newark man recalls his philippine arrest as a terrorist sympathizer even if no charges had been filed
Renowl
Newark man recalls arrest in Philippines
By Edwin Garcia
Mercury News
Newark resident Jamil Daud Mujahid was standing on the balcony of a gated home
he was visiting in the Philippines in December when, he said, a
life-threatening event unfolded on the grounds below.
``I had seen people dressed up in black, and bandannas, and masks, and assault
weapons, coming into the house,'' Mujahid, 56, said. ``And the first thing I
thought about was a kidnapping.''
The armed men, who turned out to be agents of the Philippine government, threw
Mujahid in jail along with his 55-year-old brother, Antioch resident Michael
Ray Stubbs. High-ranking government officials then paraded the brothers on
international television as suspected terrorists connected to Osama bin Laden's
Al-Qaida network. The FBI stepped in to investigate.
But last week, nearly three months after their arrests, the brothers were
released from custody and deported from the Philippines. Stubbs and Mujahid,
who also goes by James Stubbs, returned to their East Bay homes over the
weekend. No charges have been filed against them in this country.
``I'm not doing that well, mentally or physically,'' Mujahid said in a
telephone interview Sunday evening. He referred to his time in jail as a
``concentration camp in hell,'' which he said was ``polluted with hazardous
waste.'' Stubbs couldn't be reached for comment.
Mujahid, a former Black Panther from the 1960s who converted to Islam, said he
flew to the Philippines in early December to visit his pregnant Filipino wife.
He wound up accused of meeting secretly with members of Muslim extremist groups
and possessing documents that suggested the brothers were raising money to
build Muslim schools and mosques. The FBI got involved when it learned Stubbs
once worked at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the 1990s.
``These are all fabricated lies,'' a handcuffed Mujahid shouted at the
television cameras shortly after his arrest.
Mujahid says he was framed -- possibly because he wears a beard, possibly
because he named one of his sons Ussamaah. ``It was a kidnapping; it was
politically motivated and religious based,'' he said.
Officials at the Philippine consulate in San Francisco could not be reached for
comment late Sunday. Philippine authorities told the Associated Press there was
no evidence linking the brothers to any past or planned terrorist plots.
Mujahid said the Philippine government thought he was Jordanian or Yemeni. They
jailed him with Jordanians, Pakistanis, Palestinians and Egyptians, he said,
some of whom were Muslim, some of whom were not, all of whom were suspected
terrorists.
Jailers, Mujahid said, didn't believe he was a U.S. citizen, but Mujahid
credits agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation for helping identify
him as a Missouri native who was raised in Indiana and is the son of a former
Indianapolis police officer.
The FBI also looked into Stubbs' background to determine whether he had access
to sensitive information while working in the 1990s as an air conditioning and
heating technician at the federal laboratory.
Investigators have since determined there was no security compromise because
Stubbs lacked special access, LaRae Quy, a special agent with the bureau's San
Francisco division, said Sunday. Still, Quy wouldn't say if the FBI has closed
its investigation.
Mujahid, meanwhile, says he is bitter after spending weeks in a Manila-area
prison he described as ``filthy, dehumanizing, degrading -- unacceptable living
conditions for human beings.'' And 2 1/2-year-old Ussamaah got a taste of
prison, too, staying with Mujahid for a couple of weeks as Mujahid's
42-year-old wife endured the last stage of a difficult pregnancy.
She gave birth to Al-Quadir Muhammad Jamil two weeks ago.
Just JT
>
> Mujahid, meanwhile, says he is bitter after spending weeks in a
Manila-area
> prison he described as ``filthy, dehumanizing, degrading -- unacceptable
living
> conditions for human beings.''
Why be bitter at a mistaken identity? Experiences of suffering and
persecution makes one a stronger person. Checkout Nelson Mandela's story.
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