Free The Prisoners of Conscience

Praise be to Allah (SWT) and Blessings on Prophet Muhammad (SAW)

O you who are securely committed [to Allah]! Be ever dynamic in standing up for social jus- tice, bearing witness to the truth for the sake of Allah, even though it be against your own selves or your parents and kinsfolk. […]. [An Nisaa, 4:135]

To purposely confound hostages and prisoners of conscience has become a specialty of the Western press whose limits of falsehood and hypocrisy have been long crossed. To describe unjustly imprisoned Palestinians in Israeli prisons, or rather centres of torture, as prisoners is a tactic to silence oppression, torture and barbarity that men, women and children who are held without charge, are subjected to.

Discussions around the liberation of these fighters of truth and that of hostages remind us of the atrocious conditions under which prisoners of conscience are held. We can only imagine the state of mind of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya’s kin in the face of the delaying tactics used by Israeli authorities regarding his liberation. It was only yesterday that he was brought to court where his imprisonment under the abominable administrative detention was extended for a further six months. According to people who have been able to visit him, Dr Abu Safiya has been the victim of unspeakable acts of torture. Consequently, he has lost 30kg and can barely walk.

Once more, it is our duty to voice out as much as we can, regarding the horror and agony that political prisoners are subjected to in Israeli prisons, held under what Zionists call administrative detention.

This system allows Israeli authorities to arrest a Palestinian without charge and without any court appearance. Out of more than 10,000 prisoners, 3,660 are currently held under this system, without any case.

It is also noteworthy that Palestinian prisoners are held under atrocious conditions, naked, blindfolded, and forbidden to sit on their behinds. Others are forced to wear nappies for long hours. The chilling revelations from the militants of the Sumud Flotilla, only confirm the Zionists’ barbaric cruelty.

[…] Vehement hatred has already come into the open from out of their mouths, but what their hearts conceal is yet of a more serious magnitude […]. [Ali ‘Imraan, 3:118]

Every day, via social media, we are able to see accounts and images of those who have been liberated, with the transformations that their incarceration has brought on them. Disfigured, unrecognisable, many have, for the first time, seen children, having been detained for more than 20 years.

The world should also not forget about Marwan Barghouti and call for his unconditional liberation. The latter had been arrested in Ramallah by Israeli security forces and has been detained for more than 30 years. Following his arrest in Ramallah, Marwan Barghouti was taken to the Moscobiyya detention centre in Jerusalem. He was subjected to the “shabeh” (ghost) torture, whereby he was deprived of sleep and forced to stay seated on an inclined chair with the forth legs shorter than the back ones, and his hands and feet constrained. Despite being transferred to another detention centre, he was still subjected to intensive interrogations and the shabeh torture. He was thus allowed to sleep only two hours per day over a period of seventy-two hours. He has also revealed that those who interrogated him had threatened to kill him and his son, who is detained in another prison.

Recent reports reveal that he had been tortured once more during the past days. His other son has revealed on Wednesday that Marwan has had four ribs broken following recent violence against him. It seems that his jailers have started to put the threats of the far-right Zionist minister into practice. More than ever, the Ummah has the duty to call for his immediate release.

The treatment meted to women prisoners in Israeli prisoners is too atrocious to put into words.

To remain silent in the face of torture and oppression undergone by Abu Zubayda Zeinoul Abedeen in Guantanamo, Dr Aafia Siddiqui in the USA, Marwan Barghouti and Dr Hussam Abu Safiya in Israel, or the hundreds of prisoners of opinions or conscience in Saudi Arabia, Egypt or Jordan, means remaining silent in the face of injustice, and being complicit with oppressors, for Allah (SWT) demands that Muslims be defenders of justice, Himself being Al Aadil, The Just.

The Prophet Muhammad (SAW) has said:

“Whoever among you sees evil, let him change it with his hand. If he cannot do so, then with his tongue. If he cannot do so, then with his heart, which is the weakest level of faith.”

The Ummah is more obligated than ever to demand the unconditional liberation of hundreds of prisoners who are unjustly held and tortured in sordid American, Israeli, Saudi Arab, Jordanian and Egyptian prisons, as well as Chinese concentration camps.

We need to rally to demand, loud and clear: “Stop The Torture.” The dismemberment of Israeli centre of torture should be a priority of the international community and the UNHCR.

And [as for] the committed Muslims, both men and women, they are close to one an- other: they [all] stand for the ma‘ruf and oppose the munkar, […]. [At Tawbah, 9:71]

The torture and persecutions suffered by our brothers and sisters in America, Israeli, Saudi, or Chinese prisons should remind us that human rights do not exist when it comes to Muslims. We need to realise that we live in a racist world, which is overtly and aggressively discriminatory against Muslims.

It seems that Allah’s (SWT) enemies can do anything, as the Muslim conscience is looking the other way. Faithful to the so-called Abraham Accords, despots and dictators who govern Muslim territories and population are complicit with the oppressors.

Let’s not forget that to be Muslim means to relentlessly fight against propaganda. It means resisting and denouncing false propaganda and also denouncing oppression, whatever its source and whoever its perpetrator.

And do not think that Allah is unaware of what the evildoers are doing: He but grants them respite until the Day when their eyes will stare in horror, [Ibrahim, 14:42]

May Allah (SWT) help and guide us.