Monday, April 12, 2004: Hamzeh Mystique Films, producer of the controversial and critically acclaimed feature-length documentary THE LETTER, has been issued a subpoena by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in the trial of white supremacist leader Matthew Hale, charged with soliciting the murder of a federal judge and obstruction of justice.

Writer/director Ziad Hamzeh and producer Bert Brown have been directed to supply Hale's defense team, Durkin & Roberts, with videotaped footage of a speech World Church of the Creator representative Jon Fox gave during a rally held in Lewiston, Maine in January 2003, and featured in the documentary. The white supremacist rally was in response to the recent arrival of 1,100 Somali refugees to the New England community. Hale, whose World Church organization preaches racial holy war, was due to speak at the rally and appear in THE LETTER, but was arrested inside a Chicago federal courthouse the week prior to the event. Prosecutors say Hale became furious with Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow when she issued an order barring his group from using the name “World Church of the Creator” in a trademark infringement lawsuit; the name is trademarked by an Oregon religious organization. Defense attorney Thomas Durkin says that secretly recorded tapes show FBI informant Tony Evola, not Hale, brought up the possible killing of the judge, who was not harmed.

THE LETTER chronicles the turmoil predominately white Lewiston, Maine faced when the former Somali refugees relocate there en-masse in the wake of the 9/11 tragedy –referred to as the “Somali invasion” by the international news media.

A firestorm of controversy erupted when Lewiston Mayor Larry Raymond sent an open letter to the Somali elders advising them that the city’s resources were strained to the limit and asked them to tell other Somalis not to move into the city. Interpreted as racism by some and a rally cry by white supremacist groups across the United States, THE LETTER documents the ensuing cross-currents of emotions and events, which culminated in a “hate” rally convened by Hale’s World Church of the Creator and a counter “peace” rally involving nearly 4,000 Lewiston residents supporting ethnic and cultural diversity.

Jon Fox, Illinois leader of the World Church of the Creator, appeared at the Lewiston rally and spoke on Hale’s behalf. In a dramatic turn of events, Fox has subsequently become a prosecution witness in the government’s case against Hale. Hale’s defense team hopes to show that the contents of Fox's videotaped speech in THE LETTER will contradict testimony he previously gave before a federal grand jury.

THE LETTER premiered at the 2003 AFI International Film Festival, was the Opening Night Feature at the 2004 Amnesty International Film Festival, was nominated as Best Documentary at the 2004 Pan-African Film Festival, and is an Official Selection in the 2004 Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival and 2004 Newport Beach Film Festival. The documentary was also the subject of a featured segment on NPR’s “Here and Now.”

For more information about THE LETTER please contact:

For more information contact Bert Brown at 860-434-0309 or by email at Bert@HamzehMystiqueFilms.com