Dear brothers and sisters,
 
I would like to begin my letter by saying that I have learnt in the last
14 years – since I saw my family for the last time, and left the country where I was
born – that certainly you may have brother or sister your mother did not
give birth to.
 
The fact is that I would really like to say that all members of HHUGS – and
certainly there are other friends as well – have become part of my
family in this country.  For the first four years of my detention, I decided not
to contact anyone for the sake of their own safety; but when I was moved to
Long Lartin prison in 2006-2007, I received letters from many friends,
and in particular from HHUGS.  All those letters from these people and their
children gave me hope that relief was near.  I also
admire how brave they were when they gave me their phone numbers, and wanted
me to call them from prison; Allah knows best that my feeling was like
I was calling my family back home in Libya.
 
Then I was released from Long Lartin to Leicester, the first people
from the Muslim comunity who came to see me were from HHUGS.   Their visit
encouraged me a lot to get back to normal in many ways, as I was released
from a very high security prison after five years, and was left in a small flat
in a city which I never been to in my life. 
HHUGS also paid for my daughter Shaima to study in her current
Islamic school for the past two years. Last year when I was banned by
the Home Office from taking my daughter to school, that is based in an
area outside of my boundary, they found a sister to take my daughter to
school for a few months until I was granted permission to take her myself.
 
I know that HHUGS wanted to help me more than that, they did
the best they could;  they wanted to help me financialy as well, but because of
the UN financial sanctions imposed on me they could not do so. 

I am sure that their intentions are very sincere.  They want to
help people who are in urgent need of help, so I hope that
everyone who reads my letter will participate in helping this group by any
means; and the reward comes from Allah and He is my Witness
that I have said nothing but the truth.

 
Faraj Alsaadi 
Former control order detainee