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American Girl Held In Pakistani Madrassa

Atlanta, GA - Ericka Pertierra, founder of the South Asian Foundation for Education Reform (SAFER), called today for the immediate return of Muna Abanur Mahamed, an American girl currently held on an expired religious education visa at the Jamia Binoria madrassa in Karachi, Pakistan.

Last month, Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs ordered Maulana Mufti Mohammed Naeem, the madrassa's founder, to return Muna and two other non-Pakistani students to their home nations. The children are being held due to the expiration of their religious education visas to study Islam and the Koran.

"Yes we have received the deportation orders but we will not hand her over," Maulana Mufti Mohammed Naeem, founder and head of the Jamia Binoria madrassa, a 12-acre sprawling walled compound seminary, told the Deutsche Presse-Aguntur news service, "No one could dare come near a one mile radius of our compound."

In early July, SAFER worked with U.S. Congressman Michael McCaul to secure the release of Noor and Mahboob Khan, two brothers from Atlanta also held at the madrassa on expired religious education visas.

"Without the intervention of Congressman McCaul, the US State Department and the Pakistani government, the Khan brothers would still be in the Jamia Binoria madrassa," Pertierra said. "The U.S. government must act swiftly to also release Muna and all the American children held at Jamia Binoria."

The 2008 documentary 'Karachi Kids' by filmmaker Imran Raza found nearly 80 American children currently attending Pakistan's Jamia Binoria madrassa. Jamia Binoria is among an estimated 15,000 Pakistani madrassas. The madrassas recruit children as young as six from around the world to study Islam and memorize every verse and phrase of the Koran.

The South Asia Foundation for Education Reform (SAFER) is a newly formed non-profit, non-partisan 501(c)(3) committed to raising global awareness of Muslim religious schools known as madrassas. In particular, SAFER is focused on the growing number of American youngsters, predominantly of Pakistani descent, who are being sent by their parents to madrassas in their ancestral homeland.

While madrassas have been characterized by some as breeding grounds for religious fundamentalism, SAFER's primary concern is for the long-term well-being and education of these children as they re-acclimate to American society. www.SAFERreform.org

Also see the story about an official document from the Pakistani government regarding blacklisting foreign nationals.
Pakistan Issues Deportation Orders For Six Foreign Nationals