Muslim teen girls in NY accused of planning suicide bombings now being held as illegals:Family spokesman from Al Qaeda linked group
Islamic Circle of North America runs Young Muslims groups - Imam who spoke at ICNA camp linked to Heathrow bomb plot
April 7, 2005
MIM: Update: The latest reports indicate that the girls were cleared although officials found "associations" to what was termed a 'notorious London mosque' (Finsbury Park) which spawned terrorists like woud be shoe bomber Richard Reid.
The fact that one girl's family spokesman was Adem Carroll from the Islamic Circle of North America, an organisation which recently had one of their affiliates investigated with ties to a British Muslim involved in an Heathrow bombing plot raises further questions. The fact that their was enough reason to hold two juveniles on suspicion of 'being a threat to national security' further underscores the growing trend both in Europe and America vis a vis the radicalisation of Muslim youth in the United States.
According to a NY Times article on girl's father, an illegal Pakistani immigrant (who had been arrested on immigration violations), "watched as his daughter, now 16, became more and more drawn to the family's Muslim religion. At 14, she began wearing a full-length veil and teaching religion classes at mosques around the city.
A year ago, she withdrew from her Manhattan high school because, a school official said, she felt uncomfortable with typical teenage banter. She told her family she wanted to go to an Islamic all-girls school, and when they could not afford to send her, she chose to study at home."
Now that law enforcement has concluded that an essay found on one of the girls computers in favor of suicide bombing is 'open to interpretation' the question remains as to how many potential teenage suicide bombers could still be at large.
Update: 4/20/05 The Islamic Circle of North America which is closely linked to Al Qaeda is helping the family of one of the girls named Tasnuba . Information about Adema can also be found below as well as a recent press release on the case put out by an organisation for 'imprisoned Muslims' which supports and is raising money for the girls.
MIM: The notice about the hearing delay was found on a website for what was termed "caged Muslims". It appears that Tasnuba's family's Jew hatred trumped even that of Stanley Cohen's self hatred, since they turned down his offer to take the case.
Any defense lawyer from ICNA can argue the case with conviction since according to counter terrorism expert Steven Emerson, the group ;"openly supports militant Islamic fundamentalist organizations ,praises terror attacks, issues incendiary attacks on western values and policies, and supports the imposition of sharia, (Islamic code of law)." http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/216
(The 3 links which are connected to the ICNA announcement are Jewish themed websites which criticise Cohen, who is viewed as a traitor to his own people.)
It is also no surprise that the Islamic Circle of North America stated that it "Does not want Stanley Cohen to represent this case" . Steven Emerson wrote that "ICNA's hatred of the Jews is so fierce that it taunted Jews with a repetition of what Hitler did to them". The links which ICNA thoughtfully provided in the announcement , vilifying Cohen, no doubt reflect their own sentiments, and prove that even Cohen's skills in the service of dhimmitude are superceded by the groups anti semitism.
We've just recieved news that the court hearing for Tashnuba will be delayed until May 11th. This means that Tashnuba will be held for another month.
This happened because the new lawyer which was provided by ICNA, needed more time to understand this case. He was unprepared to present himself at this time. We planned to have Stanley Cohen(Link 1, Link 2, Link 3) represent this case after the first lawyer failed. Now, Stanley Cohen who was ready to take this case, was turned down because the family decided to ask ICNA for help and one of the condition for ICNA helping the family out was that they(ICNA) has to provide them a lawyer. And ICNA does not want Stanley Cohen to represent this case.
WASHINGTON - Two teenage Queens girls were picked up last month by federal immigration authorities who thought they might be suicide bombers, but the pair are not terrorists, government sources said yesterday.
"We've got a lot of dots that people shouldn't be connecting," an FBI official said.
The suspicions about the 16-year-olds from Guinea and Bangladesh arose when immigration authorities questioned the two - described by officials as illegal aliens - following a domestic incident.
Immigration agents searched the Muslim girls' belongings and discovered writings by one that were interpreted as advocating martyrdom bombings, the FBI official said.
But the girl's family denied to The New York Times that an essay she did for school was pro-terrorism, and the FBI official said her musings were "open to interpretation."
"Nobody here believes they are wanna-be suicide bombers," the official added.
Concern grew about the girls, whom officials wouldn't identify because they are juveniles, when "associations" were discovered with a London mosque notorious for drawing radicals such as would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid. Details were not available.
There also was uncorroborated intelligence in the past year that Al Qaeda considered dispatching female suicide bombers to the U.S., officials said.
Whatever the agents' suspicions were, senior officials in Washington downplayed them.
"We're not spun up about this case," said a Homeland Security Department source.
MIM: The spokesman for one of the girls families is Adem Carroll described as 'an activist' in the Islamic Circle of North America, group with documented ties to Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups.ICNA /MAS, consider themselves to be ' Muslim workers for Allah'. http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/216
Sheik Yusuf Qaradawi, a trustee of the ICNA/MAS sponsored Islamic American University, issued a fatwa endorsing female suicide bombers . http://www.meforum.org/article/646
(ICNA 'activist' Adem Carroll's advocacy on behalf of one of the suspects can be taken as further proof that the authorities may indeed have preempted a suicide bombing plot.Caroll's claim that the "investigation has gotten out of hand" should be 'dismissed out of hand' as an exercise in Muslim sophistry).
ICNA is endorsed by leading Saudi cleric Sheik Abdulrahman Al Sudais, who went on Saudi television and urged Muslims to "kill Jews and American worshippers of the cross". http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/216
ICNA, a Saudi funded Wahhabist organisation, works in tandem with MAS, and runs Youth Camps and an Islamic American University.
ICNA has organised Jihad and Afterlife camps (Akhira) camps for Muslim youth in the United States. Last year one of the speakers at an ICNA youth camp was New Jersey Imam Mazan Mokhtar who was linked to a UK terrorist suspect, who was charged with plotting to blow up Heathrow Airport and NY landmarks.
Mazen Mokhtar ran an Al Qaeda website called Minna.org. and was described as :"...a computer professional trained at Johns Hopkins University, is a familiar face to young activist Muslim men in New Jersey, often delivering what acquaintances describe as mild speeches extolling marriage and religious piety.But Wednesday, Mokhtar, an Egyptian-born American citizen, found himself issuing a statement denying government accusations that he has aided violent terrorists. Some of those who know him expressed surprise at allegations that he worked with a British man who is accused of soliciting funds for terrorism by operating jihadist Web sites".
"...News accounts of rallies where Mokhtar has spoken have also described him as an imam, or spiritual leader, at the Masjid al-Huda mosque in New Brunswick, N.J. He was scheduled to speak later this month in Pennsylvania at a summer camp run by Young Muslims, at a seminar titled "A Few Good Men.." http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/239
ICNA merged with MAS the Muslim American Society an extremist group which advocates the Islamisation of the United States by both armed Jihad and 'Jihad through conversion' . The organisation's aim is to turn America into 'A Muslim American Society'.http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/239
NEW YORK Two 16-year-old girls reportedly are suspected of planning suicide bombings in the U-S.
The New York Times says the girls were arrested March 24th on immigration charges and remain in custody in Pennsylvania. One is from Bangladesh and the other is from Guinea The Times reports it obtained a government document that describes the teens as being an imminent threat to the United States "based upon evidence that they plan to be suicide bombers." A spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement will only confirm that two juveniles are in custody on "administrative immigration violations." An Islamic community activist says one of the girls came under investigation for skipping school. When federal agents searched her home they found an essay about suicide and Islam on her computer. Now, Adam Carroll with the Islamic Circle of North America says he thinks the investigation has gotten "out of hand."..."
Two 16-year-old girls have been arrested in the US after the FBI said they planned to become suicide bombers.
The teenagers were arrested on March 24 and were being held in a detention centre in Pennsylvania, The New York Times reported today, citing a government document provided by an FBI agent.
According to the document, the FBI found that the girls posed "an imminent threat to the security of the United States based upon evidence that they plan to be suicide bombers," the Times said.
The evidence was not described in the document.
Manny Van Pelt, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, would confirm only that two juveniles had been arrested on "administrative immigration violations" and remained in custody.
The girls – one from Bangladesh, one from Guinea – were living in the United States illegally, the Times reported.
Adam Carroll, a community activist with the Islamic Circle of North America, told the Times one of the girls had been arrested after she stopped attending school in September. Immigration agents investigated her New York home and discovered an essay about suicide and Islam on her computer, Carroll said.
The case seemed to be "an investigation that's gotten out of hand, like a lot of other so-called terror investigations," Carroll said.
NY Teens Held, Authorities Say in Suicide Bomb Plot Thu Apr 7, 2005 05:32 PM ET
By Christine Kearney
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two New York teenage girls were arrested and are in federal custody after authorities said they planned to become suicide bombers on U.S. soil, law enforcement sources said on Thursday.
The two 16-year-olds, born in Bangladesh and Guinea, were arrested March 24 on immigration charges, and are considered a threat to U.S. security, the sources said.
One law enforcement source told Reuters that FBI investigators discovered the suicide bombing plot on a computer containing records of Internet chats between the girls. The source said other people were also being examined as part of an ongoing "serious" investigation.
The United States has been on alert for another attack since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.
Adem Carroll, spokesman for one of the teens' families, denied that the girls planned to be suicide bombers, the New York Times reported. Carroll did not return calls for comment.
Marc Raimondi, spokesman for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau of the Homeland Security Department, said the two girls were being held in a facility in Pennsylvania. "They both remain in our custody," he said.
Raimondi declined to discuss the suicide bombing issue.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation did not return calls for comment.
The New York Times reported on Thursday that the two teens were both in the United States illegally. The girl from Guinea came to the United States with her family in 1990 on a visitor visa, and the Bangladeshi entered the country in 1994, and her mother unsuccessfully applied for asylum, the newspaper said, citing a document it obtained on the case
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Excerpts from NY Times Article : Girl Would Be Suicide Bomber was Drawn to Islam
A few months later, when the teenager stayed out overnight for the first time, the father, fearing an elopement, went to the police for help.
It is a decision he regrets deeply. His daughter and another 16-year-old girl are now described by the government as would-be suicide bombers and are being held in a detention center for illegal immigrants in Pennsylvania. He is sure that his visit to the police set off the F.B.I. investigation that led to a chilling assertion, in a government document, that the girls are "an imminent threat to the security of the United States based on evidence that they plan to be suicide bombers." Family and friends call that absurd.
The document, provided to The New York Times by a federal agent on Wednesday, did not describe the nature of the evidence. Yesterday, after repeated inquiries, officials from several agencies involved in the investigation, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the F.B.I. and the New York Police Department, would not comment on the case.
Little is known about the second 16-year-old. The mother of the Bangladeshi girl, conveying her daughter's account, said the two girls met for the first time at 26 Federal Plaza after her daughter's arrest. But when the other girl, a Guinean who was facing deportation with her family, noticed her daughter's veil, she gave her a traditional Muslim greeting, and federal agents seemed to think they were friends. The second girl ended up in the Pennsylvania detention center, too.
The only other information about the second girl, included in the government document, is that she and her parents have been living in the United States illegally since shortly after her birth, that she has four siblings, all United States citizens, and that her father had been arrested on immigration violations. Neither girl's name is being published because they are minors who have not been charged with any crime.
A bond hearing in the Bangladeshi girl's case is to be held this morning in York, Pa., but the government has asked that it be closed, based on an affidavit filed by a counterterrorism supervisor in the F.B.I.'s New York office. The case underscores the difficulties faced by anyone who is charged only with civil immigration violations, but is in fact being held in a counterterrorism investigation, lawyers said.
There are no firm time limits on immigration detention, so the burden is on the girls to prove that they are not potential suicide bombers, rather than on the government to prove they are.
Indeed, the evidence is withheld from the girls and anyone who represents them under a "protective order" that F.B.I. investigators obtained from the immigration court, according to an April 1 motion to continue the secrecy, signed by Jeffrey T. Bubier, assistant chief counsel for the Department of Homeland Security in Philadelphia.
MIM: This lecture by Sheik Tariq Suweidan was on the Muslim Youth page and was given at a 2000 ICNA
Islam and the West Dr. Tareq Al Suwaidan
(Dr. Tariq Al-Saowaidan - ICNA Canada 2000 Conference held at Al-Falah Islamic Centre, Mississauga, ON Canada)
The lecture focuses on the history of the Islamic and Western civilizations from an intellectual standpoint. It presents the trends that can be observed as world civilizations rise and fall with the passage of time, and the unique position of the Islamic civilization with respect to all others. Dr. Tariq then connects the analysis of the past to a study of the future of Islam, as opposed to the West
Dr. Tariq highlighted the following points:
When we do an extensive research into the history of world civilizations, we observe that all civilizations have a trend in history. It takes centuries for them to reach their peak in strength, technology, authority, arts & sciences, and global domination
But all civilizations soon after peaking, and only after peaking, have collapsed in an extremely short period of time! This trend is characteristic of every great empire of the past, whether it be the Egyptian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Greek, Roman, Spanish, or British
Why do civilizations tend to collapse soon after reaching the apex of growth and progress? Why do they collapse in such a short time when it took them many centuries to rise to power?
A few examples of this trend:
the first attack on the Roman Empire was in the year 2 A.H. by a small Muslim army, but by the year 4 A.H., a mere 2 years later, the Empire had begun to crumble in the East and the West
The same happened to the Egyptians when Muslims overtook the entire civilization by 12 A.H.
The Persian Empire followed, as it too fell under attack by the Muslims under Caliph Abu Bakr (ra) in the same year 12 A.H.
A young nation of Islam had challenged 3 super civilizations in a matter of a few years, even though at the time of the Prophet (saw)'s death, there were 3 Muslim cities (Makkah, Yathrib, Ta'if)
By 14 A.H. in the Battle of Yarmuk, the Romans were eliminated by the Muslims for good
By 15 A.H. the Persian Empire had fallen completely, again, to the Muslims
The first attack on the Spanish Empire was in the year 92 A.H. and by 95 A.H. the Muslims were only 60km from Paris!
So to those who are impressed by the success of the present world powers, let them look to the past and remember that history repeats itself
Why did these great civilizations that seemed invincible collapse?
there was corruption from within
there was a breakdown of values, morality and the family unit
there was a loss of spirituality
there was no direction except the accumulation of wealth, power, lands, authority, fame, etc.
when the hopes of a people lie solely in the Dunya (worldy matters), then… the end is near!
Compare with this:
the Prophet (saw) preached in Makkah for 13 years
by the time of the Hijra, there were only 150 Muslims who had responded
80 in Makkah, 70 in exile in Abyssinia
the lowest point of his mission was when he was driven from Makkah and went in search of support to Ta'if, where he was stoned
it was then that he made his Du'a : "Oh Allah! To whom do you leave me? My enemy who will abuse me? But if You are not angry with me, I am content, I will not complain!"
What the Holy Prophet (saw) left behind was not property, not poetry, not armies, not technology, but a new breed of humanity!
Accomplishments of this new generation:
it did not take Muslims centuries to peak, but decades
by 95 A.H. Muslims were knocking the doors of Paris in the West and China in the East
then followed a slower rate of progress for 600 years, but still peaking, still conquering new lands, e.g. Constantinople (Turkey) and Bosnia.
but when the people started to forget where they came from, when the rulers started worrying more about their she-slaves than the affairs of the Ummah, when the scholars became ignorant and power-hungry, and when the true believers were afraid to stand up to them, the decline began…
no other civilization has risen to power so quickly (10 A.H. à 95 A.H.) and no civilization has deteriorated so gradually (800 years)
compare this with the 2 years it took the great Roman empire!
The rule of the Ottoman Empire ‘officially' ended in 1924 A.D. (although the actual power had vanished since 1908 but it continued to drag under foreign appointed puppet rulers)
Finally, Kamal Ata Turk came to power: his ‘reforms' included changing the Arabic script of the Turkish language into Latin script, rendering the Turkish people unable to read their own books and history, cutting them off from their past and hence Islam
Muslim lands were divided up among the Spanish and British colonialists in the same year, the final culmination of centuries of degradation
So what kept us so powerful for so long?
the Qur'an : "It is We who have revealed it, and it is We who will preserve it!"
and He has preserved it and the Muslims did follow it for 10 centuries
But what then happened is phenomenal and unheard of in the annals of history: a civilization that had just collapsed began to rebuild itself under the same banner! The revival had begun …
Muslims started calling themselves the ‘teachers of the world' and ‘witnesses unto mankind' (Shuhada alan-Naas) as they came together under various names, heralding the start of organized efforts as Ikhwaan-al-Muslimeen (The Muslim Brotherhood), and Jama'at-e-Islami (The Congregation of Muslims)
What was happening?
The Qur'an was ALIVE
not on paper, but in the hearts and souls of Muslims, it had indeed been preserved!
The nation was pulling itself together, as for the first time in 800 years, books were being written and published on a tremendous scale that the masses of Muslims could read and understand. Before that, only the scholars had access to Islamic literature, and most of which had already been lost as Islamic libraries were burnt down to ashes
Where are we headed?
we have changed the trend from going down thanks to the efforts of people like Abul A'la Mawdudi, Hasan al-Banna and many others
the Islamic Revival has begun, but only just begun, that is why most can not see it and the non-Muslims can not perceive it
but Allah(swt) will not change the condition of a people until they change it with their own hands!
even if a civilization is ready to crumble (such as the West, with all the characteristics of deterioration of past fallen empires), it will NOT fall until we, the Muslims, strive to give it that last push, the last straw that will break the camel's back!
So brothers and sisters, we are headed for a conflict: not between East and West, not between North and South, but between Islam and the West
The Prophet (saw) said: " Prophethood shall be among you as long as Allah permits and then it will be taken away, then will follow a rule in its footsteps (i.e. the Khilafah) and it shall be among you as long as Allah permits and then it will be taken away, then will follow a ‘biting' rule (lasting a long time, not easily removed) and it shall be among you as long as Allah permits and then it will be taken away, then will follow the rulers who oppress with power bestowed upon them not through inheritance of the people (i.e. the present dictatorships) and it shall be among you as long as Allah permits and then it will be taken away, then will follow a rule in the footsteps of the Prophethood (i.e. another Khilafah) !"
The Prophet has clearly explained to us the trend, exactly as we observe it today
We must therefore tell the West that we are extending a hand of peace now but it will not be so for long
If they do not accept it now and turn away, there will be no peace to offer later, only retribution and justice when we return to power united under the banner of Islam
MIM: The Islamic Circle of North America is involved in raising money helping the family of one of the girls who very likely was involved with Muslim Youth and by extension Al Muhajiroun and other groups which have been linked to Al Qaeda and suicide bombings.
Newsflash
ICNA(Islamic Circle of North America) has taken over sister Tashnuba's case and will provide food, clothing, shelter, and lawyers to her family. They will take care of everything from now on. If you would like further information on Tashnuba's family, please contact ICNA at (718)-658-1199.
Sunday, 17 April 2005
Two Muslim teenage girls have been detained. One is from Guinea, and the other is from Bangladesh. The government is using immigration law to jail these 16 year olds without charging them with a crime, holding secret proceedings against them without giving them access to the evidence that is being used against them, and slandering them in the media as "suicide bombers" without providing proof. This is their direct attack on our Muslims honor.
In fact, an FBI official told The New York Daily News, "Nobody here believes they are wanna-be suicide bombers." Another official at the Department of Homeland Security commented, "We're not spun up about this case." So why, then, are these young women in jail, cut off from their families? Why are their lives being ruined? This is an insane injustice.
Please open your hearts to both families. The family of Adama, the young Guinean woman, is in urgent need, and owes money to their lawyer. They have also lost their income, as the father has also been detained on immigration violations. As we learn more details about her situation, we may find they have other needs as well.
The young Bangladeshi woman, Tashnuba, and her loved ones also face an enormous challenge. Her family needs to raise approximately $10,000 in the next three months just to get by. There are three children. The vast majority of the money would go towards housing, because the family has had to give up their apartment out of fear of surveillance or other threats to their safety. The remainder of expenses are for food, transportation and any legal expenses (although the lawyer is currently doing the case for free). Visits to the lawyer and to the detention center take 3 hours each way and cost money. It may also be necessary to fundraise for airline tickets for some family members in the future. There's enough money available right now from various sources to cover them for a few days, but their situation could become dire very soon.
We haven't yet factored in bond money for either young woman; if they are granted bond, it could tremendously increase the families' respective financial burdens. Given everything these two families are going through with their daughters' jailing, isolation, and the media smear campaign by the government, those of us outside the direct situation need to help out. This is a horrifying crisis for both families.
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Information on Tashnuba
Monday, 11 April 2005
Tashnuba Age 16.
Jamaica, NY
The following information was recorded on April 05, 2005. All information was recorded first hand from the parents of Tashnuba:
Two weeks prior to March 24th
Tashnuba a 16 year old high school student who attended EnvironmentalStudiesHighSchool in Manhattan was visited by two detectives from the local precinct. The detectives came without warrants and spoke to Tashnuba's mother. The detectives were identified by Tashnuba's mother as one being Pakistani female and the other white American male who were both in civilian clothing. Tashnuba's mother told them to come back when her husband was home, but the detectives insisted on talking to her and coming inside the house. They did not show her any warrant or any paper. Tashnuba's mother sincerely let both detectives in. The detectives came in claiming to investigate Tashnuba's absence from school while she never been to school since September 2004. Tashnuba's mother explained that Tashnuba would be doing home schooling and will be obtaining a GED due to problems arising at school with her Islamic dress code and the school's dress code. The male detective asked if Tashnuba had plans to go to Saudi Arabia. The female detective then proceeded to search the house and entered Tashnuba's room. There the detective searched through Tashnuba's belongings for more than one hour without any warrant. The next day Tashnuba's mother received a phone call from the female detective who fabricated to Tashnuba's mother that Tashnuba believed in extremist beliefs and promoted concepts like suicide bombing. Tashnuba made it very clear that she was pro-life and was against such concepts. The mother said she didn't raise Tashnuba with such concepts. Tashnuba validated the fabrication made by the detectives and reaffirmed that she believes in a peaceful and pro-life religion. On March 24th Tashnuba was visited by two agents at 5 AM in the morning. Her mother was approached and the agents told her they were from INS. Two Special Agents came without any form of warrant or paper. They claimed they were from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. The agents approached the mother, who did not speak English fluently, and requested that she sign a document (the father was not home at that morning). According to the mother the document was permission to only ask Tashnuba questions. The agents told her mother that the reason they were taking Tashnuba was because of a political asylum case and that her case was dismissed because she did not show up at her appointment date. According to Tashnuba's mother there were about ten to twelve agents who came into the house and searched through the house for almost two hours. They confiscated Tashnuba's computer, her reading materials including personal journals, notebooks and her mother's cell phone. The agents insisted they take 16 year old Tashnuba alone with them to FederalPlaza and not her mother because of Tashnuba's four month infant brother. Even though Tashnuba's brother and sister were evolved in the same political asylum case only Tashnuba was taken and detained. She was held at the Plaza for eleven hours, from 7AM to 6PM. In tears Tashnuba's mother said that at the Plaza Tashnuba was not questioned about her immigration but threatened that if she did not comply her brothers and sisters would be sent to foster homes and her parents would be deported back to Bangladesh. After being threatened Tashnuba was asked if she was part of any terrorist organizations and interrogated her about her beliefs and conviction in Islam.
Tashnuba was then taken to Pennsylvania and held there at a youth detention facility at the following address:
Berks Family Shelter Care Facility 1243 County Welfare Road Leesport, PA19533
Till today she is being held there. Tashnuba who believes in wearing the Islamic veil the "nikab" is not allowed to wear the dress code at her current detention center. This violates her ability to practice her religion.
The parents proceeded to contact an immigration lawyer to free their 16 year old daughter. According to the lawyer the judge has stated that the lawyer needs to provide evidence that she's not a terrorist. The next hearing scheduled Friday, April 8, 2005.
Upon her recent visit Tashnuba's mother said she saw Tashnuba after two weeks and she was very upset. Officer and supervisor at the facility allowed the mother to see Tashnuba and speak to her. This was the first time they were allowed to speak to her and she told them of what events had taken place in the last two weeks.
The family has been torn by the abduction and detention of 16 year old minor Tashnuba. Tashnuba's family now live in fear. They are unable to sleep at night and keep all their doors and windows locked. They are even afraid to step outside. Tashnuba's father said that it is a very difficult state for anyone to endure, to watch their child being taken away from them and not hear from them for more than two weeks. Tashnuba's father believes his family is being singled out as Muslims like all the other Muslim Americans who have been harassed after September 11th. ----------------------------------------
Information About Adama
Tuesday, 12 April 2005
The other sister who got detained is Adama from Guinea. The FBI plan on detaining her until she is 18, she is currently 16 years old. They plan on detaining her and deporting her when she turns 18. They detained her father the same day after he came out of the masjid after fajr salah. They went to their house and later detained Adama. They threatened to detain her mother as well and take her 4 brothers and sisters away. Since her mother had a small baby, they spared her. Her mother is not financially capable of getting a lawyer right now. She is by herself at the moment with Adama's 4 brothers and sisters. Adama does not yet have anyone to represent her so if you are capable please help your sister in Islam by remembering her in your duaas and donating InshaAllah
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Press Conference Cancelled on Our Behalf
Wednesday, 27 April 2005
We are sorry to inform that the press conference that was to be held at the The National Press Club will be cancelled on Tashnuba's family's behalf as well as the Muslims from Islamic Thinkers Society who were scheduled to be speaking there.
We are recieving disturbing news as to why Adama and her father were detained... The news is on the process of being verified and will be posted on this site when it does.
The latest on Adama's father is that he has chosen himself to be deported. The court gave him two choices: 1. Stay for six months and then try to fight this case in order to stay here or 2. Be deported.
The father has chosen to be deported. The court will decide within a few months to choose a date to deport him. The Guniean Embassy will pay for the the deportation ticket. Since this is a government deportation, the father will be held for a few months untill all the paperworks are done by the government, then they will contact the Guinean Embassy to find a flight date for him to be taken back to his country.
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Tashnuba to be Deported
Monday, 02 May 2005
We have recieved information that Tashnuba will be deported to her country of birth on Saturday, May 7th. Her mother will also be going back to her country.
There have been numerous reports of individuals and websites which are collecting money for Adama & Tashnuba. We're not sure where the money is going. To avoid scams and other mishandling of funds we are trying to put together a list of organizations, Masajjids, & Muslim communities who are helping the sisters. This is why we request that if you would like to help out please send us your information such as, where you are located, what your activities are towards this case, and if you've raised money how you can send it to us. We are the official website for Adama & Tashnuba, please be aware OTHER WEBSITES MAY HAVE MISLEADING information about the sisters and we advise you to refer to our website www.MuslimCaptives.com for any news and updates.
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Tashnuba to be Deported
Monday, 02 May 2005
We have recieved information that Tashnuba will be deported to her country of birth on Saturday, May 7th. Her mother will also be going back to her country. The ticket for Tashnuba's mother has been arranged alhamdulillah. However, what we really need now is donation to help the family out when they go back home. What we are planning to do now is to collect all the donations that are left over, and give half of it to them to take back at home so they can start a life there. So we urge everyone to donate whatever they can in the next upcoming days. The other half will be given to Adama's family. Indeed, Adama's family has been reluctant to accept our offer for help due to their humbleness to ask us for anything. However, we will give the other half to Adama's family because they will need to pay off their private lawyer. This is how much we have raised so far...
Online Donation: $2,338 Donations By Mail: $310 Other Donations: $1131 Donation Total: $3779
Motel Charge: -$951 Transportation expenses: -$80
Total Donation left: $2748
On the authority of Abu Hurairah who said the Messenger of Allaah (SAW) said, "...Do not turn one's back on each other... And be, O servants of Allaah, brethren. A Muslim is the brother of a Muslim. He does not wrong him. He does not fail him (when he needs him)." (Muslim)
"No man forsakes a Muslim when his rights are being violated or his honour is being belittled except that Allaah will forsake him at a place in which he would love to have His help. And no man helps a Muslim at a time when his honour is being belittled or his rights violated except that Allaah will help him at a place in which he loves to have His help." (Abu Dawood, Ahmad, hasan, Saheeh al-Jaami)
"Whoever relieves a believer's distress of the distressful aspects of this world, Allaah will rescue him from a difficulty of the difficulties of the hereafter… Allah is helping the servant as long as the servant is helping his brother." (Muslim)
We are sorry to inform that the press conference that was to be held at the The National Press Club will be cancelled on Tashnuba's family's behalf as well as the Muslims from Islamic Thinkers Society who were scheduled to be speaking there. This was an 11th hour decision made by the mother who decided not to appear in the press conference nor to speak about Tashnuba's condition. The main reason is due to the gag order that the court has. This has created a phobia in the mother that anything she will say would harm Tashnuba's case. We have tried to convince the mother to come at this press conference, but to no luck. Once again, it shows how the rogue elements of the U.S. government has put so much pressure on Muslims so as to silence them in such a way.
We do not know the status of the other speakers that were scheduled to be there, whether they will show up or not.
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Tuesday, 26 April 2005
It is very unfortunate to note that we have not been able to go any further with sister Adama's case. The court has a gag order between the lawyer and Adama's family. Therefore, the family refused to speak to us in fear of something worse happening to them. We've tried hard to speak to the mother about Adama's situation but got no response back.
Also, Adama will have a court hearing this Thursday April 28th. Please make du'a that things get better for her instead of being worse. -----------------------------
Monday, 18 April 2005
There will be a demonstration by Islamic Thinkers Society in Co-operation with the Masajid and Muslim Organiztions that will take place outside Federal Plaza here in NYC against the illegal detention of the two practicing UNDER-AGED Muslimahs. Please Keep in mind No free-Mixing will be allowed nor any Nationalistic Flags or Chants.
Place: 26 Federal Plaza Date: April 24th Time: 10:00 A.M.
The US Gov't has started to use Nazi Gestapo tactics against Muslims. Now they are stepping up in their activities and trying to silence the Muslim Community.
It is Tashnuba and Adama today, it will be YOUR DAUGHTERS and SISTERS TOMORROW. What's next?
The Nazi gov't has pushed the limits even further from before where the target was 18-35 Muslim males. Now it is anyone who practices Islam, EVEN 16 YEAR-OLD MUSLIMAHS.
Indeed, this is a challenge for each and every Muslim's EMAAN and HONOR. So where is the Muslim Community when we need them to rise up to this challenge? The girls are targeted as Muslims not as being Bengali or Guinean.
The Prophet(saw) said,"The Muslim Ummah is a Unique ummah among the whole of minkind: Their Land is One; Their War is One; Their Peace is One; Their Trust is One and Their HONOR is One."(Ahmed)
It's time that the Muslim Community got together and face this challenge united and head on and let the Gestapo (FBI) and the Nazi US gov't know that we Muslims do not tolerate this game of intimidation and harassment. We will never stay silent about it. Come forward please and SPEAK UP.
By the grace of The Almighty, we have received quite a number of responses to our forwarded news report on the detention of the two young Muslim sisters from New York (the 16 year old Bangladeshi and Guinean nationals). These positive responses have come from both Muslims and non-Muslims who are concerned about the terrible injustice being done. We have a plan of action; and that plan of action is as follows.
Insha'Allah, I will be addressing this issue via a lecture that I will deliver in New York City this coming Sunday, starting at about 1:30 PM (just after salatul Dhur) at the Islamic Cultural Center of New York - aka the 96th Street Mosque - located at E. 96th St. and 3rd Avenue in Manhattan. The title of my lecture will be: "Protecting Our Daughters in Post 9/11 America." The lecture will be followed by Q&A and discussion, insha'Allah.
We are planning to use this lecture/forum as a springboard for organizing a press conference and protest rally the following week (most likely on Monday), insha'Allah. We encourage all who have expressed an interest in this troubling case who reside in the New York tri-state area to plan to join us on Sunday at the 96 Street Mosque. This invitation is open to our non-Muslim friends and relatives as well.
Insha'Allah, we are planning to make contact today with officials from the public high school that one of the sisters was attending; and we do expect that representatives from that school will play an active and very positive role in the initiatives on the horizon.
On a related note, I've heard from one of our African-American activist brothers who does a one hour radio broadcast in Portland, Oregon; it airs live every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10am - 11am (EST). He has invited us to do a program with him on this issue and we've accepted. Other broadcasters throughout the country - esp. those along the eastern seaboard between Washington and Connecticut - who are similarly situated can do the same. The more we expose the [constitutionally] malignant tumor behind America's so-called "War on terrorism," the sooner we can put an end to the madness going on, and put the better of the Two Americas on a more positive course.
M. Saalakhan
___________
THE PROTECTION OF OUR DAUGHTERS IN POST 9/11 AMERICA
Lecture Delivered by
El-Hajj Mauri' Saalakhan Director of Operations The Peace And Justice Foundation
ISLAMIC CULTURAL CENTER OF NEW YORK 1711
Third Avenue
New York, NY. 10029
For additional information on how you can become involved: Tel: (301) 762-9162
MIM:Suicide bombings by women were chronicled from 1985 to 2002 in this study. There have been many more in the past 2 years.
Chronology of Suicide Bombings Carried out by Women
Clara Beyler ICT Researcher
In Lebanon The first suicide attack occurred on April 9, 1985, in Bater Al Shuf Jezzin when a young woman, Khyadali Sana who had joined the Party 3 months before, drove a suicide car which exploded near an IDF convoy, killing two Israeli soldiers and wounding two others. She stated that her motive was to "avenge the oppressive enemy." From the Merari database.
In the Security Zone of Ras Al Bayda, on July 9, 1985, a 28 year old woman, Kharib Ibtisam carried on a suicide attack on an SLA post wounding 2 to 6 Israelis. She recorded a videotape, wearing a red hat and dressed in uniform, in which she asked her parents to forgive her, and stating her wish " to kill as many Jews and their assistants as she could." From the Merari database.
On September 11, 1985, in Hatzbaya, Lebanon, a suicide attack was perpetrated by 18 year old Khaierdin Miriam on an SLA checkpoint, wounding two people. From the Merari database.
On November 26, 1985, in the Falous village of Jezzin, in South Lebanon, a suicide attack on a SLA checkpoint, was conducted by 17-year-old Al Taher Hamidah. According to estimates, the car was packed with at least 100Kg of explosives.
On July 17, 1986, in Jezzin Lebanon, a 26-year-old woman, wounding 7 people, perpetrated a suicide attack targeting Lebanese agents. Norma Abu Hassan blew herself up when she saw soldiers searching for her. From the Merari database.
Another female suicide bombing was recorded in Lebanon on November 14, 1987. A 37-year-old woman, Shagir Karima Mahmud, carried an explosive charge hidden in a bag into AUB Hospital, in Beirut causing the death of 7 people, and injuring 20. From the Merari database.
On November 11, 1987, a similar attack was carried out at Beirut airport, by a 20 year old Sunni woman, Sahyouni Soraya when the suitcase she was carrying exploded too early and killed its carrier as well as 6 people and injured 73. In both cases, the charge was activated by a remote control, therefore it is possible that the women did not know their bags contained explosives. From the Merari Database.
In Turkey On June 30, 1996, the first female PKK suicide bomber killed 6 Turkish soldiers, and injured 30 people. The explosives were strapped to her stomach as if she were pregnant.
On October 25 of the same year, a 17 year-old PKK activist launched a suicide bomb attack at the police headquarters in Adana, killing 5 people and injuring 12. Laila Kaplan was disguised as a pregnant woman.
Four days later, on October 29, in Sivas, 2 policemen and one civilian were killed in a suicide attack carried out by Otas Gular, a 29-year-old woman. The female PKK activist was dressed as a pregnant woman, and was accompanied by another member of the group. It was the third suicide bombing, all three committed by women, to use the appearance of maternity. Ocalan had urged his troops to imitate Hamas by becoming human bombs.
On November 17, 1998, Ozen Fatma, a PKK suicide bomber killed herself with a bomb strapped to her body in Yuksekova, outside a police station in southeast Turkey. She missed her main target, which was a military convoy. Nevertheless, 6 people were wounded in the attack.
On December 1st, 1998, in a small supermarket frequented by Turkish soldiers in Lice, a Kurdish woman blew herself up in a suicide attack. Fourteen people were injured.
A woman set a bomb outside an army barracks in East Turkey on December 24, 1998, killing herself and a passer-by, and wounding 22 people.
On March 4, 1999, a woman set off a bomb in the main square of Batman, Turkey. Four people were wounded; it seems that the bomb blew up prematurely, and the alleged target was a police station in the square.
On March 27, 1999, a 21 year-old woman, Esma Yurdakul, killed herself in a suicide attack in Istanbul. 10 people were injured.
On July 5, 1999, Rusen Tabanci, 19, flashed the "V for victory," and detonated the bombs strapped to her body in Adana, wounding 17 people.
In Chechnya On June 9, 2000, a young Muslim woman, Hawa Barayev, drove into a building housing Russian Special Forces, in Alkhan Kala, killing 27 soldiers. She was connected to the Chechen rebels who defended her in a very strong stand on their website. Hawa's last words were: "I know what I am doing, paradise has a price, and I hope this will be the price for Paradise." For the attack, a man accompanied the young suicide bomber, but this fact is not often referred to. [83]
According to the English Pravda, on November 29, 2001, a female suicide bomber, Luisa Gazueva, attempted to kill Commander Gaidar Gadzhiev in Urus Martan, killing 2 people, and wounding her target and his bodyguard, who later died of his wounds. [84] She was the young widow (in her late twenties) of a former member of an armed group. The rebels did not associate themselves with her attack, although she must not have acted completely alone.
In Israel On Jan. 27, 2002, a 28-year-old woman walked into a shopping district on Jerusalem's Jaffa Road and blew herself up. Wafa Idriss, the perpetrator, killed one man, and wounded ninety people. She was divorced, without children, and worked as a paramedic for the Red Crescent. She lived at the Amari Refugee Camp near Ramallah. There are some questions about whether it was really intended, or if the bomb exploded too soon.
The second suicide bombing perpetrated by a woman occurred on February 27, 2002. 21-year-old Dareen Abu Aysheh blew herself up at the Israeli Maccabim roadblock in West Ramallah (West Bank), wounding four Israelis. She was a student at Al-Najah University in Nablus, and came from the village of Beit Wazan, in the West Bank. She went to Hamas to volunteer, but was turned down. She was single, and her parents said she was religious.
On March 29, 2002, Ayat Akhras, an 18-year-old girl blew herself up in a Jerusalem supermarket in Kyriat Hayovel, killing two Israelis. She had previously taped a martyr statement. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades (allied to Arafat's Fatah) claimed responsibility. She was engaged to Shali Abu Laban, and came from the Dehaisha Refugee Camp, near Bethlehem.
On April 12, 2002, Andaleeb Takafka, a 20-year-old girl from Bethlehem, detonated a belt full of explosives at a Jerusalem bus stop, killing six Israelis, and injuring sixty. She was a Tanzim operative from Bethlehem.
Some women were arrested before the intended attacks, while others refused to carry out the bombings. These women are Tawriya Hamamra, Arin Ahmed, Shefa'a Alkudsi, and Shiriz Rabi.
On May 30, 2002, Tawriya Hamamra was supposed to carry out an attack in Jerusalem. She volunteered for the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, and received an hour of training. This 25-year-old woman from a village near Jenin in the West Bank, said in an interview that her reasons for conducting such an attack were personal, and not political. She backed out, and was caught afterwards by the IDF.[85]
The 20 year old Arin Ahmed from Bethlehem, a student in Business Administration, volunteered to carry out an attack to avenge the death of her Tanzim fiancee. She was supposed to commit the bombing in Rishon LeTzion during the last week of April 2002, along with another martyr, the 16-year-old Issa Badir, who went through with his mission, and blew himself up. She changed her mind and did not carry out her attack. She was arrested in June 2002 by the IDF.
A 26 year old divorced mother of a young child, Shefa'a Alkudsi planned to commit a suicide bombing. She was arrested by the IDF on April 11, 2002.
On June 13, 2002, a 15-year-old girl from Bethlehem confessed after interrogation by the IDF that the Tanzim had recruited her through her uncle, for the purpose of conducting a martyr mission.
On June 14, 2002, Israeli security forces apprehended two female would-be suicide terrorists. [86]
On July 27, 2002, Umaya Mohammed Danaj, a 28-year-old woman, was arrested on her way to commit a suicide bombing in Israel.[87]
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Tuesday, 12 April 2005
For years, the father said, he watched as his daughter, now 16, became more and more drawn to the family's Muslim religion. At 14, she began wearing a full-length veil and teaching religion classes at mosques around the city.
A year ago, she withdrew from her Manhattan high school because, a school official said, she felt uncomfortable with typical teenage banter. She told her family she wanted to go to an Islamic all-girls school, and when they could not afford to send her, she chose to study at home.
The father, a Bangladeshi watch salesman who describes himself as far more devoted to American education than to prayer after 13 years as an immigrant illegally in the United States, said he pushed for his daughter to return to public school. Then last fall, the daughter he also describes as loving Bollywood soap operas and shopping with girlfriends startled him and her mother by seeking their approval to marry a young American Muslim man they had never met and whom she barely knew. The father refused the marriage overtures, which were made by the young man's father in a call from Michigan. A few months later, when the teenager stayed out overnight for the first time, the father, fearing an elopement, went to the police for help. It is a decision he regrets deeply. His daughter and another 16-year-old girl are now described by the government as would-be suicide bombers and are being held in a detention center for illegal immigrants in Pennsylvania. He is sure that his visit to the police set off the F.B.I. investigation that led to a chilling assertion, in a government document, that the girls are "an imminent threat to the security of the United States based on evidence that they plan to be suicide bombers." Family and friends call that absurd. The document, provided to The New York Times by a federal agent on Wednesday, did not describe the nature of the evidence. Yesterday, after repeated inquiries, officials from several agencies involved in the investigation, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the F.B.I. and the New York Police Department, would not comment on the case. Little is known about the second 16-year-old. The mother of the Bangladeshi girl, conveying her daughter's account, said the two girls met for the first time at 26 Federal Plaza after her daughter's arrest. But when the other girl, a Guinean who was facing deportation with her family, noticed her daughter's veil, she gave her a traditional Muslim greeting, and federal agents seemed to think they were friends. The second girl ended up in the Pennsylvania detention center, too. The only other information about the second girl, included in the government document, is that she and her parents have been living in the United States illegally since shortly after her birth, that she has four siblings, all United States citizens, and that her father had been arrested on immigration violations. Neither girl's name is being published because they are minors who have not been charged with any crime. A bond hearing in the Bangladeshi girl's case is to be held this morning in York, Pa., but the government has asked that it be closed, based on an affidavit filed by a counterterrorism supervisor in the F.B.I.'s New York office. The case underscores the difficulties faced by anyone who is charged only with civil immigration violations, but is in fact being held in a counterterrorism investigation, lawyers said. There are no firm time limits on immigration detention, so the burden is on the girls to prove that they are not potential suicide bombers, rather than on the government to prove they are. Indeed, the evidence is withheld from the girls and anyone who represents them under a "protective order" that F.B.I. investigators obtained from the immigration court, according to an April 1 motion to continue the secrecy, signed by Jeffrey T. Bubier, assistant chief counsel for the Department of Homeland Security in Philadelphia. -----------------------------------------
Teachers and Classmates Express Outrage at Arrest of Girl, 16, as a Threat
Tuesday, 12 April 2005
At Heritage High School in East Harlem, where the student idiom is hip-hop and salsa, the 16-year-old Guinean girl stood out, but not just because she wore Islamic dress. She was so well liked that when she ran for student body president, she came in second to one of her best friends - the Christian daughter of the president of the parent-teacher association, Deleen P. Carr.
Now Ms. Carr, a speech pathologist who calls herself "a typical American citizen," is as outraged as the girl's teachers and classmates, who have learned that the girl and another 16-year-old are being called would-be suicide bombers and are being held in an immigration detention center in Pennsylvania. "They have painted this picture of her as this person that is trying to destroy our way of life, and I know in my heart of hearts that this is bogus," said Ms. Carr, who welcomed the Guinean girl to her house daily and knows her family well. "I feel like, how dare they? She's a minor, and even if she's not a citizen, she has rights as a human being." According to a government document provided to The New York Times by a federal official earlier this week, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has asserted that both girls are "an imminent threat to the security of the United States based on evidence that they plan to be suicide bombers." No evidence was cited, and federal officials will not comment on the case. Its mysteries deepened as teachers and neighbors gave details of the Guinean girl's life, like the jeans she wore under her Muslim garb, her lively classroom curiosity about topics like Judaism and art and her after-school care for four younger siblings while her parents, illegal immigrants who have lived in the United States since 1990, eked out a living.
Kimberly Lane, a teacher at Heritage High School, expressed dismay after the arrest.
"I just can't fathom this," said her art teacher, Kimberly Lane, who has repeatedly called the youth detention center but like Ms. Carr was not allowed to speak to the girl, who has no lawyer. Among the unanswered questions they raised was why, if she was really a suspect, no F.B.I. agent had shown up to search her school locker or question her classmates, who sent her letters of support. "This is a girl who's been in this country since she was 2 years old," Ms. Lane said. "She's just a regular teenager - like, two weeks ago her biggest worry was whether she'd done her homework or studied for a science test." Until now, attention has focused on the other 16-year-old, a Bangladeshi girl reared in Queens who could not deal with the hurly-burly of her West Side high school and withdrew into home schooling. Yesterday, on a motion of the government, an immigration judge closed the Bangladeshi girl's bond hearing to the public and adjourned it to next Thursday, said Troy Mattes, a lawyer who is taking over the case but has yet to meet her. By the Bangladeshi girl's account, reported by her mother, the girls did not meet until March 24, after their separate arrests in early-morning raids on immigration charges against their parents. Both grew up in Islamic families. But while the Bangladeshi girl had grown increasingly pious, and uncomfortable in the urban culture of the High School of Environmental Studies on West 56th Street, the Guinean girl, a 10th grader, embraced every aspect of Heritage High, at 106th Street and Lexington Avenue, her teachers said. "She is, yes, an orthodox Muslim, but completely integrated into this school," said Jessica Siegel, her English teacher in a class in which topics like teenage pregnancy and world politics were discussed. Ms. Siegel was profiled in the book "Small Victories," by Samuel G. Freedman, as an unsentimental, but fiercely committed teacher who provoked and delighted her students. "She's a wonderful, wonderful girl," Ms. Siegel said. "She's about the last person anyone could imagine being a suicide bomber." The English teacher's most vivid recollection was of a day two months ago when she heard a kind of roar in the hallway of the school, which is full of colorful student collages and life-size sculptures in papier-mâché. The teenager had stopped wearing her veil, and she beamed as her fellow students, seeing her face for the first time, cheered. After the class read "Night," the Holocaust memoir by Elie Wiesel, the girl wrote a paper about genocide in the Sudan, she recalled. But she was so excited about a field trip to see Christo's "Gates" in Central Park, Ms. Siegel said, that she skipped an appointment at immigration - a teenage impulse the teacher now worries might have set off problems with federal authorities. Her father is now in immigration jail facing deportation. At Woodrow Wilson Houses a few blocks from the school, a sticker on the family's apartment door reads, "Allah is our protector." Yesterday no one was home, but across the hall, Christine Anderson, a neighbor, shook her head in disbelief when she learned why she had not seen the girl or her father in recent weeks. "Why would they take the lady's daughter?" she asked. "They're nice people, and hard-working people. I've been here four years. I know she's not a problem child." Ms. Lane, the art teacher, said that when Heritage High first learned that immigration agents had picked up the girl, one of her best friends asked if someone from the school might have denounced her as an illegal immigrant. "I remember telling her the government doesn't go after 16-year-old girls," Ms. Lane said. "And in the last few days, I'm wrestling with the fact that, yes,
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Adama Has Been Released
Friday, 06 May 2005
Adama Bah was released from the detention center yesterday, Thursday May 5th. We decided to post the information up today because we wanted to verify this news. It was verified when someone of whom we know spoke to Adama directly which confirmed her release. Now that leaves Tashnuba & Adama's father in detention still. You can follow up on thier news on our previous posts.
Tashnuba to be Deported
Monday, 02 May 2005
We have recieved information that Tashnuba will be deported to her country of birth on the week of May 9th. The date was changed from Saturday, May 7th. Her mother will also be going back to her country.
Our Response to Adem Carroll of ICNA Relief Assalaamu Alaikum: Recently, Adem Carroll of ICNA Relief sent a message out over the net concerning the case of Adama Bah and Tashnuba Hyder, two 16 year old detained Muslimahs. Carroll's message warrants a response, for a number of reasons. There were things said that were a bit troubling; and there were things left unsaid that were also troubling. As the most visible grassroots organization, perhaps, involved in the growing multi-faceted public response to the unjust detention of these two young sisters, I feel that the onus is on us to provide, what we hope will be, a constructive response.
Our Response to Adem Carroll of ICNA Relief Assalaamu Alaikum:
Recently, Adem Carroll of ICNA Relief sent a message out over the net concerning the case of Adama Bah and Tashnuba Hyder, two 16 year old detained Muslimahs. Carroll's message warrants a response, for a number of reasons. There were things said that were a bit troubling; and there were things left unsaid that were also troubling. As the most visible grassroots organization, perhaps, involved in the growing multi-faceted public response to the unjust detention of these two young sisters, I feel that the onus is on us to provide, what we hope will be, a constructive response.
When this case first came to our attention, we had no intention of becoming as actively involved as we have. On March 3, 2005, we released a very public statement alerting the community of our decision to suspend the direct-action advocacy component of our organization's work (effective May 31, 2005). We also stated we would honor what was already on our plate, but we would not accept any new cases.
About six weeks later we heard about the detention of Adama and Tashnuba - the kind of atrocity that sends shivers down the spine of any dutiful and loving parent – two young girls savagely taken from their families and then forcibly held hundreds of miles away in the company of strangers. I immediately thought about my own daughter, and how I as a father would be impacted by such an assault.
Our immediate response was to send an urgent message to all of the individuals and groups within our network; we also sent a very specific message to Muslim advocacy organizations in the New York area urging them to react quickly, and in the most effective ways in order to build public pressure for the girls' release. We were prepared to play a supportive role from the Washington, DC area. (I emphasize, a supportive role).
Around the same time I began seeing more published reports on the case, primarily from the New York Times, and I was struck by how uncharacteristicly sympathetic the media was to this latest assault on the Muslim community. And then I saw the report that caused me to get on the phone. The report noted that school officials (at Adama's school) didn't think she had a lawyer! I contacted CAIR-NY and ICNA, spoke briefly with Wissam (CAIR) and Adem (ICNA), and neither of them knew if Adama had an attorney or not. Their response immediately raised red flags. Subsequent to my telephone communications with Adem and Wissam, I gave a lecture at the Islamic Cultural Center of New York (aka, the 96th St. Mosque). The lecture – which turned into a community forum on the case – was titled, "Protecting Our Daughters in Post 9/11 America." It was then (Sunday, April 17th), partially in response to a number of questions that were raised, that we decided to become as actively involved in this case as our limited resource would allow.
One of the statements made by Adem Carroll in his recent message sent out over the net was the following: "We have helped to coordinate advocacy between lawyers and activists. We have always worked to support the wishes of the families, not to make a name for ourselves or make speeches. We have also agreed not to use the girls' names to guard their privacy. At the same time, we are concerned by reports that some groups and individuals may be raising money that does not go to the families in need and may be exploiting the situation."
We've already stated more than once why it is important for the broader community to know who these girls are; how "guarding their privacy" (by concealing their names) plays right into the hands of the government, and its "secret" proceedings. The larger question is what kind of "advocacy" has ICNA and/or CAIR coordinated between "lawyers and activists" involved in this case? I have yet to see any real, meaningful public advocacy. For the longest time the point persons for these two organizations didn't even know if Adama had legal counsel. And while Tashnuba has had two lawyers, thus far, (talk about waste) I haven't seen a whole lot shakin on her side either. As for the comment about groups and individuals raising money, and possibly "exploiting the situation," what exactly is meant by this statement? Is this a case of the pot calling the kettle black? This also raises a glaring omission; a very important point left out by Brother Carroll.
Not long after these girls were detained, and word began to filter out, there was a small, grassroots Muslim organization that sent information out over the net, constructed a website, and appealed for material support on behalf of the families. They were the FIRST to put the family up in a hotel for a week; and then because their resource was so limited they requested the assistance of the larger, more established organizations. This is how ICNA and CAIR-NY became involved.
Carroll says, "Despite CAIR NY ads in the local Muslim press, very little has been donated so far--especially by Muslims. Most of the small checks received by CAIR NY and ICNA Relief are from non-Muslims!" He went on to note, "So far, less than two thousand dollars has been received by CAIR NY and ICNA together... Even now, these two families are reduced to eating instant noodles for their meals."
I find this statement shocking to say the least. I had heard about a week or so ago (from one of the brothers who first assisted Tashnuba's family) that the family had been reduced to eating "noodles, crackers and water" - but I couldn't help but wonder if there was a bit of exaggeration until Carroll confirmed it. (The brother shared some other unpleasant tidbits of info as well.)
How could this be?! How could a family under siege be living in this type of deplorable state with two well established organizations supposedly looking out for them? The Muslim community has contributed large sums of money to both organizations. And what about the plight of Adama's family (whose father is in detention as well)? With everything else these families are having to go through, neither family should be hungry nor "homeless!"
Brother Carroll also writes: It is shocking that the government is using immigration law to jail these two 16 year olds without charging them with a crime, holding secret proceedings against them without giving them access to the evidence that is being used against them, and slandering them in the media as "suicide bombers" without providing proof. But if we do not STAND UP [emphasis mine] to this as a community, we can expect to see many more such cases.
Indeed! But how are we to "stand up," Mr. Carroll? By hiring self-serving, politically naive "private attorneys" and giving the lion's share of resource raised (in the names of these two beleagured families) to them?! - when NO COST attorneys from non-profit advocacy organizations would work just as well, if not BETTER! (What's truly ironic is that if this case had been handled properly in the court of public opinion from the get-go, there could have been a number of high priced law firms offering their services pro-bono for the publicity value this case might generate.)
And before I leave the issue of resource, it's amazing that CAIR and ICNA have not raised more than $2,000 combined. If this is an accurate assessment, you should be asking yourselves why. And if this is a genuine unified effort between two organizations why do you need "two authorized established funds," when ONE FUND, jointly administered, would probably be far more effective?
And finally, "the loving support of the Muslim community" expresses itself best through action-oriented work! Prophet Mohammed (saaw) advised, "Tie your camel and have trust in Allah!" We are advised to do everything humanly possible to advance and protect our interests as Muslims, and then leave the rest to Allah. Thus far, I have yet to see this prophetic maxim fully expressed in this particular case. What I have seen from certain "Muslim" quarters, unfortunately, are attempts to undermine the sincere initiatives being made by those of us who are in the streets trying to make a difference.
I visited Columbus, Ohio, last weekend, and had the good fortune of receiving an invitation to attend CAIR-Ohio's "Leadership Conference." It was an excellent conference – well organized and informative. In my brief remarks I brought up the cases of Dr. Ali Al-Tamimi and the two young sisters. Daniel Tokaji, Professor of Law at Ohio State University, in response to my remarks, encouraged the Muslim community to make common cause (form coalitions) with other communities and groups. He further noted how the battles (in politicized cases like these) have to be fought in the "legislative chambers" and "among the grassroots," and "in the court of public opinion" (i.e., the streets), "not just in the courts of the land."
We couldn't agree more! In concert with this shared informed opinion, The Adama and Tashnuba Defense Committee - in concert with the newly established, New York based, Coalition for Peace and Justice thru the Due Process of Law, and other concerned groups - will be spearheading the next demonstration in New York City on Tuesday, May 24th, at 11am. (The same venue as before, 26 Federal Plaza.)
Like before, ICNA and CAIR are welcome to join us, and help lead the effort. However, should you choose to stay away (as you did on April 24th), try not to hinder our efforts this time around. Remember, this is not about us as [rival] organizations; it's about these girls; their families; and US as a community under siege.
Yours in the struggle for peace thru justice, El-Hajj Mauri' Saalakhan Director of Operations
