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NEWS & LETTERS, July 2002 

Arab student harassed

Chicago—Supporters of Ahmed Bensouda, an Arab activist and former student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, report that he was freed from an Immigration and Naturalization Service detention center on $10,000 bond on June 21. Bensouda was arrested at his home in Urbana-Champaign on May 30 and charged with violating his visa.

Bensouda is active in organizing support for the Palestinian cause and his supporters suspect that he was singled out for this treatment by the government for his political views. At least one of Bensouda's immigration hearings was closed to the public and the government claimed that it would employ secret evidence in its case against him.

A network of friends and supporters of Bensouda scrambled to publicize his case immediately after federal agents seized him. This coverage may have contributed to his release, although Bensouda is now waiting for a new hearing to determine whether or not he will be permitted to stay in the country.

—Kevin Michaels

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