Dr Kaukab Siddique | Editor-in-Chief Rabi' al-Awwal 17, 1425/ May 8, 2004 #56
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News Flash: Imam Jamil's Message

Abuse of Iraqi Prisoners Not just Iraqi Issue: It Concerns Islam and ALL Muslims: Even the Blind Shaikh was not Spared

[Source: Br. Khalil Abdur Rahman, Imam Jamil's international representative, North Carolina]

May 8, 2004: America's Imam, Jamil Abdullah al-Amin, imprisoned in Reidsville, Georgia has sent out an important message to the Muslim Ummah. Here are the main points: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\

JAMAAT al-MUSLIMEEN ENDORSES IMAM JAMIL'S MESSAGE: Abuse is Rooted in 400 years of Slavery

Jamaat al-Muslimeen notes the despicable attempts of the Bush administration to claim that prisoner abuse is a limited phenomenon restricted to one block of one prison in Baghdad.

The fact is that humilation, abuse, torture, disorientation, destruction of human identity, dignity and self-respect is central to the U.S. power structure's treatment of prisoners. It is far from isolated, limited or an aberration. MOST DISTINCTLY IT CAN BE SEEN IN THE TREATMENT OF PRISONERS RIGHT HERE IN THE USA.

Top ISLAMIC PERSONALITIES are being held in the U.S. prison system and there has been an ongoing attempt to destroy them as human beings. IMAM JAMIL al-AMIN, Imam of America, a symbol of authentic Sunnah-oriented Islam in this country, has been treated as a common criminal and worse. He is kept under 23 hour solitary confinement, his beard has been removed, he has been strip searched, and has been placed in a little hick town to keep him away from his family and friends.

Dr. Shaikh OMAR 'ABDEL RAHMAN disappeared into the American Gulag for several years and was recently taken to a hospital prison in Missouri probably because of the chances of his dying in custody. This top intellectual and scholar of the Muslim world, spiritual guide of Al-Gamaa al-Islamiyya in Egypt, has been subjected to ruthless IDENTITY -OBLITERATION processes.

As Jamaat al-Muslimeen's Shoora member Dr. Abdul Alim Shabazz points out, the WAR AGAINST ISLAM is linked to the RACISM which is at the foundation of the American power structure. From the ERA OF SLAVERY, he says, have come the notions of WHITE SUPREMACY and the attempts of America warmongers to impose themselves on others and to try and destroy the civilizations which do not fit into the American dream of WHITE SUPREMACY all over the world.
------------------------------------------------------------- Jamaat al-Muslimeen urges readers of New Trend to come forth and support its efforts. We must MOBILIZE against the violation of humanity, be it in IRAQ, AFGHANISTAN or GUANTANAMO. We must support the causes of prisoners RIGHT HERE IN THE USA.
Have you tried to help the prisoners in legal and peaceful ways?
Do you know of the violations of their rights? Help us in our efforts. Support:
  1. Imam Jamil al-Amin
  2. Dr. Omar 'Abdel Rahman
  3. Ahmed 'Abdel Sattar
  4. Prof. Sami Al-Arian
  5. Hammad Abdur-Raheem and the Virginia Innocents.
  6. The Yemenis of Lackawanna (Buffalo), New York.
  7. The African-American Muslims in Portland, Oregon.
  8. Siddique Abdullah Hasan, on death row in Ohio.
  9. Abdullah al-Muhajer [Jose Padilla] and many others.
An American mobilization is essential to bring the focus on our prisoners. Can you give some time, effort, money, communication, organization in this cause which is at the heart of Islam in America?

Jamaat al-Muslimeen, P.O. Box 10881, Baltimore, MD 21234
Phone: 410-435-5000
Email: KSidd37398@aol.com Dr. Kaukab Siddique [International Jamaat]
Secretary General: Sis. Aisha Shaheed: pansygen@yahoo.com
Boycott of Zionist businesses: Sis. Karen English: Pradia2@aol.com
Web site: www.newtrendmag.org click on Jamaat al-Muslimeen
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U.S. MURDER OF TWO SHI'ITE SHAIKHS at POINT BLANK RANGE In Hillah: [Report courtesy; Al-Awda]

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! As we turn now to Iraq, where the fighting and standoff between U.S. soldiers and insurgents continue, we go to Aaron Glantz, at Free Speech Radio News in Najaf.

AARON GLANTZ: Dozens of followers of Muqtada al-Sadr sing songs of martyrdom as they carry the coffins of their two slain comrades into the shrine of the revered Imam Ali in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf. Every night, Sadr’s fighters engage in pitched battle with the U.S. military which has placed its tanks just outside of the city limits. But that’s not where these men died. These two coffins bear the bodies of senior sheiks, one a descendant of the prophet Mohammad, and the way they were killed can tell you a lot about the patterns and practice of the American occupation. The afternoon call to prayer sounds outside the Babylon Human Rights Organization in Hillah, a small town on the Tigris River, an hour's drive south of Baghdad. It was here that American soldiers raided a community meeting where they killed two sheiks and arrested two other important community leaders. Said Fada’ al-Musawi explains:

SAID FADA’ AL-MUSAWI: All types of power were represented, political parties and scientists and religious men. They were trying to figure out what was happening around us. They were discussing everything that was happening in Hillah. They were studying what was happening in our country.

AARON GLANTZ: The main goal of the meeting, according to representatives of the human rights organization, was how to confront the American occupation without resorting to violence. It was a regular topic of discussion at this organization, which was well known to American officials. A few months before, hawkish Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz had visited the organization to praise its efforts. But there seems to be a different relationship now. The group’s Hashim al-Safi was proud to have a photograph showing him and Wolfowitz shaking hands, but he has a different feeling today.

HASHIM AL-SAFI: We were peaceful. We just had pens and paper, but they came with a whole bunch of arms.

AARON GLANTZ: Hashim says fifteen American soldiers ordered everyone down on the ground and ran to the podium to arrest the speaker, Said Adnan Nonabi, head of Muqtada al-Sadr's office in Hillah. They placed a black hood over his head and then, Hashim says, the American soldiers turned their attention to the two sheiks in a nearby hallway.

HASHIM AL-SAFI: They shot them where they were standing, and you can see the blood on the doors. They shot them from just one or two meters away.

AARON GLANTZ: The bullets that killed the two sheiks were the only shots fired in the human rights office. The only bullet holes in the hall are amidst a blood-spattered wall where the two sheiks were shot. Fragments of the two sheiks’ brains can still be seen on the floor, corroborating claims they were shot in the head. Meantime the head of the local office of Muqtada al-Sadr, Adnan Nonabi, has disappeared into U.S. custody. Troops at the local military base, which is maintained by Poland, told Democracy Now! they didn't know anything about the raid. The headquarters of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad explained it will take them ten days to tell us where he's been taken. Adnan’s sister-in-law Um Ali says prison is nothing new for her Adnan Nonabi, who was jailed for a year by Saddam Hussein for giving a critical sermon in Friday prayers.

UM ALI: Adnan was hoping Americans would liberate us from Saddam and was happy at the time because he was tortured so much by the regime. He was put in prison by Saddam because he was against the government. [gunshots]

AARON GLANTZ: The arrests and killing of Sadr's leaders in Hillah comes at a time of fighting in Najaf, the holiest city in Shi’a Islam. Every night, members of Muqtada al-Sadr's Medi Army clash with U.S. troops just a few miles away from the shrine of Revered Imam Ali. Last night, twenty members of the Medi Army died in clashes. They likely won't be the last. Ad Nazzour left his house in Mosul to fight the Americans in Najaf. He also left behind his wife and his 6-month-old baby.

AD NAZZOUR: We believe in God. God creates us and God takes us back. So if we are protecting our religion, we'll be taken to the sacred place, so we can do anything. I will follow my orders, whether it's bombing or killing, anything.

AARON GLANTZ: At the same time it seems both sides continue to look for a way out of the current standoff. Aqil Abdul Bunof Zouain has been negotiating with the American military commanders on behalf of Muqtada al-Sadr.

ZOUAIN: There is a negotiation begun here, between American soldiers and Mr. Muqtada al-Sadr. The chief of tribes is lead of these negotiations between two sides. One condition of Muqtada al-Sadr, he said that the Americans should be removed or should be moves from Najaf because it contains the holy shrine of Imam Ali.

AARON GLANTZ: In addition to a complete American withdrawal from Najaf and Kufa, Sadr’s supporters demanded their leaders not be arrested or killed by occupation troops. They further demanded his fate be given over to a legitimate Iraqi government. In exchange, Muqtada al-Sadr is willing to agree to stop killing foreign troops on Iraqi soil. It's now up to the Bush Administration to accept or reject the offer. For Democracy Now!, I'm Aaron Glantz in Najaf and Hillah, Iraq.
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12 YEAR OLD IRAQI GIRL RAPED NEXT TO HER BROTHER IN PRISON CELL

[Courtesy: Br. Rafe in California]

http://www.itv.com/news/623337.html

'US soldiers abused young girl at Iraqi prison'
http://www.itv.com/news/story1907272.jpg
"She was naked and screaming and calling out to him as they beat her" - former Abu Ghraib inmate Suhaib al-Baz 'US soldiers abused young girl at Iraqi prison'
7.17PM, Fri May 7 2004

The US military has said it will investigate claims by a former inmate of Abu Ghraib prison that a girl as young as 12 was stripped and beaten by military personnel.

Suhaib al-Baz, a journalist for the al-Jazeera television network, claims to have been tortured at the prison, based west of Baghdad, while held there for 54 days.

Mr al-Baz was arrested when reporting clashes between insurgents and coalition forces in November.

He said: "They brought a 12-year-old girl into our cellblock late at night. Her brother was a prisoner in the other cells.

"She was naked and screaming and calling out to him as they beat her. Her brother was helpless and could only hear her cries. This affected all of us because she was just a child.

The allegations cannot be verified independently but Mr al-Baz maintains psychological and physical violence were commonplace in the jail.

He also claims that a father and his 15-year-old son were tortured in front of his cell.

He said: "They made the son carry two jerry cans full of water. An American soldier had a stick and when he stopped, he would beat him.

"He collapsed so they stripped him and poured cold water over him. They brought a man who was wearing a hood. They pulled it off. The son was shocked to see it was his father and collapsed.

"When he recovered, he now saw his father dressed in women's underwear and the Americans laughing at him.

Mr al-Baz claims the guards at the prison were keen to take photographs of the abuse and turned it into a competition.

"They were enjoying taking photographs of the torture. There was a daily competition to see who could take the most gruesome picture.

"The winner's photo would be stuck on a wall and also put on their laptop computers as a screensaver.

"I had a good opinion of the Americans but since my time in prison, I've changed my mind. In Iraq we still have no freedom or democracy. They are so cruel to us."

The International Committee of the Red Cross has said Iraqis held by US forces have been subjected to systematic degrading treatment, sometimes close to torture, that may have been officially condoned.

The ICRC said visits to detention centres in Iraq between March and November 2003 had turned up violations of international treaties on prisoners of war.

The ICRC, whose reports on prison visits are confidential, went public with some of its findings after parts of the 24-page document were carried by the Wall Street Journal.

The scandal over detainee abuse broke last week with the release of photographs showing the sexual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib.

US Defecse Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has taken responsibility for the incidents and apologised to the victims, the Iraqi people and Americans.

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2004-05-10 Mon 20:09ct