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CNN Sunday Morning
The Second Taliban American
Aired November 16, 2003 - 09:34 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: He's an American citizen who was detained after September 11th for allegedly fighting against his country in Afghanistan. But as CNN's Nic Robertson reports, while some call him the second Taliban American, one man calls him son, and he wants justice.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ESAM HAMDI, FATHER OF YASSER HAMDI: I love you, I love you, I love you...
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Reading mail from his son Yasser is an emotional moment for Esam Hamdi.
HAMDI: I don't want to make you disappointed or angry for me at all.
ROBERTSON: How do you feel when you read that?
HAMDI: I feel very bad. His mother cries when she reads this letter, you know.
ROBERTSON: He admits when he's alone, he sheds a tear for his eldest son, who's been in U.S. custody for almost two years.
HAMDI: This one, in Boy Scouts.
ROBERTSON: As he shows family pictures of Yasser, dressed for university and as a Boy Scout, this devout middle class father of five is still finding it hard to forgive his son who broke with tradition by running off to Afghanistan two months before September 11, without asking his father's permission.
HAMDI: It's a sin. That's a sin.
ROBERTSON: You've been quite tough with him?
HAMDI: Quite tough. He did not come to me. I would have listened to him. That is a sin.
ROBERTSON: Repentance is not his focus now, but a fair trial for his American-born son. Like John Walker Lindh, Yasser, dubbed the second American Taliban, was captured in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif as U.S.-backed northern alliance fighters began their rout of the Taliban force. Transported first to Guantanamo bay, it wasn't until U.S. authorities discovered Yasser's American citizenship and moved him to detention in the U.S. in April 2002 that his family knew he was alive.
HAMDI: When he's around he makes us laugh.
ROBERTSON: Really? You must miss him.
HAMDI: Yes.
ROBERTSON: On the beach where he used to bring Yasser as a child, Esam rebuts any notion his son went to Afghanistan to fight.
HAMDI: He just was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
ROBERTSON: Whatever the truth, though, he is becoming increasingly frustrated that unlike Lindh, his son, an American citizen by birth, has not been able to see his parents or have his constitutional rights upheld.
HAMDI: There in jail, he cannot see a lawyer, cannot exercise his rights.
ROBERTSON: In Esam's household, where customs and hospitality are pivotal, once unquestioning respect for the U.S., built during his years working there, is now diminishing.
HAMDI: They always talk about human rights, they always talk about things like that, but human rights now is not being exercised, unfortunately. If he, for example, is found guilty, OK. But he should receive fair trial. But if he's not being guilty, release him.
ROBERTSON: As he leaves his remaining four sons, off for evening prayer, there is little doubt where this family is placing its faith. Hope yet, though, the U.S. justice system will answer their prayers.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Jubail, Saudi Arabia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 16, 2003 - 09:34 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: He's an American citizen who was detained after September 11th for allegedly fighting against his country in Afghanistan. But as CNN's Nic Robertson reports, while some call him the second Taliban American, one man calls him son, and he wants justice.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ESAM HAMDI, FATHER OF YASSER HAMDI: I love you, I love you, I love you...
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Reading mail from his son Yasser is an emotional moment for Esam Hamdi.
HAMDI: I don't want to make you disappointed or angry for me at all.
ROBERTSON: How do you feel when you read that?
HAMDI: I feel very bad. His mother cries when she reads this letter, you know.
ROBERTSON: He admits when he's alone, he sheds a tear for his eldest son, who's been in U.S. custody for almost two years.
HAMDI: This one, in Boy Scouts.
ROBERTSON: As he shows family pictures of Yasser, dressed for university and as a Boy Scout, this devout middle class father of five is still finding it hard to forgive his son who broke with tradition by running off to Afghanistan two months before September 11, without asking his father's permission.
HAMDI: It's a sin. That's a sin.
ROBERTSON: You've been quite tough with him?
HAMDI: Quite tough. He did not come to me. I would have listened to him. That is a sin.
ROBERTSON: Repentance is not his focus now, but a fair trial for his American-born son. Like John Walker Lindh, Yasser, dubbed the second American Taliban, was captured in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif as U.S.-backed northern alliance fighters began their rout of the Taliban force. Transported first to Guantanamo bay, it wasn't until U.S. authorities discovered Yasser's American citizenship and moved him to detention in the U.S. in April 2002 that his family knew he was alive.
HAMDI: When he's around he makes us laugh.
ROBERTSON: Really? You must miss him.
HAMDI: Yes.
ROBERTSON: On the beach where he used to bring Yasser as a child, Esam rebuts any notion his son went to Afghanistan to fight.
HAMDI: He just was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
ROBERTSON: Whatever the truth, though, he is becoming increasingly frustrated that unlike Lindh, his son, an American citizen by birth, has not been able to see his parents or have his constitutional rights upheld.
HAMDI: There in jail, he cannot see a lawyer, cannot exercise his rights.
ROBERTSON: In Esam's household, where customs and hospitality are pivotal, once unquestioning respect for the U.S., built during his years working there, is now diminishing.
HAMDI: They always talk about human rights, they always talk about things like that, but human rights now is not being exercised, unfortunately. If he, for example, is found guilty, OK. But he should receive fair trial. But if he's not being guilty, release him.
ROBERTSON: As he leaves his remaining four sons, off for evening prayer, there is little doubt where this family is placing its faith. Hope yet, though, the U.S. justice system will answer their prayers.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Jubail, Saudi Arabia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
