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On December 22nd, 2002, Sulayman Zain ul-Abedin [formally
Francis Etim] died in his early 40's, with funeral prayers read
at the West London Islamic Centre on the 24th of December,
2002, after the Zuhur Prayer.
Sulayman was the only
man who was concerned enough for the safety of vulnerable Muslim
women in that he ran a service offering a short, quick course on
self-defence so they may have a better opportunity to protect
themselves on some of the unruly streets of London. Painfully
aware that no one else was taking on the responsibility for the
safety of Muslim women, Sulayman, for many years, volunteered to
include and encourage them in a program of basic self-defence.
Sulayman had a
website, which has been long removed, advertising instruction
for the women he was assisting. As a result of this, three weeks
after September 11th, 2001, when the attacks on the U.S.
Pentagon and World Trade Centre occurred, Sulayman Balal Zain
ul-Abidin, 44, was arrested.
Wrongfully Held in
Detention
He had previously
gone to a police station seeking help as he no longer felt safe
after a newspaper article published details of his website, Sakina
Security Services. However, instead of gaining protection
from the police, he was wrongfully held in detention under the Terrorism
Act for ten months, during which time his house was
repossessed, and his life upturned.
Sulayman Was a
Convert to Islam
Sulayman, was
formerly a chef at the Royal College of Obstetricians who had
converted to Islam in 1979. His lawyer, Muddassar Arani said
that Sulayman was left with nothing, despite being a totally
innocent man. After his acquittal, Sulayman was left with the
task of 're-building his life' from scratch. His case was the
only one so far to reach trial and the verdict was delivered
after a month-long hearing and five days of deliberation.
John Wadham, director
of civil rights group Liberty said that since September 11th,
"draconian" anti-terrorism powers had been used to
justify a string of high profile arrests of people who were
subsequently found to have done nothing wrong.
"It is a real
problem for both the integrity of our criminal justice system
and for the confidence of British Muslims who have been the
target of most of these arrests," he said.
The Old Bailey
criminal court heard that only one person had taken Sulayman's
course in the last two years. This individual was a supermarket
security guard from south London. It also heard that Sulayman
had no links to al Quaeda, which Washington blames for the
September 11th attacks.
Justification
of Government Expenditure
Sulayman told the
court he had been arrested to justify the massive expenditure
and manpower the government had employed to track down Muslim
"terrorists" after the attacks on New York and
Washington. He argued that the police arrested him as a "trophy"
suspect after September 11th happened, and they did this to
"show the public that they were fighting Islamic
terrorism".
Sulayman Died
Inexplicably
Sulayman is said to
have died inexplicably as a result of a simple operation to his
knee.
Many Muslims are
making du'ah for him and hope that he is thus being awarded the
status of Shaheed or Holy Martyr.
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