Tag Archives: incommunicado

Recollected: Aafia’s Essence of ‘Eid

08 Nov

This is based on a conversation involving Aafia where she discussed Eid Al Adha and what it meant beyond performing the ritual acts.

It was a casual social conversation sometime in the 1990s. The Hajj was about to conclude, and Eid Al Adha was approaching.  A point was made that perhaps this Eid is really only a celebration for those attending the Hajj as it marked the successful conclusion of their pilgrimage.  For the rest of the Muslim world it was only about the sacrificing of animals. As symbolic, solemn and beneficial to the poor as the ritual was, what was the cause for celebration?

As was the case with many of Aafia’s perspectives, the response was neither traditional nor focused solely on the logic of obedience to God, blessings for the Hereafter and remembering the enormous tribulations of the prophets of God. These reasons provide satisfaction and comfort to those already in the fold of “believers” and are popular when one is preaching to the proverbial choir. But the root of the question was a challenge seeking a more pragmatic response that would resonate more universally

To Aafia, Eid Al Adha, as a celebration, was not just about the rituals themselves even though it is the culmination of perhaps the most ritual laden event of the Islamic calendar – The Hajj.  In order to truly celebrate and enjoy this Eid universally, she suggested the examination of what the rituals were highlighting:

The Hajj essentially marks the challenges posed to the Prophet Abraham and his family as believed in the Islamic tradition.

First, the taking of Hagar and Ismail to a barren spot in the “middle of nowhere” and leaving them with no sustenance other than a faith that an unseen God will provide.  Then, later, the Hajj marks the willingness of a father to sacrifice his son, again on the order of that unseen God. So, is the lesson here one of blind obedience regardless of how harsh the commandments seem?    Read the rest of this entry »

 

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Posted by aseerun on November 8, 2012 in Collateral Damage, Flashback

 

Tags: Aafia Siddiqui, Eid, Eid al-Adha, http://www.justiceforaafia.org, incommunicado, solitary

Babar Ahmad and Talha Ahsan: End the Silence!

07 Nov

It has now been one month since Babar Ahmad and Talha Ahsan were extradited to the US. Without being permitted to even make one final telephone call to their loved ones, they were transferred into the custody of US marshals and flown to Connecticut, where they are now in 23 hour solitary isolation.

Since their extradition, neither Babar nor Talha have been able to telephone their families or write to them despite sufficient funds having been transferred to them to do this. Furthermore, letters which the family members have sent to the men have not been given to them, increasing their isolation. The families have no idea what condition Babar and Talha are in or why they have been unable to communicate.

We request all campaigners and supporters to write to the British Foreign Secretary, the British Ambassador to the US and and your own Member of Parliament to request that they urgently intervene to ensure that regular contact is established between the men and their families.

Sample letters are below for your convenience (please do not forget to insert your name and and full address) but it is always more effective to use your own words. It is also possible to send your comments using Twitter and Facebook.   Read the rest of this entry »

 

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Posted by aseerun on November 7, 2012 in Campaigns

 

Tags: Action Alert, babar ahmad, incommunicado, solitary, Syed Talha Ahsan

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

03 Nov

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.

 

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Posted by aseerun on November 3, 2012 in News Items

 

Tags: Iraqi, incommunicado, somali, UK, Khalid al-Fawwaz, babar ahmad, Tariq Mehanna, Abu Hamza al-Misri, Forced Plea, Syed Talha Ahsan, extradition, Hysen Sherifi, Rezwan Ferdaus, Randall Royer, Canada, ADX Florence, Mohammad Ahmad El-Mezain, Shukri Abu-Baker, Abdulrahman Odeh, Mufid Abdulqader, Ghassan Elashi, HL5, Shkumbin Sherifi, Nevine Aly Elshiekh, Ahmed Mohammad Ajaj, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, proxy detention, Abdulwali Abukhadir Muse, Adel Abdel Bary, Adham Amin Hassoun, Adnan Babar Mirza, Gregory Vernon Patterson, Wadih El Hage, Irfan Nasser, Irfan Khalid, Ashik Ali, Mahdi Hashi, Sayfildin Tahir Sharif, Egyptian

Action Alert: Victim of Five Years US Abduction & Torture Needs Donations

16 Oct

Suleiman Abdallah Salim is a Tanzanian national who was abducted in Somalia in April 2003 by a notorious Somali warlord known as Mohammed Deere, well-known for being in the pay of the CIA. During his capture at the hands of Deere’s henchmen, Suleiman was so badly injured that he had to be taken to hospital.  However, after less than 24 hours he was dragged from his hospital bed by Deere, and delivered to some Americans who were waiting at an airstrip just outside Mogadishu.

After a short time in Somalia, Suleiman was taken to Nairobi, where he was held near the airport for eight days, and interrogated by members of the CIA and FBI.  It appears that initially Suleiman’s interrogators thought that he was someone else – a Yemeni – but even so, they did not release him. After eight days in Nairobi, Suleiman was taken on a CIA plane to Bossasso in Somalia, and then to Djibouti. From Djibouti, Suleiman was taken to Afghanistan, where he spent over five punishing years in secret US prisons, including the notorious Dark Prison, the Saltpit, and finally Bagram Airforce Base.

During his entire time in US custody, Suleiman never saw a lawyer, nor was he allowed any contact with family members. Indeed, Suleiman’s family had absolutely no idea where he was until he reappeared over five years after his disappearance.

Ultimately, Suleiman was released back to Tanzania in July 2008, with a piece of paper from Bagram saying that he was not considered a threat to the United States.  To this day, Suleiman has been given no assistance at all by any of the governments or individuals complicit in his abduction, secret detention and torture, and there is no court in the world where he could bring a case with any hope of getting through the doors of the court, let alone an award to help him get on with his life.

Undeterred, since his release, Suleiman has worked to rebuild his life again, and has done remarkably well so far.  Last year Suleiman married a local woman, who has recently given birth to a baby girl. However, Suleiman is struggling to provide for his new family, and he cannot find work in his already, economically depressed island home.  Suleiman is looking for funds to travel to Japan where he has been offered a job loading containers in a dock, and to provide for his new family whilst he gets himself on his feet.

Donate:

You can donate to Suleiman at the following bank account details below:

Account name:    Suleiman A Salim

Account number: 5391729998

Swift Code:         EXTNTZTZ

Chips UID 370780

Bank Address:    Exim Bank (T) Ltd, Dar-Es-Salam, Tanzania

IBAN:                 GB85DEUT40508130585400

 

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Posted by aseerun on October 16, 2011 in Campaigns

 

Tags: abduction, Action Alert, Afghanistan, Bagram, black sites, CIA, Dark Prison, extrajudicial detention, FBI, http://www.cageprisoners.com, incommunicado, Mohammed Deere, Rendetion, Salt Pit, Somalia, Suleiman Abdallah Salim, Tanzania, the Saltpit, torture

Brothers Abducted by PAK Forces, awaiting rendition

17 Jul

Defence of Human Rights condemns with full force the illegal arrests and detentions of two Pakistani brothers of Egyptian decent.  The sons of Mohammad Abdul Raheem Alsharqawi, (an electrical engineer of Egyptian origin who took Pakistani nationality in 1992 and made Pakistan his adopted homeland) were abuducted in May of this year by Pakistani forces.

Abdullah Alsharqawi, a 23 year old a student of electronic engineering at Air University Islamabad, was abruptly abducted from his hostel in F-8 markaz, Islamabad, on the 24th of May, 2011. His younger brother, 17 year old Ibraheem Alsharqawi, a 10th class student at Indus Valley School Attock, was kidnapped on the 29th of May, 2011 from the local market in his native city of Attock.

It has been two months since the abduction of Abdullah, who remains missing and whose whereabouts are not known. There are strong indications that the two brothers, as well as two more siblings and another youth by the name of Bilal, were sought by the Pakistani Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) who initially filed a FIR (First Investigation Report) to pursue action against the young men on account of being foreigners. Read the rest of this entry »

 

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Posted by aseerun on July 17, 2011 in News Items

 

Tags: Abdullah Alsharqawi, abuse, Cageprisoners, Defence of Human Rights, extra judicial detention, FIA, habeas corpus, Ibraheem Alsharqawi, incommunicado, Mohammad Abdul Raheem Alsharqawi, Pakistan, rendition, Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, torture

Torture Exposure: US sued for prison abuse legacy

15 Jul

The UK failed to track detainees handed over to the U.S., neglecting to protect them from possible abuse. The shocking revelations, forced through by British MPs, expose a secret agreement over the treatment of prisoners passed over to Washington by London.

 

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Posted by aseerun on July 15, 2011 in News Items, Videos

 

Tags: Barack Obama, Bernhard Docke, Bush, death in custody, Dr. Alan Singer, electroshocks, European Union, forced confession, Gonzales, Guantanamo, impairment of organ function, incommunicado, Murat Kurnaz, rape by instrumentality, rendition, simulated drowning, torture, UK, waterboarding

Somalian National Abducted by U.S Navy

08 Jul

A U.S administration official admitted a Somali National was held abroad on a U.S. Navy ship for questioning for over two months without being advised of any legal rights. The man, identified as Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame, was brought to New York City on July 4 to face charges in a U.S.criminal court. Warsame arrived in New York City late on July 4 after being ‘formally arrested’ the previous day, despite having spent more than two months in custody since he was abducted by the U.S Navy in April, according to a letter from prosecutors to the U.S. court.

Abduction, Detention & Interrogation

Warsame was actually first ‘arrested’ in April by the U.S. military in the Gulf of Aden, when he was kidnapped in the Horn of Africa region by U.S. military personnel on April 19. He was questioned about anti-terrorism “for intelligence purposes for more than two months” before being informed of his Miranda rights, the prosecutors said in a statement. Miranda rights entitle suspects to a lawyer and the right to remain silent.

Warsame was questioned for intelligence purposes for over two months aboard a U.S. Navy ship. Senior administration officials said Tuesday night that he provided important intelligence on two State Department-designated terror groups—al-Qaida and its Somali ally, al-Shabaab, before being read his Miranda rights, waiving them and submitting for several days to questioning by FBI agents designed to elicit statements that could be used against him in his civilian trial.

Read the rest of this entry »

 

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Posted by aseerun on July 8, 2011 in News Items

 

Tags: abduction, Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame, Ahmed Ghailani, al-Shabaab, AQAP, Guantanamo, incommunicado, Khalid al-Fawwaz, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, rendered, rendition, Shabaab, Shabab, Somalia, torture, Warsame, Yemen

Write to the Forgotten Prisoners in Guantánamo [Summer 2011 - July 24h Deadline]

28 Jun

Write those still in Camp Delta...

“Ramadhan and Eid spent tortured,” and a fresh appeal for people to write to the remaining 171 prisoners in Guantanamo — that’s just ten less than a year ago, and two of those ten left in coffins, having died at the prison. Read the rest of this entry »

 

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Posted by aseerun on June 28, 2011 in News Items

 

Tags: Action Alert, Andy Worthington, Cageprisoners, Guantanamo, incommunicado, Letter Writing Campaign, letters

Appeals: Torture of Jose Padilla

22 Jun

RICHMOND, Va. — The American Civil Liberties Union June 7, 2011 appealed the dismissal of a lawsuit against current and former government officials for their roles in the unlawful detention and torture of U.S. citizen Jose Padilla. The U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina ruled in February that the defendants, including former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, were entitled to “qualified immunity” for their roles in the arbitrary detention and brutal abuse of Padilla because no “clearly established” law prohibited the torture of an American citizen designated an “enemy combatant” by the executive branch. Today the ACLU is asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to reinstate the case.

“The defendants in this case seized Jose Padilla from a civilian jail and hid him away in a military brig precisely to keep the courts from interfering with the terrible things they were doing to him. By granting the defendants legal immunity for their cruel acts, the district court vindicated their deliberate efforts to circumvent the Constitution,” said Ben Wizner, litigation director of the ACLU National Security Project. “If the law does not protect Jose Padilla — an American citizen arrested on American soil and tortured in an American prison — it protects no one.”

Padilla was taken from a U.S. jail in 2002 by military agents, declared an “enemy combatant” and secretly transported to a military brig in South Carolina. He was imprisoned without charge for nearly four years, subjected to extreme abuse and was unable to communicate with his lawyers or family for two years. The illegal treatment included forcing Padilla into stress positions for hours on end, punching him, depriving him of sleep and threatening him with further torture and death.

Read the rest of this entry »

 

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Posted by aseerun on June 22, 2011 in News Items

 

Tags: enemy combatant, incommunicado, Jose Padilla, torture

Muhammad Larbi: January 1, 2010 (Regarding the ‘Titanic’ Terrorism case in Italy)

01 Jan

In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, Most Merciful

All Praise is due to Allah and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah and his family, companions and followers, as to what follows:

Peace and blessings be upon you

My name is Muhammad Larbi (’Abdul Kareem), charged with terrorism together with Khaled Serai and Amine Bouhrama. I write this letter because I know that brothers and sisters want to know what is going on with the muslims in this country ( Italy) I am writing to you my story not to complain but to expose these gangsters who boast about justice and human rights.

I am an Algerian who was living in the city of Brescia. I was arrested on the 14th of November 2005, at 2pm at the city centre and accused of International terrorism. The arrest warrant ran to 268 pages, present to the judge in the morning of the 14th, and by 11am he had ordered our arrest. How could he read such a voluminous document in two hours? I have never before or since seen such speed in decision making and execution!

When I was taken to the interrogation centre, I saw that I was not the only one who had been arrested but also two other brothers, Khaled Serai and Amine Bouhrama. Khaled was arrested in Brescia in a café whilst sitting with friends. Amine was in Napoli, asleep in his home. After approximately three hours they presented me with the arrest warrant, 268 pages long. Initially I did not understand why I was arrested when I arrived at the Immigration centre, at the beginning I didn’t understand why I was arrested and why they took me to the barracks but when I started reading the warrant I realised the disaster I fell in.

I started reading al-Qaeda, the London bombings, Madrid bombings, Sharm el-Sheikh bombings, and other related matters. And inside the room there were two officers, I said to them: ‘You forgot to add something else to this warrant‘, one of them said: ‘what did we forget?’ I said: ‘You forgot the Tsunami, we did that as well.’

At the time of our arrest there was a group of officers heading to search our homes, and after they searched us and our homes and found nothing, they started collecting everything that came their way in the house, pictures, paper, notes, anything that they can twist and turn into an accusation, as they did not find any materials to substantiate what they accused of us. No weapons, no money, no forged documents, and no chemicals.
And despite everything that happened, they did not stop nor were they embarrassed. Instead, they intiated a huge multi-media campaign of character assassination and falsehood againt us. TV, Radio, News, both international and national. We were in headlines all over the world, and in Italy on the frontpage. The headlines?, ‘Warning: Terrorism knocks the doors of Italy!!!’ ‘Three Algerians ready to hit Italy with a ship the size of the Titanic loaded with explosives’.  Read the rest of this entry »

 

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Posted by aseerun on January 1, 2010 in Letters from Muhammad Larbi, Risala

 

Tags: Abdul Kareem, Al-Qaeda, Algeria, Amine Bouhrama, Benevento prison, Brescia, deception through media, deportation, extrajudicial detention, incommunicado, Italy, Khaled Serai, Macomer prison, Muhammad Larbi, Rabeh Achour, rendition, Samir Tartag, Secondegliano prison, solitary, solitary confinement, Sulmona prison, Titanic

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