THE PEACE THRU JUSTICE
FOUNDATION
11006 Veirs Mill Rd, STE L-15, PMB
298
Silver Spring, MD. 20902
DHUL QIDAH 1433
A.H.
(September 23,
2012)
Assalaamu Alaikum
(Greetings of Peace):
Today marks the
second anniversary of U.S. District Judge Richard Berman's unconscionable
act of condemning Dr. Aafia Siddiqui to 86 years of imprisonment following
an embarrassing "legal" proceeding that masqueraded as a trial.
It was a trial in
which all of the evidence - both material and circumstantial -
was in Aafia's favor; it was a trial in which the government's star
witnesses contradicted themselves repeatedly; it was a trial in which
Aafia Siddiqui (a political prisoner in a very high-profile political
trial) was ill-served by her high paid team of
private attorneys; and it was a trial in which many of the "leaders"
of her own faith community (who knew of her
plight) were afraid, or too indifferent, to mobilize
communal support for her to the degree they were
capable!
Dr. Aafia Siddiqui
now sits in solitary confinement in a
notorious prison hospital known as FMC Carswell, on a
military base in Ft. Worth, Texas. While we would have liked to have
organized a public demonstration in New York (where she
was sentenced) or Texas (where she is currently imprisoned) we
unfortunately did not have the resource on hand to do so. I am pleased to
note, however, that a demonstration is taking place today at
the U.S. Embassy in London - organized by the Justice For
Aafia Coalition (JFAC) - and, no doubt, at a number of other
locations in the international community.
With that said, WE
MUST STEP IT UP IN AMERICA where this innocent Muslimah is being
held!
What follows is a
message from a non-Muslim brother in this
struggle who has known Aafia and her family for many years, and the
statement of ours that will be read at the demonstration in London
today, insha'Allah.
El-Hajj Mauri'
Saalakhan
------------------------------
| September 23 |
This
day in 2010 Richard Berman Condemned Aafia to 86 Years of
Isolation
=============
On Sep 28, 2010
approximately half a million people poured into the streets of
Karachi to peacefully express their support for Aafia Siddiqui
following the actions of Richard Berman on Sept 23, 2010. This
has to date been the largest public rally in recent Pakistani
history and one that stayed true to Aafia's request that no violence
be done in her name.
============
A Reflection from British
Author and Commentator, Andy Worthington:
I’m sorry to report that it’s two years since the Pakistani
neuroscientist Dr. Aafia Siddiqui received an 86-year sentence in a
court in New York...
The trial of Aafia Siddiqui, which culminated in her sentence,
and which I described at the time as “barbaric,” appeared to be a
cover for a much grimmer story — one of the darkest in the whole of
the torture-filled “war on terror” — in which, on the basis of
alleged connections with terrorism that have never been proved, she
had disappeared with her children in Pakistan in March 2003 and was
then held in a “black site” until her engineered reappearance in
Ghazni in 2008.
According to the US authorities, after being captured in a
bewildered state, she allegedly tried and failed to shoot the
Americans guarding her, which provided an excuse to render her to
the US to be put on trial — an unusual move given that most people
accused of anti-American activities in Afghanistan did not end up in
the US — and for her to be silenced as a result of the 86-year
sentence handed down after a trial that critics called “a grave
miscarriage of justice,” and to be held in isolation in a
psychiatric prison/hospital for women in Carswell, Texas,
notoriously referred to as the “hospital of horrors”, where her
health continues to deteriorate, and where she is denied meaningful
contact with her family...
As time passes ...several significant figures have very publicly
expressed their disgust at Aafia’s plight, and the severity of her
sentence. Recently, for example, former US Attorney General Ramsey
Clark visited Pakistan and stated, “Justice demands that Aafia
Siddiqui should immediately be released. I haven’t witnessed such
bare injustice in my entire career.” In addition, Khurshid Kasuri,
Pakistan’s foreign minister under Pervez Musharraf, the President at
the time of Aafia’s disappearance, has stated, “I’m so sorry for
handing over the innocent Dr. Aafia Siddiqui to the Americans. It
was my biggest mistake ever.”
Furthermore, just this week US Senator Mike Gravel, accompanied
by the attorney Tina Foster of the International Justice Network,
also visited Pakistan, where, as the Express Tribune described it,
they “said that the Musharraf regime had illegally kidnapped Dr.
Aafia along with her three children from Karachi in March 2003, and
handed her over to the US government for illegal interrogation and
secret detention based on completely false information.” The Express
Tribune added that Sen. Gravel “maintained that Dr Aafia’s trial in
the United States was illegal,” and “added that the US government
had no moral or legal justification for their actions.”
Both he and Tina Foster stressed, however, that the Pakistani
government “would have to take serious action if it wanted Dr.
Siddiqui to be repatriated.” Foster said, “We have received no
cooperation from the Government of Pakistan in securing Dr
Siddiqui’s repatriation to Pakistan. There’s been a lot of talk, but
no concrete steps have been taken despite numerous requests for
assistance.” She added, “I’ve come on a humanitarian mission to ask
Pakistani leadership for its assistance in returning Dr. Siddiqui to
Pakistan. It’s obvious that the will of the Pakistani people is
being ignored by their leadership.”...
Mr. Worthington's full posting can be viewed here
|
--------------------------------
The Name of The Most
Compassionate, The Most Merciful
Solidarity Statement with the International
Campaign
For
Dr. Aafia Siddiqui
On the occasion of the second anniversary
of the wrongful conviction and sentencing of a committed Muslimah
by the name of Aafia Siddiqui - a
political prisoner and prisoner
of war being held under conditions that violate the U.S.
Constitution’s theoretical
guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment, and Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, which theoretically
guarantees “Freedom from torture and degrading treatment” – we salute
the men and women of conscience who gather at the U.S. Embassy in London
(and other venues in the global community) to raise their voices on behalf
of the voiceless.
Sheikh Ibn Taymeeyah (may ALLAH be pleased with him)
correctly noted many generations ago:
“Civilization is based on justice, and the consequences of
oppression are devastating; therefore it is said, ALLAH aids the Just State even if it is
non-Muslim; yet withholds His Help from the Oppressive State, even if it is
Muslim.” With this in mind, it is self-evident that the action you are
taking for Dr. Aafia Siddiqui is an action you are taking for us all. May
ALLAH bless you for it!
Of particular note, I wish to thank The Justice For Aafia Coalition
(JFAC) for the phenomenal work they have been doing, on a
consistent basis, to help lead the global campaign for our sister’s
release and repatriation; and I pray that they receive consistent communal support
commensurate with their noble efforts.
For those in England (and beyond) who are still fence-sitting
on this extremely important issue of international precedent-setting
consequence, I end with the memorable words of white South African Alan
Paton in Cry the Beloved Country:
“I shall no longer ask
myself if this or that is expedient; only if it is right. I do it not
because I am noble or unselfish; but because life slips away, and I need
for the rest of my journey a star that will not play false to me, a
compass that will not lie. I do it because I can no longer aspire to the
highest with one part of myself, yet deny it with the
other.”
Standing UP for Dr. Aafia Siddiqui is the right thing to
do! May ALLAH bless your noble efforts on the occasion of this dark
anniversary, and may it be an elevating inspiration for us
all.
In the never-ending struggle for peace thru
justice,
El-Hajj Mauri’ Saalakhan
The Peace Thru
Justice Foundation
United States of America
Dhul Qidah 1433 A.H. (Sept 23, 2012)
---------------------------------
This would be a fitting occasion to revisit
the September 2, 2012, statement of Imam Abdullah Faaruuq;
another good man, and principled leader, who knew Aafia well from her
years of positive activism in Boston, MA.
In the Name of Allah: The Most Gracious, the Most
Merciful
Dr. Aafia Siddiqui: Who Is She?
By Imam Abdullah Faaruuq & Sister Sufia
Hassan
If we are going to give support to this woman Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, we need to ask
ourselves, ‘Who is she and what did she do?’ We know the answer is going
to vary depending upon whom we ask. If we ask those who know her -- her
friends, associates, family, those who lived, studied or worked with her
- they would attest to her
good character, concern for others, and truthfulness. However, if we ask
those who never knew her, but only heard through the media via government
officials, they would say she is an evil woman, an attempted murderer bent
on destroying America—a terrorist. We are told in Islam to ask those who
know—I am one who knew her personally.
By virtue of her behavior and speech, nothing could be
further from the truth than those lies used to turn public opinion against
her. I can tell you how she spent her time. I witnessed her raising money
for clothing and food for the displaced Bosnians fleeing from Serbian
oppression. I worked with her as she raised money to purchase and
distribute Islamic literature. Those efforts reached the forgotten inmates
seeking knowledge of the truth about Islam, while incarcerated in
so-called correctional institutions. Her resources also made their way to
university students in MSAs providing them literature to promote their
spiritual growth, while they continued to pursue their secular endeavors.
But her efforts did not stop there, she sent much needed Qurans and other
literature to various Mosques to help promote Islam as a complete way of
life.
I listened to her deliver inspiring speeches that motivated
both men and women to get involved with issues that concerned humanity as
a whole and Muslims in particular. Such speeches were given during the
Bosnian War. After hearing this young dynamic woman speak, no one could
continue to be a by-stander in good conscience. Reading about our Muslim
Brothers being killed and Muslim Sisters being raped, while the world
looked on was not an option. She encouraged doctors to go and donate their
services, and sisters to give money to support that effort. Money for food
and clothing was collected to help the Bosnian refugees. She also gave
speeches that encouraged Muslim women to not be afraid to cover as Allah
commanded, or practice their religion openly in this land of the free and
home of the brave. Dr. Aafia Siddiqui’s speeches always motivated people
towards noble and righteous causes that any sound minded American would
support.
I witnessed her as a mother truly concerned for her children.
They were well groomed and cared for. I ate delicious food cooked with her
own hands and enjoyed her company and wit. She was a Muslim woman who was
not afraid to champion the cause of oppressed people, her people who
happened to be Muslims. This is the Aafia Siddiqui that I know.
If we listen to those who never knew her and have political
agendas, we would be lead to believe that Dr. Aafia Siddiqui must have
committed some heinous crime for authorities to abduct her in her own
homeland, transport her across the border, have her missing for five
years, release and re-arrest her, shoot and wound her, then charge her
with unsubstantiated accusations of assaulting an FBI agent with his own
weapon in an attempt to kill him. We would also be lead to believe that
while she and her children were missing for five years, that she ran away
and actively participated in some Al Qaeda operations which never
manifested and for which she was never charged. If the US government is
unable to charge her with any crimes of terrorism, than why did they chase
her around the world and subject her to all forms of torture.
We would be lead to believe that this graduate of MIT and
Brandeis University would be willing to sacrifice her life and the lives
of her children for an impractical cause. We would have to ignore the fact
that there was no forensic evidence that Dr. Aafia Siddiqui ever touched
an assault weapon (none of her finger prints were on any of the weapons).
We would have to ignore the evidence presented in court that not one
bullet from the automatic weapon authorities claimed that she fired was
found among the barrage of bullets in the space in which she was
contained. We would also have to ignore the fact that she was the only one
shot and nearly killed.
For me Dr. Aafia
Siddiqui is a political prisoner being held unjustly in a maximum security
prison for showing concern for Muslims here and abroad. The question still remains, who is
Dr Aafia Siddiqui to you?
Imam
Abdullah Faaruuq
Mosque for The Praising of Allah
(T) 617-442-2805 (F) 617-445-2345
ImamFaaruuq@aol.com
www.MosquePraiseAllah.com
724 Shawmut Ave.
Roxbury MA 02119
Mosque for The Praising of Allah
(T) 617-442-2805 (F) 617-445-2345
ImamFaaruuq@aol.com
www.MosquePraiseAllah.com
724 Shawmut Ave.
Roxbury MA 02119
-------------------------------
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
Insha'Allah, El-Hajj Mauri' Saalakhan will be the guest khatib for
jumuah (in which the case of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui will figure prominently in
the khutbah) at The Grand
Mosque in Parma, Ohio, on Friday, October 19, 2012. A community
forum will also follow (the details of which are still being
worked out).
A
Special Community Forum is also being planned for Saturday, December 1st,
at the Islamic Society of Central
Jersey (ISCJ) in Monmouth, NJ.
SIGN THE JERICHO COINTELPRO PETITION!
Free All Political Prisoners!
www.jerichony.org
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