Why are you here?” I think they’re trying to work out which Muslim prisoner is Omar Khyam. My husband says he will never go back to the wing.

Al-Istiqamah: So his only real option is to be moved from Frankland to a less hostile prison?

Mrs Khyam: Yes, as the threats to two of the brothers have been carried out. Even if that hadn’t happened, the fact that someone is making death threats, that’s enough to warrant attention. Basically, the situation is that the prison is saying that he can go back to his wing. If he does that, and something happens to him, and then they move him…why should my husband have to be attacked first in order for them to move him? Prevention is always better than cure.

Al-Istiqamah: Of course. You have been on Channel 4 News to promote awareness of this exact issue?

Mrs Khyam: I wanted people to be aware of what is happening inside Frankland to the Muslim inmates. Channel 4 didn’t portray that very well in the interview, and I wasn’t happy with the way they depicted things. I was interviewed for 30 minutes and they showed 2 minutes, some of which were out-takes that Channel 4 agreed not to broadcast. They asked me why am I still with him. That wasn’t what we agreed to discuss. I was there to discuss my husband’s treatment in prison.

Click here for a sample letter to be sent to the governor of HMP Frankland

Al-Istiqamah: I’d like to move on to ask you about communication with your husband at Frankland. You mentioned that the guards stipulated that permission has to be granted to speak in Urdu?

Mrs Khyam: Yes. He told the prison that his mother can’t speak English, so how will he communicate with her? There is no rule against him speaking in Urdu, and this was confirmed in a letter from HMP (Her Majesty's Prison) service, and yet the guards still play up.

Al-Istiqamah: In what way?

Mrs Khyam: When we put a complaint in asking why the call was cut, they said that it was cut in error and that there’s no problem with Omar speaking in Urdu on the phone. However, he rang last week and we were speaking in Urdu and they cut the phone again, despite us having been given permission to do so. He rang me back and I got really angry and said “What the hell’s going on?” I heard the guard come and he told my husband that you have to speak in English only. I told my husband “Tell him, we’ve received a letter saying that we can speak in Urdu” and my husband told the guard.

Al-Istiqamah: So then he allowed you?

Mrs Khyam: No. The guard said, “I don’t care what the letter says. You can’t”.

 

 

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