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Act Now: The Farooqi Family February Deadline Fast Approaching…

The family of a man jailed for terror offences have told how they are fighting a legal bid to seize their home. Munir Farooqi, 54, was found guilty of preparing for terrorism, soliciting to murder and disseminating terrorist publications. The Crown Prosecution Service now wants to steal his family’s home in Longsight and sell it as part of a Proceeds of Crime prosecution.

They say Farooqi, who distributed religious material from a Longsight market stall, used the basement to radicalise young men into going to Jihad. He was given a life sentence last year following an undercover police operation. He is currently in the process of appealing.

Farooqi’s family, who still live in the house, are fighting the seizure. Campaigners say his wife and daughter own the house and say the action represents collective punishment. Over 15,000 people have signed an online petition supporting them.

His son Harris, 28, who stood trial alongside his father but was cleared of preparing for terrorism, said:

‘I went through the whole trial and lived on bail for a year and a half before being acquitted. Now I face having my house taken away from me. The court said only a small part of the basement was being used for terrorist activities – which we do not believe – so why should the whole house be taken?’

Harris’s wife Juvaria Khalid, mother Zeenat, sister Zulaikha, 22, her husband Robert Fallon, young baby and nine-year-old sister also live in the house. Zulaikha said:

‘I don’t understand why this is happening – we’re all British, we’re all living here and should all have the same rights. We shouldn’t have to go to court to fight for our home but we’ve been really surprised and pleased by the support from the community who recognise this is an injustice.’

The family say police have returned hundreds of religious books and CDs seized from the house during the investigation which were then found to be within the law. Campaigner Naheela Ashraf said: ‘The seizure of this house forms collective punishment against people who are innocent.‘ Under the Terrorism Act the CPS can use a forfeiture order to force the sale of a property used for terrorist purposes, with proceeds given to the courts.

A CPS spokesman said: ‘The CPS is making an application under S23a of the Terrorism Act 2000, for the forfeiture of Munir Farooqi’s home address on the basis that it has been used for the purposes of terrorism. The court will consider the effect of any order on the family members.’

Keep informed regarding the status of the Campaign and the Farooqi family by frequenting their website: Save the Family Home & their facebook page SAVE THE FAMILY HOME. Also take an active role to Stop the Collective Punishment of the Farooqi Family by writing the British government and signing their Petition before the February deadline.

You can also show your Solidarity with Your Brother & let him know he has your Support by writing him at:

Munir Farooqi A9693AQ
HMP Manchester
1 Southall Street
Strangeways
GREATER MANCHESTER
M60 9AH
UK

And do not forget him & his family in your du’a.

 
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Posted by on January 28, 2012 in Campaigns, News Items

 

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The ‘Crime’ of Daw’ah

Harris Farooqi son of Da’ee Munir Farooqi, currently appealing his conviction, shows some of the videos, CDs, DVDs and books reported in the media as being terrorist materials, which are simply in fact Qur’ans and books about and used for the propagation of Islam widely available (often for free) all over the world and all over the internet.

 

 

Take an active role to Stop the Collective Punishment of the Farooqi Family by writing the British government and signing their Petition before the February deadline.

Keep informed regarding the status of the Campaign and the Farooqi family by frequenting their website: Save the Family Home & their facebook page SAVE THE FAMILY HOME.

You can also show your Solidarity with Your Brother & let him know he has your Support by writing him at:

Munir Farooqi A9693AQ
HMP Manchester
1 Southall Street
Strangeways
GREATER MANCHESTER
M60 9AH
UK

And do not forget him & his family in your du’a.

 
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Posted by on January 4, 2012 in Campaigns, Videos

 

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Zulaikha Farooqi on the Home Invasion of 16 November 2009

As if it were not enough that the Farooqi family endured the traumatic home invasion during the arrest of their father, Munir Farooqi, and the subsequent miscarriage of justice, their very home is once again under attack by the fascist forces. 100,000 signatures are needed before February 2012 to stop the second violation of the Farooqi home.

Keep informed regarding the status of the Campaign and the Farooqi family by frequenting their website: Save the Family Home & their facebook page SAVE THE FAMILY HOME. Also take an active role to Stop the Collective Punishment of the Farooqi Family by writing the British government and signing their Petition before the February deadline.

You can also show your Solidarity with Your Brother & let him know he has your Support by writing him at:

Munir Farooqi A9693AQ
HMP Manchester
1 Southall Street
Strangeways
GREATER MANCHESTER
M60 9AH
UK

And do not forget him & his family in your du’a.

 
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Posted by on December 26, 2011 in Campaigns, Collateral Damage, Videos

 

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The Farooqi Family Still in Need of Our Support

An entire family, including a young baby and an eight year-old child, face being thrown out of their family home in Manchester, England, under anti-democratic legislation. The seven members of the family of Munir Farooqi are being threatened with the collective punishment, after he was convicted of terrorist offences and jailed in September of 2011.

The basis for eviction is that the house in the Longsight district of the city was the location of some of the alleged crimes of which Farooqi was convicted. Under the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008, the house is being subject to forfeiture as property, as it was deemed to have been used “for the purposes of terrorism”. The attempt to seize the home and evict three generations of the family is the first time the forfeiture clause in the law has been used since it was passed.

A spokeswoman for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said:

“The power to forfeit residential premises in these circumstances is a new power under the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008, and before any decision is made, the forfeiture application is considered by the court and the family will be given an opportunity to be heard.”

If the order is granted, the property would be sold and the proceeds placed into the Magistrates’ Court. The state is attempting to seize the home, even though it does not belong to Munir Farooqi. The deeds of the property are in the name of his wife, Zeenat Farooqi.

Munir’s son, Harris Farooqi, lives in the house and was acquitted of a charge of preparing for an act of terrorism. He explained:

“It’s a family house. Why is it collective punishment in a democratic society? I don’t understand. We as British citizens work here all our lives and then we’re thrown out onto the streets.”

Munir Farooqi was sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty of engaging in conduct in preparation for acts of terrorism, three counts of soliciting to murder and dissemination of terrorist publications. Two other men, Matthew Newton and Hussain Malik, were also jailed following an undercover operation by police from the North West Counter Terrorism Unit (NWCTU). As part of the operation, which was more than a year in duration, undercover police who pretended to become Muslim and sought information and guidance from Munir met with him in his house and made secret recordings of the conversations about Islam that occurred there.

Farooqi and the other defendants in the case denied all the charges against them. And he is currently appealing his conviction. The men were jailed, despite the police finding no evidence that they were actually preparing a crime. Instead, they were jailed on the basis of their “ideology” (thought crimes) which in fact means that they were jailed only because they are Muslim, and for holding Islamic beliefs. Detective Chief Superintendent Tony Porter, the head of the NWCTU, was forced to acknowledge that their was no evidence and that thes men were singled out due to their faith and charged and tried simply for their thoughts and beliefs.  Read the rest of this entry »

 
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Posted by on December 23, 2011 in Campaigns, News Items

 

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Stop the Collective Punishment of the Farooqi Family

Case Background:

Munir Farooqi is a muslim who ran a “dawah” (Call to Islam) stall in a Manchester market. Two police officers intent on entrapment pretended to convert to Islam through his stall, and then continually visited him and instigated conversations and discussions regarding controversial political issues. Due to clever manipulation of the facts (falsification of evidence) by the prosecutor together with questionable testimony by the authorities, whose previous undercover activities in other police services have included lying on the stand, perjury, by testifying officers, during previous trials involving environmental activists. The unjust and illegal conduct by the officers and prosecutor led to this popular family man as well as two others (Mathew Newton and Israr Malik) being convicted of various spurious charges, clearly drummed up to justify the high cost of a wild goose chase in these times of financial austerity.

Munir Farooqi is now serving life in prison purely because of his alleged beliefs. Tony Porter, head of the so-called “counter terrorism unit”, described the following:

“This was an extremely challenging case, both to investigate and successfully prosecute at court, because we did not recover any blueprint, attack plan or endgame for these men. However, what we were able to prove was their ideology.”

And thus the first conviction for what people think (“thought crimes”), rather than what they do, was secured and begins a frightening trend of persecution for “thought crimes” in this increasingly Orwellian legislation and governance.  Politicians throughout the land, from MP surgeries to Question Time to Parliamentary Reports, utter the now tired mantra “its not a war on Islam”, however the fact that three people were convicted purely because of their ideology, and not for any action, is surely an indication that the times are changing. Muslims are being targeted for their beliefs, to an extent where the police are now willing to finance an operation in which they pretend to accept Islam, only in the sole attempt to elicit incendiary information, in a climate of hate and fear, with the intent of manufacturing a “crime” which is based soley upon ones religoious or polictical belifes and not actual criminal acts or activity. The criminalisation of ones beliefs or opinions is not only a mockery of the genuine beliefs (in this case Islam) held by billions around the world, but also the nominal conventions of freedom of belief, expression and dissenting opinion upheld by democratic society.  Read the rest of this entry »

 
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Posted by on November 14, 2011 in Campaigns

 

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Rajib Karim: April 4, 2011 – April 17, 2011

Assalamu ‘Ala Manittaba Al Huda. Peace be upon those who follow the true guidance.

This is a letter intended for the closest ones in my family, my friends, my acquaintances, people who followed my case and supported me through their letters and prayers and anyone else who have taken an interest in my case or followed it in the media.

Since being convicted on 28/02/11 and subsequently being sentenced on 18/03/22 I thought about writing a letter like this, but then I decided not to. I decided I will simply write a letter to my parents. But today I had a visit from my uncle and my conversation with him led me to come to a decision to write this letter. Basically he told me he believes my side of the story and realises that there is a lot of untrue and biased media reporting in terrorism cases – but he finds it very diffucult in dealing with people who ask him about me. My attitude in life since I started practising Islam has always been that as long as my conscience is clean to Allah, I do not worry about what people say or think of me. At the same time I would be careful, so that my actions do not give Islam or the Muslims a bad name. It was with this in mind, I decided against writing a letter explaining my case in any detail. Because I felt if people have already judged me without knowing me properly, then what I write would make very little difference. The reason I am writing now is so that those who do/did know me in real life and those with an open mind from amongst the ones who did not know me personally could hear my side of the story and then decide for themselves what to believe and what not to believe.

I have a feeling it will take me some time to finish writing this letter as I am a slow writer. I have started writing this around 7pm on Sunday 10/4/2011, lets see when I finish. Read the rest of this entry »

 
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Posted by on April 17, 2011 in Letters from Rajib Karim, Risala

 

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Bilal Ahmad: February 26, 2011

Bilal Ahmad
A4773AY
26/02/2011

Bismillaah ar Rahmaan ar Raheem

As salaamu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullah wa barakaatu.

I pray this letter finds you in the best of health and strongest of emaan. To introduce myself, my name is Bilal, I’m from West Midlands, and I’m the cousin of Abu Abbas. I am writing to you to convey my feelings in the hope you could offer me some good naseehah as an older brother fi-llaah, with the assumption you may be able to identify with my ordeal. I am currently in prison on remand for four charges: one count of solicitation to murder the MP’s that voted for the Iraq war, and 3 counts of collecting information that could be deemed useful to a terrorist. I was refused bail after the offer of hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of equity and house arrest as the Crown Prosecution Service announced they wanted to add further charges: another count of solicitation to murder (the deposed leader of the English Defence League), encouraging terrorism, dissemination of terrorist publications, incitement to racial and religious hatred, and membership of two proscribed terrorist organisations. They’ve also moved my trial to Nottingham crown court because they’re alleging I threatened one of the “judges” on the London circuit.  Read the rest of this entry »

 
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Posted by on February 26, 2011 in Letters from Bilal Ahmad, Risala

 

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