Civil Rights
Judge Defers Aafia’s Case Decision till Dec 17
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Farhan Khan
November 20, 2008 at 12:01 PM
I sent a letter to the Washington Post, but it wasn’t published :-(
abu abdAllah, the Houstonian
November 20, 2008 at 5:20 PM
bismillah. may Allah subhanahu wata ala provide for her an ease to her current situation. her abduction and prosecution testify against the institution of justice in this country. it is almost beyond comprehension how a single Administration is to blame for so infecting justice that a woman who has been convicted of nothing could be so reduced from an MIT PHD to a state where parties differ over how unfit she is to stand trial. but it seems clear to me that there will be no justice in this case until the authorities undo some of their evil and afford her genuine peace.
at the very least she should be transferred to the custody of her family in the US. even if under house arrest until the trial proceeds, she should be cared for and nursed back to some semblance of her former self by the only people whose care for her is beyond reproach. let her be transferred to the custody of her family. let them accompany her to and from the trial. let there be decency in how this case moves forward instead of the barbarity practiced by the Bush brand of justice.
Sarah
November 20, 2008 at 8:17 PM
Not a shred of evidence of torture.
Amad
November 20, 2008 at 8:44 PM
Sarah, I wonder how you would feel if one of your family members was in place of Dr. Aafia. You think what the prosecutor says matters even a little bit?? I mean the woman’s condition, from being a healthy, MIT graduate, scientist to a mentally-ill person is enough evidence to put the prosecutors story to task. What do you think the prosecutor will say? He has to cover up the behinds of all those who made mistakes on this case. And by the why where are the children of Dr. Aafia? Do you have children, Sarah? How would you feel if they were missing?
From your last name, it seems that you are Jewish… you should think back to the Holocaust and think about how Jewish people were treated at the time. While we are no where close to that scale for Muslims yet (even though Islamophobia is building up everyday), there are examples that make good analogies to those times. And Dr. Aafia is one. So, take off your hate and prejudice-blinders. Our government under Bush has made tons of mistakes, we know that now. And we are finding out about new ones everyday.
And any fair-minded individual can look at the story and see that the pieces don’t fit, add to it the missing children, and this is the case that the Feds are panicking about… they really screwed up.
Sarah
November 20, 2008 at 8:54 PM
Look, if you’re going to allege torture then prove it. Get some evidence. You are making the torture charge so it is up to you to prove it. And not by implication and innuendo. We need real facts. If she has been tortured people need to be punished; but if torture can’t be proven it’s time to be quite and not demand innocent people be punished.
I’ve followed this story for a while and it seems clear to me that: 1) she is guilty and 2) she was not tortured.
But let it come out it court. There is plenty of evidence against her if you would put down your hatred and mistrust of non-muslims long enough to view it.
Amad
November 20, 2008 at 9:07 PM
What is clear Sarah, is that you have blinders on. Did you observe her condition? Why don’t you answer me and tell me how a normal woman can become mentally ill?? You don’t think we torture?? Did you forget Abu Ghraib??
But, I have hope in the US Court system… I think if the Feds don’t “deport” her back to Pakistan, they will be truly embarrassed in court. And that’s what I think will happen… they’ll send her back “home” to avoid the truth being exposed of their utter failure to protect the basic constitutional rights owed to this woman. And what happened to innocence until guilty? Is that only for non-Muslim Americans? Just think how you sound right now. No better than the extremists on the other side for whom every “other” is wrong a priori.
Did you even see how little (actually none) the US State Dept cared for Aafia’s American children? Were they terrorists too in your eyes? Not one Congressman or Senator demanded that they be located. On the other hand, you had the Karachi kids fiasco where kids who were in Karachi by their own free will and with their parents’ permission, and the Congressman was calling for them to be freed! Don’t you see the hypocrisy??
Probably talking to a wall right now.
Sarah
November 20, 2008 at 9:20 PM
No, we don’t torture, that’s why the perpetrators of Abu Grahib got punished.
“Innocent until proven guilty” is what the courts/government has to abide by. I, a private citizen, can come to my own conclusions. And I have concluded, after much study, that she is guilty.
But she’s a Muslim so I understand your wanting to believe her and your lack of clarity on the case. You don’t want to believe a Muslim can do what she did (and what she did was horrible. I mean conflict diamonds?) But the facts show she did and no amount of Bush-bashing or Jew hating (NeoCon is code for “dirty jew”) is going to change that.
Sarah
November 20, 2008 at 9:43 PM
BTW, to answer your question: I’m not a Doctor are you? There are plenty of ways a person who has gone through childbirth traveling around the third world can become mentally ill (if she really is); think bacteria or viral infection and you get the picture. Plus she’s a trained neuroscientist so it wouldn’t be outside the realm of possibility that she’s faking.
abu abdAllah, the Houstonian
November 20, 2008 at 10:03 PM
bismillah.
right, it was just an isolated set of events, not part of anything larger…
nothing like that happens anywhere else…
and John McCain and Sarah Palin are going to protect good honest Americans like you from all of us bearded and veiled people who claim to be Americans but really just get in the way of justice in this country… oh, yeah, more than half the country agreed that anybody who endorsed the Bush policies was not someone who could help America recover dignity and economic stability. more than half the country voted for a candidate who openly and candidly declared that Guantanamo had to close and that the Executive Orders of the current President had to be reversed.
maybe Sarah thinks that more than half the country wears beards and veils and says Allaho Akbar. well, that’d be wishful thinking, too.
Sarah
November 20, 2008 at 10:17 PM
There are 300 million Americans. Barak got 66 million votes (plus change) that is not “more than half the country” and Barak would be wise to take a page from President Bush and remember that and govern with an understanding that tens of millions voted against him.
Sarah
November 20, 2008 at 10:28 PM
Anyhow, there is only 2 million Muslims in the U.S. and those 2 million are welcome to pray and observe their religion in any way they wish (well, as long as they don’t inhibit someone else’s rights)
Abu Umar
November 21, 2008 at 2:08 AM
What a load of rubbish. Crying anti-Semitism is the typical way for neocons and their fellow travelers to dodge criticism. Neocons do exist and while many are Jews (Little Frummer Boy [David Frum], Paul Wolfowitz, David Brooks, Bill Kristol, Richard Perle, Michael Ledeen, Charles Krathammer, Norman Podhoretz, Doug Feith, Randy Scheuneman, Robert Kagan, etc) not all of them are (Dick Cheney, Rumsfeld, John Bolton, Fukuyama, etc). But I suppose if there are still those groups that think that the earth is flat there are going to be those who deny the existence of neocons. Several respected figures such as Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel, the late Gen. William Odom, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, Gen. Anthony Zinni, and many others have warned about and spoken against the neocons, but I suppose they are all anti-Semites and crypto-Nazis on par with bigots and cranks like David Duke or Lyndon Larouche. I forgot that Israel and its American-based lobby are to be treated as a sacred idol above and beyond all criticism.
You expose yourself here as a hypocrite and a bigot. You go off about the need for evidence to prove that she was tortured, but then turn around and start issuing summary judgment against ‘Aafia Siddiqui and peddling nonsense about conflict diamonds.
Sarah
November 21, 2008 at 2:49 AM
Are you kidding me? Israel receives loads of criticism, just go to any University campus and see for yourself. Muslim states like Indonesia, Pakistan, etc receive criticism but no where near what Israel gets . Think about this: Muslims are allowed to have several countries of their “own” but the Jews aren’t even allowed to have one little strip of a country. And this is fair, how?
And as to Aafia, the charges have been filed with evidence. Much more evidence than the allegations of torture which is none.
confused!
November 21, 2008 at 12:07 PM
Sarah: You are a living proof of all that has gone wrong with our country. Moral decay,blind hatred,unbounded ambitions to defend anything that the administration say or do and of course lying through the teeth. How Machiavellian you want to be?
Obviously you have no willingness or intentions to try to understand the truth through logic and reason. For you its all about “Us v. Them” it seems to me!
Abu Umar
November 21, 2008 at 1:19 PM
Yes, and if your ilk had your way they’d stop that. How much criticism does Israel receive up on Capital Hill though?
Yes, if I turn on FOX or CNN I regularly see them harshly criticism of Israel and offering only mild criticism of Pakistan, oh wait, that’s not the case. They never criticize Israel, but bash (and the gov. bombs) Pakistan all the time. Pakistan received sanctions for its nuclear program, and Israel, well we cannot talk about Israel’s nuclear program.
Yes, one little strip of land… What complete and utter nonsense. All those Jewish squatters in the West Bank already have a country, its called America. Many other Jews occupying Israel have countries: Russia, France, etc. That “one little strip” already had occupants who it seems you don’t think deserve a country and should go live and die in squalor in refugee camps in Lebanon and Jordan. If the European Jews need “one little strip of a country” why weren’t they granted a slice of Germany? Why should people who had nothing to do with the centuries of Jewish suffering be the ones to pay the price for it?
If we were to start kicking Spanish Catholics from their houses to them to the descendants of those Spanish Muslims kicked out of southern Spain after 1492 you’d be the first to start screaming about oppression. If we were to start kicking white Americans out of their houses in the Mid-West and giving those house to Native Americans I am highly doubtful you’d be very supportive (and don’t those American Indians deserve “one little strip of a country”?). But when European Jews came (and still come) and kicked the Palestinians (both Muslim and Christian) from their houses and farms into poverty-stricken refugee camps we are all supposed to celebrate. Tell me how any of this is fair and just for the Palestinians?
abu abdAllah, the Houstonian
November 22, 2008 at 12:21 AM
bismillah.
wow, that was actually funny, sarah. like something madame parrot, ur, palin would have said. “they say he won the youth, but show me where he won any votes from people under 18?” you’re right, from the 300 million, President-elect Obama did not win a single vote from anyone under 18, anyone not registered to vote, anyone disqualified from voting (most felons, for example), nor from permanent residents who may be counted in the figure of 300 million but cannot vote because they are not citizens…
funny. not smart, though. not intellectually honest. but worth a laugh.
almost as much of a laugh as when you ended that poorly-punctuated paragraph with:
wow! that one gets an exclamation mark. President-because-the-Supreme-Court-stopped-the-recount Bush? President-my-daddy’s-friends-are-all-scarier-than-the-devil-Bush? President-my-daddy-only-bombed-and-starved-the-Iraqis-but-I’ve-killed-more-of-them-and-destroyed-my-own-country’s-economy-and-justice-Bush? President-divide-and-conquer-works-best-at-home-Bush?
no, thank you. forgive me, but i have no intention of taking seriously any person who thinks President-elect Obama should emulate President-Bush’s governing style.
were you one of the people booing loudly the night of November 4 until McCain raised his hands in disgust at the motley fools that had once been the Grand Old Party? awww. reality bites, eh?
Sarah
November 22, 2008 at 12:51 AM
You didn’t get my point, Israel is a homeland. And since they have been historically brutally oppressed and continue to be so by (Germans, Christians, and especially Muslims, etc) they need a land to go to if the are forced out again. And, the land Israel occupies was not the Palestinians at the time of the transfer. They were on it but it was owned by the British and the Ottomans before them and it was given to them in an agreement that the Palestinians agreed to and then broke .
Israel is for the Israelis. A Jewish homeland and safe haven but also a system of government which includes Arabs, Jews, Christians, and even Muslims a diversity and equal protection of the “Other” that the surrounding Muslim lands do not follow.
Rifai
November 22, 2008 at 12:54 AM
And as to Aafia, the charges have been filed with evidence.
Would you care to tell us how that “evidence” sounded convincing to u? It sounded like tripe to me , and it doesnt have much to do with her faith either.
You have the govt. version telling us how a dangerous terrorist prisoner picks up a gun and fires at her captor…
Did u think about:
Why did she have access to a gun?I imagine it would be standard military protocol to keep weapons from “terrorists”.
And given that she would surely be trained according to your gut instinct – she managed to miss…
What was she doing roaming about with a map of NY in Afghanistan conveniently carrying “dangerous chemicals” for the “coalition” to pick up?
I mean given her education i expect her to have figured out that she wasnt in NY…but maybe she was just practicing a suicide bombing.
She was missing for what 4 years? Where was she in the interim? Interestingly it appears that she was in a “coalition” facility.A caged prisoner known as the gray lady of Bagram….and appeared within a month of the commotion that Yvonne Ridley caused in publicising her case.Some ppl would likely see a connection there.
But of course this is not possible – fox news, surely doesnt permit us to believe this lie.
U want to tell us shes faking her madness?After being deprived of her children(unless u contend that she just had imaginary ones to begin with), shot, strip searched every time she has to meet someone, go to court, etc.
Not to mention what went on in Afghanistan…do u presume to tell us what she was doing there?I might have expected a person of her caliber to do much more damage…than get caught and shot , after 4 years of “training” , as u might be inclined to believe.
What exactly was her crime, putting asides this pathetic and irrational smokescreen of “evidence”?
Amad
November 22, 2008 at 1:03 AM
Okay Sarah, I think we have wasted enough of this space with your trollish comments. You exemplify what a troll is. Here is the definition if you didn’t quite know
Yes, Muslims killed more Jews than Hitler. Of course, I hope you understand the implications of this: (1) holocaust was a big exaggeration, OR (2) Muslims killed millions of Jews in your dream, the same dream where you were being seduced by Bush in heaven.
And you are right, there were no people in Jerusalem or any part of the occupied territories, when Jews were flown from all over Europe and the rest of the world. In fact, there weren’t even animals or plantation there. Everything was brought in by Jews. Only after the Jewish people fixed everything in Israel, did Arabs suddenly appear from Jordan, Syria and even Pakistan.
And yes, you are also right that Muslims have full citizen-rights in Israel. After all, it isn’t Israel where non-Israeli Arab wives of Israeli Arab men cannot be citizens, while Jews can come from anywhere in the world and enter Israel and become citizens. And it isn’t Israel where the people who have been displaced (well they were never there, so lets assume their ghosts used to live in Israel) don’t have any rights to come back to their homes, while Jews from Timbuktu have full access. Very democratic indeed.
So, Sarah, please continue to stay on jihadwatch, LGF and other channels where you spend most of your day on, feeling good about your own bigotry. Please continue to stay in your dream-world where all Muslims are already dead. And while you are there, say hi to Bush for me.
P.S. We are done with you, if you didn’t quite get the message. Don’t waste your energy here anymore.
Rifai
November 22, 2008 at 1:09 AM
“They were on it but it was owned by the British and the Ottomans before them and it was given to them in an agreement that the Palestinians agreed to and then broke .”
Would you be OK with someone coming over and repossessing your home – your in it , but it actually belongs to the US govt.
“a diversity and equal protection of the “Other” that the surrounding Muslim lands do not follow”
How ironic that such charges are levelled against us Muslims, who have historically protected the “other” in a way that west has only very recently attempted to. Who allowed the Jews into the holy lands?Twice I may add after the previous occupiers had driven/killed them out? And allowed them to live in Spain/the Ottoman empire,pretty much where the Muslims ruled? Not in ghettos either…
If the current surrounding Muslim lands don t like Israel very much its because they had their lands stolen from them- you dont seem to grasp that point. But maybe you will come to accept it if you do keep an open mind.
“a system of government which includes Arabs, Jews, Christians, and even Muslims…”
Did u read Jimmy Carters “Palestine Peace Not Apartheid”? Or is he a anti semite as well?
Abu Umar
November 22, 2008 at 2:21 AM
I didn’t realize you had one. All you do is parrot AIPAC talking points, so I find it hard to pick out “points” among all that mindless propaganda. But what is to be expected from someone who thinks that using the term “neocon” is anti-Semitic?
Philip
November 22, 2008 at 6:33 AM
Just 2 questions
any updates?
and
Can we please ignore trolls, please?feeding them only back it worse.
thanks.
wasalam
confused!
November 22, 2008 at 6:15 PM
Way to go Amad! Smart move. We tolerated this Sarah character for way too long here. I am sure that character will continue to do it’s skunk job. But, that’s life in the big city!
Yasir Qadhi
December 1, 2008 at 11:34 AM
This is a must-read:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,druck-593195,00.html
DrM
December 3, 2008 at 3:34 PM
Its about time you sent the judeofascist looney bin packing. Reading Sarah’s comments, my diagnosis as a doctor is that she is a delusional pathological liar, or a typical Zionist judeofascist.
The only people who believe that there are 2 million Muslims in the US are jewish extremist organizations like the AJC and ADL which have been promoting this nonsense since the 90s as wishful thinking undercounting Muslims int he US. Keep in mind this is coming from a non-Semitic East European terrorists who think a God they don’t believe in is their real estate agent. These Khazar usurpers are the true Anti-Semites.
Truly the Blight of Nations.
Abid
December 7, 2008 at 1:43 AM
Assalamu Alaikum!
Let us not forget to pray on this Eid day and work fervently for the release of Dr. Aafia.
Her sacrifices are probably greater than any one of ours. May Allah accept and reward her sacrifices and bring respite to this great daughter of Islam.
conused!
December 11, 2008 at 5:01 PM
Does any one know that what is going to happen in the court on Dec 17? Is Aafia Siddiqui going to be there?
Algebra
December 11, 2008 at 5:27 PM
@
“Sarah, I wonder how you would feel if one of your family members was in place of Dr. Aafia. You think what the prosecutor says matters even a little bit?? I mean the woman’s condition, from being a healthy, MIT graduate, scientist to a mentally-ill person is enough evidence to put the prosecutors story to task. What do you think the prosecutor will say? He has to cover up the behinds of all those who made mistakes on this case. And by the why where are the children of Dr. Aafia? Do you have children, Sarah? How would you feel if they were missing?
From your last name, it seems that you are Jewish………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. ……………..
……………………………………..And any fair-minded individual can look at the story and see that the pieces don’t fit, add to it the missing children, and this is the case that the Feds are panicking about… they really screwed up.”
Aslamu-alaikum:
Amad, I really like all of your comments…………………..
MashAllah
Algebra
December 12, 2008 at 1:26 AM
Aslamu-alailkum:
Amad
I got to read all of your comments and some of them could have been with a little bit more respect…………….. not contempt……………….
I think the “TROLL” bit was a little tooo much……………….
we still have to present ourselves with integrity…………………. you know
anyway i just wanted to suggest this link on conflict resolution and communication if you don’t mind putting this link on your blog.
I had to read this author’s book on communication when i took a class on marraige and family relationships it was good read
I think these communication “tips” would be good for all of us in addition to how to we deal with each other and from the QURAN and SUNNAH
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Ten-Lessons-to-Transform-Your-Marriage/John-M-Gottman/e/9781400050185#EXC
The Four Horsemen are
*Criticism. Often, criticism appears as a complaint or episode of blaming that’s coupled with a global attack on your partner’s personality or character. Criticism frequently begins with “you always” or “you never.”
*Defensiveness. These are the counterattacks people use to defend their innocence or avoid taking responsibility for a problem. Defensiveness often takes the form of cross-complaining or whining.
*Contempt. This is criticism bolstered by hostility or disgust. Think of somebody rolling their eyes while you’re trying to tell them something important about yourself. Contempt often involves sarcasm, mocking, name-calling, or belligerence.
*Stonewalling. This happens when listeners withdraw from the conversation, offering no physical or verbal cues that they’re affected by what they hear. Interacting with somebody who does this is “like talking to a stone wall.”
Our commentary also indicates the places where these couples make great strides—i.e., where they say or do something that strengthens the relationship by making them feel closer, encouraging compromise, or healing old wounds. Examples of such positive behaviors include
perspective as well.
salam
77083
December 12, 2008 at 11:13 PM
Subject: U.S. Citizen being tortured
An American man detained in the United Arab Emirates at the behest of the U.S. government has been released from State Security custody, where he was detained incommunicado and in a secret location, and transferred to a prison in Abu Dhabi, but only after suffering severe torture.
Naji Hamdan’s transfer came only one week after lawyers for the ACLU filed a lawsuit alleging that the U.S. government was responsible for his detention.
On December 2, Naji Hamdan, who lived in the Los Angeles area for more than two decades, was allowed a phone call to his brother, Hossam Hemdan, a resident of Los Angeles. Hamdan reported to his brother that officials transferred him to a regular prison on November 26 and that his captors routinely beat him and kept him in a freezing underground room during his months-long detention by State Security forces. The torturers kicked him with their military boots in the location of his liver, knowing that he has a liver condition. On some occasions, they beat him so badly that Mr. Hamdan passed out for extended periods of time and believed he would die. On at least one occasion, they strapped his arms and legs down to an electric chair, while threatening to use it.
Hamdan’s description of the torture and interrogation he endured makes clear that American agents have been involved. Although blindfolded by his torturers, Hamdan reported that some of the interrogators spoke native American English and were not fluent in Arabic. In addition, the agents interrogated Hamdan on topics about which only U.S. federal agents could have knowledge, such as a meeting he had with FBI agents.
The news of Hamdan’s transfer comes after the ACLU filed a habeas corpus petition in federal district court in Washington, D.C., alleging that the U.A.E. detained Hamdan at the behest of the U.S. government. Last week, U.S. District Judge James Robertson ordered the government to respond to the petition.
Hamdan, who was born in Lebanon, lived for more than two decades in the Los Angeles area, where he ran an auto-parts business and helped manage the Islamic Center of Hawthorne, a mosque and community center. In 2006, he decided to relocate his family and business to the U.A.E.
Hamdan’s detention in the U.A.E. was the culmination of years of surveillance by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI). This summer FBI agents traveled from Los Angeles to the U.A.E. to question Hamdan further. Approximately three weeks later he was detained by agents of the U.A.E. state security forces.
Hamdan’s brother and others who know him from his activities at the Islamic Center of Hawthorne have all said that he is a peaceful family man who would never support violence.
If the U.S. government requested or participated in his detention and torture in the U.A.E., the United States government has violated this U.S. citizen’s most elemental constitutional rights.
Take action: Tell your Members of Congress to help in the release of Hamdan. Go to:
http://action.aclu.org/hamdan
Sajid
December 16, 2008 at 2:17 PM
I think that person Naji Hamdan, whose name seems to be an Arab’s name must be having a dual nationality and he would have been captured by Abu Dhabi police on the advice of US Government.
Dont try to show that puppet muslims rulers are the same as yours, they are worst but your rulers should be thrown shoes like Bush.