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Al-Ahram Weekly 4 -10 February 1999 Issue No. 415 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 4 -10 February 1999 Issue No. 415
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Book Fair Economy Opinion Culture Features Living Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Clark pleads for
By Amira Howeidy
jailed Gama'a leaderRamsey Clark, former US Attorney-General and lawyer for Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, was in Cairo this week to bring attention to the case of the imprisoned cleric. Clark, who arrived on Sunday, visited Sheikh Abdel-Rahman's family in Fayoum and met members of the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR) to outline the legal aspects of the case.
Abdel-Rahman, spiritual leader of the underground Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiya, was charged, along with 14 others, with involvement in a plan to blow up the United Nations, two New York tunnels and other city targets, and with a plot to assassinate President Hosni Mubarak. In 1993, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. For the last two years, he has been in solitary confinement and is permitted communication only with his lawyer and prison officers.
According to Clark, the health of Abdel-Rahman, who is blind and diabetic, has deteriorated drastically and he has lost 25 pounds. Clark claimed that the sheikh is not being given adequate medical care.
On Monday, Clark held a news conference at the office of lawyer Montasser El-Zayyat, the de facto spokesman for the Gama'a. El-Zayyat told reporters that he met Clark last year and agreed to help launch a media campaign to draw attention to the sheikh's plight. But Clark insisted that his latest visit was aimed at helping the Abdel-Rahman's family.
At the news conference, Abdel-Rahman's son, Abdullah, read out a statement praising his father. "He never preached violence or destruction," said Abdullah. "Rather, he worked for justice. He fears no one but God. This is why governments have rejected him."
He continued: "My father is being subjected to the worst type of psychological torture. For more than two years, he has been held in solitary confinement. He cannot pray because the floor of his cell is always covered with water. Moreover, he is given food and medicine that he does not want."
Abdullah urged reporters to "investigate the charges [against the sheikh] before labeling him a terrorist."
Clark, who filed an appeal last January, said, "There was no evidence whatsoever against Abdel-Rahman... and the [case] is simply an assault against Islam."
Initially, said Clark, Abdel-Rahman was arrested in 1993 for violating immigration regulations. Three indictments had been brought against 12 people for plots to blow up the UN, the George Washington bridge, the Lincoln and Manhattan tunnels and a federal building in downtown Manhattan. Clark pointed out that Abdel-Rahman was not mentioned in any of these. "Then, a fourth indictment was made which added Abdel-Rahman and claimed that he was the mastermind of these operations, [although there was] no evidence and not a word as to what he had done," he said.
Clark claimed that he spent more than nine months preparing for the trial but found no incriminating evidence against the sheikh. "It was then that we knew it was really an assault on Islam," he said.
Clark stressed the damaging effects of solitary confinement on the sheikh's health. "The effect of this protracted imprisonment on the sheikh's health has been extremely harmful...We have to recognise the total isolation that he's in," he said. "He's the first person sentenced under the anti-terrorism act of 1936 to be placed in total isolation, sees no other prisoners, has no communication with anyone. Because he's blind, he's doubly in prison. He's got nothing to read. He can't hear the Arabic language, so it's a silent, isolated world. I think we need to remember all those things to report accurately on what this case is all about."
Criticising the American media, Clark accused it of lacking independence. He claimed that the sheikh was found guilty because of the US establishment's failure to properly understand Islam. "It's like Edward Said's Orientalism. Everything is so exotic and strange that you can believe anything."
Clark denied knowledge of any agreement between the US and Egyptian governments to transfer Abdel-Rahman's appeal procedures to Cairo. "I do not think that the Egyptian government would receive him here with great joy," he said.
Asked about the prospect of Abdel-Rahman being released on the grounds of ill health, Clark said that the only available information on the sheikh's condition was from the federal prisons. "He was refused a request to be examined by a doctor of his own choice. So we can never know if his blood sugar level in these reports is accurate or not," he said.
