The Ithaca Journal 031304

Supporters rally for deliveryman

BATAVIA (AP) -- About 50 protesters rallied outside a federal detention center to support Ansar Mahmood, a 26-year-old Pakistani detainee arrested for taking a picture outside the gate of a water treatment plant.

Mahmood spoke softly into a telephone across a glass barrier about the support he has received during more than two years of incarceration.

"It is a wonderful feeling now," Mahmood said Saturday.

The pizza deliveryman was arrested a month after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks after raising the suspicion of a guard at a water treatment plant he photographed.

Although no terrorism charges were filed, Mahmood was convicted in January 2002 of illegally harboring aliens and ordered deported. He is awaiting a decision from the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement on his request for supervised release in the United States instead.

About 17 months before he was detained, Mahmood legally came to the United States to help provide financial support to his family in Pakistan. Five brothers, three sisters and his parents remain there and do not fully understand the circumstances of his detainment, he said.

"It's hard to explain. They know I'm all right and I know they're all right," he said.

The cost of international calls allows him to contact his family for only five minutes every few weeks, he said.

Outside the Batavia detention facility, members of the Ansar Mahmood Defense Committee and demonstrators marched and waved signs to show their support for a man they say is being held for no good reason.