Rounded Up: Artificial Terrorists and Muslim Entrapment After 9/11 [Paperback]

Shamshad Ahmad (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 2009

"I invite you to think: there are more than six million Muslims in this country, and almost eight years have gone by sine 9/11, yet not a single Muslim terrorist has ever been found here. We are not terrorists. We are part of this society, we share its concerns, and we want to share in its success and prosperity." -Shamshad Ahmad In 2004, the FBI raided the Masjid As-Salam, a working-class mosque in Albany, New York, and arrested two of its members on charges of supporting terrorism. The government's subsequent case against Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossain garnered international publicity, shocked the city, and terrified the Capital District's Muslim community. Now, from his insider's perspective as president of the mosque, Shamshad Ahmad gives the only comprehensive account available of the fictional FBI sting that entrapped the two men, and offers some behind-the-scenes information, including transcriptions of the actual sting tapes, that has never been made public. Dr. Ahmad's careful examination of the evidence, and his unique observations as a Muslim, leave no doubt that the case was just a frame-up designed to advance the post-9/11 war on terror and intimidate the Muslim community -- and that community support and activism have made a difference throughout this tragic miscarriage of justice. All proceeds from the sale of this book will go to the Aref Education Fund, established by the author for Yassin's four children.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: The Troy Book Makers; First Edition edition (2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1935534173
• ISBN-13: 978-1935534174
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,915,570 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent explanation of this difficult topic, October 4, 2009

By 

Lynne "A Citizen" (Albany, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rounded Up: Artificial Terrorists and Muslim Entrapment After 9/11 (Paperback)

Rounded-up tells of the entrapment of two Muslim men from Albany, NY - Yassin Aref and Mohammend Hossain. I live in Albany and I have followed the case from the beginning.

I bought the book on Friday and started to read. I could not put it down until I was done. The book is so readable, it just kept me turning the pages. Even the appendixes in the back are so compelling, I had to read to the very end.

After all of the information I had gathered about this case, I thought I knew everything about it. Dr. Shamshad Ahmad's book has shown me there was a lot of facts I did not know. The FBI's tactics in this case are far worse than I understood.

The book makes me even more sad, more angry than I had been before at this injustice done to the two innocent men, Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossain, who are now serving 15-year prison sentences.

It is very hard to believe that in my country, the United States of America, based on the rule of law, that the government can just pick two innocent men off the streets and imprison them - solely because of their religion. But, that is what has happened.

This book explains, in a very compelling manner, about the wrongful prosecution of innocent Muslims in America.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thank you Shamshad Ahmad, February 19, 2010

By 

K. Hughes (NY, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rounded Up: Artificial Terrorists and Muslim Entrapment After 9/11 (Paperback)

In a time and place where Muslims have learned it's prudent to be silent, we should be especially grateful to Shamshad Ahmad for having the courage to write his book "Rounded Up." The book opens with a quote from the Prophet Muhammad, "The highest form of jihad is to speak the truth in the face of an unjust ruler," and Ahmad's book is the embodiment of this quote. Understated and powerful, with respect for fact, each page is testament to his belief that the truth can indeed set us free.

"Rounded Up" tells of an FBI instigated fake terrorist plot that not only terrorizes a whole community, but also sends two members of the Albany, New York, Muslim community to prison for 15 years each. Ahmad's perspective is unique because of the many vantage points he occupies simultaneously as, Muslim, immigrant, U.S. citizen, mosque president, and professor of physics.

Government press conferences, political photo-ops, and news flashes about "terrorists" are juxtaposed with community disbelief and impotence to counter the effects of a frenzied media circus feeding on duplicity and omission. Initial feelings of impotence are ultimately overcome by two bold initiatives from a diverse Albany community that has come together through tragedy: the Muslim Solidarity Committee, which gives direct support to the two convicted men and their families, and Project SALAM (Support and Legal Advocacy for Muslims) which addresses the wider context of what is happening nation wide.

Not to be missed - and perhaps to be read first - are the appendices. Taking samples from government transcripts of sting tapes, Ahmad illustrates how lack of context, omission, and mistranslation contribute to distortions of reality that are then fed to an eager press in the "war on terror." Thank you to Shamshad Ahmad for documenting this individual case of a cruel, tragic, scenario that is, unfortunately, being played out over and over again in cases across the country.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How the FBI conspired with the courts to frame 2 Muslim men, November 16, 2009

By 

G. R. Elmendorf - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rounded Up: Artificial Terrorists and Muslim Entrapment After 9/11 (Paperback)

Shamshad Ahmad has done an admirable job in describing the FBI's entrapment of Yassin Aref, Imam of the Albany NY mosque and Mohammed Hossain, a member of that mosque, a US citizen and businessman. It was a particularly emotional subject for him as he is president of the mosque and is friends with Yassin and Mohammed. Despite this, he handled the telling of the story in a clear, logical style and kept his cool.

The book shows how the FBI used every trick in their repertoire including mistranslations to make a case against the two men and how those techniques were buttressed by secret evidence that was never disclosed to the defense lawyers. High level security on the tops of buildings colored the portrayal of the defendants as dangerous as did periodic release to an initially gullible media of photo ops designed to inculcate suspicion.

The appendices are especially important to read because they show how the tapes were manipulated many times by omissions and insertions to twist the meanings and context of the conversations of the defendants.

If you want to see how your tax dollar is being wasted and how the FBI, and the justice system from the district attorney, district, appellate and supreme courts acted in concert to deny justice to two men who were stung, framed and entrapped, this is the book for you. When you finish reading it, you will say to yourself, as did I, why doesn't the FBI find something else to do when they get up in the morning.