In Defence of the 'Preemptively Prosecuted' - Feeling the Oblivion

Post 9/11 world seems to be an entirely different world. Ever since, it is home to an even more complex web of conspiracies,  theories, fear and God knows what. 

Growing up I have found Islam and terrorism at the heart of every discourse concerning global peace. Connection between the two has been beyond my understanding. It has taken me to Qur’an every time and made me to revise the verses over and over again. But this connection between the two hasn’t made sense to me. It doesn’t, until one starts digging into global politics. The greatest war nowadays that goes on within us as humans and around the globe at large is that of narratives.

A session was arranged at the Institute of Policy Studies, Islamabad, with Stephen Downs and Kathy Manley from the US who have done an extensive research namely ‘Inventing terrorists’ according to which 74 per cent of the terrorism cases prosecuted in the US courts were falsely implicated. Another 20 per cent were of minor nature crimes that were trumped up by the law enforcing agencies illogically convicting them of terrorism charges. An Imam’s case led the lawyers to investigate and look into the matter; Dr Afia Siddiqui’s case being one of its kind. Hence a long list of similar cases was revealed to them. This research was carried under the umbrella of Support and Legal Advocacy for Muslims aka Project SALAM.

Stephen Downs and Kathy E. Manley, who have been advocating for civil freedom and social justice in the US and have represented many such cases to date, said that majority of these cases were proceeded due to ‘National Security Crisis’ where the ‘classified reports’, which weren’t even revealed to the defense prosecutors already having security clearance, served as the basis for the conviction.

According to the findings of the research, most of the individuals convicted of terrorism were trapped and plotted against. Situations were created to accuse them of being a threat to peace. Phenomena like ‘secret evidence’ facilitate preemptive prosecutions in which the defense lawyers, the convict and even the judge are not told what exactly the ‘classified’ evidence is. An environment of fear against ‘terrorism’ has been created even though, statistically speaking, common man is more at the threat of being shot by a policeman rather than a terrorist. 

Their research titled ‘Inventing Terrorists’ says that out of the 399 such convictions since the 9/11 incident, majority of which were Muslims, about 74 per cent were the result of sting operations against the people they assumed suspicious, and the cases were later handled in an unfair manner by using inconclusive evidences for the pre-intended jurisdictions.

One of the highest profiled incident among those was the case of Dr. Afia Siddiqui, who according to the speakers, was tortured, abused, enraged and then insanely sentenced for 86 years in prison for attempting a murder, a charge that normally yields a maximum of 10 years sentence only in the US.

The speakers laid the blame of these unjust prosecutions on Dick Cheney’s doctrine – also known as ‘one per cent doctrine’ – according to which a person having only one per cent chance for carrying out a terrorist activity, qualifies to be dealt under the ‘preemptive prosecution’ while terming it a ‘due process’. In reality, the speakers confessed, there was more probability for someone to be shot by a policeman than to be killed by a terrorist in America.

The law experts also presented many other cases relevant to the topic before the audience as evidence, and stressed on making concerted efforts by together raising a voice against such acts where suicide bombing was labeled horrible and inhumane while the drone strikes were termed fair and legal only to make the world believe that the terrorist army was on the loose in US. 

At the end it was concluded that human rights activists and groups around the world for raising voices against injustices in the name of national security, which in fact are making humanity more and more insecure –Narratives also need to be countered. I have come to realize that connections between the contradictory can be created if and when needed. 

~ Peace be with all. Ameen.


Sources

• Talk "Invented Terrorists" by Kathy E. Manley and Stephen Downs at the Institute of Policy Studies, Islamabad, April 10, 2015
• "Preemptive Prosecution Behind 70% Terror Convictions in US", The Express Tribune, April 10, 2015
• Stephen Downs, Esq and Kathy E. Manley, Esq, "The Lawfare of Preemptive Prosecution", A Study Project by SALAM and National Coalition to Protect Civil Freedoms (May 2014)