The following testimony, entitled “Victims of the American Inquisition” written by Zachary Chesser, is a microcosmic documentation of America’s naked and larger aggression against the religion of Islam in what Chesser terms the ‘American Inquisition.’ Since the intensification of this most recent inquisition, the global Muslim community has suffered a ruthless assault on legal rights and basic humanity, which in various arenas have been superficially designated as everything from geopolitical interests to heretical rhetoric. What Chesser exposes through details regarding his case and subsequent incarceration, is a pattern of federally sanctioned religious persecution and corrosive civil rights violations reflective of American foreign policy, shockingly common in so-called terrorism cases. He recounts how his religious beliefs designated him as a target for government surveillance, how this surveillance in turn became a means of distortion and manipulation, culminating in his incarceration and the deliberate alienation of his family, particularly the religiously charged, custodial kidnapping of his son.
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En el nombre de Alá, el Compasivo, el Misericordioso:
Mi nombre es Abu Talha al-Zacarías Amriiki (legalmente “Zachary Adám Chesser “), y lo que sigue no es para tomarse a la ligera. Si se va a saber cuánto estas palabras pueden afectar a mí ya mi familia, entonces la gravedad de este mensaje no se puede escapar. Estoy escribiendo esto con el fin de que nadie debe caer en las mismas trampas y errores como yo, para establecer la prueba para los que dudan, y para rectificar los errores determinados. Tal vez mi ignorancia de la naturaleza de mi situación era una excusa para mí, pero si no, entonces le pido a Dios que me perdone. Sin embargo, después de mí, no creo que nadie va a tener una excusa en estos asuntos si estos eventos se manifiestan a ellos.
Esta es mi historia, y dentro de ella son fragmentos de las historias de muchos otros. Es sólo una relación de lo que yo sé que es verdad a lo mejor de mi capacidad, y estoy seguro de que lo que permanece oculto para mí es mucho peor que la que se hizo claro para mí, pero lo que sí está claro es suficiente para un persona de comprensión. Por lo tanto, que estas páginas se registran en los anales de la historia en los capítulos reservados a la Inquisición estadounidense.
En cuanto a lo que sigue … Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 1st Amendment, Abu Talhah, Abu Talhah al-Amriiki, Abu Talhah Zakariyya al-Amriiki, Al-Qaeda, al-Sahbab, al-Shabaab, American Inquisition, Ansar Forum, Asad Allah, Asadullah al-Shishaani, Babara Chesser, CMU, Emerson Begolly, FBI, FBI entrapment, FBI setup, First Amendment, First Stop Addis, FISA, Gordon Kromberg, Gulet Muhamed, Jesse Curtis Morton, Jordan, Kenya, Marion, Material support, Paula Menges, Ramy Zamzam, Reed Stanely Berry, Revolution Muslim, RevolutionMuslim, shady informants, Shaker Masri, Shakir Masri, SHU, Somalia, Talhah Chesser, Talhah Ibn Zakiriya Chesser, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Uganda, War on Family, War on Freedom, War on Islam, Younes Abdullah Muhammad, Zachary Adam Chesser
The following testimony, entitled “Victims of the American Inquisition” written by Zachary Chesser, is a microcosmic documentation of America’s naked and larger aggression against the religion of Islam in what Chesser terms the ‘American Inquisition.’ Since the intensification of this most recent inquisition, the global Muslim community has suffered a ruthless assault on legal rights and basic humanity, which in various arenas have been superficially designated as everything from geopolitical interests to heretical rhetoric. What Chesser exposes through details regarding his case and subsequent incarceration, is a pattern of federally sanctioned religious persecution and corrosive civil rights violations reflective of American foreign policy, shockingly common in so-called terrorism cases. He recounts how his religious beliefs designated him as a target for government surveillance, how this surveillance in turn became a means of distortion and manipulation, culminating in his incarceration and the deliberate alienation of his family, particularly the religiously charged, custodial kidnapping of his son.
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In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful:
My name is Abu Talhah Zakariyya al-Amriiki (legally “Zachary Adam Chesser”), and what follows is not to be taken lightly. If you were to know how much these words can affect me and my family, then the gravity of this message would not escape you. I am writing this in order that nobody should fall into the same traps and mistakes as I did, to establish proof for those who doubt, and to rectify certain wrongs. Perhaps my ignorance of the nature of my situation was an excuse for me, but if not, then I ask Allah to forgive me. However, after me, I do not think that anyone will have an excuse in these matters if these events are manifested unto them.
This is my story, and within it are pieces of the stories of many others. It is only a relation of what I know to be true to the best of my ability, and I am sure that what remains hidden from me is far worse than that which was made clear to me, but that which is clear is enough for a person of understanding. Therefore, let these pages be recorded in the annals of history under the chapters reserved for the American Inquisition.
As for what follows… Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 1st Amendment, Abu Talhah, Abu Talhah al-Amriiki, Abu Talhah Zakariyya al-Amriiki, Al-Qaeda, al-Sahbab, al-Shabaab, American Inquisition, Ansar Forum, Asad Allah, Asadullah al-Shishaani, Babara Chesser, CMU, Emerson Begolly, FBI, FBI entrapment, FBI setup, First Amendment, First Stop Addis, FISA, Gordon Kromberg, Gulet Muhamed, Jesse Curtis Morton, Jordan, Kenya, Marion, Material support, Paula Menges, Ramy Zamzam, Reed Stanely Berry, Revolution Muslim, RevolutionMuslim, shady informants, Shaker Masri, Shakir Masri, SHU, Somalia, Talhah Chesser, Talhah Ibn Zakiriya Chesser, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Uganda, War on Family, War on Freedom, War on Islam, Younes Abdullah Muhammad, Zachary Adam Chesser
They locked me in this room, Alone, by myself, just me –
With no one to talk to except for the walls, or the face in the mirror I see.
So I sit, listen, and watch
the television in my head
Not a notion to move nor a second spared
I record everything that is said –
Absence of Kindness, Distinct Memories of Pain
Caused by the things that they took away
So I’m holding my breath,until they let me out
But I’m afraid of what might happen the next time I breathe.
I wrote that poem when I was 17. These days I am living it; all over again. Then it was a proverbial prison. I was a conscious youth inside one of the most dangerous institutions of America: the public high school. Today, 16 years later, I am in another – the U.S.prison system where I am but one of a growing number of Muslim Americans who dared to speak out. Today I am a pretrial federal inmate housed in solitary confinement and in conditions that best resemble those of Guantanamo Bay.
Trust me I am not alone. In 1994, my junior year of high school, the U.S. Justice Department announced that the prison population had reached one million. By 2009, that number had more than doubled to 2.3 million with 5 million more on probation or parole. U.S. citizens now represent only 5% of the global population but account for 25% of the world’s prisoners. Additionally,1 in15 Americans is in “extreme poverty” with 48% of Americans labeled “in poverty” or “working poor”, but a recent Gallup poll documented that the percentage of Americans that realize the levels of poverty are so high, has dramatically decreased. These two seemingly distinct sets of statistics suggest something more sinister is going on.
The civil rights era included prison protests like the Attica riots of 1971 and paved a way for productive reform, but today talk of human rights tends to cover a manipulative compromise with the power elite and diverts attention away from structural cause. Generally prisoners today have enhanced rights and services but like the starving people fed by NGO’s in Africa or refugee camps in Afghanistan, such rights and philanthropy are counterproductive where they allow society to ignore the root causes of such appalling levels of crime, punishment, hunger or war. These contradictions become apparent with regard to civil liberties in a time of confrontation, when the citizen is reduced to an object of propaganda about domestic enemies in order to maintain public support for wars abroad.
The authors of the American constitution unanimously resented any sacrifice of civil liberties in the name of national security, but the reaction to 9/11, the immediate passage of the Patriot Act and a new approach to law enforcement the Bush Administration called a “preventative paradigm” ushered in an order of sustained national liberty sacrifice. These changes disproportionately affected American Muslims, however while “terrorists” abroad were “disappeared”, water boarded and held without charges at Guantanamo Bay, the courts approved warrantless wiretapping, ethnic profiling, blacksite rendition and preventative detention targeting Muslims on America’s shores. Wartime propaganda alongside a wave of arrests utilizing entrapment, where undercover agents encourage fund, and coerce potential terrorist attacks, have helped to sustain support. Recent polling documents that two-thirds of Americans support sacrificing some privacy and freedoms in the fight against terrorism. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 1st Amendment, Aafia Siddiqui, Ali al-Timimi, American Inquisition, CIA, CMU, Fahad Hashmi, FBI setup, FBI sting, First Amendment, forced nudity, GTMO, Guantanamo, Guantanamo Bay, Hilary Clinton, http://www.islampolicy.com, Jesse Curtis Morton, Jim Lehrer, Jose Padilla, Jubair Ahmad, Lynne Stewart, Martin Niemoller, Morocco, NYPD, Omar Abdul Rahman, Poem, Poetry, pretrial detention, psychological torture, rape, sexual abuse, solitary, solitary confinement, Tarek Mehanna, Tariq Mehanna, torture, War on Freedom, War on Islam, Younus Abdullah Muhammed
In Michigan, a Berrien County Muslim man pleaded guilty Monday, December 12th to assaulting a federal officer with a dangerous weapon.
Reed Berry faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 after entering the plea in U.S. District Court. Sentencing is scheduled for April 10th or 12th.
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The incident took place on Woodland Drive in Royalton Township near Reed’s home, more than six months after the FBI began harassing Reed under the guise of investigating alleged contact with foreign terrorist organizations.
As part of a FBI terrorism fishing expedition, Berry’s house was searched pursuant to a warrant March 9. The investigation fueled suspicion that Berry was allegedly using the Internet to contact and support one or more foreign terrorist organizations, according to the complaint.
A “significant volume of digital material” was seized during the search and analyzed by the FBI. A second warrant for Berry’s Yahoo email account was obtained 11 May. Due to the lack of fruitful evidence in the material and data seized, the FBI expanded and continued its investigation of Berry and his friends. The investigation remained active and surveillance efforts stepped up with the approach of 11 September.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 1st Amendment, Elias Muawad, FBI misconduct, Forced Plea, Free Speech, Hugh Brenneman, Larry Dyksterhouse, pretrial detention, Reed Stanley Berry, Robert Holmes Bell, Samuel Moore, surveillance
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Seeking Clarification : A Reaction to my Arrest for South Park Opposition
Younus Abdullah Muhammad
واتل عليهم نبأ نوح إذ قال لقومه ياقوم إن كان كبر عليكم مقامي وتذكيري بآيات الله فعلى الله توكلت
فأجمعوا أمركم وشركاءكم ثم لا يكن أمركم عليكم غمة ثم اقضوا إلي ولا تنظ رون
And recite to them the news of Noah, when he said to his people: O my people if my stay with you and my reminding you of the Ayat of Allah is hard on you then I put my trust in Allah. So devise your plot, you and your partners, and let not your plot be in doubt for you. Then pass your sentence on me and give me no respite. [10:71]
In reaction to the attacks of September 11, 2001, the Bush administration enacted sweeping reforms that largely altered (or revealed) the American landscape. 10 years later, the world is a very different place and the American canvas has now been decorated with a colorful array of fresh sentiment and perspective; a redefined flora that has certainly altered the impressions of many onlookers and added lexicon, that includes previously unknown terms such as “Patriot Act”, “Abu Gharib”, “Rendition”, “Warrantless wiretapping”, “water boarding” and “TSA body scanner”-to name but a few. Such alterations are byproducts of a paradigm introduced as the “Global War on Terror” subsequently rebranded as the “War on Islamic Extremism” but, nevertheless, perpetuating into the foreseeable future despite, or perhaps because of, the ignorant bliss that accompanies American exceptionalism!
On May 25, 2011, I was arrested for writing a clarification statement connected to an admittedly inflammatory post on an Islamic website I ran. The post was a reaction to the announcement that the “South Park “cartoon was going to portray the prophet Muhammad, something considered sacrilegious and part of an ideological accompaniment to a comprehensive Western war on Islam. The clarification statement intended to reduce the sensationalist nature of an initial overreaction but is now being utilized by U.S.law enforcement to imprison me for something I am innocent of. As a young activist wholeheartedly opposed to the wars, the contemporary paradigm and especially the exceptionalism, I feel it is necessary to respond to the affidavit that accompanied the arrest and that is typical of the one-sided perspective and manipulative tactics that have marked what is realistically a western war on my religion. I hope that by commenting I may counter such propaganda and also add a few strokes of grey onto the contemporary canvas’s seemingly inevitable bloody horizon. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 1st Amendment, 9th Amendment, freedom of speech, http://www.islampolicy.com, Jesse Curtis Morton, Joseph Cohen, Osama bin Laden, Revolution Muslim, South Park, Theo Van Gogh, Younes Abdullah Muhammad, Younus Abdullah Muhammad, Zachary Adam Chesser
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