Friday, October 6, 2006

Hearing Scheduled For Bella Maryanovsky

Bella Maryanovsky, a legal US resident who was arrested September 19th, apparently for merely walking into an immigration office and attempting to renew her green card papers, has been granted a hearing, which is scheduled for October 16th.

This may not seem like much, but it's a huge step forward. Under the new so-called anti-terror law (which may as well be in effect already, even though it still awaits the signature of the so-called president), people can be held indefinitely without charge, and those who are not charged don't necessarily qualify for a hearing.

So, ironically, since Bella Maryanovsky has not been charged with a crime, she faced the danger of being held in a notorious prison forever -- no trial, no charge, no hearing, no evidence, no hope -- unless she could get a hearing.

Ugly stuff, this new so-called anti-terror legislation.

If you've been making noise on behalf of Bella Maryanovsky, then you've been part of the solution (so far) ... so please accept my humble thanks, and please keep doing it! If you're not part of the solution, of course, you're part of the problem, which is: Who will speak up for people like us if we don't speak up for people like Bella?