My brother, Shifa Sadequee,
a 19-year old college-bound youth and US citizen, was convicted in 2009
on four counts of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorist
groups. He was kidnapped in Bangladesh 10 years ago. He went missing for
four days right after his wedding in 2006. The FBI brought him to
Brooklyn, New York, aboard a "secret" CIA rendition aircraft. Since his
conviction, he has been segregated in a Communications Management Unit
(CMU) for six years, in a facility where communications between Muslim
prisoners and the outside world is restricted and religious and
spiritual observations are controlled. He is currently serving a 17-year
sentence after enduring three-and-a-half years of torturous solitary
confinement before his trial even began.
Due to the hidden realities of many families like mine and the
overwhelming media bias that accompanies cases where the word
"terrorism" is used, my family decided to share the real story of the
violence of counterterrorism policies in this high-profile film.
During the filming of the documentary, my family and I met with
people like former CIA Deputy Director Philip Mudd to understand why my
brother was targeted. Mr. Mudd apologized to us for his role and for
what the US counterterrorism machine did to my brother. We learned in
great detail about the methods with which the FBI targets Muslims for
investigation and how they profiled my brother over time. The interviews
revealed that officials were under immense pressure to find a
"terrorist" to avenge the country's worst national tragedy, September 11.
The pressure to justify inordinate government spending on finding and
capturing "terrorists" created a dynamic that required surveillance,
targeting, trials and incarceration, though no violence or attempt at
violence was committed. Based on loose and manufactured evidence, my
brother was a victim of their need to find an easy target to identify as
a scapegoat.
Though not shown in the film, Philip Mudd admitted to us that my brother's sentencing was particularly harsh. He even admitted that he believes that our country needs to find a way to provide alternatives to young Muslims. There needs to be more options than preemptive prosecution and incarceration.
The last question of the film showcased the "dilemma" of political
officials within this machine. Given the pressure to "prevent" a
terrorist act, "What would you have done?" Mudd asks us, Shifa's mother
and two sisters. The idea that there is no other alternative to unjust
and unconstitutional persecution and incarceration is very offensive.
Legal justification of preemptive prosecution is directly related to
today's political climate, which allows notions of religious persecution
and fear of Muslims, refugees and immigrants to dominate the national
conversation.
The film ends without allowing our answers to be heard. There are
many things we can do that increase safety and address the root causes
of violence. The US should stop targeting Muslim lands with drones. We
should free prisoners from Guantánamo Bay. We should free all political
prisoners. We need to stop the surveillance, profiling and targeting of
Muslims, both at home and abroad. We need to stop racial and religious
profiling that targets children. We need to stop conflating Islam with
violence. We need to stop using unsubstantiated radicalization theories
targeting innocent Muslims for vengeance. We need to stop funding the
Zionist regime of Israel and all tyrant regimes.
A more appropriate question is: Do we want the media and legal
systems to shape and control our lives and experiences with erroneous
hyped messages designed to create fear and terror, or do we want to
control and shape our own lives? The media sensationalism and bias and
the climate of fear and Islamophobia it creates all need to be
challenged if we are to shape our country into a moral and ethical
collective community.
We need a new vision of who we are and where we are headed that
revives our core existential values as a collective human family. My
family and the diverse community that supports us call for Shifa's
release. Ten years is enough. Despite the trials and torture, we still
believe in humanity's possibility for justice. It's time for the United
States to set my brother free.
SOURCE:
www.truth-out.org/speakout/item/34838-homegrown-witch-hunt-my-brother-the-us-government-and-the-war-on-terror
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