Global Voice for Justice The following has been brought to our attention by the Muslim Justice Initiative:
Fahad Hashmi has pleaded guilty today to one count of material support. There will be no trial, instead a sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 7th.
Source: http://www.muslimsforjustice.org/2010/04/trial-for-fahad-hashmi/
FILE – In this Jan. 4, 2010, file photo, Pakistani police officers with detained American Muslims leave a police station to send them into prison in Sargodha, Pakistan. A Pakistani court charged the five young Americans on Wednesday March 17, 2010, with planning terrorist attacks in the South Asian country and conspiring to wage war against nations allied with Pakistan, their defense lawyer said. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary, File)
By ZARAR KHAN (AP) – 20 hours ago
ISLAMABAD — A Pakistani court charged five young Americans on Wednesday with planning terrorist attacks in the South Asian country and conspiring to wage war against nations allied with Pakistan, their defense lawyer said.
The men — all Muslims from the Washington suburb of Alexandria, Virginia — pleaded not guilty to a total of five charges, the most severe of which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, defense lawyer Hasan Dastagir told The Associated Press.
“My clients were in good shape and high spirits,” Dastagir said.
The men, all in their late teens or early 20s, were charged by an anti-terrorism court inside a prison in Sargodha, the city in Punjab province where they were arrested in December. They were reported missing by their families in November after one left behind a farewell video showing scenes of war and casualties and saying Muslims must be defended.
Their lawyer has said they were heading to Afghanistan and had no plans to stage attacks inside Pakistan.
The court also charged the men with planning attacks on Afghan and U.S. territory, said Dastagir. The charges did not specify what was meant by U.S. territory but could be a reference to American bases or diplomatic outposts in Afghanistan.
The men also were charged with contributing cash to banned organizations to be used for terrorism and with directing each other to commit terrorist acts.
“This last charge carries life in prison while the rest of the charges have lesser punishments,” Dastagir said.
The trial will begin on March 31, and the prosecution is slated to present more than 20 witnesses, Dastagir said.
The defense plans to bring witnesses from the U.S. and provide evidence of community service carried out by the men back home, Dastagir said.
Pakistani police have publicly made several accusations against the young men, claiming the suspects contacted Pakistani-based jihadi groups. They accused the five of using the social networking site Facebook and video-sharing site YouTube while they were in the U.S. to try to connect with extremist groups in Pakistan.
During past court hearings, the men have claimed they were tortured by Pakistani police and FBI agents. Pakistan and the U.S. have denied those allegations.
Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said in a phone interview Wednesday from Washington that the parents of the five have received letters from their children detailing the alleged torture, including beatings and threats of electrocution.
In one letter, dated March 10, one of the five writes, “They beat the hell out of me and the rest of us until we said what they wanted us to say. Wallahi (by God) they even threatened to electrocute us the day before court so we don’t tell the judge but we spoke out.”
The letter refers to an earlier note written on toilet paper that they tossed out from a vehicle as they were taken away from a previous court appearance in which they also alleged torture.
“All the things we wrote on the toilet paper are true,” the letter states. “By the way did news of the paper go all over the news even in the US — tell me about it.”
The portion of the letter provided by Awad did not include the signature, so it was unclear which of the five wrote it. Awad said he received the letter from one of the men’s parents.
Authorities in the United States and Pakistan have denied accusations of torture, and skeptics have said that would-be terrorists are trained to allege torture if caught as a form of propaganda.
The U.S. has pressed an often-reluctant Pakistan to crack down on militants in its territory, many of whom are believed involved in attacks on American and NATO forces across the border in Afghanistan. At the same time, several recent cases have highlighted incidences of foreigners signing up to join the insurgents on both sides of the border.
The men have been identified as Ramy Zamzam of Egyptian descent, Waqar Khan and Umar Farooq of Pakistani descent, and Aman Hassan Yemer and Ahmed Minni of Ethiopian descent.
Associated Press writer Matthew Barakat contributed to this story from in McLean, Virginia.
Bismillah Rahman Ar-Rahim
Asalamu ‘alaikum dear brothers and sisters
Two days ago, the 11th of January 2010, was the hearing of our dear and beloved sister Aafia Siddiqui. Her name and moving story have become so common amongst the media and amongst the internet by muslims all over the world, yet only 17 muslims showed up to support her. (Note: some people may have been muslims but I was unable to tell )
Approaching the court house stairs, I felt my heart begin to tremble with sorrow. I knew that what I was about to witness was going to strike me with intense feelings of desolation. You walk through the halls of the court and see various people smiling and joking and you think to yourself “Of course you’re laughing, what do you care about what my sister Aafia has gone through!” We entered the court room and sat down as the oppressive Judge walked in and everyone rose. We stayed seated and I thought how ridiculous for them to even expect us to stand up for this Judge, the Judge that strips the rights of our poor sister and does not even allow her to speak! Moments later they brought Sister Aafia in, a white hijab covering her head and concealed her face, the face which noor illuminated from despite being covered.
She was accompanied by US Court Marshalls. Instantly she turned around and spoke to us but sadly, what she said was inaudible. The judge and marshalls spoke over her and that made it difficult to hear what she was saying. The judge told her to stay quiet and to speak when he gave her permission to. She spoke back to him and said “You never give me a chance to talk!” She then turned around again and said to us “These are not my lawyers, I fired them!” They then made her sit in her chair where she rested her head on her arms on the table. The sketch artists on the left side sat there drawing her staring at her through binoculars and sketching away as if she was some piece of art work. Occasionally she’d lift her head and rest it on the back of the chair. She truly looked exhausted both physically and mentally. Nonetheless there was a strength emanating from her actions, in which she feared no judge or court marshall.
The prosecutors went on to say that they are not claiming she is part of Al-Qaeda or Taliban or knows any terrorists, but they are claiming she did shoot a gun and injure a special agent. Her defense team stated that there is no forensic evidence to prove that she fired any sort of gun. There are no prints and no DNA on the gun. These people lie against our sister and try to make her seem as if she is a lunatic who doesn’t know what she’s talking about,which is ironic since the Yahoodi judge claimed she is fit for trial. The government team sits their smiling and snickering all through the trial.
The US court marshalls sat there snickering and smirking the whole time as well. They kept turning around and looking at everyone that walked in. It was a man and a woman and the woman would turn and look at me and I would glare back at her. This goes to show you how they don’t even care about the ill-treatment they put Aafia through. They pull her in the courtroom forcefully and drag her out and they have no rahmah in their hearts.
After awhile, the judge ordered a 15 minute recess in which the male marshall ordered Aafia to get up, “Come on come on get up move it” he says and Aafia tries to say something (inaudible to me again) and he says “Come on move it stop talking.” He then grabbed her arm and pushed her out.
Imagine a filthy kafir pushing our dear sister in a rough manner! How dare he touch her??? There was a female marshall there , they do these things to spite muslims. How can the muslim ummah accept this and not fight for her release???? How can we just go about our daily lives and not be affected by this?? I saw this kafir pushing Aafia with my own eyes!! It’s a very heart breaking image to see. Imagine some man grabbing your mom or wife or sister by the arm and shoving her around as if she is nothing. It was time for ‘asr then and we prayed and then went back to the court room in which they preceded to talk about jury selection. The hearing then ended soon after and the marshall shoved Aafia out again while she was talking.
Dear brothers and sisters remember her in your prayers and make du’aa against those who harm our sister. What more motivation can I give to people to attend her hearings and the hearings of the other aseer?
The worst part is Aafia is a female and she is our honor and our pride. Where are the men of the ummah??? My brothers posting on forums does not make one a man, my brothers while you sit and get into arguments over silly things , the kuffar are pushing our sister around!!! And still people need more incentive and to be constantly reminded to reach out to the prisoners and still people sit back and remain quiet. Don’t wait for it to be your mother or your sister or your wife in their hands la qadr Allah. Don’t wait until you’re in that position to do something for the prisoners. By Allah after leaving that court room I could not get back into focus of my own world. I felt angry with the ummah for abandoning Aafia in her time of need. The sun shined that day into the court room, but all around Aafia was a dark cloud of injustice.The effects of that dark cloud followed me all the way home and thoughts of my beloved sister haunted me all night. Sleep escaped my eyes but the tears would not stop flowing until the morning hours of fajr.
Ya Allah hasten the release of this poor woman from the hands of the kafireen!
Ya Allah punish the oppressors!
Allahumma fukka qayda asrana wa asral muslimeen wa ruddahum ilaa ahlihim salimeen!!!
A sentencing hearing was schedueled on the 14th of December for the 5 terror suspects in Sydney, who’ve been on trial for 10 months – the longest trial in Australian history. But it has been said that their sentencing hearing didn’t go ahead and the following updates on the 14th and 16th of December are updates of their Pre-sentencing hearing. Their sentencing hearing has been scheduled for February 2010. Please pray for our brothers.
Update from one of our dedicated Volunteers:
Update 1.
14/12/09
Assalamu ‘alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu,
The judge didn’t give the verdict out today, the prosecutor (May Allah give him what he deserves, wa la’natullahi ‘alayh) presented his argument again, and the lawyers for the brothers did the same. Inshallah the sentence hearing will be this Thursday same place same time. But they first need to convince the judge that the brothers don’t deserve life in jail with parole after 20 years (la hawla wala quata illa billah). If the judge is convinced they might get 15 years.
Lets all make du’a for them to get light sentences. Subhanallah it was raining today, a great mercy from Allah ‘azza wajal for our ad’iya to be accepted inshallah.
Around 15 people attended jazahumullahu khayran in this dunya and akhira. I also met the sister of one of the brothers. She told me that their condition in the prison is terrible. Her brother is sick and they won’t allow him to see the doctor even when he is in lots of pain. May Allah grant him shifa’, ameen.
The brothers were all smiles, subhanallah they are so strong and have so much noor on their faces. May Allah allow us to reach that level of Iman, ameen.
Wal hamdulillahi rabbil ‘alameen.
