Man Found Dead in Lake Claimed FBI Tracked Him (Austin)

[American Dream]

http://www.590klbj.com/News/Story.aspx?ID=89252


Man Found Dead in Lake Claimed FBI Tracked Him
4/17/2008

Newsroom

The man found floating in Lady Bird Lake Wednesday afternoon claimed on a videotape that he was being targeted by federal agents because he ran the Palestine Children's Welfare Fund out of south Austin.

"All of our work is very transparent. We don't work with any militant group or violent group, or anybody with a militant affiliation," said Riad Hamad, in a 2003 interview with freespeech TV.

In the 19-minute interview, found online, Hamad says several shipments of used books and clothing had been returned to his home address and on at least one occasion, a neighbor who signed for a package was questioned by a federal agent.

"We were hacked really bad," Hamad said. "We called the FBI and they said this is cost of business and would not do anything to help. There were like three different people who gave information about me that I only know."

In the video, Hamad says he held several degrees, including Bachelor's and Master's, from the University of Texas and was in the process of completing another.

"I don't have an affiliation," he says on the video. "I've been here since 1970. I was never involved in any militant or group that would hurt anybody... something violent."

Austin Police Thursday afternoon preliminarily ruled his death a suicide. Hamad's body was found floating in Lady Bird Lake and had been bound with duct tape. Police say the binding was in a manner which he could have done it to himself.

***

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/n ... 8body.html

Man found in Lady Bird Lake was teacher, FBI target
Police said that victim, who taught at a Southwest Austin middle school, may have committed suicide.

By Tony Plohetski, Sue Banerjee
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Friday, April 18, 2008

Austin police said Thursday that they are leaning toward a ruling of suicide in the death of a middle school teacher and activist whose body was found Wednesday in Lady Bird Lake with his hands and legs bound and tape over his eyes.

Police identified Riad Hamad, 55, at a news conference Thursday and said the binding of his limbs and the placement of the tape was consistent with Hamad having done it himself.

Austin police homicide Sgt. Joe Chacon said family members told investigators that the Clint Small Jr. Middle School teacher had "several stressors" in his life and had talked about possibly killing himself. Police said that they think Hamad walked from his car to the lake, based on evidence they gathered at the scene.

"The car was found on the south shoreline with no signs of mysterious activity," Chacon said.

Police said that they found Hamad's car along Lady Bird Lake on Tuesday and searched but did not find him.

Joggers found Hamad's body about 2 p.m. Wednesday near Comal Street and Nash Hernandez Sr. Road. Investigators said they found no signs of trauma or a struggle.

Debbie Russell, president of the local American Civil Liberties Union chapter, sent an e-mail Thursday to dozens of activists throughout the city saying that Hamad's death had been ruled a homicide. Russell said in a later interview that she wrote that e-mail after she thought she had heard media reports that Hamad had been killed.

She said in the e-mail that Hamad had recently been under investigation by the FBI — federal officials confirmed the investigation — and described him as "NOT a terrorist but a peaceworker." Hamad was serving as an official for the Austin chapter of the Palestine Children's Welfare Fund.

FBI spokesman Erik Vasys said that Hamad had been a "person of interest" in a criminal investigation but that he could not elaborate.

Austin police said Hamad's family reported him missing Monday. Family members released a statement Thursday saying that he disappeared after going to pick up a prescription at a local pharmacy.

Hamad's body was taken to the Travis County medical examiner's office for an autopsy. The office did not respond to an open records request Thursday for information about the case and would not confirm that Hamad's body was there.

According to the family's statement, which was released through an attorney, Hamad was a University of Texas graduate and had taught in the Austin school district for a decade.

The family's statement described him as a "peace activist who worked tirelessly on behalf of those less fortunate than him and was loved and admired by many members of the local, as well as international community."

"Mr. Hamad's family and friends are obviously devastated over their loss," the statement said.

Hamad had taught at Austin Community College but was fired in June 1998 after officials said he violated the school's nondiscrimination policy by making "sexist and off-colored jokes" in class, school officials said.

Small Middle School Principal Sheila Anderson sent a letter to parents at the Southwest Austin school Thursday informing them of Hamad's death and saying that grief counselors were available for students and teachers.

"Mr. Hamad was a longtime and valued member of the Small Middle School faculty, and his love and passion for education touched us all," Anderson said in the letter.

[Hugh Manatee Wins]

and said the binding of his limbs and the placement of the tape was consistent with Hamad having done it himself.

Maybe instead of software having Spellcheck it should have Physicscheck so sentences like this wouldn't be printed.

That would change lots of articles about assassinations and 9/11.

[Nordic]

Wow, this is right up there with Gary Webb "suiciding" himself by shooting himself in the head TWICE.

How stupid do they think we are?

Oh wait. Never mind.

[Searcher08]

We will find that he bound his hands behind his back with duct tape THEN slashed his wrists (Casolaro-ed himself) THEN shot himself in the head TWICE (Webb-ed himself).

Anyone who thinks there is a problem with this is an America-hating enemy of freedom, a conspiracy theorist freak who should be sent to Gitmo for treason.

[StarmanSkye]

Ditto on the Physicscheck (great observation & comment BTW!) and Searcher's apt summation of the effective solution to those who think there's a 'problem' with this kind of Police finding re: an evident Do-It-Yourself Suicide.

I'm just cynical and suspicious, alert and informed enough to see more than a hint of why Riad Hamad might be considered a possible 'enemy' to American interests, subject to intense FBI investigation as per, "peace activist who worked tirelessly on behalf of those less fortunate than him and was loved and admired by many members of the local, as well as international community."

Whatta fuckin' unAmerican thing to be, eh?

Sarcastic snarkism aside, what a sad, sad thing to have happen.

And how devious, Hamad's sneaky ploy to deflect responsibility for his own 'suicide' by wrapping his own feet, hands and eyes before drowning. The kinda thang a desperate, well-disciplined undercover illegal combatant wannabe terrorista is liable to do I guess.

A fitting testimonial might be for 'Hamaded' to enter the American lexicon alongside 'Wellstoned' as types of suspiciously-convenient 'suicides' --perhaps too with 'Thompsoned' and even 'Kellyed', representing politically-expedient death by cover-of drowning, small airplane accident, gunshot and poison/wrist-slitting.

[DoYouEverWonder]

From: Tinoire

His name was Riad Hamad and he was my friend. A friend with courage and conviction who was not afraid to do the right thing.

He was found floating in a lake Thursday- suicided after being bound with duct tape in a manner that the complicit Austin Police Department ruled as "consistent with suicide".

http://www.progressiveindependent.com/d ... c_id=83835

Very sad news. There's no way this was a suicide.

[Et in Arcadia ego]

Tinoire is good people. I cannot see her affiliated deliberately or even accidentally with an individual involved in terrorism.

A shame for the loss of this person and his charities, suicide or otherwise.

Oh, and its totally possible to tie one's self up.

Haven't any of you seen that CSI episode?

[Nordic]

These stories give me serious willies.

That's the creepiest thing I've read in a good long while.

[8bitagent]

We'd all agree that being the director of the CIA is quite a powerful position right? So what happens when the former head director of the CIA decides to help out a Senator expose high level government child kidnapping rings in Washington DC and Nebraska?

He ends up floating in a lake...at night, with his tv still on and meal barely eaten
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Colby#Death

On April 27, 1996, Colby died in an apparent boating accident near his home in Rock Point, Maryland, although his body was actually found, underwater, on May 6, 1996. The subsequent inquest found that he died from drowning and hypothermia after collapsing from a heart attack or stroke and falling out of his canoe, and there was no further investigation.

Theories about death

Although the inquest into Colby's death found he had died of natural causes, there were some suspicious circumstances: he rarely went canoeing at night; he had not spoken to his wife of any plans to go canoeing; his house was unlocked, with the radio and computer on and the remains of a meal on the table; there was no sign of the life-jacket his friends said he usually wore; and his body was found approximately 20 yards from the canoe (itself found 100 yards from the house) after the area had been thoroughly searched several times. Some allegations that Colby was murdered have been made:

* John DeCamp, who claims to have been a close friend of Colby, has stated in his book, The Franklin Coverup, that Colby was murdered because he knew too much about corruption in US politics.[6]

[AlicetheKurious]

Riad Hamad: Suicide or Murder?

By Eileen Fleming

I have known and worked with Riad Hamad, founder of the Palestine Children's Welfare Fund for over three years. It was reported to me he committed suicide two days ago. Riad was found bound with duct tape on his mouth.

Background

On the morning of Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2008, Riad, an award-winning schoolteacher in Texas and a Lebanese Muslim was in his bathroom getting ready for work when the doorbell rang at his modest apartment in Austin, Texas.

About 18 FBI and IRS agents bearing guns and a search warrant from Judge Robert Pittman, [well known for his hostility to Palestinians and Arabs and with whom Riad has had previous experience with] searched every nook and cranny of his apartment.

They left with more than forty boxes of papers, files, computers, CDs and an ounce and a half of catnip.

No charges were filed at the time against Riad and he was not arrested, but the investigators claim they had probable cause to investigate wire fraud, bank fraud and money laundering.

PCWF thus joins the Middle East Children's Alliance, Kinder USA and Holy Land Foundation - all dedicated to helping Palestinian children as a major part of their work - as objects of investigations that have damaged the functioning of their mission. NOT one of these these organizations have been found guilty of any wrongdoing.

But some people with Kinder USA were pressured into minor pleas in order to avoid costly court proceedings.

It is not a coincidence that Riad and PCWF have been targeted as PCWF has been associated with all these organizations.

The Palestine Children's Welfare Fund is an enterprise that was established by a group of individuals whose goals are to improve the living standards of the children of Palestine in the refugee camps inside Palestine. The group aims to provide the children of the refugee camps with better educational opportunities, health facilities and a bright future without violence, hatred and discrimination. The organization has branches and volunteers in more than ten countries and is not connected with any militant or political association of any kind. PCWF works throughout Europe, Canada and the United States and operates its financial and social work from Palestine to ensure that our work is based in the place where it is needed the most to reach the children of Palestine.

The group works in close coordination with the Union of Health Workers Committees in Gaza, an organization that operates Alawda hospital in Gaza, the largest hospital in Gaza, and several other clinics throughout the occupied territories of Palestine. We also work with various civic and social societies, the Union of Health Workers Committees in Gaza and other Palestinian cities to locate and provide sponsors for needy children in the refugee camps of the West Bank and Gaza. The goal is to provide the children with their basic needs such as food, clothing, educational tools and health care regardless of religious affiliation.

PCWF is a non-political, non-religious enterprise whose aspirations are purely humanitarian and for the purpose of emancipating the children of Palestine and the human rights of the people and children of Palestine.

Riad had been expecting this for 37 years but refused to be intimidated, and insisted upon exercising his full right to defend Palestinian rights - and his own - in America.

Riad lived off his modest schoolteacher salary.

100% of the proceeds from PCWF have benefited thousands of Palestinians with jobs, food, medicine, books, hospital equipment and other humanitarian needs.

On April 6, 2008 he wrote:

Dear friends,

Please DO NOT respond to this email as it is for your information only..besides the government harassment, the hateful environment from some students at school because I am an Arab and a Muslim...and their racist comments, I have been getting phone calls around midnight by some one saying "where is your camel.." and last...a car was vandalized about two years ago....last night around 1 30 in the morning.. someone rang the bell and ran away....and you could hear all the dogs in the neighborhood barking when the person who rang the bell ran away...A real loving environment towards Arabs and Muslims....and it makes wonder.. what have I done wrong?

SHUKRAN for your work and support
Salamat
Riad Hamad

On April 11, 2008 he wrote his final email to me.

I received an email on April 16 that Riad had committed suicide the day before.

News Update

Police: Man Found in the Lake was a Teacher

AUSTIN, Texas (KXAN) - Police on Thursday identified a man who was found bound with duct tape in Lady Bird Lake in East Austin.

Parkgoers discovered the body of Riad Hamad, 55, Wednesday afternoon just east of the Interstate 35 bridge near Festival Beach.

Hamad was a computer teacher at Small Middle School and had been planning a trip to Palestine to teach children there.

Witnesses who found Hamad said the man had duct tape on his face, and his hands were tied.

Police have called the death suspicious. Investigators on Thursday said family and other sources have told them that Hamad was suicidal. Read the news release from APD.

"Right now, the indications are that this was not, there was not foul play involved," said police Sgt. Joseph Chacon. "The bindings, although I can't go into them extensively, I can tell you that it is possible that he could have done this to himself."

Hamad's death was announced to students Thursday. Student Sara Fulton said Hamad was a good teacher and a nice man. She said she was devastated when she found out that he was dead.

"People think that Muslims are like violent, but they're not," Fulton said.

Ana Fulton, the student's mother, used to volunteer at the middle school, where she worked with Hamad. She said he was a peaceful activist and a nice man.

"He stood up for what he believed in," Ana Fulton said. "For him, to have sticker on his car, saying expressing himself about the freedom of Palestine and the peaceful activism he was doing, I admire him for that."

Hamad was reported missing when he did not return home from a trip to the pharmacy Monday, according to a statement by his family.

Family said Hamad had spent 10 years with the Austin Independent School District. He was a University of Texas graduate and had been pursuing a graduate degree. Hamad was also a peace activist.

Hamad is survived by his longtime partner and their two children.

Grief counselors were on standby at the middle school Thursday.

Police investigate suspicious death in East Austin

Police said they are unsure whether a man found in Lady Bird Lake in East Austin Wednesday was murdered.

Police confirmed the body was found in the water between Festival Beach and Martin Park. That area is near the intersections of Comal Street and Nash Hernandez Road.

Parkgoers who saw the body said the death did not look accidental. They said the man's face was wrapped with duct tape, and his arms appeared to be tied in front of his body.

Brittany Mooney noticed the body floating in the lake while walking her dog at Festival Beach about 2:15 p.m. Wednesday.

"We just kept walking back and forth, and it started getting closer to the shore, and so we went over there and saw that it was a body," Mooney said. "And he's got tape wrapped around his whole, like duct tape, around his whole face."

Leo Zuniga and Yahaira Copado also saw the body floating just a few minutes after Mooney did.

"We went, and then we were like, 'Is that a body?' and then I saw it, and I was like, 'Oh, man, it is a body!'" Zuniga said. "We could see the back and the hair. His arms kind of folded like this and the tape around his mouth."

Copado called 911 to report the incident.

Parkgoers said the victim appeared to be a white or Hispanic man in his early 50s. They added that he was wearing a pink shirt and black slacks.

The Travis County Medical Examiner's Office will conduct an autopsy.

Police Detective James Mason said whether foul play was involved will be determined when the body is identified.

(Note: Palestine Children's Welfare Fund. 201 W. Stassney # 201, Austin, Texas 78745 Support the children of Palestine by buying Palestinian arts and crafts. Sustain the Palestinian economy and provide jobs for the men, women and farmers in Palestine to live with pride and dignity. http://www.pcwf.org)

http://palestinechronicle.com/view_arti ... p?id=13719

[American Dream]

Doing an Internet search, I stumbled upon this posting which seems to imply that Riad's death really was a suicide:


http://progressiveindependent.com/dc/dc ... ic_id=1487

Original Post: RIP Riad Hamad 1952-2008
LADreamr


Riad Hamad, dear friend to many of us, and director of the Palestine Children's Welfare Fund was found dead today, from an apparent suicide. He was found in a lake in Austin, TX. You may remember that the FBI and IRS had raided his house a few months ago. The fight against them had been tough, and, he must have thought, impossible.

This note was circulated by Paul Larudee of the International Solidarity Movement:

From Paul Larudee:

Riad Hamad, 1952-2008

"Hi, Riad." I knew it was him from the caller ID, even though the phone had never been in his own name.
"Hey, Bolos. How you doin'?" He used the Arabic translation of my name.
"I'm good. How about you?"
"I'm OK." His voice didn't have the usual energy, but perhaps he was in a place where he couldn't speak loudly. "I sent you a couple of email messages."
"Yes, I saw them." The messages were about my role in helping with his charitable work on behalf of Palestinians. There were a few things I didn't understand about the messages, so Riad cleared them up for me. "Now it makes sense," I said.
"OK. Well, that's all I wanted to tell you." Typical Riad. Always in a hurry to get off the phone.
"Wait, I've got some good news!"
"Oh yeah? What is it?" He sounded surprised.
"We're finally getting donations here. A check for a thousand came in today." I had set up a nonprofit account to receive donations for Riad's work.
"Was it from __________?"
"Hang on a second."
"Well, it doesn't matter." Still anxious to get off the phone.
"What do you mean it doesn't matter? I've got the name right here. No, it's from ____________"W
"That's nice. Well, gotta go."
"OK. Take care of yourself."
"You, too, Boulos."

Those were apparently Riad's last words, spoken from his car near Ladybird Lake in Austin, Texas. At the time I had thought it slightly odd that Riad was repeating what he had already told me by email. I think he just wanted to hear a familiar voice. The police found the phone and car keys on the seat of the unlocked car. Typical Riad. He was thinking of the person who would find the car.

I wish I had told him that the person who sent the check had also written a letter thanking him for the gifts of handmade Palestinian crafts and other items that Riad had sent as a thankyou for a previous donation. He had also included handmade thankyou cards from his two young daughters. The older daughter, age 11 had written, "Live in peace on the world. Everybody should LOVE! I am sad because people should be nice to you, but they are not." The younger, age 8, had written, "I hope you start to live in peace."

I would have read them to him over the phone if he hadn't been so anxious to end the conversation, but I decided to send them for him to read later, and enjoy the children's drawings. The father's letter was longer and more specific in his praise for Riad's tireless efforts on behalf of Palestinians and their rights.

"I have included 2 checks for the needs of Palestinian children. It is my hope that you will use it to create hope for those oppressed. As we both see the dollar's value sink, the value of life especially in the eyes of the Creator never loses value. I extend this help to you and these children as if they were my own. We have the misfortune in living in very dark times, but in that darkness hope, love, and peace shine like the sun. To those that plant hope, they shall harvest peace."

Harvest peace, Riad.

SHUKRAN for your work and support
Salamat

Paul Larudee
Treasurer and Grants Administrator
The Palestine Children's Welfare Fund

Riad's legacy, the Palestine Children's Welfare Fund lives on, providing food, medicine, jobs and education to Palestinians and their children. Tax-exempt donations may be made to:

PCWF
405 Vista Heights Road
El Cerrito, CA 94530

[elfismiles]

I saw the headline for this story somewhere earlier this week... and didn't read into it ... until yesterday when a friend called and towards the end of the conversation asked if I'd heard about the body found in the lake; ie - in an AUSTIN lake!

I said ... "whoa whoa whoa - don't tell me; bound and gagged and the FBI are calling it suicide." He said, "yeah, so you've read about it?"

So I get online and read more about it. Fuckin freaky, especially after having just heard Sander Hicks on Friday give a description of his investigation into the murder of Dr. Graham:

http://www.gnn.tv/articles/3368/The_Str ... d_M_Graham

miles

[hava1]

Somebody should have advised him to call a crisis/suicide hotline, perhap that would have helped.

[8bitagent]

A lot of times, especially in the case of Saudi government funded Muslim mosques and charities in America...some Muslim charities, and mosques
are used by the CIA and FBI to recruit "informants" and agent provocatuers; as well as patsies, dupes, etc. That's the mosques, like the one in Norman Oklahoma, Colorado, Arizona, St Louis. All used by the US government to find "jihadists" they can manipulate and control. With the charities, again especially the ones linked to the Saudi government or Muslim Brotherhood; they are used by the CIA and elite to channel funds to terrorism/BCCI like banking setups, arms funding and protecting patsy dupes. You see this framework at play in the World Trade Center 1993 case(CIA created Brooklyn al Kifah Refugee Center), Oklahoma City 1995 case, and of course 9/11(where Saudi ran 'charities' channelled money and protection for hijackers for the black op)

Of course, these institutions are not raided until *after* theyre used for whatever purpose; and even then officials cut off the inquiry to only show it pointing to one way...often times, they are altogether protected from start to go, as they get quietly absolved into shell companies.
This is what happened when the "MAK" from the Mujahadeen days morphed into al Kifah refugee, which then morphed into CAIR Intl(part of Ptech and Yasin al-Qadi)

However, what seems evident is that this teacher had nothing to do with these sort of elicit charities, and a deep politic connection beneath the surface might be the cause of his killing by spook squads.

Now speaking of "suicides" that were clearly contract killings...
people have speculated on Danny Casalaro, Mark Lombardi, Gary Webb..

what about Terrence Yeakey, the celebrated OKC top cop found brutally killed after trying to expose the bombs in the Murrah building thing?

[AlicetheKurious]

8bitagent, the Palestine Children's Welfare Fund was not "a Muslim charity funded by Saudi Arabia", nor has there been even a hint that they were anything but a wonderful, humane, life-giving charity for Palestinian children, so how is your post relevant to this case?

PCWF thus joins the Middle East Children's Alliance, Kinder USA and Holy Land Foundation - all dedicated to helping Palestinian children as a major part of their work - as objects of investigations that have damaged the functioning of their mission. NOT one of these ... organizations have been found guilty of any wrongdoing.

But some people with Kinder USA were pressured into minor pleas in order to avoid costly court proceedings.

It is not a coincidence that Riad and PCWF have been targeted as PCWF has been associated with all these organizations.

Hammad was being targeted by the FBI and obviously they found nothing that they could use against him. Yet there appears to be no motivation for their abusive and illegal behaviour, other than racism.

Prior to the traumatic search and seizure of his home, he'd had his computer hacked, he'd received telephone threats, he'd been fired from his job, and apparently he'd been the target of a campaign of intimidation. Again, there appears to be no motivation for this other than racism. He received no response from law-enforcement officials to his repeated requests for help.

The culmination of this was the finding of his body floating in a Lake, with his entire face, his arms and his legs bound with duct tape. Despite the fact that he had a long-term partner, two children and many friends, there was no suicide note.

The fact that the FBI concludes from all this that he committed suicide, not to mention their open hostility to him when he was alive, should make people question the FBI's role in this ugly, frightening story.

What this looks like to me, is a hate crime committed by well-connected perps.

Until a proper, independent investigation proves otherwise, this is yet another in a looooooong line of hate crimes, against an innocent Muslim, Arab man.