On Saturday 29th September outside Belmarsh Prison by Muslim Prisoner Support Group held an iftar. There were a series of talks, statements to remind everyone about their duties to the Muslim prisoners and about all the injustices that are taking place. All these people gathered outside in the cold to show their support of their brothers in prison and they opened their fast together. Below is a statement which was read out on behalf of Omar Khyam’s wife regarding recent events in HMP Frankland:
All praise is due to Allah Lord of the Worlds. Assalaamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatu.
You may all know by now who Omar Khyam is. He is a political prisoner who has been detained for 3 years and 6 months. He has been from Belmarsh to Woodhill then to Belmarsh again and now to Frankland which is situated in Durham. His co-defendants were moved in pairs to different prisons and he was moved singularly to the furthest prison in the UK. Before he was moved we had submitted numerous applications and letters pleading to the prison service and to Belmarsh Prison not to move him so far, but they ignored us and did just that. He was moved to Frankland on the 30thof June and things have never been the same since. He was treated differently from the moment he got there. He was looked upon with hatred and the tension could be felt all round. When he would call me his voice was very different to the way he usually sounded and I knew straight away something was wrong. He wouldn’t tell me clearly what was going on except ‘they all hate me here and it’s only a matter of time before something kicks off’. The phone was cut amidst our conversation which scared me even more as I had no idea what was going on. The solicitor was notified straight away and he put the prison and the prison service on notice of this threat taking place. I found out later that he had been threatened to be stabbed and burnt alive by other in-mates. These were also brought to the attention of the head of security in Frankland and still no action was taken. Eventually Omar had to go into segregation for his own safety before an attack would be carried out on him.
Subhanallah, just 3 days later Eesa Bharot was attacked in the very same prison with boiling water and boiling oil. He had injuries to his face, head, hands and back. He was also punched in his eye causing him loss of sight at the time. No inmate deserves to be attacked, let alone so brutally! He should never have been attacked especially when the guards were on notice that threats are going around and isn’t it their job to protect ALL prisoners, no matter what religion, race or charge. He was denied access to the hospital and was left in his cell for FIVE days with second and third degree burns! This is appalling treatment. But it doesn’t stop there. A few days later another Muslim inmate in Frankland also got attacked! Hussein Osman had his cell put on fire whilst he was in the kitchen cooking. He lost all his belongings, clothes books, everything. So what did the prison service do about this? They did absolutely nothing. They haven’t moved him but kept Osman just a few cells down from his burnt cell.
Omar stayed in segregation for over a month and no action was taken by the prison or prison service to resolve this problem. He was living in a small cell with nothing but a Quran. He had no access to books or even writing material until weeks later. He was given a five minute call once a week and 10 minutes on the exercise yard a day. Segregation is a form of punishment exercised on misbehaving inmates, Omar had no other choice except to withstand these conditions due to fear of his life. How is this a solution? Eventually he came out of segregation because the prison service clearly weren’t planning on doing anything. He is now back on the wing where Eesa was when he got attacked. The inmates who attacked Eesa have both been moved to different prisons, and have gone into segregation straight away. They have made this problem worse as those inmates are now fearful of their lives and will stay in segregation.
Since Omar has gone back to the wing, the guards have now started making things hard for him. They stopped him going to education; they cut his phone calls off, they lose his visiting orders, they won’t give him his property and now they have even stopped the inmates from praying in congregation in their cells. Subhanallah, the in-mates can sit together and smoke, play on the play station, eat etc. but two Muslims can’t pray together. He is still living in fear of his life and has to be on his guard all the time. While he is cooking, in the shower, while eating or on the phone. It’s not easy on the family as we are constantly worried for his safety, if we don’t hear from him we start thinking the worst.
I ask you, how would you feel if this was you brother? Or your husband? Or your son? Would you not be outraged and do something about this injustice that has and is taking place? In 2006 there was an incident in Wellingborough prison where two inmates were attacked with a ‘sharp object’ and suffered minor injuries. The result of that was they were moved to a different prison. Eesa’s wounds are very serious; he could be scarred for life. And yet he is still in the same prison. Are we to sit back and wait until it affects one of our close ones or do we stop this now before it’s too late? Today it’s my husband tomorrow it could be a relative of any of you here today. And even if it doesn’t, we still have a duty to our brothers. We have to stand up for them and at least try to stop this from becoming a more extensive problem. The prison service need to know that we will not stand for this and the Muslim community are watching them very carefully. The prison service shouldn’t be under the impression that the Muslims inside are forgotten about. We, the Muslim community, will hold the prison service directly responsible if there are any further cases of Muslim prisoners being abused or victimised in any way, it won’t be tolerated and we wont sit back allow this to take place.
I ask all of you to remember all the prisoners in your duaa’s especially in the month of Ramadan and their families’ inshallah. If any of you want to help then you can write to the governor and ask him why he has allowed this to happen and to move them straight away. The details are on the cage prisoners website or you can get information from Muslim prisoner support group inshallah. I want to say jazaak Allahu khairun for all those people who have already written to the governor and offered their support to us, it is very much appreciated and you are all in our duaa’s inshallah. Wassalaam wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatu.
Prisoners of Faith 