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
