Om Abdurahman / Code Pink – 2013-05-11 00:44:02
http://codepink.salsalabs.com/o/424/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=7141
(May 10, 2013) — For American women, Mother’s Day should be a day of joy. But for me, it is a day of grief. Every day is a day of grief for me. My son Abdurahman is a prisoner at Guantánamo, and has been cleared for release since as far back as January 2007. And I need your help to free him.
Abdurahman left Yemen to teach in Pakistan and never returned. I found out he was being held at Guantánamo through a newspaper. When a letter from him finally arrived in the mail, it was so scratched up, I couldn’t read my own son’s words. Now he is on a hunger strike, and I don’t know if he’ll still be alive the next time I’m allowed to speak with him by phone, which is once every two months.
Can you imagine what this is like for a mother? A mother’s first job is to love and feed her child. To imagine my son in such a loveless place, refusing nourishment to protest his detention; to think of him being painfully force fed–it breaks my heart every second of every day.
The United State’s government has stolen my son’s youth, and stolen our family’s peace and happiness. Don’t they realize we are human beings, not stones? That we suffer just like they would if they had lost their children?
My younger sons fell into a depression and stopped going to school after Abdurahman’s capture. He was their role model, and now they have lost hope. Abdurahman’s wife was pregnant when he was taken. He has never met his daughter, who is now 12 years old.
I am grateful for all of you who are fasting for justice for my son and his fellow prisoners at Guantánamo. Now would you please take one more step and tell Michelle Obama to tell her husband that it is time to live up to his promises and close Guantánamo?
I thank you from the bottom of my heart as a mother, my heart that aches, my heart that yearns to hold my son again, to give him his favorite foods, to tell him everything will be all right.
This Mother’s Day, you can help me and other mothers reunite with our sons: Tell Michelle Obama to tell her husband to close Guantánamo now.
With gratitude,
Om Abdurahman
Michelle Obama:
Tell Barack to Close Guantanamo Prison!
“For me, Mother’s Day is a day of grief. Every day is a day of grief. My son Abdurahman Shabati is a prisoner at Guantánamo, and has been cleared for release since January of 2007. The United State’s government has stolen my son’s youth, and stolen our family’s peace and happiness.
Don’t they realize we are human beings, not stones? That we suffer just like they would if they had lost their children?
This Mother’s Day, you can help me and other mothers reunite with our sons by appealing to the First Lady of the United States: Tell Michelle Obama to urge her husband to close Guantánamo now.”
— Om Abdurahman, mother of Guantánamo detainee Abdurahman Shabati, who has been held for 12 years and cleared for release for over 6 years.
This Mothers Day, help Om Abdurahman and the other mothers of Guantanmo prisoners reunite with their sons by telling Michelle Obama to tell her husband to close Guantanamo Bay Prison immediately.
Dear Michelle Obama,
On this Mothers Day, I am writing to urge you to tell your husband to take immediate steps to end indefinite detention without charge and close the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay. For women all over the world, Mother’s Day is a day of joy.
But for women like Om Abdurahman, it is a day of grief because her son Abdurahman is a prisoner at Guantánamo prison, which your husband has the power to close, and he has been cleared for release for over 6 years.
Twelve years ago Abdurahman left Yemen to teach in Pakistan and never returned, and Om Abdurahman found out he was being held at Guantanamo through a newspaper. Now he is on a hunger strike, and his mother doesn’t even know if he’ll still be alive the next time she allowed to speak with him by phone, which is once every two months.
Can you imagine what this is like for a mother? The United State’s government has stolen her son’s youth, and stolen her family’s peace and happiness. Abdurahman’s wife was pregnant when he was taken. He has never met his daughter, who is now 12 years old.
Mrs. Obama, please tell your husband to close Guantánamo prison now by taking these concrete steps:
• Appoint a senior point person so that the administration’s Guantánamo closure policy is directed by the White House and not by Pentagon bureaucrats. He can also order the secretary of defense to start certifying for transfer detainees who have been cleared, which is more than half the Guantánamo population.
• Demonstrate immediate, tangible progress toward the closure of Guantanamo or the men who are on hunger strike will die, and he will be ultimately responsible for their deaths.
Abdurahman deserves justice. Om Abdurahman deserves justice for her son. All of the prisoners held in Guantánamo deserve justice. Please act now.
Sincerely,
