Latest on Imam Jamil

On March 14, in an interview with Dr. Kaukab Siddique of New Trend Magazine, Sis. Karima Al-Amin, Imam Jamil's wife, made the following points after returning from a visit with Imam Jamil:

- The authorities have tried very hard but have failed to break Imam Jamil. In the words of Ameer Nadeem of the West Side Atlanta masjid: "The authorities did not make the Imam and they can't break him either."

- The campaign against Imam Jamil's lockdown in "the hole" brought a countrywide response. In fact, the warden is requesting Imam Jamil to put out a message that people should stop calling.

- Owing to the protests, Imam Jamil has been given back his Qur'an and his kufi cap.

- Imam Jamil's presence is affecting the entire prison population even though he is separated from other prisoners. Requests for the Qur'an are coming in even from Aryan Nation prisoners. Some have asked about the Islamic ruling on tattoos. [The word has spread after an Aryan Nation prisoner accepted Islam from the Imam in his previous prison in Reidsville, Georgia.] Black or white, he is inviting everyone to Islam.

- His main message in this visit: "Shut it down. Shut down the supermax prison. This place is as bad as Guantanamo Bay and violates the common humanity of prisoners. If the president is against Gitmo as a matter of principle--and not just for politics--he should begin by closing down supermax in Florence and other places like it."