Free Vikram Buddhi

Dear All,

In a stunning case of miscarried justice, a graduate student at Purdue Univ., Vikram Buddhi, has been incarcerated since April 2006 in various prisons in the USA. His crime is the alleged posting on internet chat boards of exhortations to Iraqis to avenge the deaths of their citizens.

A federal prosecution has been launched against him in April 2006 under the false charge that he threatened to kill George W. Bush and others. In June 2007 he was denied fair trial with the presiding Trial Judge refusing to instruct the Jury on the applicable law and even threatening the Defense Attorney that he (the Judge) would embarrass the Defense Attorney if the Defense Attorney attempted to link the evidence on record with the applicable law during the closing address of the Defense Attorney to the Jury. Consequently on June 28, 2007, the Jury being ignorant of the applicable law pronounced the Defendant (Vikram Buddhi) guilty. However the sentencing has not taken place so far, as a result the appeal could not be filed up till now.

Below are facts of the case, as well as the backgrounds of Vikram Buddhi and his father, Dr. Buddhi Kota Subbarao

BACKGROUND:

-In December 2005- January 2006, an Internet message appeared from an unknown source urging the people of Iraq to avenge the death of 312,769 women and children in Iraq. That message was traced to the computer of Vikram Buddhi, a graduate student at Purdue University, Indiana, US.
-Vikram Buddhi was picked up for interrogation and released on January 18, 2006 by the U.S. Secret Service, complete with a report that he was not a threat in any way.
-Four months later, he was mysteriously picked up again and jailed. The case went to trial, crucial evidence was hidden from the jury by a hostile judge, and a guilty verdict was returned on June 25, 2007.
-He is still in jail. No sentence has been set; and thus, no appeal can be filed.

MEANWHILE, HIS FATHER:

-Dr. Kota Subbarao Buddhi went to the US on an emergency visa on June 25, 2006 to attend his son's trial. The trial was deflected to June 26, 2007 at which point Dr. Buddhi applied for an extension. This was denied (and the appeals process is ongoing)
-On a technicality, Dr. Buddhi was not allowed to attend the trial for which he has been living in Lafayette, Indiana and forgoing all income.
-In August 2007, Dr. Buddhi's passport was confiscated. He was told it would be returned to him if he voluntarily left the country, although that would mean that he could not return to the US for ten years. He was held in three different jails and released after three days of humiliating treatment.
-His confiscated passport means that he cannot return to India for a visit without abandoning his son in prison

Vikram was a National Science Talent Scholar during his student days in India. He graduated in mathematics with M.Sc degree from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, stood first in the class and received silver medal from IIT. Thereafter he worked for a year at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Bombay and then joined the mathematics department of Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana in the year 1996. At Purdue he received MS degree in mathematics and thereafter has been pursuing Ph.D degrees simultaneously in pure and applied mathematics. At Purdue he received two times Best Teaching Award from the Department of Mathematics.

Vikram's father, Dr. Buddhi is a former Indian Navy Captain with Ph.D from Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, in nuclear technology. He is also an advocate of Supreme Court of India, having degree in law from Bombay University. He has represented successfully in public interest matters before Bombay High Court taken up by the social organization Citizens For A Just Society founded by Dr. Usha Mehta, noted Gandhian, Freedom Fighter and Padma Vibhushan, during her life time and also subsequently.
His article in countercurrents: http://www.countercurrents.org/kotasubbarao210409.htm

DEMANDS (as enumerated by Dr. Buddhi to the Government of India):

--The Government of India send a formal communication to the President of the United States Barack Obama, bringing to his notice the need to respect the rule of law while dealing with resident Indians in the United States, and to allow reasonable opportunity to fight for justice, if necessary up to the US Supreme Court.
--Appropriate action may be taken to get Dr. Buddhi's Passport returned to him.
--Urgent appropriate action may be taken to prevent the US Authorities in their attempts to deport Dr. Buddhi to India.
--Appropriate action may be taken to allow multiple entry US Visa for Dr. Buddhi so that he could attend to his commitments in India and also would be able to help his son in the United States to overcome the miscarriage of justice mounted on him in the federal case he is facing in the United States.