🚀 go-pugleaf

Despite his wrongful arrest 3 hours after his arrival 
in France as a tourist for his first visit, for "association 
avec malfaiteur" (knowing someone who it turned out
was under surveillance by French police for drug trafficking), 
despite being held 20 months without trial, bail or oppty 
to defend himself, and despite being sentenced to 18 years 
without the right to appeal, Barry still says of himself:

       "...I am the luckiest unlucky man" 


_____________________

PLEASE SEND BARRY A MESSAGE OF ENCOURAGEMENT / SUPPORT


Barry's current address:

Barry BRAIMAH
Ecrou 875158 - Div. 3/208
Allee des Thuyas
94261 Fresnes - CEDEX
FRANCE

Also, you may post a message for Barry at:

     http://www.poboxes.com/justice

and we will print it and mail it to him
  
Or, E-mail your message to: 

              FreeBarry1@aol.com
              BarrySupport@starmail.com

________________________________________________________

New Human Rights List

Please join!

SUBSCRIPTION INSTRUCTIONS

To be ADDED, simply send ANY message or 
even a BLANK message to: Barry-subscribe@EGroups.com
A confirmation request will be sent, and must be returned.


Or contact:

               Cecil, Family Liaison
               JUSTICE@comports.com


------------------------------------------------------------------------

FRANCE:  Am. tourist HR Victim appeals for HELP


For case details, pls join the List, or go to:  

http://www.freeyellow.com/members3/justice1/justice.html
http://members.aol.com/FreeBarry1/index.html
http://home4.inet.tele.dk/lepan/lene/index.htm
http://www.bruderhof.org/newpage3.htm
http://www.poboxes.com/justice

LINKING TO YOUR WEBSITE:  Please let us know if you may be willing
     link one or more of the above sites to your Home Page or Website.

     THANK YOU


ARCHIVE

     NOTE: The messages sent via this List are archived 
                    & accessible at:
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___/ ___/ ___/ ____/ ___/ ___/ ___/ ____/ ___/ ___/ ___/ ___/




HUMAN RIGHTS -  B A R R Y   B R A I M A H

     African American tourist, serving an 18-yr sentence
          in France, with no right to appeal


WEEKLY VISITS 

     To be added to the List of the Human Rights Monitors to
        receive their reports following visits with 
        Barry, please E-mail to:  101716.144@compuserve.com


FUND RAISING & DONATIONS

  Small donations requested, or help with raising funds for Barry's
        legal and in-prison expenses

  Barry's fund is rapidly dwindling (details below)


HELPING

  If willing to donate or help, please contact us at both: 

               101716.144@compuserve.com, FreeBarry1@aol.com


BARRY THANKS HIS SUPPORTERS and those who wish him well !!


___/ ___/ ___/ ____/ ___/ ___/ ___/ ____/ ___/ ___/ ___/ ___/ 



LARS BAKKER: Special Mention of Barry's Newest Visitor

We salute Lars Bakker of the Netherlands for being only 
the 4th person in 4.5 years to succeed in obtaining the 
"permis de visite" necessary to visit Barry in prison.
With his girlfriend, he drove for 7 hours from 
Holland to France.  On August 28, he met with Barry.

Lars wrote an account of the whole experience, and of
his meeting with Barry, that is both gripping and 
informative.

To receive by E-mail his full account or to communicate 
with him directly, please E-mail Lars at both:   

          Trapped@worldonline.nl
          follow_that_dream@yahoo.com

Or, find his full story posted at:  


    http://x8.dejanews.com/getdoc.xp?AN=399961874


A SNEAK PREVIEW

In the excerpt below, Lars speaks of the first time he laid
eyes on the visiting area of Fresnes prison, and on Barry:

"...I thought that there was some kinda large room, where 
visitors sit next to each other and talk to prisoners on 
the other side but instead there was a small hallway with 12
doors on each side...

"The advantage was that there was a private place to talk, 
but this thing was not bigger than a shower cell. 
After you step into this shower cell, they close the door 
behind you and it takes another 10 minutes before the
one (you're) to meet enters on the other side.

"But you forget all about the above as once the door on the 
other side opens up and the next moment there is this big 
man with this big smile on his face standing in front of you. 

"There is really no way that I will ever forget about that 
great moment." 


..The rest of Lars' moving account of his visit with Barry 
can be read at: 

     http://x8.dejanews.com/getdoc.xp?AN=399859390


___/ ___/ ___/ ____/ ___/ ___/ ___/ ____/ ___/ ___/ ___/ ___/ 



C O N T E N T S 


* Report from the Human Rights Monitors on their visit with Barry

    - Barry's family is requesting help with fund raising
          Fund raising efforts need to be organized 
              Ideas are welcome!

          avoiding bank charges on check transactions
          small individual contributions, from $5 to $50 

          measures for reassuring contributors on how their 
              donations are applied to Barry's various needs
          
    - Weakness of the inquisitorial-prosecutorial system

          "association avec malfaiteur" 
              or guilt by association


 Mass Arrests, Mass Trials
 Prosecutorial Excess

    - New Human Rights violations in France of startling proportions
          Mass roundups of people near Paris
          Mass "trials" of an "Islamic network" 
          Trials staged in a gymnasium-courtroom


TRANSLATIONS
  
          On the above subject, and on the subject of prosecutorial 
              excess, please read the articles translated from 
              Liberation September 25 and 28, posted at:

              http://x1.dejanews.com/getdoc.xp?AN=398924597
              http://x1.dejanews.com/getdoc.xp?AN=398923276


HEPATITIS

    - Cell mate infected with Hepatitis B

          Sizing up the risk to Barry
          American Embassy intervened on behalf of Barry with 
             regard to a tooth in need of dental services

    - Incalculable damage that prison will likely wreak on Barry
           He is not immune to the horrors of the prison experience

    - Ms magazine's excellent article on "women in US prisons"

    - The "Prison-Industrial Complex" - new construction everywhere


YOGA

    - Barry's activities: yoga, contemplation -- he must
          wait an extra year to be reassigned out of
          pre-WWII Fresnes prison to a "regular" French
          prison, where he hopes to find work and educational
          opportunities .. simply more BAD NEWS

    - New classes Barry is taking:  Philosophy and French


NEW ATTORNEY

* Task of the new French attorney, Mr. Yvon Thiant

* Barry's 5th consecutive birthday, passed in a 9X12-foot cell


UPCOMING HOLIDAYS

* With Holidays approaching, please discuss with us
        any parcels, etc., that you would like to send to Barry

    Barry requests printed downloads from the Web on 
        Conspiracy Nation, investigative reporting, etc.

* Linking Barry's JUSTICE WEBSITES to your Home Page


SUICIDE

* Barry's cell mate attempted suicide while Barry was visiting
    with the Human Rights Monitors

* Message from Barry

______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________


HUMAN RIGHTS MONITORS' REPORT


Visit with Barry, September 29th


Dear All,

We visited Barry on Tuesday, September 29th, for 45
minutes. First, we also sent his monthly mandate of
700 francs and his reserve fund is down to 500
francs. 

We also got a phone call from Lallia in
California saying that she and Olu were organizing
a fund for Barry. In the past this has been ad hoc,
small dollar checks have been sent to us and then
deposited in our California account, we
credited what Barry received here in France. 

Since the bank charges of processing a single check in
dollars through a French bank account is about $35
(we think the Embassy gets caught in the same bank
game), our ad hoc way of doing things avoids these
huge bank charges, usually in excess of the amount
of the check. We are drawing down Barry's reserve
at 200 francs a month since we personally supply a
constant 500 francs. 

We also contribute about 100 francs a month 
to Barry in the form of stamps both
3 franc (for France and Europe) and 4.40 for the
USA and Canada. We estimate that we will have to
raise about 2000 francs over the next year (ca
$400) to maintain Barry, this can be done with
relatively small individual contributions of $10 or
so. 

In the past people have sometimes sent checks
between $5-50, which worked since enough of them
built up. We think what we can do to assure the
hesitant is send them photocopies of the monthly
mandate which shows Barry's name and the amount. We
get a copy when we send off the mandate to Barry.
We have copies of these receipts since 1995.

We have been supplying Barry and you too with some
recent translations of court or police actions in
France. We have attached another one at the end of
this letter which describes part of the
"terrorist" trial of an Islamic "network" near
Paris. 

This trial has been strongly criticized by
the media and certainly will reach the European
Court since it involves a mass trial of well over
100 people. The defense lawyers are partially
boycotting the trial. The main question is how one
can be fairly treated individually with people
tried in masses? 

However, in examining the following article 
you will also note what we considered a 
weakness in the French inquisitional-
prosecutorial system. The mere finding of one's
phone number in somebody's else's possession is a
reason for arrest. The system broadly interprets
the "association avec malfaiteur" to the point that
anybody at the edge of a particular case can find
themselves arrested, held indefinitely by the
instruction judge and brought to trial, sometimes
convicted on evidence that would not have even
produced a charge in an American court. 

This is the case with Barry since there was no physical
evidence against him, merely the statement of one
person who was rewarded with a reduced sentence.
This use of a co-defendant's statement in the
absence of other evidence is not allowed in a New
York Court, for instance. 

However, in the past it has been almost 
impossible for us to convey this legal 
culture to Americans, but this following
article will give you an independent view of what
can occur. 

We should also stress that we have
the strong impression that in the criminal law
system, as in the US, its application is "bipolar,"
one set of rules for the poor, who dominate the
populations of prisoners, and one for the middle
and upper classes who rarely encounter the criminal
law system. 

When the latter do, in France, it sometimes 
produces books or TV experiences on how
"terrible" things are. In some cases Barry has been
"amused" by their complaints, like spoiled children
who suddenly have to face real life.

Barry's current worry, however, has been the fact
that his cell mate has Hepatitis B, which Barry got
tested for as well as other diseases like AIDS,
and found he is free. Our daughter in NY informed
us of the transmission risks and these seem to be
minimal in Barry's case, since he has been
generally careful. The Hepatitis virus is long-lived 
in the open and he is advised; we sent him -- and he has
received -- all the information we have. 

Somebody from the Observatoire International des
Prisons (OIP) is investigating the rules on the prison
administration keeping a prisoner who is ill with a
healthy one. Barry has been offered shots and will
take them but they take a long time to take hold
and the prison administration health service is
slow (OIP reports that the dental services
nationwide are so pressed that they can treat only
one-third of the prisoners, Barry had to have the
intervention of the Embassy to have one tooth
looked at, the excellent health care in France just
stops at the prison gates).

(A "new") lawyer who is going to visit Barry has not yet
been able to do so, we noted that the strikers were
still blocking some entrances at Fresnes. But this
should not go on indefinitely. 

Our discussions during the visit mostly 
dealt with things in the press. We delivered 
along with three copies of the Paris Herald, 
a copy of a July NY Post (sent by
Iain, Human Rights supporter), a gutter 
newspaper filled with all sorts of
local gossip. Our tastes sometimes descend to this
level too, and given the display of the Starr tapes
we have not lost much of our Americanness in our
years of being in France. 

Frances, Human Rights supporter, sent a copy of the 
Sept-Oct Ms magazine which had an excellent 
article on "women in prison" in the US, in particular
the Federal prisons. Their population has gone up 10
fold since the 80s, largely due to mandatory
sentencing for drug sale. The population now
consists of 92% held on non-violent crimes. The
growth of the prison industry generated a
conference at Berkeley (recently) on the
"Prison-Industrial Complex". 

It appears to us that France is pretty much 
following the same path in this war on 
drugs; we notice new construction at
Fresnes just started. Prison budgets are up this
year. This extra funding does not seem to be in the
educational, medical or other socially related
prisoner services.

Olu, Barry's brother, mentioned Barry's reading
program will likely produce a very well read person
by the time he gets out. This is the only positive
thing we can see. The Ms article mentioned the
handicapping of people thrown into prison. One
horrible photo showed a young black about to be a
mother, in the pains of labor, with her leg irons
still on. 

We find it impossible to judge, to even
guess at the damage Barry is suffering from. His
being held in his cell, even for meals 22 hours of
day, certainly produces some sensory deprivation.

He says he does yoga and we guess some
contemplation.  But the authorities say they have
to keep him about one more year at Fresnes because
there is no room at Poissy. Barry is trying to get
some intervention on this with the Embassy.

Barry is taking courses again this year. It once
again is one of those pitiful affairs. The prison
authorities recently tested the inmates who wanted
to take courses. They had originally thought to
have two levels of courses, for high and low
groups. But there were so few prisoners with a
sufficient level for a "high" group that they will
have just one level for everyone - the low level.

We are curious to know how this will work with one
of the courses Barry has signed up to take -
philosophy. He is also taking French again. He
wanted to take economics, but there was not enough
room in the class.

Warm Regards,

Human Rights Monitors
101716.144@compuserve.com


NOTE:  Following their visits with Barry, the Human Rights 
           Monitors usually send out a report by E-mail. 

       If you would like to be added to their list,
           please contact them directly.

______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________


Visit with Barry, October 9th


Dear All,

We visited Barry on Tuesday, October 6th, 1998. We
got a letter this morning saying he had finally
received his 700 franc mandate, which was sent
early the previous week (for some unknown reason
the prison does not credit the prisoner's account
for a week after receipt at the prison). 

This delay did not occur at Pontoise and, we guess, just 
is a result of administrative delays particular to
Fresnes. Apparently there is no national rule on how
quickly these mandates must be handled. Another
questionable practice in the prison system is that
prisoner`s orders to the prison store are handled
with considerable delay, it took over a month for
Barry to receive his shoes last winter. However,
his account is debited immediately. 

IF a prisoner should be moved to another prison during 
this delay period, the items are never delivered but 
neither is the money returned to the prisoner. 

Prisoners are normally given very short notice of transfer
(30 minutes in the case of Barry`s transfer from
Pontoise to Fresnes), this kind of short notice is
perhaps for security reasons, since the
transporting vehicle could be intercepted on the
streets. However, also it is part of the general
policy of keeping the prisoners off-balance,
communicating to them that they have no rights. 

We don`t know who profits from this confiscation of
funds which should go to back to the prisoners.  It
may be the goods when they arrive which are
confiscated. In the OIP book, "Guide du prisonner,"
are described some reprimanded guards running
rackets in the prison, but Barry has not reported
anything like that going on. And everything we have
delivered to Barry over the years has been
received. But, because of a warning by a person
engaged in visiting prisoners that one should be
careful and only deliver items at the parloir, we
have been prudent in just how clothing is
delivered.  

Barry also always tells us when the
money has been received, and how much.

Part of our conversation on Tuesday was again
about this ill cell mate who had Hepatitis B and is
going untreated by the prison.  Poor medical care
in prison is a known problem and has been a subject
of comment by the Observatoire international des
Prison. While we don`t think there is a significant
risk of Barry getting an infection as long as he
does not use his cell mate's toothbrush, razor or
similar items, Barry does focus on this kind of
worst case scenario since the problem is with him
each and every day.

Barry has also been interested in various recent
trials going on since they sometimes relate to his
own excessively severe sentence.  We think we have
supplied you with translations of all these
articles. A message came through from Cecil this
morning. We can`t remember if you received the
translation below but will send it along again.

We will be in California in November for two weeks,
seeing both Cecil and Lallia in LA on the 4th, and
also visiting Richard Rossi, a death row inmate in
Arizona on the 6th. Our visit is mainly to see
family although we think that only Mary in the LA
area is interested in prison and prisoner issues.
Barry has received the recent Ms magazine sent by
Frances, which contained an excellent article on
"women in US prisons", describing the current
problem of over sentencing occurring in the US as
well as France for non-violent crimes.  

Liberation had a several page coverage on changes proposed 
in the French criminal law system, 7 judges were
interviewed.  Right now, the local trains are on
strike, some of the city`s public transportation
system, because of several aggressions against
transport personnel. These aggressions are
committed by the young, sometimes in groups but the
social origins of these attacks are not analyzed in
the press, yet.  Barry follows this sort of thing
too since he sometimes gets to see the other side
of the social coin in his cell. 

His current cell mate is there for a serious aggression 
against an individual.  However, (his cell mate) is not a
particularly violent type.  Reason (for the
aggression)? We don`t know.

The strike at the prison has prevented Barry`s
lawyer from getting to him. We are interested in
what this encounter will produce.

More next week

Human Rights Monitors

101716.144@compuserve.com
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________


TASK OF THE NEW FRENCH ATTORNEY



French lawyer, Yvon Thiant has a fairly specific task
of explaining to Barry what his options are and how
he must go about exercising the ones he decides to
take. It is generally part of prison culture that 
prisoners do not trust lawyers, since they feel that 
fees are paid but the results would be the same anyway. 
It is uncertain in their minds that having a lawyer affects 
their particular cases. 

________________________________________________________


ARTICLES, TRANSLATIONS & WEBSITES OF POSSIBLE INTEREST


-- Translations of Liberation articles 
reporting on Human Rights cases in France currently
under investigation by the European Council's 
Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT):

    Please go to:

* http://x11.dejanews.com/getdoc.xp?AN=355681964


-- For Human Rights reports/documents (French & English):

* http://www.jura.uni-sb.de/france/Law-France/index.html


-- Amnesty International Report 1997-FRANCE:

* http://www.amnesty.org//ailib/countries/indx421.htm

* Links to other translations, found at Barry's Justice Website:

          http://www.poboxes.com/justice



___/ ___/ ___/ ____/ ___/ ___/ ___/ ____/ ___/ ___/ ___/ 



Recent Birthday of Barry


On July 2, Barry passed his 5th consecutive birthday 
behind French prison bars, in his 9X12-foot cell.

Barry expresses deep gratitude for the cards, well wishes, 
letters, messages and gifts he's received.

Scheduled release from prison: the year 2012, 
in 13.5 years (minus time credits)

______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________


PARCELS & "PETITS COLIS" FOR BARRY

With the Holidays rapidly approaching, please contact 
the Human Rights Monitors early for details, restrictions and tips
on sending items to Barry:

              101716.144@compuserve.com


Barry's request:  

Among the reading material he prefers are printed downloads 
from the Web and from Newsgroups on Conspiracy Nation, 
investigative reporting and soccer, as well as general Web 
articles/stories/humor.  

His interests are eclectic.

Print-outs can be sent directly to him in a manila envelope.

Before sending magazines or soft cover books, please check 
with the .  Barry has reported actually receiving 
some of these by regular mail in a few instances.

Fortunately, the Human Rights monitors are able to hand deliver some 
items when they go visit Barry, if these are sent to them.

______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________


LINKING BARRY'S JUSTICE SITES TO YOUR HOME PAGE

If you have a Web Page, please link to it one or
more of Barry's Justice sites: 


http://www.freeyellow.com/members3/justice1/justice.html
http://members.aol.com/FreeBarry1/index.html
http://home4.inet.tele.dk/lepan/lene/index.htm
http://www.bruderhof.org/newpage3.htm
http://www.poboxes.com/justice

Please let us know if you are willing to make a link on your
Web Page.


********************************************************


Lavanya Radhakrishnan, Coordinator-Amnesty Int'l-USA 
      in Urbana Champaign, Illinois, wrote:


I hope that Barry will get a chance to defend himself.  I
spent a year in France about 3 years ago, and my boyfriend,
a Parisian of Senegalese descent, was also wrongly convicted
of drug trafficking.  He was innocent, that I was sure of,
but the police brutalized him, and threw him in jail with no
sight of a trial.  He also experienced bad conditions in his
prison environment, and he was denied visitation from
anyone, even his own mother, for 5 months.

However, for reasons unknown to his friends and family, he
was released after 365 days of confinement - no trail, no
explanation from the judicial system. Maybe there is a
chance that Barry will be released earlier than 18 years,
but we must all fight for him now.


Sincerely,

Lavanya Radhakrishnan
Amnesty International-USA


__________________________________________________________



FRANCAIS:

Pour la version en francais, allez a: 

     http://x13.dejanews.com/getdoc.xp?AN=338585794
 

______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________


MESSAGE FROM BARRY

"I am the luckiest unlucky man" - Barry Braimah

Barry asked Lars to convey to all his most 
heartfelt gratitude for all you're doing on his
behalf.  He appreciates your prayers that things will go 
better for him.

Lars, speaking of Barry's strikingly positive mental and 
physical state, goes on to write:  "...I asked him how in the
world he was able to keep that up. The answer is simple, he 
said... It is because of all the attention he has from the 
outside, all the letters, the belief in him and his 
innocence by people he knows and people he didn�t know 
before this nightmare started, the mental support he gets 
from all of you...and the fact that I was sitting there 
face to face with him and that the Human Rights Monitors sit
there every week. 

It is all this together which keeps him going, he said, and
which gives him the strength and a purpose to live
and fight for.  I saw in his eyes and heard in his voice 
how much he meant it as he said: "...I am the luckiest 
unlucky man!"

_____________________________________________



Our appreciation is felt all the more STRONGLY 
when we think of Barry's cell mate and how things 
might have been different for Barry.  A French youth 
of Senegalese descent, in his early 20's, Barry's cell 
mate is deeply depressed and suicidal -- and recently, 
while Barry was with the Human Rights Monitors in the 
visitation area, his cell mate tried to kill himself, by 
taking a leap off a high building that he hoped would be fatal.

He survived, was patched up, and returned to the 
cell he shares with Barry.

"...But for the grace of God, there go we..."

     Cecil Washington

     Family Liaison
     Amnesty & Justice / Letters with Wings
     BarrySupport@starmail.com


_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________


SUBSCRIPTION INSTRUCTIONS

To be ADDED, simply send ANY message or 
even a BLANK message to: Barry-subscribe@EGroups.com
A confirmation request will be sent, and must be returned.