I have been in jail since Oct. 31 ’01 waiting to go to trial. I entered the U.S. on a F1 student visa in Aug. ’97. The INS claims I am here illegally and wants to deport me. I want to finish my college degree. The FBI issues charges 4 months after detention with allegations of making a fake ID.
I was assaulted twice in jail. I was badly hurt and I have 4 broken upper teeth. I’m very tired of waiting and I’m praying to Allah to plan for the best. I do want to finish my education and get out of jail. I seek any help and advice please.
Respectfully,
Yasir Khatib
Today, there are three letters waiting for him. Three Muslim men, writing him from cramped jail cells in America. Sometimes, Hasan Jalisi takes the letters home and reads them with his wife. Sometimes, he reads them again and again in his small office, the bottom half of a well-worn building on Chase Street in downtown Baltimore. Sometimes, as he reads the pleas from the detained men, he thinks about his brothers, all doctors from Pakistan, like himself, or his two children. Sometimes he thinks, I didn’t ask for this job. Sometimes he is afraid.
