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After the Hurricane: Where Have All the Prisoners Gone? More
Than 500 From New Orleans Jail Still Unaccounted For
Has the Government Abandoned New Orleans' Top Black Colleges?
Al Jazeera Spain Correspondent Sentenced to Prison on Charges
of Collaborating with al Qaeda
After the Hurricane: Where Have All the Prisoners
Gone? More Than 500 From New Orleans Jail Still Unaccounted
For
A month after Hurricane Katrina, serious questions remain
about the fate of hundreds of prisoners in New Orleans. Human
Rights Watch says there are 517 unaccounted for, while prisoners
and their lawyers say many were abandoned in the flooding
jails. We'll speak with Human Rights Watch's researcher, as
well as a man who was in the Orleans Parish Prison during
the storm, and two lawyers fighting to discover what exactly
happened inside the jails. [includes rush
transcript]
It has been nearly one month since Hurricane Katrina ripped
through the southern coast of the United States, decimating
communities in Mississippi and Louisiana. These past weeks,
we have reported on the horrors faced by people in New Orleans,
in particular as they struggled to survive. One story we have
looked at is the fate of those held in prison as the hurricane
hit the city. Weeks later, there are still serious questions
about what happened inside of facilities like the Orleans
Parish Prison. The group Human Rights Watch has just issued
one of the first independent analyses investigating what happened
in the jails. The group alleges that in one facility the sheriff's
department abandoned hundreds of prisoners.The group also
says that there are some 517 prisoners unaccounted for and
is calling on the U.S. Department of Justice to conduct an
investigation into the Orleans Sheriff's Department.
- Corrine Carey, Researcher for Human Rights Watch.
- Dan Bright, Former Resident of New Orleans in Grand Prairie,
Texas. He was detained in Orleans Parish Prison the night
before Hurricane Katrina struck.
- Phyllis Mann, Defense Attorney in Alexandria, LA.
- Neal Walker, Criminal Defense Lawyer, Director of the
Louisiana Capital Assistance Center.
Has the Government Abandoned New Orleans' Top Black
Colleges?
Two historically black colleges in New Orleans remain closed
after Hurricane Katrina's devastation. Reopening the colleges
requires money, which may prove a challenge. We speak with
the President of Xavier University about this. [includes rush
transcript]
More than 75,000 college students in the New Orleans area
were forced to flee due to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
About 6,000 of those students attended Xavier and Dillard
University, two historically black colleges in the city. Like
so much else in the wake of the devastation of Katrina, these
black colleges received far worse damage from the storm than
their white, wealthier counterparts such as Tulane and Loyola
Universities- both of which sit on higher ground.
Xavier University is located near downtown New Orleans while
Dillard University is near one of the city's canals. Both
universities suffered major damage from the storm and subsequent
flooding. But unlike other universities in the city, Dillard
and Xavier have very small, restricted endowments and students
who are almost completely dependent on financial aid. These
schools also provide unique opportunities for its student
body- Xavier University has produced a quarter of the black
pharmacists in the country and produces more future black
doctors than any other undergraduate institution. The Federal
government has yet to offer the help the universities will
need to operate again. ?
- Dr. Norman Francis, President of Xavier University
- Gene D'Amour, Senior Vice-President for Resource Development
and Xavier University
Al Jazeera Spain Correspondent Sentenced to Prison
on Charges of Collaborating with al Qaeda
Al Jazeera correspondent, Taysir Allouni, rose to prominence
after conducting the first interview with Osama bin Laden
after 9/11. A Spanish court has just sentenced him to 7 years
in prison on charges he aided al Qaeda. We go to Spain to
speak with journalist Lamis Andoni, who currently works as
a consultant for al Jazeera. She was with Taysir Allouni one
of the three times when he was arrested on charges of collaborating
with al Qaeda. [includes rush transcript]
A Spanish court has sentenced al Jazeera correspondent Taysir
Allouni to 7 years in prison after convicting him of collaborating
with al Qaeda. Allouni was convicted along with 17 other men.
Among them, a man identified by prosecutors as the leading
al Qaeda figure in the country, Syrian Imad Eddin Barakat
Yarkas, also known as Abu Dahdah. He was accused of organizing
a meeting in northern Spain in July 2001 in which final preparations
for the September 11 attacks are alleged to have been made.
According to the prosecution, the meeting was attended by
alleged 9-11 hijacker Mohamed Atta.
The prosecutions were brought by the famed Spanish Judge
Baltasar Garzon, famous for his indictment of Augusto Pinochet.
He has been criticized widely by human rights groups for these
current prosecutions, saying they are based on political motives
rather than actual guilt. As for al Jazeera's Allouni, the
network says it is appealing his sentence. Allouni gained
fame by broadcasting the first interview with Osama bin Laden,
from Afghanistan, after September 11. Allouni has lived and
worked in Spain for many years. His boss, Al Jazeera news
editor Ahmed Sheikh, told his station that the conviction
marked "a black day for Spanish justice."
- Lamis Andoni, Longtime independent journalist covering
the Middle East. She is currently a consultant for al Jazeera.
She was with Taysir Allouni one of the 3 times he was arrested
by Spanish authorities in connection with this case.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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