RSS

Tag Archives: Hysen Sherifi

US & UK Mailing Lists Updated: Fraternal Sacrifices and Familiar Solitude

Yet another Eid has passed without hearing the sacred words of praise, feeling the customary hug from family members, or smelling the familiar foods. This month’s update brings its share of sorrow for many mothers.

We ask Allah to ease the hearts of the prisoners and their families and bestow on them His Mercy and to strengthen them with patience.

On November 1, 27 year old Rezwan Ferdaus, was sentenced to 17 years for two counts of terror-related charges in an entrapment case. He faced a possible 35 year sentence if he had opted to go to trial. Rezwan appreciated the support of family and friends, smiling as they shouted “We love you, Rezwan!” Tariq Mehanna’s parents were also present in a show of support. Rezwan’s mother, strong yet distraught, was visibly angered, “Investigate your government…They’ve been lying a lot,” she instructed the press.

Also on November 1, Shkumbin Sherifi and Nevine Elsheikh pleaded guilty to one count of murder for hire. They face a possible ten years and $250,000 fine when sentenced in February 2013. Without this plea, they faced near life sentences but are now government witnesses in Skumbin’s brother’s, Hysen Sherifi‘s, upcoming trial, set to start on Monday. Hysen, sentenced to 46 years for terror-related charges earlier this year, now faces a life sentence. Weighing the astronomical odds of fighting another entrapment case, the Sherifi family elected to have at least one son possibly return to see his dying father and live some semblance of a normal life.

The recent forced pleas remind us of the true nature of “terror” prosecutions; that in no way do they attempt to uncover truth or relegate justice. Despite destroying lives, families and communities, convictions and pleas are meaningless with respect to establishing guilt, which is why supporting our incarcerated brothers and sisters is a moral obligation, especially when they may be innocent in more ways than one.

It has been one month since the extradition of five British Muslims to the US, and families have not received any verbal or written communication from their loved ones. It is presumed that Adel Abdel Bary, Babar Ahmad, Khalid al-Fawwaz, Mustafa Mustafa, and Syed Talha Ahsan are being held incommunicado, sending a loud message to the international community of what American justice sounds like; oppressively silent.

Ahmed Ajaj, Adham Hassoun, and Randall Royer (currently in transit), who were removed from ADX Florence last month, have all been returned to the supermax prison. Abdulwali Muse (the Smiling Somali) is back in Terre Haute, and those who sent cards or letters to Adnan Mirza or Gregory Vernon Patterson last month may want to consider resending as they may have been in transit and have possibly not received mail.

The Supreme Court rejected the final appeal of the Holy Land Foundation Charity, a dismal but not unexpected decision for Shukri Abu Baker, Ghassan Elashi, Mohammad el-Mezain, Mufid Abdulqader, and Abdulrahman Odeh, serving a cumulative 180 year sentence for sending aid to Palestine.

There is a possibility that Wadih elHage (not listed) may have his life sentence commuted after lawyers present evidence from Fazul Abdullah Mohammed’s autobiography.

In the UK, Irfan Nasser, Irfan Khalid and Ashik Ali are undergoing trial for an alleged bomb plot for which they had been under surveillance since 2010.

It is feared that Mahdi Hashi is the latest victim of torture and detention by proxy or rendition after the Home Office mysteriously revoked his British citizenship following his refusal to become a government informant. Friends and family are demanding answers to his disappearance and evidence for the claims of “extremism” made by Home Office.

Courts in Canada have given the green light for the extradition of Sayfildin Tahir Sharif, an Iraqi born Canadian, to the US allegedly for connections to suicide bombings in Iraq.

As always, remember them and their families in your duas, and be sure to let us know of any returned mail, incorrect addresses, missing prisoners, or updates you would like to share.

Shkumbin Sherifi and Nevine Aly Elshiekh’s Payment of Legal Fees Allegedly to Decapitate FBI Informants

13 Feb

A pair of FBI informants, a woman posing as a hitman’s assistant, and a convict collected money from the accused to allegedly assassinate three FBI informants who testified at the ‘NC7′ trial last year.

Twenty-one year old Shkumbin Sherifi is the younger brother of twenty-seven year old Hysen Sherifi, the Kosovar-Albanian sentenced earlier this year to 45 years in prison for a terror related conviction in North Carolina.

Fourty-six year old Nevine Aly Elshiekh, a teacher for developmentally delayed children, has headed the special education program at Sterling Montessori Academy and Charter School in Morrisville for nine years.

Shkumbin Sherifi

Young and openly critical of the government’s persecution of Muslims, Shkumbin was outspoken about the innocence of his brother and actively campaigned for his release in politically and religiously charged demonstrations and music.

“Muslims after the September 11 attacks were targeted,” Shkumbin Sherifi said in a video uploaded to YouTube the day of his arrest. “For Muslims, it’s guilty until proven innocent.“

He also recorded rap songs in English and Albanian under the stage name Beme. His lyrics recount the sectarian violence in his homeland, after which tens of thousands of Albanian Kosovars, including the Sherifis, ended up as refugees in the United States, Germany and other western nations:

“Bombs dropping four in the morning, tanks blowing, windows shaking, my momma’s fainting,” Shkumbin Sherifi raps to a heavy beat. “I was a kid. Hey, what could I do? … Guerrilla warfare, yeah, we fight back. But NATO don’t like that. We fight for each other.“ Like many other artists Shkumbin used the medium of hip-hop and rap to explore and express himself regarding both his personal experiences as well as societal events. Hyperbole and fictionalised events are often used in the medium as Shkumbin, himself mentions in regards to the rapper Eminem, who had several songs about murdering his wife despite it being understood simply as an artist expressing themselves through their work.

State court records show his only prior brush with the law was in 2006 while still a teenager, when he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge for resisting a public officer. Relatives have declined repeated interview requests. However, an older sister, Hylja Sherifi, testified at a 27 January court hearing that Shkumbin is the primary caregiver to their father, who has terminal lung cancer.

Nevine Aly Elshiekh

Nevine Elshiekh, a family friend of one of the defendants, frequently made the two-hour trip to New Bern to attend the monthlong trial, which began shortly after the 10th anniversary of the 11 September attacks. She meticulously documented the testimony and was a part of the active Muslim community that showed their solidarity and support for the entrapped trio.

“I think Islam has been on trial,” commented Elshiekh after the sentences were read out. The college educated dog-lover is well-respected by her neighbors and has never had even a speeding ticket, much less a criminal history.

Family members and friends find it impossible to reconcile that caring woman with the zealot federal prosecutors claim hired a hitman. Her father, an Egyptian who moved his family to the U.S. more than fourty years ago, told The Associated Press the charges don’t add up.

“We don’t believe it,” said Aly Elshiekh, 80, a retired professor at North Carolina State University. “She loves special-ed kids and has dedicated her life to helping kids with disabilities.” Her father, a U.S. citizen since 1974, said he trusts the U.S. justice system. ”She will be treated fairly,” Aly Elshiekh said.

She has also served as a teacher at a religious school that is part of the Islamic Association of Raleigh, the city’s largest mosque. Imran Aukhil, a spokesman for the mosque, did not respond to requests for comment. Members of the congregation were among about thirty people who attended court hearings in Wilmington to show support.

Read the rest of this entry »

1 Comment

Posted by aseerun on February 13, 2012 in News Items

Tags: Aly Elshiekh, beheading, Beme, Charles Swift, decapitate, FBI entrapment, FBI informant, FBI setup, hit, Hysen Sherifi, Imran Aukhil, Islamic Association of Raleigh, Miss D, NC7, Nevine Aly Elshiekh, North Carolina, Raleigh, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, shady informants, Shkumbin Sherifi, Treetop

Muslims Face Life In Prison for Crimes the US Government Cannot Even Articulate With Acuity

12 Jan

A trip to the Middle East made by Ziyad Yaghi (left) and Omar Aly Hassan was the focus of terrorism-related charges against the two North Carolina men.

This Friday 23-year-old Ziyad Yaghi and his co-defendant, Omar Aly Hassan, also 23, both convicted terrorism-related charges, will be handed down sentences for conspiring to provide material support to unspecified terrorists and, in the case of Yaghi, conspiring to harm unspecified persons abroad.

The case, which seems to be largely off the radar for major civil liberties groups and national Arab and Muslim organizations, raises questions about the use of preemptive prosecution to get convictions in the vast majority of domestic terrorism cases. The government’s case also largely focuses on speech made by the defendants, and rests on the testimony of paid undercover informants.

Conspiracy against unknown persons in an uknown place at an unknown time

The US government alleges that Yaghi and Hassan conspired with alleged ringleader Daniel Patrick Boyd to provide material support to an unspecified group of terrorists in an unspecified place at an unspecified time. They were also indicted — and Yaghi convicted — for conspiracy to kidnap, kill, maim or harm an unspecified group of people in an unspecified place at an unspecified time.

The US government alleged in a 2009 indictment that Yaghi and Hassan traveled to Israel in 2007 to meet up with Boyd and one of Boyd’s sons, Zakariya, for the purpose of waging “jihad” — what that specifically entailed was not detailed in the indictment.

After the Israeli government denied entry to all four men, Yaghi and Hassan traveled to Jordan and later Egypt. The Boyds traveled to Jordan, where they were met by Daniel Boyd’s other son, Dylan, but did not meet with Yaghi and Hassan there.

Upon their return to the United States approximately one month later, Yaghi and Hassan apparently ceased contact with the Boyd family.

During the men’s trial last September, an FBI agent admitted upon cross-examination by Hassan’s attorney that the government had no evidence of contact between Hassan and Boyd after the 2007 trip.

Dylan Boyd, who testified for the prosecution as part of a plea agreement, told the FBI in an interview that he “hadn’t seen or spoken to Yaghi and Hassan since the 2007 trip.”

It was revealed during the trial that the Boyd family had been under surveillance since 2005, and Yaghi and Hassan had been monitored starting around the time of their 2007 trip.
Read the rest of this entry »