A Sister's Story of Abuse by Belgain Police !!!

My Story of Abuse by Belgain Police - Horrifying Account by Sister Stephanie Djato

(Transcript of Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ojh0kpsDSls)

Peace and blessings be upon those who follow the true path.

So,  I'm stephanie djato, I'm the young lady who was attacked during a   identity check of the police of molenbeek, I am a young Muslim woman who  has converted to Islam four years ago. And now i am wearing the niqab  for almost  4 years. And in all that time I have never encountered  problems because of this niqab until the day of 31 May 2012.

So  I will now give my version of the facts. Before I would like to start  let me say that I do not call for hatred or whatever. This video, is  only made with the purpose to clarify certain matters and to bring out  the truth, because everything that was spread by people so far was only  lies.

So, that particular thursday morning of May 31, 2012  I sat on the tram line 19 in jette and not molenbeek as the media  claimed. I was waiting for the tram towards the hospital where I had an appointment at 12 oclock. A rather important appointment. Then came 2  police officers at me and asked me for my identity card. I immediately cooperated and I have given my id without making any problems. Then they  asked if I wanted to take off my niqab so they could identify me. I  replied that this  is no problem but after the id check i would cover my  face again. My statement angered the police officers. They said that the  law forbids the burqa and that I had no right to put my burqa again  after the id check was conducted. Of course I refused. Then i explained  them that this was not the first time that I was subjected to such id  check of the police and the police has never required me to take off my  niqab once the inspection was over. In general, a id check would go  easily, in the past id checks I gave my ID, I showed my face to the  police and they identified me and they let me go without any problems, but of course with a fine that I always paid afterwards.
 

But  on May 31, it didnt go like the previous id checks, it went really  wrong. The reason why I do not know. After I refused to take off my  niqab permanently after the id check, they proposed, actually they didnt  proposed to me but they have forced me to  step in in the car  tot take  me to the police station. I got in the car without making any problem, I  got up from the stop and have followed them into the car and I was  taken in the car. Once in the car I wanted to take my phone in order to  inform the hospital that I would not be on time for my appointment  because I was late, it was already 11:30 and I had an appointment at 12  o'clock, so I knew certainly that i was going to be 1 hour late. The  policewoman on the backseat with me tried to grab away my phone. She  said i was deprived of my freedom and that i dont have any right to make  phone calls. On this I then replied that I had a very important meeting  , I can not afford to miss this appointment and just let me notify them  and ask if there is a possibility that i could come later after the id  check has ended. At this, the police officer then replied: Listen, it's  not necessary that you notify them that you are going to be late today  because you're not going to the hospital. You are going for 24 hours in  the prison cell!

Then I answered: "Is this a threat?" She  replied: "No, absolutely not. But we will teach you a lesson so you  learn to respect the law! "

So you should already know  that there were  already in the car minor threats, insults, racist  remarks directed towards my faith, my niqab ...

But in the car  there was no violence. I want to note, because the journalists say that  the police have attacked at the beginning of the id check, this is not  true. So to this point there was no violence, nor from my side nor from  their side.

So once arrived at the police station they  placed me in a kind of room, it was not an office, it was a kind of  storage room. There they left me in the presence of 3 women who   intimidated and insulted me, etc, they asked me to remove my niqab. This  I have done without me to resist. I removed my face veil, at least this  is what I understood from their question, they replied: "This is not  what we meant. We mean everything. What your face, hair, body covered  you should remove. You will have to take off everything! "Then I refused  because I do not see why I should fully undress for an identity check. I  found that this is a huge injustice and humiliation so I refused. Then  they started to insult me, they said that we are not in a circus, remove  that costume, and all sorts of offensive statements, ...

I remained firm, I didnt want to undress myself before anyone  and  certainly not before this non-Muslim women. This was unthinkable for me.  I then said clearly that I will not fully take off my niqab, I showed  my face, you can identify me and I will not undress. Then they said if  you dont want to undress yourself voluntarily we will force you to  undress. At that moment a police officer jumped behind me to hold my  hands behind my back to hold. And 2 others came to me to force me to take off  my jilbaab. Since it was a long jilbaab with buttons and  fastenings, they had great difficulty to remove it. I resisted against  this undressing and they kicked me, beat against my belly and a little  bit everywhere. At the same time she tried to tear off my jilbaab. The  women who had a hard time taking my jilbaab off then called  for male  reinforcements to come  to their rescue. When the men arrived, they  immediately started to punch me a bit everywhere on my body. They  continued pulling my jilbaab off which they did for most part but it was  still attached around my neck and wrists. At that time they called in  the help of a third male officer who was told to bring a pair of  scissors. They threw me on the floor  and the male officer sat on my  buttocks and he started to cut my clothes. My jilbaab, niqab and  underwear.

So there i was on the floor with that cop on my  back that tore my clothes with scissors and the rest he tore with his  hands. Meanwhile,  i was being kicked against my face and punched  against my body by the 2 policemen who stood beside me. There kicks  were the cause of my concussion and not the alleged head butt that I gave to the police officer. My concussion was indeed been caused by  kicks to my head. When I was lying on the floor she bumped my head  against the floor tiles. At that point, a male cop came and he put  handcuffs on me. With my hands behind my back. I had my hair tied in a  knot, he snatched the rubber band out of my hair and he pulled me by my  hair to put me on my feet. He pulled my hair and my handcuffs and I sat  on my 2 knees. Then one of the cops stood in front of me and punched me  in my face,I tried to defend myself and constantly averted my face from  the blows inflicted by the police officer to me. This is how my head  suddenly hit her head which led to the police officer to break her nose. I want to clarify that this was not my intent, this happened during the  skirmish where all these agents beat me and I wanted to defend myself  from their blows, and certainly against my face, as hard punches and  kicks arrived at my head. Then my head hit the nose of the policewoman.

When  she got headbutted she was furious. This is when the police really  became wild and they threw me back on the floor and started to undress  me completely, they started to cut my underwear and pulled off my  pants. I was naked. A man sat on me and said: "We will show you things  worse than Guantanamo!" He said: "Here it is worse than Guantanamo," and  they all began to laugh. They have offended me, the Muslim women, Islam... There was a small piece of cloth hanging from my neck, the man who  sat on me was pulling it back, he strangled me with that piece of my  niqab.

I had the impression that I was dying, I was  suffocating, I could not breathe, I was shaking and my eyes rolled back,  I was panicking. I thought i would die . I screamed in panic, anxiety, ... I was so stressed that I shouted: "Stop, stop please, I'll do what  you want, but please stop, stop this torture I'm going to do what you  want" "You will murder me ! "

Then they reply: "You can die!" And  then they were insulting me, they said things i cant mention. At that  point, i received so many blows that I fainted on the floor, I could not  move, and i screamed so much that i couldnt scream anymore ... Then I  remembered the last words I could say it was a supplication in  which I  asked Allah to break their backs, and to punish them for all the  injustice they did to me. When she heard this, they completely butchered  me, they could not bear these words and yet I swear that I have not  offended. and I was pleading before this to stop attacking me. They have  beaten me so hard to the point I could no longer speak and move.

When  they realize that they had gone too far and they raised my pants back  up and they covered me partially with a top that I had. They dragged me  so i could get up and they dragged me by the police department in front  of  all their colleagues. The colleagues asked, "Who is this?" Which  the police said: "This is a burqa, this is a burqa!" For me this was a  triple humiliation because I was half naked and this was a big  humiliation for me, because I felt how everyone stared at me, I felt  dirty by their eyes that were focused on my body, this was a humiliation  for me. They paraded me for  5 minutes or so across the police station.  And they cried: "Look, look this is a burqa!" And to finish, they  throwed me in a cell for about 2 hours. I felt very nauseous, I had  problems, I began to shake and I started vomiting, I kept on vomiting, I  was very ill. After this they were compelled to call a doctor. They immediately transferred me to the emergency. I will now start to tell  how they brought me from the police station to the emergencies.

Some  spread rumors around that I left the police station naked, some say  that I was completely covered with my jilbaab when I left the police  station, this is at least what the police claims.

This is  completely untrue. What happened, I will explain. When they pulled me out of jail completely untrue. What happened, I will explain. When they pulled me out of jail and they said I was going to be transferred to the hospital I  asked them to give back my torn jilbaab so that i could leave the  police station with a covering. When I tried to cover myself I saw that  my jilbaab was so torn that I couldnt use it anymore. Then I told them  that I will not leave this police station half naked. So I asked if I could call someone, someone who could bring me clothes to cover myself, a  jilbaab. I then called someone and that person said that he'll be there  in one hour. The person asked the police to wait and that within the  hour my close would be brought to me. So I could leave the police  station covered with my jilbaab and the torn clothes. The police have  then replied that they had no time to wait. And that she is required to  be transferred to the hospital. And this will happen with  a veil or  without a veil. Then they brought me out the police station half naked, with only trousers and a small top, without underwear. I had no vest, no jilbaab or whatever. They took me like this to the emergency. Once arrived at the emergency they transferred me to intensive care, the  department said that I am in a critical condition and he has refused to  allow me to leave the hospital. This while the police were hoping for a  statement from the doctor that I may leave the hospital to get back into  the cell, despite my medical condition. The doctor refused. The doctor  after several inspection found that I had a concussion and injuries.

The  doctor has everything listed and it is also a report drawn up. So for  those who say I'm saying so I have the evidence of reports that confirm what I am saying and I have all documents.

So I think I've told all this, my truth, the truth, the real version of the facts. Of course I have told everything in general without going into too much  detail. The most important thing you know now. Let me again emphasize  that I've recorded this video solely with the objective to tell the  truth to everyone. The Muslims, the non-Muslims, ... I clarify that I dont call for hatred. I hope that this story will end the lies and that  the truth prevails.

Stephanie Djato (victim niqab)