When I was transferred to the Communication Management Unit, also known as the Terrorist Unit or (Guantanamo North)–a special secret illegal prison within the US BOP prison system designed especially for a selected few Muslims.
After a short time there, I was asked by the brothers there to stand up as their Amir. At this time I started classes in Islamic Sciences and did not have time to take on such a responsibility, so I refused their request.
On an early morning after sunrise, as I was on a rusted manual treadmill that was provided for us in a small cage. Shukri asked to speak to me, and knowing that it was regarding the matter of being the Amir, I tried to brush off the conversation and continue my daily routine. “You need to accept being the Amir because everyone has by ijma (consensus) decided that they want you to be, and by you not accepting, it would make the problems we have out of control.”
My workout slowed down as he engaged me in the conversation. After several minutes, I reluctantly agreed.
Over the upcoming months, I learned more about him and our other brothers in the unit. They shared their past and opened their hearts. Among that which brother Shukri agonized over was his daughter, Sanabel. He, as the other brothers in the prison, loved his family deeply, but he faced a dilemma that not many others faced. His daughter, Sanabel, who was ill from childhood, continuously occupied his thoughts. The doctors predicted that she would not live very far past the age of seven but, by the will of Allah, she made it to her mid-twenties, Alhamdulillah.
One day, my dear brother Mukhtar Albakri (One of Lackawanna Six case) came to me and told me that Shukri is in the yard crying and that I should go check on him. This yard that he was in is basically nothing more than a small cage. When I went to look for him, he had gone back to his cell. I asked him what had happened and he told me that he just got off the phone, and that his Sanabel is in critical condition, with an unlikely recovery. Read the rest of this entry »
Please send letters and messages of condolence and support to a grieving father and hero, Shukri Abu-Baker on the recent passing of his daughter, Sanabel Abu-Baker. Sanabel has passed away after 26 years of struggling with illness and the additional hardship of enduring the persecution of her father, who is serving a 65 year prison sentence for providing food, medicine and school supplies to impoverished Palestinian children.
( إِنَّا لِلّهِ وَإِنَّـا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعونَ )
I painted this picture, before you say anything its paint by number, anyways I sent it to my dad along with a card made from recycled paper, and they sent it back and said the card was padded and that they could not inspect it without damaging them…….how pathetic.. like seriously, u can see through the card and the painting is just a little thicker than cardstock paper… i got soo mad because i was sooo excited painting it while i was at the hospital that my dad would have a nice scene to look out… now this is something my dad can free hand draw but not me i can just paint in the lines… — Sanabel Abu-Baker, November 2012
May Allah accept her in alFirdaus and hasten the release of her father, Amin.
Shukri Abu-Baker #32589-177
USP Terre Haute
U.S. Penitentiary
PO Box 33
Terre Haute, IN 47808
USA
The case against the Holy Land Foundation charity and five of its members has been effectively sealed. Defense attorneys attempted to overturn the prison sentences for the charity workers by taking the case to the highest court in the U.S., but the appeal was declined late last month without explanation.
Please write to the five brave brothers of the Holy Land Five to encourage them in their pursuit for justice and to keep their spirits high:
Abdulrahman Odeh #26548-050
FCI Victorville Medium II
Federal Correctional Institution
PO Box 5300
Adelanto, CA 92301
USA
Ghassan Elashi #29687-177
USP Marion
U.S. Penitentiary
PO Box 1000
Marion, IL 62959
USA
Mufid Abdulqader #32590-177
FCI Terre Haute
Federal Correctional Institution
PO Box 33
Terre Haute, IN 47808
USA
Mohammad Ahmad El-Mezain #92412-198
FCI Terre Haute
Federal Correctional Institution
PO Box 33
Terre Haute, IN 47808
USA
Shukri Abu-Baker #32589-177
USP Terre Haute
U.S. Penitentiary
PO Box 33
Terre Haute, IN 47808
USA
Its been four years since he has been in prison. Two years since I last hugged him.
I hate it when I think too much. I was thinking about what could have been. How it could have been.
At my graduation, I could have been able to hug him, like all my other colleagues. My father would have hugged me tight, kissed me on my forehead, and told me “mapook, habibti” like everyone else’s father… My father would have BEEN there like everyone else’s…
As I was walking into the arena last night, 5th in line, out of a few hundred students, I looked up to the families waving and greeting us. I waved and got excited when I saw my family. I saw my mother, my sisters, pother in law, cousins, aunts, and uncles, but I did not see my dad… I was so close to tearing up.
“Nida, dont… dont you dare… suck it up, you dont want to ruin your eyeliner… you need to look pretty for the picture!”
I had to tell myself all of that, just to stop myself from crying like a loser.
Every time I turned around to see my family, as I was sitting, I kept imagining my father…
Its hard… It really is. Im not writing this to gain attention, im not like that. Im writing this because I need to let it all out some how…
I held in my tears all day yesterday. When we went out for lunch, i imagined him in front of me, instead of my uncle. Hugging me after I got ready. Hugging me before I went into the hall for the graduates. Hugging me and giving me flowers after the graduation…
All i did yesterday was laugh and smile. I kept in my true emotions.
He was on my mind all day, and all night.
I should be happy I graduated, but Im not… Im just not feelin’ it.
I feel like half of my heart is not in place.
As a matter of fact, it isnt.
My father completes me. I can never be truly happy without him.
In the CMU, there is a new brand of justice dispensed and it is called: ‘You are guilty as charged regardless of your innocence, or evidence, no matter what!!! We do not care about what anyone else thinks’.
This is the same type of justice of which we, “THE USA”, accuse other countries of dispensing on their own people and keep track of their violations in our daily, weekly, monthly and yearly reports on human and civil rights abuses, and we sanction them until they prove that they are no longer practicing injustice and mistreating their own people.
At the CMU, this is how it starts: When an inmate violates any BOP rule, staff can issue an incident report against that inmate if they choose to do so. The incident report is usually given to the inmate within 24 hours of the incident. Usually a Lieutenant or other staff brings the incident report to the CMU unit and gives it to the inmate. The incident report includes the inmate’s name, number and description of the violation as well as the code associated with the violation and the name of the staff who issued the violation. Each violation code has specific punishments associated with it. The inmate does not have to defend himself at the time the incident report is given to him.
Normally a UDC (Unit Disciplinary Committee), made up of two staff, calls the inmate to a hearing and reads the violation and asks him for his defense. This usually takes place within three days after the violation is given to the inmate and if the violation is not serious. If the violation is serious, such as fighting with other inmates, then the inmates involved will be immediately taken to the SHU (Special Housing Unit) where they are held in solitary confinement and placed under investigation. The investigation may take up to six months while the inmates are held in the SHU. I will address the issue of the SHU and the DHO (Disciplinary Hearing Officer) hearing in another e-mail. Let’s go back to the UDC hearing: Read the rest of this entry »
On a February cloudy humid night inTexas, two sisters left their aunt’s house and headed home. It was late in the evening as they tried to make it home as soon as possible. Before they started their journey, they made sure they said their special prayers asking Allah for protection and asking him to get them home safe [and] soon and praised him for his many blessings. The ride home was smooth and nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. They opened the windows of the car while listening to a Palestinian Nasheed Group praising Palestine and the quest for freedom of Palestinians struggling to end the internationally illegal Israeli occupation
They were enjoying the songs and singing a long. They were also thinking of their father who was in prison because he dared and feed the desperate and forgotten Palestinian children and women in theHoly land Palestine. They were also talking about their aunt and how wonderful of a cook she was and they wished they could have stayed an extra day or so to enjoy her company and cooking. They also were talking about their next day’s activities and how busy they have been lately.
It was getting late and the drive would normally take forty-five minutes to get home. However, half an hour in the drive, they encountered a huge slowdown on a ten lane highway that encircles the Dallas Fort Worth metropolitan area called Interstate Highway 635. It is usually a very busy highway even at this late time of the evening. What they found out later is that the slowdown was caused by a drunk person who decided to stop in the middle of the highway causing everyone to scramble around and try to stop to avoid running into the cars and trucks ahead of them. Read the rest of this entry »
This is the fifth and the last e-mail for my trip from Seagoville Texas to USP Marion: The Air Marshall (AM) called the two of us (me and Ghassan) and told us to change our seats and move forward. They wanted us to be closer to the front of the plane so we can leave the plane faster. The plane’s next destination was the State of Ohio. I am not sure where in Ohio.
So far, it has been over six hours of tight handcuffing of the hands, chaining of the legs and ankles and the Black box that caused extreme pain and made it tremendously uncomfortable and unbearable. No matter how much I tried to move my hands to get comfortable, I found no comfort, only pain!!!. I saw the color of my wrist and it was very red and noticed a dent in my skin caused by the handcuffs. I felt the pain and kept on making duaa for this journey to end soon. I tried to occupy my mind by reminding myself that no matter how long this will last, it will end at some time. Anything has an end no matter how bad or painful it is. Also I remembered our brothers and sisters in Palestine and thorough out the world who wake up day in and day out being dragged to be tortured.
One of the most famous torture techniques used is the” ghost” where the persons’ hands are tied together behind him and then he is hanged from the ceiling for hours and days until he faints while a bag soaked in urine covers his head and tied around the neck. The pain in this position is unimaginable. So many Palestinians who get arrested in Palestine gets the special treatment of the “Ghost Torture”. Read the rest of this entry »
Now we are in Oklahoma City Detention Center recreation cage in the SHU on the seventh floor when the brother in the next cage greeted me and the first words that came out of his mouth were ‘Assalamu Alaikhum’. I have heard this beautiful Islamic Salutation/greeting in prison may be more than I have heard it in my entire lifetime. Every time you see a brother you say it or he says it. It is the message of peace and a sign of love: ‘Assalamu Alaikhum’. If you were sitting with a non Muslim and a Muslim brother stops by, he will say Asslamu Alaikhum to the brother and he will say hello/hi to the non-Muslim.
Even if you have just finished talking to one brother or have seen him just five minutes ago, you will say it again. It is so beautiful when you hear it so often. The brothers here make a point of saying it over and over because they are PROUD to say it. It is an identity symbol that says hey ‘I am a Muslim’ and that is a source of pride. They are not shy about saying it to their brothers. Even non-Muslims use it a lot when greeting Muslims. It is just an awesome feeling of brotherhood because it says: ‘from me to you, you will have nothing coming but peace and love’.
Today, I was sitting with a Muslim brother and another person who was non-Muslim sitting at a table discussing a Marketing class, a Muslim brother stopped by and said to me and the other Mulsim: ‘Assalamu Alaikhum my dear beloved two brothers’ and then turned to the other person and said: Hello and mentioned his name. In the free world, even some Muslims are embarrassed to use it at work or even in the presence of non-Muslims. Not here, the wearing of the cofi (the cofi is a netted cap that fits the head and is recognized as a Muslim symbol) is very normal and you see Muslims wearing it here all the time. No one comes to Friday prayer (Jumaa) without his cofi. In the free world Muslims put it on only after they enter the Masjed. Read the rest of this entry »
Now we were in Oklahoma City Detention Center and the bus just arrived and one of the guards pointed his finger at the four of us and said: ‘You, you, you, and you get up now,’ and asked the rest of the inmates to remain seated.
We were taken first into the building and they put us in a room (15 ft x15 ft) by ourselves. The room had big windows with bars so you can see what is happening outside the room. We saw as the rest of the inmates were taken to other rooms. Some of the inmates were placed in individual cages just like monkeys. I could see about six or seven cages adjacent to each other across the hall from our room. We thought that they will come to take us soon but it took them over three hours to come back.
The room had benches all around it and also had a toilet and a sink that is attached to it. The benches were one foot wide which is not enough to sleep [on]. The walls were completely covered with aluminium sheets panels so no one can write or scratch them. We talked for a while and then we prayed Thuhor and Asr prayer combined. I started singing all the songs I remembered and everyone including El-Mezain joined in dancing the Palestinian Dabkha. Read the rest of this entry »
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