By Susannah Bryan, Staff Writer
Posted December 26 2001 MIAMI

Nearly 30 people gathered Christmas Day in downtown Miami to protest the detention of 52 Muslim and Arab men at Krome Detention Center following the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.The men are being detained by the Immigration and Naturalization Service in connection with the federal government’s terrorism investigations. The protestors are asking that the men be released and given 30 days to get their affairs in order before leaving the country. Dozens of South Florida Muslims have been detained and 500 questioned statewide, said Sofian Abdelaziz Zakkout, director of the American Muslim Association of North America, which organized the protest in front of the federal courthouse in downtown Miami. ”We want to send a message that all Muslims need to be released and allowed to leave with dignity,” Abdelaziz said before explaining why the protest was held on Christmas Day. ”While some are celebrating, other people are suffering,” he said. “This is the time people should be with others, but some are in jail. ”Reached after the demonstration, INS spokesman Rodney Germain said that INS does not detain people based on nationality or race, but on immigration violations. He also said that the agency has not received an official request from the group and that “every case is individual and has to be responded to on an individual basis. ”Simbad Elhaddad, 29, of Southwest Ranches, joined the demonstration with his wife, Taghrid Hassan, and their 5-month-old daughter, Amina Elhaddad said he was born and raised in New York City and had
Muslim friends who died in the attack on the World Trade Center. But the tragedy is no reason to persecute Muslims, he said. ”We have people in jail right now just because of their nationality and religion,” he said. “We have to wake up and see what’s going on. ”About five demonstrators made brief speeches, including a woman who spoke for Haitian immigrants also being detained at the center. ”We are here to protest the INS policy of rounding up people just because of their faith and religion and what they look like,” said Marleine Bastien, executive director of Haitian Women of Miami. “[U.S. Attorney General] John Ashcroft is declaring war on immigrants. Haitians are spending Christmas locked down. Now it’s the Muslim immigrants. ”The Christmas holiday was the perfect day for the protest, Bastien said. “What better day than today to join hands, to join voices for peace, for justice. If Jesus Christ were here today, he would be standing here with me, with us. … We’re here to ask for equal treatment. ”Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sun-sentinel.com or 954-5722-2028, South Florida Sun-Sentinel