Faiza's son, Bastille Day
Faiza's son Khalid has been arrested in Baghdad.
His brother Raed wrote today,
- If your child or sibling vanishes for two days then calls from the secret service jail in any other place on earth, that would be considered a disaster and a violation of human rights…
In Iraq, however, it’s Happy News.
Because the other options include: To be tortured, executed, and thrown in garbage by SCIRI and their Badr brigades. To be held by the Iraqi police and left to choke to death in one of their cars. To be held by the US troops then disappear and be mistreated for months in one of their many prisons. To be kidnapped by one of the countless criminal gangs and cost your family some tens of millions of Iraqi Dinars and/or your life.
So now you can see why being held at the mukhabarat [= secret service] jail is such happy news!
Today is, of course, Bastille Day.
Open the political prisons! Stop using illegal detentions to oppress people!
"So now you can see why being held at the mukhabarat jail is such happy news!"
I am not even sure what the mukhabarat even is, or how to say it. I join you in calling for charges and a speedy trial for Khalid Jarrar. I know Khalid is non-violent (like us) so I find it hard to imagine that he has done anything really bad. I think this may be politically motivated, but we shall see.
I sure am glad he was able to make a phone call to his mother to let her know he's okay.
Sorry about that. Mukhabarat is the Arabic word for intelligence/security services.
So-called realists assume that the enemies of the powerful elite in their own country are their counterparts in other countries. Leftists tend to assume that the enemies of the powerful are the poor and working classes. Neither is correct. The enemy of the powerful is always the educated and independent middle class intellectual.
I am not a religious person, so I can't offer a prayer, but I am a hopeful person, so I hope for the best for Faiza's son.
Yes,indeedy,'they' should stop using illegal detentions to oppress people!
Even more to the point, here... a demand that 'they'
Stop Using Children To Shut Their Mothers Up!
We at Amigos Para la Paz in San Jose, Costa Rica, have just been informed that Khalid Jarrar, a twenty-three year old engineering student and peace activist working in conjunction with Friends, has been abducted from his university in Baghdad. His abduction occurred within the last fourty-eight hours and he was taken to Mokhabarat prison in Iraq. Although we have no further details, and the charges against him have not been stated, his father received a call from Khalid during the last twenty-four hours saying only, he was in prison.
Khalid Jarrar has dedicated his life to helping Iraqi citizens who are victims of the war to receive medication. He has worked with Mèdicins Sans Frontiere, Friends and Iraqi doctors. Khalid describes himself stating, I am pro God, I am pro life, I am pro humanity, I am pro truth, and when the American government chooses to be against all that then damn it: i AM anti American-government. We know him as a kind and gentle soul, and a devout religious Sunni who believes God sends him many brothers and sisters from various religions to work toward peace.
The urgency of Khalid´s situation prevents us from further elaborating the positive and powerful influence he has had on the human rights crisis in Iraq. We are calling on you to activate your local, national, and international networks to inform the press and government officials both of his abduction and undoubted innocence. Join us in working toward a peaceful resolution to Kahlid`s abduction. Free Khalid!
Sincerely,
Isabel Macdonald, Coordinator, Amigos Para la Paz
Christiane S Harrison, Volunteer,
To-day Juan Cole reports the arrest of Khalid too. He offers this Email address consul@iraqiembassy.org to write in his support, for his release or for a rapid trial. Why he says that Riverbend was the first to report about the fact is beyond my head (she links to Raed's blog, one of Khalid's brothers).
I wonder whether the Americans didn't pressure the Iraqis to jail Khalid, in order to silence Faiza's voice in America.
Faiza, I'm with you and your family in thoughts in these hard days and hope that Khalid will soon be released unharmed.
I was in contact with Raed just yesterday, he asked us to remain low key, not to rock the boat just now. We ´don't want the Iraqi Secret Service to make an example out of Khalid. Now is the time for prudence. In the event Faiza is not able to free Khalid, then we will fight to free him. Christiane S. Harrison.
I was in contact with Raed just yesterday, he asked us to remain low key, not to rock the boat just now. We ´don't want the Iraqi Secret Service to make an example out of Khalid. Now is the time for prudence. In the event Faiza is not able to free Khalid, then we will fight to free him. Please notice Faiza erased references to this situation in her blog. Raed has toned it down and Arab blogs have also erased references. Christiane S. Harrison.
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