The Curious Case of Abdulrahman Zietoun

[Schrodinger's Cat]

This is an old story, but one I only just found out about due to a news article I came across today about a David Eggers book, Zeitoun.

http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/hingham/2010/09/book_buzz_for_930.html

Though this is old news by now, I found it such a compelling case that I thought it deserved a thread after I searched JREF and couldn't find any old threads on the subject.

Abdulrahman Zietoun was a Syrian born Muslim and successful business owner who immigrated to the United States in 1988 and lived in New Orleans. He was well known and well liked in his community. When Katrina happened, he sent his wife and children to be evacuated, but decided to stay both to protect his neighborhood and business, and to try and help aid people trapped there. His own home, being on high stilts, was largely protected from the flooding. Many of his neighbors gave him their keys when they evacuated in order to keep watch on their homes. After Katrina hit, Zietoun went around in his canoe; rescuing stranded inhabitants, feeding pets left behind, and guarding his neighborhood from looters.

At one point, Zietoun and 3 other Muslim acquaintances were in his home when National Guardsman came through the door, demanding ID. Zietoun stated that he was the landlord, and upon presenting his identification, he was arrested along with the three other men and taken to a deplorable make shift holding facility. When asked why they had been arrested, they were told they were members of the Taliban. The only evidence of this was the fact that the four men were Muslim, and later (after being arrested) it was discovered that one man had a map to the airport on his possession. This man was an employee of the airport.

The men were transferred to a maximum security prison, where Zietoun was refused medical treatment for a severe cut on his foot. He was not allowed to call anyone, not a lawyer, not his wife. Given his disappearance in the midst of Katrina, his family thought he was dead. He lost twenty pounds due to the fact that his meals regularly consisted of pork, which he could not eat (and told prison officials he could not eat due to his religion). Finally, a prison official contacted Zietoun's wife and let her know what had happened to him.

Zietoun was incarcerated for nearly a month under suspicion of terrorism before he was released on bail, and was interrogated by the CIA and Homeland Security. Once it became obvious that none of the men had any ties to terrorism, the terrorism charges were dropped, and instead they were charged with looting Zietoun's own home. The charges against him were eventually dropped, and he worked to ensure that the other men were released. Though charges against them were eventually dropped as well, they spent months in prison, one held for 8 months. Throughout their incarceration, they were constantly harassed by the guards for being terrorists.

Despite his experience...

Despite that, he refuses to be bitter and vengeful. Instead, he dedicates his time to rebuilding the city, which is what he was doing when he was so late for our meeting. So far he has renovated a museum, some schools and about 250 houses damaged in the floods....

He has never even thought of abandoning the US. He refuses to bear a grudge, and says, for him, it remains a great country – you don't judge 300 million people on the behaviour of a few bad guys. Nor will he contemplate quitting New Orleans. "This is my home, my city. My life is here now," he says.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/11/dave-eggers-zeitoun-hurricane-katrina

This man was a hero who didn't stay behind because he underestimated the dangers of Katrina. He stayed specifically because he KNEW it would be dangerous, and he wanted to help those left behind and guard his neighborhood. He was going around rescuing people and feeding pets, and he gets thrown into a maximum security prison for no other reason than he had a Muslim name.

Proceeds from Eggers' book were used to start the Zeitoun Foundation, which funds rebuilding projects in New Orleans.

http://www.zeitounfoundation.org/index.php

 

[Eddie Dane]

The Taliban are known to target empty houses in North American disaster zones, so they can steal the CD players and stuff.
It was an easy mistake to make.

If you're a bloody idiot.



Oddly it looks like the reverse case of the time the Mujeheddeen arrested a Western Journalist in Afghanistan in the late eighties. They suspected him of being Salman Rushdie.
Their logic was as follows: Salman Rushdie is a Western writer. This man is Western and he is writing, therefor he is Salman Rushdie.

Some segments of the US seem to have stooped to that level.

 

[kerikiwi]

I see nobody has jumped in with the standard 'ah, the religion of peace' comment.

 

[Chaos]

I see nobody has jumped in with the standard 'ah, the religion of peace' comment.

This is more of a "ah, the greatest country on Earth, the champion of freedom, the beacon of liberty, the home of the free and land of the brave" kind of moment.

 

[kerikiwi]

This is more of a "ah, the greatest country on Earth, the champion of freedom, the beacon of liberty, the home of the free and land of the brave" kind of moment.

True. Both would be good.

 

[TraneWreck]

That's all over now, though, thanks to HopeChange(TM), and the wrongdoers have been brought to justice.

What's that? Why yes, I have been hibernating since January of 2009.

 

[Chaos]

True. Both would be good.

What do you mean by that?

This has nothing at all to do with Islam. All that muslims have done in this story is existing, and trying to help other people.

All that the great, incomparable United States of America and its wonderful, tolerant, just and open-minded citizens have done in this story is being moronic racist jackasses.

Give me just one reason, one teeny-tiny reason, to be upset with Muslims because of this story, or NOT to be upset with the nation who lets this happen.

 

[Cainkane1]

There has to be more to this than whats in the article. It may have happened as a result of a phoney tip or a result of misidentification. Sloppy police work may also be the culprit.

 

[Chaos]

There has to be more to this than whats in the article. It may have happened as a result of a phoney tip or a result of misidentification. Sloppy police work may also be the culprit.

I asked for reasons NOT to be upset.

 

[TragicMonkey]

All that the great, incomparable United States of America and its wonderful, tolerant, just and open-minded citizens have done in this story is being moronic racist jackasses.

Give me just one reason, one teeny-tiny reason, to be upset with Muslims because of this story, or NOT to be upset with the nation who lets this happen.

Not all Americans are moronic racist jackasses--his neighbors trusted him with their keys and to look after their homes and pets and possessions.

Thanks so much for blaming the people for the all the worst actions of their authorities. I trust you are willing to accept responsibility for everything your police and government do?

 

[aggle-rithm]

I asked for reasons NOT to be upset.

It's simply the result of rampant corruption at all levels of government. Nothing to be concerned about.

 

[aggle-rithm]

The Taliban are known to target empty houses in North American disaster zones, so they can steal the CD players and stuff.
It was an easy mistake to make.

If you're a bloody idiot.

It's not the smartest money-making strategy, since the round-trip tickets from Pakistan cost far more than the value of the CD players they find. But it's all they could think of.

 

[TragicMonkey]

It's not the smartest money-making strategy, since the round-trip tickets from Pakistan cost far more than the value of the CD players they find. But it's all they could think of.

I heard they turn on people's Wiis, load up Wii Sports, and set records in bowling and golf that the owners won't be able to beat, which causes them to have low self-esteem.

 

[Hellbound]

There has to be more to this than whats in the article. It may have happened as a result of a phoney tip or a result of misidentification. Sloppy police work may also be the culprit.

From the sound of it, it started with the National Guardsmen. My suspicion is that their bigotry and incompetence got the process rolling. When they "arrested" the people they would have had to write up their initial report. From there on, everything else would have built on this report.

Even then, there appear to be failures all the way up the line. I worked as a military prisoner guard in an active war zone. First, medical treatment should not be denied to any POW. This is not only a violation of basic decency, but a violation of the U.S.'s own laws and policies. During my time, we had one gentleman who kept getting himself picked up by patrols, because he was diabetic and had insulin provided while he was our prisoner (just as an example of how things are supposed to work). Second, the food issue. Again, this is a violation of the U.S.'s own laws and policies. ANY prisoner, whether civillian or military, is supposed to have reasonable accomodation made for their religion. Again, as a personal example, our prisoners were fed MREs (the ones with pork were kept for the guards, the prisoners fed non-pork ones). We even provided them with pieces of cardboard or cloth to use as mats to kneel on for their daily prayers (and before anyone says "cardboard, how nice" with an eyerolling smiley, we were a calvary unit, first-in-country, no infrastructure and limited supply support. We really didn't have anything better). FInally, a simple background check and records check shoudl have shown the man was a legal citizen, and was in his own house. This one, I'm a bit more forgiving of, because it's very possible records of local residence and such were destroyed in the disaster...but still.

As others have stated, this was a matter of incompetence and corruption at multiple levels. I do hope disciplinary and legal action were taken against those responsible, but somehow (consdiering the complexity and confusion of events at that time) I suspect some were missed.

 

[Soapy Sam]

Schrodinger's Cat-
Your OP seems to suggest that
1.There are good Muslims.
and
2. There are some seriously dumb (and/or bigoted) people in the Louisiana "Corrective System" (or whatever we should call it).

Now, neither fact is new to me, or, I expect, to you, so I wonder what is the point you want to make? If it's simply that this man deserves an apology and some others deserve a boot up the backside,then I agree; but is there something beyond that which I'm missing?

 

[GreyArea]

I wonder if this sequence of events was partly a bureaucratic CYA effort.

They arrested this man who didn't do anything wrong. This gave them two options, let him go and look like idiots, or throw charges at him that you know won't stick. Why choose the latter? To (1) look like diligent protectors of the public, and (2) draw out the steps toward release so you don't get a large amount of bad press all at once (small doses with some FUD (new charges) thrown in may be easier to manage).

Reasonable hypothesis or CT territory?

 

[shemp]

Not all Americans are moronic racist jackasses--his neighbors trusted him with their keys and to look after their homes and pets and possessions

Fools! That is exactly what the Taliban want us to do! And then, when they have the keys to the homes of all us Americans, they'll sodomize our pets!

I for one am glad that we are safe from those who loot their own homes!

 

[TragicMonkey]

Fools! That is exactly what the Taliban want us to do! And then, when they have the keys to the homes of all us Americans, they'll sodomize our pets!

My pet is a cactus. I'd like to see them try. In fact, as soon as I get home from work I'm going to Google to see if I can find any videos of that.

 

[Chaos]

Not all Americans are moronic racist jackasses--his neighbors trusted him with their keys and to look after their homes and pets and possessions.

Thanks so much for blaming the people for the all the worst actions of their authorities. I trust you are willing to accept responsibility for everything your police and government do?

Well, sure excluding his neighbors... okay, then everyone involved in this sorry episode, excluding the victims and the people they were trying to help, are moronic racist jackasses, or at least are trying their level best to pretend they are.

I also notice it´s been a couple of years since that happened, and nothing has been done to adress this travesty of so-called justice.

And as for me blaming the people... I hear the US is a democracy of sorts. Doesn´t that mean you sorta kinda get to choose your authorities now and then, more or less? I mean, shouldn´t it then be possible for those of you who abhor that sort of thing to make sure that kind of people doesn´t get in a position of power?

Rest assured that, if my government pulled such a stunt, I´d damn straight be protesting, rather than keeping quiet while it happens, and then squealing like a stuck pig when somebody thinks that what happened wasn´t a good thing.

 

[Region Rat]

This is an old story, but one I only just found out about due to a news article I came across today about a David Eggers book, Zeitoun.

http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/hingham/2010/09/book_buzz_for_930.html

Though this is old news by now, I found it such a compelling case that I thought it deserved a thread after I searched JREF and couldn't find any old threads on the subject.

Abdulrahman Zietoun was a Syrian born Muslim and successful business owner who immigrated to the United States in 1988 and lived in New Orleans. He was well known and well liked in his community. When Katrina happened, he sent his wife and children to be evacuated, but decided to stay both to protect his neighborhood and business, and to try and help aid people trapped there. His own home, being on high stilts, was largely protected from the flooding. Many of his neighbors gave him their keys when they evacuated in order to keep watch on their homes. After Katrina hit, Zietoun went around in his canoe; rescuing stranded inhabitants, feeding pets left behind, and guarding his neighborhood from looters.

At one point, Zietoun and 3 other Muslim acquaintances were in his home when National Guardsman came through the door, demanding ID. Zietoun stated that he was the landlord, and upon presenting his identification, he was arrested along with the three other men and taken to a deplorable make shift holding facility. When asked why they had been arrested, they were told they were members of the Taliban. The only evidence of this was the fact that the four men were Muslim, and later (after being arrested) it was discovered that one man had a map to the airport on his possession. This man was an employee of the airport.

The men were transferred to a maximum security prison, where Zietoun was refused medical treatment for a severe cut on his foot. He was not allowed to call anyone, not a lawyer, not his wife. Given his disappearance in the midst of Katrina, his family thought he was dead. He lost twenty pounds due to the fact that his meals regularly consisted of pork, which he could not eat (and told prison officials he could not eat due to his religion). Finally, a prison official contacted Zietoun's wife and let her know what had happened to him.

Zietoun was incarcerated for nearly a month under suspicion of terrorism before he was released on bail, and was interrogated by the CIA and Homeland Security. Once it became obvious that none of the men had any ties to terrorism, the terrorism charges were dropped, and instead they were charged with looting Zietoun's own home. The charges against him were eventually dropped, and he worked to ensure that the other men were released. Though charges against them were eventually dropped as well, they spent months in prison, one held for 8 months. Throughout their incarceration, they were constantly harassed by the guards for being terrorists.

Despite his experience...



http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/11/dave-eggers-zeitoun-hurricane-katrina

This man was a hero who didn't stay behind because he underestimated the dangers of Katrina. He stayed specifically because he KNEW it would be dangerous, and he wanted to help those left behind and guard his neighborhood. He was going around rescuing people and feeding pets, and he gets thrown into a maximum security prison for no other reason than he had a Muslim name.

Proceeds from Eggers' book were used to start the Zeitoun Foundation, which funds rebuilding projects in New Orleans.

http://www.zeitounfoundation.org/index.php

My daughter is a freshman (freshwoman?) at UK, and all incoming freshman were given Zeitoun for a summer reading project in their orientation session. They have had group discussions on the book. David Eggars was on campus last Monday for a review of the book and a discussion, and signed copies of the book. My son, who's a super senior at a different university, drove over to sit in. They were very impressed and affected by the book. My wife has it now and I'm next in line.