Who is Prisoner 650? The Grey Lady of Bagram

Who is Prisoner 650?

A grey lady haunts the notorious U.S. controlled Bagram Prison of Afghanistan. The scene of the notorious murders of two Afghan men committed by U.S. troops through the use of torture in flagrant violation of the Geneva Convention.

According to prison sources and international advocates, including leader of the Pakistani Tehrik-i-Insaf Party, Imran Khan, and activist Yvonne Ridley, there is a Pakistani woman who is languishing in the draconian Bagram Prison in Afghanistan. Her name is not known, her nationality is believed to be Pakistani, and her screams have been heard for years.

Reports of her existence have been corroborated by former prisoners of Bagram, including Moazzam Begg and four Arabs who escaped from the Soviet-built detention and torture center in 2004. Begg wrote in his book that during his detention that he, “began to hear the screams of a woman next door.”

It is not known the name, identity, profession, nationality, or charges lobbied against Prisoner 650 in Bagram Prison. Officials deny that a woman is imprisoned in Bagram, but five former prisoners have testified publicly  to hearing the cries of a woman inside the prison. There is some speculation that Prisoner 650 is an enemy of the Pakistani government being held as a favor to the Musharraf government, while others contend that she is another casualty of the haphazard U.S.-led War on Terror in Afghanistan.

Whoever Prisoner 650 is, she deserves our support, a voice, a fair trial, and a reason to cease her screams. There is absolutely no reason for a woman’s screams to be heard through the walls of any prison in this world. Let us press our governments for a response to who Prisoner 650 is and press for her release and for her name and may whoever tortures her hear her screams through the night for as long as they live.

WHO IS PRISONER 650?

“Honor Killing” (Does Not) Come to America

Irshad Manji writes in the Huffington Post today that “Honor Killing” has now come to America. (It actually arrived in 1989 with the death of Tina Isa, but it’s not really necessary to split hairs, now is it?) Manji contextualizes it as though it is some kind of Muslim Bird Flu, a pandemic of female-centric violence that has finally arrived on American shores and can only be overcome by progressive Muslims and as a footnote, non-Muslims.  However, as my friend and colleague Melissa Robinson pointed out today in the Atlanta Journal Constitution is, that so-called “Honor Killings” are not inherently Islamic. Killing women in the name of “honor” however loosely we define this concept within patriarchal cultures is not limited to the Islamic or Abrahamic world with their fluid perimeters: these killings span centuries, cultures, and creeds.

“Honor Killings” have been recorded amongst Christians, Jews, Sikhs, Hindus, and Muslims, yet in the climate of hysteria that surrounds Islam and the notion that Islam is inherently violent, inherently oppressive to women, and that the slip of an eyelash from under a veil means certain death and dishonor, Muslims are assumed to be the creators, purveyors, and holders of the world’s monopoly on “honor killings.” Rarely does anyone venture to think that “honor killings” happen in entirely different contexts, racial or religious groups: only Muslims are capable of committing and constructing the environment that can foster and perpetuate the concept of the “honor killing.”

“Honor Killings” it has been argued can be contexutalized as “Crimes of Passion” in the so-called “Western” legal sense because they are driven by an almost perverse desire to remedy a blight on masculinity, the family unit, and/or social propriety. If we re-contextualize them, re-name them, then “Honor Killings” are not new to to America and they are certainly no exclusive to Islam, they are as old as time, as old as constructions of gender and masculinities and patriarchal and familial devices for control of women and gender.

“Honor Killing” has not “come” to America. It was already in America and not because of Islam.

The Soccer Ladies of Afghanistan ~ Help Needed

I’m coming-out of my summer holiday to post this for my friend Afifa jan. This is her initiative at BPeace which is Businesswomen for Peace.

Please visit the BPeace Blog post on “The Soccer Ladies of Afghanistan” and read below for information on how you can donate to help bring the “Soccer Ladies of Afghanistan” to the US this October for a 3 week apprenticeship with various craftsmen who make soccer balls!

This is good for ZAKAAT!!!

The Soccer Ladies of Afghanistan Need YOU!

http://www.bpeacesoccer.blogspot.com/

Aziza, Ferishta and Taj will be three of 12 Afghan businesswomen traveling to the U.S . in October to apprentice on the job at American firms. This Bpeace program is partially funded by the U.S. Department of State, but we are still short of the funds needed to bring these soccer ladies to the U.S.

The headlines say one thing about Afghanistan. We at Bpeace see a different face. Brave women entrepreneurs creating hundreds of jobs for women, especially widows, in their communities.

Aziza, Ferishta and Taj run soccer ball manufacturing businesses. They provide safe home-based jobs for their workers, all women–many of whom are widows. By stitching 500 soccer balls, a woman can earn enough income to support her family for a year.

Currently, their businesses employ more than 436 women who support more than 2,958 family members–enabling children to be fed, clothed and go to school.

Now these three tenacious women are ready to do more for their country. They want to dramatically expand their businesses and create hundreds more jobs in their communities. They are joining forces to market their soccer balls under one export brand in the U.S. Bpeace volunteers are providing them with management training, branding, and introduction to retailers.

Their three-week apprenticeship in the U.S. will improve their finance, human resources, marketing and customer service skills; provide them with new tools for quality control and exporting; and, most importantly, introduce them to potential distributors and wholesalers for their quality soccer balls.

Please use the ChipIn box at right and contribute what you can to bring Aziza, Ferishta and Taj to the U.S. for three weeks. Together, we can do something big to create more jobs and hope for Afghans who just want a better life for their familes.

Jobs are the key to economic stability everywhere in the world. In Afghanistan, MORE JOBS MEAN LESS VIOLENCE.

Your donation is fully tax-deductible, and you will receive an email receipt from Bpeace.

THANK YOU.