Help Free Ali al-Timimi

Found this on Rasheed Moore’s site:

This is an email from Dr. Ali Al-Timimi’s Support Committee:

As you know, this last year has been a test for everyone involved in Ali’s case. By the grace of Allah, Ali has been returned to the local Alexandria jail. But it was not in the manner in which anyone expected. In fact, there is a good chance that his conviction will be overturned. But Ali needs your help.

After Ali’s comprehensive loss in court and abandonment by the previous support committee, a few people offered to help. Perhaps they decided to help when they heard that Ali was forced to wear the same prison outfit for 6 months. Or maybe it was because Ali had to wash that prison jump suit in the toilet. I do not know how he prayed afterwards. I do not know of a Fiqh chapter on “praying after you wash your clothes in the toilet”. Do you? Allah did bless him when another prisoner secretly lent Ali a uniform while he washed his sole outfit in the toilet. Well that only happened after a gang member with hepatitis C – the most virulent strain which currently has no known cure – beat Ali.

Perhaps the new group started to help because Ali has been transferred to 5 different prisons in the first 6 months so that his new attorney could not speak with him. Then again, it might have been because each prison illegally read Ali’s legal correspondence so that they would know the strategy for the appeal. We can probably count 100 different reasons why 1 or 2 people are helping now. But Allah is more merciful than we were to Ali.

Experts in constitutional law and national security have started to come to Ali’s defense. Though Ali’s case was confusing to many of us, it was clear to legal experts: defending Ali is defending free speech… defending Ali means trying to stop future oppression of Muslims specifically and Americans in general. They ask: “How can a man be convicted for life plus 70 years for something he may or may not have said years before during a 20 minute dinner?” You know that type of dinner. Many of you had the same type with Ali during the 80’s and 90’s. When you call a few brothers over and “break bread” together.

We’ve tried to explain what’s happening with Ali’s case on a new site. The old site altimimi.org still works but has been neglected for too long. The new site is freeAli.org and it’s not complete but it should help Ali’s friends come to his defense… to speak up for Dr. Al-Timimi.

So why did I write you this email? We have a strong chance– and with Allah is success– to have a new trial or an outright dismissal. I mention some of the reasons on the new site: http://freeAli.org. In brief, we’re very close to proving that the government intentionally lied to the court and jury. And that usually means dismissal– and with Allah is success.

So what caused this optimism? We found some old documents from the previous lawyers and got some new legal power with which Allah blessed Ali. But the old lawyers won’t give these documents to us unless we pay some of Ali’s old bills. And the new lawyer needs to be paid.

We need to raise USD 150 000 (one hundred fifty thousand dollars) by Oct 23 which is at the end of Ramadhan 2006. That’s the day that Ali has to prove that the government spied on him and then hid evidence that shows that Ali was working with some of the Saudi scholars to avoid a “clash of civilization” and not the mad-man they described to the jury.

So, I do not know if we will have another chance like this to help Ali. All I can tell you is that the lawyers have told us: “Rescue Ali now and you’re rescuing yourselves in the future”. So, we have some of the greatest legal minds of our time working for nominal fees. They’re treating Ali as indigent and are aghast that we all have abandoned him.

He was our friend, our teacher, our relative, and our student. Perhaps we forgot that defending the callers to the Sunnah is like defending the Sunnah itself. Allah knows what’s in the hearts but I think that we can all testify before Allah and mankind that the Prophet’s statement refers to Ali. Which statement? The one that Ali taught us: “Allah mentions and the angels pray for the teacher who teaches good to the people”. So Allah has blessed us with an opportunity in these last days of Ramadhan to rescue Ali today so that we rescue ourselves tomorrow.

Wassalam alaikum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh wa maghfiratuh.

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