from the children of Marzieh Hashemi
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
May peace and blessings be upon Muhammad, his pure progeny, and his loyal companions.
We wanted to thank everyone again for the outreach and support for our mother, Marzieh Hashemi. It has been overwhelming, and is, in fact, making all the difference.
We have also seen significant media exposure for Marzieh Hashemi, although we have ourselves held back from speaking to the media over the past few days due to legal concerns. We will be happy to be more candid once these concerns subside.
The media exposure has been extremely helpful, in a very real way. The prison where she is being held is now making special arrangements for her food to be halal. They have also finally facilitated her requests regarding hijab. We do not think this would have been possible without media exposure and community pressure.
We have multiple lawyers and legal experts now involved in her case at the same time. These are seasoned individuals with high security clearance that allows them the necessary access they need to try and resolve this case on the legal front.
Alhamdulillah our mother has access and exposure, but there are unfortunately many Muslims in American prisons who need similar accommodations that are never arranged for them. Many Muslims in American prisons who do not, and cannot afford the most qualified legal teams. Our main worry should be with them.
They are invisible, and may go years without their religious requests taken seriously by anyone. Perhaps our mother’s imprisonment will bring exposure to these less known members of our community, and encourage on the ground activism to ensure the rights of these brothers and sisters.
We are all responsible for their wellbeing. These are the people that our mother speaks to us about most often, and tells us not to forget them, not to ignore them.
For us; Hossein, Sarah, and Reza Hashemi, this is not just about our mother. Her case highlights a larger constitutionally legitimized process by way of which people who have not committed a crime can be put in prison through legal means. They can be kept in prison for an indefinite period of time, and all of this is deemed legal and legitimate under U.S. law. This is highly problematic and can effect any one of us at any time.
We believe that it is imperative, especially for marginalized people in the United States of America to understand these controversial laws pertaining to being a “material witness” and other laws that can lead to our detention even if we have done nothing wrong.
We echo the voice of many legal and rights advocacy groups in the United States that find the constitutionality of these laws highly problematic, and, moving forward, we intend to assist organizations that are challenging this legal loophole.
At the moment, we are led to believe that Marzieh Hashemi’s release this coming week is a possibility, although nothing is for certain. We also believe that we are in a strong position on the legal front in general. This is certainly a result of community support.
Again, we don’t know anything for certain about her release. We were able to speak to her on the phone a second time on Friday 18 January. Her overall condition seems to be okay at the moment, but she did seem quite tired.
What is most difficult for us to grapple with is the fact that our mother will remain in prison for the duration of the legal proceedings, however long it may be, despite the fact that she has not been charged with any crime.
We will go forward by placing all this in Allah’s hands, for we plan and they plan, but He is the best of planners.
في أمان الله الكريم
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