Savage Infidel

The Third Jihad

2012-01-29T06:29:00.003+02:00

Egyptian Christian Homes and Shops Looted and Burned by Muslim Mob

2012-01-28T06:35:00.000+02:00

A mob of over 3000 Muslims attacked Copts in the village of Kobry-el-Sharbat (el-Ameriya), Alexandria this afternoon. Coptic homes and shops were looted before being set ablaze. Two Copts and a Muslim were injured. The violence started after a rumor was spread that a Coptic man had an allegedly intimate photo of a Muslim woman on his mobile phone. The Coptic man, Mourad Samy Guirgis, surrendered to the police this morning morning for his protection.

According to eyewitnesses, the perpetrators were bearded men in white gowns. "They were Salafists, and some of were from the Muslim Brotherhood," according to one witness. It was reported that terrorized women and children who lost their homes were in the streets without any place to go.

According to Father Boktor Nashed from St. George's Church in el-Nahdah, a meeting between Muslim and Christian representatives was supposed to take place in the evening in Kobry-el-Sharbat. But, by 3 P.M. a Muslim mob looted and torched the home of Mourad Samy Guirgis, as well as the home of his family and three homes of Coptic neighbors. A number of Coptic-owned shops and businesses were also looted and torched. "We contacted security forces, but they arrived very, very late," Said Father Nashad. The fire brigade was prevented from going into the village by the Muslims and the fires were left to burn themselves out. "Those who lost their home, left the village," said Father Nashed.

Coptic activist Mariam Ragy, who was covering the violence in Kobry-el-Sharbat , said it took the army 1 hour to drive 2 kilometers to the village. "This happens every time. They wait outside the village until the Muslims have had enough violence, then they appear." She said that she spoke to many Copts from the village this evening who said that although their homes were not attacked, Muslims stood in the street asking them to come to their homes to hide. "They believed that this was a new trick to make them leave, so that Muslims would loot and torch their homes while they were away," said Ragy.

The Gov of Alexandria visited al-Nahda, near Kobry-el-Sharbat, this evening and told elYoum 7 newspaper that the two Copts and one Muslim who were injured were transported to hospital. He said that the family of the Muslim girl whose image was on the Copt's mobile phone wanted revenge from the Coptic man. They broke into his home and torched a furniture factory located in the same building.
Joseph Malak, a lawyer for the Coptic Church in Alexandria, said it is too early to count injuries to Copts or losses to their property.

Mr. Mina Girguis, of the Maspero Youth Union in Alexandria, said that "collective punishment of Copts for someone else's mistake, which is yet to be determined, is completely unacceptable." He believes that the reason for this violence is fabricated, and the military is behind it. "They are trying to divert the attention from the second revolution which is taking place now."

Father Nashed denied that Islamists were present, only ordinary village Muslims, and could not give an explanation as why people who have lived together amicably for years could commit such violence. "Maybe because of lack of security, they think that they can do as they please."

He said that the nearly 65 Coptic families were ordered to stay indoors and not to open their shops and businesses tomorrow. He added that security forces did not arrest any of the perpetrators, "on the contrary, they were begging the mob to go home."

By midnight the violence had subsided.

Mufti Clames Comment to "Kill Jews" Taken out of Context

2012-01-25T07:39:00.000+02:00

Afghan Pedophilia: A way of life, say U.S. soldiers and journalists

2012-01-24T20:34:00.000+02:00

Apologists say that Bacha Bazi or 'Boy Play' is a very old cultural practice in Afghanistan and part of that nation's mainstream.

Citing the Afghanistan strategy review, Vice President Joe Biden reported "great progress" in the counterterrorism effort that has significantly degraded al-Qaeda and the Taliban, particularly their leadership. Lagging behind, he said, is progress on the counterinsurgency front – eliminating terrorist safe havens in Pakistan and building a stable Afghan government.

However, not once did Biden – nor Defense Secretary Leon Panetta -- mention Afghanistan's dirty secret – a large number of pedophiles and pederasts among the Afghan male population.

Pedophilia is a widely-accepted practice in southern Afghanistan, where "boys are given to older men for the sexual gratification of the elder and the sexual education of the child," say many returning U.S. troops.

Afghans say pedophilia is most prevalent among Pashtun men in the south who comprise Afghanistan's most important tribe.

Apologists say that Bacha Bazi or 'Boy Play' is a very old cultural practice in Afghanistan and part of that nation's mainstream.

When U.S. officials such as President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta discuss the war in Afghanistan and make claims of success in that fledgling democracy, one issue that's avoided is the widespread sexual intercourse between Afghan men and young boys. In non- diplomatic terms, Afghanistan is a haven for child rape, according to several American military officers just returning from the frontlines of the Global War on Terrorism.

In a country that is considered overly repressive due to its adherence to the precepts contained in the Muslim religion's Koran, it's difficult for American service members and diplomats to understand the fact that a large portion of the Afghan male population are pedophiles (adults who enjoy sexual contact with prepubescent children) or pederasts (adults who enjoy sexual relations with pubescent or post-pubescent children).

While Muslims in Iraq have on several occasions stoned homosexuals for their sexual activities, not all Muslims believe pedophilia is a violation of Sharia law. Those who believe in the sacredness and infallibility of the Koran adhere to the teaching that women are sub-human and quasi-slaves, and therefore Muslim men will look for relationships -- even sexual relationships -- with others of their own gender.

According to Reuters, there is a lot of homosexuality going on in Afghanistan, but those engaging in it don't think of themselves as gay, so that makes it okay since Islam officially disapproves of the gay and lesbian lifestyle.

"They regard themselves as non-gay because they don’t “love” the sex object so Allah is happy. These are the men who avoid their wives as unclean. Apparently there is very little love of any kind in Afghanistan, which explains a lot," according to Reuters.

“Having a boy has become a custom for us,” Ena Yatullah, a 42-year-old in Baghlan province, told a Reuters reporter. “Whoever wants to show off should have a boy.” [. . .]

Sociologists and anthropologists say the problem results from a perverse interpretation of Islamic law. Women are simply unapproachable. Afghans cannot talk to an unrelated woman until after proposing marriage. Before then, they can't even look at a woman, except perhaps her feet. Otherwise she is covered, head to ankle, according to columnist Joel Brinkley, a professor of journalism at Stanford University, and a former Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign correspondent for the New York Times.

In Kandahar, a city with a population of about 500,000, and other towns, dance parties are a popular -- often weekly -- pastime. Young boys dress up as females, wearing makeup and bells on their feet, and dance for a dozen or more leering middle-aged men who throw money at them and then take them home.

A recent State Department report called “dancing boys” a “widespread, culturally sanctioned form of male rape.” If women dressed and behaved in such a way, they would surely be punished by Muslim men.

Even after marriage, many men keep their boy-lovers, according to former U.S. military personnel who served in Afghanistan. That helps explain why women are compelled to wear clothing that hides their faces and bodies and if they "sin" they are stoned to death in accordance with Islamic law. That same law also forbids homosexuality, but the pedophiles explain that it's not homosexuality since they aren’t in love with their boys only fulfilling a bodily need.

Paradoxically, the Taliban frown on sexual relations between men and boys and enforce Sharia law to the letter. Are the followers of Islam, who adopt a more "liberal" approach to practicing their religion, perhaps responsible for the widespread rape of male children in Afghanistan?
So, why are American military forces fighting and dying to protect pedophiles and pederasts in a country considered by many to be the pedophilia capital of Asia?

Why is there hesitation on the part of Obama, Clinton, Panetta and others to discuss the widespread sexual assault of male children in Afghanistan? Could it be that it is politically incorrect to discuss any immoral and unlawful behavior on the part of Muslims? It's quite evident that U.S. politicians may bash Christians without fear of adverse effects on their political careers. But these same leaders will behave as if they are walking on egg shells to avoid even the hint of criticizing Muslims.

In addition, there is always a hesitation to discuss man-on-boy sexual relationship for fear of mentioning the obvious: such a relationship is homosexual in nature.

Under Threat of Islamic Violence, Salman Rushdie Video Link Cancelled at Festival

2012-01-24T20:01:00.001+02:00

Muslims are the masters of using threats of violence to get want they want. Here once again a major writer in the world has been effectively silenced because Muslims don't like him and have wanted him dead for decades.

That is is a sad day for the freedom of speech in India is clear enough. Worse, however, is the absurd Muslim gripe with Rushie is based on a bad book, written in 1980 which none of them have read.

Asia's largest literature festival cancelled a video-link speech by Salman Rushdie minutes before it was scheduled to begin on Tuesday, amid death threats to the organisers and fears of violent riots at the event by Muslim groups.

The question of whether the controversial British-Indian author should participate dogged the festival even before it began last week, as its organisers tried desperately to juggle religious sensitivities with freedom of speech in the world's largest democracy.

"There are a large number of people averse to this video link inside this property. They have threatened violence," Ram Pratap Singh, owner of the hotel at which the festival was held, told the large crowd that had assembled to listen to the author.

"This is necessary to avoid harm to all of you."

Rushdie, whose 1988 novel "The Satanic Verses" is banned in India, last week cancelled plans to travel to the north-western city of Jaipur to address the festival in person after reported assassination threats against him.

Watched by an expectant crowd that spilled well outside the main stage area and hundreds of police officers, the event's organisers announced the cancellation of Rushdie's video-link appearance to a mix of boos and applause.

"The police commissioner told us there would be violence in the venue and a riot outside where thousands were gathering if we continued," festival director and noted author William Dalrymple said in a statement. "We have all received death threats, which are still continuing to arrive."

After an announcement at midday on Tuesday that Rushdie's address would go ahead, leaders of local Muslim groups began to congregate at the main entrance to the festival, vowing to protest if the video-link was shown.

"TRIUMPH FOR BIGOTRY"

"All of us feel hurt and disgraced. Artists have not been able to prevail," said Sanjoy Roy, the festival's producer, holding back tears as he addressed the crowd on the last day of the annual event, which this year drew 70,000 participants.

"It is very sad that we are having to close one of the best festivals in the world in this way."

Indian political parties have been widely accused of failing to support Rushdie for fear of offending Muslim voters ahead of an important state election in Uttar Pradesh, the country's most populous state, next month.

Electronic name badges, X-ray machines and police pat-downs greeted visitors to the 2012 festival, and close to 600 police were stationed around the five-stage venue in the capital of Rajasthan state.

India, where Muslims make up 13 percent of the 1.2 billion population, has a history of violent clashes between religious groups. Around 2,500 people, mostly Muslims, were killed in the neighbouring state of Gujarat in 2002 after a suspected Muslim mob burnt alive 59 Hindu activists and pilgrims inside a train.

"This is a big defeat. It's a triumph for bigotry," said Tarun Tejpal, editor of Indian news magazine Tehelka after the cancellation of Rushdie's speech.

The publication of "The Satanic Verses" over 20 years ago sparked a wave of protests and death threats around the world after Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini claimed that the novel's portrayal of the prophet Mohammad insulted Islam.

Five authors have been investigated by police in Jaipur for reading from the book at the festival, and English PEN, a writer's body, issued a statement late on Monday in their support.

"We felt that it was important to show support for Salman, who is often misrepresented ... This situation has arisen in India at a time when free speech is under attack," wrote Hari Kunzru, one of the authors involved, in the Guardian newspaper.

The five-day festival, which concluded on Tuesday, showcased over 260 writers from across India and the world, including best-selling authors such as Richard Dawkins, Tom Stoppard and Michael Ondaatje, and global television superstar Oprah Winfrey.

Greek Muslims Living under Sharia

2012-01-23T06:28:00.000+02:00

Syrian Christians Facing Kidnappings and Murder from "Pro-Democracy" Protesters

2012-01-23T06:11:00.000+02:00

There has been a wave of violence targeting Iranian and Syrian Christians over the past month, say Christian news reports.

In addition, Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, who has been on death row since 2010 for seeking to register his home-based church, refused to renounce his Christian beliefs in exchange for his release from prison. He was also jailed for questioning the role of Islam as the dominant form of religious instruction in his children’s school.

According to a report on the website of the International Christian news agency BosNewsLife, “Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani has rejected an offer to be released from prison if he publicly acknowledges Islam’s prophet Mohammed as ‘a messenger sent by God,’ well-informed Christians and rights activists said” earlier this month.

While Iran’s opaque judicial system coupled with the lack of access for most Western media makes it difficult to verify the new coercion against Nadarkhani, the reports are considered reasonable in light of the Iranian regime’s intense crackdown on its Christian population over the years.

In an e-mail to The Jerusalem Post on Sunday, Giulio Meotti, an Italian journalist with Il Foglio and author of the book A New Shoah, wrote “After the ethnic cleansing of Jews in 1948 from the Arab countries, Islamic fundamentalism is now trying to push away the Christians from the region. They want to establish a pure Islamic environment and the mass exodus already began under our noses.”

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Christian Post wrote last week on its website, “The Christian community in Syria has been hit by a series of kidnappings and brutal murders; 100 Christians have now been killed since the anti-government unrest began. A reliable source in the country, who cannot be identified for their own safety, told Barnabas Aid that children were being especially targeted by the kidnappers, who, if they do not receive the ransom demanded, kill the victim.”

The Pakistan Christian Post website noted “Two Christians were killed on January 15 as they waited for bread at a bakery. Another Christian, aged 40 with two young children, was shot dead by three armed attackers while he was driving a vehicle.”

The Post could not independently verify these allegations.

Meotti, the Italian Journalist who has written extensively on Christians in the Mideast region, told the Post “In Syria Christians will be persecuted after Assad’s eventual fall, since they were the most loyal allies of the Baathist regime. Christians will be slaughtered or squeezed. From Cairo to Damascus, Arab Christian era is near to its end everywhere.”

Many critics of Assad’s regime, however, view Assad as exploiting sectarian conflicts in Syria to solidify his repressive security apparatus, which has resulted in the killings of over 5,000 pro-democracy supporters in Syria.

“Of course Assad is using the power of fear to manipulate the Christians. He is directing these bishops and patriarchs to say what suits him,” Pascal Gollnisch, a Catholic priest and director of l’Oeuvre d’Orient, told the French news organization F24 in December.

The Paris-based organization seeks to shield Christians from persecution mainly in the Middle East region and is part of the Archdiocese of Paris.

Christians make up 10 percent of Syria’s 22 million population.

Clifford D. May, the president of the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a former New York Times reporter, has long argued the persecution of Christians in numerous Muslim-majority countries is the most pressing news story ignored by the mainstream media.

He told the Post “If the situation were reversed, if such a war were being waged against Muslims, it would be the top story in every newspaper, the most urgent item at the UN, the highest priority of all the big-league human-rights groups.”

The US-based media watchdog organization the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) held on Saturday a conference titled “The Persecuted Church: Christian Believers in Peril in the Middle East.”

Dr. Richard Landes, an associate professor of history and director and cofounder of the Center of Millennial Studies at Boston University, who spoke at the CAMERA event, wrote the Post on Sunday: “there’s a bizarre, eery, indeed terrible (a-)symmetry between the nearly hysterical concern of the media and the ‘progressive’ NGOs etc. about Israeli violations of the Palestinian ‘human rights’ and the nearly total silence about the horrendous things happening to Christians in Muslim majority countries, not necessarily at the hands of their neighbors but of Salafists, Jihadis, etc.”

Landes added that “it all illustrates Charles Jacobs’ notion of human rights complex – the thing that gets western ‘human rights’ folk indignant has nothing to do with the victims of their sufferings, but the [perpetrators]. If white, hysteria; if of color, embarrassed silence.

“There’s a racism inherent in this – we don’t expect anything from people of color, we hold whites to a much higher standard – and the result is that truly horrendous stuff gets ignored.”

Nigerian Muslims outdo themselves, Killing 150 in Islamic Weekend Fun

2012-01-22T06:25:00.000+02:00

More than 100 people were killed in bomb attacks and gunbattles in the Nigerian city Kano late on Friday, a local government security source said, in the deadliest strike claimed by Islamist sect Boko Haram to date.

"Definitely more than 100 have been killed," the senior source, who could not be named, told Reuters.
"There were bombs and then gunmen were attacking police and police came back with attacks." Hospital staff said there were still bodies arriving at morgues in Kano.

Boko Haram claimed responsibility on Saturday for the wave of strikes. The sect has killed hundreds in the north of Africa's most populous nation in the last year.

The attacks late on Friday prompted the government to announce a dusk-to-dawn curfew in the city of more than 10 million people, the country's second biggest.

President Goodluck Jonathan, who has been criticized for failing to act quickly and decisively enough against Boko Haram, said the killers would face "the full wrath of the law."

Kano and other northern cities have been plagued by an insurgency led by Boko Haram, which is blamed for scores of bombings and shootings. These have taken place mostly in the Muslim-dominated north of Africa's top oil producer, whose main oil-producing facilities are located to the south.

Aimed mainly at government targets, the Boko Haram attacks have been growing in scale and sophistication.

A spokesman for Boko Haram contacted reporters in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, where the sect is based, to claim responsibility for Friday's bombings. Copies of a letter apparently from the group were also dropped around Kano.

The letter, written in the Hausa language spoken in northern Nigeria, said the attacks were retribution for police arrests and killings of members of the sect.

CHAOS

Police Corporal Aliu Abdullahi, who survived multiple gunshots, described a scene of chaos.

"We were in the mess when we saw people running and heard gunshots from the gate, I saw them shooting. You could not differentiate the Boko Haram members from our Police Mobile Force men because they wore the same uniform," he said.

"They were more than 50. As I tried to run a bullet hit me on my left hand and another shot hit me on my chest I fell."

The police said eight buildings were attacked, including police headquarters, three police stations, the headquarters of the secret services and the immigration head office.

"It is with a heart full of sadness and pain that I convey my condolences ... to the families, friends, associates and relatives of all those who lost their lives in the acts of violence in Kano," President Jonathan said in a statement.

"I want to re-assure Nigerians ... that all those involved in that dastardly act will be made to face the full wrath of the law."

Shooting between police and gunmen went on into the night, residents said. Witnesses said most died from gunshots.

"We are still going around collecting corpses," a spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency in Kano told Reuters. "They are mostly police officers ... some died from injuries from explosions, some from gunshot wounds."

Witnesses said smoke billowed from the police headquarters after the blast blew out the windows, wrecked the roof and triggered a blaze that firefighters struggled to control.

AFRICAN UNION CONDEMNS ATTACKS

In one shooting late on Friday, unidentified gunmen killed a cameraman for Nigeria's Channels TV, Akogwu Enenche, who had recently also contributed stories to Reuters Television, while he was filming at the scene of one of the bombings, witnesses and his family said.

The police did not comment. Enenche was on a Channels TV assignment when he was shot.

"We are shocked and saddened at the death of Channels TV reporter Akogwu Enenche who has contributed footage to Reuters over the last few months. Our thoughts go out to his friends and family at this very sad time," Thomson Reuters Editor-in-Chief Stephen Adler said in a statement.

Boko Haram became active around 2003 in the northeast state of Borno but its attacks have spread into other northern states, including Yobe, Kano, Bauchi and Gombe.

Boko Haram, a Hausa term meaning "Western education is sinful," is loosely modeled on Afghanistan's Taliban.

The sect originally said it wanted sharia, Islamic law, to be applied more widely across Nigeria but its aims appear to have changed. Recent messages from its leaders have said it is attacking anyone who opposes it, at present mainly police, the government and Christian groups.

The African Union on Saturday condemned what it said were the latest "terrorist" attacks in Kano.
A bomb attack on a Catholic church just outside the capital Abuja on Christmas Day, claimed by Boko Haram, killed 37 people and wounded 57.

The main suspect in that attack, Kabiru Sokoto, escaped from police custody within 24 hours of his arrest, and police have offered a 50 million naira ($310,000) reward for information leading to his recapture.

Police arrested him on Tuesday but he escaped when their vehicle came under fire as they were taking him from police headquarters to his house in Abaji, just outside Abuja, to conduct a search.

Last August, a suicide bomber blew up the U.N. Nigeria headquarters in Abuja, killing at least 24 people.

There were two blasts in the southern state of Bayelsa in the oil-producing Niger Delta late on Friday but no one was killed. Police said they were not linked to Boko Haram.

Bayelsa, the home state of President Jonathan, is holding a governorship election next month. Troops have been deployed in the state in recent weeks to stem political unrest.

Murdered Christians in Turkey Await Justice

2012-01-22T06:12:00.000+02:00

In recent years, Turkey has been shaken by the murders of a number of prominent non-Muslims.

Some of their court cases received more attention than others, but lawyers suspect they might all be related. One such case was the murder of Catholic priest Andrea Santoro, who was killed in 2006 by a 16-year-old ultranationalist in his church in the Black Sea province of Trabzon. The Santoro case was completed with lightning speed.Then came the murder of Hrant Dink, the editor-in-chief of the İstanbul-based Turkish-Armenian Agos weekly.

The hitman was again an ultranationalist teenager. The court sentenced one suspect to life while acquitting all suspects of organized crime charges in the January 2007 murder. The high-profile case is expected to go to the Supreme Court of Appeals. After that, in April 2007, three Protestant missionaries were brutally murdered, bound to chairs, tortured and stabbed at the Zirve Publishing House in the eastern province of Malatya before their throats were slit. The publishing house printed Bibles and Christian literature.

In 2010, Catholic bishop Luigi Padovese, who led Father Santoro’s funeral service in 2007, was also brutally killed by his driver and bodyguard in the Mediterranean port of İskenderun in southern Turkey. The hearing of the case will be on Feb. 22, but the case has a low profile.

Ercan Eriş, the lawyer for the Roman Catholic Apostolic Vicariate of Anatolia, said the family of Bishop Padovese is not willing to pursue the case, just like the family of Father Santoro.

“I observe the hearings of the case on behalf of the church. We tried so hard to obtain formal permission from the family to represent them in order to pursue the case, but they are not interested in that. Therefore, the case is in the hands of the public prosecutor,” he said.

Eriş also said the reason behind the family’s unwillingness is totally based on the theological teaching of “forgiveness.” “Based on my previous experience, I can say their decision is related to their beliefs because in several other cases of attacks against churches and religious leaders, priests and churches have never filed official complaints,” he added.

However, things might change in the course of the case if new evidence emerges, just like in the case of the Malatya missionaries.

When Dink was killed five years ago, almost no one realized there might have been some links between the Dink, Santoro and Malatya murders except human rights lawyer Orhan Kemal Cengiz, who said this was the beginning of a pattern.

“We later found out about the Cage plan and learned how those involved in the Ergenekon gang had planned and carried out their attacks and their campaigns of intimidation against non-Muslims.

Cage plan emerges

The Cage Operation Action Plan, a suspected Naval Forces Command plan which targeted Turkey’s non-Muslim communities, was retrieved in 2009 from a CD seized in the office of retired Maj. Levent Bektaş, a suspect in the Ergenekon case, an alleged terrorist organization that tried to overthrow the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government.

The CD exposed the group’s plans to assassinate prominent Turkish citizens who were non-Muslims and place the blame for the killings on the AK Party. The plan called the killings of Dink, Father Santoro and the three Christians in Malatya an “operation.” An anti-democratic group within the Naval Forces Command aimed to foment chaos in society with those killings, and therefore open the way for a coup d’état.

In April 2010, an indictment regarding the Cage Operation Action Plan was added to the case file on the 2007 Malatya murders. Now, there is a third indictment being prepared for the high-profile Malatya murders case.

When it comes to the question of whether or not the Santoro and Padovese killings can be further illuminated, Cengiz said there is no pressure put on anyone to dig deeper into those files.

“I do not know if any deep state elements were involved in Padovese’s murder, but as far as I can see, no one is putting pressure on anyone to see if there are any connections like this. The Vatican is not doing anything to make sure this case is handled in a serious manner,” he said.

However, Eriş said the Code on Criminal Procedure (CMK) does not allow the Vatican to be a plaintiff in cases which are handled in Turkish courts.

He points out the Santoro case was closed too soon, before all facts related to the murder were revealed, and the Cage plan was found much later than Santoro’s killing. Still, any prosecutor can pursue the case again, in light of the new evidence.

“The investigation process has not been delicately handled for the Padovese case, either,” Eriş said.
The Feb. 22 hearing of the case will be the first one after a group of experts decided that suspect Murat Altun, a convert to Catholicism, was of a person of full age and capacity. Altun had sought to be declared insane, visiting several doctors. Altun also claimed the bishop was homosexual, which is why he was motivated to murder him. Eriş said Altun’s claims were an attempt to manipulate public opinion.

“I have no doubt he will continue to use the same tactic at the new hearing to try to save himself,” he said.

Missionary work falsely presented

However, there are many issues which need to be clarified in the Padovese case, Eriş said. One example is that Altun was called on the day of the murder from a telephone number that had not been used before. Another is that a large sum of money was transferred to Altun’s bank account.

“In addition, Altun was going to accompany Padovese to a planned meeting with the pope in Cyprus, but this visit was cancelled. After the cancellation, Altun said he was planning to kill the pope. All of that was never investigated further,” he said. According to Eriş, as long as there is false propaganda that “missionaries are going to divide Turkey,” the country is going to be a difficult place for Christians to live.

Even though missionary activities are legal in Turkey, some government institutions criminalize missionary work, and this is being taught as one of the biggest national threats to society in schools, in the military corps and through some civil society organizations.

Archbishop Ruggero Franceschini of İzmir told AsiaNews in Italy before Padovese’s funeral in Milan that the murder was planned and studied in detail by subversive groups, who want to keep Turkey away from Europe.

There were also some hate-crime assaults on religious leaders in Turkey that took place around the time of the Santoro, Dink and Malatya missionary murders. In July 2006, another Catholic cleric, French national Pierre Brunissen, survived after being stabbed by a man described as mentally disturbed in Samsun, another Black Sea port city. In December 2007, a young man stabbed and injured Father Adriano Franchini, a 65-year-old Italian, after attending Sunday mass at a church in the western city of İzmir.

European Defence League Promo

2012-01-21T07:50:00.000+02:00

Iran Closes Toy Stores Selling Barbie Dolls

2012-01-21T07:22:00.000+02:00

Dozens of toy shops selling Barbies in Iran have been closed down by the police, who describe the popular dolls as "symbols of immoral Western culture," Mehr news agency reported Friday.

The move came amid growing tension with the United States and Europe over Iran's controversial nuclear program.

The Iranian establishment has for decades attempted to counter what it calls "Western cultural invasions," including movies, music, hairstyles and outfits.

The war against Barbie dolls first started during the 1990s, when the state-run Institute for Intellectual Development of Children first banned Iranian children from playing with them.

The conservatively-dressed Islamic versions of the dolls, Sara and her brother Dara, have failed to dent the popularity of Barbies.

British Muslims Face Prison Terms for Calling for the Death of Gays

2012-01-21T07:11:00.000+02:00

A group of Muslim men who distributed leaflets calling for gay people to be executed were today facing jail.

Ihjaz Ali, Kabir Ahmed and Razwan Javed handed the pamphlet, entitled The Death Penalty?, which showed an image of a mannequin hanging from a noose and quoted Islamic texts that said capital punishment was the only way to rid society of homosexuality.

At Derby Crown Court, they were convicted by a jury of distributing threatening written material intending to stir up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation - the first prosecution of its kind since legislation came into force in March 2010.

Mehboob Hussain and Umar Javed, who were also charged with the same offence, were found not guilty.

A two-week trial heard that the men, who are all from Derby, admitted distributing the leaflet but said they were simply quoting and following what their religion teaches about homosexuality and did not intend to threaten anyone.

The leaflet was handed out outside and near the Jamia Mosque in Derby's Rosehill Street and in streets around the local neighbourhood in July 2010.

It was made and used as part of a campaign to publicise a protest in response to the Gay Pride parade due to be held in Derby on July 10 that year.

Taxi driver Ali, 42, of Fairfax Road, who the prosecution said was believed to be the main organiser and supplier of the leaflets, was found guilty of four counts of distribution on July 2 and July 4.

Ahmed, 28, who is married with a nine-month-old daughter and lives in Madeley Street, and Razwan Javed, 28, of Wilfred Street, were convicted of distribution in the area of the mosque on July 2.

But married taxi driver Mehboob Hussain, 45, of Rosehill Street, and Razwan's brother Umar Javed, 38, a married takeaway worker who lives in Whittaker Street, were both cleared of distribution relating to posting the leaflets through the letterboxes of homes on July 4.

Zarif Khan, representing Razwan Javed, said they would be looking to appeal the convictions.

During the trial the court heard that two other leaflets were also distributed and were relevant in the case to show intent even though charges had not been brought in relation to them.

The leaflets were called Gay - an acronym for God Abhors You - and Turn Or Burn, and prosecutor Bobbie Cheema said they contained excerpts from scriptures in the Koran concerning homosexuality.
A fourth leaflet - Dead Derby - was also found by police but was not distributed.

The court heard that the Death Penalty? leaflet outlined the history and legalisation of the Buggery Act in England.

The leaflet states that the Islamic verdict on anyone caught committing homosexuality is to apply capital punishment to both parties involved.

It states: "The death sentence is the only way this immoral crime can be erased from corrupting society and act as a deterrent for any other ill person who is remotely inclined in this bent way."

The leaflet continues: "The only dispute amongst the classical authorities was the method employed in carrying out the penal code."

It goes on to offer burning, being flung from a high point such as a mountain or building, or being stoned to death as suitable methods.

Jurors were told that the leaflets were not informative or educational but were simply "threatening, offensive, frightening and nasty".

The court heard that Ali told other defendants the leaflets had been checked by police and solicitors for any legal problems or possible criminal offences, but this did not appear to be the case.

The court heard evidence from one gay man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, who received the Turn Or Burn and Death Penalty? leaflets through the door of his home on two occasions.

He said the first leaflet, Turn Or Burn, made him feel "quite horrified" and it was after he received Death Penalty? that he called the police.

He said of the leaflets: "They made me feel terrorised in my own home.

"Sometimes I wondered whether I would be getting a burning rag through the letterbox or if I would be attacked in the street."

He went on: "My fear is that there are some very gullible people that would read literature like this and take it as a green light for permission to commit violence or even murder, if it goes that far."

Sue Hemming, head of the Crown Prosecution Service special crime and counter terrorism division, said: "A court has heard for the first time from witnesses how they felt, as gay men, when they read a leaflet calling for the death penalty for homosexuals.

"Everyone has a right to be protected by the law and we regard homophobic crimes, along with all hate crimes, as particularly serious because they undermine people's right to feel safe.

"While people are entitled to hold extreme opinions which others may find unpleasant and obnoxious, they are not entitled to distribute those opinions in a threatening manner intending to stir up hatred against gay people."

Chief Inspector Sunita Gamblin said: "This is a landmark case. It's the first time that Derbyshire have ever used this legislation and it's actually the first time nationally that this legislation has been used."

She added that such behaviour was not widespread in the community and that the wider Muslim community did not agree with the content of the leaflets.

"They're very pleased that the police have taken positive action and I'm sure they'll be very pleased with the outcome too."

She added that the maximum sentence for inciting hatred was seven years' imprisonment.
The men will be sentenced on February 10.

Libyan Revolutionaries Rally for Islam and Sharia

2012-01-21T06:54:00.000+02:00

This quick shift to Islam was predictable enough, that is if you were not a journalist or a politician with you head in the sand, repeating the mantra that the "Arab Spring" was all about democracy.

Muslims are addicted to Islam and will always choose it over progress and what might actually be good for them and their societies. By not standing by Murbarrak and by bombing Libya the West has once again done an excellent job of advancing Islamic fundamentalism.

Hundreds of Libyan Islamists rallied on Friday to demand that Muslim sharia law inspire legislation in what organizers called a response to the emergence of secular political parties after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi's dictatorship last year.

Assembled by Islamist political and religious groups, mostly young and bearded men holding up copies of the Koran demonstrated in squares in the capital Tripoli, the eastern city of Benghazi and in Sabha in the southern desert.

In Tripoli's Algeria Square, Islamists burned copies of the "Green Book," Gaddafi's eccentric handbook on politics, economics and everyday life, to underline that the Koran should be the country's main source of legislation.

By contrast, a group of secularists who have staged a sit-in in the square for more than a month chanted: "We want a civil state."

The Islamist demonstrators encompassed members of the conservative Muslim Brotherhood and harder-line Salafis, who both back strict versions of Islam, and relative moderates who prefer a civil state simply inspired by sharia.

The protests offered a glimpse into Libya's political future in which Islamist and secularist parties are expected to vie for seats in a national assembly scheduled to be elected in June to draft a constitution for the North African country.

Experts believe the Muslim Brotherhood is the most organized political force and could emerge as the leading political player in Libya after Gaddafi, who harshly suppressed Islamists during his 42 years in autocratic power.

Western powers are coming to accept that the advent of democracy in the Arab world means bringing Islamists to power. They have become the biggest election winners in Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco over the past few months.

The chairman of Libya's ruling National Transitional Council (NTC), Mustafa Abdul Jalil, promised in October to uphold Islamic law. "We as a Muslim nation have taken Islamic sharia as the source of legislation, therefore any law that contradicts the principles of Islam is legally nullified," he said.

The deputy central bank governor said last month a law regulating Islamic banking would be issued in the first quarter of 2012, but stressed that both conventional and Islamic banks would be allowed to operate in Libya.

Islamists in Algeria Square held up placards demanding a financial system respecting Islam's ban on interest and calling for a constitution derived from sharia's legal and moral codes.

"We want to run our life according to Islamic principles, be it the economy, politics or our relations with other countries," said Abdul Basit Ghuwaila, a preacher at a Tripoli mosque. "Most people think Islam is just about harsh penalties."

Ghuwaila, 49, said sharia should not govern all Libyan law, but insisted that legislation should not contradict it.

Nour al-Zintani, a participant in the month-long sit-in for a secular state, said the majority of Libyans wanted Islam to be a part of their life but not a strict interpretation of it.

"We all want sharia," she said, standing next to her teenage daughter, both of them wearing a Muslim headscarf, "but not the one they're talking about, the one that rejects women. We want a moderate Islam that gives women their rights."

Muslims Force Salman Rushdie to Cancel Appearance at Festival

2012-01-20T20:32:00.000+02:00

Palestinian Authority Mufti says Muslims will kill Jews in name of Islam

2012-01-18T22:58:00.000+02:00

Metal Band with Anti-Islamic Lyrics up for Norway's Top Award

2012-01-13T20:21:00.000+02:00

A notoriously "anti-Islamic" band has been nominated for Norway's top metal prize. Taake are one of six nominees for a prestigious Spellemann award, despite a song that declares: "To hell with Muhammad and the Muhammadans!"

"Norway will soon awaken!" read the lyrics to Orkan (Hurricane), on Taake's album Noregs Vaapen. The Spellemanns are Norway's equivalent of the Brits or the Grammys, and Noregs Vaapen is nominated for best metal album. Elsewhere on Orkan, singer Ørjan Stedjeberg refers to Muslims' "unforgivable customs" and calls for a new "kingdom" to "shine through [the] bad years, shame and Christian times".

Despite complaints, Spellemann officials defended the band's nomination. "We enjoy full freedom of expression in Norway and [our] jury is not going to censor content in any way," chairman Marte Thorsb told Aftenposten. But the Norwegian Humanist Association argues the lyrics go too far.
Norway is still shaken from last summer's "anti-multiculturalist" attacks by Anders Breivik, which left 69 people dead. "In the aftermath of July 22nd [Taake's lyrics] are completely over the edge," said Didrik Søderlind. "I'd imagine Taake aren't particularly proud of these lyrics after Utøya."

Despite lyrics damning Muslims, Taake "do not encourage either violence or racism", Stedjeberg said. "Our view … is that it is shameful to adhere to Christianity or Islam." He also criticised the media for ignoring Taake's (relatively tame) lyrics about Christianity. "Taake has never been a political band," he said.

Stedjeberg's comments come less than four years after he painted a swastika on his chest for a Taake concert in Essen, Germany. In the outcry over that event, he again insisted Taake are "not a political Nazi band". "Our whole concept is built on provocation and anything evil- and death-related," he said.
The Spellemanns will be awarded on Saturday night.

"India and Israel Natural Allies" Comment Angers Indian Muslim League

2012-01-13T14:10:00.000+02:00

Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) has taken a strong exception to the statement of union foreign affairs minister SM Krishna during his recent visit to Israel in which he described Israel and India as natural allies.

In a press statement, IUML chief Prof Basir Ahmed Khan said that Krishna described Israel and India as natural allies and said that both the countries were facing international terrorism. This, he said, is travesty of justice because what Israel was facing is an struggle of Palestinians to free their own country from the illegal occupation of Israel. Such a situation cannot be equated with terrorism, he added.

Khan has also expressed his displeasure at the timing of the Israel visit by foreign minister because today mosques are being burnt and Israeli forces are torturing the Palestinian youth. He also expressed concern over the foreign policy of UPA government, which he said was indifferent to the religious sensitivities of Indian Muslims. He also said that inviting Salman Rushdie to a function at Jaipur and playing host to Taslima Nasreen have also hurt the Muslims.

Kosovar Muslim Jihadi Defended by Muslims

2012-01-12T21:30:00.000+02:00

Swedish Teachers Allowed to Ban Veils in Class

2012-01-12T08:26:00.000+02:00

A law allowing teachers to ban veils, if they choose, is vague, but in a country like Sweden this is progress in addressing their rapid islamization. Since most Swedes cower to Islam, a teacher taking a stand against veils is very unlikely.

The ban covers clothing that could hinder interaction between students and teachers or which could pose a specific risk, such as in a laboratory.

However, a general ban on headscarves isn't possible.

Teachers will have the power to decide whether or not to require students remove their headscarves, although schools should attempt to be as accommodating as possible, according to updated guidelines issued by the Swedish National Agency for Education (Skollverket) on Wednesday.

The guidance comes in response to a 2009 case in which two women sued an adult education centre in Spånga north of Stockholm after they were banned from class for wearing niqabs.

In December 2010, Sweden's Equality Ombudsman (Diskrimineringsombudsmannen – DO) ruled that the ban amounted to a violation of Sweden’s anti-discrimination laws, after which the schools agency decided to review previous guidelines regarding the wearing of headscarves in Swedish schools.

Education minister Jan Björklund welcomed the education agency's clarification.

“It gives precisely the sort of room to maneuver that schools need. Teachers can prohibit veils that cover most of the face, if it inhibits contact and interaction in the classroom,” he told the TT news agency.

“Classroom lectures are an interplay between people, and in many situations, such interactions require that you can see each others' faces.”

According to Björklund, there has been uncertainty regarding the wearing of Islamic veils in Swedish schools ever since the ombudsman's 2010 ruling.

“But now you could say that things have been cleared up and that the National Agency for Education has maintained its original position, going against the ombudsman,” said Björklund.

However, the Left Party's education policy spokesperson Rossana Dinamarca criticized the agency's decision.

“This is a bad ruling, which means that it will be up to each individual teacher to determine if you have the right to an education or not. That's a basic right for everyone, regardless of which religious background you have,” she told TT.

The updated guidelines are meant primarily for high schools and adult education centres, but can be tailored for use in primary schools when appropriate, although the education agency points out that “it's important to respect compulsory school attendance and the right to an education”.

Muslims Ruin Christmas for Kenyans

2012-01-10T09:10:00.000+02:00

Kosovar Muslim Charged with Plot to Kill "Infidels"

2012-01-10T08:32:00.003+02:00

These types of news items are becoming all too common. Here is yet another example of a foiled terrorist attack planned by what the media call an average American Muslim. And again the motives of the would-be jihadi are made clear which the media and the world will remain deaf to: He wants to kill non-Muslims in the name of Islam since that is what his religion asks him to do. It is good to die for Islam. Muslims are better than non-Muslims and the complete denial of all these facts by the family.

The irony is that America is largely responsible for defending Kosovo and its independence. This is the thanks we get.

A Kosovo-born man was charged with plotting to attack Tampa-area nightclubs and a sheriff's office with bombs and an assault rifle to avenge wrongs done to Muslims, federal authorities said Monday.

This is the Face of Islam

According to a federal complaint, 25-year-old Sami Osmakac recorded an eight-minute video shortly before his arrest explaining why he wanted to bring terror to his "victims' hearts" in the Tampa Bay area. Osmakac is a naturalized American citizen born in Kosovo, then part of the former Yugoslavia in eastern Europe.

In the video, Osmakac is seen cross-legged on the floor with a pistol in his hand and an AK-47 behind him. Osmakac said in the video that Muslim blood was more valuable than that of people who do not believe in Islam, according to the complaint. He said he wanted "payback" for wrong that was done to Muslims, according to the complaint.

There is no indication that Osmakac planned to attack the Republican National Convention, which will be held in Tampa in August, federal authorities said.

The area's Muslim community helped provide authorities with information, said Steve Ibison, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Tampa division.

"This case is not about the Muslim religion and it's not about the Muslim community," Ibison said. "It's about an individual who committed a crime."

Hassan Shibly, a Tampa attorney and the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said he met Osmakac briefly over the summer. Osmakac was "ranting" about how CAIR was an "infidel organization," Shibly said.

"It was very clear he was very disturbed very angry and very misguided about the Islamic faith," said Shibly, adding that Osmakac did not appear to be a member of any of the area's mosques and had "disassociated himself" from those houses of worship. "He was very, very ignorant of Islam. He didn't know Arabic or anything about basic Islamic teachings about promoting peace."

Shibly said the CAIR office received calls from people in the Islamic community who were concerned about Osmakac's extreme views.

"Contact the authorities as soon as possible," Shibly said he told those people.

Osmakac gave only brief answers to basic questions during his first appearance in federal court Monday. He wore a blue jail outfit and was shackled at his wrists and ankles. His public defender, Alec Hall, declined to comment afterward.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Anthony Porcelli ordered Osmakac held without bail. If convicted on the single count of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, Osmakac could face life in prison.

Osmakac was arrested Saturday — the day officials said he was planning his attack — after he allegedly bought explosive devices and firearms from an undercover agent. The firearms and explosives were disabled before the sale.

Osmakac lived with his parents in a tan stucco home in Pinellas Park, Fla., a small city west of Tampa. He worked occasionally at the Balkan Food Store and Bakery in St. Petersburg, a small store owned by his parents.

On Monday, a man identifying himself as Osmakac's older brother was at the store. He would not give The Associated Press his name but said his brother was innocent.

"It's all made up," the man said. "I don't believe it."

According to public records, Osmakac had one prior brush with the law. In April 2011, Tampa Police said Osmakac, dressed in "what appeared to be traditional Middle-Eastern attire with a small cloth" on his head, got into an argument over religion outside a Lady Gaga concert in downtown Tampa.

A police report said anti-gay Christian protesters outside the concert saw Osmakac driving by in a truck and turned their attention to him because of his appearance.

"The protesters began verbally berating the man and the Muslim faith and their attacks became personal and nasty," wrote Tampa officer Kevin Krupa.

The report said Osmakac parked his vehicle, walked up to the protesters and got into an argument with one man who insulted Allah, Mohammed and the Quran. Osmakac was accused of head butting one man and was charged with battery — although Krupa noted that the protesters were "not promoting peace or tolerance, but rather of inciting violence and hate."

That case had not yet been resolved, according to court records.

Federal officials say Osmakac's new charges stem from information given to them by a confidential source in September 2011.

According to the federal report, Osmakac walked into the source's business looking for al-Qaida flags.

The confidential source then hired Osmakac and was in constant contact with federal officials and audio or video taped their conversations.

Two months later, the federal complaint said, Osmakac and the confidential source discussed and identified potential targets in Tampa that Osmakac wanted to attack.

Osmakac allegedly asked the source for help getting firearms and explosives for the attacks, and the source put him in touch with an undercover FBI employee.

On Dec. 21, Osmakac met with the undercover agent and allegedly told the agent that he wanted to buy an AK-47-style machine gun, Uzi submachine guns, high capacity magazines, grenades and an explosive belt. During a later meeting, Osmakac gave the agent a $500 down payment for the items.

Osmakac also asked the undercover employee to build bombs that could be placed in three different vehicles and detonated remotely, the U.S. Justice Department said in a press release. Osmakac then planned to follow up with an attack using the other weapons he asked for, authorities said.

On Jan. 1, Osmakac told the agent he wanted to bomb nightclubs, the operations center of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office and a business in Tampa.

Osmakac told the undercover FBI agent that he wanted to detonate a car bomb and use the explosive belt to "get in somewhere where there's a lot of people" and take hostages.

Osmakac told the agent that after he took hostages he wanted to demand something from the "kuffar" — an Arabic word that means infidels or disbelievers of Islam, federal authorities said.

According to the affidavit, he also said, "Honestly, I would love to go for the Army people, but their bases are so locked up, I have to do something else."

Osmakac said he wanted to take down the bridges that link Tampa to neighboring Pinellas County.
"This will crush the whole economy," he allegedly said to the agent. "This would crush everything man, they would have no more food coming in. They would, nobody would have work."

During that meeting, the agent told Osmakac he could always change his mind about his plot.

"According to the complaint, Osmakac immediately shook his head in the negative and stated, 'We all have to die, so why not die the Islamic way?'" according to the press release.

American Sentenced to Death in Iran

2012-01-09T10:48:00.000+02:00

Nigerian Christians Told to Defend Themselves

2012-01-09T07:37:00.000+02:00

Islamic 'Honor Violence' Rising in the West - 91% Committed by Muslims

2012-01-07T04:00:00.000+02:00

Santa Stabbed to Death by Muslims in Tajik Capital

2012-01-03T08:53:00.001+02:00

Attackers brutally stabbed to death a man dressed up as Father Christmas in Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe, officials said on Monday.

Dressed in the red robes of Father Frost -- the similarly-clad equivalent of Father Christmas in ex-Soviet states -- the man was attacked while on his way to congratulate relatives during New Year's night, the interior ministry said.

"He was stabbed in the stomach and vital organs several times and it was not possible to save him due to the loss of blood," a spokesman for the interior ministry told AFP. The man's name was not given but he was 25.

One of three suspected attackers has been arrested but it is unclear if the crime was motivated by religious extremism or hooliganism, the spokesman said.

Islamist leaders in Muslim but officially secular Tajikistan have sometimes warned against celebrating what they see as an imported festivity.

Muslim Brotherhood Questions Peace Treaty with Israel

2012-01-02T07:21:00.003+02:00

This news should be taken as a portent of things to come in Egypt.

The Muslim Brotherhood have clearly become emboldened by their predictable popularity. With elections not yet over they have set their sights on Israel to cement that popularity since the hatred of Jews and Israel is ubiquitous and unites all Egyptians.

No one in the West will be distressed by this news. Western commentators and governments have convinced themselves that the Brotherhood is out for democracy. That's what the Brotherhood says after all and why would a Muslim political organization lie?

The West has thus far been 100% wrong about what the events in the so-called Arab Spring mean. Egyptians were not clamoring for democracy. They were clamoring for Islam. The Muslim Brotherhood is not the equivalent of the German Christian Democrats.

A democratic state will not replace Mubarrek. What will clearly replace that secular Arab dictatorship is a deeply anti-Semitic, anti-Western, paranoid and bellicose Islamic state much like Iran. It just won't sound as nice in Arabic.

The question we need to ask is: How democratic can a group called the "Muslim Brotherhood" be?

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood will not recognize Israel "under any circumstance," the party's deputy leader Dr Rashad Bayoumi told Arabic daily al-Hayat in an interview publish Sunday.

In recent Egyptian elections the party list led by the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) won 36.3 percent of the list vote, while the ultra-conservative Salafi al-Nour Party took 28.8%.

When asked whether it is a requirement for the government in Egypt to recognize Israel, Bayoumi responded by saying: "This is not an option, whatever the circumstances, we do not recognize Israel at all. Its [Israel] an occupying criminal enemy."

The deputy leader stressed during the interview that no Muslim Brotherhood members would ever meet with Israelis for negotiations. "I will not allow myself to sit down with criminals."

Bayoumi went on to say that The Muslim Brotherhood would take legal procedures towards cancelling the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel that was signed in 1979. "The Brotherhood respects international conventions, but we will take legal action against the peace treaty with the Zionist entity," he told the paper.

At the beginning of December, Egypt's two leading Islamist parties won about two-thirds of votes for party lists in the second round of polling for a parliament that will help draft a new constitution after decades of autocratic rule.

The vote, staged over six weeks, is the first free election Egypt has held after the 30-year rule of President Hosni Mubarak, who routinely rigged polls before he was overthrown by a popular uprising in February.

The West long looked to Mubarak and other strongmen in the region to help combat Islamist militants, and has watched warily as Islamist parties have topped votes in Tunisia, Morocco and now Egypt.

Parliament's prime job will be appointing a 100-strong assembly to write a new constitution which will define the president's powers and parliament's clout in the new Egypt.

Muslim villagers burn houses of Christian Families in Upper Egypt

2011-12-31T14:18:00.000+02:00

Dozens of residents of the village of Baheeg in Assiut, Upper Egypt, burnt three houses owned by a Christian family after a Christian villager allegedly published cartoons mocking Islam on his Facebook account.

A number of Muslim students attacked their Coptic classmate for posting the cartoons, a Muslim student told Al-Masry Al-Youm.

The Muslim students attacked the Coptic student on Thursday at Monqebad Secondary School in Assiut. Eyewitnesses said the military intervened to break up the fight and escorted the Coptic youth and his family away from the village. Later, Muslim villagers set fire to the family’s houses.

Firefighters extinguished the blaze and armed forces and police imposed a security cordon around the site of the incident.

Major General Mohamed Ibrahim, director of security in Assiut, said security forces are attempting to coordinate with Muslim clerics to calm citizens and contain the situation.

Christians make up about 10 percent of the population in Egypt, which totals around 80 million people.

Aggressive NYPD spying on Muslim New Yorkers causes leaders to boycott M...

2011-12-31T07:55:00.000+02:00

Useful idiots for Palestine

2011-12-30T22:12:00.000+02:00

Maldives Muslims Protest Plan for Direct Flights to Israel

2011-12-28T00:12:00.000+02:00

Thousands in the Maldives protested Friday, calling on the government to halt what they called "anti-Islamic" activities, including a plan to allow direct flights to Israel. More moderate supporters of the president rallied as well as debate swells over the future of the state's religion.

The Indian Ocean archipelago of 300,000 Muslims prohibits practicing any other faith.

The protesters want authorities to stop the sale of alcohol in the islands, shut down brothels operating in the guise of massage parlors and demolish monuments gifted by other countries marking a South Asian summit last month because they see them as idols.

More than 3,000 people heeded a protest call by the opposition Adhaalat, or Justice, Party and several other groups that accuse President Mohammed Nasheed's government of compromising principles of Islam and call for strict Islamic law.

"Islamic Shariah is equal to peace," read some placards carried by protesters.

Though the country is known more for its exquisite island resorts and does not allow stoning or executions, it is under scrutiny for its absence of religious freedom and for punishments such as public flogging.

Debates on religious issues have emerged since a group vandalized a monument gifted by Pakistan marking a South Asian summit last month with the image of Buddha. Buddhism was part of the present Islamic republic's history. An angry protest last month followed a call by United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay for the Maldives to end the punishment by flogging of women who are found to have had sex outside marriage.

Other residents also rallied Friday in support of the president, who said he stands for a brand of moderate Islam traditionally practiced in the country and that it is vital to preserve the country's economic lifeline, tourism.

"To build our economy we need foreign investments and we need to create an environment in which foreigners can invest," Nasheed said.

"We can't achieve development by going backwards to the stone age or being ignorant," he added.
"Should we ban music? Should we mutilate girls' genitals? Should we allow 9 year-olds to be married? Should we forbid art and drawing? Should we be allowed to take concubines? Is this nation building?" he asked.

One blogger who has called for religious tolerance has been detained for more than a week by authorities who accuse him of blasphemy and of promoting anti-Islamic concepts such as gay rights.

Khilath Rasheed, whose website was blocked last month, has said he was being victimized because he belonged to the Sufi sect of Islam and not the majority Sunni branch recognized by the authorities.

London-based human rights group Amnesty International has called for his immediate release.

RIP-Hitchens And A Muslim On Free Speech

2011-12-17T17:53:00.000+02:00

Muslim Girl Saved by Jewish Doctor after Swallowing her Hijab Pin

2011-12-17T10:06:00.000+02:00

A “pearl”-topped hat pin that a 17-year old girl held between her teeth to arrange her hijab was extricated from her stomach at Schneider Children’s Medical Center after she accidentally swallowed it.

The girl was saved from bleeding and serious complications last week. The girl rushed to the emergency room of the Petah Tikva hospital. She told the doctors that when she was fixing her hijab and held the pin in her mouth, she saw an insect climbing on the wall that scared her and led to her swallow the roundheaded pin.

Under general anesthetic the pin was carefully pulled out of her stomach and into her throat with a “noose” holding the head of the pin. The doctors used a special implement to remove it completely. She quickly recovered and was discharged to her home in good condition.

Dr. Noam Zabit said the phenomenon of Muslim women and girls swallowing pins is quite common. In most cases, the pin passes through the digestive system without complications, but it can sometimes cause bleeding, pain and infection, he said.

Islamic "Scholar" Calls for the Death of Gays and "Mistreatment" of their Bodies

2011-12-16T11:02:00.000+02:00

A Nigerian Islamic scholar this week called for the death penalty for the gay community, sparking massive outrage from local and international groups.

The statement, during his weekly prayer session of the Nasrul-lahi-L-Fatih Society of Nigeria (NASFAT), came after the country’s legislators passed new rules that outlaw gay marriage in the country.

Malam Abdulkadir Apaokagi argued that the LGBT community in Nigeria were “perverts” who did “not deserve to co-exist with right thinking and decent people.”

He continued to say that gay people were “worse than murderers” and deserve “stiffer penalty” than regular criminals in the country, including those who kill someone.

“Homosexuality and lesbianism are just too dirty in the sight of Allah, those who engage in them deserve more than capital punishment. When they are killed, their corpse should also be mistreated,” he said.

Apaokagi is the deputy Imam at the Abuja branch of NASFAT and argued that gay people are not mentally stable and would, if allowed to live in society, “bring severe instability to the society in which they lived.”

Nigeria is not known for its tolerance toward homosexuality and the recent passing of legislation to ban gay marriage has been met with widespread condemnation by rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

“None of them can pass a psychiatric test, because they are not normal,” he said.

The bill that passed, “Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) bill 2011” also carries 14 year jail sentences for convicted gays in Nigeria.

Quoting from the Qur’an, Apaokagi hailed the Senate for passing the law, saying that God “decreed marriages only between members of the opposite sex.

“Any society that tolerates gay marriage would come to destruction the way God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for sodomy.

“They are criminals, Allah Himself describes them so, and it is great that the Senate has criminalized what they are trying to do.”

Lesbian Muslim's Life Threatened by Muslims in Gay, Tolerant Amsterdam

2011-12-16T09:33:00.004+02:00

Amsterdam is no longer the open and tolerant place it has been famed for the past several centuries. Instead it has become the hotbed of jihad in Europe and a place where any debate about Islam is silenced in order to appease violent Muslim immigrants.

Without asking the the Dutch what they wanted, the multicultural elite in government opened the dikes of the Netherlands and flooded the nation with tens of thousands of Muslims who do not share the liberal values that have served the Netherlands so well. Ironically now those tolerant values are tolerating the very intolerant and that's bad and, of course, suicidal.

Now the Dutch tolerate Gay bashings, members of Parliament being driven from the country or put on trial for daring to say a bad word about Islam. Equally tolerated are rape, violent crime, and beatings of Jews and Christians by Muslims, along with the other accoutrements of having large numbers of Muslims in your midst. These crimes in the name of Islam are going largely unpunished and ignored by non-Muslims in the spirit of Dutch toleration. Complacency, fear and indifference have paralyzed a once brave and culturally confident people.

What happened at this talk mirrors the current state of Dutch society. Poor Irshad Manji is a brave woman but fighting a losing battle to reform Islam.

An Islamist group called for a Muslim lesbian author to be killed and invaded a discussion on Islam in Amsterdam last week.

A December 8 debate, which included the Canadian Muslim lesbian author Irshad Manji and MP Tofik Dibi on a panel, was disrupted when extremists from the group Sharia4Belgium stormed the event, held at the De Balie theater in Amsterdam. The mob threw eggs and called for Manji’s neck to be broken.

The group of about 20 men and boys arrived halfway through the evening, chanted slogans and pelted the audience with eggs. A police mobile unit had to be called to eject the rioters, and two Belgian men aged 19 and 22 were arrested.

The people who disrupted the debate were members of the Belgian group Sharia4Belgium, an offshoot of Sharia4Holland. Irshad Manji has experienced death threats for several years since her outspoken attack on traditional Islam in her book, “The Trouble with Islam Today.”

Dibi is a young, gay Dutch-Moroccan GreenLeft (GroenLinks) MP. In September, he launched a campaign calling on Muslims around the world to stop blindly following decrees issued by a handful of extremists, and to start thinking for themselves.

Manji was in Europe to promote her new book, “Allah, Liberty and Love.” She says that the key teaching of the book is “moral courage, the willingness to speak up when everyone else wants to shut you up.”

The mob made clear that they felft that Dibi and Manji had no right to talk about Islam because they were too liberal, said Dibi. When the riot started, the audience made efforts to protect both speakers.

“What was really nice to see, and I have never seen, was that the whole audience stood up for us. And we have said, while they were shouting: ‘We will not move. We do not go off the stage, we continue to stand here. You only have to listen to us. And if you do not like to hear us speak, then you zapping’” said Dibi.

Manji said, “I never felt afraid. Not once. Neither did Tofik. In fact, all of us refused to leave, even when police asked. We wouldn’t play on Jihadi terms. Some things are simply more important than fear.”

Said Dibi, “The disruption shows that even in the Netherlands it is necessary to continue the debate on reforming Islam.”

Chinese Province Bans "Arabian" Garb for Muslims

2011-12-16T08:39:00.001+02:00

Wearing of veils and Arab-type dress is completely foreign to Chinese Muslims. This trend clearly indicates the influence of Saudi Arabia and its global attempt to spread jihad and Saudi Arab culture among all Muslims no matter where they are.

A city district in heavily Muslim western China is trying to tamp down religious fervor by prohibiting people from wearing veils, traditional Arab dress or growing long beards.

A regional spokeswoman said that she was unaware of the campaign but added it sounded unrealistic.
The notice from the Dunmaili district of Yining disappeared from the Yining government website Thursday afternoon. It was still available on a state-run news website, though the reason for the discrepancy was uncertain.

Using the slogan ‘Dilute religious consciousness, advocate a civilized healthy life style,’ the notice said the campaign’s objective was “to completely get rid of the abnormal phenomenon in the entire community of minority ethnic women and youth wearing Arabian dress, growing beards and covering their faces in veils.”

Yining is in Xinjiang, a region home to the traditionally Muslim Uighur ethnic group. Many Uighurs resent Chinese rule and controls on their religion and culture and the region has occasionally seen violent unrest.

The notice said stubborn individuals who refused to give up their veils, Arab dress or long beards should be educated, and “diehards” turned over to judicial departments.

Xinjiang regional spokeswoman Hou Hanmin told The Associated Press by telephone that she was unaware of the campaign. She said ordinary people in Xinjiang are free to wear what they like, regardless of their faith. She said public schools do have guidelines instructing teachers to wear “secular” clothing.

“This is not consistent with the reality here,” Hou said of the campaign.

China allows different faiths to practice their religion but only in state-backed churches and mosques.
Tibetan Buddhists, Uighur Muslims and other minority faithful are generally allowed to wear their traditional dress. However, both communities have been targeted in political re-education campaigns following anti-government violence related to complaints about a lack of religious freedom.

Collective Punishment Under Islam

2011-12-08T14:56:00.001+02:00

Collective Punishment Under Islam

During a recent altercation in Egypt, a Christian inadvertently killed a Muslim. This incident, according to an AINA report, "turned into collective punishment of all Copts in the majority Christian village." Two Christians "not party to the altercation" were killed; others were stabbed and critically wounded. As usual, "after killing the Copts, Muslims went on a rampage, looting and burning Christian owned homes and businesses."

Despite all this, "Muslims insist they have not yet avenged" the death of their slain co-religionist; there are fears of "a wholesale massacre of Copts." Many Christians have fled their homes or are in hiding.

Collectively punishing dhimmis—non-Muslims who refused to convert after their lands were seized by Muslims, and who are treated as infidels, or "second-class" citizens—for the crimes of the individual is standard under Islam. In this instance, dhimmis are forbidden to strike—let alone kill—Muslims, even if Muslims perpetrate the conflict. Prior to the fight that killed him, the Muslim in question had, through the help of radical Salafis, burned down the Christian's home and was threatening him over a property dispute. Still, non-Muslims are forbidden to raise their hands to Muslims, even in self defense.

The Truth About the Refugees: Israel Palestinian Conflict

2011-12-08T14:42:00.000+02:00

Douglas Murray - Islam and Europe (2011)

2011-12-03T21:30:00.000+02:00

Over 3,000 "Honor" Crimes Reported in Britain in 2010

2011-12-03T10:17:00.001+02:00

This article of course says nothing about Muslims. But it is Muslims who are doing the "honor" crimes. What is more it fails to note that most of the time the police avoid calling crimes related to cultural "values" as such. I believe the number is much much higher. But that this is being reported is a good thing.

Attacks on women in the name of family honor are increasing rapidly in Britain, police statistics show.

The Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organization obtained information from police agencies that track "honor killings" and assaults, kidnappings and threats designed to punish or coerce women, The Guardian reported. The group said 2,823 incidents were reported by 39 police forces in 2010, and it estimates about 500 more occurred in the jurisdictions of 12 that did not have data.

There were 12 departments that had information for both 2009 and 2010, with the total rising from 938 to 1,381 during the year. In London, reported honor crimes more than doubled from 235 in 2009 to 495 in 2010, while in the Greater Manchester district the number went from 105 to 189.

Fionnuala Ni Mhurchu, the organization's campaign officer, said there may be a number of reasons for the increase. Police are becoming more aware of honor crimes while young women from traditional communities are less accepting of old practices.

"They're resisting abuses of their human rights such as forced marriage more and more," she said. "And as a result they're being subjected to this kind of violence. We hear from the community that this violence is on the increase."

Afghan Women, Raped by Relative and Imprisoned for Adultery, Released and Forced to Wed Attacker

2011-12-02T08:11:00.000+02:00

This story is appalling in every detail. People who are raped are not committing adultery and certainly should not be put in jail. Adultery is not a crime. Men who rape should be put it jail. To top it all off this women now has to marry her relative who raped her. It all smells of Islam to me.

Further more, the US has spent billions trying to drag these people into the 21st century. Clearly zero progress has been made.That this sort of thing goes on while the US is still in Afghanistan is outrageous.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered the release of a rape victim who was jailed for adultery after being raped.

The president's office said Thursday that the woman, named Gulnaz, and her attacker have agreed to marry.

Gulnaz was sentenced to 12 years in prison after reporting that a relative had raped her.

Karzai announced her pardon after a meeting with judiciary officials and receiving a petition for her release with nearly 5,000 signatures.

The woman has been raising a child she had by her attacker while in a Kabul prison.

Gulnaz's story was featured in a documentary on female prisoners that was commissioned and later blocked by the European Union due to concerns over the safety of those interviewed.

The case highlights the plight of Afghan women, 10 years after U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban-led government from power.

Under Taliban rule in the 1990's, women in Afghanistan were not allowed to go to work, get an education or leave the house without being escorted by a man.

Human rights activists have expressed concerns about the protection of women as international forces begin withdrawing from the country this year.

In northern Afghanistan, a teenager and her family were attacked with acid this week, after reportedly rejecting a marriage proposal.

The girl, Mumtaz, had been proposed to by a former militia commander. Her parents say the family turned him down and Mumtaz got engaged to someone else.

A group of armed men burst into their home in Kunduz city earlier this week, and attacked the family. The men beat the parents and their three daughters and then sprayed acid on Mumtaz's face before fleeing.

Afghan officials have launched an investigation into the attack and authorities were searching for the assailants.

In the second quarter of 2011 alone, the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission registered more than 1,000 cases of violence against women.

Ezra Levant & Mark Steyn: Section 13 & Obama

2011-12-01T06:21:00.000+02:00

Iranian "Students" Storm British Embassy

2011-12-01T06:10:00.000+02:00

German Court Supports Ban on Muslim Prayer in Berlin School

2011-12-01T05:20:00.002+02:00

Schools are meant for learning not for praying. I fully support the court decision and hope to see many more such rulings. It sounds like this school has a real problems on their hands with Muslims importing their conflicts to Germany.

A German federal court on Wednesday backed banning a Muslim pupil from praying according to Islamic rites at a Berlin public school, ruling it could jeopardise its smooth operation.

However, the Leipzig-based federal administrative court found that the right to pray even at school was guaranteed by religious freedom under the constitution.

In the case of the 18-year-old pupil, who took his school to court, it justified the ban at his Berlin high school because the issue of praying had already sparked conflict among Muslim pupils.

The court said the school, in Berlin's ethnically diverse Wedding district, was right in stopping him from praying as "sometimes very severe conflicts" had broken out among Muslim pupils over the interpretation of the Koran.

Capping a more than two-year legal battle, it ruled that a pupil "is not entitled to perform prayer during school outside of class when this can disrupt the running of the school."

The pupil, identified only as Yunus M., is the son of a German Muslim convert. He had insisted on his basic right to religious freedom after the school principal told him praying at school was not permitted.

With an estimated four million Muslims living in Germany, the case sparked interest after two earlier regional court rulings first found in favour of the boy, only then to be overturned.

It began in November 2007 when Yunus M. and several other pupils laid down their jackets in the school corridor to pray during a break from class.

The following day the principal informed the boy and his parents that praying was not permitted on the grounds of the school which has students of about 30 different nationalities and nearly all major religions. She feared for the peaceful running of the school, she said.

Yunus M. had argued that because prayer times depend on the rising and setting of the sun, he had no other choice during the winter but to pray around midday while at school.

News weekly Der Spiegel said that the consequences of Wednesday's ruling
would be closely watched nationwide.

"Yunus M. kicked off proceedings which could write legal history," it said in its online edition.

Tilman Nagel, an expert in Islam who appeared as a witness at an earlier court hearing, said that postponing midday prayers was acceptable if there was a good reason.

He also argued that the Islamic ritual of praying undertaken with other people was very different to the Christian private act of praying, and was thus disruptive in a public space.

Germany has grappled with the thorny issue of the integration of its Muslim population since it signed a "guest worker" pact with Turkey 50 years ago.

This has sometimes fuelled tensions, with a former central banker publishing a runaway bestseller last year saying Germany was being made "more stupid" by millions of purportedly undereducated and unproductive Muslim migrants.

Arab Christian Worker at Heathrow Harassed by Muslims then Fired

2011-11-28T08:42:00.000+02:00

Nohad Halawi, who worked at Heathrow Airport, is suing her former employers for unfair dismissal, claiming that she and other Christian staff at the airport were victims of systematic harassment because of their religion.

She claims that she was told that she would go to Hell for her religion, that Jews were responsible for the September 11th terror attacks, and that a friend was reduced to tears having been bullied for wearing a cross.

Mrs Halawi, who came to Britain from Lebanon in 1977, worked in the duty-free section as a perfume saleswoman of the airport for 13 years but was dismissed in July.

Her case is being supported by the Christian Legal Centre, who say it raises important legal issues and also questions over whether Muslims and Christians are treated differently by employers.

It comes amid growing concern among some Christians that their faith is being marginalised and follows calls from Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, for Christians to be given greater legal protection in the wake of a series of cases where they have been disciplined or dismissed for practising their faith.

It also raises further questions over race relations at Heathrow Airport.

Last week, Arieh Zucker, a Jewish businessman, complained that he has been repeatedly singled out for full-body scans by Muslim security staff at the airport.

The 41-year-old mortgage broker from London has accused them of "race hate" and is threatening to sue for racial discrimination after being made to "feel like a criminal" while being scanned.

Mrs Halawi's case centres on whether she was treated unfairly when she lost her job in World Duty Free in Terminal 3 after she spoke out over what she described as bullying and intimidation by her Muslim colleagues of her and other Christians.

She said that she was the subject of a complaint by an Islamic colleague which was specious and that when she raised her own concerns as a Christian, she was the one who was dismissed.

Now she is distraught at losing her job on allegations made by what she describes as a small group of "extremist" Muslims.

Mrs Halawi, 47, said: "I have been sacked on the basis of unsubstantiated complaints so there is now great fear amongst my former colleagues that the same could happen to them if one of the Muslims turns on them.

"This is supposed to be a Christian country, but the law seems to be on the side of the Muslims."

A mother of two, she says that she had always got on well with her Muslim colleagues and relations between staff of different faiths had been good in the past, but that the atmosphere became increasingly uncomfortable with a growing number of employees espousing "fundamentalist Islam".

She says they harassed Christians at work by making fun of them for wearing crosses, ridiculing Jesus and telling them they would go to Hell if they did not convert to Islam.

"One man brought in the Koran to work and insisted I read it and another brought in Islamic leaflets and handed them out to other employees," she said.

"They said that 9/11 served the Americans right and that they hated the West, but that they had come here because they want to convert people to Islam.

"They say that Jesus is s***** [shitty] and bullied a Christian friend of mine so much for wearing her crosses that she came to me crying."

Mrs Halawi says she was targeted by the fundamentalists after she stood up for her friend, who is 62 and who she is keeping anonymous because she still works at the terminal.

In May, five of her Muslim colleagues complained to David Tunnicliffe, the trading manager at World Duty Free, accusing her of being anti-Islamic following a heated conversation in the store.

The row had stemmed from her description of a Muslim colleague as an allawhi, which means 'man of God' in Arabic. Another Muslim overheard this and thought she said Alawi, which was his branch of Islam.

Following the complaints she was suspended immediately, but was not told the grounds for her suspension until she met Mr Tunnicliffe in July.

Two days after the meeting she received a letter, which said the "store approval" - the Heathrow security pass - needed to work at World Duty Free was being removed because her behaviour was deemed to be unacceptable.

"I believe that the breakdown in relationship between yourself and some of your colleagues has contributed to this situation and has led to a number of inappropriate conversations taking place," the letter said.

"Whilst I do not believe that you may have meant to be offensive, I believe that it was not unreasonable for the individuals who either heard these comments, or who they were directed at to find them offensive, and they are extremely inappropriate."

However, the only comments she made which Mr Tunnicliffe claimed were offensive relate to her accusing a Muslim colleague of having "extremist leaflets" and asking another Muslim why Jesus was being described as "s*****".

She was paid on a freelance basis by Caroline South Associates, a fragrance and cosmetics agency that provides staff to work in World Duty Free, and was told that she would not be able to continue working without her pass.

A petition signed by 28 colleagues, some of them Muslims, argued that she has been dismissed on the basis of "malicious lies", but failed to see her reinstated.

Andrea Minichiello Williams, founder and director of the Christian Legal Centre, said that the case is one of the most serious they have handled.

"It raises huge issues," she said.

"First, there is the level of Islamic fundamentalism prevalent at our main point of entry to the UK.
"Then there are very real issues of religious discrimination, which it would appear those in authority are turning a blind eye to, using the current loop-holes in employment law as an excuse."

The centre has instructed Paul Diamond, a leading human rights barrister, to represent Mrs Halawi in taking both Caroline South Associates and Autogrill Retail UK Limited, which trades as World Duty Free, to an employment tribunal.

They hope that the case will set a precedent for thousands of people like Mrs Halaoui who would appear to be employees from the working relationship, but actually have no rights because of their self-employed status.

A lawyer acting for CSA said: "The case is still pending so the company is not in a position to comment, but as far as the company is concerned she's never been an employee and has never been dismissed."

A spokesman for World Duty Free said they were unable to comment because the matter is subject to "ongoing legal proceedings".

Peace Corps Quits Kazakhstan out of fear of Rape and Terrorism

2011-11-28T07:00:00.000+02:00

The Peace Corps is ending its operations in Kazakhstan, its last major program in Central Asia, the agency said on Friday.

Afer the agency posted its decision on its website, Deputy Communications Director Kristina Edmunson said in an email that the suspension came after "several incidents in Kazakhstan in recent months involving individual volunteers" that she didn't detail.

A person familiar with the Corps' operations in the former Soviet republic in Central Asia said the pullout stemmed from concerns over sexual assaults and local terrorism, adding that the decision was made two days ago.

On Friday, Kazakhstan's ministry of education and science said, "Kazakhstan has achieved great progress in the political and socioeconomic development over the 20 years of its independence and today is a country with an income above average."

It added that Kazakhstan is now one of the most-developed countries in which the Peace Corps operates and added, "We believe that the suspension of the activities of the Peace Corps in Kazakhstan is a rather logical step."

On Thursday, a former volunteer in Kazakhstan wrote in the Corps' blog site that she had left the country early.

In the next two weeks, she continued, "all the volunteers will be leaving Kazakhstan due to political and safety concerns. The volunteers just found this information out. Peace Corps has not yet released any information officially."

She wrote that concerns on rape and terrorism "have certainly influenced the decision to suspend the program in Kazakhstan and they certainly played a large role in my decision to leave."

At the Corps' country headquarters in Almaty, the financial capital and largest city, an employee said John Cone, the country director, was out of town and declined to let in a visitor or give any comment. In Washington, the Corps didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Interfax reported that a Peace Corps volunteer who was an English teacher in the northern town of Saran was raped on Nov. 10 and that a suspect had been arrested. Two days later, a man authorities identified as a Muslim fundamentalist killed seven local people and injured three during a shooting spree in the southern town of Taraz, after which he blew himself up.

Ms. Edmunson, the Peace Corps spokeswoman, said, "There has not been a single terrorist incident involving Peace Corps volunteers in Kazakhstan."

The person familiar with the operations said the Kazakhstan mission, which began in 1993, included about 120 volunteers. Other programs in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan and Tajikistan are no longer operating, with only some volunteers left in northern Kyrgyzstan.

All volunteers are expected to have left the country within 10 days, this person added.

German Muslim Names her 14th Child "Jihad"

2011-11-27T06:52:00.000+02:00

This new-born baby may not have the easiest life as he grows up.

The tot has been given the unfortunate name associated with the Muslim crusade against the west - Jihad.

The Islamic term is used in the Koran to describe the religious war all followers are to wage against 'non-believers'.

Newborn: Jihad is cuddled by his mother, Elfi Yaghi, after being born at Berlin's Charité hospital over the weekend

There is of course no suggestion that innocent Jihad will grow up to become the kind of terror extremist that his name suggests.

But the baby boy's life may prove something of a struggle, which coincidentally is the English meaning of Jihad.

Jihad was born in Germany where there are growing tensions between its citizens and the increasing immigrant Muslim community.

Germany has the largest Muslim population in Western Europe after France. Some 3.5 million Muslims live in the country, and 80 per cent of them do not have German citizenship.

Angela Merkel has herself admitted that multiculturalism has failed in the country. While former Bundesbank boss and politician Thilo Sarrazin wrote a best-selling book denouncing Islam as 'lowering the intelligence quotient of German society'.

Jihad's mother Elfi Yaghi, 40, has so far failed to explain why she gave her son the potentially incendiary name. However, she is understood to be a devout Muslim.

Heavy: Jihad lies on a scales at the hospital which put his weight at 5.97 kg, or just over 13lbs

Babies: Jihad, left, lies on a mat new to another tot who has a the size more normally expected from newborns

The mother-of-fourteen, who weights 37stone 7lbs, gave birth to Jihad at at Berlin’s Charité hospital over the weekend. The baby weighs 13lbs and is Germany's heaviest ever naturally born baby.

Mrs Yaghi suffers from untreated gestational diabetes but insisted on having a risky natural birth. Gestational diabetes is caused when a pregnant woman who doesn’t previously suffer from diabetes has excessively high blood sugar.

The babies of such women are usually delivered by caesarean section because they can suffer from oxygen deficiency or shoulder dislocations during birth.

'She insisted on a vaginal birth despite the very high risk,' Wolfgang Henrich, the chief doctor at Charité’s obstetrics clinic told the Local.

'We usually advise mothers carrying a child with an estimated weight of more than 4.5 kilos to opt for a caesarean section to avoid complications.'

Jihad will have nine brothers and four sisters. Four of his siblings also had birth weights of more than 11lbs.

Arab Times are a Changin'

2011-11-26T11:33:00.000+02:00

I Am Denmark-From the Danish People's Party

2011-11-26T10:09:00.000+02:00

Egyptian Blogger Calls on Men to Wear Hijab, Posts Naked Picture of Herself

2011-11-25T07:01:00.001+02:00

An Egyptian blogger who sparked controversy last week by posting a photo of herself naked online
has also launched a campaign calling on men to don the Islamic headscarf.

However, the Facebook campaign, launched by Aliaa Elmahdy in support of women's rights, was shut down after it was hit by thousands of complaints last week. Elmahdy plans to relaunch it within days.

Elmahdy sent shockwaves through Egypt's highly traditional society when one of her friends shared a photo of her wearing nothing but a pair of shoes and stockings on Twitter with the hashtag #nudephotorevolutionary.

Elmahdy's boyfriend, Kareem Amer, says his girlfriend's reasons for originally posting the photo on her blog were not political. He said she wanted "to send a message" to conservative Egyptian society that a woman's body should not be associated with "shame."

Her reasons for launching the Facebook project, "Wearing Hijab in Solidarity with Women," which kicked off on November 1, are similar. She says she started the project because "many people deny that the hijab discriminates between women and men."

A statement posted on the group's Arabic-language Facebook page before the page was removed said that "Those who call on women to wear hijab should not attack men if they chose to wear the hijab" and calls on men to upload their photos.

Such a move is almost guaranteed to stigmatize them in Egyptian society, which remains highly traditional. Violations against women are also hugely underreported in the country -- a report by Egypt's National Council for Women from 2003 found as many as 98 percent of rape and sexual assault cases are not reported to authorities.

Echoes Of The Uprising

As demonstrations enter their sixth day in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the tone of the hijab campaign echoes that of the famous video blog posted by 26-year-old Egyptian activist Asmaa Mahfouz in the days leading up to the overthrow of the country's long-time ruler Hosni Mubarak.

"Anyone who consider themselves men, come with us," Mahfouz said in the video. "Whoever says women shouldn't take part in protests because they could get beaten, humiliated, harassed, show me your honor and come with us on January 25."

The video is now seen as a turning point for the Egyptian uprising, with Mahfouz awarded the prestigious Sakharov Prize for her role in the movement.

The 'Be a Man' initiative is similar to a 2009 Iranian campaign in support of student activist Majid Tavakoli.

Even though protest activity is on the rise again in Egypt, it's unlikely that the male protesters hitting the streets will be sporting headscarves. The lone male Egyptian citizen to have responded to Elmahdy's initiative is Magdy Abdelraheem, but he doesn't live in Egypt.

"I like the idea that men should be supporting women in putting this thing on their heads," says the 27-year-old trader, whose home is in the United Arab Emirates but who frequently visits Egypt. "I posted my picture there, but I don't think many Middle Eastern men would dare to do such a thing, because they'll all be ashamed to act like women, or be like women."

Codified Gender Discrimination

Apparently, several hundred Iranian men had no such qualms. In 2009, Iranian men posted photos of themselves wearing hijab as part of the online "Be a Man" campaign launched in support of leading student protester Majid Tavakoli, who was jailed in the mass protests that broke out after the country's disputed 2009 presidential election.

The "Be a Man" initiative also served to raise awareness about women's rights in Iran, where discrimination is written into the country's legal code. For example, if a woman is killed, the "blood money," or compensation paid to her family, is 50 percent less than if the deceased is a man.

Many of the "Be a Man" photos were featured on Egypt's "Wearing Hijab in Solidarity with Women" page before it was taken down, presumably in an effort to drum up support.

Renowned Iranian women's rights leader Mehrangiz Kar says she's not surprised to see such similar initiatives arise independently in two predominantly Muslim countries.

"This is a kind of struggle and a kind of showing their unhappiness," she says. "You know, there is a logic: if we have to wear veil and hijab, my brother should do that, and the others."

Restive Younger Women

Iran and Egypt do not share a common language and have a troubled political history. But they do share a large, restive young generation of women frustrated with the societal status quo.

It's just one example of a swath of new campaigns being launched in a region with shared problems and similar aspirations. Both the Iranian-led educational campaign "Can You Solve This?" and Egypt's "Let Me Think" project, for example, are new educational campaigns focused on strengthening civil society.

For her part, Elmahdy says she's not surprised by the failure of her own initiative, telling RFE/RL that Egyptian men are "afraid of things" and fear public "reaction."

Mohamed Abdelfattah disagrees. "I don't think that's how I would like to show my support for women," he says. "Both of us respect our differences, but that's not something I would do ... I think that it's a funny tactic, it's not serious stuff."

Abdelfattah, a journalist, helped expose the killing of Khaled Said, which became a rallying cry for the Egyptian opposition.

"You know, we can mobilize for women's rights in a more serious manner that can achieve real things on the ground," he says, "not just some superficial type of tactics that would make the already conservative population [of Egypt more] alienated ... to the idea of women's rights."

UN Human Rights Chief Calls on Muslim Maldives to Stop Flogging Women

2011-11-25T06:39:00.001+02:00

The UN human rights chief yesterday called on Maldivian authorities to remove the "discriminatory" constitutional provision that requires every citizen to be a Muslim.

Speaking to journalists at the United Nations Building herein Male before concluding her four-day visit to the island nation, Navi Pillaysaid the provision is discriminatory and does not comply with the internationalstandards.

"I would again urge a debate on that to open up the benefitsof the constitution to all and to remove that discriminatory provision," shesaid.

Pillay further reiterated her previous remarks at theparliament about flogging, saying that the practice of flogging women foundguilty of extra-marital sex is against the international treaties that theMaldives has ratified.

"The fact that people, especially women, are still floggedin the Maldives is a serious blot on the country’s otherwise increasinglypositive and progressive image overseas. There should be no place for flogginganywhere in the 21st century, and by continuing to carry out floggings – albeitonly occasionally – the Maldives is in breach of its obligations under several internationaltreaties," she said.

She noted that she held discussions with President MohamedNasheed, ministers and the judiciary on how to end the practice of flogging in the Maldives.

"At the very least, pending more permanent changes in thelaw, it should be possible for the government and the judiciary to engineer apractical moratorium on flogging," she proposed.

In her address to the parliament yesterday, the UN humanrights chief told parliamentarians that flogging is one of the most inhumane anddegrading forms of violence against women and called for a much"needed" public debate in the Maldives on the issue.

Asked why she made her remarks about flogging when itviolates the Maldivian constitution, Pillay said that "I don't believe you havea constitution" but quickly corrected her statement by saying that "you have aconstitution" which "conforms many of the aspects to universally accepted humanrights".

"And let me assure you that these human rights conform withthe Islam," she said.

During her visit to the Maldives as part of a weeklong visitto Asia, Pillay met with President Mohamed Nasheed, opposition politicians and officialsof the independent state bodies and the civil society and discussed issuesrelated to human rights.

Pillay's visit is the first such visit to the Maldives by aUN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Muslim Teacher Jailed for Kicking and Slapping Koran Students

2011-11-24T21:39:00.000+02:00

A MUSLIM cleric who kicked and slapped children while teaching them the Koran was jailed for 10 weeks yesterday.

Sabir Hussain, 60, was caught on camera towering over four pupils aged between 10 and 13 while “chastising” them in his role as a volunteer religious tutor at Keighley’s Markazi Jamia mosque.

Education bosses and police welcomed the sentence – saying pupils in faith schools should enjoy the same protection as mainstream ones and the punishment sent a clear message such behaviour was not acceptable in British society.

Despite claims that Hussain was “firm but fair” and only intended to “chastise” District Judge Sue Bouch underlined that his young charges were “small and vulnerable” and had been seen on the Channel 4 footage “flinching away” as he stalked around the room.

She originally intended to jail him for 26 weeks but reduced it to 16 weeks due to his early guilty pleas and then to 10 weeks, of which he will serve half, after reading a glowing series of references from ex-pupils.

Hussain launched an immediate appeal against the sentence but his application for bail pending the crown court hearing was refused by Judge Bouch, sitting at Bradford Magistrates’ Court.

Hussain, who has lived in Britain since 1967, working in the mill and textile industry, but needed an interpreter for the proceedings, hugged his daughter and gave her a sign of blessing as he was led away, telling her: “Don’t worry. What’s happened has happened.”

Hussain, who is about 6ft tall, was teaching the Koran to a class of 16 boys in 2010 when he was filmed by hidden camera by an undercover team working for the Channel Four Dispatches programme Lessons in Hate and Violence broadcast last February.

It was produced by Andrew Smith, who has made a name for himself for making hard-hitting documentaries that tackle cultural and racial issues, and was based on footage shot between July and December 2010.

Yesterday police criticised the documentary team for not alerting them sooner, claiming some of the attacks could have been avoided had Channel 4 not waited until February to air the footage.

A Channel 4 spokesman said: “The authorities were aware of child protection concerns at this Mosque going back ten years. It is likely that child assaults would have continued had our investigation not brought this to light.”

A recording made on December 2 and December 12 resulted in four charges of common assault against persons unknown, which Hussain admitted.

Defending barrister Shufqat Khan said: “He is a caring and compassionate man.”

Mr Khan said he accepted the force used was not reasonable. “But it’s a very different case from someone’s gratuitous use of force against vulnerable people.”

Farage Speech

2011-11-23T09:00:00.000+02:00

Mexican Indians Convert to Islam

2011-11-05T09:49:00.000+02:00

Raised a Christian, Manuel Gomez now goes by Mohamed Chechev, and counts himself among a handful of Tzotzil Indians converted to Islam by Spaniards in southern Mexico.

"I am Muslim. I know the truth. I pray five times a day, celebrate Ramadan and have traveled to Mecca," Chechev said in rudimentary Spanish.

He lives in a mainly Protestant community in Chiapas called Nueva Esperanza on the outskirts of San Cristobal de las Casas, where he shares a modest house with 19 relatives and sells vegetables he grows on a plot of land.

Biblical references abound in Nueva Esperanza, with streets named Bethlehem and Damascus and a quarter called Palestine. But it is also home to some 300 Tzotzils, indigenous peoples of Mayan origin, who have converted to Islam and live in harmony with the rest of the population.

According to anthropologist Gaspar Morquecho, the 330,000 Tzotzil people of the Chiapas region have a history of changing religions, after the forced imposition of Catholicism at the height of the Spanish colonization in the 16th century although very few have become Muslims.

In the interior courtyard of the home, Chechev's wife Noora (born Juana) and his daughter-in-law Sharifa (Pascuala) swept and cleaned laundry. They wore long dresses and a veil covered their hair.

Noora is the daughter of a Protestant indigenous leader who was driven out of San Juan Chamula, a nearby town where the Institutional Revolutionary Party and Catholicism reigned supreme, with dozens of other families in 1961.

"In Chamula, not being Catholic or a PRI party member was a crime. They were also angry because Protestants stopped drinking alcohol, one of the main local businesses," said Susana Hernandez, who lives in the neighborhood.

Some indigenous people have been sharply critical of Catholics for identifying too closely with the Institutional Revolutionary Party which ruled Mexico for 70 years.

And Chechev followed in the footsteps of another indigenous leader, Domingo Lopes, who was an official at an Adventist church before converting to Islam, introduced to the region by the Marabutin movement which moved to Mexico from Spain in 1993 in a bid to create a self-sufficient community.

The Marabutin sect is a hangover from the days when Spain was part of the Muslim empire for some seven centuries.

A few steps from Chechev's home is a three-story building housing a madrassa, with a school, workshops and a prayer center run the Murabitun World Movement, a Sufi community founded in 1968 by a Scottish convert to Islam that now has offshoots in many parts of the world.

Mexico is 83 percent Catholic, but Chiapas state, with a population of some 4.5 million inhabitants, has the least numbers of practicing Catholics, according to the 2010 census.

Aurelanio Perez, a Spanish convert known as the Emir Mustafa, founded the Marabutin community in Chiapas and found converts among the Tzotzils.

Chechev speaks the Tzotzil dialect, but can neither read nor write Spanish. And yet, learning prayers in Arabic only took him a couple of months.

"Our prophet Mohammed could neither read nor write. I may not be able to read, but I can recite the holy Koran. It's a miracle to be able to enter Islam. Allah is merciful. He teaches us everything and gives us everything that comes from him," Chechev added.

He knows the prophet's hadith, or collection of accounts of what Mohammed said and did, and says he follows the five pillars of Islam: creed (shahada), daily prayers (salat), fasting during Ramadan (Sawm), charity (zakat) and the pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj).

Chechev traveled to the heart of Islam, in Saudi Arabia, in 1998 with the help of Emir Mustapha. Some of Chechev's relatives, including his wife, also made the trip.

"Aureliano told me that if we accept Allah, we need to visit the house of Allah. It was like a dream, we were all dressed in white. There were white, black, brown people, but it didn't matter. We were all equal," he said.

Noora's face lit up as soon as she heard about Mecca.

"When I went there, I felt proud of Islam, of being a Muslim. We ask Allah for a mosque. Inshallah, if God wishes, it will come," she said.

Noora was hopeful that her son, Ibrahim (Anastacio), will become an imam.

Muslim Group Accuses FBI of "Flaunting the Constitution" in 56-Page Report

2011-10-26T10:43:00.002+03:00

This news is rather curious.

What the "Muslim Advocates" seem to object to is the FBI looking at Muslim communities as possible sources of terror in America.

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past ten years, you will certainly know that all terror attacks on America soil have been done by Muslims, either foreign but mostly those Muhamadians who have grown up in America.

There have been dozens of Muslims involved in al-Qaeda arrested in Minneapolis alone. One of al-Qaeda's top men was born in New Mexico and recently killed in Yemen. An American Muslim in the Army killed several soldiers a few years ago in Texas in the name of Allah, and so forth.

What this group is asking then is that the FBI ignore all that.

I think a much better use of time for the "Muslim Advocates" would by to look at their own communities and ask what they can do to stop Muslims born in America from trying and succeeding to kill Americans.

They will not do that however. Instead they scream from the rafters that their civil rights are being violated.

I am interested in my own civil rights. I rely on my government to protect me from terrorism and many other things. The FBI can come to my place of worship and read my emails and monitor my blog and facebook page any time they like. They can even tap my phone if they find my conversations so interesting. I am not doing anything wrong.

This story really beggars the questions, then: why are Muslims so afraid of the FBI? Civil rights violations? Racism? I wonder!

If I die in a terrorist attack because the FBI failed to pursue Muslim terrorists in America out of cultural sensitivity, then whose civil rights are really being violated?

A Muslim civil rights group is accusing the FBI and other federal agencies of “bad policing” and flaunting the Constitution in a 56-page report released to mark the 10th anniversary of the Patriot Act.

The Tuesday (Oct. 25) report by Muslim Advocates, “Losing Liberty: The State of Freedom 10 Years After The Patriot Act” recommends more than 40 legal and policy changes to enforcement of the anti-terrorism law.

“One reason for the anti-Muslim sentiment in America is the government policies that target Muslim communities. The government is basically telling people they should fear their Muslim neighbors,” said Farhana Khera, executive director of San Francisco-based Muslim Advocates.

The report accuses the FBI of religious profiling, using informants to spy on mosques, and asking Muslims prohibited questions about their religious beliefs and practices.

“FBI agents are instructed to view Muslims with suspicion by, for example, looking out for converts to Islam and those who wear ‘traditional Muslim attire,? attend mosques, and have strong religious beliefs,” the report said.

An FBI spokesman said the agency had not seen the report and could not respond to it specifically. In the past, the agency has denied profiling and defended the use of informants as a legitimate intelligence tool.

The report’s policy recommendations include calling on the Department of Homeland Security to prohibit agents from asking questions about a person?s religious beliefs and practices; urging Congress to pass the “End Racial Profiling Act??; and seeking greater congressional oversight over how the Patriot Act is used.

The report also urges the FBI to stop using trainers that the group alleges are Islamophobic, and for the Treasury Department and Justice Department to offer safe harbor provisions to protect donors who may unknowingly give money to groups who are front groups for terrorism organizations.

Armenians Raised as Muslims Baptized in Eastern Turkey

2011-10-26T08:24:00.000+03:00

A group of Armenians, raised as Sunni Muslims because their ancestors converted to Islam after the Armenian Genocide, were reportedly baptized Monday at the newly re-opened Surp Giragos Church, reported Hurriyet Daily News.

“I wish this church had always been open,” Gaffur Türkay, one of the group to be baptized, who also contributed to the restoration of the church, told Hurriyet. “It is unbelievable to be together here with people from all around the world with whom I share the same origins.”

Istanbul’s Deputy Patriarch Aram Ateshian was scheduled to officiate at the baptismal ceremony, which was held behind closed doors and was not open to the press. The newspaper reported that the names of those baptized would not be publicized due to security concerns.

Hurriyet also caught of with Turkish-born Archbishop Vicken Ayvazian, who was representing the Eastern US Diocese of the Armenian Church.

“We used to have over 2,600 churches and monasteries across Anatolia in the past. Unfortunately, only a handful of sanctuaries remain. My request from Turkey as a spiritual leader is for churches to be returned to the [Armenian] community, rather than reopening them for religious service as museums,” Archbishop Ayvazian told Hürriyet.

He also told Hurriyet that “there was a Genocide,” saying an acknowledgement of the fact can be a step toward the right direction.

Used as a command center for German officers during the First World War, the church was then used as an apparel depot by the state-owned Sümerbank until 1950. The church was then handed back to the Armenian community, following a long legal battle, reported Hurriyet.

Egyptian Man Sentenced to 3 Years Prison for Insulting Islam on Facebook

2011-10-23T05:26:00.001+03:00

Now this is democratic progress!

Imprisoning people for what they say about Islam in private or otherwise is very worrisome for the future of the "Arab Spring."

A Cairo court found that Ayman Yusef Mansur "intentionally insulted the dignity of the Islamic religion and attacked it with insults and ridicule online".

The court said his insults were "aimed at the Noble Koran, the true Islamic religion, the Prophet of Islam and his family and Muslims, in a scurrilous manner," the agency reported.

He was arrested in August after police tracked him down through his internet address.

Egyptian law bans insults to religion. The law has been used in the past to try Shiite Muslims.

MENA did not mention Mansur's religion or beliefs, but quoted the court as saying that "all members of religions are obligated to tolerate the others' existence".

This is the not the first time an Egyptian has been jailed for insulting Islam over the internet.

In 2007, a court sentenced blogger Kareem Amer to jail for insulting the Muslim prophet and then-president Hosni Mubarak.

He was released last year.

Egypt, the most populous Arab country, follows the French legal system but its constitution, suspended since the military took over after an uprising ousted Mr Mubarak in February, stipulates that Islam is the main source of law.

The country is also home to the Middle East's largest Christian population, roughly 10 percent of its 80 million population.

Election time

Mansur's conviction comes at a time of mounting fears that Islamists will sweep the country's first parliamentary elections after Mr Mubarak's ouster, scheduled to begin on November 28.

The Islamists want to ensure that a panel that drafts a new constitution will not remove a previous article stating that Islam is the main source of legislation, a sensitive topic that few secular politicians will openly challenge.

"This is very serious," said Heba Morayef, a Cairo-based researcher for Human Rights Watch.
The law used to convict Mansur "is a very vague provision, and it has long been the recommendation of human rights groups to remove that provision," she said.

"To sentence someone on the basis of so broad a provision will have a chilling effect in political debate, because there has been so much debate about the role of religion in the state."

A civilian court convicted Mansur, but the sentencing came as the military, in power since Mr Mubarak's ouster, faced growing criticism for alleged restrictions on the press and prosecution of bloggers.

"This comes as yet another violation of freedom of expression," Ms Morayef said.
Meanwhile, Egyptian officials have pushed back the closing date for parties to register in a parliamentary election for the second time.

It comes after some politicians asked for more time to complete their applications.

Candidates must apply, prove they have never committed a crime and pay a fee.

Observers say the first multi-candidate vote, since Mr Mubarak was toppled after 30 years in power, is a crucial test of the ruling military's commitment to end decades of autocratic rule.

Muslim Groups Back Occupy Wall Street Protesters

2011-10-23T05:10:00.000+03:00

Hertz Fires 26 Somali Muslims over Praying on the Job

2011-10-22T09:32:00.000+03:00

More than two dozen Somali Muslim drivers for Hertz at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport are being fired after refusing to clock out for daily breaks during which they normally pray.

The 26 workers drive the company’s rental cars to and from the airport for cleaning and refueling. They are among 34 Hertz employees suspended Sept. 30 for failing to clock out before breaks.

Teamsters Local 117, which represents the workers, said Hertz agreed during contract negotiations last year that union members would not need to clock out during prayer breaks. But the company maintains workers were violating a settlement with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reached two years ago.

“From our perspective, Hertz didn’t even follow their own internal policy,” union spokesman Paul Zilly said Friday. Hertz didn’t provide a verbal or written warning and jumped right to suspension, he said.
“It was a huge disappointment and a tremendous frustration,” Zilly said.
Eight of the 34 suspended workers signed the company’s new clock-out agreement and have returned to their jobs, company spokesman Rich Broome said in an email. Termination letters have been sent to the rest.

“The failure of many employees to return to work promptly after prayers had created an unmanageable, unfair work environment at the Seattle airport location,” Broome wrote. Clocking out ensured that everyone’s interests were preserved, he said.

The company gave suspended workers until the end of the day Thursday to sign the clock-out agreement, if they wanted to be reinstated, Broome told The Seattle Times. The firings were first reported by KOMO-TV.

Zilly said Friday that instead of an ultimatum, the company should have sat down with the union to negotiate this change.

“Whenever there’s a change in working conditions and you’re working under a collective bargaining agreement, they need to notify and bargain with the union over those changes,” he said. “That’s their legal obligation.”

“It’s not about prayer, it’s not about religion; it’s about reasonable requirements,” Broome told the AP earlier this month.

Observant Muslims pray several times a day.

If Hertz thought some employees were abusing the break policies, it should have dealt with them individually, Zilly said.

The union has filed an unfair labor practices complaint with the National Labor Relations Board. The union also said it is also in the process of filing religious discrimination charges with the EEOC.

The union represents nearly 80 Hertz drivers who earn between $9.15 and $9.95 an hour. About 70 percent are Muslims.

Ugandan Muslims Tearfully Mourn the Death of Gaddafi

2011-10-22T09:26:00.000+03:00

Ugandan Muslims, split by an internal power struggle, yesterday found a reason to unite in prayer for the soul of Col. Muammar Gaddafi who met his death at the hands of youthful rebel forces in his home town of Sirte in Libya.

Anger and tears characterised the special prayers held at the Gaddafi Mosque in Old Kampala. Speaker after speaker praised the fallen Libyan leader who helped fund several projects in the country including the Gaddafi Mosque built at Shs50b.

Several speakers attacked the West and accused them of targeting Libyan oil and killing Gaddafi in the process. The Muslims also accused NATO of using divide- and –rule tactics to exterminate Gaddafi and his loyalists.

Sheikh Abdulkadir Mbogo, who led the Friday summon which was dedicated to Gaddafi’s contribution to the Muslim community in Uganda, said, “he was killed because of jealousy”.

He warned Muslims against judging Gaddafi and reminded them that every soul will eventually come face to face with the angel of death.

“Gaddafi has died a hero, because he has done a lot for the Muslim community and the country,” he told the congregation that sat still, many shedding tears.

Gadaffi Mosque, one of the biggest in sub-Saharan Africa with a capacity of about 30,000, was filled to capacity.

Ousted Libyan leader was killed Thursday by National Transitional Council (NTC) forces in their final assault on the last pocket of resistance in his hometown Sirte.

NTC fighters who had fought in the bloody seven-month conflict that toppled the veteran despot at the cost of more than 25,000 lives, erupted in jubilation at the news, which followed earlier reports that Gaddafi had been captured.

As photographs and mobile video footage of Gaddafi’s blood-stained body continued to circulate across the globe, the bare reality facing Libyans could only be imagined with the awareness of the challenges that his 42-year rule now brings to his countrymen.

The NTC has less than one month to establish a transitional government and another year thereafter, organise elections, but even before that, Libyans must return to their normal lives.

Sheikh Amir Mutyaba, the former Ambassador to Libya in the late Iddi Amin’s government, gave an emotional account of Gaddafi’s life and his relationship with Uganda since 1975.

He broke down as he narrated how he met Gaddafi at the age of 23 as an ambassador. Sheikh Mutyaba said Gaddaffi had a dream to unite Africa and had offered him $30 million to open up a Bank in Europe but the money was confiscated by Americans.

“But he has died as a hero and Allah will bless him for his kind heart and the oil diggers will be punished.”

Deputy Mufti Sheikh Abdul Hayyi Mukiibi praised Gaddafi for constructing the Gaddafi main Mosque, Voice of Africa Radio, Muslim schools and the Muslin Call Society, an organisation supporting Muslim programmes in the country.

At Kibuli Mosque, supreme Mufti Zubair Kayongo and Sheikh Obed Kamulegeya asked Muslims to pray for peace in Libya.

“The Muslim community and the country at large have lost a brother and great leader ... But we call for reconciliation and peace to return to Libya,” Sheikh Kayongo said.

Muslims to Hold "Traditional Prayer Ceremony" at Occupy Wall Street Protest

2011-10-21T07:56:00.000+03:00

The Arab American Association of New York plans to hold a traditional Muslim prayer ceremony on Friday alongside Occupy Wall Street protesters, Capital New York reports.

"Our message will be that Muslim people were part of Occupy Wall Street since the beginning," Linda Sarsour, director of the Arab American Association of New York, told Capital New York. "We share the same frustrations."

The ceremony will take place at 1 p.m. in Zuccotti Park, where the demonstrations began over a month ago. The demonstrations have since spread to numerous other cites and countries.

The prayer ceremony will come at the end of a week in which religion has been injected into the conversation about Occupy Wall Street. On Tuesday, Reuters reported that the conservative pro-Israel group Emergency Committee for Israel had put out a television ad trying to make "a startling connection between the Occupy Wall Street protests and anti-Semitism."

"Why are our leaders turning a blind eye to anti-Semitic, anti-Israel attacks? Tell President Obama and Leader Pelosi to stand up to the mob. Hate is not an American value," the ad said.

According to Talking Points Memo, several groups on the right have charged that Occupy Wall Street is anti-Semitic. Earlier this week, the Anti-Defamation League issued a statement warning that economic downturns can "embolden anti-Semites" but saying that there is "no evidence" that the incidents of anti-Semitism seen at Occupy Wall Street events are "widespread."

Filipino Muslims Chop 6 Soldiers to Death

2011-10-20T09:54:00.000+03:00

PHILIPPINE troops have recovered the bodies of six more soldiers following fierce fighting with the country's largest Muslim rebel group.

Tuesday's fighting on southern Basilan island between army special forces and members of the 11,000-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front killed at least 25 combatants.

One soldier reported missing was rescued late on Wednesday and another was found early on Thursday in the sea near the scene of the fighting, swimming toward a military detachment, army spokesman Colonel Antonio Parlade said.

The bodies of the six soldiers were recovered on Wednesday. The bodies bore hack wounds, indicating they were captured and then killed, Parlade said.

The battle was one of the deadliest since 2008, when peace talks bogged down and ignited widespread clashes that killed hundreds and displaced 750,000 people.

The rebels have waged a bloody insurgency for self-rule in the southern Mindanao region, the homeland of minority Muslims in the predominantly Catholic Philippines. The conflict has killed more than 120,000 people in nearly four decades.

Since the clashes in 2008, a Malaysia-led peacekeeping contingent has kept watch to prevent further battles and keep the atmosphere ripe for peace talks.

The military and the guerrillas blamed each other for starting Tuesday's clash and planned to protest before a joint government-rebel ceasefire committee. Government negotiator Marvic Leonen said that the clash was accidental and that peace talks would continue.

The military initially reported 13 soldiers were killed and 13 others wounded. Troops found six more bodies near the battle scene in remote Al-Barka town, bringing the military death toll in the clash to 19, said regional military commander Lieutenant General Raymundo Ferrer.

President Benigno Aquino III called a meeting with the defence chief and military officials for Friday to discuss the military setback.

Rebel spokesman Von Al Haq said five rebels were slain on Tuesday. Police reported six rebels were killed.

Cabangbang said on Wednesday that the clashes had stopped and that the military had asked the joint government-rebel ceasefire committee to allow them to search for the missing soldiers in the Moro rebels' Al-Barka stronghold.

Al Haq, however, said rebels from his group have reported they are not holding any captives. Several army soldiers apparently fled during the clash into nearby communities and some were shot as they ran away, he said.

"Our men have been ordered not to advance or attack unless they come under attack," Al Haq said. "Hopefully we can diffuse this with the other side."

Malaysian-led peacekeepers are trying to pacify both sides, Al Haq said.

It was not immediately clear if al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf militants, known for beheading soldiers, got involved in Tuesday's clashes. The militants are active in Basilan, a predominantly Muslim island about 880km south of Manila, and some are relatives of the Moro rebels.

Dozens of Turkish Soldiers Killed in Series of Attacks

2011-10-19T13:04:00.000+03:00

CAIR Moves into Action over Tennessee Teen Hijabi in High School Army Program

2011-10-19T09:06:00.001+03:00

A national Muslim civil rights group has filed a complaint with the Williamson County Schools after a freshman was told she could not march in the homecoming parade with her Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps class while wearing a religious headscarf.

I think that this girl would be much happier in this army program

Fourteen-year-old Demin Zawity said she felt like crying when her commanding officers told her she couldn’t wear her headscarf with her uniform, which she would be wearing for the first time at the parade. The scarf covers the hair and neck and is worn by many Muslim women as a sign of modesty.

"They were making something that is not such a huge deal into something so dramatic," she told The Tennessean. "The next day was the parade, and I couldn’t march."

Schools spokeswoman Carol Birdsong said the district follows military regulations for the U.S. Army program.

"Junior ROTC only exists at high schools if approved by the U.S. military," she said.

Zawity’s mother, Perishan Hussein, said she contacted the Council on American-Islamic Relations about her daughter’s treatment.

"There are some Muslims who say she shouldn’t be involved in this, and there will be Americans who say she needs to assimilate," Hussein said. ..."She’s an American. I’m an American. She has a right to stand up for her rights."

The Council on American-Islamic Relations sent an Oct. 13 letter to Williamson County schools Director Mike Looney asking for an apology for the teen and a change of policy for the JROTC program. The letter argues that schools are not bound by the codes and regulations of the U.S. Army.

"This failure to protect religious rights sends a negative message to students of all faiths," the letter states.

Zawity has since quit the JROTC and returned to regular physical education classes, but she said she wants to make it easier for future Muslim girls to participate.

A New Jersey teen dropped out of the Naval Junior ROTC in 2003 over the same issue. Her school ultimately offered to exempt her from the uniform rules.

Occupy Orlando -- Muslim Brotherhood EXPOSED?

2011-10-18T10:13:00.000+03:00

Washington-CAIR Screems Racism Again

2011-10-18T09:48:00.002+03:00

Something is clearly being left out of this story. It sounds like much ado about
nothing. No one was even charged. If the driver were so frightened, moreover,
why didn't he pull over and ask these "Islamophobic" racist to get out.

Oriana Fallaci- I Find It Disgraceful

2011-10-18T05:05:00.001+03:00

Melanie Phillips and Clare Short - Egypt, Terrorism and the Coalition

2011-10-17T18:45:00.000+03:00

Kim Kardashian Wears Burka in Dubai

2011-10-16T18:12:00.000+03:00

She is no stranger to trying almost any style on for size, but she is usually seen flaunting her curves rather than covering them up.

But it appears that Kim Kardashian wanted to embrace culture through her dress sense and donned a burka while out in Dubai yesterday.

The reality star, 30, covered up her infamous shape in an all-black burka, a traditional dress worn by many Muslin women.

Kim and her mother Kris had headed into a traditional dress shop to try on the styles for themselves and both women wasted no time embracing the religious outfits.

Newlywed Kim covered her body completely , with her face covered by the niqāb, the pillar-box covering that leaves only a woman’s eyes on show.

The look was in stark contrast to the outfit Kim had arrived in, which consisted of a black skirt nipped in at the waist and a sheer black and white blouse.

But it seems that Mrs Kris Humphries was rather taken with the new look and left in one of the dresses although she opted just to wear the ḥijāb, the head covering out of the shop.

As she and Kris left the shop they were met with a large crowd eager to see the American reality TV stars.

But as ever there was plenty of security on hand to ensure no one got too close as the women were followed down the street.

Kim has showed off a wide variety of styles on her trip to Dubai varying from tight fitting ensembles to sticking to the conservative dress preferred in the religious country.

Bloody Truth - אמת עקובה מדם - الحقيقة الدامية

2011-10-14T08:34:00.000+03:00

דמוגרפיה - הזמן פועל לטובתנו

2011-10-13T22:48:00.000+03:00

Abdullmutallab in Court: Koran Obliges Every Muslim to Participate in Jihad

2011-10-13T22:16:00.001+03:00

This terrorist knows exactly why he tried to blow up a plane. In his own words here, and not those of some crazy "Islamophobe," it was Islam, the Koran and jihad. He is completely unrepentant and could not be making himself clearer.

Yet despite this clarity, the media will still seek the motive for this attempted attack in something wholly separate from Islam. This is not the first time terrorists have made their motives clear nor the first time the media and governments have ignored it.

"In the name of Allah, the most merciful....

"In late 2009, in fulfillment of a religious obligation, I decided to participate in jihad against the United States. The Quran obliges every able Muslim to participate in jihad and fight in the way of Allah, those who fight you, and kill them wherever you find them. Some parts of the Quran say, 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.'

"I had an agreement with at least one person to attack the United States in retaliation for U.S. support of Israel and in retaliation of the killing of innocent and civilian Muslim populations in Palestine, especially in the blockade of Gaza, and in retaliation for the killing of innocent and civilian Muslim populations in Yemen, Iraq, Somalia, Afghanistan and beyond, most of them women, children and noncombatants.

"As a result, I traveled to Yemen and eventually to the United States, and I agreed with at least one person to carry an explosive device onto an aircraft and attempt to kill those onboard and wreck the aircraft as an act of jihad against the United States for the U.S. killing of my Muslim brothers and sisters around the world.

"I was greatly inspired to participate in jihad by the lectures of the great and rightly guided mujahideen who is alive, Sheik Anwar al-Awlaki, may Allah preserve him and his family and give them victory, Amin, and Allah knows best.

"Participation in jihad against the United States is considered among the most virtuous of deeds in Islam and is highly encouraged in the Quran; however, according to U.S. law, which is unjust and oppressive according to the Quran, my actions make me guilty of a crime in the United States, in particular, the following counts in my indictment.

"The United States -- the United States should be warned that if they continue and persist in promoting the blasphemy of Muhammad and the prophets, peace be upon them all, and the U.S. continues to kill and support those who kill innocent Muslims, then the U.S. should await a great calamity that will befall them through the hands of the mujahideen soon by God's willing permission. Or God will strike them directly with a great calamity soon by his will, Amin.

"If you laugh at us now, we will laugh at you later in this life and on the day of judgment by God's will, and our final call is all praise to Allah, the lord of the universe, Allahu Akbar."

Two More Western Infidels Taken Hostage by Somali Muslims in Kenya

2011-10-13T17:50:00.001+03:00

Gunmen kidnapped two Spanish women working for Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) at Kenya's Dadaab refugee camp on Thursday, the third abduction of Westerners in Kenya by attackers linked to Somalia in a month.

This is what "Gunmen" Look Like

Kenyan police said they suspected Somalia's al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab insurgents were behind the kidnapping and that security forces had chased the abductors toward the border between the two countries, which has been sealed off.

"Two female aid workers working for MSF were ... kidnapped by suspected al Shabaab militants in Dadaab refugee camp," North Eastern Province police commander Leo Nyongesa told Reuters.

"We've mobilized all the officers and alerted those at the border to ensure that no vehicle exits the country to Somalia. The whole border area is now sealed," he said.

MSF said a driver was wounded in the attack on its staff.

"He's currently hospitalized and stable. Two international staff are missing. A crisis team has been set up to deal with this incident," MSF said in a statement.

A spokesman at the Spanish foreign ministry confirmed the missing women were Spanish.

The kidnapping took place within weeks of two separate incidents that saw Somali gunmen seize Western female tourists from beach resorts in northern Kenya.

Dadaab, located about 100 km for the Somali border, was set up in 1991 to house Somalis fleeing violence in their country. It has since grown to become the world's biggest refugee camp with more than 400,000 residents.

"Officers are in hot pursuit. We have received information that they have sped toward the Somali border," said Nelson Kaliti, deputy police commander for Dadaab district.

The kidnapping will put further pressure on the Kenyan government to beef up defenses along its porous frontier and risks further hurting the tourism sector, one of the country's top foreign currency earners.

Britain has already issued a travel advisory warning against all but essential travel within 150 km of the Somali border, which includes the popular Lamu archipelago where a French woman and a British woman were seized in the past few weeks.

Pakistani Police Ignore Abduction, Rape and Forced Marriage of 12 Year Old Christian

2011-10-13T07:50:00.000+03:00

A 12-year-old Christian girl was kidnapped and repeatedly raped for eight months in Pakistan by a man who then falsified marriage documents with her, it was claimed today.

The girl was lured on a shopping trip in Lahore by a friend, before she was driven 120 miles to Tandianwalla and raped by the friend's uncle in January this year.

Two days later, she was forced to sign papers consenting to marriage with the man and beaten for refusing to convert from Christianity to Islam.

Attack: A 12-year-old Christian girl was kidnapped, beaten until she converted to Islam and repeatedly raped for eight months in Lahore, Pakistan (pictured), according to a human rights organisation

She was then held against her will for eight months, before managing to escape and contact her family.

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has said the rapists have not been arrested because of their affiliation with a militant Muslim organisation - the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba.

It claims the police have refused to order a medical check-up on the girl, and have warned her parents that it would be better for them to hand over the girl to her 'legal' husband or a criminal case would be filed against them.

An investigation into the kidnapping found the girl's father reported her disappearance in January and made complaints against her abductors, but police took no action for eight months.

Last month, the girl - who has not been named for legal reasons - called her family from Tandianwalla and told them she had been abducted, but had escaped and was hiding at a bus stop.

Militant ties: The Asian Human Rights Commission claims Pakistani police have refused to investigate the kidnapping because the perpetrators are tied to an extremist group (file picture)

The girl's parents travelled to the town and rescued her, before taking her to a local magistrate to give a statement.

The rapists then contacted the police through their religious group and produced a marriage certificate that claimed to show one of them was married to the 12-year-old.

As a result of their complaint, the Christian family has gone into hiding as members of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba are searching for them.

The group claims the girl is pregnant, but her mother has denied this is true.

The AHRC said that police never asked the religious group how a 12-year-old could be married. The legal age for marriage in Pakistan in 16.

It claims the Punjab provincial government is patronising banned militant organisations.

The British Pakistani Christian Association has launched a petition calling on the Pakistani government to investigate the attack.

For more information, visit http://britishpakistanichristian.blogspot.com.

My Take on Gilad Shalit's Release

2011-10-12T16:50:00.004+03:00

Gilad Shalit's imminent reunion withhis family and nation is a good thing. After years of waiting andinnumerable examples of personal outpourings of support,we in Israel are rightly jubilant. No naysayer should be allowed to sullythe euphoria many in Israel feel especially now as Sukkoth, the Timeof our Happiness, approaches.

However, Israel paid a heavy priceto release this young innocent from the arms Hamas, a despicable, murderous,terrorist militia. Around a thousand of their most dyed-in-the wool jihadishave been traded for a single soldier of a sovereign nation. These unrepentantPalestinians are now free to continue their “struggle” against the Jews and theWest.

Last night already Hamascelebrated. Their completely illegal capture and holding of a soldier,which was largely ignored by the West, paid off and they are claiming victory.

For Israel it was never a matter of winning a battle. It was always a matter of getting ahuman being out of danger.

The media fail fundamentally tounderstand this sentiment. Judaism and Israel, as a nation, respect human life. It was founded more specifically to protect Jewish people from danger sincethe rest of the world historically and currently seem to have such little concern for it.

Thus Gilad's capture was a failureof that central Zionist goal. He sad plight reminded us of the SecondWorld War. To an Israeli the idea that a Jewish person was in the handsof genocidal, Islamic Jew haters was a sign of our shortcomings and evoked theHolocaust. So when people said and put on Facebook: "We are allGilad" they meant it.

To the media and much of the restof the world, the inequity of this trade is somehow fair, normal, and perfectlynatural: The release of a thousandmurderers equals one innocent person. What’s wrong with that?

Setting side for a moment thisabsurdity and the ridiculous double standard Israel is held to, giving up athousand murderers for one innocent person points to the extreme divergence ofvalues between Muslims and Jews.

For Jews one life is sacred: We will move heaven and earth topreserve it. For Muslims life isexpendable and those who extinguish lives of non-Muslims are to be celebrated.

In other words, for us Gilad's lifeis worth more than a thousand murderous Palestinians with blood on their hands.

On that I agree. And if theworld would agree with me, I would be a lot happier today.

Shawn Jerome Savage
Jerusalem, Israel
Erev Succot, 2011

Muslims Suspected of Poisoning Dogs in Spain

2011-10-11T07:42:00.000+03:00

Muslims are suspected of poisoning dogs in Spain because of the Islamic teaching that such pets are unclean, according to a report from Soeren Kern, an analyst with the Strategic Studies Group based in Madrid.

Writing for the Hudson New York website, which studies international affairs and focuses on human rights and terrorism, Kern reported that authorities have found more than a dozen dogs poisoned in Catalonia in northeast Spain.

The battle in Lérida, he wrote, is between dog owners and Muslims, who think dogs trespass their religious rights.

No Room for Old Yeller

According to Kern, “All of the dogs were poisoned in September … [in] Lérida's working class neighbourhoods of Cappont and La Bordeta, districts that are heavily populated by Muslim immigrants and where many dogs have been killed in recent years.”

Lérida (pictured above) is a little more than 100 miles west of Barcelona on Spain’s east coast.

Dog owners in the city say the dogs are poisoned because Islam regards them as “unclean.” Indeed, Islam teaches that dogs are “najis,” meaning ritually unclean, and that “Islam forbids Muslims to keep dogs,” according to the Islam Q&A website.

Unsurprisingly, Kern reported, “”Residents taking their dogs for walks have been harassed by Muslim immigrants opposed to seeing the animals in public. Muslims have also launched a number of anti-dog campaigns on Islamic websites and blogs based in Spain.”

So bad has the Muslim jihad against dogs become that more than four dozen residents have formed six-man patrols to escort dog walkers.

For their part, the city’s 29,000 Muslims, about 20 percent of the city’s population, want dogs banned, Kern noted, citing a newspaper report. “In July, two Islamic groups based in Lérida asked city officials to regulate the presence of dogs in public spaces so they do not ‘offend Muslims,’ ” Kern said, adding,

Muslims are demanding that dogs be banned from all forms of public transportation including all city buses as well as from all areas frequented by Muslim immigrants.

Christians under Siege in Democratic Egypt

2011-10-11T07:07:00.000+03:00

This article gets to the source of the problem for Christians in Egypt much better than anything you are going to hear on the BBC or read in the New York Times.

Egypt's Coptic Christians have long felt like second-class citizens in their own country.

Now many fear that the power vacuum left after the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak is giving Muslim extremists free rein to torch churches and attack Coptic homes in the worst violence against the community in decades.

An assault Sunday night on Christians protesting over a church attack set off riots that drew in Muslims, Christians and the police. Among the 26 people left killed in the melee, most were Copts. For Coptic scholar Wassem el-Sissi, it was evidence that the Christian community in Egypt is vulnerable as never before.

"In the absence of law, you can understand how demolishing a church goes unpunished," he said. "I have not heard of anyone who got arrested or prosecuted."

Once a majority in Egypt, Copts now make up about 10 percent of the country's 85 million people. They are the largest Christian community in the Middle East. Their history dates back 19 centuries and the language used in their liturgy can be traced to the speech of Egypt's pharaohs. Proud of their history and faith, many Copts are identifiable by tattoos of crosses or Jesus Christ on their right wrists, and Coptic women do not wear the veil as the vast majority of Muslim women in Egypt do.

Under Mubarak, the problems of Copts festered even if they faced less violence than they do now. Their demands for a law to regulate construction of churches went unanswered and attacks on churches went unpunished.

Copts shared in the euphoria of the 18-day revolution that ousted Mubarak and like so many other Egyptians their hopes for change were high. Mainly, they wanted to be on equal footing with Muslims.

At Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the revolution against Mubarak, there were glimpses of a fleeting utopia where coexistence and mutual respect between Muslims and Christians was the rule. The iconic image of Christians forming a human shield around Muslim worshippers during Friday prayers to protect them from thugs and pro-Mubarak loyalists spoke volumes to the dream.

But shortly after Mubarak's ouster, a series of assaults on Christians brought home a stark reality: The fading of authoritarian rule empowered Islamist fundamentalists, known here as Salafis, who have special resentment for Christians.

While the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood has long been Egypt's best organized opposition movement, the Salafis are a new player in politics. They are ultraconservatives, close to Saudi Arabia's Wahhabi interpretation of Islam and more radical than the Brotherhood. They seek to emulate the austerity of Islam's early days and oppose a wide range of practices they view as "un-Islamic" — rejecting the treatment of non-Muslims as citizens with equal rights as well as all forms of Western cultural influence.

The Salafis persistently accuse the Copts of trying to spread Christianity in a Muslim nation, echoing Wahhabism's deep distrust and hostility of other religions.

Mubarak's regime tolerated the Salafis and they expanded in numbers and power over the years. However, after Mubarak's overthrow, they enjoyed more freedom than ever before to go after their No. 1 target — Christians.

Now rarely a month passes without a sectarian incident — a Muslim-Christian love affair or battles over constructing a church.

On Feb. 23, less than two weeks after Mubarak's ouster, a priest was found dead with several stab wounds and witnesses say masked men shouting Allahu-Akbar (God is Great) were seen leaving his apartment. The incident triggered protests in the southern city of Assiut where Christians scuffled with Muslims.

Not long after in March, a Muslim-Christian love affair led a Muslim mob to torch a church in Soul village to the south of Cairo and set it on fire. When Christians held a protest denouncing the attack on the church, they were attacked by Muslim mob wielding guns, knives and clubs. When it was done, 13 were dead and 140 injured.

The next month, thousands of protesters, most of them Islamic hard-liners and members of the Muslim Brotherhood, protested in front of the governor's office in the southern city of Qena to denounce the appointment a day earlier of a new Coptic Christian governor. In the face of the protests, the government replaced the Coptic governor.

Then in May, Islamic ultraconservatives burned a church in the working-class district of Imbaba in Cairo and clashed with Christians leaving 12 dead.

Those riots were triggered by a Christian woman who had an affair with a Muslim man. And when she disappeared, the man spread rumors that Christian clergy had snatched her and were holding her prisoner in a local church because she converted to Islam.

Then a few months passed with no attacks, until Sunday night, now known as the "bloody Sunday."
The Christians were protesting in Cairo over the events of Sept. 30 when a Muslim mob that set fire on a church in southern village of Marynab in Aswan province because they believed the Christians were illegally constructing a new church. Church officials had documents showing they had permission to build a new church to replace a previous, run-down one at the same site.

Under Mubarak-era rules, the building of a church or repairs for an existing one required permission from local authorities and the state security agency but since permission was rarely given, Christians at times resorted to building churches in secret, often in parish guesthouses.

Even before the attack, Muslim protests prompted priests to turn to security officials, who arranged a meeting with local elders and Salafis. In the face of their demands, the priests agreed to take down a cross and bells on the church, according to church officials. Still, after the Christians erected a dome, the mob attacked, setting the church and nearby homes and shops on fire.

Aswan's governor, Gen. Mustafa Kamel al-Sayyed, escalated the tensions by telling the media that the church was being built on the site of a guesthouse, suggesting it was illegal.

In response, hundreds of Christians marched in front of the governor's office last week, demanding those behind the attack be prosecuted and families who lost homes be compensated. Christians also protested in Cairo, cutting off a main avenue in the heart of the capital, demanding the governor's ouster, until soldiers dispersed them by force.

Days after the Aswan attack, Muslim villagers in the southern province of Sohag tried to storm Saint Girgis church, shouting "No to church construction," as Christians on rooftops rained stones down on them. The assault was prompted by construction of a church in a guesthouse.

On Monday, the Coptic church declared three days of morning for those killed the night before and blasted authorities for allowing repeated attacks on Christians with impunity. The statement lamented "problems that occur repeatedly and go unpunished."

Outside the Coptic Hospital in Cairo, where bodies of 17 slain protesters were brought, a Coptic woman named Iman Sanada with a small cross tattooed on her wrist, lamented the deaths and shrieked: "It's my right to live as a citizen and not a second-class citizen."

Associated Press reporter Aya Batrawy contributed to this report from Cairo.

Egyptian Army Runs over Christian Demonstrators

2011-10-10T00:02:00.001+03:00

Showing the Spirit of the Arab Spring, Egyptian Muslims Kill 19 Christians in Cairo

2011-10-09T23:45:00.001+03:00

Fierce clashes erupted on Sunday between Christians protesting a recent attack on a church and the Egyptian military, leaving at least 19 people dead and more than 150 injured, Health Ministry officials said.

In rioting outside the state television building along the Nile in Cairo, witnesses said some of the protesters may have snatched weapons from the soldiers and turned them on the military. The protesters also pelted the soldiers with rocks and bottles.

The clashes spread to nearby Tahrir Square and the area around it, drawing in thousands of people. They battled each other with rocks and fire bombs, some tearing up pavement for ammunition and others collecting stones in boxes.

At one point, a group of youths with at least one riot policeman among them dragged a protester by his legs for a long distance.

The Christian protesters said their demonstration began as a peaceful attempt to sit in at the television building. But then, they said they came under attack by thugs in plain clothes who rained stones down on them and fired pellets.

"The protest was peaceful. We wanted to hold a sit-in, as usual," said Essam Khalili, a protester wearing a white shirt with a cross drawn on it. "Thugs attacked us and a military vehicle jumped over a side walk and ran over at least 10 people. I saw them."

Wael Roufail, another protester, corroborated the account.

"I saw the vehicle running over the protesters. Then they opened fired at us," he said.
Khalili said protesters set fire to army vehicles when they saw them hitting the protesters.

Chaotic power transition

Television footage of the riots showed some of the Coptic protesters attacking a soldier, while a priest tried to protect him. One soldier collapsed in tears as ambulances rushed to the scene to take away the injured.

Christians blame Egypt's ruling military council for being too lenient on those behind a spate of anti-Christian attacks since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak in February. Egypt's Coptic Christian minority makes up about ten percent of the country of more than 80 million people.

As Egypt undergoes a chaotic power transition and security vacuum in the wake of this year's uprising, Christians are particularly worried about the increasing show of force by the ultraconservative Islamists.

Sunday's rally began in the Shubra district of northern Cairo, then headed to the state television building along the Nile where men in plain clothes attacked about a thousand Christian protesters as they chanted denunciations of Egypt's military rulers.

"The people want to topple the field marshall," the protesters yelled, referring to the head of the ruling military council, Field Marshall Hussein Tantawi. Some Muslim protesters later joined in the same chant.

Armed with sticks, they chased the Christian protesters from the TV building, banging metal street signs to scare them off. It was not immediately clear who the attackers were.

Gunshots rang out at the scene, where lines of riot police with shields tried to hold back hundreds of Christian protesters chanting "This is our country."

Security forces eventually fired tear gas to disperse the protesters. The clashes then moved to nearby Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the 18-day uprising that ousted Mubarak. The army closed off streets around the area.

Ousting of the governor

The clashes left streets littered with shattered glass, stones, ashes and soot from burned vehicles. Hundreds of curious onlookers gathered at one of the bridges over the Nile nearby to watch the unrest.
After hours of intense clashes, chants of "Muslims, Christians one hand, one hand" rang out, a call for a truce. The stone-throwing died down after that.

In the past weeks, riots have broken out at two churches in southern Egypt, prompted by Muslim crowds angry over church construction. One riot broke out near the city of Aswan, even after church officials agreed to a demand by local ultraconservative Muslims, called Salafis, that a cross and bells be removed from the building.

Aswan's governor, General Mustafa Kamel al-Sayyed, further raised tensions by telling the media that the church was being built on the site of a guest house, suggesting it was illegal.

Protesters said the Copts are demanding the ousting of the governor, reconstruction of the church, compensation for people whose houses were set on fire and prosecution of those behind the riots and attacks on the church.

Last week, security forces used force to disperse a similar protest in front of the state television building.

Christians were angered by the treatment of the protesters and vowed to renew their demonstrations until their demands are met.

Egyptian Christians Facing Increased Islamic Harassment since Democractic Revolution

2011-10-09T18:54:00.007+03:00

Thanks to Fox, every liberal's media bogeyman, for reporting these stories.

However, this article makes it sound like this girl's story is isolated. I don't believe it.

I am certain that forcing of Christians to wear headscarves is common and widespread, along with innumerable other examples of coercion which Muslims use to Islamize this significant Christian minority. That is, of course, when they are not killing them outright or raping them or gunning them down in front of churches.

To their credit, Copts don't take it lying down.

On her first day to school, 15-year-old Christian student Ferial Habib was stopped at the doorstep of her new high school with clear instructions: either put on a headscarf or no school this year.

Habib refused. While most Muslim women in Egypt wear the headscarf, Christians do not, and the move by administrators to force a Christian student to don it was unprecedented. For the next two weeks, Habib reported to school in the southern Egyptian village of Sheik Fadl every day in her uniform, without the head covering, only to be turned back by teachers.

One day, Habib heard the school loudspeakers echoing her name and teachers with megaphones leading a number of students in chants of "We don't want Ferial here," the teenager told The Associated Press.

Habib's was allowed last week to attend without the scarf, and civil rights advocates say her case is a rare one. But it stokes the fears of Egypt's significant Christian minority that they will become the victims as Islamists grow more assertive after the Feb. 11 toppling of President Hosni Mubarak. It also illustrates how amid the country's political turmoil, with little sense of who is in charge and government control weakened, Islamic conservatives in low-level posts can step in and try to unilaterally enforce their own decisions.

Wagdi Halfa, one of Habib's lawyers, said the root problem is a lack of the rule of law.

"We don't want more laws but we want to activate the laws already in place," he said. "We are in a dark tunnel in terms of sectarian tension. Even if you have the majority who are moderate Muslims, a minority of extremists can make big impact on them and poison their minds."

In the past weeks, riots have broken out at two churches in southern Egypt, prompted by Muslim crowds angered by church construction. One riot broke out, near the city of Aswan, even after church officials agreed to a demand by local ultraconservative Muslims, called Salafis, that a cross and bells be removed from the building.

The violence is particularly frustrating for Christians because soon after Mubarak's fall the new government promised to review and lift heavy Mubarak-era restrictions on building or renovating churches. The promise raised hopes among Christians that the government would establish a clear legal right to build, resolving an issue that in recent years has increasingly sparked riots. But the review never came, and Salafi clerics have increased their rhetoric against Christians, including accusing them of seeking to spread their faith with new churches.

Habib's experience was startling because in general, Egypt's Christians, who make up at least 10 percent of the population of 80 million, have enjoyed relative freedom in terms of dress and worship. The vast majority of Muslim women in Egypt put on the headscarf, known as the higab, either for religious or social reasons, but there's little expectation that Christians wear it.

The demand that all students wear the higab was a decision by administrators and teachers at the high school in Sheik Fadl, 110 miles south of Cairo in Minya province. They said the headscarf was part of the school uniform, necessary to protect girls from sexual harassment.

A top provincial Education Ministry official, Abdel-Gawad Abdullah, said in an interview with CTV, a private Egyptian Christian television network, that the ministry gives schools the right to decide on school uniforms, and that parents during screening and application can either accept or refuse.

"And if the father wants to move his daughter to another school, it is OK," he said. "All the girls, including the Christians, put on the head cover and they have no problem," he added.

Habib's father Sorial complained to officials, demanding his daughter be allowed to attend without a scarf.

Libyan Jew Forced to Stop Cleaning Tripoli Synagogue

2011-10-08T19:33:00.000+03:00

WikiLeaks Threatens the Safety of Last Jews in Iraq

2011-10-08T19:30:00.000+03:00

An Anglican priest here says he's working with the U.S. Embassy to persuade the handful of Jews who still live in Baghdad to leave because their names have appeared in cables published last month by WikiLeaks.

The Rev. Canon Andrew White said he first approached members of the Jewish community about what he felt was the danger they faced after a news story was published last month that made reference to the cables.

"The U.S. Embassy is desperately trying to get them out," White said. So far, however, only one, a regular confidante of the U.S. Embassy, according to the cables, had expressed interest in emigrating to the United States.

"Most want to stay," White said. "The older ones are refusing to leave. They say: 'We're Iraqis. Why should we go? If they kill us, we will die here.'"

The U.S. Embassy said it would take steps to protect the individuals whose names appear in the cables and suggested in a statement that should any wish to leave, the U.S. would help relocate them.

"Protecting individuals whose safety is at risk because of the release of the purported cables remains a priority. We are working actively to ensure that they remain safe," the embassy said.

It slammed WikiLeaks for releasing the cables. "Releasing the names of individuals cited in conversations that took place in confidence potentially puts their lives or careers at risk," the statement said.

A furious White also hit the website for publishing the cables. "How could they do something as stupid as that?" he said. "Do they not realize this is a life and death issue?"

WikiLeaks did not respond to a request for comment. Previously, WikiLeaks has said that it had no choice but to make its copies of the cables public after the publication in a book of a password that opened an encrypted version of the cables already available on the Internet.

"We had to warn them of the danger and tell them that we want them all to leave," White said. "I never wanted the Jews to leave Iraq. They belong here."

If White persuades Baghdad's remaining Jews to leave it will mark the end of a 2,700-year presence that dates to the Assyrian conquest of the Judean Kingdom.

By the time U.S. forces invaded Iraq in March 2003, Baghdad's Jewish community, which had numbered about 130,000 in the 1950s before most fled to Israel, was down to about 35 members.

Now there are so few Jews here that their sole remaining place of worship, the Taweig synagogue, is shuttered, even during the Jewish High Holidays that conclude with Yom Kippur on Saturday.

Emad Levi, who served as lay rabbi, kosher slaughterer, undertaker and community spokesman, recently emigrated to Israel.

One of the cables, some of 251,287 made public by the WikiLeaks website, recounts the deteriorating conditions one member of the community said Jews faced after U.S. troops toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003, primarily because of the rise of al Qaida in Iraq.

Another was poignant in its assessment of the future:

"The Jews of Iraq do not appear likely to share in Iraq's future as a nation," the writer said. "They have no children, and cannot contribute culturally or even materially while unable to participate freely in Iraq's public life. They remain in Iraq, but not of it, hiding at the center of a country whose majority may, one day, welcome them again, but does not accept them at present."

The cable provides biographical sketches of each of nine Jews that the cable writer said then made up the entire complement of the Baghdad Jewish community. They ranged in age at the time from 40 to 82. One of them was Levi, the recent emigre to Israel. Another has since died, bringing the total number of Jews in Baghdad to seven.

Jews first arrived in the land now called Iraq in 721 B.C., exiled here after the Assyrian conquest of the Judean Kingdom. In 586 B.C., Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem and destroyed King Solomon's temple, then led tens of thousands of Jews into captivity, where they built the hanging gardens of Babylon.

The population survived repeated conquests of Iraq, by Alexander the Great, the Persians, the Arabs, the Shiite Muslims and the Turks, but over the centuries it flourished, producing the Babylonian Talmud, the Rabbinic work of law that supplements and interprets the Old Testament, the Five Books of Moses.

By the early 20th century, Iraqi Jews constituted one of the wealthiest communities in the country, serving as bankers, importers, retailers and academics. But Iraqi nationalists fighting British rule seized on Nazi ideology in the 1930s, giving rise to rabid anti-Judaic views.

The beginning of the end of a community then numbering some 130,000, was the Nazi-inspired pogrom in 1941, known as the Farhud, or violent dispossession, in which hundreds of Jews died at the hands of armed Iraqi Muslims. The creation of the State of Israel in 1948, followed by the declaration of war by Arab states including Iraq, brought more severe repression here.

The Iraqi government first made it a capital crime to be a Zionist, then reversed policy in 1950, after which more than 100,000 Jews emigrated to Israel. There was more repression in the 1950s and 1960s, and most of the remaining Jewish population emigrated to Israel in the early 1970s.

What will become of Iraq's handful of remaining Jews seems a foregone conclusion.

One is a prominent surgeon, but most of the others rarely leave their dwellings, and many conceal their Jewish identity, according to the cables, one of which discusses the conversion to Islam of some members of the community.

"A 50-year old woman ... reportedly converted to Islam after the fall of Saddam, as did a family of five," the cable said. It quoted another member of the Jewish community as saying that "the members of this family will no longer speak to Jews in Baghdad."

With Levi's departure, the community lost its only public voice.

Reached in Israel Friday, Levi said the Jews who remain here are "afraid" and "don't like to talk to anyone."

Canon White, the Anglican priest at Baghdad's St. George's church, agreed.

"I can guarantee you that you cannot meet any of them," he told McClatchy. "There's not a chance in the world."

Richard Dawkins Blasts Muslim Schools for Teaching "Nonsense"

2011-10-08T07:41:00.000+03:00

The author of The God Delusion, who has previously described religious education provided by faith schools as a form of child abuse, said that the effect was "utterly deplorable" especially as it lasted until their university years.

The prominent atheist said he could live with some faith schools that are vaguely religious and saved his fire for the schools that were teaching "total nonsense".

Mr Dawkins, former Oxford University professor and evolutionary biologist, made his comments as he spoke to the Times Educational Supplement about the launch of a new science book.

He said that while he opposed faith schools as a whole, it was the Muslim ones that worried him the most.

"Occasionally, my colleagues lecturing in universities lament having undergraduate students walk out of their classes when they talk about evolution – this is almost entirely Muslims," he said.

"So I think there's a very, very pernicious influence that is lasting up to the university years. That must be coming from certain schools."

He said that he noticed the "utterly deplorable" effect they were having first hand after visiting a Muslim school in Leicester as part of a documentary he made last year called Faith Schools Menace?
"Every single person I met believes if there is any disagreement between the Koran and science, then the Koran wins," he said.

"I spoke to a group of girls, and to a senior science teacher who believes the world is 6,000 years old.
"It's just utterly deplorable. These are now British children who are having their minds stuffed with alien rubbish."

Mr Dawkins said he was not so worried about the expansion of faith schools if they were the kind that "vaguely" have a kind of Church of England-style assembly.

But he was holding "his fire" for the ones that are teaching "total nonsense".

"There is a difference between faith schools which just vaguely have a kind of Church of England assembly and faith schools that actually teach nonsense like this school in Leicester," he said.

Mr Dawkins, who last year said he was thinking about setting up an atheist school, does, however, see the value of teaching religion but only as a way of putting the modern world into context.

He said it was important to learn for example about the Greek Gods to appreciate the poetry of Keats, the Norse Gods to relate to Wagner, and Judaism and Christianity to understand literature.

The fellow of New College, Oxford, said the lessons like his new book – The Magic of Reality – should teach children about the thousands of myths from around the world which were part of education to learn.

"I do think it valuable to teach comparative religion as a sort of anthropological study and that's sort of what all my comparative myths in The Magic of Reality are about," he said.

"If there's one thing I wanted to do in the book, it was that I don't want to downgrade myths, but the science is even more wonderful," he said.

The Magic of Reality is published by Bantam Press priced £20.

Hertz Suspends 34 Muslims for Praying on the Job

2011-10-07T17:05:00.004+03:00

I completely disapprove of public prayer. Religion is a private matter. To pray in public violates the rights of others to function in a secular space. If your religion requires you to pray all the time then you need to find a job that will not conflict with that. It is not up to your employer to accommodate you.

Muslims know nothing of this basic deal and force Islam on us every chance they get. When their prayers start to interfere with work then that needs to be dealt with as Herz has done here.

Every Islamic legal jihad group in America at this moment is figuring out how they can ruin Herz for their "Islamophobia." I think Herz is surely aware of this. They should be commended for ignoring it and doing what is right and in their interests and in the interests of us all.

Here in Israel, taking time off from work to pray would never be tolerated.

In the three years she's worked as a shuttle driver for Hertz at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Zainab Aweis, had always taken time out of her shift each day to pray.

An observant Muslim, she prays five times a day — with one, sometimes two of those prayer times falling during her shift.

"That was the one benefit of the job," the 20-year-old said.

On Friday, she and 33 other drivers — all of them Somali Muslims — were suspended indefinitely from their jobs after they took religious breaks to pray while at work without first clocking out.

A spokesman for Teamsters Local 117, which represents the workers, said it is trying to get the workers back on the job.

Both the company and the union late Thursday said they were waiting to hear back from the other.
While the drivers were allowed two, 10-minute breaks during their work shifts during which they could pray, Teamsters officials said managers had agreed in negotiations that workers would not have to clock out and in, though the contact itself does not address the matter.

And the workers and their union said Hertz had previously not required that workers clock out for prayer. The union said it has filed an unfair-labor-practices complaint with the National Labor Relations Board against Hertz for failing to notify the union in advance of what it called a policy change.

But Hertz said the rules aren't new; that it had been trying for some time to enforce the terms of an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission settlement it reached with the workers two years ago that required them to clock out.

A Hertz spokesman said the workers had been repeatedly told they needed to clock out and that the 34 suspended workers had not complied.

"We felt it was reasonable for our Muslim employees who need to pray a couple times during the workday to clock in and clock out," said Rich Broome, spokesman for Hertz.

Broome said it's not about pay — break time is paid time — but to ensure that workers were staying within the 10-minute time slots, which has been a problem.

He pointed out that Muslim workers who clocked out were not suspended.

On Wednesday, a few dozen people from area labor and faith organizations protested on behalf of the workers outside the Hertz counter at the airport, waving signs saying, "Respect me, Respect my religion."

The Teamsters represents about 79 drivers at Hertz — about 70 percent of whom are Muslim — earning between $9.15 and $9.95 an hour. They receive no health benefits, vacation or sick leave.

Aweis said she was not aware the rules had changed until she arrived at work on Friday and managers told her and six other women who were about to pray that several other workers had been sent home that day for praying.

"He said, 'If you guys pray, you go home,' " Aweis recalled.

"I said, 'Is that a new rule?' And he said, 'yes.' "

They prayed anyway, she said, contending that managers stood over them taunting and disrupting them.

"I like the job," Aweis said. "But if I can't pray, I don't see the benefit."

Mohamed Hassan, of the Somali Community Services Coalition, said the workers cannot afford to be away from their jobs. "They need to pay rent and buy food for their children."

Kadyrov dances as Grozny celebrates

2011-10-07T09:38:00.000+03:00

The Great Palestinian Lie

2011-10-06T20:24:00.000+03:00

Farmers Vow to Fight Elimination of Pork from Prison Meals for Muslims

2011-10-06T06:24:00.002+03:00

In fairness, no Muslim is asking for pork products to be removed entirely from the prison menus in Ohio so it is curious that the system has taken this step.

Nonetheless, a jihad is going on against the humble yet eatable pig. Certain school districts and universities have eliminated pork entirely from their menus out of sensitivity to Islamic law, thus in a very real way bowing to sharia. In Britain, of course, the porcine jihad is much more advanced.

In pre-Islamic America, I do not remember one incident of pork products being removed out of sensitivity to Jewish law. Jews would never make such demands and if they did, no one would care. Jews understand the basic rule in America: You can have minority customs but you can not impose them on the majority. You personally are responsible for keeping your religious law, not the majority. This basic concept is completely foreign to Muslims, who are obliged to force Islamic law on infidels in order to Islamize the society.

Prisoners demanding special food and pretending to be religious, furthermore, is infuriating. Making things worse, accommodating these demands threatens the livelihood of pork farmers, men and women who have managed all their lives to stay out of prison.

Ohio's pork farmers and processors are vowing to fight the state's decision to remove pork from prison menus in response to a lawsuit by Muslim inmates.

Dick Isler, executive director of the Ohio Pork Producers Council, says the news is especially disappointing because his group fought to have pork placed back on the menu in 2009.

The state eliminated pork even though the inmates' lawsuit involves the preparation of non-pork meats, such as beef, according to Islamic law.

JoEllen Smith, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, said Wednesday that removing pork eliminates the possibility of pork coming into contact with other foods during preparation.

The Ohio Justice and Policy Center, which is suing on behalf of two inmates, says the decision won't stop the lawsuit.

Crazed Muslim Girl "KILL ALL JEWS!!!!"

2011-10-05T09:55:00.000+03:00

Joel Osteen

2011-10-05T09:19:00.002+03:00

"Minnesotan" Muslim Funder of Terror Refuses to Stand for Federal Judge

2011-10-04T19:43:00.009+03:00

I grew up in Minnesota. Little did I know then that we were once the shining example for the nation to follow. We topped the lists of everything that was good: literacy rates, income levels, education, culture, cleanliness, low crime, etc. Now we are known for producing terrorism and being a feeder and funder for al-Qaeda.

The problem started when some liberal, multiculturalist moron decided Minnesota was just to white, rich, Christian and Jewish for us to be taken seriously as a state. So they got the great idea to bring in 30 thousand Somali Muslims.

Since then there has been nothing but problems. Including some of those Muslims joining al-Qaeda and returning to Somalia to fight jihad. Somalis attacking gays. Somalis harassing the infidel elderly. Somalis joining gangs when they are not chewing khat and collecting welfare.

Here we have the mothers of terrorists raising money to fight jihad against America and refusing to recognize the courts of the government that gave them refuge from their Islamic disaster of a country. That's the thanks we get and it's just not "Minnesota nice" if you ask me.

I happen to think it was an extraordinarily bad idea to bring Muslims to Minnesota and I defy anyone to argue otherwise.

Jury selection was expected to continue today in the trial of two Minnesota women accused of raising money for terrorists, but one of them might have to watch the trial on closed-circuit TV from a holding cell.

Testing the waning patience of Chief U.S. District Judge Michael Davis, defendant Amina Farah Ali refused to stand Monday when court was called to order or recessed during jury selection in her trial with co-defendant Hawo Mohamed Hassan in federal court in Minneapolis.

Ali, 35, of Rochester, claimed that her Muslim teachings - in particular, her interpretation of hadith, collections of sayings of the Prophet Muhammad - made her believe it was wrong to stand when a clerk cried, "All rise."

"I was told that there's a freedom of religion in this country," Ali told the judge at one point. "I don't think I should be punished or inconvenienced in any way for practicing my religion."

Davis, unmoved, said it wasn't a matter of religious freedom but rather court decorum. By the time jury selection ended for the day at 4:30 p.m., he had found her in contempt five times and vowed to keep doing it every time she refused to stand.

He said there was a limit, though. Ali had been free while she awaited trial, and Davis ordered her taken into custody and told her that if she persisted, she would watch the trial via television in a separate room.

Over the lunch hour, court technicians set up and tested the video feed.
Ali's co-defendant, Hassan, 64, also

of Rochester, rose when court was called to order, as did about a dozen Somali women and a handful of men in the gallery. At one point, a female spectator did not rise when the judge entered the courtroom, but a court security officer told her to stand, and she did.
Ali's attorney, Dan Scott, gave the marshal's office the name of three imams, or prayer leaders at mosques, who will to counsel Ali about her choice.
The woman's actions prompted Thomas Kelly, Hassan's defense attorney, to renew his motion to have a trial separate from Ali. His client faces less serious charges than Ali, and he expressed fears that without Ali in the courtroom, Hassan will be the only defendant jurors see.
The judge denied the motion.
Ali and Hassan were indicted in July 2010 on charges they conspired to provide material support to a terrorist organization, al-Shabaab. The group is part of a coalition fighting in Somalia, and the U.S. government designated it a foreign terrorist group in February 2008, making it illegal to provide aid or support.
Besides conspiracy, Ali faces 12 counts of providing the material support, stemming from $8,608 she allegedly sent to members of al-Shabaab from September 2008 to July 2009.
Hassan also faces three counts of lying to the FBI.
Davis first noted Ali's refusal to rise in an order he issued Friday. It came a day after a pre-trial hearing in which Ali had remained seated when court was called to order, and the judge's order warned that "any party failing to comply with the rules of decorum will be sanctioned by the court."
In a later order Monday, the judge said the requirement to stand "is to mark the beginning and the end of the court sessions, to show respect for the court system, to assist judges in maintaining order, and to remind all that attention should be paid to the court proceedings."
But when court was called to order and Davis entered the courtroom at 9:11 a.m., all stood but Ali. The judge asked Scott if his client was aware of the order.
Scott replied that she was but countered that there was no uniform federal court requirement for a defendant to rise when court was called into session.
Ali, who Scott has admitted was a tireless fundraiser for humanitarian causes in her native Somalia, based her decision on her interpretation of hadith, collections of the sayings, acts or unspoken or implied approvals of the Prophet Muhammad. They are considered a supplement to the Quran in guiding how a Muslim should behave.
The meanings of hadith can also be a source of debate and contention among Islamic scholars and Muslims.
Scott said Ali was relying on her interpretation of a hadith in which the prophet told followers who had risen to greet him to remain sitting.
The defense lawyer argued that if Ali believed she would not have had to stand for the prophet who founded her religion, then she should not have to stand when a judge strode into a courtroom.
Davis didn't buy it and ordered the woman taken into custody. He gave Scott time to speak with her, but when court reconvened less than an hour later and Davis walked in, the same thing happened.
"So it's clear to you, ma'am, I'm not asking you to rise for me. It is the decorum of the court system," the judge told her, his tolerance thinning. "You do not have a First Amendment right to not stand, and that is the case law."

Davis told her he'd been a judge for 28 years and had presided over trials with all manner of malcontents and anti-government types, some of whom questioned the very legitimacy of the court they were being tried in.

"I ask nothing more of you than I've asked of individuals who have been in front of me for the past 28 years," he said.

Ali, speaking quietly with her words translated by an interpreter, said she didn't mean to offend.
"I've tried to observe my religious beliefs," she said. She also claimed she'd been in court before and "never had an issue like this."

The judge told her "the freedom of religion does not keep you from standing in court." He asked her if she was going to follow his order.

"I'm not going to stand up for anyone except Allah," she replied.

Underwear Bomber to Denouce America as "Emeny of Islam" in Court

2011-10-04T10:25:00.003+03:00

Liberal commentators and the mainstream media spend a lot of time trying to figure why young Muslim men from good homes would go out and try to kill innocent people.

They have some complex psychological disorder. They have misunderstood Islam. They are disenfranchised immigrant youths who have faced so much racism that they are left no choice but to kill themselves and others. In Israel's case, it is because of the "occupation" and the incredible hardships Palestinians endure at the hands of evil Jews and so forth.

Here, however, is one of many examples of jihadis telling us loud and clear their motive. It is always jihad and the justification is always found in the Koran. Before a mission they make videos complete with Koranic verses in the background and quoting at length from their "holy book." When they are stopped, as in this case, they express no remorse and only regret that they hadn't succeeded in killing infidels.

We in the West refuse to listen. We have raised a generation of people who have been fed a diet of lies about Islam's peaceful nature. What's worse, we buy into the Islamic propaganda that we have invited this violence upon ourselves. Our universities, media and the multiculturalist buffoons who educate our children laden us with guilt, thereby acting as accomplices of the terrorists and facilitating jihad. The jihadis then become the victims and we the victimizers. It is a complete inversion of reality and facts but very clever and is accelerating Islam's march all over the world.

Until we acknowledge religious motivations and have an open and honest debate about Islam we will never be able to solve this problem. And the problem of jihad is big and growing.

The man who tried to detonate a bomb in his underpants on a packed flight to the US is expected to denounce America as the enemy of Islam while representing himself at his trial, which opens on Tuesday.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was hauled off a Northwestern Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day 2009, after explosives stitched into his clothes failed to explode and he was set on fire.

Abdulmutallab, 24, faces six charges including the attempted murder of the 289 people on board. He has sacked his lawyers and is preparing to address the jury, which is to be selected today in Detroit, himself.

The young Nigerian told a previous hearing that external lawyers would all have a "conflict of interest". He has indicated that he may "plead guilty to some counts", and faces life in prison if convicted.

In handwritten motions filed to court in August, Abdulmutallab said he was being "unjustly detained" and "subjected to the rule of man" when "all Muslims should only be ruled by the law of the Koran".

He referred to Mohammad as "the Messenger of Allah to Mankind, who is being defamed and abused by the United States of America". He then cried "jihad" and "Osama's alive" in a later hearing.

Judge Nancy Edmunds has ruled that statements made by Abdulmutallab, the son of one of Nigeria's richest men, while he received treatment for his injuries, may be presented during the trial.

Prosecutors allege he immediately confessed to carrying out the attempted attack for al-Qaeda. They are also being allowed to show a video demonstration of what damage the attack might have caused.

However, Judge Edmunds has ruled that a video in which Osama bin Laden, the late al-Qaeda leader, hailed Abdulmutallab as a hero, may not be used as evidence by government prosecutors.

The trial comes just days after the assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki, the senior al-Qaeda cleric who US intelligence officials claimed may have mentored Abdulmutallab before his alleged attempted attack.

Abdulmutallab is said to have attended a sermon by Awlaki at the Finsbury Park Mosque in late 2006 or 2007, while studying engineering at University College London.

He later travelled for training in Yemen, where Awlaki was based until being killed last week in a missile strike by an unmanned US drone.

A "standby attorney", appointed to Abdulmutallab by the state in case he requires assistance, did not return a request for comment on Monday.

Muslim Woman to Sue California Jail for Forcing her to Remove Hijab

2011-10-04T08:40:00.000+03:00

The Supreme Court will let a Muslim woman sue Southern California jailers for making her take off her head scarf in a courthouse holding cell.

The court on Monday refused to hear an appeal from Orange County, Calif., officials, who were sued in 2007 by Souhair Khatib.

Khatib had gone to the Orange County Superior Court to ask for more time to complete her community service. But a judge ordered her jailed, and jailers forced Khatib to remove her head scarf.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected arguments that holding cells aren’t covered by a federal law protecting the religious practices of prisoners. It also ruled Khatib had the right to wear the scarf unless jailers could show it was a security risk.

David Lawrence, an attorney representing Orange County, said he could not comment.

Khatib’s attorney, Mark Rosenbaum of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the case will now go back to district court but he hopes it can be resolved outside the courtroom. Khatib filed the original lawsuit to get the sheriff’s department to end their ban on head scarves in holding cells, he said.

“I think it’s a pretty blatant example of discrimination against Muslims ... and Orange County can run its facility without this ban,” he said in a phone interview.

Khatib and her husband, both U.S. citizens of Lebanese descent, pleaded guilty in 2006 to a misdemeanor violation of welfare fraud and were sentenced to three years of probation and ordered to complete 30 days of community service within 120 days.

The two reported to court on Nov. 1, 2006, two days before that term expired, to seek an extension. When the judge learned she had completed only 15 hours of service and her husband four, he ordered them jailed, according to Khatib’s original lawsuit.

She and her husband were released later in the day after the court entered a new judgment ordering them to complete their community service by Jan. 30, 2007.

The case was Orange County, Calif., v. Souhair Khatib, 10-1505.

Muslim on Death Row Sues over Lack of Hallal Food in Prison

2011-10-04T08:20:00.003+03:00

A Muslim death row inmate says the Ohio state prison system is denying him meals prepared according to Islamic law while at the same time providing kosher meals to Jewish prisoners, according to a federal lawsuit that alleges a civil rights violation.

The state said Monday that it has already removed pork from its menus in response to the lawsuit brought by condemned inmate Abdul Awkal, who argues the prison system's failure to provide halal meals is a restraint on his religious freedoms.

Awkal, joined by a second inmate not on death row, says the vegetarian and non-pork options offered by the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction aren't good enough. The inmates say food must be prepared in specific fashion, such as ensuring that an animal is butchered by slitting its throat and draining its blood, to conform to Islamic beliefs.

"The issue of eating Halal meals is especially important to me because I face a death sentence," Awkal said in a filing in federal court earlier this year. "It is important to me that I follow the requirements of my faith as I approach death."

The state's recent decision to drop pork from all meals accommodates religious preferences without jeopardizing security, said Carlo LoParo, spokesman for the state corrections department. It "eliminates any doubt that Muslims or any inmate who has a specific prohibition against pork products receives pork inadvertently or otherwise," he said.

But Monday's announcement doesn't solve that meat isn't slaughtered in the appropriate way for Muslim inmates who adhere to religious tradition, said David Singleton, executive director of the Ohio Justice and Policy Center, which brought the lawsuit on Awkal's behalf. He said the lawsuit will continue.

A judge has given lawyers and inmates for the state until next month to finish filing documents bolstering their arguments, ahead of an expected January trial.

Awkal, 52, is scheduled to die in June for killing his estranged wife, Latife Awkal, and brother-in-law Mahmoud Abdul-Aziz in 1992, in a room in Cuyahoga County Domestic Relations Court.

Joining Awkal in the lawsuit is Cornelius Causey, 35, serving 15 years to life for murder and aggravated robbery convictions out of Hamilton County.

Ohio argues that it provides both non-pork and vegetarian meals to Muslims and says the courts have sided with this practice. The state also says that providing halal meals could hurt Ohio financially, given the current budget situation.

Ohio included in its response to the lawsuit a document from a Muslim who does regular spiritual counseling of Muslim inmates.

While Imam Sunni-Ali Islam said he thought it was problematic that Ohio provided kosher but not halal meals, he said he doesn't think it rises to the level of religious discrimination.

The state's prison guidelines for Jewish prisoners say, "The Department will accommodate kosher dietary restrictions to recognized Jewish inmates." Kosher guidelines also address proper ways to slaughter animals and prepare meat.

For Muslim inmates, prison rules say, "The diet will be free of all pork and products containing or derived from pork. The institution will provide nutritionally adequate meat and non-meat alternatives."
Ohio spends about $3.50 to $7 on kosher meals compared to $1.70 for regular meals, LoParo said. He would not comment on the lawsuit itself beyond documents filed in support of the state position.

California provides packaged kosher meals to Jewish inmates and halal meals prepared at prisons for Muslim prisoners. Meats used for the halal meals are cooked separately from other prison food, said spokesman Paul Herke.

The state serves about 4,100 halal meals a day at a cost of about $3.50 per day, compared with about $2.90 a day for regular prison meals.

Arizona provides vegetarian and other options to satisfy the halal requirement but does not provide meals specifically dubbed halal.

Similarly, Muslim inmates in Texas can select regular, meat-free or pork-free meals but are not served halal meals. Massachusetts serves both kosher and halal meals.

Ohio says requiring halal meals could mean new dietary plans for as many as 2,000 inmates, while Awkal's lawyers believe the figure is lower because not all Muslims eat halal meals.

Minneapolis Muslims Take Time out from Supporting Terror

2011-10-03T07:38:00.001+03:00

Central Michigan University Hosts "Hijab Week" for Infidel Girls

2011-10-01T10:02:00.000+03:00

Before this week, Cadillac freshman Charly Loper could walk through the halls unnoticed.

“(Now) I feel like some people stare at me from a distance, then quickly turn away,” Loper said.

Loper has decided to wear a hijab, a traditional Muslim head covering, for a week. She has been participating in Hijab Week for her class, HON 100: Introduction to the Honors Program.

Clinton Township junior Amanda Jaczkowski has been coordinating the project and assisting the other women involved.

“(The) Hijab is a very misunderstood part of Islam and I wanted to help the girls understand better what it means,” Jaczkowski said.

Throughout the week, about 25 women have been participating in Hijab Week. Jaczkowski created the event this year and said it is only taking place on CMU’s campus.

Clarkston junior Hannah Grimaldi said she has experienced discrimination since putting on the hijab.
“I started on Friday and went to Meijer with my friend, and she told me people were staring at me,” Grimaldi said. “I’ve gotten a lot of rude comments. I realize this is not the inclusive environment I thought it was.”

Grimaldi said she comes from a predominately white area and had little to exposure to other cultures.
“You get a chance to be in someone else’s culture,” she said.

There are three different levels the participants can choose to engage in for the week.

The first level requires them to change their physical appearance by covering their skin and hair. They also cannot show public displays of affection or consume alcohol.

The second level encompasses the first, as well as eliminating the consumption of pork.

The third and final level includes the requirements from the first two, but also removes any sexual relations for those who are not married, in addition to forbidding the women from being alone with men.

“I thought it would be interesting to live with a hijab on and see how people would treat you,” Loper said.

Loper said she is quickly finding that wearing a hijab is drawing unnecessary attention from people around her.

“I feel like some people don’t know how to treat me,” Loper said. “I can tell they are uncomfortable.”
Before the event, Loper said she did not think it was right for someone to wear a hijab.

“I always thought it was degrading for women to wear them, but now I feel like it is not restraining,” she said.

Hezb'allah Cells Active Worldwide

2011-10-01T09:28:00.000+03:00

The terrorist group Hezb'allah, based in Lebanon, is establishing "resistance cells" worldwide under the direction of Iran, according to Mohammad Hussein Babai, the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in the province of Golestan.

The cells are already infiltrating the United States with the help of Venezuela's Hugo Chávez and drug cartels.

The Iranian Student News Agency, which is close to the Guards, reported last week that Babai, during a press conference, revealed that these jihadist cells began forming after the 2006 Lebanon war between Israel and Hezb'allah, and with the current Islamic Awakening, they have expanded their operations.

Their mission, Babai said, is to help create an Islam-dominated world.

This is the first time that a high-ranking Revolutionary Guard commander in the Islamic regime of Iran has revealed the presence of such jihadist cells in the world.

"Today we are a witness to our power and authority in the world," Babai said, "and because of our Islamic Revolution [of 1979], now there is an Islamic Awakening that, with the leadership of the dear supreme leader, Ayatollah [Ali] Khamenei, will become stronger and more resilient." The West refers to the Islamic Awakening as the Arab Spring.

Hassan Rahimpour Azghadi, who is a member of the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution and an important theorist of the Islamic regime in Iran, said in a televised speech last Friday that "today we must get ready for a global operation, and our forces should expand their operation throughout the world."

"Our fighters are present in all five continents of the world and will fight against imperialism everywhere," Azghadi added. "We must not fear anyone, and an international jihad must take place to prepare for the Coming." The "Coming" refers to Imam Mahdi, the Shiites' 12^th Imam, who, according to a Shiite hadith, will reappear and reap destruction on Israel and the West.

Azghadi said it is the duty of Iran, "the center of the religious fighters worldwide," to export revolution. "As our Imam [the founder of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini] declared, we must destroy Israel and free Jerusalem. We must take our fight into the heart of Europe, America, Africa, Asia ... and just as we helped with the Islamic movement in Lebanon and Gaza, soon there will be an Islamic Republic in Egypt."

He then reiterated that Iran must prepare itself for a global conflict.

The radicals ruling Iran, ever since the Islamic Revolution, have invested heavily to expand their field of operations in Europe and America. I witnessed their activities when, as a member of the Revolutionary Guards, I was also a CIA spy. Every Iranian embassy, Islamic cultural centers, mosques, offices of Iran Air, Iranian shipping lines, Iranian banks, and many front companies dealing with Iran are being used by the Iranian Quds Forces and intelligence agency for recruitment, transfer of arms and cash, and terrorist activities.

They have successfully placed many cells in Europe and, through ties with the Hugo Chávez government in Venezuela, have placed hundreds of Quds Force members along with Hezb'allah terrorists in front companies in Venezuela. Iran has set up an explosives lab in Venezuela for its cells with the knowledge of the Chávez government. In return, the Iranian regime has given hundreds of millions of dollars to Chávez.

These cells, through collaboration with drug cartels, have infiltrated Latin America and have even set up shop in Mexico, from where, in a coordinated effort, they are infiltrating the United States.

The radicals ruling Iran have become increasingly vocal in recent weeks that, because of the current upheaval in the Islamic world and the weakness and confusion of the leaders in America and Europe due to the global economy, the time is ripe to bring the West to its knees.

It is with this view that those radicals, despite four sets of U.N. sanctions, are pursuing ever so aggressively their nuclear bomb project.

Perhaps the jihadists in Iran are emboldened because they are close to having a nuclear bomb. Perhaps they have already armed their cells with dirty bombs. The last report by the International Atomic Energy Agency stated that Iran now has enough enriched uranium for six nuclear bombs. It certainly has the material and the knowledge, and now we must realize that it has the will to do what is unimaginable by the Western world: an all-out attack to create a new world order in which Islam will rule the world.

The hadith presaging the return of the 12^th Imam says, "This is the time when the last Islamic Messiah will return to rid the world from Infidels and establish a worldwide Islamic caliphate: Chaos, famine, and havoc will engulf the Earth. Major wars with dark clouds [atomic wars] will burn the Earth. One-third of the Earth's population will be killed, and the rest will suffer hunger and lawlessness."

Reza Kahlili is a pseudonym for an ex-CIA spy who requires anonymity for safety reasons. He is a senior fellow with EMPact America and the author of A Time to Betray, a book about his double-life as a CIA agent in Iran's Revolutionary Guards, published by Threshold Editions, Simon & Schuster, April 2010. A Time to Betray was the winner of the 2010 National Best Book Award and the 2011 International Best Book Award.

Muslim Mom Stabs "Possessed" Daughter and Removes Liver whilst Listening to the Koran

2011-10-01T08:00:00.001+03:00

A Muslim woman "sacrificed" her daughter to God to exorcise evil spirits, the Old Bailey heard.

Shayma Ali (36) stabbed the girl up to 40 times and took out her liver while Koranic verses played in the background.

When police arrived at their east London home, the woman was chanting: "I seek refuge in God from the curse of Satan."

The court was told Ali had sunk deeply into mental illness and was convinced the spirits or jinn had entered the bodies of members of her family.

The four-year-old had remained at home in December last year because she had been ill.

After her arrest, Ali told her husband: "A voice told me, 'If you love Allah you should sacrifice your daughter."'

She told a doctor she strangled the child and when she was unconscious, carried her on to the kitchen table, where she used the knife to ensure the spirits were exorcised.

Duncan Atkinson, prosecuting, said Ali became aware about God calling to Abraham to sacrifice his son and became convinced God wanted her to sacrifice her child.

Ali pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

She was sent to a mental hospital without limit of time after doctors said she was suffering from psychosis.

Peter Wilcock, defending, said: "It is hard to imagine a more tragic and distressing case. She became mentally ill and didn't seek treatment."

Judge Anthony Morris told Ali: "One of the horrifying aspects of this case is how quickly you lost control of yourself."

Another One Bites the Dust: Al-Awlaki Killed in Yemen

2011-09-30T14:38:00.003+03:00

Around the anniversary of 9/11, the media told us over and over again how peaceful and integrated Muslims are in America. Al-Awlaki one of those Muslims born in America who spent his life trying to kill Americans. In addition, a few days ago another average peaceful American Muslim in Boston was arrested for plotting to blow up the Pentagon in the name of Allah and Islam and kill American women and children, his own words.

These are two of many examples where American Muslims are trying to destroy the United States. Until we acknowledge that there is a problem with Islam and Muslims we will just be putting out fires.

This strike against one of our greatest enemies is a victory for America. It will be met, however, by the naysayers with the argument that this killing will just make Muslims more angry and like us less. It will cause al-Qaeda to seek revenge and in the end do no good, etc.

It seems obvious enough that a war is not won but not attacking the enemy. Furthermore, the strategy of just letting terrorists be, hoping that they will just give up and realize how nice we are is suicidal.

Jihadis are in it for the violence. They are commanded by Islam to wage jihad until the entire world is Islamic. That is their raison d'etre. Very few people in the West understand this religious zeal because we are inherently not religious or we believe that all religions are inherently peaceful, or both. That jihadis do not succeed more often in killing us is because we are stopping them.

Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S.-born radical Islamic preacher who rose to the highest level of al Qaeda's franchise in Yemen, has been killed.

Al-Awlaki, born in New Mexico, has been linked to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's (AQAP) attempted bombing of a U.S. passenger jet over Detroit on Christmas day, 2009, and was thought to be a leader of the group.

A U.S. government official confirms to CBS News senior security correspondent David Martin that al-Awlaki was killed. Yemen's Defense Ministry was first to tell CBS News of the strike, but given previous reports which turned out to be erroneous, the relatively rapid U.S. confirmation is crucial, and bolsters witness accounts that it was a U.S. drone strike that killed the al Qaeda figure.

U.S. officials considered al-Awlaki a most-wanted terror suspect, and added his name last year to the kill or capture list - making him a rare American addition to what is effectively a U.S. government hit-list.

Al-Awlaki's father, who still lives in the U.S., filed a lawsuit against the federal government, claiming his son's civil rights were violated by the U.S. call for his killing.

A federal court dismissed Nasser al-Awlaki's suit on Dec. 7, 2010, on the grounds that he had no legal standing to challenge the targeting of his son.

A statement from Yemen's foreign press office said the al Qaeda suspect "was targeted and killed 8 KM (about 5 miles) from the town of Khashef in the Province of Jawf, 140KM (about 80 miles) east of the Capital Sana'a."

Al-Arabiya television network cited local tribal sources as saying suspected U.S. drone aircraft - which are known to operate in Yemen - fired two missiles Friday at a convoy of vehicles believed to be carrying al-Awlaki and his guards.

CBS News' Khaled Wassef says Al-Awlaki was first reported dead following U.S. air strikes on southern Yemen in December 2009, and then again in November 2010. He was also the target of a U.S. drone attack that killed two al Qaeda operatives in southern Yemen on May 5, 2011.

Wassef reports that al-Awlaki last appeared in a video released online in August 2010.

Yemen has risen in recent years to the top of the threat list for U.S. security officials - with AQAP seen as the most active branch of the global terror network in planning attacks against the U.S. homeland.

Al-Awlaki was believed to be a prominent member of the group, taking some role in the planning of actual terror plots, in addition to his role as a religious adviser and powerful recruiting officer. His clear English, American roots, and powerful speaking skills are believed to have attracted many young Muslims from within the U.S. to the cause of jihad.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the 19-year-old Nigerian who attempted to blow up the flight to Detroit in 2009, may have met al-Awlaki, and was trained at camps run by the cleric, when he traveled to Yemen just before his attack.

Al-Awlaki's voluminous online preaching, in both video and print form, is also thought to have inspired Ft. Hood shooter Nidal Hasan, and Time Square car bomber Faisal Shahzad.

His death will deal AQAP a serious blow, particularly, says CBS News terrorism analyst Juan Zarate, his work to draw young Muslims into the jihadi mindset.

"His role as a propagandist actually will be very difficult to fill," says Zarate.

Ben Venzke, who heads intelligence contracting group IntelCenter in the Washington area, says al-Awlaki's death will not, however, seriously diminish the threat posed by the al Qaeda franchise.

"AQAP remains one of the most dangerous al Qaeda regional arms both in its region and for the direct threat it poses to the U.S. following three recent failed attacks," said Venzke, who monitors jihadi propaganda for myriad U.S. government agencies. "AQAP leader Nasir al-Wuhayshi, who is responsible for expanding the group's focus to conduct attacks on U.S. soil, remains in charge of the group and further attempts to conduct attacks in the U.S. are expected."

Islamic TV Channel Fined for Promising Health and Wealth to Big Donors

2011-09-30T09:26:00.000+03:00

Ofcom has today fined Al Ehya Digital Television £75,000 for repeated breaches of the broadcasting code in the Saturday Night Special programme aired on Noor TV.

Noor TV is a general entertainment and Islamic education channel broadcast on Sky, and Saturday Night Special features presenters taking calls from viewers who donate money to the channel in return for prayers.

In June, Ofcom found the show guilty of various breaches of its Broadcasting Code, including the exploitation of susceptible viewers, and unfair promotion of products and services.

The regulator said that the offer of "inducements" for donations of up to £1,000, such as special gifts and prayers that were claimed to improve the donor's health, wealth or success, "carried the risk that susceptible members of the audience may have been persuaded to donate money to Noor TV when they would not otherwise have done so".

"In particular, the appeal focused heavily on religious beliefs, which Ofcom considered had created an additional risk that susceptible viewers would have been more likely to make donations than they otherwise would have done," the regulator added.

Ofcom said that it was "extremely concerned" that viewers donating money via the website of charity the Mohiuddin Trust under the belief that it was to fund Noor TV's programming were being "misled", because it understood that the cash did not actually go to its stated purpose.

The watchdog also said that Saturday Night Special breached its rules by overly promoting a DVD.

Ofcom has decided that the breaches were "sufficiently serious" as to require the imposition of a financial penalty of £75,000 on Noor TV operator Al Ehya Digital Television. The fine is payable to HM Paymaster General.

Noor TV must also broadcast a statement of Ofcom's findings in a form and on a date decided by the regulator.

Turkey Promotes Itself as a Bastion of Religious Freedom whilst Having None

2011-09-29T12:46:00.002+03:00

Turks universally believe that they live in a tolerant, multicultural and religiously diverse country. Erdogan is not saying anything that the man on the street in Istanbul would say. This article rightly points out that hypocrisy in Turkish mythology.

Turks massacred Armenians, an ancient Christian people who had lived in Anatolia long before the Turkish invaders came. Turks drove out the Greeks from the cities they had built. Today the Jewish population numbers fewer than 20 thousand. Leaving Turkey nearly 100% Muslim.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan has managed to set up Turkey on the international stage as a role model for a secular democracy in a Muslim country — as, in his words, “a secular state where all religions are equal.”

The only trouble is that he has yet to make that happen for Turkey.

The relationship between religion and the state, ever the sore spot of Turkish identity, is one of the most explosive issues of the debate on the new constitution that Mr. Erdogan has pledged to give the country in the new legislative term that opens Saturday.

That debate will have to deal with the elephant in the room: the total control that the state exerts over Islam through its Religious Affairs Department, and the lack of a legal status for all other religions in a predominantly Sunni Muslim society.

“Turkey may look like a secular state on paper, but in terms of international law it is actually a Sunni Islamic state,” Izzettin Dogan, a leader of the country’s Alevi minority, charged at a joint press conference with leaders of several other minority faiths last week in Istanbul.

Read the rest in the New York Times

Boston-Area Jihadi Arrested for Plotting Attack on Pentagon & Capitol

2011-09-29T09:13:00.000+03:00