from Ignored Puzzled Pieces of Knowledge
The story of Prisoner 650 is a sad story. It is a story of unjust American imprisonment and their disgusting violations of human rights. The American Government is really now known for its human rights abuses more than anything and all they will say is, “We will look into it” and if someone is caught, “It was an act done by a few and doesn’t reflect the American Government…” When will these fanatics realize that their credibility has been totally destroyed in the eyes of the Muslims and the world at large? When will these terrorists and human right abusers admit that their Army and Government is full of sick wacko’s who have great hatred for the Muslims and their Religion? And when will the American people come to the realization that protesting [and we respect them for their efforts in protesting] in front of the White House or in the Capital will not change the oppressive policies of the Bush Administration?
We’ll post some short articles here regarding our sister. To learn more about America’s unjust imprisonment of Muslims, click here. The first one is from Yvonne Ridley’s experience:
Four years in Bagram as Prisoner 650
British journalist Yvonne Ridley flew to Pakistan on a whirlwind trip this week to highlight the plight of a woman who has been held in US custody for more than four years.
She referred to the woman, known only by her prisoner number 650, as The Grey Lady of Bagram.
More than 100 journalists attended the press conference hosted by Pakistan political leader Imran Khan who pledged his full support to Ridley’s mission, which is part of a Cage Prisoner Campaign to help the female detainee.
A statement of support from British MP and RESPECT Party leader George Galloway was also read out during the conference.
Details of Prisoner 650 are being kept secret by the U.S. military.
On Monday night she said, “I think everyone was shocked to hear that the Americans were holding this woman at Bagram in Afghanistan. From the information coming through I am told she is being held in exactly the same conditions as the men and has absolutely no privacy when it comes to toilet and shower facilities.
“This would never happen to a Western woman and it shows just how women are viewed by the US military. There is even a suggestion she has been molested and sexually abused by her captors. We need to demand the truth,” added Ridley who was held captive herself in Afghanistan for 11 days in September 2001.
“I was released on humanitarian grounds. Mercifully my treatment was good, respectful and decent, although still terrifying,” she added.
Ridley, also a patron of the organization Cage Prisoner, revealed how she first read about the woman in a book written by ex-Guantanamo detainee Moazzam Begg called Enemy Combatant.
“I remembered Moazzam telling me about the woman’s screams and how he first imagined they could be from his wife. In truth, I thought maybe he had just been listening to a tape recorder as part of a form of mental torture.
“However, we now know the screams came from a woman who has been held in Bagram for some years. And without compromising anyone, we can also reveal from impeccable sources that her prison number is 650.
“This information has been enough to scramble the Pakistan media into action by demanding the return of this woman to her homeland immediately,” added Ridley.
Joining her at the open air press conference in Islamabad at the headquarters of Khan’s PTI party was Saghir Hussain, a lawyer and member of Cage.
He handed over a dossier prepared by Cage which reveals the full extent of the Disappeared from Pakistan… individuals who have been literally kidnapped from the streets.
“Prisoner 650 is just the tip of a very nasty iceberg of human rights abuses, illegal detentions and rendition flights. It is a shameful episode in Pakistan’s history which must be put right.”
Amina Masood Janjua, chair of the Defense of Human Rights, also joined the platform along with other supporters whose husbands, sons and brothers have disappeared without trace. She thanked Cage for its dossier and the supporting work it had conducted on the Disappeared.
“I wonder how can we hand over our sister to the non-Muslims for their illegal trial by men whose history is full of rape and other abuses to prisoners,” the Pakistani daily Dawn quoted Ridley as saying.
Ms. Ridley read the text from the book’s section covering Mr. Begg’s stay in Bagram, “I began to hear the chilling screams of a woman next door… Why have you got a woman next door? They told me there was no woman. But I was unconvinced. Those screams echoed through my worst nightmares for a long time. And I later learned in Guantanamo, from other prisoners, that they had heard the screams too.”
She said the account had been corroborated by four Arabs who had escaped from Bagram in July 2005. “While on the run, one not only confirmed he had heard a woman’s screams, but said he had seen her.”
Ms. Ridley said, “My story made international headlines, front page pictures and major stories on TV. But there has not been one word, not one paragraph about Prisoner 650 — the ‘grey lady’ of Bagram, a murderous detention facility under control of the U.S. military and intelligence services.”
She urged every Pakistani to ring America, and ask them who Prisoner 650 is. What was her crime? Who else was being held illegally? How many secret detention centers were there?
Ms. Ridley’s colleague Saghir Hussain gave details about other people of the country who had ‘disappeared’.
“All, like the grey lady of Bagram, have been illegally abducted by secretive intelligence agencies. They began disappearing in 2001 during the so-called war on terror,” he said.
Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan demanded that the government hold an investigation into the case. “What has the sovereign parliament done about the missing persons?” he asked.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=63032§ionid=3510304
The second one is from Imaam Anwar al-’Awlaki, may Allah protect him. He speaks of the issue from a Shari’ (Islaamic Law) perspective:
Prisoner 650
A Pakistani Muslim woman had been held in the notorious Bagram Prison in Afghanistan for years and now her current whereabouts unknown. Have you heard about her? Most likely not. A Muslim woman is lingering in such a torturous jail and no alarms have gone off in her country or in any part of the Muslim world. How low have we, as an Ummah, stooped to not only allow such a thing to happen, but to be so oblivious about it?
Not much is known about her. Why is she there? What crime has she committed? She is a ghost prisoner. If not for eyewitnesses, such as the former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Moazzam Begg and interest raised about her case by journalist Yvonne Ridley, we wouldn’t have heard anything about her.
When some Jews dared to uncover a Muslim woman, it didn’t take long for the banners of the Muslim armies led by the Messenger himself to hover around their fortresses. They where defeated by the Muslim forces, and the entire Jewish Community, (not just the perpetrators) where driven out from Madina — all of them, down to the last man. This is how serious such a matter is.
Centuries later, a Muslim woman was taken prisoner by the Roman Army and called for help from the Abassid Khalifah of the time, al Mu’tasim. He immediately ordered a mobilization of forces and led those forces himself in an attack of Roman territory in response to the call of a single Muslim woman. The response to her plea from the Muslims of that time was the complete severance of diplomatic relations, and Declaration of War against the superpower of the time.
But today, no one knows or even seems to care about this woman who has disappeared into US custody for years.
The Messenger of Allah, as narrated in Sahih al Bukhari, said: “Release the prisoner.” It is a clear and direct order to Muslims until the end of time. The Scholars of Islam state that if a Muslim in the East is taken prisoner, it becomes mandatory on the Muslims of the West to seek his release, even if that would lead to them expending all of their wealth.
In addition to this sister being a prisoner, she is also a woman. Islam gives special protection for women and children, and the honor of the Muslim Ummah is in their protection of their women. The first ayah that allowed fighting in the path of Allah justified it for the defense of women, children, and the weak.
Allah says: And why should ye not fight in the cause of Allah and of those who, being weak, are ill-treated (and oppressed)?- Men, women, and children, whose cry is: “Our Lord! Rescue us from this town, whose people are oppressors; and raise for us from thee one who will protect; and raise for us from thee one who will help!” (al Nisa 75)
I pray to Allah to release our sister and all our brothers and sisters from the prisons of the tyrants.
http://www.anwar-alawlaki.com/2008/07/23/prisoner-650/
As our Sister Yvonne Ridley had mentioned, the Mujaahideen of Afghanistan have talked about this Prisoner. In 2005, Labbayk Media released a documentary entitled, “Escape from Baghram Prison.” It was regarding the 4 Mujaahideen who escaped the notorious American prison in Baghram miraculously with the help of Allah. Shaykh Abu Yahya al-Libi said in the documentary,
And the story that I wanted to narrate; there is a woman from Pakistan. She stayed two complete years in solitary confinement in Bagram prison among more than 500 men. She goes out to the bathroom, led by the disbelieving, American infidel, placing his hand on one of her shoulders and the other hand on her back, and her hands and feet chained together, and she is treated exactly in the same way as a man, even in her clothing, the red suit that the brothers wear in Guantanamo and the Mujahideen in Bagram. This woman stayed there until she lost her mind, until she became insane, hitting the door and screaming day and night, and those ones all they do is make it worse by calling her by her number 650, that’s the number she had in the Bagram prison… “What’s the problem?” And she didn’t find a person to talk to. She is in solitary confinement, in front of her is a solitary room belonging to a man, on her side is a solitary room belonging to a man, and next to her is a solitary room belonging to a man. She didn’t find a woman to talk to, she only sees men, she only sees the adulteresses from the American army. So the woman lost her reasoning and mind and she stayed in this condition for two complete years, probably no one knew anything about her. Wa Laa Hawla Wa Laa Quwata Ilaa Billaah.
And the Mujaahid who is now imprisoned by the Saudi authorities, Abu Naasir al-Qahtaanee, may Allah free him from the hands of the tyrants, said in the documentary,
To the rulers. To the rulers, may Allah uglify them! To the Arab rulers and to those rulers who say they are Muslim!
By Allah this woman stayed in this prison for two complete years. So me and some of my brothers, me, Abu Yahya and the brothers here now and some of the Afghans, we tried to rescue our sister from this humiliation and imprisonment, so we went on a hunger strike for around nine days, we refused to eat and drink for a duration of nine days, until the American interrogator came and asked, “Why aren’t you eating?” We said, “We will not eat until death, until this woman leaves this prison!” And with the blessing of Allah All Mighty, Allah got her out and then Allah rewarded us and then got us out, and all praise is due to Allah.
When he says that Allah got her out, perhaps he meant that was only from the local jail cells; meaning, that she was moved to an unknown location.
We ask Allah to enable the Mujaahideen to free our sister.
