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Jan
22
2007
| Women in Veil Behind Bars: What Can We Do? |
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| Written by Rina Morados | |||||||||||||||||
| Monday, 22 January 2007 | |||||||||||||||||
Page 6 of 15 In 2005, we visited Camp Karingal to verify report of more than 100 Muslim women under detention for various crimes. The report was confirmed. More than 90% of the Sisters are facing charges under R.A. NO. 9165 otherwise known as “The Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. The rest of the Sisters are charged with cases involving Estafa, homicide and other minor offenses. I saw the need of some intervention to remedy the sufferings of the Sisters inside the detention centerOn March 1, 2006, a Memorandum of Agreement was executed between the Religious providers in Camp Karingal where we represented the Muslim Sisters as signatory to the agreement. The agreement provides among other things responsibilities of the religious and service providers in Camp Karingal to help our target beneficiaries avail of our services such counseling, lectures or para-legal aid. We saw the active involvement of non-Muslim organizations and felt the need for us Muslims to exert more effort in addressing the needs of our Sisters. We heard the Sisters stories and lamentations. Each day hoping to see progress in their cases but many of them has been in agony for several months/years in waiting. We have also tried lobbying possible legal help. I visited IBP and PAO offices located at the Hall of Justice in Quezon City for possible referral but my plea for help was least important to them or shall I say, landed to deaf ears. In IBP office, I recommended ten names of Sisters hoping they can refer them to their volunteers. Maybe due to the many cases they handled and their reservations to handle cases related to drugs until now we have not seen any progress. Also we knew of some young Muslim lawyers came to interview the Sisters but after the interview last year we did not hear any progress. The Sisters’ stories, sufferings and ordeal are great inspirations for those who are free outside and to think million times before they allow themselves to become parties of any illegal acts. Life inside the detention center is like a hell. For the Sisters dreams have collapsed and future became so obscure. In this situation, the only way to survive and to keep their sanity intact is to nourish their spirit and that is why inside the detention Center our Sisters found Allah swt. --Comes the realization that in times of great tribulations, we only have Allah swt to turn to, from Him we get sustenance and good reasons to face the challenges of our lives more positively. And this is the story of the “Sisters in Veil behind bars”. Sisters shared to us, that prior to their detention in camp Karingal, they can’t even hardly memorized the Al-Fatiha but alhamdullilah they realized that by moving closer back to Allah(Subhanahu wa Ta’Allah—swt) they can make their best out of the difficult situations. We taught them to make use of their time by spending time for tawbah {asking forgiveness} and Dhiker { remembering Allah swt in their supplications}. Are we saying that the Sisters inside the detention Center deserve the punishments? Yes, to the guilty ones--- it is a wake up call for them! We hope they will come out with renewed hearts and would help educate other Muslims the bad effect of committing sins and disobeying Allah’s rule. But what about those Sisters who were only victims of evil machinations of “persons in authority” especially the inconsiderate police officers who committed gross violations of the rights of these sisters? These are the innocent Sisters languishing in the detention Centers because they cannot afford to hire lawyer for themselves. These are the Sisters who left their families in the province hoping they can land good job, go abroad and make life better. But they ended up in jail. These are grandmothers, mothers, and young sisters but who cares anyway? The last option left for them is to fight in the Court? But the fight calls for a long, long wait and everyday is an agony. Why is this happening? |
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| Last Updated ( Monday, 22 January 2007 ) | |||||||||||||||||
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