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We would like to inform the brothers and sisters who follow this page of the results of Tuesday, December, 11, 2012′s court trial.
Our Sister Nim’ah was sentenced to four to eight years in prison after hours of debate from her lawyers side as well as the US attorney’s side.
And Indeed, all might and power belong with Allah the Most High and He is enough for us and is the best disposer of affairs. Sister Nim’ah stayed strong and was patient through out this ordeal, and she said from her mouth before her sentencing, “I am pleased with what Allah has written for me and keep me in your prayers”
She left that courtroom praising Allah subhanahu wa ta’alla, and she made sujud al shukr (prostration of thanks to Allah) as soon as she heard the sentencing because she knew that it could have been worse. I have never seen a strong woman of faith like Nim’ah. She made us cry tears of sadness and yet we left relieved. Only someone who knew Nim’ah on a personal level can truly appreciate her.
[And the companions of Ibn Taymiyyah used to go to visit him in the prison, while they were feeling saddened by his and their condition, and although they used to go to cheer him up they used to say that when they saw him and look at his face, full of Nur born of Sabr that they forgot all of their troubles due to observe ring the perseverance of the Shaykh with his ordeal.]
On a personal level, that day was a turning point for me because I realized that there are truly no more men left in this country if only two to four showed up for their sister. What has happened to Islam and the Muslims?
[And did not Ibn Jawzi say:
"If you are not the knights... give way to women... . Go take the braziers and kohl. O women with turbans and beards! If you are not so, then here are the horses and here are their reins. Do you know how these reins are made? They are made by women from their own hair because this is the only thing they have. The hair of women, which was kept away even from the sun, was cut because the history of love had ended... If you cannot ride these horses, take the reins because they are made of women’s hair (shu’ur) and you have no feelings (shu’ur) in your hearts.”
He then threw the reins over the heads of people and shouted:
“O pillars of the mosque, come down; o stones of the mosque, come down; o hearts, feel pain. The men have lost their manhood.
By Allah, it is true. Men have lost their manhood.”]
We love our sister and what else did we expect from an unjust court system. Please keep our sister and her family in your duas.
-Umm Abdullah, a close friend of Nim’ah
[Additional text in brackets are our insertions]
A top Kenyan police official said Samantha Lewthwaite was part of a group of British citizens and other foreign nationals who arrived in Kenya last year to seek refuge from an increasingly hostile police state in Britain. It was alleged that she was in charge of finances for the group of immigrants.
Officials in Kenya have increased the practice of arbitrary detention of foreigners and Kenyan Muslims in fear that collaborations between elements sympathetic to the re-unification group al-Shabaab may plan an attack to stop the Kenyan invasion of Southern Somalia initiated this past October.
Lewthwaite came under Kenyan scrutiny as British officials passed intelligence to Mombasa indicating that she was the widow of one of the alleged 7/7 bombers, Jermaine Lindsay. After the bombings in 2005, Lewthwaite was vociferous in her denunciation of the attacks as documented by major British media. Currently, the intelligence concerning Lewthwaite is circulated between the CIA, Scotland Yard, English Metropolitan Police, as well as the Kenyan Anti-Terrorism Unit.
Her whereabouts are unknown although it is widely assumed that she might have sought refuge in Shabaab controlled Somalia. Lewthwaite, traveling with three children, is pregnant, the official also said, and remarried to a Kenyan who has also fled the country. Read the rest of this entry »
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 »
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 »
Gulet Mohamed was an average 18-year-old American citizen before a visit to family overseas resulted in his torture and indefinite detention in a Kuwaiti prison.
Mohamed, whose family is Somali, immigrated to the United States with his parents at the age of three, fleeing the devastating civil war that ravaged that East African country.
Mohed Mohamed, his older brother, maintained that his family, having fled Somalia in 1995, has always been pro-American and grateful to the United States for its intervention in Somalia’s civil war in the 1990s.
Zahra Mohamed, his sister, explained that Gulet, like any other American teenager, grew up playing basketball, had an iPhone, and obsessed over the game Madden NFL. But like many American teenagers, Gulet had a bad case of wanderlust. He wanted to travel abroad to learn more about his heritage, Zahra explained.
He begged his mother to let him leave: after all, he had never known his father, and he wanted to learn Arabic. Traveling to the Middle East would let him get to know his father’s side of the family, rediscover his roots, experience his ancestral homeland, and learn the language of the Quran.
In March, 2009, Gulet Mohamed departed from Alexandria, Virginia to study Arabic and Islam in in Sana’a, the capital of Yemen. Gulet, the most adventurous of the seven siblings, was the first member of his family to travel outside the United States since the family’s relocation.
After several weeks of study, he left to visit his maternal relations in Somalia at his mother’s insistence. Residing in his uncle’s home for several months, Gulet found the environs uncomfortably hot and painfully sickening through bouts of food poisoning that left his youthful wanderlust unsated. Mohamed again ventured to visit other family living in Kuwait and to continue his studies in Arabic.
Throughout his journey of seeking knowledge and rekindling the ties of kinship, Mohamed traveled on an authentic American passport with valid visas for all of the countries on his whimsical itinerary. His past history had no indication of any violent or criminal activity, nor had he ever been arrested.
Yet, on December 20, 2010, when Mohamed went to the airport in Kuwait City to have his visa renewed (a process he had routinely engaged in every three months without incident for the past year), he was told by a visa officer that his name had been “marked” in the computer.
After five hours of uneasily waiting, Mohamed had finished sending his brother an email when he was handcuffed, blindfolded, and kidnapped by two men in civilian clothes. After a fifteen minute drive in a SUV, Mohamed was deposited in an undisclosed location. He was then dragged into a room and interrogated by officials who refused to identify themselves.
A criminal complaint against Craig Benedict Baxam a 24 year old Iraq War veteran of Laurel, Maryland was filed 10 January, accusing him of attempting to provide “material support” to a “designated terrorist organisation” Baxam was arrested on 6 January Friday, 2012, upon his return to Maryland after having travelled abroad on holiday to Africa.
According to the affidavit supporting the complaint, Baxam joined the U.S. Army in 2007 and completed eight months of advanced training for cryptology and intelligence. Baxam was deployed to Baghdad, Iraq and upon completion of his deployment, he reenlisted. In August 2010, he deployed for a one year assignment in Korea. One month prior to completion of his deployment in Korea, Baxam separated from the Army and returned to Maryland in July 2011.
The affidavit alleges that Baxam “secretly converted” to Islam days before he separated from the Army, after finding an Islamic religious website on the Internet. Baxam allegedly decided to relocate to Somalia to join al-Shabaab and live under Sharia law. The implication being that his crime, in part is his alleged desire to live in Somalia under the governance of Sharia.
Al-Shabaab is a remnant of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), which came to power in 2006 and was the first government in Somalia to bring peace and stability to the war-torn country in over a decade. Read the rest of this entry »
Nima Ali Yusuf, Umm Muslimah, is a 24-year-old permanent resident of the U.S was arrested Friday 12 November 2010 on charges related to terrorism. She has already spent over a year in prison and is one of many Somali refugees arrested in the San Diego and Minnesota areas for “assisting al-Shabab”.
Charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists as well as making a false statement, Yusuf has been held without bail since her arrest nearly one year ago.
She is accused of sending $800 to the al-Shabab organization although when questioned without a lawyer by an FBI agent and a Customs officer she could not recollect that she had sent any money to anyone in Somalia in the past year.
Yusuf has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Members of the Somali San Diego community describe her as “a wellknown, respectful, helpful, friendly, and kind sister to all those who know her.”
She spent her free time volunteering at Humanitarian African Relief Organization (HARO), a San Diego-based African relief group which collects and sends used clothing, funds and supplies to impoverished families in Somalia.
Bashir Hassan of HARO was perplexed at the allegations, stating: ”I don’t know what to say. When the government makes allegations, I think it’s the government’s job to bring evidence. But I didn’t see anything, as far as that happening.“Yusuf used to volunteer administrative support to the charity, answering phones and making calls and seemed to have come under federal scrutiny for her charitable contributions to her war-torn country.
Her next hearing is scheduled for 30 December at the Downtown Federal Building, 940 Front Street, San Diego, California. Those who are able to attend are kindly asked to do so and show their support for their stricken sister. You can also make a show of your solidarity & support by visiting her facebook Support Page or writing to her and letting her know she is in your dua’ and thoughts:
Nima Ali Yusuf #22965-298 MCC San Diego Metropolitan Correctional Center 808 Union Street San Diego, CA 92101 USA
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.
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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Brief non-Jihadi Period:
I was being recruited by the organization Hizb ut-Tahrir, so I began to research them. This led me to a bunch of Neo-Salafi websites, and I became a bit influenced by them. At the same time a friend of mine was showing me the same kinds of things himself. I had also just gotten married and learned the FBI was investigating me.
There were many conversations, so it is hard to pinpoint just one, but basically I concluded that all scholars were against jihad. Also, other things I read here and there seemed to fit this notion.
The most effective thing was also the least effective thing, and that was the creation of the notion that there were no scholars who supported jihad anywhere. At first this was convincing, but eventually I learned that almost all scholars supported jihad in most locations including the ones like al-Albani, Ibn B’az, and Ibn ul-‘Uthaymin who are often quoted to prove the opposite. The first perception drove me to accept it, but learning it was false was very thorough in cementing my views.
Additionally, the Neo-salafis have very weak arguments for anyone who wishes to study them in the context of Islamic Jurisprudence. Their opinions are largely taken from specific rulings which they have applied generally. A lot of my posts pointed this out. Even a lot of Neo-Salafis understand this and distance themselves from it. They are the ones who will say: “There is jihad in such-and-such location, but do not go fight, because it is better to do this or that.”
However, these things only served to cement my views. What made me go back was the FBI raiding my house. I was very upset over that. I decided the FBI was more or less evil, that they had abused what I told them, and I resolved to basically just tick them off as much as I could from that day forward.
Religious Approval:
I actually did ask local leaders, but I disagreed with their responses usually. I did not look to al-Awlaki for approval very much either. He certainly influenced me in other matters, but in terms of approval I looked more to bigger scholars like Hamud al-‘Uqla, Ibn Jibrin, and others with and separate from the various groups. I found all of this online.
The word “blessed” in this context sounds very strange to a Muslim, because we do not believe people can bless things unless what you mean is “approve.” Similarly it is very strange to us when people portray Bin Ladin like he was waltzing around the globe looking for a “fatwah” to attack America.
I looked at numerous sources to determine how things were to be applied generally and I concluded that al-Shabaab fit the mould. Al-Awlaki simply put al-Shabaab on the radar for me.
Al-Awlaki:
My emails to al-Awlaki included the following subjects:
Are protests allowed in Islam?, Can I put up anti-war graffiti on government property? Some stories I heard about Afghanistan, and email in 2009 congratulating him if he was killed and saying we will be happier if he was not.
He only responded to the first one, and his conclusion was that if I thought it was beneficial, I should do it, and if not I should not.
There really is not much more to it than that.
Outreach:
████████████████████████ A Secret Service agent asked me some benign questions in the airport, but that does not really count.
Any outreach has to provide an avenue for a person to do something they think is beneficial. You are dealing with people who view their lives as trivial. There is a guy here who was pretty sure that he was in the midst of a sting operation, but he decided that Allah would only look at his heart, not whether or not he was successful, so he went through with it. Find something for them to do, and suggest it to them. Even things like charity work in some underdeveloped country might work.
A letter is not going to dissuade anyone from being generally supportive of anything, but it is a lot cheaper than sting operations. Also, it is good for PR and it does not alienate the Muslim community.
To address general support you are going to have to completely reverse your thinking (“you” referring to the United States). I really do not see a single policy which does not help al-Qa’idah as an idea. Maybe some of them are effective at stopping explosions in the United States, but even the non-lethal CT strategies tend to seem extremely ineffective to me.
In terms of the idea war America is just riding on the coattails of 9/11. Without 9/11 the Taliban would be in power, an Islamic state would exist in Somalia, Chechnya would be a much more conventional conflict, HAMAS would likely control all of Palestine, Ikhwan al-Muslimin would be running the favored candidate for the Egyptian presidency, and the LIFG would be the public face of the rebels in Libya. Are these all guarantees? No, but they are very easy to picture in world without 9/11.
9/11 essentially dealt a knockout punch to AQ as an idea, but it has gotten up and continued to grow since it was dealt that big blow. It took AQ a while after 9/11 to hit its bottom, but there is a certain indescribable point after Zarqawi’s death after which AQ as a concept has not suffered a single real setback. Despite this, I do not think AQ is damaged by future operational success. Its current image and America’s current image prevent this.
To create ideological deterrence the US needs to be much more creative and rethink its entire approach. This is a big part of what I am getting at with my first paragraph.
My wife:
I did meet my wife on al-Awlaki’s site. I used to send out e-mails on Islam to all of my contacts, and she had previously e-mailed me about a protest I was working to organize, so she was on my list. Later she asked me to show her best friend’s husband around DC, and it turned out that I had already met him by pure chance and we had exchanged numbers. This guy’s wife decided to try and set us up, so that eventually led to us getting married. In Islam (all Islam, not just jihadis) marriage is a much shorter process than in typical American society. It is much more like the system of courting which was predominant until the 1920s when dating came about.
The transition from online to real-world came only a couple of weeks before we were married. This is not uncommon among Muslims. Muslim “dating” sites are actually marriage sites. I even had a friend who ran one.
Forum:
If the forum was not just some CT experiment and it was an honest attempt at dialogue, then it would be almost certain to achieve things. If it is not truly honest, then it would almost certainly fail.
If you look for my posts on Islamic Awakening you will find a thread debating al-‘Awlaki. It was done by someone else in the CT field and I identified it as such essentially immediately. Maybe you do not have access to intel on the poster, but I am 100% sure it is some undercover individual. You are dealing with the most paranoid community in the world, so any efforts at deception are very likely to rapidly alienate your audience. The al-Mosul was abandoned very quickly over issues of trust. The more hardcore jihadis did not trust RM until I joined it (see my Ansar post).
Additionally, it would have to be limited to certain individuals. You would want to limit both sides to people of influence. Such people would carry progress back to those who listen to them. The forum could be completely private if it had to be.
I do not know who would join, but a lot of people would. Members of the Taliban have long expressed interest in dialogue. Members of other groups like LIFG, EIJ, and others would also likely be interested. From the West you would probably only have random success in getting people to join. However there are very few groups in the West which are organized, so random success is not really a problem. Of all the overseas organizations, the various branches of al-Qa’idah strike me as the least likely to participate.
You could even try to involve prisoners and detainees in the process. There are only a few people here whom I have doubts as to whether or not they would think of it as a good idea.
Regret:
I regret to say this is one area which I cannot comment on. Both a concrete “yes” and a concrete “no” stand to harm me due to my case’s current status. That might sound odd, but I cannot elaborate on it.
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Sincerely,
Zachary Adam Chesser
10/04/11
P.S. They do not let me use the paper you send for some strange reason.
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