3rd August 2010

All Praise is due to Allah and peace and blessing be upon His final Messenger, as to what follows,
My brother and the reader of this letter, as-Salaamu ‘alaykum warahamatullaahi wabarakaatuhu, may Allah bless you.

My brother, I couldn’t find a brother here in Macomar prison able to write good English so I had to write to you Arabic, also I want to write a lot to you in this letter after the harsh treatment that I received.

As you know after all the different trials and plots we were sentenced from 8 to 5 years, all Praise is due to Allah for every state.

The only news in our case is that the 6th person convicted surrendered to the Italian authorities after coming back from Libya hoping he will be freed from the charges due to the fact that he’s married to an Italian women and they have one daughter. He stated in court that “The same day the brothers were arrested in Italy, three other brothers were arrested in Tunisia for the same charges and he was one of them.”

This brother narrated the disturbing events and the physical torture he went through inside the dungeons of the Tunisian Intelligence.

He told the police, journalists and relatives attending his court hearing that he was raped four times, they made him drink oil, wanted to cut his male parts, hanged him for 12 hours and beat him. The effects of beating are still on his body till this day. They wanted him to confess to trumped-up charges regarding his brothers in Italy but he refused.

He confirmed to the Italian court that there’s constant collaboration between the Tunisian and Italian Intelligence agencies, he found in Tunisian complete reports for this case. He was tortured for 23 days in Tunisia then he was presented to the court on a wheel chair. All Praise is due to Allah the judge freed him of all charges after seeing the state he was in and Allah knows best.

One that day, he told everything that happened to him to the Italian court, his poor wife had a miscarriage in the court room, and we were all affected by what we heard, so a brother threw his shoe at the officer sitting in front of the cage we were in held in, but sadly he didn’t get him, he got a worker from the prison instead. There was chaos in the court room, one brother was screaming: criminals, criminals so they took us out of the room barefoot and handcuffed. On the same day, the judge sentenced the first brother for 9 years, sentenced another for 8 years, the brother tortured in Tunisia and the rest of the brothers for 5 years.

The public prosecutor presented a written testimony from a Tunisian man inside the Italian army whom we all know, and the brother tortured in Tunisia told us that he saw him in the Interior Ministry in Tunisia at the time of his arrest.

He states in his testimony that we have the Islamic Jihadi and extremist ideology and that we used distribute jihadi and suicide bombings videos and everything else related to jihad. Hasbiyallaah wa ni’mal wakeel. When the lawyers asked for him to come to court the public prosecutor claimed that he was unable to get through to him so the judge accepted his written testimony and made it part of the charges.

They lawyers spoke for 4 hours in our defence and can you believe that the judge was asleep during that time, qaddarallaah wa mashaa’a fa’al. Towards the end of that day, the judge set the day 17th of June for our sentencing.

That cursed judge sentenced us with harsh prison terms on the 17th of June 2010. I ask Allah the All-Mighty the Most Strong to punish them severely and He is capable of all things. That’s all I can remember and was able to write forgive me my brother for prolonging this letter.

Last time you asked about my family, they are well alhamdulillaah but as you may know, they took away my wife and daughters’ residency so their stay in this country is illegal, Allah is the Protector. Unfortunately being in Macomer prison, I am unable to meet with them because it’s very difficult to travel to this island due to costs and other stuff. I might stay here for at least a year alhamdulillah ‘ala kulli hal. I call them 4 times a month and once a month I call my mother and family in Tunisia.

My brother, I don’t mind if you wish to publish this story but without the mentioning of my names, you may say it’s a media release or anything else you see fit.

The last thing for me to tell you is that the appeal for our case will be soon and some things might change, Allah knows best, especially after other trials in the city of Milano were many brothers were freed from terrorism related charges including the three brothers who were brought from Britain, Habib Qanawat, Ali Shalbadi, and Muhammad Khmayri, All Praise is due to Allah the Lord of the worlds, and other are free now.
In any case, nothing will happen except what Allah has decreed for us.

Lastly I ask Allah the Most High, the All-Powerful to allow you, your family and the rest of the muslims to witness the month of Ramadan and to grant you tawfeeq in your fasting and night prayers, Allaahumma Ameen.

A poor slave of Allah wrote this letter on Tuesday 8th of Sha’ban 1431.
Remember us in your supplications.