Below are letters written by members of the Duka family about their sons and the others in the Fort Dix 5
To whom it may concern
Hi this is Lejla Duka and I would like to talk about the Duka brothers, Shnewer, Tatar's case and what also happened in the court room that went really wrong. First, the judge denied all the evidence that would help all the defendants with the case. Secondly, the judge made the whole case secret. Third, when me and my aunt were on the fifth floor I don't think the judge knew that the camera was still on so what we heard him say to the government was guys you guys [the prosecutors] are going to be really happy with the verdict, you guys worked hard to win the case great job! Now first of all the government wasn't even suppose to be in the court room and plus the government wasn't even suppose to know the verdict until the lawyers and defendants knew the verdict. Right there you can tell that the judge was working with the FBI. Fourth, half the jury had to do with the military and if you read the law book it says for a case the jury members cant have anything to do with the case; but in our case all the jury members had something to do with Fort Dix. In my heart I believe that the Duka's, Shnewer, and Tatar are innocent and will remain innocent in my heart no matter what anyone thinks they will always be innocent. Fifth, This case is from George Bush from how he hated the Muslims. Sixth, They stopped all their visits. Seventh, they give them rotten food. Even pork and they know that we are Muslims and Muslims can’t eat pork at all. Eighth, This whole case was a COMPLETE set up from their BEST friends, and now wouldn't you think best friends would always be by your side and protect you, well I guess it didn't go that way. Their friends betrayed them.
In conclusion, These are a few of the things that went wrong in the court room. Thanks for your attention. All we need Is help!! I really miss my dad and uncles so please we need help, I need my family home! Do you agree with me that they are innocent? I sure hope you all do!!
Thank you for your support. I am 11 years old, Lejla Duka
FREE FORT DIX FIVE
The case of the five convicted to attack Fort Dix Army Base, Mohamed Shnewer, Dritan Duka, Shain Duka, Eljvir Duka, and Sedar Tatar had an extremely unfair trial. The judge played a big role with having this trial unfair. The judge Robert Kugler was always leaning to the government’s side. He denied lots of evidence that will be in favor with the defense side. Most of the times when the lawyers will say something that will benefit the defense side the government’s lawyers will object and the judge will agree right away. Sometimes the government lawyers will even tell the judge to meet in a corner while the court is still in session to tell the defense lawyers to move on when the lawyers say something that could defend the defense side.
Worst of all things that happened in the trial was the jury selection. All the jurors had some what connection with the army, which means obviously in this type of case they are definitely going to be prejudice. And they were. The only juror that talked after trial was juror #3. She talked to the Philadelphia Inquirer. In that article itself you can see how she convicted these men. The judge instructed the jurors before they became jurors that they can’t have their emotions affect their judgment. Obviously with this juror her emotions could have never prevented her from making her judgment. I believe her words prove this. I think that she had her mind set against these defendants before she even seen any of the evidence. Juror #3 has a son who served 2 tours with the marines in Iraq, and her son was even wounded by a sharpened and received the purple heart and bronze star. She says one particular video, called Baghdad sniper, and was difficult to her to watch. In one of the scenes, a sniper shoots an American serviceman in the back, the same place where her son was wounded. She says, “I thought I was seeing my son getting hit”. The most surprising out of her being a juror is the fact that the defense lawyers objected for her to be a juror, but of course a juror like this is exactly what the government wants.
Throughout the trial the government brought in many witnesses to witness against the defense. One of the witnesses which came in, Evan Kohlmann, which they called an expert. Evan Kohlmann was the government’s main witness. Kohlmann has no post graduate research qualifications and has displayed remarkable ignorance in the court. He is one of the most prominent media commentators on terrorism in the US, and he is the prosecutor’s favorite witness in terrorism trials. Therefore his expertise is “war on terror”, or should I say “war on islam”. As Evan himself said,” there are a lot of people who know a lot about the world, but they don’t know what every terrorist group represents…I am able to bring this to life for the court”. What in particular Kohlmann tends to “bring to life” in court is connection linking defendants to Al Qaeda or Osama Bin Laden, which when they do this its easier to convict them. As one US defense lawyer explains, “If the jury in the US finds any connection between your client and Osama Bin Laden, your going to get convicted”. This clearly states that they don’t convince the jury that their guilty with evidence, they try to scare the jury.
The government even tried to accuse one of the defendants, Eljvir Duka that he looked at a map of Fort Dix on his computer. The informant told Duka to look up the body shop for cars on a map on the computer, because that body shop for cars was near Fort Dix. The informant only did this so that it will seem as if Eljvir was looking at Fort Dix. Eljvir’s Lawyer, Troy Archie brought an expert witness, Thomas J. Smith, to prove that Eljvir was looking at the car body shop, and not at the Fort Dix. Thomas J. Smith has 30 yrs. Of experience. And the witness Justin Price that the government brought only had 5 yrs. of experience.
The investigation all starts, or should I say the government tends to say that it all started when the Duka brothers went to a local Circuit City to get an 8-mm video converted into a DVD. A clerk, Brian Morgenstern watched the video and got suspicious when he seen bearded men in camouflage shouting in a foreign tongue. The next day Morgenstern went back to the Circuit City and called the police. With that one video the government says that is started this case.
In order to plot an attack many big steps are necessary, for example training, gathering as a group, discussing the target, and many other requirements. Surprisingly, these defendants didn’t attend any of that. The government tried to accuse these defendants of training when they went to the Poconos. As they were there they played video games, watched over 20 blockbuster movies, horseback riding, skiing, paintball shooting, and they also went to the shooting range. They were there for 7 days. In many recorded conversations these defendants mentioned how much fun it was to be there. Throughout the whole time the F.B.I had a video camera in the house that they were staying in, so they saw and heard everything the defendants were doing. Unfortunately, the government denied showing the jury what they were doing in the Poconos. The only thing that they showed the jury is when they were at the shooting range, to make them seem as if that’s the only thing that they were doing there. While the defendants were playing with paintball guns, the F.B.I called the informant Besnik Bakalli to shut off the recorder, if the government says that when the defendants went paintball shooting they were training, the question behind that would be, why did they shut off the recorder? I believe that’s obvious. The government seen that it was a bunch of young men having fun. Their was even a conversation where Eljvir Duka told the informant that its forbidden to kill American soldiers, and that also wasn’t shown to the jury along with many other conversations.
The government says that the informants were there only to record the conversations and didn’t entrap the defendants to say anything. On the other hand the defense lawyers clearly proved that these defendants were entrapped, and only the recorded conversations themselves prove this. Over and over again the informants talked to them about jihad. For example, Besnik Bakalli was talking to Eljvir Duka about jihad, so Eljvir Duka wanted to make it clear to the informant that jihad doesn’t always mean war. Eljvir told him that the biggest jihad is a struggle within you. He told him to respect your family, support your family, do good deeds, and be a good person with good manners, that’s the biggest jihad you can do. Dritan Duka also told the informant that the biggest jihad is to raise your kids in the best manners, and to support them, and to be a good yourself. The informant Mahmoud Omar was also talking to Mohamed Shnewer about jihad and Mohamed told him that the most things we can do is pray for the Muslims and do dua for them. Mahmoud also told Sedar Tartar that he wants to let America pay a price for something, but he didn’t mention anything to Sedar. Tartar told him that if you do anything brother it’s going to be bad for all the Muslims in the world. Shain Duka also told the informant when he mentioned jihad that he has no a**. In that same conversation the informant kept on telling Shain that he’s a coward, and Shain kept on telling him that he has no a**. There are many other conversations where the informants are pushing them to say things. The informants constantly used to tell them that they are cowards, and used to ask them all the time, why are you guys always sitting down in Dunkin' donuts, why aren’t you guys doing anything? Mahmoud Omar also entrapped Sedar Tartar to give him the map of Fort Dix. Omar came to Tartar explaining to him that he wants to let America pay a price for something America did to him. Omar didn’t mention to Tartar anything about a plot. He constantly tried to let Tartar give him the map. Tartar got suspicious. Sedar used to work in a 7-eleven store, and one sergeant used to come in every morning for a cup of coffee, and knew Sedar from seeing him work there. Omar constantly asked Tartar to get him the map, so Tartar figured that he had to repot this, so he told the sergeant that used to come to the 7-eleven to make a report that someone is pressuring him to give him a map of Fort Dix. Tartar told the sergeant that he’s scared that it might be terrorism related. So the sergeant right away called the F.B.I from the 7-eleven phone, and nobody answered the phone, so the sergeant let them a brief message. The F.B.I went back to the sergeant after about 2 weeks, and I guess told the sergeant not to mention to Serdar that they interviewed him, and he didn’t tell Tartar. During that period of time, the sergeant said that Tartar would ask him right away if the F.B.I got in contact with him, and the sergeant said he even got surprised the fact that they weren’t contacting them. After Tartar seen that they ignored him he made a recording on his cell phone of the informant asking him for the map so that he could show the F.B.I. After 3 weeks Sedar got sick of Omar asking him for the map so he gave it to him, and that’s when the F.B.I show up to make an interview. So I guess they waited until the informant took them map, and then show up. When they interviewed Tartar, Tartar showed the F.B.I the recorded conversation that he made of the informant asking him for the map, but the F.B.I said that they couldn’t heat it, or should I say didn’t want to hear it.
Not only did the government entrap them to talk, but they even entrapped them to buy weapons. For example, with Mohamed Shnewer the informant Mahmoud Omar even told him that he’ll give him 10,000 dollars donation to buy guns, and Mohamed told him, no. Then the informant even told him that he’ll give him the weapons for free. And Mohamed told him, no. I believe if he really wanted weapons he would of took what the informant offered to him.
Unfortunately there is still evidence that is hidden, and the defendants themselves are not even allowed to see.
I believe that they are going to get the justice they deserve, because they never intended to harm anyone. I’m positive that they are innocent of all charges that are against them, and only their words themselves prove this. Oppression doesn’t last forever! No matter how much they try to hide the truth, the truth will come out, and I’m confident of this.
From the Shnewer, and Duka families
THANK YOU!
FORT DIX CASE
On behalf of Dritan Duka,Shain Duka and Eljvir Duka we believe they were entrapped by the F.B.I and the informants (Besnik Bakali and Mahmoud Omar) they never once mention fort dix or even heard anyone else mention it. So instead the F.B.I bring in an Albanian informant (Besnik Bakali) who would constantly bring up jihad and war. The only thing Dritan Duka spoke was his own opinion what used to be known as freedom of speech and there were times when Besnik Bakali would make him angry calling him a coward or telling him he is not a man. But even so at the end Dritan Duka would tell Besnik "the biggest jihad we could do is to be happy for what we got and be with our family" even Basnik Bakali said himself they never mentioned fort dix or any other military base. Now with the other informant Mohmoud Omar the Dukas never got into serious conversation with him the first time Mohmoud tried to bring up a conversation about jihad. Dritan Duka stopped him and told him not to even talk about stuff like 'that because you can get in a lot of trouble especially if your Muslim. So after that day Mohmoud never mentioned it again. But the F.B.I needed something on them so they drew up a list of weapons so Mohmoud can give Dritan Duka because they saw Dritan Duka had an interest in them because of the fact he enjoyed vacationing in Pocono's where he and others went to the shooting range and you can hear Dritan Duka saying how they can use more guns "because waiting in line and taking turns were boring and no fun." They even mentioned to Mohmoud how they wanted to buy it from a gun shop no matter the cost they didn't want to deal with anything from the black market. And that's when the F.B.I made the list and what a list they made. They made the prices extremely cheap in which anyone who enjoys guns couldn't refuse. The feds throw in some heavier weapons such as rpg's and rockets in which Dritan Duka confronted Mohmoud Omar about stating that “there is a lot of heavy stuff on there do you know something I don't know" and they even charged him and Shain Duka with machine guns which they didn't even purchase they only purchased the ak 47 and the m-16 in which you can see on the weapon list that was put in evidence. Even the night of the arrest were Dritan Duka was heard several times that the weapons were only for when they went on vacation at the Pocono's which occurred only once a year and also note that Mohammed Shnewer didn't even know of the purchase. And one thing you have to remember is that Mahmoud Omar brang up the weapons not the Dukas. And Mahmoud Omar even said himself on the stand "the Dukas knew nothing about any plot they are good men." And as for Shain Duka its so sad to see him even in this situation. Fine he was there the night of the arrest with Dritan Duka but that's all they have on him. He is hardly in any recordings the only recording you will hear him in is when Besnik Bakali would tell him to go fight jihad "because there are men older then you fighting and your just sitting here drinnking coffee" and Shain would reply" we have no ass" and that's all you will hear Shain say.
Things That Went Wrong In Trial.
During the very beginning of trial it was a joke. The judge didn't take anything seriously he just wanted it to be over with. And not to mention his most famous quote "we spent a lot of money on this case" which he mentioned almost every day and through out the whole trial he only keep eye contact with the prosecutors and the fbi. He was constantly putting the lawyers down with smart remarks such as "move it along hurry up your putting the jury to sleep" in which they were really sleeping half the times. He even allowed people on the jury who were linked to the military. He didn't let the lawyers use evidence in which could of helped the defendants for instance there was one were Eljvir Duka was telling everyone its haram (unlawful) to kill soldiers, but the judge said since he wasn't only speaking to Besnik Bakali it cant be used. As for the prosecutors it was very noticeable he made a juror very uncomfortable because that day she came in the court room smiling toward our direction and I guess he didn't like that so that whole day he sat in his chair staring at her in the most evilest stare possible and she keep moving around and putting her head down etc . . . but the worst of it on the day of the verdict before we even knew there was a verdict some of our family members were sitting on the 5th floor were there was a television in the court room so that in case of a over flowing court room media could use that room where they can see and hear what's going on in the main court room. Well I guess they forgot the camera was still on and as they watched they saw the fbi and the prosecutors sitting in the court room then the judge came out smiling and told them "we got great news you will be happy about it" then about 5 minutes after that we got called in to the court room for the verdict. And another thing about the trial is that they had so many recordings and they even had there cellular phones tapped but they never showed those cell phone conversations in which everyone would of heard mainly Eljvir Duka and Mohammed Shnewer talking they were always conversation with each other because of the fact there were brother in laws and you would of also hear no conversations about fort dix or any other plot. I don't know if its just us but we smell something really fowl here. Even for the verdict it looks as though they had no clue how to do it. They all got charged with conspiracy but when it got to count 3 willfully possessed or attempted to posses firearms for a crime to do with count 1 or count 2 Eljvir got found not guilty. Now I'm no rocket scientist but that don't make sense even for Mohammed he was found guilty for that count but he wasn't even there buying anything. Then they even got charged for the ammunition which wasn't even theirs. There are so much more things that went wrong but we give you this for now and hope and pray that in the appeal the whole truth will come out.
Thank you for your time
The Duka family (written by Jennifer Duka)
Anyone That Could Help!
hello! im zurata duka, the mother of the 3 sons convicted with conspiracy to attack fort dix army base. I’m writing to you for major help. My sons have been oppressed in this case, due to being set up by the F.B.! - my sons and the rest of the men that were convicted with them have no evidence to prove that they wanted to do anything against fort dix. The biggest problem from the being of this case is that the judge works with the government. Even the jurors that they picked were all prejudiced, and all had ties with the army. The judge and the government stopped the lawyers from bringing out evidence that will be good in this case. The judge to bring this eveidence out. The govemment informed the judge to not let the lawyers talk about the case with the news. My son Eljvir wrote a letter to the president Obama regarding the case, and of course the government doesn’t want the truth to be out so they got upset to the point where they banded them all from having visits for 3 years without anyone seeing them from the family. They are even scaring family members from us so that they could be against us. They treat them really bad, they have them in the special housing unit now for 2 years now, and even when they move them to a different prison they are going to be in max. security. They give them rotten food, such as green bread, rotten fish, and ect. Several times they gave them pork knowing that they are Muslim. They won’t admit it until my sons told them what it was. They even punished them many times for religious purposes, such as praying, and making the athan. They were punished for 6 months without seeing us. I believe that this is all happening to us because we are Muslim. The judge is really prejudice also against Muslims. I believe that a judge has to stand with the oppressed ones, and not with the oppressor. I really don’t consider him a judge. He didn’t even consider to take this case seriously, his major concern was to rush this case. He always mentioned that he spent a lot of money in this case, they were mostly paying the informants money to make the men say what they want them to say. The informant Mahmoud Omar even him said that these kids never thought of doing anything. There is a lot of evidence to prove their innocence. Please were asking you to help us out. One of my sons has 5 kids and everyday they cry for him. They wait for the day that their father comes home. My other son's wife was pregnant when he got arrested. The mother of the 5 kids grew up without a father and mother and I don’t want my grandchildren to grow up without a father.
I really appreciate your help, we need someone to stand by our side. They make everyone fear us. contact us by emailing lynnejackson@mac.com