^^^loool. I would not be suprised North or so they say.

An al-Jazeera journalist captured in Afghanistan six years ago and sent to Guantanamo Bay is close to becoming the fifth detainee at the US naval base to take his own life, according to a medical report written by a team of British and American psychiatrists Sami al-Haj, a Sudanese national, is 250 days into a hunger strike which he began in protest over his detention without charge or trial in January 2002. But British and American doctors, who have been given exclusive access to his interview notes, say there is very strong evidence that he has given up his fight for life, experiencing what doctors recognise as "passive suicide", a condition suffered by female victims of Darfur. Dr Dan Creson, a US psychiatrist who has worked with the United Nations in Darfur, said Mr Haj was suffering from severe depression and may be deteriorating to the point of imminent death. He said the detainee's condition was similar to that of Darfuri women in Sudan whose mind suddenly experiences an irreversible decline after enduring months of starvation and abuse. He said: "In the midst of rape, slow starvation, and abject humiliation, they did whatever they could to survive and save their children; then, suddenly, something happened in their psyche, and, without warning, they would just sit down with their small children beneath the first small area of available shade and with no apparent emotion wait for death." In June this year a Saudi man became the fourth prisoner to take his own life at Guantanamo Bay. Guards found him dead in his cell. Two Saudis and a Yemeni prisoner were found hanged in an apparent suicide at Guantanamo in June last year. A senior US officer caused outrage at the time by describing the suicides of three men as an act of asymmetric warfare and a good PR move on the part of terrorist suspects. Mr Haj, 38, was sent on assignment by al-Jazeera television station to cover the war in Afghanistan in October 2001. The following month, after the fall of Kabul, Mr Haj left Afghanistan for Pakistan with the rest of his crew. In early December, the crew were given visas to return to Afghanistan. But when Mr Haj tried to re-enter Afghanistan with his colleagues, he was arrested by the Pakistani authorities – apparently at the request of the US military. He was imprisoned, handed over to the US authorities in January 2002, taken to the US military compound in Bagram, Afghanisatan, then Kandahar, and finally to Guantanamo in June 2002. His lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, of the human rights charity Reprieve, said his client had endured months of brutal force-feeding and lost nearly a fifth of his body weight during the hunger strike. Mr Stafford Smith said: "The US military is rightly afraid of a fifth prisoner dying in their custody. But they wrongly respond by treating prisoners worse. Blankets and clothes are removed in case they are used to commit suicide. The harshest methods of forced feeding are deployed – Sami has suffered the feeding tube being forced down into his lungs by mistake several times." The warning about the condition of Mr Haj coincided with the release of Guantanamo transcripts which describe the hostility between guards and their prisoners. The transcripts includes details of guards interrupting detainees at prayer, detainees flinging body waste at guards and interrogators withholding medicine. Dr Hugh Rickards, a British psychiatrist, warned in his report that the level of Mr Haj's mental suffering "appears so acute that it is my duty as a medical practitioner to put this in writing to ensure appropriate assessment and treatment". Dr Mamoun Mobayed, a British psychiatrist based in Northern Ireland, and a third member of the team who has also been given access to written notes of recent interviews with the prisoner, said there was also concern about the mental health of Mr Haj's wife and seven-year-old son, who was just one when his father went on assignment to Afghanistan. Source: Independent p.s. The American Committee to Free Sami Al-Haj has launched an online petition to the U.S. Congress demanding Sami’s release and an investigation of the Bush Administration’s campaign against Al Jazeera.

If the fiasco surrounding their "Undercover Mosques" programme wasn't enough, the Dispatches team is set to broadcast another attack on Muslims tomorrow evening. This time claiming that former Muslim converts to Christianity are facing "Mob Justice" from their former communities. No doubt the scale of the problem will be blown out of proportion once again. There is a strong case to attack the Dispatches team credibility especially after they were reported by West Midlands Police for misrepresentation. Dispatches investigates the violence and intimidation facing Muslims who convert to Christianity in Britain. Dispatches reporter Antony Barnett meets former Muslims who now live under the threat of reprisals from their former communities. Many are still living in fear. He interviews a family who have been driven out of their home and a convert whose brother was beaten close to death. The investigation uncovers a network of churches supporting converts from Islam who have to worship under a veil of secrecy. It is estimated there are as many as 3,000 Muslims who have converted to Christianity living in Britain. Converting to another religion for a Muslim is not just considered a taboo act by some believers. Certain Islamic texts demand converts - also known as apostates - be punished severely for deserting their faith. In several Islamic states, the death penalty is imposed. Here in Britain, Dispatches discovers a form of mob justice is taking place on our streets. A concerned Christian bishop tells Dispatches that it may not be long before a British convert is killed, and implores Muslim leaders to take action. Dispatches discovers the situation for converts from Islam in Britain is a tinderbox waiting to explode. Increasingly asylum seekers from Islamic countries are exploring different faiths in Britain while a new strand of evangelical Christianity is targeting Britain's Muslims for conversion. With radical British Islamic groups calling for apostates to be executed if they achieved their goal of a worldwide Islamic state, it's a potentially dangerous cocktail that has been exacerbated by the silence of both Muslim and Christian leaders on the subject.

That is what I meant! waab yaab, then you still get up for Suxuur! damn. bisinka iyo Yasinka as my edo would say! that is a lot of food.

You have Casho, After Iftar???? that is madness! lool

Loool, it is surprising how many people love their cereal, I cannot make up my mind if it is real food, or whoever made it was just taking the pis*s, I've never seen something that fills you so quickly and yet you are hungry 1hr after. :rolleyes: Acuudubilah @ people who eat hilib and full meals. P.s. everyone is so busy trying to avoid getting hungry all day!! people that is part of fasting, you are suppose to feel hungry and thirsty and all the other hardship that comes with not eating regularly! helllooooo

^^^Stay focus and realistic here please. It is reality not negativity. Somali’s think everyone who wants to help them wants something out of it, relative or not. Please read what I said, I wrote "most" based on my experience (as I go on to mention my own area) so No I do think there are some sincere organizations, but not enough to out weigh the corrupt. Young and negative helps me avoid wasting time and effort and disappointment by focusing on a dream that just won't be and sitting back and waiting for this so called unity and working together. I hope been older and positive keeps you going. I don't have anything else to add and I believe I made my position clear. I'm not going to argue for the sake of arguing. :cool:

For your information Kurds are dying all the time, you only have to look to north London where they have gang warfare with the Turkish and the blacks. They have the highest prison population in that area, not to mention high unemployment and educational level. Somalis are divided where ever they are, they took the problems of back home with them to where ever they went. It is not uncommon to see people (kids) fight over clans, you just have look at how they settle in areas prominent in their clan. So don't tell me about American and Canadian Somalis , I can see the ones here. As for people who set up community centers, most are just greedy people who just use their local community to get funding and then do nothing for the community, other than take few kids on field trips or pizza hut just so they can collect receipts for the audit. In my area there are 15 youth development centers for Somalis, yet the youngsters are lost and rooming the streets. I know what the problem is, I just telling you shouting "Somalis need to unite and work together" from the side line is not going to work, so save me your chanting please.

Thank you North, that is all I was trying to tell "Me" before he started freaking out. Young and growing into what? thats a racist comment Ghinima. Are you saying we are not a fully developed community. Huh?? come again my dear? how is that racist? And yes I am saying we are less rooted in the countries we live in, we have not yet developed the institutions and facilities that available to other ethnic minorities like the Pakistanis, Indians etc who firstly came from a different background (i.e. they had money, business, not necessarily fleeing war, broke etc) but also because they have been here a lot longer, and have come to realise that they are hear to stay, and for some that the countries they live in is their home more than their native countries. Somalis are only on 1st generation (maybe 2nd is some places) and most of them still believe they are going back etc. any projects that have been under taken is normally short term, show me an existent Somali organizations that is planning for the future of Somalis in 50years (where they are living) go on, I would love to see it. As usual I find your "united" rhetoric boring, and unhelpful, you must find ways to work around this problem dear, it is deeply rooted issue that won’t magically disappear no matter how much you wish for it.

^^^ :rolleyes: We shall see what Ngonge can do, shall we. As for my qualifications..... ask the teacher here AKA Red Sea, it was he who saw me pass with flying colours, he was clapping so hard for Ibti his hands hurt Edit: Ngonge Why are u ignoring me?? What did I do!!

I already graduated from this school dear :rolleyes: Maybe you need it now if nothing else to keep Ngonge company and help him.

^^Or because we are still young and growing, in time they will have those establishments you speak of. P.s. Stop repeating the old tale of their murders will not be investigated because no one is pressuring the police. It is their job, they get paid to do, and they have no reason not to do it regardless of whether there is pressure or not. It is the same as the old rumour that the doctors will kill you and take your body parts because you don't have those same institutions. P.s.s I'm not including the odd racist officer here and there, what I am saying is that as an establishment they have no reason not find people who kill Somalis.

^^^I fail to see the link yaa "me", it could have happened to anyone by the sound of it. Random violence knows no bounds, community nor does it care for anyone. It may not be targeted at a specific group (i.e. Somalis) if it is, normally it is not because of the weakness of the said community but because of grudge one holds or revenge etc. I doubt gangster walk around thinking, Let me kill Somalis no one cares for them and I could probably get away with it. The reason we hear of the death of Somalis more often now is because we are a young (very young in some places) growing community. We are exposed to the same problems and risks many older (as in who have settle here before us) communities already struggled with. There are now many families in the diaspora (whole generations in some places) where as previously it was a small older (age wise group) who formed small communities amongst other ethnic minorities, as all those minorities grow, it will cause conflict and violence etc. SO it is not that there is more violence targeted at Somalis per se but just that there are more younger Somalis who are involved and integrated into the communities which they live in hence facing the same problems and risks. Inevitably (& unfortunately) people will die from out community, but like other communities we need to learn to respond and follow up cases, so that some justice is done for the families of the victims, obviously we order for us to do this we need to build (or influence existing) institutions (law firms, judicial, law makers, citizen advise centers etc) and that is what is lacking in our communities, hence why we always feel defenseless and under attack. May allah grant them peace, mercy, forgiveness and sabar for their family inshallah.

^^^loool, you add rice to it when you are cooking it (did I mention it takes forever to cook) and it taste like (nothing to be honest, hence the sugar and Greek yogurt. I've never had it for Suuxuur mainly coz I cannot eat at those hrs. That sandwich at 4am! wooh then back to bed with all that in you! lol

Paragon mashallah, I did not think you had it in ya! That was the longest few threads I've ever had the patience to read I guess Bob is not the only one who can captivate my attention in their detailed threads!

At the moment I'm back to my old friend I love him, mashallah his talks are so good.

You are all Wlc Tallpoppy: You can help out the community, reading/ Listening to the Quran, reading dua and remembering Allah much. And last but not least, giving charity (with your wealth, time, effort, knowledge) and giving food to a person who has been fasting all day (so maybe making food for your family/ friends who have been fasting) Oh and stay away from sins. P.s. One more thing, don't eat infornt of your sisters and brothers who are fasting....that is just evil! lol, and if they are starving waa kuu caawriyi Lool @ dabshid, hopefully today you won't make the same mistake.

^^Baarakallah fee, and Ramadan Mubarak to you and your family May you have a blessed month inshallah.

What an odd thread, all this for a bit of bread, cajeeb, and caano ido (I thought men were not allowed to drink that?).

I heard listening to nasheed's is haram. I cannot remember the exact evidence (something along the lines of too many musical instruments, singing lies, coping gaalo and few other things) Just to be on the save side I've decided not to listen to anything but talks and Quaran, but working in silence can drive you mad, I can hear myself breath in my office! lol Can anyone shed light on this, is it or is it not?

^^Racist Somali, You went Al Huda, (which is small, loud and does not look like a mosque (from the outside) and could not walk 5mins down the road. 1986, Did not think you was THAT old. gosh

Loool, that is funny, ooouch indeed. Maskeen she said YEs. lool

^^^WHAT? but, but...never mind, a great missed opportunity. Next time you are in London, add it to your list of must see's.

^^^about 70% is bengali, they have rediscovered Islam Mashallah, specially young people. North, don't be too suprised, it is this mosque.

^^^YOu should come and stay with me, The women alone have two floors to pray in (and fight as they seem to do a lot these days!) Oh and I can hear the athan from my house. It is close to living in a Muslim country would you not say? very fancy indeed mashallah