Ms. Vaughn Thank you for following up. I frankly have never heard that before. Even the Government does not allege that he was personally recording demonstrations. I am fascinated by the allegations of these protestors. To my knowledge, Mr. Soueid has never been to the White House to record protestors or any other place for that matter. By saying to my knowledge, I do not intend to run away from the answer or to be lawyerly. I simply do not know. We never spoke about it because it was not an issue raised by the allegations. I cannot get you a better answer because he is in detention. If you read my motion, you’ve seen the many links to YOUTUBE videos of demonstrations in DC and other places. That’s just a small representation of what is out there. I find the entire accusation of recording of demonstrations against Mr. Soueid to be quite ridiculous. If you have Facebook and have Syrian and Arab friends like I do, you would know what I mean. No one seems to be keeping their disagreement with the Syrian regime quite. Demonstrators are proud of their actions and are bragging about them on just about every medium that would have them. I don’t think the Syrian government needs Mr. Soueid to tell them who is demonstrating in DC. And as you said in your email, recording demonstrations is not a crime and neither is publishing them. That said, I maintain that I have no knowledge of any facts that support the allegations that Mr. Soueid recorded and, therefore, deny them. I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to contribute our side to your story. Best, Haytham Faraj From: Vaughn, Alexa [mailto:xcxavaughn@tribune.com] Hi Mr. Puckett and Mr. Faraj, I was just reviewing your response to last week’s detention hearing and realized I don’t know if Alex Soueid is refuting that he recorded protests or not. I remember hearing and have read the argument that recording people in public is not a crime, but protestors I’ve interviewed said they remember seeing him in front of the White House recording them and having an altercation with him. Can you elaborate on whether Soueid says he did record protests and, if so, why he did? Thank you, Alexa Vaughn Los Angeles Times Washington DC Bureau Desk: (202)824-8213 Cell: (310)259-9599 |