Post Standard Continues to Slam Jarwan--Then issues Correction--The 4th one.

On Tuesday November 23, 2004 the Post Standard again slandered Ayman Jarwan incorrectly calling him a convict in an article titled 'Convict Testifies Against Dhafir'. On Wednesday November 24th they issued a correction:

'A headline Tuesday incorrectly referred to Ayman Jarwan as a convict.
Jarwan has pleaded guilty to two charges in the Help the Needy charity case, but
he has not been sentenced. Jarwan was a prosecution witness in the trial of Dr.
Rafil Dhafir'.

The title of the article was changed to 'Dhafir's prosecutors put Jordanian on stand'.

In the literal sense of the word, convict does pertain to someone convicted of a crime. But it generally refers to someone in prison or someone that has been in prison. A rudimentary archival search of Post Standard articles shows that the paper generally does not call someone a convict until they have done some jail time. That appears to be the case for Robert Bennett of Bennett funding whom bilked investors of hundreds of billions of dollars. I only found an article calling him a 'convict' after he was convicted and serving time.

The treatment of Ayman Jarwan by the Post Standard appears to contrast with the treatment of other individuals convicted of crimes. Clearly the Post Standard was again choosing to slander and show someone involved with Help the Needy in the worst light.

Consider the treatment of Muslims/Help the Needy Defendats compated to the infamous Boot Camp gang that terrorized the city's south side with murder, violence and drugs. The following are a few of the Headlines for that case that involved the testimony of convicted felons:

'ONE WITNESS STAYS MUM', July 27, 2004

Christian Williams was one of Karo Brown's "flunkies" who did Brown's
biddingin the Boot Camp street gang, according to other gang members.

When Williams took the stand Monday to testify against Brown, he
offered nohelp to prosecutors - not a single word.

Williams pleaded
guilty last month to a racketeering conspiracy charge,admitting his role in the
shooting death of Elk Block gang member DemetriusElmore on June 27, 2003. He
said he used a .45-caliber handgun to shoot andkill Elmore, who was riding a
bicycle to his grandmother's house

'AT CONFESSION ROCKS COURTROOM; BOOT CAMP WITNESS ADMITS MURDER', July 27, 2004

An open Syracuse homicide was solved from the witness stand Monday in
thetrial of accused street gang leader Karo Brown.Rodney Hill of the Boot Camp
street gang confessed that he was the triggermanin the July 4, 2001, shooting
death of Darone Scott, 21, in retaliation forthe 110 gang shooting on Hill's
mother's house….
If Hill is prosecuted for Scott's slaying, the sentence will
run at the sametime as the sentence Hill gets for the racketeering conspiracy
charge hepleaded guilty to last year, Mordue said

Why did the Post Standard chose to call members of the Boot Camp gang, convicted felons, that had committed murder 'witness' when they testified in court and not convicts as they did Ayman Jarwan?

Poor Ayman maligned by the Post Standard again. As noted before last December Ayman called the Post Standard for publicity help to raise money for the relief effort in earthquake ravaged Iran. The Post Standard instead of focusing on the relief effort used the opportunity to paint Jarwan as the 'evil doer' and retell the Help the Needy arrest.

The correction by the Post Standard of the convict term was their fourth correction regarding the Dhafir trial. I do not think that it is adequate given the damage that they have done by smearing the names of those whose only crime was charity.