain that my family is in great danger for reasons that I am not aware of. I was scared that my family would be harassed by these people along with the Canadian RCMP official, I strongly believe that the RCMP is doing this intentionally in collaboration with FBI official to further harass me to admit charges, that I never committed.
Without knowledge of the reasons why the Canadian RCMP agency was involved. I was surprised that RCMP official directly approached my family instead of me without proper explanation, and its also shocked for me, that how RCMP got the phone number of my family (because before my arrest, I don’t have any single record in any police dept, of any country).
I was intimated and pushed to the edge during this interrogation, I was determined to provide anything these USA officials wanted to make them happy even is the questions made no sense, because I want them to stop the harassment to my family.
On March 15, 2006 I completed the term of my imprisonment and was to be released from American Custody and deported back to Canada. Before that I was arrested again 3rd time, and charged with providing “material support to a foreign terrorist” and money laundering (to a organization and person, which are not designated by the USA govt and belongs to Sikh religion) , and with whom, I don’t have any single common interest, because we both are from different countries and different religions.
These charges emerged while I was still in prison and without the capability of providing any type of support. It was even difficult for me to get enough financial assistance to pay legal fees. I could not have provided any material support while I was in prison for five years and I could not launder any money because I did not have any.
AUSA filed three counts of indictment against me.
Conspiracy to provide material support.
Provide a material support to the foreign terrorist.
Money laundering to support terrorism.
(Please note, that in my previous case govt charged me for money laundering and fraud from Jan 1999 to 2002 and “its mentioned in the plea-agreement by the AUSA that no further money laundering charges will be brought against defendant from Jan 1999 to April 2002” even then govt indict me for money laundering from 1998 to Nov 2001 (Which is double Jeopardy and violation of 5th Amendment of U.S Constitution.)
In Oct 2006, during pre-trial hearing on the motion’s filed by my attorney the first two counts of my indictment were dismissed by the judge, stating that there is a lack of facts and figures.
After two weeks AUSA re-indicted me again. I believe this is a desperate act of the AUSA to cover up a huge embarrassment . Further this hastily drawn indictment was full of factual errors and creative legal theories.
Since I was first arrested by the American govt, I believe that I have been singled out, isolated `and discriminated against primarily because of my race and religion, in addition to the fact that I don’t know any information that the American govt is trying to pressure out of me.
I do not understand the American laws and this is what led to my pleading guilty in the first case. I have difficulty understanding the new charges also.
I have been charged under, section 2339(a) of Title 18 of the United States code, which makes it illegal to provide material support to a foreign terrorist.
Please understand, I am not a terrorist, I do not know any terrorist and I have had no connections with or to any known or unknown terrorist. I have been incarcerated for last 5 years and I had no money to provide or launder.
The law enforcement have in America is pressuring me to provide information to them that I really do not have or know. I am a Canadian Citizen and nearly all of my family is in Canada, including my wife and kids. I don’t know any information to tell them to help their investigation.
Because of this , I am being treated unfairly and my rights under the American constitution are being violated. I am being held here in further detention against my will for crimes which I could have never committed, because I was in prison.
I believe, that I am a victim of the discrimination that was outlined in the July 3, 2006 issue of Time magazine (Page 29, column 3). In this article section 2339(a) & (b) are discussed and criticized “as most suspects are charged under these two sections. However, the justice dept here in America admits that of the more than 218 guilty pleas that it has obtained, most are for minor investigation issues that are uncovered deeding the course of their terrorism investigation. This suggest, according to the article that the Attorney General’s office have is not concerned about the rights or fairness or the manner in which it achieves convictions for the people they arrest. Furthermore, criticizes have noted that one of the patterns to emerge from these domestic prosecutions is that suspect seen too incompetent to carry out the deeds they are accused of. The Deputy Attorney General acknowledges that the Dept of Justice’s goal is “ preventions through prosecution’s” and this is done with no regard for an individual’s rights.
I agree that these guilty of terrorism should be prosecuted . But as the above mentioned article suggest , innocent people should not be targeted because of their race or religion.
I am not a terrorist and I should not be targeted and treated unfairly and unjustly.
I need your assistance desperately in my case, as I believe that I am being treated unjustly here. I would like to send you my attorney’s contact information and provide you with legal documents related to my case, so that you may become more familiar with my situation.
Please also note, that I appeared in the court , for no guilty of my 2nd superseding indictment on Aug 02, 2006 and on Aug 03, 2006 FBOP officials placed me in the SHU (Segregation Housing Unit) out of these months, I placed in the SHU isolation from Jan 03, 2007 to March 6, 2007 for unknown “Pending Investigation” in these 215 days of my segregation and isolation, I don’t have a single phone call access to my family, no legal calls to my attorney and Canadian Council, my legal mail opened in my absence, no medical treatment for my injured shoulder (even I went for hunger strike for 3 and half day) I harassed by the various jail officials and lot of other problems too which already been submitted in the attention of the FBOP higher authorities, but no action taken on them, after writing the court, instead of receiving the response or any action on my complaints, jail officials removed /moved me from MDC federal facility to Nassau County Jail .
My suffering has gone on for far too long, and I need your help to bring my suffering to an end. I want to return home to my family, because my imprisonment was injustice and will remain a great injustice forever.
May God bless you and be with you in your efforts to champion the cause of human rights, and the suffering of innocent prisoners and restore hope, faith and love to peoples all over the world.
Sincerely,
KHALID AWAN
FBOP NO. 50959-054

http://visalawcanada.blogspot.com/2007/09/immigration-consultatant-convicted-of.html

http://www.bloglines.com/search?q=khalid+awan&ql=en&s=f&pop=l&news=m

http://www.technorati.com/blogs/khalidawancanadian.blogspot.com

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http://technorati.com/posts/tag/khalid+awan

http://www.mumbaimirror.com/net/mmpaper.aspx?page=article&sectid=4&contentid=200612220213476871be84d96

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/america/2007/05/what_did_you_feel_on_911.html#comment-1136974

http://ch-gondal.sulekha.com/blog/archives/2007-5-01/Monthly/default.htm

http://ch-gondal.sulekha.com/blog/Current%20Affairs/posts.htm

http://indocanadianonline.blogspot.com/2006/12/pakistani-from-ny-guilty-of-funding.html

http://india.usembassy.gov/pr122106b.html

http://www.nysun.com/article/37251