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Dr Kaukab Siddique | Editor-in-Chief Sha'ban 3, 1428. August 16, 2007. #64.

Dr. Abdulalim Shabazz Resigns from Lincoln University: Raises Serious Issues about Education of African-American Students

Abdulalim A Shabazz , '49, PhD (Mathematical Analysis)
Distinguished Professor of Mathematics
2000 Presidential Awardee for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring

On August 12, 2007 Dr. Shabazz resigned from Lincoln University. He cited serious issues regarding the education of young college students, mostly African-Americans, at Lincoln U. In a letter made public on August 13, he wrote that he decided not to work in conditions where young people get a simplified education which is not of the college level, and is so remedial in nature that it amounts to dumbing down of a whole generation of young African-Americans.

Dr. Shabazz was unable to convince the Lincoln University administration that the content and methodology of teaching adopted at the famous historically Black college was hurting students and fewer and fewer of them were coming up to levels of excellence.

Dr. Shabazz' students include Ph.Ds at prestigious universities. He has always been seen as a revolutionary in the area of Mathematics in particular and education in general. Under the Lincoln University administration, he sensed that he would no longer be able to give students their due. He saw mediocrities being promoted to be his seniors. Owing to his love for the students of Lincoln, he patiently endured much of what he saw was misdirected administration. Finally he felt that things were not going to get better and resigned.

Imam Jamil al-Amin Transported to Colorado: Drastic Move by the Bush Regime

[Info from Imam Khalil Abdur Rahman, National Rep of the Imam]

As-salaamu alaikum wa rahmatullah wa barakatu: We are requesting that you write and encourage others to do the same to Imam Jamil Abdullah Al Amin. His current address is:

Imam Jamil Abdullah Al Amin 99974555 (inmate number)

/USP Florence Admax/US Penitentiary/P.O. box 8500/Florence Co 81226.

Please keep Imam Jamil in your du'as and assist him and his family with donations. masalaam

This is a very special prison meant to "bury" the prisoner and make it almost impossible for his support base to contact him. Scroll way down to read details on this kind of prison. [ Ahmed Abdel Sattar , Shaikh Omar 'Abdel Rahman and others have been treated likewise. ---Editor]

Outreach: Informing Philadelphia Muslims of Top Level Issues

August 10, 2007. After Juma' salat, literature on serious challenges to Islam was given to 150 people at the Islamic Center next to the University of Pennsylvania. It consisted of info on the bombing of civilians in Afghanistan by NATO, the desecration of the Qur'an at Pace University [NY] by a Jewish student who was released without bail and Republican Tom Tancredo's threat to bomb Makkah and Madinah.

The crowd consisted of Arabs, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Africans and African-Americans.

Jamaat al-Muslimeen Press Release

U.S. Muslims Condemn Abuse Aimed at Jesus, peace be on him

Desecration of holy places and holy names, the sacred in general, has become quite common in America and comes by and large from elite Jews embedded in the power structure. Jesus, pbuh, is not only the leader of Christianity, he is the great messenger of Allah, second only to Muhammad, pbuh, according to the teachings of Islam. By attacking Jesus, pbuh, the Jews are not only attacking Christianity but one of the most sacred names in Islam.

Sarah Silverman has said that it was good that the Jews killed Jesus and she used the F word for Jesus. [May Allah forgive us for mentioning it.] She now says that she will say it again. The entire structure of the Jewish propaganda machinery in America is silent over this outrage. The Anti-Defamation League [ADL], Simon Wiesenthal Center, the American Jewish Committee, The Southern Poverty Law Center, etc, who are always looking for hate expressions are silent.

Zionists in Christian disguise, like Pat Robertson and Hagee, do not have the guts to object to a Jew abusing Jesus, pbuh.

We see this abuse of Jesus, pbuh, as part of the overall pattern of hatred which is being spread by Jews and Zionists in America. Recently a Jew at Pace University, New York, threw the Qur'an, which is replete with praise of Jesus and the other leaders of humanity, into the toilet. Before that, the Ayn Rand Institute advocated the destruction of Muslim cities and mosques around the world. A Zionist from Colorado, Tom Tancredo, advocated the bombing of the holiest cities of Islam, Makkah and Madinah.

Part of this desecration of the sacred is the support given by the friends of Israel, Michelle Malkin and Christopher Hitchens, to the Jewish student's dunking of the Qur'an in the toilet. Christopher Hitchens does not believe in God. Somehow he thinks that he, in spite of his lack of ability to think rationally, can damage religion by his drunken fulminations.

Michelle Malkin claims to be a Christian [as far as we know] though no follower of Jesus can be so empty headed and low minded as she is. Now her silence in the presence of abuse of Jesus by Jews has uncovered the reality: She is no more than an ideological prostitute for the Zionist terrorist entity known as Israel.

The filth the Jews have poured on Jesus is only slightly imaged in Sarah Silverman's repetition of the F word for Jesus. Readers interested in the overall Jewish program related to this abuse should go to this link:

www.crescentandcross.com http://theuglytruth.wordpress.com/2007/08/12/%e2%80%a6because-it%e2%80%99s-funny-when-we-do-it

2007 Mark Glenn, Correspondent, American Free Press Newspaper

You are invited to a Vigil for Abeer al-Janabi and all victims of the Iraq War

Sunday, August 19
4:00 - 6:00 PM

Washington, DC:
Freedom Plaza
13th Street & PA Avenue, NW
Baltimore:
Charles and 33rd street
[in front of Johns Hopkins University]
[Sis. Ashira: 443-869-5423]

Greensboro, NC
Downtown
[Imam Badi Ali: badi323@aol.com

Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi was a 14-year old Iraqi girl who lived in the village of Mahmoudiyah southeast of Baghdad. She was gang-raped, killed and burned by American troops. Her parents and her younger sister were also shot and killed. Initial details published by the American media incorrectly reported Abeer's age as 25. Her case has come to symbolize the brutality of the U.S. occupation.

Sponsored by: Abeer Qassim Hamza Memorial Committee

In Memorium Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi August 19, 1991 – March 12, 2006

For more info:
email: abeermemorial@yahoo.com
http://abeermemorial.blogspot.com

PAKISTAN: Big Push to Remove Musharraf: Huge August 14 Rally

In Rawalpindi [the stronghold of Musharraf's armed forces], the Islamic opposition held a very large rally on the anniversary of Pakistan calling for the removal of General Musharraf. The rally united all the political groupings other than Benazir's PPP [secularist] and Karachi's MQM [ethnic] which are supporting Musharraf.

Three speakers at the impressive rally were Jamaat-e-Islami's leader Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Javed Hashmi of the Muslim League and Imran Khan of the Justice Party, along with many others. The last elected Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, addressed the gathering by phone from Saudi Arabia. The speakers condemned Musharraf's attack on Jamia Hafsa-Lal Masjid and his support for America. Imran Khan described MQM leader Altaf Hussain as "the biggest terrorist of Karachi."

FIGHTING Spreads to South WAZIRISTAN: August 15. For the first time since the Lal Masjid tragedy, a Pakistani military convoy came under fire as it passed by the mountains near Jandola. Three Pakistani troops were killed and six wounded. The Paks counterattacked with heavy weapons and called in helicopter gunships. Pakistan says it killed 12 of the Islamists. Fighting is continuing at last reports.

In NORTH Waziristan at Kaka Ziarat, two Pakistani troops were killed and 4 wounded in an Islamist attack using mines.

IRAQ: YAZIDI VILLAGE DESTROYED in REVENGE ATTACK:

In multiple truck bombings in Qahtaniya, near the Syrian border, north of Mosul, at least 200 people were reported killed and 300 wounded. No one seems to know why the Yazidis came under attack. They are not a Muslim or a Christian sect. Here is a clue.

In April, a Yazidi girl embraced Islam and wanted to marry a Muslim. The entire village turned out to stone her to death. CNN gave very brief glimpses of the girl running down the streets as she was hunted down. CNN thought it was a Muslim girl who had given up Islam and was being stoned to death. As soon as CNN found out that it was a girl who had EMBRACED Islam, the story quickly disappeared.

At that time Al-Qaida issued a warning that it would take revenge for the girl's murder.

Meanwhile, the U.S. has launched a major new offensive with 16,000 troops in DIYALA province against al-Qaida. Readers may remember that the first offensive in Diyala failed, as our analysis showed.

In fighting during the first 16 days of August, 43 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq bringing the official death toll to 3701.

AFGHANISTAN: TORA BORA AGAIN [and Kabul]

August 15: U.S. troops are once more attacking the Tora Bora system where Osama bin Laden took refuge in 2001. It appears that the Taliban and al-Qaida have re-taken Tora Bora.

August 15. In Karzai's capital, Kabul, Taliban attacked German police guarding the German embassy. Three senior German officers were killed and one wounded.

In another attack in Kabul, a British national was killed.

August 13: In heavy clashes between Karzai's troops and the Taliban in Kandahar province, [district Shorawak], 9 Taliban and 5 Karzais were killed and numerous wounded on both sides.

With thanks to Br. Khalil Abdur Rahman

Special Prisons Within Prisons: Control Units

Article by Caylor Roling

In 1972, the federal government created a special kind of prison at Marion Federal Penitentiary in Marion, Illinois. This unit of sixty prisoners, called the "Control Unit," was going to be on permanent lockdown. The design and methods developed at Marion spread to other federal and state prisons and even jails across the U.S. "Control unit" is now a term referring to any prison or part of a prison where conditions of extreme isolation exist. This includes places named "Admax," "SHU" (Security Housing Unit), "AdSeg" (Administrative Segregation) or "IMU" (Intensive Management Unit). An entire prison that operates under permanent lockdown is now often referred to as a "supermax" prison, and the use of supermax prisons has been growing for years. At the same time, activists inside and outside prison have been identifying and resisting the abuse of prisoners within these units... these "prisons within prisons."

The Reasoning Behind These Prisons

The Federal Bureau of Prisons said the Marion prison and its replacement, the ADMAX prison in Florence, Colorado, were created to house the "worst of the worst" criminals. It was argued they would decrease violence in prisons by isolating the most dangerous people, and that incarcerating people in control units would permit a decrease in the need for security in other prisons. Some violent people are housed in control units, but there is no research to show that these "prisons within prisons" have decreased overall violence in our penitentiary systems, or how they have affected security levels in other prisons.

Different states wind up with a different proportion of their prisoners in the control units, a discrepancy that flies in the face of the "worst of the worst" idea. (After all, how many "worst of the worst" are there?) There are no uniform standards to determine who will wind up in extreme isolation. But once these units are built there is a temptation to keep those beds occupied, especially as prisons may face a shortage of low-security beds or other beds.

In practice, control units contain mentally ill people (the severe isolation worsening their illness), political prisoners, prisoner organizers and people who file lawsuits and voice other complaints about the system. Looking at who is in control units gives us some insight into the real reasoning behind their construction: extreme isolation as a way to achieve extreme control over individuals.

What's So Special About Control Units?

For one thing, prison officials can use administrative rather than disciplinary transfers to move people into control units. People facing disciplinary measures have (limited) access to due process; people transferred for administrative reasons do not have any due process. Because these units are isolated from the even the prison community (by definition) there is less scrutiny about day-to-day conditions. People literally disappear from sight while in these conditions of extreme confinement. Inside control units: In some instances people are confined in these conditions for years at a time.

Control Units are Especially Hard on Incarcerated People's Mental and Physical Health

Reports from people confined in control units reveal that psychological and physical abuse happens in control units from California to New York. People have reported being gassed, beaten, pepper sprayed, covered in urine and feces, and tied down with restraints for up to three days - one prison had rings installed on bed frames for tying people down. People are strip-searched even though they have little or no contact with any other people.

The isolation and abuse has damaging mental and emotional effects, especially for mentally ill prisoners. Healthy people begin to cut themselves and have attacks of anger and paranoia. Even when released, people report psychological problems that started during isolation continuing to plague them.

Internationally, extended periods of isolation are considered to be torture. The United Nations Committee Against Torture determined in 2000 that the conditions in America's supermax prisons violated the Convention Against Torture.

What Can Be Done?

Several groups in the United States are working to abolish control units. California Prison Focus works to end human rights abuses and torture in California's prisons. A key part of the organization's work is documenting abuses in Security Housing Units and demanding that the SHUs be abolished.

The Criminal Justice Program of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) and the AFSC affiliated Prison Watch are working to abolish control unit prisons. The Criminal Justice Program gathers testimonies from people who have survived incarceration in control units, lobbies legislatures for change, and organizes lawyers, clergy, activists, families and other everyday folks to oppose control units. Prison Watch focuses on stopping isolation and torture in New Jersey and New York. The AFSC also publishes a Survivor's Manual for people in control units and general information about the prisons. Information about how to get these publications follows.

The inhumanity of these units is unacceptable. While the international community recognizes these units violate the most basic of human rights, the only realistic hope for change lies in the vocal action of people here in the United States. Though the men and women who endure these units are supposed to feel utterly forgotten, we can remember them and then take the next steps: advocacy and education.

Sources & Resources on Control Units and Surviving Solitary

California Prison Focus, www.prisons.org, 2940 16th Street #B-5, San Francisco, CA 94103, they work to close the Security Housing Units (SHU's) in California's prison system.

From Alcatraz to Marion to Florence – Control Unit Prisons in the United States Committee to End the Marion Lockdown. This history and analysis of control unit prisons is available on the web.

Prison Madness: The Mental Health Crisis Behind Bars and What We Must Do About It By Terry Kupers, 1999, $29, Book about mental illness in prison that includes information about mental health problems caused by security housing units and supermax prisons.

American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) web site, has a number of resources available, including:

Lessons from Marion: The Failure of a Maximum Security Prison, A History and Analysis with Voices of Prisoners ($3), and Survival in Solitary: A Manual Written By and For People in Control Units/Solitary Confinement (free to prisoners, $2 for others), send orders to: AFSC, Literature Resources Unit, 1501 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102.

The Prison Inside the Prison: Control Units, Supermax Prisons, and Devices of Torture by Bonnie Kerness and Rachael Kamel. This 2003 AFSC briefing paper about control unit prisons and the campaigns against them is available on their website. Printed copies available from the National Criminal Justice and Anti-Death Penalty Program, AFSC, 1501 Cherry St, Philadelphia PA 19102. Copies are free to prisoners and $1 for everyone else.

2007-08-17 Fri 19:39:32 cdt
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