Omar Khadr, a sixteen year old Guantanamo Bay detainee weeps uncontrollably, clutching at his face and hair as he calls out for his mother to save him from his torment. “Ya Ummi, Ya Ummi (Oh Mother, Oh Mother),” he wails repeatedly, hauntingly with each breath he takes.
The surveillance tapes, released by Khadr’s defence, show him left alone in an interrogation room for a “break” after he tried complaining to CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) officers about his poor health due to insufficient medical attention. Ignoring his complaints and trying to get him to make false confessions, the officers get frustrated with the sixteen year old’s tears and tell him to get himself together by the time they come back from their break.
“You don’t care about me. Nobody cares about me,” he sobs to them.
The tapes show how the officers manipulated Khadr into thinking that they were helping him because they were also Canadian and how they taunted him with the prospect of home (Canada), (good) food, and familial reunion.
Khadr, a Canadian, was taken into US custody at the age of fifteen, tortured and refused medical attention because he wouldn’t attest to being a member of Al Qaeda, even though he was shot three times in the chest and had shrapnel embedded in his eyes and right shoulder. As a result, Khadr’s left eye is now permanently blind, the vision in his right eye is deteriorating, he develops severe pain in his right shoulder when the temperature drops, and he suffers from extreme nightmares.
He has been incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay since 2002, suffering extremely harsh interrogations and torture (methods), and is now 25 years old.
(via plutovision)
simplyduma: I think it is important to propagate positive images of Somalia to combat the negative ones that strip away people’s dignity and self-worth by not ACKNOWLEDGING their amazing resilience. We don’t realize this, but aside from the damage it has created on an international platform… the implications are also tragic to the subconscious state of the folks in the diaspora. Despite our internal issues we were once a rich country that had the embodiment of a great nation… lets not forget that or lose hope. And above all, lets not let our stories be told by others!
This spoke to my soul!!
"There is no coming to consciousness without pain…. People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own soul. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious."
— Carl Gustav Jung (via thirdeyenexus)
(via susu7abibi)
![nefariousnewt:
blowncovers:
Harry Bliss submitted this sketch in 1997 in response to Mayor Giuliani’s reluctance to investigate the police who tortured Haitian immigrant Abner Louima — but, unfortunately, this picture stands the test of time and still resonates clearly today. [excerpted from Blown Covers]
Only 15 years ago? Seems like yesterday… and still, nothing changes.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m20s9jIxxU1rq8nnho1_1280.jpg)
Harry Bliss submitted this sketch in 1997 in response to Mayor Giuliani’s reluctance to investigate the police who tortured Haitian immigrant Abner Louima — but, unfortunately, this picture stands the test of time and still resonates clearly today. [excerpted from Blown Covers]
Only 15 years ago? Seems like yesterday… and still, nothing changes.
(via susu7abibi)
Ms. Bineta Diop of Senegal is the Executive Director and founder of Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS). She began her international career in human rights 27 years ago as Programme Coordinator of the International Commission of Jurists, where she obtained extensive experience in human rights issues not only in Africa but also in Asia and Latin America. Ms. Diop has led Femmes Africa Solidarité in numerous peace-building programmes, including the creation of a strong West African women’s movement, the Mano River Women’s Peace Network (MARWOPNET). In December 2003, the United Nations General Assembly awarded MARWOPNET the UN Prize in the field of Human Rights.
Diop has observed elections in post-conflict areas such as Liberia and facilitated peace talks, particularly for Burundian and Congolese women. As a member of the African Union Women Committee for Peace and Development (AWCPD), Ms. Diop played an instrumental role in achieving gender parity within the African Union Commission in 2003. These efforts culminated in July of 2004 as the AU took ownership of the gender-mainstreaming programme at the highest level, adopting the “Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa.”
To strengthen these programmes, Ms. Diop is mobilizing all her efforts in building a Pan African Centre for Gender, Peace and Development in Dakar, Senegal. This centre of excellence will serve as a hub for building African leadership with a focus on gender and peaceful resolution of conflicts. The centre’s first program was launched in May 2005 with an African Gender Forum followed by the first African Gender Awards presented to President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal and President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa. Diop has received many awards from women groups such as Mano River Women Peace Network, the West African Women Association Award in 2005 as well as the Leadership and Good Governance Award from the International Women Federation for World Peace.
Ms. Diop has been elected as Vice-President of the African Union Women’s Committee, and chairs the United Nations Working Group on Peace in Geneva, which is part of the NGO Committee on the Status of Women monitoring the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. She also serves as a member of the Group of International Advisors to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
(—source)
"Don’t be in a hurry to condemn because he doesn’t do what you do or think as you think or as fast. There was a time when you didn’t know what you know today."
— Malcolm X (via warriorsrise)
(Source: revolutionizethesoul, via susu7abibi)
Judge widens lawsuit against NYPD’s stop-and-frisk practice
The New York Times reports: A federal judge has granted class-action status to a lawsuit accusing New York Police Department officers of using race as a factor in stopping people on the street.
Photo: Robert Stolarik for The New York Times
(via susu7abibi)
"We find fault with the world, while the faults lie in our own selves.
The world is not at fault; except that we are full of flaws.
We make fun of the world for no reason,
But if others spoke about us, we were no better than be mocked at.
A wolf does not eat the flesh of another of its kind,
But we eat the flesh of each other knowingly
We have worn the sheep’s clothing to deceive the people;
But woe unto the wild animal if it strays by us!
We have reduced religion to mere show and formalities.
And thus, we deceive those who look at us"
The world is not at fault; except that we are full of flaws.
We make fun of the world for no reason,
But if others spoke about us, we were no better than be mocked at.
A wolf does not eat the flesh of another of its kind,
But we eat the flesh of each other knowingly
We have worn the sheep’s clothing to deceive the people;
But woe unto the wild animal if it strays by us!
We have reduced religion to mere show and formalities.
And thus, we deceive those who look at us"
—
Imam Shaf’i
Dīwān ash-Shāfiýī p.376
(via b-i-n-t)
(via susu7abibi)
