Jamaat al-Muslimeen Decries Dr. Omar Abdel Rahman’s Political Imprisonment and Death in Captivity

Press Statement

Nadrat Siddique

Jamaat al-Muslimeen National Majlis-e-Shura member

February 18, 2017

February 18, 2017, is a dismal day in the history of the United States, even by its own genocidal standards. On this day, Islamic scholar Dr. Omar Abdel Rahman, also known as “the Blind Sheikh,” died a political prisoner of the U.S. government.  To multitudes of Muslims the world over, he will be viewed as a martyr of Islam. The American mainstream might better understand Muslim sentiment if they considered how they might feel if Pope Francis—or another beloved religious figure— was imprisoned in a Muslim country, allowed virtually no contact with constituents, followers, and family, and then left to die a slow painful death from untreated (but treatable) medical conditions.

A visionary, Dr. Abdel Rahman articulately and consistently spoke out against the U.S.-backed Egyptian dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak decades prior to the Arab Spring, insisting that the resources of Muslim countries, including Egypt, be used for the betterment of those countries--and not be pilfered by Western Powers or multinational corporations. These basic and seemingly logical demands were rewarded with imprisonment and torture by the Egyptian regime.

Fleeing the Egyptian regime’s torture, Dr. Abdel Rahman sought political asylum in the U.S., which he viewed as a land of freedom of expression, and whose laws he repeatedly emphasized must, in accordance with Islamic rules on guest-host relations, be respected by all Muslims who sought asylum therein, including himself.

Far from being accorded freedom of expression, he was brought up on trumped up charges, tried in a climate of utter fear and emotion, and, in 1995, convicted of conspiracy to bomb New York landmarks, almost entirely on the word of an informant who was paid over a million dollars.

Although he undoubtedly knew he was facing decades of jail time, he stood before the Court, unafraid of all but the Creator. His final words before being marched off into the American Gulag were a telling: “Fuzto Be Rab-e-Ka’aba” (“By the Lord of the Ka’aba, I have succeeded”).

The blind, elderly, diabetic scholar of Islam was detained and held for over 20 years under what can only be described as conditions of “Cruel and Unusual” punishment. Since he could neither see nor speak to his captors (he was blind and spoke no English); was barely allowed a monthly phone call to his family in Egypt; and was held in solitary confinement, he no doubt suffered all of the psychological trauma associated with long-term solitary captivity. On top of that, his advanced stage diabetes went untreated for months on end, until its effects, including gangrene, were irreversible, and he was finally relocated to the Butner Medical Center in North Carolina, where he would ultimately die. His family’s hunger strikes and appeals to the (post-Arab Spring Egyptian) regime of Muhammad Morsi for his repatriation to Egypt were fruitless, and Dr. Omar Abdel Rahman—loved throughout much of Egypt and the Islamic world—died alone, a slow painful death from diabetes.

The long-term political imprisonment and death in captivity of Dr. Omar Abdel Rahman seems part of a trend by the U.S. and its proxies to silence all independent, vocal, and effective Muslim leadership, and in particularly those who hold the title of imam, a position of high honor and respect in the Muslim community. It seems that the only imams of major mosques permitted to operate freely are those who kowtow to the government; bandy American flags on Muslim religious institutions; welcome video monitoring of their mosques; and encourage or allow censorship of their own words and those of their constituents by the authorities—clearly compromising their faith, as well as American principles of: "Separation of Church and State.”

The death of a renowned and respected Islamic scholar under such circumstances is an abomination. Dr. Omar Abdel Rahman’s treatment in captivity clearly violated both American laws on the treatment of prisoners (set out in the Bureau of Prison regulations), as well as numerous international laws. Jamaat al-Muslimeen decries Dr. Omar Abdel Rahman’s political imprisonment on trumped up charges, and laments his tragic death under clearly dehumanizing conditions.

END

Progressive Media and the Sattar Case

Principle dictates that civil rights advocates be concerned about the rights of political prisoners on principle, not on creed. Yet, progressive media and organizations concern for civil liberties seems wholly absent in the cases of "high profile" Muslim prisoners. Perturbed, I wrote to Democracy Now's Amy Goodman.

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Subject: Why No DN Coverage of Ahmed Abdel Sattar Case?
Date: Thu, October 19, 2006 4:58 am
To: mail@democracynow.org

Dear Amy,

In this time of corporate media and embeds, I have long regarded your show as one of the last bastions of independent journalism, and you, as personally restoring dignity to the word “journalist.” While I appreciate and agree with your pointed analyses and views on most issues, I am very disappointed by your failure to cover the railroadings of most high profile Muslim political prisoners, previously Imam Jamil El-Amin and the Virginia Seven, and now notably, Ahmed Abdel Sattar.

All proceedings in Ahmed’s case were held in New York, where his wife and children also live. You are based out of New York, yet you did not bother to interview any of them.

You might consider that a government which lies about WMDs, spies on its own citizens, and engages in McCarthy-style labeling, blacklisting, and jailing of opponents just might have lied, labeled, and blacklisted--in order to jail--in this case as well. The government spent tens of thousands of dollars to railroad Ahmed, and held him for 4.5 years, while creatively building a case against him. Sadly, Democracy Now!’s excellent coverage of Lyn Stewart was sorely juxtaposed by its corporate media-style blackout of the railroading of Ahmed Abdel Sattar.

You might also consider that defense lawyers are not the only ones whom this trial was meant to terrorize. The Egyptian dissident community is ever more terrified of speaking out against the considerable abuses of Hosni Mubarak, after observing the jailing of yet another outspoken and courageous Egyptian patriot. Democracy Now! missed a prime opportunity to educate its listeners on the U.S. government’s silencing of foreign dissidents on U.S. soil.

Ahmed is not so different from the Filipino dissidents, assassinated on U.S. soil during the Marcos reign; or Orlando Letelier, murdered at Sheridan Circle in Washington, DC; or Alex Odeh, blown up as he worked in his own office. They are/were all courageous dissidents who fought to wrest their countries from imperialist domination, whether under Mubarak, Marcos, Pinochet, or Israeli apartheid—and paid for it with lives or, in this case, liberty.

I am hopeful that you will investigate this case independently, and not simply swallow the U.S. government’s characteristic unsavory labels (“Islamic fundamentalist,” etc) and fear mongering, used to ensure the conviction of this and other innocent Muslims, regardless of evidence.

Sincerely,