|
| Title: | NYU : CPT JAMES YEE : INSIDE THE CAGES: GITMO
|
| Description: | INSIDE THE CAGES
(READ ARTICLE BELOW)
CAPTAIN JAMES YEE
Former Chaplain at Guantánamo Bay & author of
For God and Country: Faith and Patriotism Under Fire
&
GITA GUTIERREZ
Attorney representing several detained individuals
FIRST HAND ACCOUNTS OF CONDITIONS AT GUANTÁNAMO BAY
Followed by reception
Guantánamo Action Center
http://www.ccr-ny.org
GUANTÁNAMO
OCTOBER 5TH
7PM
VANDERBILT HALL
ROOM 214
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
40 WASHINGTON SQUARE SOUTH
(A, C, E, B, D, F, V trains to West 4TH)
* Free event open to public
* Bring ID for NYU entry
Co-Sponsored by: Law Students for Human Rights-NYU, National Lawyers Guild-NYU, Justice for James Yee Ad Hoc Committee and the Center for Constitutional Rights
Contact: Edget Betru
ebetru@ccr-ny.org or 212-614-6477
What do you believe in? James Yee believed in God and America and one of those got him thrown in jail.
In 2001, Captain James “Yusuf” Yee was commissioned as one of the first Muslim chaplains in the United States Army. After the tragic attacks of September 11, 2001, he became a frequent government spokesman, helping to educate soldiers about Islam and build understanding throughout the military. Subsequently, Chaplain Yee was selected to serve as the Muslim Chaplain at Guantanamo Bay, where nearly 700 detainees captured in the war on terror were being held as “unlawful combatants.”
In September 2003, after serving at Guantanamo for ten months in a role that gave him unrestricted access to the detainees--and after receiving numerous awards for his service there--Chaplain Yee was secretly arrested on his way to meet his wife and daughter for a routine two-week leave. He was locked away in a navy prison, subject to much of the same treatment that had been imposed on the Guantanamo detainees. Wrongfully accused of spying, and aiding the Taliban and Al Qaeda, Yee spent 76 excruciating days in solitary confinement and was threatened with the death penalty.
After the U.S. government determined it had made a grave mistake in its original allegations, it vindictively charged him with adultery and computer pornography. In the end all criminal charges were dropped and Chaplain Yee's record wiped clean. But his reputation was tarnished, and what has been a promising military career was left in ruins.
Depicting a journey of faith and service, Chaplain Yee's For God and Country is the story of a pioneering officer in the U.S. Army, who became a victim of the post-September 11 paranoia that gripped a starkly fearful nation. And it poses a fundamental question: If our country cannot be loyal to even the most patriotic Americans, can it remain loyal to itself?
James Yee, a third-generation Chinese-American and a 1990 graduate of West Point, served in the U.S. Army for 14 years, including a tour in Saudi Arabia during the aftermath of the first Gulf War. His spiritual conversion to Islam in 1991 guided his travels to Damascus, Syria, where he studied for four years. He twice traveled to Mecca to make the Hajj, the sacred Muslim pilgrimage.
http://www.justiceforyee.com
|
|
