VT Digger – U.S. Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., visited Mohsen Mahdawi in a Vermont jail Monday, sharing a snippet of their conversation to social media.

And on Tuesday, more than 100 people rallied at the Statehouse to call for his release and what they characterized as the federal government’s circumvention of due process.

“I’m staying positive by reassuring myself in the inevitability of justice and the deep belief of democracy. This is the reason I wanted to become a citizen of this country, because I believe in the principles of this country,” Mahdawi told Welch in a recorded conversation posted to social media.

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