Abu Ali says...

Abu Ali says: "I am completing my hundred and fourth day today", and Faisal says that he is doing his hundred and seventy eighth, out of which he spent exactly sixty three days alone in a single cell on the first floor and further fourteen in the red cell - Ghurfatul Hamraa. Qahtan was now surrounded by all of us, eager to get a final confirmation from him about Afw.

He took out a rosary-a tasbeeh or sabha , made of strings pulled from Bataniya (the blankets) and then plaited and knotted to resemble the beads. Placing his hand upon a distant knot and with eyes closed, he started from the first knot chanting: “Allah, Muhammad, Allah, Muhammad….." the final knot ended with Allah, and I could see how elated he was. "Hatman, Aku Afw" , he said. "Definitely, there is a pardon." The date passed and there was no sign of any reprieve, not for Qahtan either! Previous…