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Dr Kaukab Siddique | Editor-in-Chief Sha'ban 22,1427/September 16, 2006 #61

Next issue: See Dr. Wilmer Leon's thought provoking comparison of 9.11 and Katrina.
Also next issue: Islamic woman activist writes of ISNA's shameful Convention activity.

Veteran journalist and human rights activist Edward Miller's blockbuster article on Dr. Omar 'Abdel Rahman [the blind Shaikh].
[please scroll way down]

See below Q & A on 9.11 Conspiracy Theories.
[Please scroll down.]

LATEST IMPORTANT NEWS:
The POPE, Benedict X1V, carried out an unprovoked attack on Islam.
[September 14]. Quoting a 14th century source, he claimed that Islam is an EVIL religion because it teaches JIHAD. New Trend has been tracing the Pope's descent into the tentacles of International Jewry and Zionism. The Zionists were so pleased with the previous Pope because he quietly RECOGNIZED the terrorist entity known as Israel, thus reversing decades of Catholic condemnation of Israel as illegitimate. This POPE, a German, despises his own people and has been visiting synagogues and did the "pilgrimage" to Auschwitz thus discouraging the debate required to find out what really happened in World War II.

On September 15 the Islamic world condemned Pope Benedict's absurd outburst against Islam and Jihad. Turkey led the way, calling it a continuation of the crusades. Then came, Lebanon, Egypt, Iran and Pakistan. Thousands protested in INDIA [including many Islamic women]. The best were the Pakistanis. The Islamic coalition, MMA, proposed a resolution in condemnation of the Pope in the Pakistani Parliament. It was passed UNANIMOUSLY. Musharraf's men could not oppose the resolution because it would have isolated them from the nation.
[In USA, Jamaat al-Muslimeen condemns the Pope's outburst and urges him to apologize to the ONE BILLION plus Muslims of the world.]

In connection with the Pope's message of hate, note the activities of FETHULLAH GULEN, a Turkish 'moderate Muslim' who felt honored to meet the Pope. Gulen is part of the American program to create a new "Islam" to be called "American Islam" or "Moderate Islam." Prof. Suleyman Kurter, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has sent us a magazine, The Muslim World, a missionary venture, with its ENTIRE issue of July 2005 dedicated to Fethullah Gulen, supporting his exploits with the Pope and rejecting those who opposed the visit to the Pope. The magazine is edited by an Arab of Israeli citizenship, Dr. Ibrahim Abu Rabi, and by INGRID MATTSON, the President of the so called ISNA [Islamic Society of North America] closely allied to the Bush Administration.

IMPORTANT Pakistani News:

On September 12, the Islamic movement defeated General Musharraf's move against Sharia and the Hudood Ordinance. The clincher came from women themselves. Thousands of Islamic women gathered in Islamabad to condemn Musharraf's moves which would have removed rape from the purview of Islamic Law [Sharia]. The women were led by Islamic women elected to Parliament, including Dr. Kausar Firdaus, Samiha Raheel Qazi, Ayesha Munawar, Razia Aziz, Bilquis Saif and Jamila Ahmed. Among the speakers was a male leader of Jamaate Islami, Liaqat Baluch, who said Musharraf's moves against Sharia were signalled by his masters in the United States.

The government party has now [Sept. 13] agreed to sit with Islamic scholars and come up with Sharia Law which would safeguard the rights of women. Jamaate Islami and other Islamic leaders are demanding that the following be included in the new bill of Sharia Law:

INDIA: TERRORISM AGAINST MUSLIMS IS EXCUSED

On September 8, suspected Hindu zealots exploded bombs in the city of Malegaon as Muslims were returning from Friday prayers. At least 56 Muslims were killed and 150 wounded. After the massacre, the Indian government imposed curfew to stop the Muslim response.

Neither the United States nor even the Musharraf government expressed sorrow or outrage. However, earlier, the bombing of trains in Mumbai had led to worldwide publicity and condemnation of "Islamic" terrorists, though no one took responsibility.

WAR NEWS: Compiled by New Trend's Media Monitor

AFGHANISTAN: Canada's Dilemma+Attacks in Kabul+NATO calls for help

NATO launched a major offensive, lead by Canadian forces, called "Medusa" in the small mountain area of Panjwai near Kandahar. After nearly two weeks, by September 13 the operation had fizzled out. The Taliban had disappeared leaving behind a few used tea cups, a few rusty weapons and a trench used to store weapons. The Canadians have been issung daily communiques claiming large numbers of Taliban killed each day, ending up with a total claim of 510. The Canadians lost 5 killed and 13 wounded.

Observers wonder at the Canadian claims. If 500 Taliban fighters have been killed in 13 days, the backbone of the Islamic uprising would have been broken. After the Canadian claims were published, they were ridiculed by Mullah Dadallah, the legendary Taliban field commander, who said that not even 10 Taliban have been killed. Neutral Pakistani sources say that probably the Canasians estimate the Taliban killed by the numbers of artillery shells they fire and the air strikes they call in. Perhaps they think if 1000 shells were fired 100 Taliban must have been killed!

Canada will learn soon that the Taliban know their land well and mere display of fire power is not going to kill these wily fighters. As the Canadian paper, Globe and Mail wrote [September 13] none of the bodies of the supposedly dead Taliban had "turned up."

On September 7, 2006 the NATO commander in Afgfhanistan admitted that the 18,000 man NATO forces cannot win and asked for reinforcements. Unfortunately for him, NATO's meeting in Brussels [Sept.14] failed to promise any more troops. NATO is stuck.

In KABUL, the Taliban have started launching martyrdom operations. On September 8, a young Afghan martyr attacked the perimeter of the U.S. embassy killing 2 U.S. troops and 16 Karzai men and wounding 29 Karzai and one U.S.

On September 10, a "suicider" [martyrdom operator] killed the Karzai-U.S. appointed "governor" of Paktika province, Abdul Hakim Taniwal, along with 3 of his troops.

In a disturbing development, a Taliban attack killed 4 Karzai police in Mazar-e-Sharif, in the extreme north which is the stronghold of Uzbek communists.

PHILIPPINES:

Looks like the Abu Sayyaf Islamists are back in action. In a clash with them on September 4, five of Phillipppines best marines were killed and 10 wounded.

JORDAN:

September 4: A Jordanian terrorist citizen opened fire on British tourists killing one British and wounding 5.

EGYPT:

SEPTEMBER 8: Hosni Mubarak's government sentenced 3 Egyptians to death for attacking Israelis in the Red Sea resorts last year.

IRAQ: Chances of U.S. victory are dim. It appears that Islamic forces led by Al-Qaida have fought U.S. forces to a stand still in Anbar province, Iraq's biggest province. A secret U.S. military assessment of the situation prepared by the U.S. command in Fallujah admitted that there is "NO CHANCE" of a U.S. victory with the forces now available.

Meanwhile the fighting continues. On September 14, a "suicider" [martyrdom operator] hit U.S. troops in West Baghdad killing 2 and wounding 25. At least 11 U.S. troops have been killed in the last week raising U.S. troop deaths to 2680 on September 15 with more than 25,000 wounded.

Meanwhile Shia death squads are busy in Baghdad killing Sunnis to remove all Sunnis from Baghdad. Observers say this is happening under U.S. auspices, mainly being carried out by Iranian-trained "Badr" brigades and Al-Sadr's Mahdi army. SIXTY bodies were discovered on September 14 and 49 on Sept. 14.

On 9.11, the Islamic resistance sent a "suicider" who killed 12 Shia troops armed by the U.S. who were in a minibus in Baghdad.

[BRIEF ANALYSIS: Iran is cooperating closely with the U.S. to create a Shia state in south-central Iraq. The U.S.-Iran dialectic about the nuclear program is being used to camouflage the Shia-U.S. cooperation in Iraq. The U.S. installed "Prime Minister" of Iraq, Nuri al-Maliki, is visiting Iran without U.S. complaint while Iran's former President Khatami has been visiting the U.S. The Islamic world would have to be blind not to note these subversive moves meant to undermine the Islamic resistance.]

U.S. MUSLIMS

Jamaat al-Muslimeen Supports the case of Siddique Abdullah Hasan on death row in Youngstown, Ohio. Here is a significant development. Please read and support this cause. Jamaat al-Muslimeen opposes the death penalty in secular countries like USA.

Sunday Sept. 24th:
-THE LUCASVILLE PRISON UPRISING - WHAT REALLY HAPPENED?
Featuring Staughton Lynd

On Easter Sunday, April 11, 1993, prisoners at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, Ohio revolted against the brutal, inhumane, and humiliating treatment they were subjected to by prison guards and Warden Arthur Tate. During the course of the 11-day occupation, 10 people were killed. Five prisoners were subsequently scapegoated and sentenced to death, currently sitting on Ohio's death row as their appeals run out. What really happened? Join us for this important talk by Staughton Lynd........

SUNDAY SEPT. 24th @ 7:00 PM
UNIV. OF TOLEDO
STUDENT UNION ROOM 2562
Call 419-944-5327 for more info.
Sponsored by the Campaign to End the Death Penalty - Toledo chapter

Staughton Lynd is an activist of international renown. Director of the Freedom Schools during the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer, staunch opponent of the U.S. war on Vietnam, labor rights attorney, participant in the Youngstown steel worker struggles, and leader in the fight to abolish prisons and the death penalty, Lynd has authored numerous books including, "Lucasville. The Untold Story of a Prison Uprising".

Campaign to End the Death Penalty
www.nodeathpenalty.org

Five Reasons to Oppose the Death Penalty:
1. It's racist.
2. It targets the poor.
3. It kills the innocent.
4. It doesn't deter crime.
5. It's barbaric.

U.S. Muslims
Islamic Expert Looks at ISNA's attempt to Reject the Sunnah of the Prophet, pbuh
Dr. Omar Afzal, Ithaca, NY, on ISNA/ICNA's Zulfiqar Ali Shah

Who does not want that the dates of Ramadan, Eids and the Hajj be known so that the Muslims can plan their rituals ahead of time? The present chaos and waiting till midnight to know when to start fasting or pray Eid is not only unbearable but makes the Muslims a butt of ridicule. The attempt started long ago. Abdali "On the Crescent's Visibility," Al-Ittihad, v.16, 1979) suggested computing broad visibility of the crescent moon, and Kahf (Determination of Islamic Occasions and Islamic Calendar, Al-Ittihad, v. 18 (1980) proposed taking the "News of sighting from any Muslim country" to eliminate the uncertainty. ISNA Fiqh Council (10 June, 2006) proposed purely calculable fixed Islamic dates.
Zulfiqar Ali Shah (Islamic Horizon, Sep./Oct. 2006) is an attempt to provide Fiqhi justification for 1) eliminating the need for visual sighting of the moon. Unfortunately, Shah's ignorance of calendar computation and geographical facts led him to interpret both crucial terms: Hilal and Matla against the consensus and practice of the Muslims for the last fifteen centuries
The Qur'an (2:189) makes "Ahilla" “the visible crescent moons the "Mawaqeet" determinant of the beginning of the Islamic month. The Messenger (SAW) put Allah's command into practice. He carefully looked for the Sh'abaan moon to begin Ramadan 29 or 30 days later. He asked the Muslims to begin Ramadan after sighting a Hilal and celebrate Eid after sighting it again at the end of the fasting period. In case the horizon is clouded or haze obstructs the moon's visibility on the 29th day. then complete the month to thirty days, as a moon is always visible on the 30th evening.
1. Ahillah in English are the "visible crescent moons."
2. "Ru'yah" is "seeing." Ru'yah followed by an object is used primarily for "perceive with the eye" after looking at an object.
3. "Ghamma" primarily means "overcast." In the Hadith, the only meaning of "Ghumma alaikum¦" that fits is "overcast, cloudy, hidden from visibility because of haze." Similarly, Ghubbiya means "To be hidden".
Shah's interpretation that the Prophet (PBUH) was asking the Muslims to go by the conjunction is not only odd but also absurd, especially when a "sighted-moon" based Hijri calendars for a large area like the United States can now easily be calculated (and verifiable by subsequent confirmed sightings).
ISNA Fiqh Council and Shah also did not take into account the fact that at "12:00 Noon GMT" the solar date at 180W changes. Take a globe and look to the shape of the Earth. There is only one Matla for the sun as the earth rotates around the sun and it takes 24 hours for the sun to be visible over the globe. Similarly, the moon rotates around the earth, but it takes 24 to72 hours for its.
There is no "Authentic" calculation of the Hilal" even today after 1427 years. The calculations of the Hilal are only for a broader region and not for every town and every street.
ISNA's whole attempt is to somehow synchronize the dates in the US with those of Saudi Arabia. CFCO have been advocating "fixed" dates for the USA (Local) and fixed global dates based on "COMPUTABLE almost CERTAINLY VISIBLE crescent moon." The problem was that it did not suite the Fiqh Council. It tried every excuse to follow Saudi dates in the US because their congregations forced them to go by Saudi or Egyptian dates.
Now Shah has twisted the basic meaning of Hilal, and Matla and has created a BIG MESS. May Allah help us.
Ameen.

Letter
Re: CNN's Scandalous Lie About Dr. Omar 'Abdel Rahman [the blind Shaikh]

Assalamu alaikum Dr. Siddique,
I watched the same CNN special as you did, and the question you raise to Ms. Amanpour is very valid...it will be very interesting to see if she has anything to say at all about this 'fatwa' supposedly made from solitary confinement by Dr. Abdel-Rahman (and conveyed to the media by carrier pigeon?! Come on!)!

With regards to New Trend Magazine's mission statement, at least in my opinion it is redundant to say you are opposed to both racism and Zionism, but then again since any criticism of Zionism in this country (I live in York, PA) will earn you an instant label of "anti-Semite" (in spite of the fact that the overwhelming majority of Semites in the world today are Arabs, followed by Ethiopians and Eritreans) this is still something worth pointing out explicitly.

I fervently pray that the Almighty will help you in revealing the truth to those who are still blinded by all the lies and half-truths that regularly billow forth from the so-called "free" media.

Go in peace,
Jameel Forsyth Rahman

Ed. Note: CNN is unable to provide any reference. CNN's lie has been nailed.

Letter
RE: Interview with Syed Munawar Hasan on Women in Sharia, Taliban, etc.

AGAINST: [The writer has highlighted, below, the question which she says was not answered.]

Dear Dr Siddique, where is the answer to your following question?, see below.

And please do not let SMH tell you that the present sharia system is defender of women's right. They can't even have one law straight and women are suffering in prison; mind you these are poor women who do not have means to fight the cruel system. I have not seen defenders of deen coming in the street for women's rights when they are killed in the name of ghairet and when they are not even given the property share of 1/4 or 1/8 whatever sharia recommends. They do not raise their voice when women who dare to participate in election in Dir and Sawat get killed. But they get angry when women ask for their right and question their discriminatory laws. They are branded pro-western and playing in the hands of jews and then discredit them. Thanks for your time.

Ghazala Kazi [West Virginia]

NT: But this situation still doesn't make sense to me. Maulana Fazlur Rahman is quoted as saying that women should be subjected to the punishment for adultery if they do not bring witnesses to their being raped. How can you support Fazlur Rahman?

FOR

asslamo alaikum
mohtaram kaukab sahib
in fact new trend is trend setter,
its prompt resonse regarding ummah related issues r full of vision.
In recent issue SMH interview is good but i want to note that that u have introduced him as ISLAMIST.
No , sir i think this is a term with its bag and baggage , so if u agree, then pls avoid this term otherwise u have right to veto my opinion. I shall accept it.
Salim Mansur Khalid
Gujranwala, Pakistan

Q & A on 9.11:

In response to two letters from a young reader in England

Dear daughter
walaikum asalam

As the editor of New Trend, I receive a vast amount of emails on 9.11 conspiracies. I have read them very carefully. I have also listened to experts who say that 9.11 was an inside job. I am sorry to say that as a critical journalist, I am not convinced by any of these conspiracy theories

Of course, tapes can be faked, altered and digitally re-done. If something can be done, that does not prove that it was actually done.

Have you heard of ANY tape coming out which says Al-Qaidah did not do it? In the beginning Osama did issue a tape which suggested he did not do it. It is possible that he was trying to mislead the Americans but since then he has admitted it in detail.

Osama has repeatedly taken credit for the attacks on several videos. None of the people working with him have denied it. They could easily issue a statement EVEN NOW saying that they DID NOT do it. No one has said so.

The story that Jews did it or that 4,000 Jews did not turn up on 9.11 was started about one or two days [I forget how many days exactly] after 9.11 by Al-Manar TV which is Iranian TV coming out of Lebanon. Iranians are concerned that Osama is taking over global Muslim leadership.

Why would America or Israel kill 3,000 Americans and inflict TRILLIONS of dollars in damages? Bush was in a state of total unbelief when it happened. Vice President Cheyney went into hiding. Probably you have never been to Ground Zero otherwise you would not think America did it to itself. The fires were burning in the Twin Towers for SIX MONTHS after 9.11.

If you want me to discuss a specific conspiract theory, do let me know. I am happy to write to you because you think of serious issues.

Sincerely

Kaukab Siddique



Assalam - u Alaikuim Wa RAhmatullah uncle

sorry that i didnt pose the question clearly. Basically you may not be a conspiracy theorist so may not wish to answer this question. i had finished watching "loose change" a documentary which evidences that the 9 11 could only have been an inside job by the government. The documentary included showing ways of falsifying the video which was aired claimed to be by osama bin laden.

do you think that it was an inside job or that it was osama bin laden or do you wish not to get yourself involved in thinking about these things as you think that you will never get to the bottom of it in any event.

The time spent on emailing me is much appreciated

masalaam

Amina- your daughter in Islam



Walaikum asalam

Dear daughter-in-Islam

Perhaps I don't understand your question.

Why would anyone make a fake video of Osama? Is that a gold ring he is wearing? There is no way of checking that.

I don't see what America has to gain by producing fake videos of Osama. That would give him free publicity. When the videos do appear, American media show very little of them.

Please clarify your question.

Sincerely

Kaukab Siddique



Salaams uncle

I hope that these few lines reach to you in the best of health and Eeman. I had read your recent edition with great interest. I had just been watching "loose change" about a conspiracy theory about 9 11. Now I can appreciate that there are so many things that are concerning the Ummah. HOwever for clarificaiton I was wondering if you could address these issues

1. the tape of Osama Bin Laden that was broadcasted when the attacks took place was criticised by this video on the basis that the footage was of poor quality and he was wearing a gold ring which is not allowed in Islam so it couldnt have been him.

the latest video is purported to be by Osama bin laden where he says that he had entrusted the highjackers. Is it him on the video; is he truthful.

Please CLICK ON REPLY ALL when replying so that my hubby is aware of the response.

Hope the family is well.

Masalaam

Amina

A Political Prisoner In the U.S.: Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman

BY EDWARD W. MILLER [Dr. Miller wrote this in 1997 but has asked that we reprint it for the large number of new readers we have now. At that time, New Trend was only in hard copy.]

In early 1980 in Cairo, an Egyptian imam, or holy man, quietly moved from mosque to crowded mosque, preaching the tenents of Islam while also condemning the on-going corruption of his government. Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, a Ph.D. from Al-Azher University, was denouncing the plundering of Muslim lands in Palestine, as well as President Mubarak's treachery in cooperating with Israel and the U.S. to support repression of both the Palestinian and his own people. The Sheik commanded his followers to stand up against "a military dictator whose prison brimmed with 70,000 of the nation's best sons and daughters" in a regime where ideas were being censored by Egyptian thought police. The sheik also beseeched his people to stop the looting of their country by Western banks and corporations whose profits and way of life both drained the natural resources and morally corrupted the culture of Egyptians.
Sheik Rahman had been jailed by Mubarak for his preachings in the early 1980s, released in 1984 only to be imprisoned again in 1985, 1986 and 1989. At each trial he was acquitted of wrong-doing, and he continued preaching to advocate the values of Islam and protest against government corruption.
When Sheik Rahman decided to travel to this country, Egyptian foreign minister Amar Moussa and U.S. ambassador to Egypt, Robert Pelletreau, connived together to have him arrested under the pretext of "violating immigration laws." The Zionists, including Senator Alphonse D'Amato (D-NY) and Assemblyman Dov Hikind (NY), made it their personal business to reinforce the indictment. Egyptian secret police spy Emad Salem was sent to the U.S. with specific instructions to keep close tabs on his activities. After some months of imprisonment in solitary, this blind and diabetic cleric was finally brought to trial in what was to become one of the most corrupt legal procedures in U.S history.
The sheik's trial was intentionally corrupted at every turn by America's Jewish organizations. Jury selection began on January 9, 1995, at which time the Zionist media began an assault on that learned scholar and his associates. The day before the jury date, The New York Times led the attack with a defaming article by a man named Bernstein. Prior to this, the prosecution had published excerpts from the scholar's 22-year-old Ph.D. dissertation, taking bits and pieces out of context to bias any potential jurors. Even NPR (National Public Radio) joined in the chorus on January 9 with a lengthy news report by columnist and author Judith Miller who claimed the case against the Sheik "was strong."Most Americans were unaware that Judith Miller is a militant anti-Muslim writer whose biased reporting on the Mideast for The New York Times and inflammatory book on Muslim countries has received condemnation from scholars and writers the world over.
At the beginning of the trial, the sheik's lawyers had demanded the strongly-biased Zionist Judge, Michael B. Mukasey, recuse himself from the trial. Mukasey refused. (Federal Law, Title 28, Section 455(a) requires a sitting judge to recuse himself from any trial where his impartiality might reasonably be questioned.) Mukasey was a committed Zionist, a long-time supporter of Israel. His wife is also a Zionist.
Sheik Rahman was then denied the lawyer of his choice by Judge Mukasey, and when he then asked the court to permit an expert to explain the practices of Islam to an ignorant American jury, he was refused this due process. Eventually, on January 17, 1996, Sheik Omar Abdul Rahman was sentenced by a Jewish judge of strong Zionist leanings to imprisonment for life "plus 65 years." The extra 65 years were added under the court's Count #3: Conspiracy to murder Hosni Mubarak (Egypt's president).
Those 65 years added to the sentence were related to the "conspiracy theory," and the judge's interpretation of conversations Sheik Rahman had had with supposed international terrorists and were largely based on the inflammatory and largely fictitious documentary, Jihad in America, produced by a Zionist Jew, Stephen Emerson, and shown nationwide on PBS. Both the prosecution and the judge employed guilt by association in their judgment. The Sheik was NOT sentenced for implication in the World Trade Center bombing; however, phone calls to the Sheik by Muslim defendants in that case had been presented and even accepted as evidence without the court ever providing to the jury translations of those conversations.
The conspiracy theory was supposedly supported by the testimony of Abdo Haggag, an Egyptian, who quoted an unrecorded conversation he allegedly had with the Sheik. He delayed more than a year before reporting it to the police. At the trial, Haggag admitted under oath to having received $100,000 for his testimony, plus another $60,000 for his children.
After receiving his lifetime sentence, this elderly, sick and blind sheik, standing before the Jewish judge, spoke quietly and at length in Arabic. He pointed out the on-going "historical junction" at which "the spiritual power of Islam was confronting the military/material juggernaut of a Zionist White House." Sheik Rahman continued, debunking the prosecution's theory that he heads an international terrorist organization. He emphasized that he was sequestered in a jail in Cairo in the early 1980s at the time the so-called "international terrorist group" was allegedly being formed. Judge Michael Mukasey was visibly irritated by the Sheik's remarks, and interrupted the scholarly cleric repeatedly and rudely, finally remarking that "religion has nothing to do with the case."
Columnist and author Edward C. Coughlin, Jr., noted in an article in New Trend (January/February '96): "Since the days of the 'Star Chamber' proceedings in England, governments have used the conspiracy laws to destroy their political enemies. In an America controlled by the Zionist Gang, a decision was made at the highest level to "get Sheik Rahman... The evidence against the sheik which took nine months to prosecute was purely circumstantial and built on the most dubious kind of foundation. His trial in Zionist-dominated New York City in front of a card-carrying Zionist jurist and in a society swarming with an Islamic-bashing media and pro-Zionist tabloids and news readers, guaranteed his ultimate conviction."
Coughlin continued: "One of the counts in the indictment against the blind sheik...was a rarely-used Civil War seditious conspiracy charge. A key witness against the cleric...was a government informer...a known liar who had demanded one million from the FBI to entrap the sheik and his co-defendants."
Even the highly-prejudiced Washington Post, an establishment mouthpiece, was forced to state in an editorial after the guilty verdict was announced that aspects of the trial worried it." The Post said: "conspiracy trials are troublesome because they enable prosecutors to link a number of people, some of whom are only tangentially connected, to one of the events cited in the indictment, and put everybody on trial together. There are special reasons when the defendants, like Sheik Rahman, already foreign-born, are more likely to be linked in the jurors' minds to the stereotype of an international terrorist." Coughlin adds: "The sheik was unpopular because the Zionist press had already done a hatchet job on him... It is clear that the U.S. government was used by an alien element, the Zionists, to wrongly target him for persecution. Justice demands that his conviction be overturned on appeal."
Not only was the trial of Sheik Abdul Oman Rahman a long and terrible ordeal for this blind, aged cleric, but his imprisonment continues to be deliberately cruel and physically threatening. In the U.S. Federal Prison Hospital in Springfield, Missouri, since October, 1995, he is totally isolated from fellow prisoners. Amnesty International reported that Dr. Rahman, a diabetic, had been subject to deliberate neglect by his guards, who "routinely fail to respond to his legitimate requests for assistance... He has not had his hair or nail cuts, nor has he been provided with a change of clothing for several months." He is not allowed to join in Muslim prayers with other Muslim prisoners, he is deprived of his prayer rug and a clock to determine his praying schedule, has no short-wave radio to hear Arabic news (his only language), and is subject to frequent strip searches combining gratuitous humiliations. Amnesty International points out the U.S. is not meeting its obligation under Articles 7 and 10 of the International Convenant on Civil and Political Rights: "All persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and respect for the inherent dignity of the human person."
Many Muslims and non-Muslims plus Muslim organizations both in this country and abroad have joined forces to form the Committee to Free Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman. The legal aspects of this group are being handled by Ex-Attorney General Ramsey Clark's office. Hopefully, the sheik can be re-tried on appeal, cleared of conspiracy charges and allowed his freedom. The dark stain on our federal judicial system, however, will never fade completely.
(Israel's plan to weaken the power of Islam began at Camp David when Egypt was seduced to split the Arab league. Sadat was murdered for his betrayal after which Israel with U.S. help placed a secular, anti-Muslim Mubarak in the presidency. The shiek's imprisonment here is intended to further weaken Islam in Egypt, which explains Zionist interest in his trial.)

2006-09-16 Sat 15:08:30 cdt
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