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April 30, 2006

Germany: Muslim Imams To Play Against Christian Priests At Soccer

According to the Times, next weekend will see an unusual game of seven-a-side soccer taking place in Berlin. The soccer World Cup will be kicking off in several cities across Germany on June 9, and next weekend's match is a sort of pre-season fixture.

The game was going to happen on a Friday, but the imams objected because Friday is the main prayer-day for Muslims. The organiser is a UK expatriate, Rev Christopher Jage-Bowler, who wants to have a Jewish rabbi to be the referee. 44-year old Jage-Bowler said: "It's been difficult to find a rabbi who will referee on the Sabbath, but we are trusting in God."

The game is tied in with a UK government workshop on racism in soccer, and black players will be at the British Embassy to talk about ways of involving more Muslims in the game.

The newspaper Tagesspiegel caused controversy in February when it displayed a cartoon in which the Iranian soccer team was depicted with bombs strapped around them (see picture).

The Times notes that a recent match in Leicester, Britain, was held for charity, with Christian and Islamic clergy pitted against each other. The Christians lost miserably, despite being loaned some more athletic imams in the second half. The imams won 6-0. A game also held by under-12s saw the Christians lose to the Muslims.

In Berlin, Imam Harun Bulat of the Sehitlik Mosque, which has a large Turkish following, agreed to Jage-Bowler's request to organise a game.

On March 21 in Amsterdam, a team of gay men had a football match against Muslims. Again, the Muslims slaughtered the opposition 4-0.

Do not expect the team of Christian clergy to win. There is something about Islam's attitudes which do not require too much consideration of those deemed to be the "opposition". Maybe if Christianity taught its members to forget about "loving their enemy" they would be more focused on winning at all costs.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 6:50 PM | Comments (0)

Turkey: Retrial Of Islamist "Caliph Of Cologne" Starts, Is Adjourned

We reported on November 30 that Metin Kaplan, the so-called "Caliph of Cologne" appeared in court in Istanbul, Turkey, to be told he was to face a retrial. He had been given a life sentence on June 20, 2005 for plotting to kill members of Turkey's ruling elite in 1998. The plan had been to fly a plane into the mausoleum of Kemal Ataturk, the founder of secular Turkey, who overthrew the Ottoman Caliphate in 1924. The mausoleum is on a hilltop above Ankara, the capital.

In November, the judge at the Supreme Court ruled that Kaplan should face a retrial because of "deficiencies in procedures and investigation". Now, Associated Press via OhMyNews states that on Friday (28 April), Kaplan's retrial began.

Two witnesses, who had claimed that they had been tortured into making incriminating testimonies were summoned before the court. According to Kaplan's lawyer, Husnu Tuna, the trial was then adjourned until July 26. A request for Kaplan to be released from jail until the outcome of the trial was finalised was ruled out by the judge.

As we reported on November 23, Kaplan was formerly a member of an Islamist group called Hilafet Devleti ("Islamic State"). This group, also called the "Anatolian Federated Islamic State (AFID)" had been founded in Germany in 1984 by Kaplan's father Cemaleddin Kaplan. The Kaplans had fled Germany after a military coup in 1980.

When Cemaleddin Kaplan died in 1995, Metin took over, and when in 2001 the group was officially banned by German authorities, its activities were continued by followers, who set up a group called Caliphate State (Kalifatstaat).

But by that time, Kaplan was in jail. He was arrested on March 25, 1999, for killing a rival, Halil Ibrahim Sofu, in 1997. For this crime, Kaplan was imprisoned for four years. Upon his release, Kaplan continued to head Caliphate State, and to act as an imam in Cologne, where he had the nickname "The Caliph of Cologne". Caliphate State has 800 followers in Germany.

Turkey had been trying to have Kaplan extradited from Germany, but because of Turkey's death penalty this had been refused. When Turkey abolished the death penalty in 2002, the procedure became more viable. In November 2004, while the squat little Caliph was in an internet cafe, he was pounced upon by police, who took him to an airport and put him on a plane to Turkey.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 7:30 AM | Comments (0)

Book Review: Six Days of War

"The Temple Mount is in our hands."

With those words, it was announced to the world the holiest Jewish site was once again in Jewish hands. We can only imagine what people of the Jewish faith felt at that moment. But there were more than emotions during in those June days of 1967 as Israel struggled to survive. There were facts, ideologies, biases and fears shaping the landscape of war. Historian Michael Oren attempts to bring his readers all that.

Six Days of War, Oren's history of the six-day war succeds well beyond the standard re-telling of the war stories. (Although he is great at that.) His presentation of the geo-political considerations of each actor, and the worldviews behind those considerations, may well be without parallel. This book should be one of the first read not only by those looking to understand the "Arab-Israeli" conflict, but by those trying to understand the worldwide Jihad as well.

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 12:02 AM | Comments (0)

April 29, 2006

Trinidad: Muslim Leader May Remain In Jail Until October

We have reported extensively on the Trinidadian Islamist group Jamaat al Muslimeen and its leader Abu Bakr (pictured). The group staged an attempted coup on Trinidad in 1990, during which 24 people died in the violence, and the then prime minister, Arthur N.R. Robinson, was shot in the leg.

Abu Bakr has been in jail since November 7 last year, following his arrest for comments he made at the Jamaat al Muslimeen mosque and compound in Murcapao Road, Port of Spain. He had said on November 4, at Friday prayers following the end of Ramadan, that unless wealthy Muslims paid him zakat (a tithe) that there would be bloodshed and war. A subsequent raid at the compound discovered a hand grenade, sniper rifle, and 500 rounds of ammunition were discovered.

Abu Bakr was originally charged with sedition and incitement of others to breach the peace, and on November 23 we reported that terrorism had been added to the list.

A series of four bomb attacks began with an attack last summer on July 22 in Port of Spain and injured 13 people, and ended on October 14 at a nightclub in the district of St James in Port of Spain. Suspicion fell on Bakr, and he was arrested. He was later released, and loudly protested his innocence.

On Friday December 22, while Bakr was in custody, two members of the Jamaat al-Muslimeen were discovered in possession of a large bomb at their home in Arima, 10 miles from Port of Spain.

We reported on March 12 that the current government of Trinidad & Tobago, led by Patrick Manning of the People's National Movement (PNM) has been cracking down on the group, following an increase in violence on the island. Several Jamaat members with gang connections have died in gun attacks since December.

On Thursday April 6, Abu Bakr appeared in court, but this was not in connection with the errorism, sedition and incitement charges. He was facing a retrial of a case that had foundered on March 16 2005. The case was stalled because the Director of Public Prosecutions was unavailable, and he was ordered to reappear on the following Monday.

On a previous court appearance from February 16, connected with the retrial, Bakr said that the government was trying to make him a pauper, for demanding financial restitution of $32 million for the group's 1990 coup.

Bakr reappeared in the Port of Spain Second Criminal Court at the Hall of Justice on Monday 10 April, but once again, the case did not go ahead. Justice Joan Charles adjourned the case until yesterday, the 28 April. He then told the judge that he wished to be tried on terrorism charges before he faced his retrial.

Abu Bakr appeared again in court yesterday, according to the Trinidad & Tobago Express.

The case for which he is facing retrial relates to statements he apparently made on June 4, 2003 in Citrine Drive, Diamond Vale, in Diego Martin. Bakr is accused of conspiracy to murder two former members of the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen, Salim Rasheed (aka "Small Salim") and Zaki Abudiah, Bakr's son-in-law. The previous trial had ended after two and half months at the Hall of Justice when a nine-member jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict.

Bakr is jointly accused with Brent Miller (aka "Big Brent"), David Millard (aka "Buffy"), and others known as "Dwight", "Crock", "Skins" and "Damian".

64-year old Bakr, who was a former policeman called Lennox Phillips, was told yesterday in a closed session of court that he will now have his trial date on the charges of conspiracy to murder scheduled for October 2, later this year.

Apparently, Bakr is attempting to have a British Queen's Counsel (QC) to defend him. Yesterday was his sixth appearance in court this year. If his court case on conspiracy charges is to be delayed until later this year, and as no date has been set for the trial on sedition, terror and incitement charges, it seems that Bakr will remain in jail until then, remanded in custody. With two trials ahead of him, rather than one, his chances of gaining bail are remote.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 7:58 PM | Comments (0)

A Senior Source In Iranian Army Outlines Iranian Retaliation Plan

Nothing much said about this source but his senior affiliation, yet the plan sounds much like you could suspect :

1- A missile strike directly targeting the US bases in the Persian Gulf and Iraq , as soon as nuclear installations are hit.

2- Suicide operations in a number of Arab and Muslim countries against US embassies and missions and US military bases and economic and oil installations related to US and British companies. The campaign might also target the economic and military installations of countries allied with the United States .

3- Launch attacks by the Basij and the Revolutionary Guards and Iraqi fighters loyal to Iran against US and British forces in Iraq , from border regions in central and southern Iraq .

4- Hezbollah to launch hundreds of rockets against military and economic targets in Israel .

According to the source, in case the US military attacks continue, more than 50 Shehab-3 missiles will be targeted against Israel and the al Quads Brigades will give the go-ahead for more than 50 terrorists cells in Canada, the US and Europe to attack civil and industrial targets in these countries.

But the plan as it goes has a fifth part, which sounds perhaps a bit too ominous or perchance more as deliberate bluff :

What about the last stage in the plan?

Here, the Iranian source hesitated before saying with worry; this stage might represent the beginning of a world war, given that extremists will seek to maximize civilian casualties by exploding germ and chemical bombs as well as dirty nuclear bombs across western and Arab cities.

But given Bush has recently expressed that a diplomatic solution must be found, it could be right; during the high pitches stand off against North Korea some years ago, the very same creep back scene took place after some estimated that in Seoul as much as 1 mio. people could die in the first 24 hours of a war with NK.

What does one do with those roque states ? Read it all at : Asharq

Posted by Charles Martel at 6:38 PM | Comments (0)

Canada: US Claims It Is A "Safe Haven" For Muslim Terrorists

News from the Globe & Mail, from the National Post and the Vancouver Sun reports that the United States State Department has claimed that Canada is now a "safe haven" for Muslim terrorists, who have exploited its loose immigration controls and poor counterterrorism enforcement.

In a 247 page report entitled Country Report on Terrorism concerns are expressed on the presence of "numerous" terror plotters in the country. The report highlights the problems between the two nations which developed following the case of Maher Arar, an Ottawa engineer. It states "The principal threat to the close U.S.-Canadian co-operative relationship remains the fallout from the Arar case. The Arar case underscores a greater concern for the United States: the presence in Canada of numerous suspected terrorists and terror supporters."

Judeoscope relates this case, when Maher Arar, who held joint Canadian/Syrian nationality, was arrested in New York in September, 2002 on suspicion of terrorism. Maher was on a stop-over, between travelling from Tunisia to Canada. The US authorities deported him to Syria under a policy called "extraordinary rendition", where he claimed he was tortured, setting the scene for a public outcry in Canada, and restrictions upon information-sharing between the two nations.

The current US report bemoans the fact that only one person has been arrested on terrorism charges since the attacks upon the US on 9/11, 2001.

In the report, the State Department praises Canada for performing "an important counterterrorism leadership role worldwide", due to its assistance in Afghanistan. However, its statement that Canada is a "safe haven" for terrorism, whereas in its report on Iraq it said that that country is "not currently a terrorist safe haven" has not been commented upon by Canadian officials.

A spokeswoman from the office of Stockwell Day, Canada's Public Safety Minister, said: "What I can tell you is that Canada's new government believes in maintaining a vigorous counterintelligence program to safeguard our nation's security." She said that officials were still reviewing the contents of the report and would not discuss its details at present.

The report describes five "terrorists and terror supporters". These are Mohamed Harkat, Mohamed Mahjoub, Mahmoud Jaballah and Hassan Almrei and Adil Charkaoui.

We described in October how four of these men were already in custody. Egyptians Mohammad Mahjoub and Mahmoud Jaballah and Syrian Hassan Almrei and a third, Mohammed Harkat (pictured) from Algeria were then being transferred to a federal penitentiary. Now they are being held at Kingston Immigration Holding Centre, the "Guantanamo of the north" on security certificates. Adil Charkaoui is free on bail.

We reported on October 26 that plans were afoot to deport Mohammed Harkat to his native Algeria, following promises from their government that he would not receive torture, but this obviously has not happened.

The report also noted that: "Canada is also home to the Khadr terrorist family." We described this family in December.

The report states that there were 11,000 separate terror attacks around the world in 2005, killing 14,600 people, compared to 2003, when there were 208 terrorist attacks, killing 625. In 2004, there were 3,168 terror attacks, killing 1,907 and injuring 6,704 people.

In 2005, 30% of all terror attacks happened in Iraq, and caused 55% of fatalities (8,300 people). 56 Americans were killed in terror attacks, with 47 of these in Iraq.

3,000 deaths were caused by 360 suicide bombings. And during 2005, an average of 30 terror attacks took place globally per day.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 6:13 PM | Comments (0)

Whose Back Is Broken?

While Zawahiri claims that the US back is broken in Iraq, the opposite might be closer to the truth, though. As we are about to hear, terrorism took its toll on mankind last year, the numbers mentioned Here are probably in the lower end since what is eg. going on in Algeria and more places, more often that not qualifies :

Associated Press
First published: Saturday, April 29, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Leaders of al-Qaida lost some control of the terror network last year due to the arrests and deaths of top operational planners, but the group remains the most prominent terror threat facing the United States and its allies, the State Department said Friday.
In its annual report on worldwide terrorism, the department singled out Iran as the most active state sponsor of terrorism, saying that its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Ministry of Intelligence and Security directly have been involved in planning and support of terrorist acts.

Overall, the report tallied about 11,000 terror attacks around the world last year, resulting in more than 14,600 deaths. That is almost a fourfold increase in attacks from 2004, though the agency attributes the change largely on new ways of tallying the incidents.

At least 10,000 to 15,000 of the about 40,000 people killed or wounded worldwide were Muslims, most of them in Iraq.

About 3,500 of last year's attacks occurred in Iraq and about 8,300 of the deaths occurred there, accounting for a large part of the increase over 2004.

The report said Iraq is not a safe haven for terrorists, but Shiite and Sunni extremist groups are trying to turn it into one. While the U.S. and its allies have thwarted some attacks and kidnappings by groups like al-Qaida in Iraq, led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, "the battle is far from over," it said.

The report said that Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaida leaders are scattered and on the run, and Afghanistan is no longer a safe haven for the network. In addition, al-Qaida's relations with the Taliban that once ruled Afghanistan are growing weaker and the group's finances and logistics have been disrupted, the report said.

"Al-Qaida is not the organization it was four years ago," the report said.

However, "overall, we are in the first phase of a potentially long war," it said. "The enemy's proven ability to adapt means we will go through several more cycles of action/reaction before the war's outcome is no longer in doubt."

A new generation of extremists, some trained through the Internet, is emerging in cells, the report said.

Osama who has promised us that he will not be taken alive , should indeed ideally be kept on the run and under pressure. But more important of course is it to stop the whole organization, and looks like that this back is the most broken one.

Posted by Charles Martel at 5:35 PM | Comments (0)

Al Qaeda A Real Bio Terror Threat

Interpol out with a warning, we are not really prepared for this :

From the Khaleej Times

Al Qaeda bioterror threat remains real: Interpol (Reuters)

29 March 2006

SINGAPORE - Al Qaeda has the ability to carry out attacks using biochemicals and the threat of a strike remains real, a top Interpol official warned on Wednesday.

John Abbott, chairman of Interpol`s bioterrorism sub-committee, said national police forces and health services lacked preparation for an attack using dangerous toxins and had insufficient knowledge and powers to handle such an event.

"There is a threat. Al Qaeda have made it clear ... that they consider the use of chemical and biological agents as acceptable. There have been a few cases around the world in recent times which suggest that there is a capability," Abbott said.

"I think that any person who carefully considers the issues will recognise that it`s complacent to assume that we`re prepared for anything. Criminals and terrorists are innovative," he told Reuters on the sidelines of a bioterrorism conference attended by Asian law enforcement officials and health experts.

Security officials have long warned of the risk of an al Qaeda attack using biological weapons such as anthrax, ricin, botulinum toxin, smallpox, plague or Ebola.

Al Qaeda manuals on preparation of biowarfare agents were discovered at the group`s training camps in Afghanistan after the U.S. invasion of the country in late 2001.

Interpol, the global police body, has stepped up training of police forces on how to handle possible attacks with biological agents, which often take some time to emerge as victims with symptoms of contamination or infection report to hospitals and doctors.

Abbott said many countries still lacked legislation that would enable their authorities to look into potential threats such as the movement of agents and pathogens within countries and across borders.

"It is necessary to criminalise certain activities. We don`t want to get in the way of bio-science development. What we want to do is stop people who have a desire to misuse the developments in bio-science from being able to do so."

France-based Interpol last year moved to establish a resource centre at its Lyon headquarters for sharing information between police, health officials and scientists and informing member countries about threats and best practice.

Posted by Charles Martel at 5:14 PM | Comments (0)

US: Black Muslim Leader On Attempted Murder Charge

We have detailed the complicated story of Yusuf Bey IV, the heir to the Black Muslim empire in Oakland, California. Now, with a hat-tip to Little Green Footballs, Yusuf Bey IV appears to have now gone one step too far in his blatant contempt for law and order. According to the San Francisco Chronicle and the Oroville Mercury Register, Bey has now been charged with attempted murder.

On Thursday night, he was thrown out of a strip club in downtown San Francisco, the New Century Theater on Larkin Street. He had arrived with four other men, and according to a police source: "They basically were being entertained by the women and they sort of become a little rambunctious and the management tells them to tone it down."

The club has upstairs private rooms, and Bey and his buddies were in one of these when another dispute arose. Bey's troupe asked for their money back for the private room admission fee, and returned downstairs, when one of Bey's associates tried to grope one of the female entertainers.

Lieutenant Leroy Lindo, the police source, said: "That's when the management said, 'It's time for you to go'. As they are leaving, one of the people in the group hauls off and hits a bouncer."

This erupted into a fight, which continued onto the street outside. Bey is said to have got into his car, a BMW with the registration plate "DR BEY", and then drove into one bouncer, narrowly missing another bouncer. His car was discovered in a nearby alley, shortly afterwards, and Bey was arrested.

A jail official said yesterday that Yusuf Bey IV is currently being held at the San Francisco County Jail for attempted murder.

Although he is now only 20 years old, Yusuf Bey IV was already on his way to becoming a hardened criminal. He is currently awaiting trial on a number of charges. These, and his attending strip clubs, give to the lie to his self-proclaimed Muslim "piety", and his condemning of the Yemeni Muslim store-owners for their hypocrisy for selling alcohol. He recently said of these: "In their home countries they'd be killed for selling alcohol."

Last year, in Solano County, he tried to get credit finance for purchase of a vehicle, using someone else's identification. He is awaiting a trial for charges of grand theft of a vehicle, obtaining property under false pretenses, and "other counts".

He is awaiting trial in connection with incidents which happened on the evening of Wednesday, November 23, when a group of a dozen or so well-dressed black men entered stores selling liquor in Oakland, and began to smash up the property within. The black men told the owners of the San Pablo Liquor stare and the New York Market not to sell alcohol to black men as they rampaged.

In the early hours of Monday 27 November, another shop, owned by a Yemeni Muslim, was set alight. Later that day, the store clerk was found locked in the trunk of a car in the parking lot of a branch of Safeway in El Cerrito.

Bey was identified with five other men from CCTV footage of the liquor-store vandalism and an arrest warrant was issued. On Thursday January 12, Yusuf Bey IV and others from the Black Muslims peaded not guilty on charges of vandalism, false imprisonment and hate crimes.

Last June, police were called when Yusuf Bey IV was arguing with a movie theater manager, where he was seen waving a toothpick in the man's face. Bey tried to leave without giving his name, and when he refused to cooperate with a female officer because of her gender, he was arrested. He was scheduled to appear at the Superior Court in Freemont on March 30, charged with resisting arrest. He had failed to turn up for this and previous court hearings , and a $5,000 warrant was issued for his arrest.

On April 6 he was arrested while driving his BMW near Your Black Muslim Bakery, one of the establishments formerly owned by his father, Yusuf Bey, founder of the Black Muslims. Yusuf Bey IV had his car towed away, but it seems he had got it back by Thursday evening, when he appears to have tried to use it as a murder weapon.

When the head of the Black Muslim Empire died in 2003 of stomach cancer, Yusuf Bey senior was himself awaiting charges of sexual assault of a minor. We gave a brief history of Yusuf Bey's empire and questionable tactics in November last year.

Born Joseph H. Stevens in Greeneville, Texas in 1935, Yusuf Bey senior moved with his parents to Oakland at the age of 5. He joined the US Air Force at age 17, and after four years he was honourably discharged. He became involved with the Nation of Islam in 1964, and became a devotee of Elijah Mohammed. He set up the Your Black Muslim Bakery in 1968 in Santa Barbara, before transferring its operations to East Bay in 1971.

As well as the lucrative bakery franchise, Bey owned laundries, housing, a school, a security firm, and retail businesses. He also bred several potential heirs. He had a weekly cable show running until shortly before his death called True Solutions, in which he espoused his doctrine of anti-white and anti-semitic Islam. At one stage, he even ran for the mayorship of Oakland.

Following Yusuf Bey's death, a turf war broke out between members of his family, with 51 year-old Waajid Aljawaad Bey, CEO of Your Black Muslim Bakery being murdered in 2004. His rotting corpse was recovered from a shallow grave in the Oakland Hills. In June last year, Yusuf senior's adopted son John Bey survived a gun ambush near his home, though he was wounded in the attack. On October 26, 24 year old Antar Bey, Yusuf Bey senior's son was shot dead at a gas station in Oakland.

After the violence which ensued from this turf war, late last year the then 19-year old Yusuf Bey IV assumed control of Your Black Muslim Bakery.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 3:39 PM | Comments (0)

UK: Muslim Bomb Suspects Deny Guilt

On 21 July, exactly a fortnight after devastating attacks against London Transport on 7/7, in which 52 people were killed by four British Muslims, further attempted attacks were made against London Transport. Despite causing minor damage, the failed suicide bombers did not manage to kill themselves, let alone anyone else. The four individuals then fled from their various locations, and all but one were visible on CCTV cameras.

Yesterday, according to the UK Telegraph, the four suspects appeared in court via a videolink to London's Old Bailey, and denied any involvement with the attacks. They, along with a fifth man, 32-year old Manfo Kwaku Asiedu of Finsbury Park, north London, pladed not guilty to charges of attempted murder.

Asiedu, a Ghanaian, was arrested in connection with a discarded rucksack found at Little Wormwood Scrubs on 23 July, two days after the attempted bomb attacks.

24-year old Yassin Hassan Omar, born in Somalia, was arrested in the Hay Mills area of Birmingham, after his parents recognised him from the CCTV image (top left in picture). He had apparently tried to blow up a train on the Waterloo Line underground, near Warren Street, north central London. Police used a Taser gun to stun him at his arrest. He had arrived in Britain agaed 12, when his family came as refugees. For the past six years he lived in New Southgate, north London, and apart from spells in prison, had received 24,000 pounds ($43,816 US) in housing benefit.

The porcine individual top right in the picture is 27-year old Muktar Said Ibrahim, who apparently tried to blow up a number 26 bus in Hackney Road in East London. He had come to Britain from Eritrea in 1996 when his family claimed refugee status. He finally became a British citizen in September 2004. He lived with his family in Stanmore, on the edge of North London, but was a resident of Stoke Newington, north London, before his arrest.

23-year old Ramzi Mohammed (bottom right in picture), from Kensington, pleaded not guilt to trying to detonate a bomb at the Oval tube station, south London.

27-year old Hussain Osman of Stockwell, south London (bottom left) pleaded not guilty to trying to blow up a train near Shepherds Bush station, west London. After the failed bombings, he fled to Italy, where he was arrested at his brother's apartment in Rome on 29 July. In custody in Italy, he claimed that the rucksack was packed with flour and was only meant to scare people. He originally came from Ethiopia. He was deported back to Britain on September 23. Also known as Hamdi Isaac, Osman had claimed earlier to be a Somali to obtain a British passport.

All five were additionally charged with conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions. According to Qatar's Peninula, a sixth man, 23-year old Adel Yahya from Tottenham, north London, was remanded to another hearing in June. He was charged with conspiracy to cause explosions likely to endanger life, but did not enter a plea. According to the BBC, Yahya was arrested on Tuesday, 19 December after he arrived at Gatwick airport on a flight from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

It is widely believed that the reason why the rucksack bombs failed to explode is because the explosives they were made from, acetone peroxide, were created at the same time as those prepared for the 7/7 bombers. The rucksacks did not cause the devastation of the earlier attacks as the chemical rapidly deteriorates, and had consequently lost its "fizz".

In additional news, the Telegraph reports that a 20-year old man, Mohammed Atif Siddique or Asif Siddique, has been released without charge. We reported when he was arrested on April 13 in Alva, Clackmannanshire.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 2:18 PM | Comments (0)

Pakistan: Conversions Through Intimidation Show Face of Islam

Do you want to know how the Religion of Peace expanded? Well, there is the kidnapping of non-Muslim women and forcing them to "marry" Muslim men, and then there is this: Where Christianity faces a fight to survive

A recent convert from Christianity to Islam, Bashir Masi knew nothing of his new faith.

He could not describe a single tenet of Islam, nor remember the Qalma, the Muslim declaration of faith, nor name his own children, who have adopted Muslim names.

He, his wife Amna and their six children, converted to Islam 15 days ago. "We are happy now we are Muslim," said Mr Masi, 45. "It is a great religion."

The Masis's conversion is typical of the vulnerability of Christians in Pakistan, many of whom live under the threat of persecution, death and who have suffered waves of violence directed against them and their churches.[...]

If Muslims ever become strong enough to be dominant in our countries, this will be our fate.

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 9:48 AM | Comments (0)

US: Conservative Blogs Suffer Saudi-Based Cyberattack

As Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs said; "I wonder why we never see these kinds of attacks on "progressive" blogs?": Cyber Attack

According to a report on the conservative blog LittleGreenFootballs, the hosting service for a group of popular conservative blogs was hit on Friday with a Denial of Service Attack originating in Saudi Arabia.

Host Matters, the hosting company effected, posted announcements indicating that a specific website had been targeted. So far no website has been named, but the company has promised to remove the target website from their server until a solution can be found.

As a sidenote, a lot of the top US-based conservative blogs are hosted at Hosting Matters.

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 9:31 AM | Comments (0)

Pakistan: Muslim Council Will Kill Those Who Report Honor Killings

Dir is a region in North-West Frontier Province Pakistan, lying north of Peshawar and adjoining the border with Afghanistan. In 1996, Dir was split in half into two administrative regions, Upper Dir and Lower Dir.

Upper Dir is, socially, backwards beyond belief, and the roles of women are, as in other tribal regions, no better than chattels. It was recently reported that the literacy rate for women in the agency is only 6%. The overall literacy rate is only 21% in the region. Only some children attend school, and in 2001, a child was given the death sentence in Upper Dir. Ali Sher is now 15, and still in jail.

The local culture continues in spite of the national government, and often in defiance of its rulings. The most extreme example comes in a report from Pakistan's Daily Times. In Nihag-Dara district, Wari, as in many tribal areas of North-West Frontiier Province, the local law is upheld by elders of the Muslim village council, or jirga. 15 days ago, the jirga of Nihag-Dara, Upper Dir, announced a decision which said that honor-killing was a permissable act.

The Wari police state that 150 people attended this jirga, called by members of the Painda Dhel tribe. However, Malik Faiz Muhammad, one of the jirga members, claims 4,000 people, representing the entire region, were present. Some union council representatives also attended the jirga.

Nationally, honor-killing was outlawed officially a year ago, as we reported earlier, along with "compensation marriages" called vani in Punjab province, and swara in North-West Frontier province.

The Pakistan Human Rights Commission (HCRP) recently stated that about 1,000 women are killed every year in Pakistan in these honor-killings, but such cases rarely get reported.

The announcement of the fatwas made by jirgas, such as those concerning swara (vani) marriages, where girls are given away in forced marriages as a compensation for a crime committed by a male relative, has created a reaction of disgust in the more civilised parts of Pakistan. The decision to condone honor killings has taken national reactions into consideration, as it also allows the killing of anyone who reports on a jirga decision on honor-killing.

Yesterday, Malik Faiz Muhammad said: "We stick to our verdict that honour killing is permissible and those who commit it will not be liable to any punishment. We will also not allow the aggrieved party to report the case to the police or file the case before a court. We will kill those who will violate the jirga verdict."

Muhammad said that the jirga itself would do its investigation of cases which would merit homor-killing, and would carry out the punishments without outside interference. He claimed that members of the jirga were prepared to sacrifice themselves to uphold the verdict.

The federal government has asked the North-West Frontier provincial government to investigate the jirga's decision. The senior policeman for the Upper Dir district said the government would not accept the "illegal" verdict of the jirga, and saying all similar cases would be registered and dealt with under federal law.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 8:26 AM | Comments (2)

April 28, 2006

Sweden: Islamic Association Demands Special Laws For Muslims

News from The Local and Associated Press via Nasdaq News reports that Mahmoud Aldebe, who is head of the Swedish Muslim Association, (SMF), has written to Sweden's parliamentary parties, demanding special laws for Muslims in Sweden.

The SMF is Sweden's largest Islamic group, which represents 70,000 Muslims. Aldebe (pictured) sent the letter yesterday, in which he said that imams should be allowed into state schools to give Muslim children separate lessons in Islam and also the languages of their parents' countries. He demanded that swimming lessons in schools should have boys and girls segregated, and also said that in cases of divorce for Muslims, these should be approved by an imam. He also demanded that separate burial grounds be provided for Muslims.

On the swimming pools issue, he advised that laws should force swimming pools to have female-only evenings once a week, because Muslim parents would not allow daughters to bathe with males for "ethical and religious reasons." He wrote: "Many Muslim girls finish their high school education without knowing how to swim at all."

Aldebe's letter was vehemently dismissed by Jens Orback, Sweden's integration and equality minister, who said: "We will not have separate laws in Sweden. In Sweden, we are all equal before the law. In Sweden, we have fought for a long time to achieve gender-neutral laws, and to propose that certain groups should not be treated like others is completely unacceptable.....We have freedom of speech, we have the right to opinions and we have the right to make proposals - but if a law is going to be changed, it must be the same for everyone."

Orback said he had spoken to representatives of the Swedish Muslim Council who said they did not agree with Aldebe's proposals. Speaking on Swedish TV's Rapport programme, Orback was asked if Aldebe's suggestions added fuel to the agenda of racists. He replied: "I think it is very problematic and unfortunate that people who have been in Sweden for so long make proposals such as this that are so opposed to our intentions, when we are fighting for women's rights and the right to divorce."

There are five Islamic organisations in Sweden. Abd al Haqq Kielan (formerly Leif Larsson) converted to Islam thirty years ago, who believes Islam should be integrated within Swedish society. He is now the chairman of the Swedish Islamic Association. He was scathing of Abdele's propositions, calling them "absurd", and suggested they would lead to a "sort of Mullah-rule that people are scared of."

"He is lucky if he speaks for 70 of his members," Keilan said. "If you open the gate for separate laws for different minorities, where will it end? We have to have one law for all citizens. That is so obvious that I don't understand how he can come up with such an idea."

Other Muslims criticised Aldebe's suggestions. Mariam Osman Sherifay, a lawmaker within the ruling Social Democratic Party, said: "If we are going to live here, we should adapt to the laws that exist - we should not have a separate law just because we have a different faith."

The leader of the Liberal Party, Lars Leijonborg, wrote: "Sweden has equality between men and women. To introduce exceptions for Muslims so that women can be oppressed with the support of the law is completely unacceptable to me."

Following the widespread condemnation of his proposals, Mahmoud Abdele earlier today changed his tune. Speaking on Swedish radio, he said that he only intended that Swedish laws should be altered to make Muslims feel safe in Swedish society.

Aldebe is being disingenuous, as he is known to advocate Sharia law in Sweden. His group, according to EuroIslam has the following objectives: "The specific missions of the SMR are the creation of mosques and Islamic schools, inform non-Muslims about Islam and to take an active part in public debate."

In 2004, he said that there was not "a single Muslim in Sweden who deserves to be called terrorist". He obviously was not then aware of Mirsad Bektasevic.

UPDATE: Saturday, 29 September: Sweden's The Local reports that another Islamic organisation, the Muslim Council of Sweden, an umbrella body for smaller Muslim groups, has joined condemnations of Mahmoud Aldebe's suggestions. Mehmet Kaplan, the Council's spokesman, told newspaper Svenska Dagbladet that: "This has absolutely no support in any of our organisations. It's a non-issue for us. I have also spoken to the vice-chairman of the Swedish Muslim Association and he didn't know anything about it either. This is sad. There are other important issues which are now being obscured."

Yesterday a crisis meeting was held by other Muslim groupings, who confirmed they did not support Aldebe's ideas.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 9:12 PM | Comments (0)

Palestinian Sector: Muslims Threaten YMCA

The YMCA, or Young Men's Christian Association has been in existence for more than 150 years, since it was founded in London on June 6, 1844, by George Williams (1821 - 1905) a draper and Christian. The first YMCA hostel initially provide lodgings for migrant workers to London who were in need of accommodation. The YMCA movement became popular, and by 1854 had spread to 7 nations, including Canada and the US. In 1878, the first YMCA was opened in Jerusalem, and in 1890 had a Hebrew-speaking branch and an Arabic speaking branch in Jerusalem, and another in Jaffa (Haifa).

The YMCA's policy is to accept people regardless of their faith, and in modern-day Palestinian territories, there is an active branch of the YMCA in the town of Qalqilya on the edge of the West Bank, which lies now almost surrounded by the 8 meter high wall (pictured). This wall has turned the town from one formerly popular with Israelis, who shopped there, to a hub of Palestinian extremism.

News from today's UK Daily Telegraph reports that the YMCA at Qalqilya is under attack from Islamists in the local region. Muslim clerics are trying to close the branch. Recently, firebombs were thrown into the Qalqilya YMCA. A letter, written by Muslim clerics to the local council, demanding closure of the branch, stated: "The presence of this office will lead to negative consequences."

The deputy mayor of Qalqilya, Hashem al Masri, is a member of the Islamist group Hamas, and hates the notion of Christian influence in the region. He said that merely the group's name was a "challenge to the city...I know it is not civilized to attack it, but it is a challenge to the feeling of our people."

Despite its name, the YMCA is actively involved with work for local people, irrespective of their Muslim faith, and particularly in assisting children. The Qalqilya branch gives wheelchairs and prosthetics for kids, and has an annual budget of $85,000 for this purpose. Throughout the West Bank, the YMCA organisation has offices which employ 140 Palestinians, with 84 of these being Muslim.

We reported on the anti-Christian persecutions in Palestinian areas. 60 years ago, Christians numbered 20% of the population, but now make up only about 2%. With these attacks, the Christians have felt obliged to move away, to be replaced by Jewish settlers (there are 23 Israeli settlements in the area) and Muslims with large families.

Though the YMCA has a strict policy of non-proselytizing of Christian faith, Norris Lineweaver of YMCA West Jerusalem agreed that their name alone attracted negative attention: "The problems arise because of an unfortunate misunderstanding about our role. We are there simply to help the local councils, whether they are Muslim or Christian, with any youth development programmes they might have."

The West Bank YMCA would not speak to Tim Butcher, the Telegraph reporter, because of the current sensitivities. Marouf Zahran was the mayor of Qilqalya until ousted by Hamas last year, but said that the council and other groups made no effort to stop incitement against the YMCA.

One local YMCA worker said Christians and Muslims should cooperate, saying: "We live together - Muslims and Christians."

UPDATE: May 4. MEMRI has more details of the fatwa against the Qalqilia YMCA, which was signed by 40 clerics and dignitaries.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 8:25 PM | Comments (0)

Indonesia: Muslim Sect Comments Land Minister In Hot Water

The man pictured left is Maftuh Basyuni, Indonesia's religious affairs minister. We reported on March 10 that Maftuh Basyuni had declared that the sect of Muslims known as the Ahmadi or Ahmadiyya (called Jemaah Ahmadiyah in Indonesia) should renounce their claim to call themselves Muslims. "If they refuse to do so, they should return to Islam by renouncing their beliefs," he said to Koran Tempo.

He also said that he intended to limit the number of religions which could deemed legally acceptable faiths - Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confuscianism.

In Indonesia, there are 200,000 members of the Ahmadiyah sect, which was founded in India in 1989. The sect eschews violence and claims that its founder, Hadrhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, is the Mahdi, or a prophet. Traditionally Muslims believe that Mohammed is the last prophet, and therefore the Ahmadi have suffered discrimination and violence throughout the Muslim world.

In Pakistan, to propagate the Ahmadi faith is illegal under articles 298-B and 298-C of the penal code, and to breach these rules, a three-year prison sentence can be given. In Saudi Arabia, Amadiyya members are banned from attending the hajj at Mecca. In Bangladesh, violence and discrimination is led by factions ties to the Islami Oikya Jote, one of the four coalition government parties.

We reported in September that more than 1000 people converged upon the neighbourhood of Sukadana in West Java where an Ahmadiyyah community lives, and attacked buildings. No people were injured by the crowd, which nevertheless damaged more than 70 houses, and also six mosques. Only five of the attackers were arrested.

When Maftuh Basyuni said that Ahmaddiyah had no right to call themselves Muslims, there had been another attack upon an Ahmadi community in February, the previous month. This happened in Lombok, in Nusa Tenggara Barat. 100 Ahmadis were living as a result of the attacks, in which their homes were burned down, as refugees in Mataram. Some wanted asylum in Canada and Australia.

One of the refugees said to New Straits Times: "It's ridiculous to suggest that we form a new religion. We are Muslims who pray five times a day, fast during Ramadan, and believe in the same Quran."

The September attacks at Sukadana had followed a fatwa by the Indonesian Ulama Council (MUI) which had in July reissued a fatwa which had originally been issued in 1984. This declared that all forms of pluralism and liberal interpretations of Islam were forbidden, and led to renewed attacks upon the Ahmadis and also the Islam Liberal Network, as well as increased hostilities towards Christians. The MUI fatwa chairman, Kiayi Ma'ruf Amin, claimed at the time of Maftuh's announcement that the Jemaah Ahmadiyah is outside the fold of Islam.

But now, according to AKI, Maftuh Basyuni is under fire for his condemnations of the sect, and a religious freedom campaign group, the Alliance of Religious Freedom has said they are planning to register a police complaint.

The Alliance of Religious Freedom asked the Religious Affairs Minister to apologise for his comments on April 17. This letter was co-signed by 300people including Islamic scholars, journalists, artists and members of NGOs. It gave Maftuh Basyuni one week in which to declare a retraction of his statement and to proclaim a commitment to religious pluralism in the country (which is enshrined in the nation's constitution), or face legal consequences. The deadline ran out this Tuesday (25 April).

Dawam Rahardjo, a Muslim scholar and "moderate" who heads the alliance, said that the group was going to go to the police, but did not have a date for such action. He said the Alliance would petition the Indonesian president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. "A minister must protect all religious believers from discrimination," Dawam said.

Lawyer Uli Parulian Sihombing of the alliance said: "Based on the five principles of the Pancasila (constitution/state ideology), he must understand that Indonesia is a country which allows its citizens to choose their own religions and beliefs."

Another lawyer, Saor Siagian, said the statement by Maftuh could lead to infringement of minority faiths' rights. He said the group's lawyers were considering suing Maftuh Basyuni for defamation.

Dawam Rahardjo called upon the largest Indonesian Muslim groups, the Nahdlatul Ulama (with 40 million members) and Muhammadiyah (with 30 million), to also support the campaign to have the minister disciplined.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 7:25 PM | Comments (0)

Vienna: Iran Rejects Demand to Stop Uranium Enrichment

Going to the United Nations Security Council is the equivalent of sacrificing virgins to the sun god: it doesn't help a darn, but you still do it because "it is the right thing to do." I despair the United States is allowing an enemy obtain nukes because the American people is too morally confused to support stronger action: IAEA: Iran Defying Call to Stop Enrichment

VIENNA, Austria Apr 28, 2006 (AP)- Iran has defied a U.N. Security Council call to freeze uranium enrichment and is stonewalling efforts to determine if it is developing nuclear arms, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Friday in a report that strengthened Western calls for sanctions.

The United States and its allies reacted quickly, with Britain pledging to introduce a resolution next week for the council to issue a mandatory order for Iran to abandon uranium enrichment. Russia and China, however, have sought to avoid a showdown and opposed escalating pressures on Tehran.

President Bush said "the world is united and concerned" about what he called Iran's "desire to have not only a nuclear weapon but the capacity to make a nuclear weapon or the knowledge to make a nuclear weapon."

But, reflecting the lack of consensus on punishing Iran, he added, "I think the diplomatic options are just beginning."

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was defiant, saying that whatever resolution the Security Council adopts, it cannot make Iran give up its nuclear program. "The Iranian nation won't give a damn about such useless resolutions," he told a cheering crowd in northwestern Iran.[..]

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 6:01 PM | Comments (0)

Pakistan: F-16's Sale Scaled Back

Good. Lower-quality weapons to our eventual, if not current, enemies. Even if we are the ones selling them the planes: Pakistan scales back F-16 purchases from US

Pakistan has scaled back by half its ambitious planned purchase of new fighter planes from the US to help pay for the relief costs of last year's devastating earthquake.

Foreign secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan announced on a visit to Washington that rather than buy new Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters, Pakistan would purchase "a mix" of old and new planes. The plan would be "far less ambitious", he said without giving figures.

Western diplomats familiar with the US-Pakistan discussions said Pakistan was now likely to spend US$1.6bn-US$1.8bn on the F-16s, down from as much as U$3.5bn.

Note: Pakistan's real reason for scaling back the purchases is an attempt to "punish" the U.S. for its nuclear deal with India. The result, of course, will be a Pakistan who falls farther and farther behind India in the defense sphere.

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 10:34 AM | Comments (0)

April 27, 2006

Indonesia: Non-Muslims Must Face Islamic Punishments In Aceh

We reported back in December that, a year after the devastating tsunami of 24 December 2004, the Islamic Sharia police, or Wilayatul Hisbah were busy arresting people for breaking Islamic rules on Aceh. They particularly blamed the evil nature of women for the tsunami, and one of the sharia judges from the Islamic courts, Dr Marluddin Jalil said: "The Holy Koran says that if women are good, then a country is good."

The Islamification of Indonesia really began in earnest in Aceh. We reported on March 15 that a couple were caught in a car together at night by members of the Wilyatul Hisbah near the village of Lambhuk (Lombok) in Banda Aceh. Amni bin Ahmad Marzuki, a leading figure in the Aceh liberation movement or GAM was in the car with a French aid worker. He was due to appear at the Sharia Court in Banda Aceh, but his companion, being a non-Muslim was exempt from punishment. Such "leniency" for non-Muslims is now set to end.

An article in AKI relates that, due to a ruling by state secretary Yusril Ihza Mahendra of the Indonesian government, the rights of non-Muslims to escape the more extreme punishments of sharia law will be abolished, at least in one district of the province of Aceh.

Yusril announced that a new Islamic Court would be set up in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam district. Non-Muslims who are accused of crimes like theft and adultery will have choice but submit to sharia by-laws. Previously, non-Muslims accused of such offenses would have had the choice of being tried under the national Criminal Code, which has lesser penalties, and does not include punishments such as "stoning for adultery.

Several legislators complained about the subjection of non-Muslims to Islamic rules, (in a country whose constitution declares religious pluralism). But Yusril Ihza Mahendra would have none of that, saying a two-tier system would create legal uncertainty. he said: "Should such freedom be given, non-Muslims will certainly choose to be tried under the Criminal Code, because it carries more lenient punishment."

The Christian-based Prosperous Peace Party (PDS) and the Buddhist Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) have argued that non-Muslims should be iven a right of choice in such matters.

Yusril said that non-Muslims would only be exempt from sharia law in issues of domestic arrangements, such as wealth distribution and business and monetary affairs.

He added details about the Islamic Court would await the drawing up of more bylaws. "It is these that will decide who will be tried under which law," Yusril said. The court is one of the key elements of the current bill on Aceh's administration required under the landmark peace accord signed last August between separatist rebels from the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the Indonesian government that ended a 29 year conflict in the province.

If this is the face of the future in Indonesia, it is not a pretty thing. About 12% of people in Indonesia are not Muslim, and it is an abuse of their rights, as well as a breach of the terms of Indonesia's constitution, to force Islamism upon non-Muslims.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 10:22 PM | Comments (0)

Bangladesh: Last Two Leaders Of Islamist Terror Group Captured

News from Bangladesh Independent and the Bangladesh Daily Star reports that the last two fugitive members of the seven people comprising the Majlish-e-Shura or executive council of the terrorist group Jama'atul Muhahideen Bangladesh (JMB) were captured yesterday.

Previous members of the shura who have been captured were Abdul Awal, son-in-law of the chief of JMB who was captured from a Thakurgaon bus stand on November 18. Ataur Rahman Sunny was captured in Tejgaon, Dhaka on December 13. On 28 February, Khulna JMB chief Mohammad Rakib Hasan Russell alias Hafez Mahmud, 28 was captured near Baitul Mukarram mosque in Dhaka. Ataur Rahman Sunny's elder brother and head of JMB, Abdur Rahman, was captured in Sylhet in the northeast of the country on March 2. Bangla Bhai, the second in command of JMB, and leader of his own group, JMJB or Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (Vigilant Muslim Citizens, Bangladesh) was arrested on March 6. In an attempt to avoid arrest, Bangla Bhai tried to blow himself up at a house he was besieged in, in the village of Muktagacha, 70 miles north of Dhaka, the capital.

The remaining two members of JMB's Majlish-e-Shura were Khaled Saifullah, and Salahuddin. We reported on March 13 that Khaled Saifullah had norrowly escaped arrest from a house he had been staying at in at Comilla, near the eastern border with India. In the house, security officers discovered a cache of explosives, including 3 live bombs, grenades and detonator powder.

Khaled Saifullah had been JMB's district leader of the Rangpur-Dinajpur region. He was finally captured from the suburb of Konapara in Demra, at Dhaka, the capital in a pre-dawn raid. In the raid, his wife, three children and brother were also arrested, as well as the owner of the house.

Earlier, the other remaining Shura member, Salahuddin had been captured with six associates from Chittagong, in the south east of Bangladesh on Tuesday evening. He was arrested with six other people, and under interrogation, he gave security officers the address of Khaled Saifullah, which in turn led to his arrest a few hours later.

Both individuals had been on the run since August 17 year, when JMB and JMJB had organised a nationwide bombing campaign took place in 63 of the nation's 64 districts. More than 450 bombs went off, injuring at least 100 people and killing two.

Saifullah had been residing in an apartment in the house, posing as a businessman, for one and a half months. Saifullah would not respond at first to calls for him to surrender made by the RAB (Rapid Action Battalion), the paramilitary security group, who had evacuated other residents of the house and cordoned off the area. For a while, RAB members spoke to Saifullah and his brother using a mobile phone. Eventually, Saifullah opened the door, and then tried to jump a wall and escape. He was captured, and the remaining people in the apartment gave themselves up. A computer, CDs and Islamic books were taken away.

The previous day before Saifullah's capture, two JMB activists were arrested at Rupganj in Narayangang district. Mohammad Wasim, 25, and Ali Hossain, 25 were discovered with a large cache of explosives and bomb paraphernalia. This comprised 1 kg each of nitrogen benzene and potassium chlorate, 100 grams of lead azide, 500 grams each of sodium nitrate and sodium azide, 45 detonators, 11 integrated circuit (IC), 24 electric connectors and an explosive measuring scale.

Latest reports from the Bangladesh Daily Star assert that all seven members of the JMB Majlish-e-Shura have had links with Jamaat-e-Islami, one of the parties in the coalition government, or its student wing, the Islami Chhatra Shibir. We discussed in December the links between Jamaat-e-Islami and JMB and JMJB.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 9:52 PM | Comments (0)

Somalia: Islamic Courts And Anti-Terror Alliance Threaten More Violence

Today Somalinet reports that the tensions which have existed since a temporary truce between the militias allied to the Islamic Courts and those allied to the Anti-Terror Alliance are threatening to break out into open bloodshed again.

We reported on March 14 that Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, leader of the Union of Islamic Courts would take over the city of Mogadishu by force. Already the Islamic courts had been acting as vigilantes, destroying sports bars, closing cinemas, and even vandalising a film-dubbing studio. Their militias use violence, and also theft. In November, at least 12 people were killed in a shoot-out when they tried to close one cinema.

The Counter-Terror Alliance, headed by Abdi Nore Siad, was formed in February this year. This group was started to counter the endemic violence in Mogadishu. Between February 18 and Feb 22 this year, a battle between the ALliance and an Islamic militia led by Shiekh Sharif Sheikh Hassan of the Union of Islamic Courts led to 22 people being killed, and more than 120 wounded. The Union of Islamic Courts blame the Alliance as being backed by Ethiopia and the United states. As recently as yesterday, as reported by Somalinet Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed of the Union accused the Alliance of being funded by Israel, Ethiopia and Israel.

A week after Ahmed's announcement on March 14 that the Islamic Courts' militias were going to take Mogadishu by force, they began an insurgency. Islamic militiamen travelled to northern Mogadishu on buses, wearing civilian clothing and carrying concealed weapons. They came to one of the checkpoints at the residential neighbourhood of Galgalato, and jumped from the buses, seized three trucks with mounted machine guns.

A full-scale battle ensued, with Union and Alliance forces pitted against each other, and bringing in reinforcements. By the time a ceasefire was brokered five days later, at least 93 people had been killed, and more than 200 injured, many of them civilians, including children.

Since then there has been constant bickering and threats between the two sides. On April 1 we reported that an attack was made upon an Islamic Court. Two civilians, a man and a woman, were killed in the attack, and a third individual, a male civilian, was injured. The attack happened in a fiefdom of the warlord Muse Sudi Yalahow who is the Somali Trade Minister, and also a member of the Counter-Terror Alliance.

On April 19, following Friday prayers, Sheikh Nur Ollow of the Union of Islamic Courts told followers that it was time for a jihad to be waged against he warlords. Sheikh Mohamed Ibrahim Sulley said: "As it says in the Koran, the fight against those who are promoting hostility and fighting against Islam is a holy war. Any war against the warlords is a holy war and a sacrifice in the name of Allah."

"Let us eliminate these warlords and set up a peaceful administration supported by the vast majority of people in Mogadishu," he said. "Down with the agents of America and down with agents promoting Satanic teaching."

At that time, according to Reuters AlertNet, the two factions were regrouping for war. Shabelle News reported that Abdikasim Salad Hassan (pictured), former president of the government formed in Arte Dkibouti, expressed concern over the mounting tensions between the two groups. He urged citizens to organise and protest against the tyranny of the warlords, who have kept the nation in chaos since Said Barre, the former dictator, was ousted in 19991.

The same day, CBS News reported that the food crisis was worsening in Somalia, as a result of the clashes between warlords and Islamic militias. International aid groups are being forced to operate from neighbouring Kenya because of the threat of violence.

The situation has been uneasy between the Counter-Terror Alliance, which is includes warlords in its leadership, and the Union of Islamic Courts. Yesterday, Mercury News reported that a battle took place at a school in Mogadishu Wednesday, in which at least two people were killed. The fighting again took place in the fiefdom of Muse Sudi Yalahow, the Trade Minister. Islamic militias had taken control of the school, and Alliance members tried to reclaim it. One Islamic militiaman was killed in the fighting, and one teenage boy was killed in the crossfire.

On Sunday (23 April), seven people were killed in fighting between rival militias trying to gain control of a neighbourhood within Mogadishu.

Yesterday, Shabelle News and Somalinet reported that Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, leader of the Union of Islamic Courts held a press conference, in which he reaffirmed his commitment to the cause of the Islamic militias. "The Islamic courts are in favour of the local militias who were devoted to secure their settlement," he said.

Today's report from Somalinet claims that members of the Alliance are gathering weaponry. The Alliance have been purchasing pick-up trucks, and recruiting new fighters. They are concerned to fight the Islamic militias, who wish to establish theocratic rule in the country. They claim they wish to defeat "terrorist cells in the country". Members of Al Qaeda have been active in Mogadishu for more than a year, and it seems that their allegiance would be toward the Union of Islamic Courts. Western intelligence reports speak of the "creeping Talibanization" of the nation and state the Islamic Courts are potentially harbouring terrorists and training foreign fighters.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 8:50 PM | Comments (0)

Thailand: Islamic Schools To Become Relief Centers

News from ETNA News states that more than a hundred Islamic schools, or pondok, will be adapted to become relief centers for refugees from the violence of the insurgency in the Southern provinces. The redeployment of the schools, close to the border with Malaysia, was announced by the caretaker Education Minister, Chaturon Chaisang.

He announced today that 100 to 120 more pondok will be added to 70 which already run government aid programmes for victims of the violence connected with the current insurgency. More than 1,200 people have been killed since February 2004, which is driven by the desire of Muslim militants to return the three provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala (as well as two districts of Songkhla province) to their original status as an independent sultanate, called Pattani. In the eighteenth century, the Sultanate was invaded by Thailand, and was officially annexed into Thailand a century ago in 1906. Currently the population of these provinces is 80% Muslim.

The relief programme had been initiated last June, and a total of 5,667 villagers have been assisted. The budget for the operation has so far cost 600 million bhat, or $15 million US. Families eligible for relief include those who have had a family member missing for three or more months.

The first family to become recipients of aid was Somchai Neelapajit, a Muslim human rights lawyer, who disappeared on 12 March 2004. We reported on this on January 12 this year, when a senior policeman, Maj. Nguen Thongsuk, was charged with "coercion" with the lawyer's disappearance. He had been seen bundling Somchai into a car in a Bangkok car park, and was given a three year jail sentence.

On January 13 the then-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra (who stepped down on April 4) confirmed that Somchai had been murdered, but did not elucidate. At the time of his abduction, Somchai was chairman of the Muslim Lawyers Association and vice-chairman of the Human Rights Committee, and had taken on the role of defending individuals accused of involvement in the separatist insurgency.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 7:24 PM | Comments (0)

Indonesia: JI Islamist Sentenced To Seven Years' Jail

We reported back on January 2 on the start of the trial of a Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) member, Ahmad Rofiq Ridho, also known as Ahmad Taufiq Ridho.

Ridho (pictured) was accused of assisting Noordin Mohammed Top a JI senior member responsible for financing and recruiting for the terrorist organisation, responsible for the 2002 blast in Bali which killed 202 people, and also the 2005 Bali blast of October 1, which killed 26.

It was stated in the court that Ridho used money to provide accomodation for Top, and also to ferry Top on a motorcycle belonging to Joko Tri Priyanto. This happened after a Jemaah Islamiyah attack upon the Australian Embassy in Jakarta on Thursday September 9 2004. This attack cost 11 lives and wounded more than 200 people.

Ridho was accused of withholding information on the whereabouts of Noordin Mohammed Top and also possession of weapons. Today, Associated Press via the Hindu and the Jakarta Post report that Ridho has been found guilty of sheltering Noordin Mohammed Top, and also the charges of weapons possession.

Ridho was today not found guilty in South Jakarta District Court of plotting to kill Americans and other foreigners in Indonesia, with these charges dismissed. It was alleged that Ridho had gone on the lookout for potential targets for attack, including a Christian school.

The presiding judge, Ardiansah Dali, said: "The defendant ... has been found guilty of having and keeping illegal firearms, hand guns, ammunition or explosives. We also find him guilty of helping hide terror suspect Noordin Moh Top."

Before the trial, Ridho protested his innocence, saying: "I didn't do anything wrong."

During his trial, he admitted meeting Noordin Top, who was born in Malaysia, but denied hiding him.

Ridho had a famous brother, Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi. This individual was a notorious JI member who escaped from a Philippines jail in July 2003. He had been arrested in January 2002 and in April had been sentenced to 17 years' jail for illegal possession of explosives and having fake passports. After 13 weeks on the run, he was killed in a gun battle near Pigkawayan in the Philippines on October 12, 2003. Photographs of his body can be found here.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 6:04 PM | Comments (0)

Iran: Ayatollahs Find President Not Islamic Enough

Oh, the beauty of it. It turns out Mad Mahmoud's (Ahmadinejad) decision to let women into soccer stadiums has angered the real power in Iran, the Ayatollahs. It seems Mad Mahmoud didn't read his Koran well enough, busy as he was promising the annihilation of Israel and the shaming of the West and all. This means the women-in-stadiums decision will be reversed: Iran clergy angry over women fans

Iran's religious right is voicing growing opposition to a decision to let women to watch football matches for the first time since the 1979 revolution.

Four grand ayatollahs and several MPs have protested against the move, saying it violates Islamic law for a woman to look at the body of a male stranger.[...]

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 10:05 AM | Comments (0)

US: Bipartisan Demagoguery and Oil Prices

The "oil debate" going on in the United States today is a national shame. Both major political parties are blaming "Big Oil", without daring look at OPEC, or for that matter, themselves. Worse still, the so-called solutions being proposed are not solutions at all, but feel-good, blame-the-bystander measures bound to make things worse. Thomas Sowell's most recent column touches most of the issues: Oily politicians

If there is anything worse than partisan demagoguery, it is bipartisan demagoguery. Republican leaders have now joined the Democrats in blaming the oil companies for the fact that prices rise when demand expands more than supply.

Prices have been rising under these conditions for thousands of years, long before there were any oil companies. This has happened with everything from food to furs and it has happened among people in every part of the world.

What has also happened in recent times has been that higher gasoline prices bring outraged charges of "gouging" by Big Oil. Some of the most emotionally powerful political words and phrases are wholly undefined -- "exploitation," "greed," "social justice" and the perennial favorite, "gouging."[...]

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 9:23 AM | Comments (0)

Pakistan: Islamic Blasphemy Case Against Danish Newspapermen

Pakistan's delusional sense of its own international importance is exemplified by news from its Daily Times today. A lawyer, Iqbal Haider, who runs Awami Himayat Tehrik or People's Support Movement, has made a petition to the Pakistan Supreme Court, registering a case of blasphemy against a Danish newspaper. The case is registered under Pakistan's 1986 ruling, the Penal Code article 295-C:
Use of derogatory remarks, etc; in respect of the Holy Prophet. Whoever by words, either spoken or written or by visible representation, or by any imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly, defiles the sacred name of the Holy Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine.

The lawyer is expecting Interpol to become involved in arresting those listed in his case, because of cartoons "insulting" the so-called prophet Mohammed, which were originally published in late September by Jyllands-Posten, a leading Danish newspaper. The lawyer seems unaware that Pakistan's own blasphemy laws contravene the International Declaration of Human Rights. But this is Pakistan we are talking about, where honor-killings were only made illegal last year. Anyone found guilty of killing someone for Muslim "honor" can legally bribe the victim's family and walk free, under a clause called "compoundability".

Those listed in the blasphemy allegations are Carsten Juste, the newspaper's editor, and Flemming Rose, the paper's cultural editor, as well one cartoonist. Others listed in the registered case are Google, Hotmail and Yahoo, as well as editors of newspapers in France, Italy, Ireland, Norway and the Netherlands.

The Supreme Court ordered Haider to register the cases with the police, which he did on Tuesday, at a police station in Karachi.

Mushtaq Shah, chief of Karachi police operations, said: "At this stage we can't say whether or not Interpol will be contacted in this matter. We will first investigate and file our report to the government. This is for the higher authorities to decide what to do next."

On April 7, in a written report to the Supreme Court, Makhdoom Ali Khan, a government prosecutor, said that courts in Pakistan have no jurisdiction over cases committed abroad: "The courts in Pakistan...have jurisdiction to try a person for an offence within their territorial jurisdiction in Pakistan."

On March 3 we reported of Iqbal Haider's Supreme Court petition to have internet sites and service providers which allowed blasphemy to be banned from operating, citing article 184(3) of the national constitution.

Haider's current petition seems designed to create political capital for himself amongst his followers in Pakistan, though he would be an international laughing-stock for this act of legal hubris. Yesterday, Haider said: "It is now the government's job to contact the Interpol and bring the offenders to a court of law in Pakistan."

On March 8 we reported that Spain's socialist government was colluding with Pakistan to attempt to make blasphemy against the so-called Prophet (and paedophile) an offence under UN regulations, effectively outlawing any criticism of the perverted monster who founded Islam.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 7:12 AM | Comments (0)

April 26, 2006

Iraq: Translation of Muslim Idol al-Zarqawi's Video

Central Command has posted the transcript of Abu-Mus'ab al-Zarqawi's introductory video. In it, a portly al-Zarqawi (who knew Jihad was a fattening activity) rails against the infidels, the collaborationists, etc. Here are a few quotes, with commentary:

Abu-Mus'ab al-Zarqawi appears, saying, "Where are the lions of Al-Anbar? Where are the lions of Salah-al-Din? Where are the men of Baghdad? Where are the knights of Nineva, and the heroes of Diyala? Where are the brave men of Kurdistan? Where are you lions of monotheism?"

Dear Fat Abu; they are all dead. Sincerely; "Ruy Diaz", named after El Cid.

"O, God! Remove disgrace and injustice from my nation! O, God! Restore back my nation's power and glory!

Fat Abu dreams of Caliphate.

"To the American administration, and at its head the Crusader Bush, and those who surround him from the Jews, the Crusaders, the rejectionists, the apostates and others, we say you will not lead a life of ease in the land of Islam. By God, you will not enjoy your life for as long we still have a beating vein and a blinking eye.

You know, there are ways of changing that state of affairs.

At any rate, here is Fat Abu's transcript, from the U.S. Central Command: What Extremists Say: Zarqawi Video.

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 7:24 PM | Comments (0)

Sweden: Muslim Honor Killing - Killer Gets Only Four Years

A report from Sweden's The Local reports that an 18-year old, whom we shall call X, has been given four years' jail for killing a 20-year old Afghani in an "honor-killing". When he finishes his sentence, he will be deported from Sweden and banned from ever entering the nation again.

The short sentence is due to the fact hat he was 17 when he killed Abbas Rezai in Hoegsby, Smaland last year. The victim was killed in a brutal fashion - he had been beaten with an iron bar and a baseball bat, and doused in hot oil, and stabbed 23 times with a 29 centimetre blade.

The prosecutor, Kjell Yngvesson, claimed in the trial that X's parents and other members of the family had collaborated in the killing. X's mother and father were on trial as well, and Yngvesson asked for them to be given life sentences. It was stated that Abbas Rezai was murdered because he had been going out with the 16 year old sister of X.

Helena Karlsson, X's lawyer, claimed a fight had broken out, and that Abbas Rezai was killed as a consequence of this altercation. She said X had arrived in Sweden when he was 15 and said she was not pleased by the deportation order, saying "he has family here."

The mother of Abbas Rezai was awarded 113,000 Kroner ($15,000 US) compensation. It appears that the mother and father of X were acquitted.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 2:13 PM | Comments (0)

UK: Police Appeal For Help Identifying Islamists

On March 15, the police announced that it had finally arrested five people in connection with the protests which had taken place almost six weeks earlier, outside the Danish Embassy in Sloane Square in West London. We described this demonstration on February 3, the day of the protest.

What had shocked British citizens and politicians alike, and in turn the international community, was that although the demonstrators were carrying placards calling for the death of those who had "insulted" the "prophet" Mohammed, not a single person had been arrested.

Even now, the ineptitude of the British police is apparent, as only three people have been actually charged. Another man was arrested later. So after 11 weeks, and only 6 of the 100 or so demonstrators have been dealt with officially. On February 3, it was decided that to arrest a bunch of Muslims, who comprised members of Al Ghurabaa and others, would have created a bigger problem. The demonstrators had carried placards with slogans such as "Behead Those Who Insult Islam", and invoking a European 9/11. Protesters were openly shouting their support for Bin Laden.

Now, according to the Guardian, the police are seeking help from the public, to do the job they so miserably failed at on February 3. They are seeking to know the identity of the three people pictured below:

The police had taken video footage of the demonstrators, many of whom had covered their faces with Arabic tea towels, and blandly announced at the time that: "arrests, if necessary, would be made at the appropriate time."

These three pictured individuals are, according to the Metropolitan police "wanted in connection with serious public order offences which we believe may have been committed during the protest."

A unit called Operation Laverda was set up to review 60 hours of CCTV footage and to investigate 500 complaints from the public.

What is disgraceful about the case can be found in the BBC Newsnight footage, found here or here where a member of the public is seen trying to complain to a youthful policemen abut the nature of the demonstration. The policeman, who has no intention of arresting the protesters, even arguing their "right to protest" then turns on the citizen, and threatens that if he does not leave in his vehicle, he will be arrested on the spot.

The outrageous charade outside the Danish Embassy had been mounted in response to the publication of cartoons depicting the "prophet" Mohammed.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 8:13 AM | Comments (0)

US: Lodi Muslim Trial - Son Guilty

We reported in March that after many false starts and failed bail applications, the trial of a Muslim father and son, connected to the Lodi Muslim community, had finally got underway.

Now, news has come of the verdicts of the trials, from the San Jose Mercury, the LA Times, Associated Press via the Seattle Times, the BBC and the New York Times that Hamid Hayat, the 23 year old son of Umer Hayat has been found guilty of supporting terrorism, by attending an al-Qaeda training camp in Pakistan. Hamid Hayat (pictured) was also found guilty on three counts of lying to the FBI. His father Umer Hayat, who was being tried in the same courtroom by a different jury, has had a verdict of a mistrial.

48 year old Umer Hayat was also charged with two counts of lying to federal investigators. This relates to statements made to FBI agent Pedro Tenoch Aguilar on 3rd and 4th June, 2005, when he was asking them about Hamid's attending terror training camps in Pakistan. The father and son were arrested last June.

The Lodi Muslim community and its mosque were under attention from the FBI after doubts were raised about its founders, Muhammed Adil Khan and Shabbir Ahmed. These were deported back to their homeland of Pakistan, with Khan deported in August, and 38-year old Ahmed sent back in September.

When questioned by FBI agent Tenoch, Hamid had originally denied having attended a jihadist camp in Pakistan, and was questioned again after a polygraph reading indicated he had not told the truth. An account of the FBI affidavit can be found here.

After a brief interview with an FBI agent who showed Hamid some photographs, the polygraph examination was administered and his answers to the relevant questions were found to be indicative of deception. After approximately two more hours of questioning, Hamid admitted that he had, in fact, attended a jihadist training camp in Pakistan.

9. Hamid admitted that he attended a jihadist training camp in Pakistan for approximately 6 months in 2003-2004. Hamid stated that Al-Qaeda supports the camp and provides instructors for the camp. Hamid later confirmed this camp was run by Al-Qaeda. Hamid described the camp as providing structured paramilitary training, including weapons training, explosives training, interior room tactics, hand to hand combat, and strenuous exercise. Classroom instruction included ideological rhetoric detailing opposition towards the United States and other non-Muslim countries. Hamid stated that during his weapons training, photos of various high ranking U.S. political figures, including President Bush, would be pasted onto their targets. Hamid further stated that he and others at the camp were being trained on how to kill Americans. Hamid stated that although he did not participate in all the available instruction he was aware the other training was ongoing.

10. Hamid advised that he specifically requested to come to the United States to carry out his Jihadi mission.

Now that Hamid at least has been found guilty, the sentencing will follow. He will face a minimum of 23 years' jail, as he is convicted on all charges, or he could face a maximum of 39 years' incarceration.

An account of all the main developments throughout the parallel trials can be found in a special section of the Sacramento Bee. Yesterday they reported that jurors were told to keep deliberating, as both panels were struggling to find unanimous verdicts.

Even after the verdict of guilty was passed on Hamid Hayat, defense lawyer Wazhma Mojaddidi denied that there was evidence to prove her client had attended the Rawalpindi training camp and promised to seek a retrial. She said: "Hamid Hayat never attended a terrorist training camp. This fight is not over."

She also said: "I do believe there were issues with this jury, that there were outside influences that affected their decision." This referred to the evidence of one Naseem Khan, an FBI informant known by the title "Wildcat". This man, who had become a naturalised citizen of the US in 2004 had been used to "target" the imams of the Lodi Muslim community, almost as an "agent-provocateur".

After eight days of deliberations, the jury in the case of Hamid's father, ice-cream seller Umer, the jury announced that it was deadlocked. Judge Burrell dismissed the jurors. The prosecution has not announced if it will seek a retrial for the father, who was only charged of lying.

Hamid Hayat will be sentenced later, at a trial hearing scheduled for July 14.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 7:43 AM | Comments (0)

April 25, 2006

Iran: Increased Child Prostitution In The Islamist Regime

News today from AKI reports that child prostitution in Iran is on the increase, according to sociologist Amanollah Gharaii Moghaddam. He told AKI that the reason for an increase in prostitution as a whole among young people in the nation is a consequence of the widespread unemployment and a failing economy. 28% of young people aged 15 to 29 are unemployed.

Other factors include restrictions on women, along with drug addiction and domestic violence, causing many young women to leave their homes. Amanollah Gharaii Moghaddam claims that girls as young as 12 are now selling their bodies on the streets of Iran's cities.

There are an estimated 300,000 prostitutes in Tehran, the capital, but the sociologist states: "the number isn't so high when compared to the four million unemployed only in Tehran and the five million drug addicts today in Iran."

He also criticises "short-term weddings", which are called sighe in Iran, but are also known as mut'ah elsewhere. We have discussed mut'ah marriages as they occur among Shias in Bahrain, and also how they have been abused in Singapore.

Speaking of these sighe weddings, Gharaii Moghaddam says: "Short-term marriages are a form of legalised prostitution. A state must not and cannot legitimise prostitution."

He suggested that the only solution would be "the creation of a million jobs a year for the unemployed and marginalised that would otherwise end up transforming Tehran into a big brothel."

Bahraini feminist Ghada Jamshir has condemned short-term marriages for encouraging child abuse in her country.

Amanollah Gharaii Moghaddam also states that many young Iranians , generally from poor regions in the east and south of Iran, end up in Pakistan and in the United Arab Emirates, where they end up in brothels. Smuggled out of the country by criminal gangs, an estimated 100,000 women have been sold to brothels in the Persian Gulf.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 8:07 PM | Comments (0)

UK: Muslim Landlord Swindled Council Of Half A Million Pounds

In Oxford, a Muslim landlord and "pillar" of the local community has been jailed for four years for a scam which cost the local council's social services a grand total of 611,000 pounds ($1,092,166), embezzled between 2000 and 2004.

Mommed Faruq (pictured) came originally from Pakistan, where he has a large extended family. The 56-year old landlord had various properties, and would invite his relatives to arrive from Pakistan, where they would then pose as asylum seekers. He had two wives, Sheila Faruq and Khurshid Begum, and last year they were also convicted on charges of harbouring illegal immigrants and conspiracy to defraud. Also his 26-year old daughter, and his 45-year old brother Abdul Qayyum, were convicted last year, but reporting restrictions were imposed until a trial involving five others was completed today.

According to BBC TV local news, a total of 33 members of his extended family were brought into the UK. Faruq was sentenced last year on 28 September to three years jail for harbouring illegal immigrants, and four years' jail for conspiracy, with the sentences to run concurrently.

Being a landlord, Faruq would provide "emergency" accommodation for his relatives, who posed as asylum seekers. For this service he would charge 235 pounds ($420 US) per night. Then he would claim the costs back from the council, states the BBC.

Of the remaining five individuals convicted today, most received suspended sentences. None were recommended for deportation. This was because of human rights grounds (!) and the fact that the illegal immigrants now had children in this country (?).

Detective Chief Inpector Robert Mason, of the Thames Valley police said: "The investigation was particularly difficult due to its sheer scale and with thousands of documents which had to be painstakingly examined. We are looking to recover assets from Mr Faruq under the proceeds of Crime Act but this is still in the early stages. We are looking to recover a substantial sum of money."

A total of sixteen people have now been convicted in the scam. Personally I do not see why every single person involved in the scam is not deported.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 7:42 PM | Comments (0)

UK: Home Office Allows Dangerous Foreign Criminals To Be At Large

We reported on October 31 last year of a major blunder on the part of the UK's Home Office, in which Charles Clarke (pictured), the Home Secretary did not extradite a terrorist wanted in an an Italian terror trial. This happened even though the 24-year old, Farj Hassan Faraj, had been in UK custody since 2002. The unnecessary obfuscation meant the terrorist remained in UK custody at UK taxpayer's expense, and as a consequence the trial in Italy collapsed. If the time between indictment and trial in Italy exceeds three years, no trial can be made.

But the news which is now being revealed about the incompetence of the Home Office, and its head, Charles Clarke, is truly astounding. As a result of idiocy, 1,023 foreign convicts, who should have been deported at the end of their prison sentences, have been set free in Britain, and have managed to disappear.

The figures are highly disturbing, especially considering the Home Office is charged to also protect against terrorism. Those now at large comprise:
3 murderers
9 rapists
5 paedophiles
7 convicted of other sex offences
57 convicted for violent offences
2 manslaughter
41 burglars
20 drug importers
54 convicted of assault
27 convicted of indecent assault

News is found in the BBC, and the Guardian.160 of those who were imprisoned were recommended for deportation as part of their sentencing, but of these, only 5 have been deported.

The matter came to light after an all-party group of MPs started asking questions last year in October. Today, Charles Clarke briefed reporters, and apologises for the errors, which happened between February 1999 and March 2006, but said that he would not resign. He said all efforts would be made to trace those who have since "disappeared".

But when asked if he believed all would be captured, he replied: "There are a large number of people involved. I can't say hand on heart that we will identify where each one of those is, but we are working on that very energetically."

Home Office Minister Tony McNulty said he did not think Clarke should resign, but claimed he was "very, very shocked" by the disclosures.

David Davis, the Conservative shadow home secretary, said: "This astonishing admission by the Home Office is the latest in a long line of failures which have jeopardised the protection of the public....This serial incompetence beggars belief. The home secretary urgently needs to come to the House of Commons to explain the situation."

The Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) has, since the errors were discovered, managed to track down 107 of the total, leading to 20 deportations.

10 years ago, there were 4,259 foreign prisoners in Britain's jails. Now, that figure has rocketed to 10,265, a staggering one in 8 prisoners being foreign.

Former Home Secretary David Blunkett said the situation was "astonishing" and said: "My view is that heads should roll. There are too many people in the system who simply don't care. I fully support Charles Clarke in getting to the bottom of this."

Mr Blair's spokesman said that the prime minister found the situation to be "deeply regrettable", but said: "It is unreasonable to expect ministers to know what is going on in every nook and cranny in their department."

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 5:50 PM | Comments (1)

Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Holocaust Performed On Women

A fact that is too grave to be hastily overlooked, you don't like to title it a holocaust, well what do you call mio of women missing then ?

As I was preparing for this article, I asked a friend who is Jewish if it was appropriate to use the term "holocaust" to portray the worldwide violence against women. He was startled. But when I read him the figures in a 2004 policy paper published by the Geneva Center for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces, he said yes, without hesitation. One United Nations estimate says from 113 million to 200 million women around the world are demographically "missing." Every year, from 1.5 million to 3 million women and girls lose their lives as a result of gender-based violence or neglect.

Now I would call it a holocaust too. Read it all at IHT

Posted by Charles Martel at 1:00 PM | Comments (0)

Greece: Rice's Diplomacy for Islamic Aggression

If you want more proof that our Forward Strategy of Freedom entails betraying our friends for the benefit of our mortal enemies, watch Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice in action: Rice discusses Cyprus amid violent Greek protests

ATHENS, April 25 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Cyprus on Tuesday to support Turkey's efforts to join the European Union, during a visit to Athens marked by violent protests.

As Rice met her Greek counterpart Dora Bakoyanni and Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, riot police hurled teargas at demonstrators trying to march to the U.S. embassy.

Police said 9 protesters were arrested in the clashes, which wrecked at least 10 central Athens shops and 4 cars. No injuries were reported.

Rice, on a five-day trip to Europe that also includes Turkey and Bulgaria, said work needed to be done on Cyprus's 32-year division -- a source of tension in Greek-Turkish relations and a major stumbling block to Turkey's EU hopes.

"We do believe that there needs to be good will and effort by Turkey, but there also needs to be good will and effort by Cyprus," Rice told a news conference.

She urged Cyprus to help Turkey's EU accession and ease the isolation of the breakaway northern Cypriot enclave, which is recognised only by Ankara.

In other words, let's forget about that 1974 invasion thing, and let's reward Turkey for its aggression. Buying the love of your enemies by betraying your friends, how come we didn't think of that before? And also; the Greek Communists already hate us, let's make the Greek patriots hate us too!

I wish I could tell our Greek friends we are doing this in our self-interest. I would be ashamed of backstabbing them, but hey, nation-states engage in that kind of thing all the time, I'll try to get the policy changed in time. But the truth is, I'm ashamed twice over; I'm ashamed about the backstabbing and I'm ashamed this is not in our self-interest either. We are doing the same thing Russia is doing when it supports Iran and gets cozy with China; we are propping up our mortal enemies by betraying our friends.

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 10:31 AM | Comments (1)

US: Michigan Professor In Row With Islamic Students

The Muslim Students' Association at Michigan State University is getting its explosive belts in a twist to demand that Dr Indrek Sven Wichman (pictured) a professor at the University be disciplined for an e-mail that he sent on 28 February when complaining about the MSA's protests about the Danish cartoons of the "prophet" Mohammed. This is the e-mail, unexpurgated, replete with typo errors:

Dear Moslem Association: As a professor of Mechanical Engineering here at MSU I intened to protest your protest. I am offended not by cartoons, but by more mundane things like beheadings of civilians, cowardly attacks on public buildings, suicide murders, murders of Catholic priests (the latest in Turkey!), burnings of Christian chirches, the continued persecution of Coptic Christians in Egypt, the imposition of Sharia law on non-Muslims, the rapes of Scandinavain girls and women (called "whores" in your culture), the murder of film directors in Holland, and the rioting and looting in Paris France. This is what offends me, a soft-spoken person and academic, and many, many, many of my colleagues. I counsul you dissatisfied, agressive, brutal, and uncivilized slave-trading Moslems to be very aware of this as you proceed with your infantile "protests." If you do not like the values of the West - see the 1st Ammendment - you are free to leave. I hope for God's sake that most of you choose that option. Please return to your ancestral homelands and build them up yourselves instead of troubling Americans. Cordially, I. S. Wichman, Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Well he was not exactly praising them, and the comments about "slave-trading" would be offensive, if the issues of UAE child camel jockeys and the forcing of foreign maids into prostitution in Saudi Arabia were not actual cases of modern-day slavery. Not to mention that young girls are sold in markets in Pakistan. So why the fuss?

According to the Lansing State Journal, the odious group, many of whose founding members have been convicted on terrorism-related charges, the Council on American Islamic Relations has decided to step into the arena and mount a public campaign. After their recent notorious support for Islamic Jihad financier, professor Sami al-Arian, CAIR seems now to be looking to re-establish the myth that it promotes tolerance and acceptance. Which it does, but only if you happen to be one of their supporters.

MSA President, Farhan Abdul Azeez, has said that the e-mail was unacceptable from a senior member of a faculty, "especially considering Michigan State's commitment to trying to be inclusive and welcoming and diverse."

Professor Wichman has not been formally disciplined, but according to Terry Denbow, vice-president for University Relations, he has been warned against making "any future communication along these lines." Denbow said the e-mail expressed views "highly inappropriate, antithetical to the institution's values and positions and policies and, to me personally, worthy of an apology."

An investigation by the university found that the e-mail did not constitute a "threat to the integrity of the learning environment."

Late yesterday, Satish Upda, acting dean of MSU's College of Engineering said that Wichman only spoke for himself.

The student's association president went straight to the university authorities the day after receiving the e-mail, and instead of leaving it as an internal university issue, brought senior representatives of CAIR to meetings with university administrators. The MSA president and Dawud Walid, who is executive director of CAIR's Michigan branch, claimed they made the e-mail public because the university had not given them the satisfaction (i.e. draconian punishments) they required.

Dawud Walid said: "They should send out an official statement to the public distancing themselves from these types of statements and confirm for us that they did, in fact, do a formal investigation and that there is going to be some kind of disciplinary action against Dr. Wichman."

It is interesting that CAIR now decides that it is personally involved in the university's internal affairs. But what can one expect from an organisation built on lies and speeches demanding for the US to be subjugated under the rule of Islam?. Omar Ahmed, a co-founder of the group stated: "Those who stay in America should be open to society without melting, keeping Mosques open so anyone can come and learn about Islam. If you choose to live here, you have a responsibility to deliver the message of Islam ... Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faiths, but to become dominant. The Koran, the Muslim book of scripture, should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth."

According to Freepress.com, Walid has said of the incident, in typically emotive CAIR-speak: "It was upsetting, yet sad....It's scary when you think about the power that this gentleman has." Not half as scary as the situation in the US if CAIR ever had the power over federal affairs as they would wish to have.

CAIR have published a statement on Official Wire, in which they quote Dawud Walid as saying: "It is unconscionable for a professor to use his university email account to foster a hostile learning environment for Muslim students. The university needs to take appropriate disciplinary action in this case to demonstrate through its actions that anti-Muslim bigotry will not be tolerated on campus."

What everyone should remember is that the Muslim Students Association were using their educational position to protest against freedom of speech, and inviting foreign politics into what is, essentially, a place of learning. CAIR should respect this, but judging from their history of involvement with terrorism, they cannot give two hoots about other people's freedoms.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 9:40 AM | Comments (2)

Ukraine: Crimean Tartars Embrace Jihad

Crimean Tatars, the descendants of the Moslem hordes who once sacked and pillaged the Greek Christian Byzantine cities on the Crimean peninsula on the northern shore of the Black Sea, are eager to follow in their ancestors' bloody footsteps.

``Crimean Tatar efforts to create an independent state have two main currents: one purely secular and nationalistic, while the other is run by a militant Islamic party, Hizb ut-Takhrir,'' said Alexei Dobychin, a leader of the ethnic Russian community organization, ``Proriv,'' (Breakthrough), reported the Russian newspaper, Izvestiya.

(Russians such as Dobychin have their own conflict with the Ukrainian central government in Kiev, and they would like to make Crimea their own state. The Crimea's population of 2 million is about 75 percent ethnic Russians, or 1.5 million. Tatars number about 250,000.)

Dobychin added that since Hizb ut-Takhrir's appearance in 2003, it has been training paramilitary groups for jihad with the help of Chechens, Jordanians, Moroccans, and Turks.

In 2004, Hizb ut-Takhrir first came to public notoriety when it disseminated leaflets claiming that it is, ``an Islamic political party formed in response to the words of the most high Allah.'' The document also supported the idea to create a world Islamic caliphate. Dobychin added that Hizb ut-Takhrir's violent Islamic ideas are often promoted in mosques, and that they are gaining rapidly among the local Tatar population.

The Tatars invaded Crimea, and all of Russia in the 1200s and 1300s, sacking and leveling Russian and Greek cities. The devastation was some of the most brutal in history. Though the Tatars are historical newcomers to the Crimea, they insist that the peninsula is their `historic' homeland and that they have a right to create their own state.

In 1944, during World War II, Stalin deported them to Central Asia for their collaboration with the Nazis. In 1967, the charges against them were removed, (the extent to which the Tatars were guilty has never been independently evaluated), but they were only allowed to return to the Crimea starting in 1989 during perestroika.

Posted by at 8:38 AM | Comments (0)

Nigeria: Hand Amputation Ordered By Islamic Court

There are 12 states in Nigeria, mostly in the north, which have opted to enforce sharia law. Ironically, the rules of sharia were permitted by President Olusegun Osabanjo in 1999 after the country returned to "democracy" following 15 years of military rule. Of Nigeria's population of 140 million, the number of Muslims and Christians are about the same. When Nigeria was ruled for more than fifty years by British colonial authorities, sharia had been officially banned. We reported last September on a 19 year old man who was sentenced to have his hand amputated for theft of a motorbike in Kano state.

Now, another similar punishment has been ordered by the same judge, Mustapha Sani Saulawa, in Kano state. The details come from SAPA via South Africa's IOL. The man to have his right hand sliced off at the wrist is 20-year old Idris Garba, who was convicted of burglary.

According to prosecutor Lawal Bala Batsari, speaking to reporters, the trial took place in the city of Katsina, and Garba was convicted under section 134 (1) of the Katsina state sharia penal code, and also on the man's voluntary confession.

Garba was arrested in September last year, carrying $120 in cash, a video recorder, clothes and a tape deck.

Batsari said: "The convict pleaded guilty on the first day the case came up for hearing and he insisted that he was sane when he was asked by the judge if he had any mental problem. He has been given 30 days to appeal the sentence if he is not satisfied with the judgement but will remain in prison custody."

Several people have been convicted in Kano state to have their hands amputated, but so far, none have had their hands removed. In the whole of NIgeria, less than a dozen people have actually had their hands amputated.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 8:17 AM | Comments (0)

Spain: Judge Visits Islamist Suspect In Morocco

Judge Juan del Olmo (pictured), who is currently presiding over the indictments of individuals who will stand trial for the Madrid train bombings on March 11 2004, has visited a suspect in Morocco, states EFE and Expatica. The Madrid train bombings, in which 10 nearly simultaneous blasts, triggered by cellular phone, ripped through four raliway carriages, killed 191 people, and injured 1,755 people.

Judge del Olmo went to a jail in Sale, near the capital Rabat, to question Mimoun Belhadj. He is the brother of Youssef Belhadj, who is indicted in the Madrid bombings case. Youssef is a suspected member of the Groupe Islamique Combattant Marocain (GICM), who had fled to Belgium after the bombings, where he was arrested on 1 February last year.

The Judge's visit to Mimoun Belhadj was carried out with the cooperation of the Moroccan authorities. He visited, with Moroccan judges, as part of an international tribunal.

Mimoun Belhadj was extradited to Morocco from Syria, and is currently serving a two-year sentence for terrorism offences. He too is believed to be a member of GICM, and had fled to Belgium with his brother after the Madrid blasts.

According to an earlier report, Mimoun Belhadj is aged 34, and was residing in Sint-Jans-Molenbeek in Belgium. He is in jail in Morocco because of his involvement with the multiple bombings which took place in Casablanca on 16 May 2003, in which 45 people were killed and dozens wounded.

According to Angola Press, Judge del Olmo was accompanied on his visit to interrogate Mimoun Belhadj by Olga Sanchez, a Spanish State Prosecutor.

Judge del Olmo is expected to travel to France to interrogate another suspect.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 7:52 AM | Comments (0)

April 24, 2006

UK Islam: Faces of Fanaticism Part Three

This is an occasional series, which will eventually be compiled into a Special Report. In Faces of Fanaticism Part One we described Abu Hamza, the hook-handed cleric now imprisoned in Belmarsh jail. In Part Two we discussed the life and activities of 42-year old Abdullah al-Faisal, a Jamaican born convert, formerly called Trevor William Forest. He was convicted on 24 February 2003 on three counts of racial incitement and three of "soliciting murder" and sentenced to seven years in jail.

The subject of our third profile is Abu Izzadeen (pictured), another convert of Jamaican origin, who features in our Special Report on the Saviour Sect. That report comprised mainly a transcript of a programme broadcast on the BBC's Newsnight on Monday August 1, 2005, a mere three weeks after the July 7 bombings on London Transport, which killed 52 people and injured hundreds.

Abu Izzadeen's response to the 7/7 attacks, or "martyrdom operations" shocked the country and also the United States when edited excerpts were aired. The documentary led to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) making attempts to be given the unseen footage taken by the BBC. At that time, Abu Izzadeen was a spokesperson for the group Al Ghurabaa which was then tied closely with the Saviour Sect. So far, Crown Prosecution Service still has not made a decision to prosecute Abu Izzadeen. The Times today said that charges "may include solicitation to murder and withholding information about acts of terrorism".

The Saviour Sect and Al Ghurabaa were directly descended from Al Muhajiroun, the Islamist group formerly led by Omar Bakri Mohammed. Izzadeen was interviewed by Richard Watson. This is an excerpt:

RW: "Are you willing to denounce, right now, the London bombings which killed so many people?"
AI:"No".
RW: "Why not?"
AI: "I would never denounce Muslims".
RW: "This was murder"
AI: "No. Mujahadin activity."
RW: "It's murder. Innocent people have died."
AI: "I'm sorry- when you bomb Muslims in Afghanistan, and I saw houses....I saw women and children murdered, on a huge scale. Not fifty, there was carpet bombing in Afghanistan. Nobody called for the denounciation (sic) for the murder of Muslims."
RW: "People like you, with the views you hold, you're vulnerable to becoming suicide bombers. What do you say about that?"
AI: "Vulnerability, I believe it's a weakness as long as understanding. What would I say about those who do suicide operations - or martyrdom operations - 'cause suicide is a term coined by the media - they're completely praiseworthy. Martyrdom operations are commonplace - fifteen every day in Iraq ag-"
RW: "Not in Britain."
AI: "Against the British and Americans every day in Afghanistan, all around the world, in Palestine. So it's not something that's unusual. What's shocking, for many, is that it took place on their own doorsteps. But hopefully, that will make many, wake up, and smell the coffee...

The BBC showed film of Abu Izzadeen, taken in January 2001, when he had his face wrapped and covered by an Arab headscarf. He said: "Because I believe America is one of the places where we should be bombing those...er, the Government. There are some Muslims that go to America, because obviously, you know, like firearms is available inside America, to be trained legally. So why not take that opportunity to use, the heart of the enemy that's attacking us."

The following weekend after this broadcast, on August 7 the Sunday Times produced an undercover report of life inside the Saviour Sect, in which it revealed the true identity of Abu Izzadeen as Omar Brooks, a former electrician.

The Saviour Sect and its sister organisation Al Ghurabaa urge followers to shun voting and democracy, but also urge them to claim state welfare benefit. The article reported how individuals within the group who were deemed to be too moderate were beaten up in the street, with the approval of their then "spiritual leader" Omar Bakri Mohammed.

Abu Izzadeen, aka Omar Brooks told his followers at a meeting on July 2, five days before the London suicide attacks, that they had to "instil terror into the hearts of the kuffar" adding: "I am a terrorist. As a Muslim of course I am a terrorist."

He also claimed to his supporters that he did not want to go to Allah while asleep in his bed "like an old woman," He had more dramatic ideas in mind. "I want to be blown into pieces with my hands in one place and my feet in another."

The Sunday Times from today, April 24 reports that Abu Izzadeen is now the head of the Saviour Sect, which also goes under the alternative title of the Saved Sect. Currently, the related group, Al Ghurabaa (meaning "the strangers") is Anjem Choudary. The spiritual leader of the group, Omar Bakri Mohammed, was prevented from re-entry to Britain last year, when he traveled to Syria to visit his mother. He is now living in Lebanon, where he is attempting to start a madrassa.

Izzadeen/Brooks is 31, and was born in Hackney, east London into a Jamaican Christian family. He became a convert to Islam aged 17, and met Omar Bakri Mohammed in the late 1990s. He claims to have traveled to Pakistan, to attend a jihadist training camp. Currently he lives in Leyton, east London, with a wife and three children.

His new name "Izzadeen" means "Might of the Faith". The Times has obtained transcripts of tapes made of recent sermons, in which Izzadeen discusses killing Tony Blair.

In these sermons, given last month, Izzadeen repeats claims he made in July last year, when he called for Sharia law in Britain. He said "all Jews and Christians are going to hell fire." He also praised Mullah Omar, leader of the Taliban, calling him a "winner", ignoring the fact that he is in hiding. He spoke of the current Iraq situation as a Christian crusade.

He stated: "There is a war here. Maybe you don't have weapons, but there is arrests against the Muslim community, there is brutality by the police. It is a form of war against the Muslims here as well.....If I said to you we're going to conquer Rome, or if I said to you, we're going to kill George Bush and we're going to kill Tony Blair, you said to me:'Which come first bro?'" This brought a laugh from his audience.

He said: "Tony Blair is a taghoot (believer of false religions). The British forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, the police in the UK - they are all fighting for the sake of taghoot."

The Saved sect has a website. We noted on January 21 that the group had used the site to issue a fatwa against George Galloway. In the Newsnight documentary from last year, there is film of George Galloway in fear, being physically threatened and taunted by the distinctive voice of Abu Izzadeen.

The following are statements from the website of the Saved Sect:

On the Muslim Council for Britain, referring to their disapproval of the February 3 calls for beheadings in an anti-cartoon protest: "The call of moderate and apostate 'Muslims' upon the Metropolitan Police to take action and arrest the 'extremists' behind the peaceful protests in central London was indeed a call of apostasy and betrayal."

On Christ, who is supposed to be a prophet of Islam: "We can envisage that, if alive in the UK today, Jesus would undoubtedly have supported jihad in Afghanistan and Iraq, as opposed to the capitalist-driven US-led alliance...and would also have been no doubt interned under the Home Secretary Mr Clarke's new terrorism laws, thereby languishing in Belmarsh Prison."

On homosexuals: "Sodomy, bestiality and incest are all crimes that are acceptable in un-Islamic societies....Recently the British government legalised homosexual marriages. It was not enough that they allowed homosexuals to practice their vile filth openly, but they felt the need to take a step further into the pits of humanity."

On mosques: "If we look to the reality of the so-called mosques in the Britain today, hardly any are built by Muslims...therefore, they cannot be considered to be mosques. These halls have become places of corruption, calling Muslims to vote, inviting kuffar MPs and prime ministers, as well as lying about Allah, His Messenger and the religion of Islam. It is even considered to be a form of heresy to call these places Houses of Allah."

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 11:39 PM | Comments (0)

US: Prosecution Claims 9/11 Islamist "Loved" Victims' Pain

News from the Times states that at the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui in Alexandria, Virginia, the prosecution has stated that the accused should be executed for being a "cold-blooded killer".

We described how he sneered at victims, and boasted that he wanted to kill more Americans than died in 9/11 during this trial. On April 22 last year, Moussaoui, a French national, had pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges, related to his involvement with the attacks on 9/11, 2001.

On March 27 we revealed that he had been scheduled to fly a plane into the White House with the UK "shoe-bomber", Richard Reid, who went on to attempt to detonate a bomb in his trainer on a Miami-bound plane on December 22, 2001. The plan for Moussaoui to fly a hijacked plane into the White House was scuppered when he was arrested on August 16, 2001 in Michigan.

As he had already been found guilty, the current trial, which has lasted six weeks, is now deciding on whether or not Moussaoui should receive a death sentence or life imprisonment. On April 3 the jury decided that Mossaoui was "eligible for death" for his conspiracy in the 9/11 attacks. He is the only person to be charged with the attacks on September 11, 2001, which killed more than 3,000 people, when four planes were hijacked to be used as flying bombs.

In the subsequent parts of the trial, following the jury's decision to declare him "eligible for death", the jury has endured harrowing testimonies and recorded phone conversations from people trapped in the World Trade Center before it collapsed.

But even though 37-year old Moussaoui has been under threat of death, he has become more abusive, and totally lacking in remorse, belittling the tears of witnesses and making statements that Muslims should be the next super-power, and that Allah would curse all in the courtroom. His latest outburst, according to the Times, was to shout out: "There is more than one way to skin the American pigs."

The lawyers have now been submitting their final statements. Prosecutor David Raskin said that the convict should be killed by lethal injection because "there is no place on this good earth" for someone who had no remorse for the 3,000 people who died.

Raskin urged jurors to reject claims from the defense that Moussaoui was suffering from schizophrenia, or seeking martyrdom.

Earlier, Gerald Zerkin, a defense lawyer said that Moussaoui was baiting the jury to give him the death penalty, stating Moussaoui's contempt for victims "is proof that he wants you to sentence him to death - he is baiting you into it - he came to America to die in jihad and you are his last chance."

David Raskin told the jury: "He wants you to think Osama bin Laden will be mad at us. Do you think Osama bin Laden gives a damn about what happens here? That is a joke. It is time to put an end to all this. It is time to put an end to his hatred and venom."

Referring to Moussaoui's mocking of the testimony from victims and relatives recalling the 9/11 attacks, Raskin stated: "The defendant rejoices in all that pain...He loved it because he was responsible for it. He loved it because it meant to him 'mission accomplished'."

In breaking news, the defense has claimed that as Moussaoui is actively seeking the martyrdom of the death penalty, he should be sentenced to life imprisonment, where he could endure "the long slow death of a common criminal."

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 8:54 PM | Comments (0)

Saudi Arabia: Rape Victim Jailed Under Islamic Law

News from Agence France Presse, via Pakistan's Daily Times states today that a 16 year old girl has been deported from Saudi Arabia after enduring a six month jail sentence. Her crime was to have been raped by a Saudi national.

The girl, Isma Mahmood, and her 18 year old sister Muna were both born in Saudi Arabia, after their parents were trafficked there 20 years ago, but both have been deported to Pakistan. Their parents came from Multan in Pakistan.

Isma, who was raped in Medina last year, said: "I was the victim, I was raped and molested but I was named as the accused, and the man who committed the crime was not touched."

"He first kidnapped me, dragged me into his car. At first he asked me to sleep with him and offered good money. When I refused and tried to resist, he warned me of dire consequences and raped me in the car."

According to Isma's account, the man said she would be imprisoned if she contacted the police and said that her parent's Saudi "sponsor", who imported her parents via a Pakisani agent, would also ensure the family was thrown out of Saudi Arabia.

Isma did not wish to reveal the sponsor's name, to protect her family. The sponsor also threatened Irma and her sister Muna. "I and my sister went to the police expecting justice, but after a few hours of filing the report the police changed it."

The Saudi sponsor pressured her parents so they they tried to urge Isma to withdraw the charge. Isma said: "My sister Muna tried to help me out but was also arrested and put in prison only because she spoke for me."

They were imprisoned with other migrant workers from other nations, such as Bangladesh, Nigeria, Indonesia and Pakistan, who were charged with prostitution. In jail, they were kept in shackles and handcuffs.

Isma continued: "When I used to protest against the ill treatment they beat me on my back. We were chained all during this period. The only time jail officials removed the chain was during lunch or when anyone went to the bathroom or at prayer time. Once a jail official offered me help and assured me I would be released if I agreed to sleep with him. There was a Pakistani woman who was over 40 years old and developed AIDS in prison, but she remained in chains before she was deported to Pakistan."

We described the work of the Ansar Burney Trust in November, when detailing how they assisted in relocating former child jockeys from the United Arab Emirates back to Pakistan.

Now, this trust is looking after Isma and Muna. The president of the trust told AFP: "It's pathetic that all this happened with Isma at the hands of a fellow Muslim." The trust states that many poor women from South Asia are invited to Saudi Arabia with promises of work as domestic maids, but are subsequently duped into prostitution.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 8:20 PM | Comments (0)

Saudi Arabia: Mosques To Be Electronically Monitored

Today, Italian news agency AKI reported that mosques in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, are to be fitted with electronic equipment to monitor what goes on. The reasons are two-fold, as a security measure, and also for surveillance.

The Saudi Islamic Affairs minister, Saleh al-Sheikh (pictured), was reported in the pan-Arabic newspaper al-Hayat as saying that a Geographic Information System (GIS) would be employed in these places of worship, enabling the authorities "to film the mosque and know all its components and contents."

All mosques in Saudi Arabia are to eventually be fitted with such devices by mid-2008. The GIS systems will enable the preachers, muezzin and worshippers while prayers are led.

AKI states that the authorities wish to see what goes on as Mosques as they "all too often become centres of Islamic fundamentalism."

There is one positive point made in the article. Last week, the Islamic Affairs minister announced that his ministry would be examining the possibility of allowing female preachers.

This certainly would be a positive step, in a country where women are not allowed to even drive vehicles. It is not stated whether or not the GIS monitoring will allow audio, enabling speeches to be recorded.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 8:00 PM | Comments (0)

France: Islam Becomes Center Of Political Row

We reported on Saturday how a book, to be published this week, claims that at least 50 extreme Islamists have been identified by French Frontier police as working in baggage-handling at Charles de Gaulle airport. The news alarmed the political establishment, prompting Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy to visit the airport, which is 14 miles outside Paris.

The author is Philippe de Villiers (pictured), and his book is entitled The Mosques of Roissy. Roissy is a name given to the airport. The 59-year old author is not just a scribe. He is head of a political party, the Mouvement pour la France, of the right wing, and was born a Viscount. He is a deputy in the French National Assembly. In 1981, he resigned from a political post, because he would not work for Francois Mitterand.

Now, Agence France Presse, via Expatica reports that his claims have ignited a political storm. Sud Aerien, an airport workers' union called his disclosure "a political stunt by a future candidate." The Socialist Party and the French Council of the Muslim Faith condemned de Villiers as an "Islamophobe".

The Mouvement pour la France garners support from the Catholic and nationalistic participants in French politics. Though in previous elections having a low vote, comprising 5 to 8 per cent of the electorate, it seems that M. de Villiers is working towards a bigger electoral result in next year's elections. Already his party is characterized by its opposition to the European Union. Their slogan is "Giving Back France".

De Villers' book describes Islam as a threat to France, and states of the luggage-handling facilities at 'Roissy' that they employ "predominantly Muslims and are organised on ethnic and religious criteria under a mafia-like system."

In an interview yesterday, he said "The presence of Islamic radicals is not marginal, it's real, deeply-rooted and dangerous."

One document cited among the evidence which de Villiers produced in his book has been cast as suspicious by one branch of France's security and intelligence services. Pascal Mailhos, director of the Renseignements Generaux told the Interior Ministry in a memorandum that the document was misattributed to his service, and that it contained "several flagrant inconsistencies."

Despite this, and the condemnations from Sud Arien, and also from Dalil Boubakeur of the French Council of the Muslim Faith, we showed on Saturday that the true figure for the suspect Islamists was admitted by Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy was in fact higher than the 50 claimed in his book. Sarkozy admitted there were 122 individuals who were "more or less suspect".

The comments by Pascal Mailhos appeared in the notoriously left-wing newspaper via a leak. Dalil Boubakeur, who is also imam of a mosque, had said of Villiers' comments concerning the airport security and style of union affairs, said they were "an outrageous caricature" of Islam, and demanded an investigation.

The furor over the book came as the state-owned operator of the airports around Paris announced that it was preparing for possible privatisation, should the government consent. Last Friday, the finance ministry announced sales of shares in the group.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 5:52 PM | Comments (3)

Egypt: Triple Bombing By Suspected Islamists Kills 24

News comes today of a tripe-bomb attack at Dahab, a Red Sea coastal resort in Egypt, 40 miles north along the same stretch of coast as Sharm el-Shaikh, where on July 23 last year 88 people were killed in a multiple bombing. That incident had the highest casualties of any other terrorist attack.

The first Dahab blast happened after 7.15 pm local time in a market area near hotels, followed two more in quick succession. The latest reports as published in the Malaysia Sun indicated that the death toll is now over a hundred, though the Egyptian authorities claim the number is 90. This figure now appears to be an error, and the actual figure appears to be below 30 for deaths. The news is reported by Reuters, the New York Times, the BBC, the Times and the Malaysia Sun.

Tonight Egypt sealed its borders with Israel, to prevent any potential suspects fleeing there. Initial reports indicate that the bombings were different to the Sharm el-Sheikh attacks, in that they were created by hidden bombs detonated remotely, rather than suicide attacks. The bombs were set off in the resort village of Dahab, popular amongst Israelis for diving and other pursuits, in the el-Masbat district of the city. Twenty ambulances and police rescue vehicles were on the scene. One of the attacks took place at the el-Khaleeg Hotel, and the Hilton Hotel is said to be damaged. Body parts were strewn in the street. Eye-witnesses said they saw a cloud of smoke coming from the bazaar.

An eyewitness told Sky News: "We heard the explosion and a very big white cloud in the sky...it was a sort of firework in the air. A few minutes later there were a lot of police cars, ambulances and half-trucks carrying wounded people. They were white bodies. Some were being wrapped in bedsheets and blankets. I would say I have seen approximately 15 to 20 dead bodies passing by."

US President, George W. Bush said in a speech, addressing the perpetrators: "We will bring you to justice, for the sake of peace and humanity."

Ironically, on Thursday (20 April), the Egyptian government had announced that it had arrested 22 Islamic militants, who had been plotting attacks on tourist sites in the region, states the New York Post. According to the Interior ministry the 22 detained were members of a group calling itself the Victorious Group. "Information, documents and interviews.....confirmed that they were studying carrying out terrorist operations against tourist targets, the gas pipeline on the Greater Cairo ring road and some sensitive sites through bombings," the statement claimed. "They were also studying targeting some Muslim and Christian religious figures and....what they called degenerate youth in tourist areas."

The group was led by a 26-year-old humanities student named Ahmed Mohamed Ali Gab, and had gained its information on explosives from downloads on the internet. The statement did not report if the group had succeeded in making any bombs.

We will update as more news arrives.

UPDATE: Tuesday 25 April. The figures for deaths, according to AKI are now down to 23. It appears the Malaysia Sun might have confused deaths and casualty figures. AKI announces today that eight people were arrested earlier today in Egypt, from the source Al Jazeera. Most of the dead were Egyptians, but foreign tourists were among the injured.

According to Channel 4 News today, (25 April) the number of Egyptians arrested is now 10. The Times had photographs of the aftermath and the cleaning up of the blast scenes. These included pictures of men in diving gear, retrieving body parts from the sea.

This photograph is suitably eloquent in conveying an iconic image of terrorism:

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 4:49 PM | Comments (0)

Indonesia: Muslim Activists Tearing Country Apart

We have reported on the growing Muslim religious intolerance in Indonesia, which has led to the introduction of Sharia-based bylaws in local districts in Tangerang and South Sulawesi, and also in Depok, a satellite city outside Jakarta. The government is considering introducing an "anti-pornography" bill, which amongst clauses banning public kissing would also prevent areas of flesh being exposed. As such, it would destroy the tourist-driven economy of the Hindu island of Bali, where Westerners wear bikinis and speedos on the beaches.

The government is doing little to prevent the rampages of the Arab-led vigilante group the Front Pembela Islam, or Islamic Defenders' Front which has attacked the US Embassy, has assaulted Christians, has threatened foreigners, and has prevented churches being built. After the tsunami of December 24, 2004 the Front Pembela Islam intimidated aid workers accusing them of trying to convert victims to Christianity, and threatening death. They frequently smash up pool halls and bars, and gain their money by extortion from businesses. And they appear to be above the law. Recently they attacked the offices of Indonesian Playboy, and despite injuring two police officers in the subsequent violence, no-one was prosecuted.

Despite their catalogue of civil unrest and violence, this group, which launched an anti-US vendetta in 2001, was actually consulted by the Depok city council when they were consulting about their new Islamic regulations.

A report in today's Jakarta Post reports on the current trends among Islamic militants to gain influence in the nation, and the deleterious effects these trends are seen to be bringing to Indonesia. As the articles on Jakarta Post slip off the main pages within 24 hours, I am going to reproduce the article in full, with apologies to the JP.

Intellectuals warn of mob rule, disintegration of nation

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Painting an ominous picture of religious intolerance and national disintegration, a group of activists and intellectuals warned Saturday that Muslim hard-liners threatened to hijack the country's hard-won unity.

Speaking at a one-day seminar here, they said that sharia-based ordinances being adopted by an increasing number of local administrations and the controversial pornography bill represented a danger to national unity.

The seminar featured young intellectuals from the Indonesian Youth Circle, which brings together prodemocracy activists from the country's two largest Muslim organizations, Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, as well as from civil society NGOs and academia.

Speakers said Muslim hard-liners were increasingly gaining sway over mainstream society, as they took advantage of an administration in Jakarta disoriented by newfound democracy and human rights issues.

Weak government, combined with ineffective law enforcement, has allowed mobs to take the law into their own hands with no intervention by the state, the activists said in a joint statement.

They pointed to the recent attack by the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) on the building housing the editorial office of Playboy Indonesia, in protest of what they considered the magazine's un-Islamic content.

An intellectual from Muhammadiyah, Zuly Qodir, said sectarian groups saw the democracy the country has pursued since the 1998 fall of the authoritarian Soeharto had failed to bring about the envisioned prosperity.

"Now the sectarian groups are pressing their agenda to change Indonesia into a theocratic state. They seek to formalize Islam as the state ideology," he said.

The campaign for sharia, he said, is part of the euphoria following the fall of Soeharto, who while in power suppressed all attempts to replace the state ideology Pancasila.

Numerous municipalities and regions have passed sharia-inspired ordinances on public behavior and morality. Tangerang municipality, just outside Jakarta, has adopted a highly controversial prostitution bylaw that critics say degrades women. A similar ordinance is being considered by Depok municipality in West Java, and Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam and several regencies in South Sulawesi have also enacted Islamic bylaws.

The pornography bill being debated in the House of Representatives has been widely criticized for its perceived lack of respect for cultural and religious diversity and gender equality.

Zuly said that because Indonesia was predominantly Muslim, the government found it tricky to deal with religiously motivated matters.

"The government tends to bow to the majority's will," said Zuly, who is also the coordinator of the Center for Security and Peace Studies at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta.

The young intellectuals at the seminar also raised concerns about the use of violence by hard-line groups in pursuing their political agendas.

Zuhairi Miswari from Nahdlatul Ulama said he believed educational institutions had a major role to play in saving Indonesia from disintegration through sectarian conflicts.

"Scientists, teachers and students have to act as role models in showing respect for differences and humanity," he said.

Scientist Effendy Ghazali called on the media to promote tolerance and decency, rather than fanning the conflict.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 3:52 PM | Comments (0)

Thailand: Bombs, Ballots And Shootings In Muslim South

Today, the Bangkok Post reports that during local elections in the troubled south, a bomb went off yesterday near a polling station in Rueso in the province of Narathiwat. The bomb was placed in a gas station toilet 100 metres from the polling unit, but fortunately did not cause any casualties. In 40 constituencies nationwide, by-elections were being held, with most of these in the restive south, the provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat.

In Yala province, a 27-year old Muslim man was killed on the same day after Islamic militants opened fire on his shop. On Saturday in Yala, a bomb went off at a school which also had been used as a polling station. The blast happened shortly after the provincial governor had come to announce that security forces would protect against attacks by militants. When police came to investigate the blast, a second bomb went off. A policeman, Senior Sergeant-Major Somai Rittitham was seriously injured when militants at the scene shot him in the head.

In another incident on Sunday, 43-year old Royalee Yaena, a paramilitary officer, was killed in a drive-by shooting by suspected Muslim militants in Rangae district in Narathiwat. His wife was seriously injured in the gun atack. A senior police spokesman said: "Though the killing was not near a polling station, it's clear that militants are trying to cause trouble during the by-elections." His body is pictured above left, being carried by a soldier.

Last week there elections held for the Thailand senate, and here two, Islamic separatists tried to disrupt proceedings with violence. On Wednesday (19 April) in Si Sakhon district, Narathiwat, as security groups were delivering ballot boxes, militants struck in two incidents. At 7.30 am bombs were thrown and shots were fired at a truck carrying ballot boxes in Ban Pa Nan. Two people were injured by shrapnel, village headman Adiya Balo and a police lieutenant corporal, Pipat Samgmani.

Later at Ban Ai Bue Tae in Si Sakhon, another polling station delivery was attacked, with 34 year old police corporal Sakchai Inlek shot in the head. He died instantly, and six other police were injured. In another part of Narathiwat, a 15 kilogram bomb, located in a mosque in Cho Airong district, was found and defused.

In Pattani, spikes were scattered on Highway 42 in Nong Chik district to prevent people reaching the polling stations, and in Yala, in Betong and Raman districts, home-made bombs went off near polling stations, causing no injuries.

That afternoon, in Muang district, Narathiwat, a security chief was shot dead at a polling unit. A policeman was also shot in the leg during the attack.

In Rueso district in Narathiwat a poll worker was killed when a bomb went off beneath a truck delivering ballot boxes. Eleven other officials were also injured in the attack. And later in the same day, in Bannang Sata district in Yala, a patrol car ran over a bomb, injuring three soldiers.

These attacks from the 19 April, came only shortly after a speech by an army commander, who claimed that the killings in the troubled southern provinces appeared to have shown a marked decline. Lieutenant-General Ongkorn Thongprasom, head of the Fourth Army, said on Sunday (16 April) that: "The situation in the three southern border provinces should improve since the militant network has been weakened by the arrest of its top members."

"The militants may have also temporarily scaled down their missions because they may have felt that the ongoing political turmoil had overshadowed media coverage on the southern violence."

On the same day that he spoke, a home-made bomb went off at a construction site in Sugai Kolok district in Narathiwat, where construction workers were building a wall at a school. No-one was hurt.

There were further bomb attacks on the following day (Monday 17) in Pattani and Narathiwat, and two people were shot dead by gunmen. In the shootings, a hospital worker was killed in a drive-by attack in Mae Laen district, Pattani and in the same province, a 32 year old defence worker was shot dead as he rode his motorbike through Muang district in Narathiwat.

The bomb attacks happened in neighbouring Muang district in Pattani, where Buddhist monks being escorted by soldiers narrowly escaped the force of the blast. In Narathiwat, a motorcycle bomb went off in front of a noodle shop. There were no injuries.

The situation in Thailand politically is currently unstable, following the stepping down of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. He called for elections on April 2, but these were boycotted by the opposition Democrat Party. Thaksin, of the Thai Rak Thai party, left on 4 April, following allegations of corruption. The country is being run currently by "caretakers"

The Washington Post reports that the weekend elections failed to fill several seats, and thus a further, third election will need to be held. It is standard procedure for a Parliament to be convened within 30 days of an election, but also the Lower House of Parliament must have all its 500 seats filled, before it can convene. Many seats remain empty. On Friday, the Supreme Court nullified 42 candidates from minor parties, causing Thai Rak Thai candidates to stand unopposed in Sunday's elections.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 2:18 PM | Comments (0)

Opinion: Thoughts On the bin Laden Tape and America's Policies

Our own Charles Martel links to the latest bin Laden tape, but I wish to comment on one specific issue.

The Caliph wanna-be has called for Jihad in Sudan:

In it, the speaker identified as Bin Laden described the situation in Iraq and Sudan's troubled Darfur region as evidence of a "Zionist-Crusader war against Islam", referring to Israel and Christian states.

He called for Islamist militants to prepare for a "long war against the Crusader plunderers in western Sudan".

"Our goal is not defending the Khartoum government but to defend Islam, its land and its people," he added.

Both sides in the Darfur conflict are predominantly Muslim and one rebel group is linked to a Sudanese Islamist group.[1]

The thing is, bin Laden is absolutely wrong about there being a "Crusader-Zionist" conspiracy. (I wish!) We are doing absolutely nothing to help African Christians and Animist fight Islam. And no wonder; helping them would weaken both the policy advanced by the present Republican administration and the policy favored by the Democratic opposition.

The Republican administration favors "The Forward Strategy of Freedom", e.i., promoting "Democracy" in the "Arab" world.

It is hard to know what the Democrats favor, since they'd rather win by default than engage in a battle of ideas, but whatever it is it will surely involve a lot of apologizing for non-existing sins and pointless diplomacy. Let's call it, with deliberate abusiveness, "The Hasty Retreat of Cowardice."

The Forward Strategy of Freedom is praised on the grounds it will earn us the love of the all-powerful, always fickle, Arab Street; that is, since we will be advancing the interest of the ordinary Muslims, they will love us for it. But if we fight against Muslims, again, in Africa, this will make it easier for the Islamist propagandists to paint the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as a "Crusader and Zionist conspiracy."

The Hasty Retreat of Cowardice criticizes The Forward Strategy of Freedom for not being "pro-Arab"[2] (read: pro-Islam) enough. In their worldview, we must demostrate our love for Islam by defending the "great faith" at every turn, or at least being an "honest broker" in conflicts where Islam is involved.[3] We must push the Israelis to make concessions, the Phillipinos to initiate a dialogue with their Islamic terrorists, etc.

Both The Forward Strategy of Freedom and The Hasty Retreat of Cowardice are premised on the urgent need to change "the hearts and minds" of Muslims. They want the enemy to love us. This is allegedly morally better than killing the enemy and destroying its will to fight because fewer people would die, it will lead to a more permanent peace, and whatever other utopian fantasies I have forgotten. But even granting such a thing is likely, let alone possible, we are forgetting the hidden cost of such policies: we are abandoning victims of naked aggression to their fates. The bodies of dead Africans, the cries of raped women and enslaved children speak against the moral superiority of the utopian policies.

Notes:

[1]The blacks under aggression in Darfur are indeed Muslims. To which I say; let them kill each other. That should be the price for following the teachings of the warlord Mohammad. On the other hand, the peoples under aggression in southeast Sudan are not Muslim. We should help them. (It is quite telling "the International Community" did not pay attention to the Sudanese civil war until the victims of aggression were Muslim.)

[2]Why is the racial term "Arab" favored to the detriment of the proper, religious term, "Muslim?" To protect Islam's image and tar critics of Islam as racists, of course.

[3]Intervening in the Yugoslavian civil war on behalf of Muslims earned us the contempt of Muslims and has lead to the creation of a de facto Islamist State in Europe. Those are the wages of utopian idealism.

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 10:32 AM | Comments (0)

US: Creeping Shari'a in Tennessee

Over at Frontpage Magazine, Daniel Pipes comments on Bill Hobb's forced resignation from Belmont University: Islamic Law at Belmont U

Who would have thought that Belmont University of Nashville, Tennessee, would apply the Islamic law to its staff? But just that happened earlier this month.

Bill Hobbs, a Republican political advisor, blogger, and news writer for Belmont, which bills itself as "the largest Christian university in Tennessee," was upset in February 2006 about the cowardice of the American media in not publishing the Danish cartoons. So he drew a primitive cartoon of his own and posted it on his personal site. It sat in obscurity until April 5, when a Democratic political operative, Mike Kopp, wrote about it, calling it:

a bizzare page with the heading Draw Mohammed that spotlights a stick drawing of the Prophet Mohammed holding a bomb. The cartoon is entitled "Mohammend Blows." Under the cartoon Hobbs issues an invite to "exercise your right to free expression by drawing pictures of Islam's Prophet Mohammed". He ends the post with the phrase "Here's my first mo-toon." All this was posted at 12:40 pm, on Friday, February 24, 2006.

[...]the damage had been done. Hobbs announced in the late morning at NashvilleFiles.com, "I am resigning from Belmont University in an amicable and mutual parting of the ways, effective Monday [April 17]."

Perhaps I should ask my colleague and friend Giraldus Cambrensis to rename his own Mohammad cartoon Aisha Blows, in 'honor' of Mohammad's pedophilic proclivities.

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 9:28 AM | Comments (0)

April 23, 2006

Bangladesh: Muslim Extradited To US In Georgia Jihad Case

On Friday, the FBI revealed that a 21 year old student at Georgia Tech, Syed Haris Ahmed (pictured) had been in custody since March 23, and had earlier that month in Toronto plotted with others to discuss "strategic locations in the United States suitable for a terrorist strike". The news was carried by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and also by Associated Press via Access Northga.com, the Hamilton Spectator and United Press International.

Syed Haris Ahmed, a Pakistani-born US citizen had travelled to Toronto with another US citizen of Bangladeshi origin, 19-year old Eshanul Islam Sadequee from Roswell Georgia. There they apparently met with at least three others, who were targets of FBI terrorist investigations. The pair had grown up in Atlanta.

The FBI affidavit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York on Friday (21 April). The two men had apparently planned attacks against oil refineries and military targets in the US. They intended to disrupt military and commercial communications systems, and also flight paths of aircraft by disabling the Global Positioning System. They had also planned to travel to Pakistan to attend a jihadist training camp.

Ahmed had indeed tried to travel to Pakistan before he was arrested. He is indicted for suspicion of providing material support to terrorism, and has pleaded not guilty. The indictment was unsealed on Tuesday. If convicted, he could get a maximum sentence of 15 years' jail and a fine of up to $250,000.

Sadequee was, according to Associated Press, arrested in Bangladesh last week. He is accused of making false statements in connection with false statements in connection with a US government terrorism investigation. He claimed to have traveled to Toronto on his own in January, to visit an aunt.

Ahmed's family came to the US in 1997, after winning a green-card lottery. They have denied that their son could be involved in any terrorist plot. But his sister Samia admits he had been developing his Islamic faith more seriously. "He's religious and liked the simple life. He wants us to abide by the rules. He isn't against anyone - he just doesn't want us to lose our faith," Samia Ahmed said. She said he was wishing to teach himself Arabic, in order to read the original text of the Koran. She claimed: "He was trying to learn everything. He's still very innocent in his mind. He's a child." Her brother was working at an oil and perfume stand in a Cobb County mall before his arrest at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. He had just returned from a trip to Pakistan.

According to the Bangladesh Daily Star, Sadequee's father had been frantically searching for his son, who had disappeared from Baridhara in Bangladesh on April 17. Sadequee was arrested in Dhaka by Bangladeshi intelligence agents and was given to the FBI and sent back to the US. When arrested in Dhaka, he had been intending to fly to New York. Sarder Mohammed Sharif, Sadequee's father said his son could not be involved in terrorist activities.

On Sunday, the Star reported that Mr Sharif had been asked by the US Embassy to send his son's inhaler and medicine for his asthma.

There is no extradition treaty between the United States and Bangladesh, but it is assumed that an Interpol arrest warrant was made out, and that the Bangladeshi authorities accepted this.

The latest news from Bangladesh is that Sadequee's activities in Bangladesh were suspicious, and for that reason he was deported. That is the version given by Luftozzaman Babar, the Bangladesh State Minister for Home. He explained: "No extradition treaty is needed for that. We have deported many people. Every year we extradite five to seven people to the USA. He was handed over on the basis of sufficient information and evidence about his involvement in militancy."

Moudud Ahmed, the Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, said: "If the government considers him persona non grata, it can very well deport him. Not only our government, any government can do that."

A barrister from Bangladesh has said that an exchange of detainees between nations must happen as a result of an extradition treaty.

There are still questions about how Sadequee ended up in custody. He was arrested on April 17 in Dhaka, the time that his father reported him missing. Yet Mr Sardar was not aware of the fate of his son until the US news was reporting the event. He had filed an abduction case report concerning his son.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 10:46 PM | Comments (0)

Chechnya: Jihadists Call for Offensive Against Russia

The leadership of the Chechen jihadists has called for ``total war, everywhere'' against both military and civilian targets throughout all of Russia. Their goal is Russia's total pullout from Chechnya and the establishment of an Islamic republic.

Chechen propaganda official, Movladi Udugov, told the web newspaper, Caucasus Times, that the Chechen jihadists will rely mostly on suicide bombers and small mobile groups acting on their own to carry out their operations against the `infidel'. Suicide bombers have not struck in Russia since summer 2004.

Udugov emphasized that his comrades should not be called ``militants'' or ``rebels'' as the western press often tries to depict the Chechen jihadists. Instead, he asked that journalists call them, ``the forces of Islamic revival.''

``Sharia law is divine, established by Allah, and everyone must submit to it: Muslims and non-Muslims, rich and poor, leaders and servants, and all people independent of their social or political status.''

``This is my prognosis,'' concluded Udugov. ``Our efforts will not be on the scale of operations, but on their effectiveness. And this means being able to hit any target in both the Caucasus region, as well as throughout Russia.''

Posted by at 9:45 PM | Comments (0)

Pakistan: Muslim Village Court Forces Rape Victim To Marry

We described earlier the atrocities and abuses meted out by local Muslim village courts in Pakistan, where girls and young women are given away in forced marriage as a form of "justice" for crimes committed by others. This custom is called Vani in Punjab, where the village councils are called panchayats. In Pashtun regions of North West Frontier Province, the custom is called swara and the council is called a jirga. These marriages bacame illegal for the first time in early 2005, but as we have detailed, the vani and swara marriages continue in the rural areas.

Another case from the Punjab is reported in Pakistan's Daily Times, which shows the blatant callousness of a local panchayat court.

Earlier today, Quereshian Bibi told reporters that she had been raped at gunpoint two months ago by one of her cousins, Muhammad Aslam. She said: "When I got pregnant, I told about the incident to my sister, Razia Bibi, and father, Nazir Ahmad, who tried to report it to the police."

Quereshian lives in a village in Arifwala tehsil (borough), within the Pakpattan district of Punjab province.

A local landlord, who is local influence intervened, calling a panchayat to "settle" the matter. The panchayat declared that she should be married to her rapist's brother, Muhammad Ramzan. Three members of the panchayat solemnised her betrothal (nikkah) to the brother of her rapist, but she has refused to marry the man, and has insisted on registering the rape incident with the police.

As a result of this action, the panchayat then decided to solemnise the nikkah of the rapist's three year old daughter to Quereshian's brother as vani. Quereshian has said that the panchayat has declared that should her family not accept their decision the family's lives would be in danger, and their household possessions would be confiscated.

Quereshian and her father filed a petition in the Lahore High Court to register the rape case, and also a case aganst the panchayat members. The Lahore High Court told them to register their case with the local police in Arifwala. When they went to file their petition, the police registered the rape incident, but would not register any case against the local panchayat.

In order to thwart the rape case, a local official, Syed Shahid Abbas Shah, has now filed a counter-petition against relatives of the rape victim. This alleges that the wife of the rapist (Ume Kalsoom) has been raped by two of Quereshian's brothers and her brother-in-law.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 9:01 PM | Comments (0)

Bin Laden In New Tape

First tests should have confirmed authencity.

Follow the development here or on Alqaidanews

Here some quotes:

Al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden issued ominous new threats Sunday, apparently seeking to justify attacks on civilians in the West and calling on his followers to go to Sudan to fight a proposed United Nations force in Darfur.
In his first new message in three months, bin Laden also said the West's cutting off of aid to the Palestinian Hamas-led government proved Washington and Europe were conducting "a Zionist [Jewish] crusaders' [Christian] war on Islam."

...

"I call on Mujahedin and their supporters, especially in Sudan and the Arab peninsula, to prepare for long war against the crusader plunderers in Western Sudan. Our goal is not defending the Khartoum government but to defend Islam, its land and its people," he said.

Al-Qaeda has targeted Western forces in Africa before - including its attacks against US troops trying to bring peace to Somalia in 1993.

That is right Osama, We can`t have Zionist henchmen sticking their nose into moslem genocidal business, certainly not on moslem territory!

Bin Laden called for a global Muslim boycott of American goods similar to the recent ban on Danish products after the publication there of caricatures of Islam's Prophet Muhammad. He said the artists who drew the offending cartoons should be handed over to him for trial and punishment.

Excerps taken from this article

Posted by Charles Martel at 8:47 PM | Comments (0)

Takeover Of Europe Creeps Forward

If we are to believe this article, In Stockholm, young moslems are running around with a T-shirt promising they will take over in 2030.
Now where does that optimism come from ?

Takeover of Europe creeps forward

Mona Charen
Syndicated Columnist

"Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder." - Arnold Toynbee

As Danish embassies and European Union offices smolder in Beirut, Damascus, Gaza and Tehran - the result of a junior varsity jihad - the time could not be more apt for Bruce Bawer's "While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within," due out at the end of this month. Bawer is a gay American with a flair for languages who moved to Europe in 1999 to escape what he perceived to be the narrow-mindedness of the Christian right in America.

The move changed him. It also afforded a front row seat at the clash of civilizations now flaring into flames. If American Christian conservatives seemed intolerant to Bawer, they were cream puffs in comparison with the Islamofascists who are multiplying in Europe. Theo van Gogh produced a film about the mistreatment of women in the Islamic community and was assassinated by an unrepentant Islamist who defiantly told the dead man's mother, "I cannot feel for you because I believe you are an infidel." A rumor swept the Muslim world that American soldiers in Guantanamo flushed the Koran down a toilet, and violence erupted worldwide. European newspapers published cartoons insulting to Muhammad, and death threats poured in, embassies were set ablaze, and red-faced Muslims now vow jihad throughout the world.

The Muslim world clearly is not composed solely of murderous fanatics - but only the most self-deluded would deny that the umma is under the sway of its most radical, medieval and intolerant members. It is they who have the wind at their backs at this moment of history. Forty percent of Britain's Muslims hold a favorable view of Osama bin Laden. Hopeful Westerners continue to call for moderate Muslims to speak up. But, as Bawer asks, "[W]here were the moderate Muslims? British Muslims seemed sincerely to deplore the London attacks. But though hundreds of thousands of them had marched in protest against the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, 7/7 occasioned no sizable Muslim protest demonstration against Islamic terror ... if that silent majority existed at all, it had to be one of the most silent majorities ever. It had remained silent after 9/11, Madrid, Beslan, and van Gogh's murder."

Europe is a beacon for Arab and Muslim immigrants, who flock to the freedom, comfort and convenience available in Western nations. There is no corresponding emigration from Europe to the Islamic world. Immigrants seek a better life, which is abundantly available, particularly in light of Europe's generous welfare benefits. But Europe does not assimilate its Muslim immigrants and does not wish to. Norway refers to its Muslim population as the "colorful community" and prides itself on keeping its "colorful" members separate from mainstream Norwegian society (in the name of multiculturalism, of course). But if a Muslim were to attempt to become an ordinary Norwegian (or Swede or Swiss or Frenchman), he would be met with rigid resistance. Multicultural cant thus covers a multitude of ethnocentric sins.

Many Muslim immigrants, Bawer argues, resist absorption as well, regarding Western society as fundamentally corrupt and unworthy. They want to live in Europe and reap the benefit of the civilization Christianity, rationalism and enlightenment have created - but they despise it and hope to destroy it.

Into this boiling cauldron (recall the October 2005 riots in France) insert demography. Muslim families have multiple children, and European families are failing to have babies at even replacement levels. Historian Bernard Lewis has predicted that Europe will be majority Muslim by the end of this century "at the very latest." In Stockholm, Muslim teenagers can be seen wearing a T-shirt that says "2030 - then we take over."

The heart of Bawer's book is not to replow familiar demographic ground, but to probe the political, moral and psychological aspects of Europe's response to this existential threat. The depressing answer, all too often, is that they capitulate. Bawer recounts how Amsterdam police, responding to a complaint by Muslims, dismantled a street mural erected on the site of van Gogh's murder that said "Thou Shalt Not Kill." Some leftist academics in Norway have suggested establishing sharia courts for Muslim citizens. Britain's Channel 4 canceled a documentary about abuse of girls in the Muslim community because the police cautioned that it might "increase community tension."

That self-censorship was exactly what the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten was attempting to expose with its cartoons. That impulse - to assert the value of free speech despite threats and violence - is the best evidence to surface in quite some time that there is some life spirit left in sagging old Europe.

Article taken from Here

Posted by Charles Martel at 8:39 PM | Comments (0)

Book Review: The Socialist Phenomenon

'Christianity' has been in the news. I write 'Christianity', because what has been in the news is the ancient heresy of Gnosticism, which has little to do with Christianity, and a lot to do with Socialism[1]. Also in the news is The Da Vinci Code, a book written on the premise that ancient Gnosticism is 'real' Christianity, and The Gospel of Judas, a Gnostic text from the late 2nd century A.D. Christianity itself has been on trial in the public square.

What is this Gnosticism? According to Igor Shafarevich[2], Gnosticism is an ancient form of religious Socialism. The Christianity in such doctrines never goes beyond a thin disguise. (It is very telling the much-publicized Gospel of Judas does not concern itself with the passion and ressurrection of Jesus, the core of Christianity proper.)

Shafarevich did not restrict himself to Gnosticim, he wrote a book, The Socialist Phenomenon, in which he surveys and analyzes Socialism in its many incarnations through the ages.

This book is very important for those of us wishing to understand the West's weaknesses in its fight with Islam. It explains, without wishing to do so, the slow-motion demographic suicide of Europe. Choosing not to have children is a common human response to Socialism, from ancient Sparta, to the Jesuit state of Paraguay, to present-day Socialist Europe and Communist Cuba. With the importance of understanding our weaknesses, Shafarevich's book might be as important as the works of Bat Ye'or are to understanding Islam[3].

Notes:

[1] Full disclosure: two of Western Resistance's authors are Christians. I am not one of them.

[2] Igor Rostislavovich Shafarevich is a world-class Russian mathematician. He wrote his criticisms of Socialism from within the Soviet Union, for which he was persecuted. A heroic man.

[3] (Joke alert.) For me to say that something, anything, 'is as important as the works of Bat Ye'or', is a shocking heresy, and I don't know how to deal with the guilt now that I've said it.

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 9:24 AM | Comments (0)

Russia: Jihadists Threaten Mayhem in Republic of North Ossetia

A Muslim group in the predominantly Christian republic of North Ossetia in Russia's North Caucasus region has ordered the local government to accept parts of Islamic Sharia law, reports the Russian web newspaper, Newsru, citing Kavkaz Center, the Chechen rebel news agency.

If its demands are not met, then the group, Ossetian Jamaat, threatens to attack casinos, drug dealers, places that distribute alcohol, and night clubs, as well as those people who frequent such places.

On February 1, a wave of attacks against two casinos in Vladikavkaz, the North Ossetian capital, killed two and injured 20. One of the dead was a 26 year old doctor, Madina Dzhotsieva, who rushed to help those injured by the first wave of bombs. Ossetian Jamaat claimed responsibility for those attacks.

Most Ossetians are nominally Christian, though since the end of the Soviet Union and the religion freedom that followed, few have returned to the faith of their ancestors. The five per cent of the population that historically followed the brutal 7th century Arabian warlord, Mohammed, have returned to the faith of their ancestors with a vengeance and a desire to wage jihad. North Ossetia is surrounded by Muslim republics, and for centuries these Muslim peoples have slaughtered Ossetians, trying to force them to join the Mohammedan cult.

The most recent serious Islamic offensive came on 1 September 2004, when Chechen, Ingush and Ossetian Muslims drove up to a school in Beslan, North Ossetia, and took its approximate 1200 children, parents, and staff hostage for 60 hours. Then, in circumstances that are still unclear, they began to blow up the school and shoot the children and other hostages. About 360 hostages perished, while 32 Muslims were killed by federal and local troops. Some Muslims are believed to have escaped, and now form the basis of the newly created Ossetian Jamaat.

The Beslan hostages later told Western Resistance that the Muslims who took over the school prayed to the blood-thirsty Islamic moon deity, Allah, five times a day, and often invoked his name as a justification for what they were doing. Such information, however, never shows up in Russian and international press reports.

Ossetian surival today is only thanks to the presence of Russian troops in the republic. Without them, the local jihadists, with help from their brothers from neighboring countries, would unleash a bloodbath.

Posted by at 7:16 AM | Comments (0)

April 22, 2006

UK: Muslim Prison Gang Attack "Apostate"

Once more, the notorious group calling itself the Muslim Boys have made the news this week. Belmarsh prison is a maximum security prison based in southeast London, which houses many Muslims suspected of terrorism offences. It is home to convicted Islamists, such as Abu Hamza. It also has a hardened Category A prison population. AMong these are a group of black street-gang members who claim to be Muslim, and also claim allegiance to Al Qaeda. These call themselves the Muslim Boys.

According to the Guardian, the Muslim Boys are members of various black crime gangs in south London. These include gangs with names such as Peelden, the Stockwell Crew, the SMS (South Man Syndicate) and PDC (Poverty Driven Children). There are about 50 to 100 members calling themselves Muslim Boys, from Brixton, Peckham, Lambeth, and Streatham. They are notorious for shootings and thefts.

In September last year, we described the activities of the gang, who used guns to commit thefts, and then would arrive at mosques late at night, and force them to open, so the criminals could "pray".

The Muslim Boys were mentioned because they had targeted a young black man, Adrian Marriott, to become a convert to Islam. He did not become a convert, and was shot five times in the head. His body was then dumped in parkland off Barrington Road in Brixton, south London.

In January we reported on the inquest into Adrian's death. His mother told the inquest that she had heard the shots which had killed her son, but only heard later that Adrian was involved. She said: "Adrian was told on the Sunday prior to his death that he would be killed if he did not become a Muslim by the Wednesday, which was the day he died." He was killed only a few weeks before his 21st birthday. The killers have not been charged.

According to the Daily Mirror, the most recent incident involving the gang involved eight individuals, who pounced on a man in the toilets. The man had been a member of the gang, but had wanted to leave the group. As a result, he was "punished" receiving a severe beating, and injuries to his head. The attack happened on Good Friday (April 14). Officers had to intervene.

As a result of this attack, the latest in a series of violent attacks carried out by the gang, four prisoners from the gang are receiving "administrative action" by the prison authorities. Two leaders were transferred to other jails. Many members have been sent to a segregation unit within the prison.

The Home Office said the Good Friday attack had not been a major incident. The Mirror states that a leaked prison report has claimed the members of the Muslim Boys were recruiting for Al Qaeda within the jail. Other prisoners claim to be in fear of their lives after the gang attacked victims with razor blades attached to toothbrushes (called shanks).

The claims of Al Qaeda involvement appear to be bravado, but the gang members have terrorised prisoners and civilians alike. After Adrian Marriott was killed, the chairman of Brixton mosque, Abdul Haqq Baker, (a convert) described the gang's activities: "What we are seeing is a new phenomenon that I have not seen in my 15 years as a Muslim."

According to Detective Chief Superintendent John Coles, who heads Operation Trident, the Scotland Yard unit that targets gun crime in the black community, about 20 "hardcore" members of the group have been imprisoned, there are about 20 still on the streets, and many more hangers-on.

Coles believes the Muslim Boys are responsible for several murders, attempted murders, and a series of robberies in the past few months leading up to March. The gang's most lucrative thefts come from robbing local drug dealers.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 8:30 PM | Comments (0)

US: CIA Officer Fired for Revealing Secrets

It is about darn time somebody was fired for revealing national security secrets to advance their political vision. It is not up to Mary McCarthy to decide whether secret CIA prisons should be part of U.S. national security policy. She might think they are a terrible policy, but revealing the secret to stop the policy is not part of her powers as a CIA employee. I say prosecute her to the fullest extent of the law: CIA officer fired for alleged leak to reporters

WASHINGTON -- In a highly unusual move, the CIA has fired an employee for leaking classified information to the news media, including details about secret CIA prisons in Eastern Europe that resulted in a Pulitzer Prize-winning story, officials said Friday.

The Associated Press has learned the officer was a CIA veteran nearing retirement, Mary McCarthy. Reached Friday evening at home, her husband would not confirm her firing.

Just that there is no doubt on this one, I am for CIA-run secret prisons. They are an appropiate response to the nature of the enemy we face. As for Mary McCarthy, in a just world, she would hang like t-shirts from a clothesline for her treasonous behavior. But we don't live in a just world. Chances are Ms. McCarthy would escape punishment altogether and become a hero of the delusional, treasonous, and angry left in America and Europe.

Here is some information/commentary on the story:

National Review.

Power Line.

Michelle Malkin.

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 2:56 PM | Comments (0)

Pakistan: Islamic Cleric Urges Ummah to Unite Against U.S.

As the old Western goes, "go ahead, make my day". Because a frontal attack on the United States would fail utterly. I'm worried about the fifth column destroying us from within: Ummah should stop US from targeting Islamic states: Pak cleric

A Pakistani religious organization has called upon the Islamic Ummah to forge unity against the United States targeting Muslim states.

Delivering his Juma sermon at a mosque in Islamabad, Jamaat Addawa's central leader Hafiz Abdul Rehman emphasized the need for unity in the ranks of the ummah to stop the US from targeting Iran or any other Muslim country.

The US appears bent upon unleashing aggression against Iran and other Muslim countries one by one, he maintained.

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 1:37 PM | Comments (0)

France: 50 Islamists Work Handling Baggage In Airport

Sadly this news is not on the online edition, but today's UK Daily Telegraph has an interesting story on its print edition, page 16. Charles de Gaulle is one of Paris's three main airports, and is the newest. In a book to be published next week by Philippe de Villiers, entitled The Mosques of Roissy, the author states that the French frontier police have identified 50 baggage-handlers who hold extremist Islamic views.

This week, to allay fears, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy visited the airport (nicknamed "Roissy") to examine security arrangements. He said that individuals who were "more or less suspect" numbered only 122 out of a total of 83,000 staff who carry security badges. He stated that there were moves to remove 60% of their security clearance.

Sarkozy further stated that the findings of the security services had already been acted upon.

50 extremists? 122 radicals, who are going to have only some of their security privileges forfeited? Following the events of 9/11, and also Paris' bombing attacks by the Groupe Islam Armee, as well as the current Paris trial of 27 Islamists who stated they intended to attack, among other targets, a major French airport, Sarkozy's reassurances sound hollow.

122 people working at Charles de Gaulle airport should be fired or reassigned to duties which have nothing to do with the airport.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 12:38 PM | Comments (0)

Malaysia: Islamist Authorities Bulldoze Hindu Temple

We have reported on the manner in which the Malaysian government, abetted by individual state legislatures, appears to be stating its Islamist credentials to be above the original constitution. We have described how Hindus have been so alarmed by the increasing powers of Islamic Courts to interfere with their lives, that they have set up a rights group, the Hindu Rights Action Force, or HRAF. The most notorious example of anti-Hindu legislation came when a Syariah or Sharia Court ordered a Hindu man to be buried as a Muslim on December 28 despite his wife's protestations.

We described how the Law Minister, Mohamad Nazri Abdul Aziz, has said he will invoke the sedition Act against non-Muslims who "belittle" Islam.

Now, news has come from Kerala Online and The Statesman of the authorities once again flexing their muscles and attacking the rights of Hindus to worship freely.

For a hundred years, Hindus have worshipped at the Malaimel Sri Selva Kaliam-man Temple in Kuala Lumpur. 300 worshippers were inside the temple on Tuesday (April 18) when police with bulldozers arrived, sent by the authorities, and halted the prayer session. They then began to reduce the century old temple, dedicated to the deity Devi, to rubble. Though "hundreds of thousands" of Hindu devotees came to protest, many in tears, at this act of municipal vandalism, their pleas were ignored.

The vice-president of the temple, Mr Subramaniam Ragappan, sent a complaint to the police. The temple had been cleared to make way for a building project.

Such callous disregard for Hindu traditions, when the government is supporting the rights of Islamic extremists to prevent Muslims from apostasing out of the faith, shows how far away from democracy the country has become.

Malaysia is officially a Muslim nation. Article 3(1) of the constitution states that 'other religions may be practiced in peace and harmony in any part of the Federation', but despite conciliatory noises made in January by Datuk Seri Najib Razak, the deputy prime minister, who claimed Muslims and non-Muslims would have redress under law, the march to Islamic totalitarianism appears relentless. Even Razak stated that conciliatory measures would only be allowed which did not "threaten the administration of Islamic law."

Muslims account for only 60% of Malaysia's population, and these are Malays. At the age of 12, each person is given an identity card, which states, amongst other details, the faith of an individual. It is impossible for any person to leave Islam under the current system. Only one person has ever been granted the right to change her faith, and she was dead. Nyonya Tahir died on Thursday January 19, aged 89 years. Born a Malay (and therefore automatically considered Muslim), she had converted to Buddhism in 1936. Only when she had passed away were her repeated requests to be recognised as a non-Muslim finally granted by the Islamic Courts.

Amongst the Hindus of Malaysia, who comprise 9% of Malaysia's population, most are of Indian origin. Most speak Tamil, though there are Punjabis, Malayalis and Telegus who practice Hinduism.

The other main ethnic group are the Chinese, who make up 30% of the population, though their contribution to the economy is the highest. These are mostly Buddhist, with Confucianism and Taoism practiced.

Christians make up the smallest religious minority, but figures for their presence are limited, as most are apostates from Islam. Consequently many of these Christians do not officially exist.

And in MMU University in Malaysia, courses funded by US company Motorola openly discriminate on who can apply for scholarships: LINK.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 10:46 AM | Comments (0)

Teheran Police Once Again Admonished To Arrest Women Dressed "Un-Islamic"

They tried the very same thing Last year

They probably keep pushing till they get the result they want

But the Iranian women, they might just keep up the defiance - Enjoy the slideshow!

Posted by Charles Martel at 5:24 AM | Comments (0)

April 21, 2006

Indonesia: More Muslim Morality Laws

We reported yesterday of the growing practice by provinces and districts, of imposing new bylaws which are based on Islamic morality and customs, even though these blatantly contradict the constitution.

The constitution is pledged to uphold pluralism, but for the 8% of the population who are Christians, and for those of other minority faiths, such as Hindus, Islamic laws are discriminatory. In South Sulawesi province, where Christians live, though still in a minority, jobs in governmental offices are out of reach now, unless a person can read and write Arabic. Women civil servants there are now obligated to dress in Islamic attire.

We described the appalling laws from Tangerang, a satellite suburb of Jakarta, the capital, based in the province of West Java. It is an offense for a women to be out alone after 7 pm. Any woman outside and unescorted after this time is now automatically charged with being a prostitute. The mayor, Wahidin Halim, introduced the bylaws, which also outlaw drinking and gambling, four months ago, and has no regrets. However, the abuses of these laws mean that now, Tangerang is being pressured to revise its ordinances.

Today's Jakarta Post reports that another suburb of Jakarta, called Depok, is now preparing to introduce bylaws modeled directly on those at Tangerang.

The only difference is that as well as all of Tangerang's strict rules, homosexuality and adultery are now to be criminalized.

The University of Jakarta has moved its campuses to Depok as well as other private universities, and though once a leafy suburb, it is now a busy metropolis. With so many young students living in the area, businesses have followed.

The laws have divided student opinion. Anindya Trisaktya, a second year student from Gunadarma University said of the after 7 pm ban on women being out and alone: "It's ridiculous. What if a meeting ends late and we have to walk home? Are they going to arrest us, too?"

A prudish student called Wisnu Murdito moaned that: "In a number of dormitories here, you will find unmarried couples living together."

Dahlan, a member of Depok City Council Commission A, representing public order, said: "Several religious organizations have expressed concern about these problems. The rate of drinking-related crimes and prostitution has not yet increased. This is about anticipating such a time, and we need to make it (the ordinance) a priority."

The identity of these religious groups, as reported in yesterday's Jakarta Post have included the Front Pembela Islam, an Arab-led vigilante group. This vehemently anti-Christian group has recently vandalised the offices of Playboy, threatened foreigners at the Holiday Inn in Bandung, and thrown rocks at the American Embassy. The other group which took part in consultations is the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI).

In July, this body, the highest religious body in the nation, announced a fatwa which denounced liberal interpretations of Islam, secularism and pluralism. This rulng led to people believeing that any non-Muslim group could become a target. The Ahmadiyya were attacked by mobs in September at Sukadana in West Java, where 70 houses and six mosques were damaged. Ahmadiyyas are regarded as Muslim heretics. The Ulemas Council fatwa also led to the Islamic Liberal Network receiving dozens of death threats via e-mail and text messages

Depok City Council did not consult any Christian or Hindu religious bodies about the new law.

Amri Yusra, the deputy speaker of Depok City Council said there was still a need for more research and consultation before implementing the new ordinances. "We are also aware we should define more clearly what we mean by prostitution and alcoholic drinks," he said. "We will do it carefully and in consultation with more people."

Ida Ruwaida, a sociologist argued that education was needed, not legislation. "If prostitution becomes more prevalent, then they should look at the existing social control mechanisms," she said. She pointed to other more urgent requirements in the Suburb: "Depok has mounting problems like infrastructure, garbage and high unemployment. And furthermore, if we are talking about morals, whose values are we going by?"

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 8:16 PM | Comments (0)

John Negroponte Says OBL Confined To Narrow Area By Now

They got to get it right one day, but sounds a bit like something you heard before, let us celebrate once he is caught, shall we ?

WASHINGTON, April 20: Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden operates in an increasingly narrow area along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region, US spy chief John Negroponte claimed in an interview aired on Thursday.

"I think he is operating from a narrower and narrower corner of space in that Pakistan-Afghanistan border area," Negroponte told NBC television`s "Today Show".

Read it all at:
From Dawn.com Via: Alqaidanews

Posted by Charles Martel at 6:47 PM | Comments (0)

Cartoon making fun or Muhammad

In case you missed this one, go have a look and a laugh :

Moslems - You are fucking morons

Stingy satire, but non stingy satire is meaningless.

Posted by Charles Martel at 6:25 PM | Comments (0)

US: Muslim Women Bring Religion Into the Gym

Dear complaining Muslim women; have you ever heard of women-only gyms? Or, for that matter, have you heard of the supremacy of written contracts? Because it sure looks as if you haven't: US: Muslim women ask gym to keep single-sex pledge

About 200 Muslim women have asked the Fitness USA workout chain to honor what they say was its promise to provide separate exercise times for women and men. They say they need single-sex workout times to accommodate Islam's standards of modesty.

Arrwa Mogalli, 28, of Dearborn, Michigan, said that she agreed to buy a $1,465 lifetime membership with the chain after being promised that its Lincoln Park facility would be open only to women on certain days.[...]

[...]The company is reviewing the women's concerns, said Jodi Berry, administrative director for Fitness USA. But the company said that the women's written contracts say nothing about gender.

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 11:32 AM | Comments (0)

Russia: Russia Demands 'Proof' of Iranian Islamic Bomb

Russia is just acting as a good ally, that's all. It is just a shame they are an ally of Iran, and not of us: Russia Will Not Agree to Iran Sanctions Without Proof

Russia says again it will not agree to sanctions against Iran until Moscow sees hard evidence that Tehran's nuclear program is not for peaceful purposes.

Itar-Tass news agency quotes a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin as saying Russia will be able to talk about sanctions after seeing "concrete facts" about Iran's nuclear activities.

Russia has said the International Atomic Energy Agency should be allowed to handle the Iranian dispute. However, the United States said Thursday that momentum is shifting toward the imposition of U.N. sanctions against Iran.

A U.S. State Department spokesman, Sean McCormack, said without a major change in Iran's attitude, Washington will seek a U.N. resolution to require Tehran to suspend its uranium enrichment program.

No, the momentum is finally shifting toward bombing the Islamic pride out of Iran, whether the State Department mavens think so or not.

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 10:38 AM | Comments (1)

Israel: Israeli Defense Forces Thinks About Re-Occupying Gaza

The contradiction in Israel's unilateral withdrawal plan lies in its assumption that the Palestinian's hatred towards them would slowly die down, or at least mellow. But the hatred does not rest on specific issues, but rather on the teachings of Islam, especially irredentism. (That is, a land once Islamic is Islamic by right, forever.) In the final analysis, there is still no substitute for victory: Israel 'could occupy Gaza again'

An Israeli general has said Israel will consider re-occupying part or all of Gaza, if Palestinian militants continue firing rockets across the border.

Gen Yoav Galant said the move would be considered if such attacks reached an intolerable level, or involved more powerful, longer-range weapons.

Gen Galant is head of the Israeli military's southern command.

Palestinian militants in Gaza frequently fire short-range and crudely made rockets into Israel.

The rockets rarely cause significant damage or casualties.

(BBC bias alert: firing 'crude rockets' that 'raraley cause significant damage or casualties', is still an act of war.)

Israeli forces say they fired more than 2,000 artillery shells into the northern Gaza Strip, in the first two weeks of April. Israel says this is an attempt to halt the growing number of rocket attacks by Palestinian militants.

A number of civilians have been killed and injured in the shelling.

(BBC bias alert: the 'number of civilians killed and injured' by Israeli counter-fire were in the line of fire because of the actions of Palestinian murderers. Anyway I'll stop the article here or this bias alerts might just keep on coming.)

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 10:12 AM | Comments (0)

Palestinian Abomination: Hamas, Abbas, Sharply Divided

It is not a state, it is not a terrorist organization; it is now a divided, perhaps-marching-towards-civil war abomination: Abbas Vetoes New Hamas Security Force

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- In their sharpest power dispute yet, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday blocked Hamas' plans to set up a shadow security force, which was to be made up militants and to be headed by the No. 2 on Israel's wanted list.

Abbas issued a presidential decree vetoing the decisions made a day earlier by Interior Minister Said Siyam of Hamas. As president, Abbas wields considerable power and has the right to approve or reject key appointments.

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 9:50 AM | Comments (1)

Italy: Truth in Art in Bologna Cathedral

Bologna's Basilica of St. Petronio, the city's main Catholic church, is under serious threat of being vandalized by followers of the 7th century Arabian warlord, Mohammed. The imposing cathedral, almost 50 meters high and 132 meters long, is named in honor of the city's bishop, Petronia, (431 AD to 450 AD). Construction on the cathedral began in 1390 and was completed by 1500. One of the 15th century frescoes made by Renaissance artist, Giovanni da Modena, depicts a passage from Dante's ``Inferno'' where the warlord Mohammed is in his rightful place in hell for all the violence and destruction he committed during his lifetime, as well as the violent legacy he has left us to this very day.

Sadly, this sacred site and great piece of church architecture has been turned into a fortress. Muslims explain their anger on the grounds that the fresco is `offensive', and so given the bloody and violent nature of the Muslim totalitarian cult, police vigilantly patrol the area around the church.

In 2002, an Italian and four Muslims from Morocco were arrested in Bologna on suspicion of preparing to carry out terrorist acts. The fate of these men, and this case is not clear. And it's not known if other acts of violence have been plotted against the church since then.

Posted by at 8:12 AM | Comments (0)

April 20, 2006

Copts Demonstrate in Athens Near Egyptian Embassy

Several hundred Copts resident in Athens demonstrated outside of the Egyptian embassy today (April 20) to protest attacks against their fellow believers in Egypt by Muslim gangs. Last weekend, two Copts were murdered by Muslims who attacked their church in Alexandria. The peaceful crowd in Athens demanded that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak guarantee the safety and liberties of the Coptic community, reported Russian state news agency, RIA Novosti.

Egypt's Copts number about 8 million, compared to a population of 72 million occupying Muslims. While the Copts account for 10 per cent of the population, this figure makes them the largest Christian community among the Middle East nations that are still occupied by followers of the 7th century warlord, Mohammed.

Before the Mohammedan invasion, Egypt, like most of the Middle East, was Christian, and was part of the Greek Byzantine Empire, the most advanced civilization on the earth at that time. With the Islamic invasion, the country entered a dark age from which it has never recovered. Christians were slaughtered or forced to convert, churches were destroyed, and the famous ancient library at Alexandria was torched since righteous Muslims have no need for learning and education aside from memorizing the Koran and other `sacred' Muslim texts.

The Copts consider themselves descendants of the original ethnic Egyptians of Antiquity, as opposed to Muslim Egyptians who are for the most part descendants of the 7th century occupying Arab forces. As other eastern Christian communities, the Copts celebrate Easter this Sunday.

Posted by at 10:05 PM | Comments (0)

Indonesia: Man Arrested For Shooting Christian Girls Was Policeman

Back on November 8 last year, we reported how two Christian girls were shot in the head at close range in Poso, Central Sulawesi. Some reports at that time suggested the girls had died, but miraculously they survived. Their attack came shortly after the decapitation of three Christian schoolgirls in Poso on October 29. The attacks came as the first signs of increasing intolerance against Christians in the region. Sulawesi had formerly been involved in severe Muslim and Christian sectarian violence, part of the wider Moluccan war, which went on from 1999 to 2002.

It now appears, from the always excellent blogsite Dog Pundit, from last Friday, that the attempted murderer of the two girls in the shooting attack has finally been revealed as a local policeman. I refer you to the Dog Pundit site for all the information contained there in an article from the Jakarta Post.

Last Tuesday (11 April), a police brigadier, identified only as I.L. had been arrested and held in custody, according to Brigadier General Oegroseno, for the shooting of the two Christian girls. At about 7.45 in the evening local time, they were sitting outside one of the girl's houses, in Kasintuwu district in Poso.

The 18-year old girls, Ivone Natalia and Siti Nuraini noticed a motorcycle approach and shots were fired. Siti Nuraini, nicknamed Yuli, was shot in the neck, and Ivone was shot in the jaw (pictured above). The girls were in a critical condition, and were lucky to have survived their ordeal.

Three young men were initially arrested, but later released for lack of evidence. Ivon recently told journalists: "Although it was very painful, I managed to look up and saw his face. I was surprised because I knew him."

Oegroseno said investigators were looking for evidence in the case, including the gun used in the shooting, as well as exploring possible motives, whether it was meant to spread terror in Poso or was a personal attack.

He said the suspect would remain in detention for about 120 days while his case file was completed. "If there's no evidence that he is responsible for the shooting, he will be released," Oegroseno said.

Full Story

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 9:21 PM | Comments (0)

Indonesia: Islamic Laws Passed Locally Threaten National Unity

Today's Jakarta Post carries a report based on the findings of Syaiful Mujani, from the Freedom Institute, who warns that sharia bylaws recently enacted in districts and provinces are unconstitutional, sexist and potentially divisive.

For example in Tangerang, a bylaw was passed stating that any woman who is found outside after 7pm is deemed to be a prostitute. Tangerang is a suburb of Jakarta, the capital. we reported in March on the case of a wife and mother of two, Lilis Lindawati, who found herself in the line of sight of this ruling.

Lilis was waiting for a bus to take her home, late in the evening at the end of February, shortly after Mr Wahidin Halim, the local mayor had passed the new bylaw. Though three months pregnant, she was arrested, and thrown in jail. The next day she was hauled before Judge Barmen Sinurat. She was not permitted to summon her husband to testify on her behalf.

The Sydney Morning Herald, which reported the case initially, described her ordeal. 36-year old Lilis denied being a prostitute. She was forced to empty the contents of her bag, and lipstick fell out.

"There is powder and lipstick in your bag. That means you're lying to say that you are a housewife," Judge Sinurat claimed. He told her "You are guilty. You are prostitute," and fined her $45. Lilis did not have the money, and was jailed for three days.

Asked about this case, Mayor Wahidin told the Herald: "She could not prove she is not a prostitute. It is true when my men arrested her she was not committing adultery, but why does she put on such make-up?"

Wahidin is brother of Hassan Wiraduya, the Indonesian foreign minister. He blamed the woman for wearing tight clothes, and said that "a good girl would not stand in the street with that kind of dress. The point is we can tell someone is a prostitute or not....They stand in the street moving their body, waving their hands, trying to attract people, seducing."

So the mayor, who is reputedly soon to stand for the position of governor, knows better than the woman and her family. Wahidin was supported by Islamist parties when he introduced the bylaw.

Syaiful Mujani, noting this case, said: "The government must take action to review all bylaws so that the bylaws do not run counter to the Constitution."

In South Sulawesi, several administrative regions make it compulsory for female civil servants to wear Islamic dress. All government employees there must be able to read and write Arabic.

Mochtar Pabotinggi, a researcher from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences agreed that the bylaws favoured Muslims above those of other religious beliefs, and ran counter to Indonesia's Constitution, written up in 1945. He said: "In a democracy, no majority group can dominate others."

"We have to respect other people who have different religions and not push them to do what Islam teaches. For instance, we cannot tell every woman who lives in Aceh to wear Muslim attire," he stated.

"Our Constitution appreciates pluralism as an Indonesian way of life. Administrations have to make bylaws that do not contradict the Constitution," Mochtar said. "We cannot utilize two systems of law to regulate a society. The bylaws have the potential to endanger the country's unity since they ignore the essence of pluralism."

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 8:39 PM | Comments (0)

UK: Jail Lavatories Must Not Point To Mecca

I sometimes wonder what prisons are for. Traditional arguments involve either punishment, rehabilitation, or removing dangers from society. But it seems that Britain's penal regulators apparently think prison is a semi-monastic place of spiritual and religious contemplation. Muslims who have broken the secular laws of the country and are sentenced to jail are already treated to halal food, rather than the poorly cooked slop available to other prisoners. Muslims are allowed special dispensations so that they can pray five times a day.

The latest chapter in Britain's bizarre pandering to the piety of its 4,500 jailed Muslim criminals is to spend tax-payers' money in refurbishing prison lavatories, so that defecating Muslims do not point towards the direction of Mecca.

The news is carried by The Sun and the BBC. In Brixton jail in south London, two new toilet blocks are being installed, and following pressure from Muslim leaders, the lavatories are orientated so that prisoners are pointed in anotehr direction, rather than aligned to the "Qiblah" or "Kiblah" the direction of Mecca.

It is a shame that these Muslims leaders do not instill in Muslims the need to obey the law, and therefore not end up in prison.

A Home Office spokeswoman said: "The refurbishment has been carried out with due consideration for all faiths."

One Muslim who was jailed for criminal activity said: "The least the Prison Service can do is make sure people can practise their religion correctly in prison."

Again, there is no need for this. If they were good Muslims, they would not have broken the law. Until Brixton prison rotated the lavatories 90 degrees to avoid causing offence, Muslims had to perch themselves sideways onto the seat of the loo to avoid pointing their butts or faces toward Mecca.

The Sun quoted a prison officer from Brixton jail, who said: "If they didn't get locked up for committing crime they would not have this problem. Yet we have to sort out their loos. If we weren't paying for it as taxpayers I'd laugh my socks off."

Around a quarter of prisoners at the Category B jail are Muslims.

Labour MP Khalid Mahmood said: "As far as I understand this rule only applies in a place of worship."

Tory MP Ann Widdecombe said: "Some common sense needs to be applied."

The real enemy of Britain is not so much the horde of barbarians at the door, but the faceless politically-correct civil servants. Paid for by citizen's taxes, but never elected, these secretly conspire to make the country run on their skewed and appeasing policies.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 6:02 PM | Comments (0)

Iran: Islamic Regime Increases Repression

Islam, to be practiced consistently, cannot tolerate individual freedom: Police in Tehran ordered to arrest women in 'un-Islamic' dress

Iran's Islamic authorities are preparing a crackdown on women flouting the stringent dress code in the clearest sign yet of social and political repression under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

From today police in Tehran will be under orders to arrest women failing to conform to the regime's definition of Islamic morals by wearing loose-fitting hijab, or headscarves, tight jackets and shortened trousers exposing skin.

Offenders could be punished with 30 [pounds sterling--RD] fines or two months in jail. Officers will also be authorised to confront men with outlandish hairstyles and people walking pet dogs, an activity long denounced as un-Islamic by the religious rulers.

Dogs are considered impure in Islam; it is not a question of "considering an activity un-islamic"; having a pet dog is unislamic. The decisive Islamic text is found in the compilation of hadiths of Sahih Muslim: Sahih Muslim; Book 24, 5248

Maimuna reported that one morning Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) was silent with grief. Maimuna said: Allah's Messenger, I find a change in your mood today. Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) said: Gabriel had promised me that he would meet me tonight, but he did not meet me. By Allah, he never broke his promises, and Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) spent the day in this sad (mood). Then it occurred to him that there had been a puppy under their cot. He commanded and it was turned out. He then took some water in his hand and sprinkled it at that place. When it was evening Gabriel met him and he said to him: you promised me that you would meet me the previous night. He said: Yes, but we do not enter a house in which there is a dog or a picture. Then on that very morning he commanded the killing of the dogs until he announced that the dog kept for the orchards should also be killed, but he spared the dog meant for the protection of extensive fields (or big gardens).

At any rate, do read the whole thing, just be aware the al-Guardian does have a tendency to refer to mythical things such as the "reformist Presidency of Mohammed Khatami", or implying the impurity of dogs is a disputed tenet of Islamic theology.

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 11:49 AM | Comments (0)

UK: Islamic College Teaches That Non-Muslims Are "Filth"

A report from today's Times illuminates a dark corner of Britain's education system, namely the Hawza Ilmiyya of London. This college advertises itself on its website as:

Hawza Ilmiyya is a centuries old institution famous for the dispensation of religious education. Throughout the Islamic period, the institution has produced thousands of luminaries: religious scholars, philosophers and social scientists. All the way through the heritage of Hawza, students have been studying in the traditional method of learning. At present Hawza Ilmiyya is enhancing and extending the fruitful history of Hawza by responding to the needs of the society by launching a new intertwined system; this new system answers the call of academe for the need of Islamic Scholars in various fields: politics, economics, media studies, law and Islamic banking and simultaneously provides the traditional approach for religious education.

The name hawza is a term meaning a school, but in Shia terminology it means an Islamic academy. But Shia theology, as we have witnessed since the 1979 Iran revolution, is particularly strict, and in the theologies espoused by Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi it is apocalyptic and opposed to Western values.

The Hawza Ilmiyya of London states on its website: " Studying at Hawza is an exhilarating spiritual experience." The article at the Times suggests that those who would be exhilarated by its fare would be those of a fanatical or hateful disposition, for students are being taught fundamentalist doctrines, which allude to non-Muslims as "filth".

The Hawza Ilmiyya of London has a sister college, the ICAS (Islamic College of Advanced Studies) which is validated by my former alma mater, Middlesex University. Middlesex University claims it has examined the curriculum on offer at ICAS, where students can gain a BA degree. However, it denies involvement with the courses on offer at the Hawza Ilmiyya.

A spokesman for the university said: "...Middlesex ensures that the academic standards of this particular programme are appropriate, the curriculum delivers to the required standards, learning and teaching methods allow achievement of standards."

ICAS and the Hawza Ilmiyya share the same premises, a former Church of England primary school in Willesden, northwest London, and many of the staff teach at both institutions.

The Hawza Islamiyyah contains as an integral part of its curriculum, in the Introduction to Islamic Law class, a document written by Muhaqqia al-Hilli in the 13th century. In one of its chapters, this text lays down the terms under which Muslims should fight against Jews and Christians.

Mohammed Saeed Bahmanpour, one of the tutors from the Hawza Ilmiyya of London, said the al-Hilli text featured in couresork, but was treated as "doctrine", nor were its statements treated as "law". He said that he did not discuss the chapter in the book which described non-Muslims as filth.

These are segments from that chapter:

The water left over in the container after any type of animal has drunk from it is considered clean and pure apart from the left over of a dog, a pig, and a disbeliever.

There are ten types of filth and impurities: urine, faeces, semen, carrion, blood of carrion, dogs, pigs, disbelievers.

When a dog, a pig, or a disbeliever touches or comes in contact with the clothes or body [of a Muslim] while he [the disbeliever] is wet, it becomes obligatory- compulsory upon him [the Muslim] to wash and clean that part which came in contact with the disbeliever.

The Times reports that soome students at the college are alarmed by what they find in the college's library, saying some of these are "disturbing" and "very worrying".

The ICAS and Hawza Ilmiyya of London are funded by one body, the Irshad Trust. One of the Irshad's trustees is Abdolhossain Moezi, an Iranian cleric who acts as a spokesperson for Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader in Iran's theocratic regime.

Moezi also directs the Islamic Centre of England (ICEL), a mosque and community centre in Maida Vale, West London, which is registered as a charity. In its charity registration, it states that: "At all times at least one of the trustees shall be a representative of the Supreme Spiritual Leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran."

Both the mosque and the Irshad Trust received substantial donations in 1996-1997, when they were first established. ICEL received 1.2 million pounds, and the Irshad Trust received 1.367 million. Each year since, ICEL has received a million a year.

The courses at Hawza Ilmiyya are eight years' in length. For the last three years of courses, students travel to Iran, where they attend colleges in the Iranian holy city of Qom.

The current situation of Iran funding Islamic Jihad, radicals who are engaged in a current campaign of suicide attacks against Israel, makes one asks questions about the place of such an organisation in Britain.

Yesterday, the Guardian reported that the Iranian regime also funds a group calling itself The Committee for the Commemoration of Martyrs of the Global Islamic Campaign.

This group announced on Tuesday that it was actively seeking recruits from Britain to act as potential suicide bombers against Israel.

While the current situation in Iran is heating up, there is no national need for Britain to have such an establishment in its midst.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 8:25 AM | Comments (0)

Iran Nuclear Crisis: Islamist Fantasies And Harsh Realities

Recently, the situation of Iran's nuclear issue, combined with President Ahmadinejad's almost insane threats against Israel seem to be leading to an escalation of what is becoming a situation more worrying than the factors which led three years ago to the invasion of Iraq. The situation is similar to the Bay of Pigs issue in the time of Kennedy and Kruschev.

Yesterday, according to XinhuaNet, Condoleeza Rice said in Chicago that a diplomatic solution could be achieved. Speaking to the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, she said that the UN Security Council had various options to hand. However, she also stated that should diplomacy fail, the United States could, either alone or in a coalition with others, take pro-active measures to end Iran's nuclear program.

"The right to self-defense does not necessarily require a UN Security Council resolution...It is important to note that the (U.S.) president doesn't take any options off the table," she said.

Meanwhile, according to India Express, the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov called on Iran to halt its enrichment of uranium. Itar-Tass news agency reported that Lavrov had spent all of Tuesday in talks with the five permanent Security Council members, as well as Germany.

"Iran must heed the call to stop work linked to uranium enrichment...All participants in the meeting agreed that urgent and constructive steps are demanded of Iran in response to the decision of the board of the IAEA". he said. Lavrov noted that no final agreement had been reached on how to defuse the situation.

Jacques Chirac announced that it was not too late for Iran to stop the nuclear programme. Jack Straw, the UK's foreign secretary, said he doubted if Iran would comply with UNSC demands to halt uranium enrichment by the end of the month. He tried to reassure that there would be little likelihood of military action.

Saudi Arabia said it did not want to become embroiled in disagreements with Iran, and stated Riyadh was not trying to acquire nuclear weaponry.

Iranian Intransigence

Just over a week ago, on April 11, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad shocked the world by announcing that "Iran has joined the group of countries which have nuclear technology." He declared that his engineers had enriched uranium to the level needed to create nuclear fuel, though so far only on a "laboratory scale".

It is perhaps no coincidence that Ahmadinejad announced his nation's uninvited entry to the "nuclear club" on April 11th, for this date is the date celebrated as the birthday of the prophet Mohammed. Earlier in the month, he had been responding to growing rumours of a pre-emptive strike by the US with a massive testing of new missiles and weaponry, in an exercise entitled the Holy Prophet.

The following day it was announced that Iran had plans to start construction of a 3,000-centrifuge plant this autumn. Currently it has 164 enrichment centrifuges. Mohammad Saeedi, the country's deputy nuclear chief announced that, following the 3,000 centrifuge plant, construction would then begin work on a plant comprising 54,000 centrifuges in a cavernous bunker in Natanz.

Though it could be five or six years before Iran has an actual nuclear weapon, British and Israeli officials said that within nine months to a year, Iran could gain the knowledge to make fissile material.

An Israeli official said: "There is a need to create a split within the leadership and to ensure that the supreme leader decides to change course. At the moment Iran is not paying any price and those within the regime calling for a return to suspension look like idiots."

Mohammed ElBareidi, the chief international nuclear inspector, arrived in Iran on April 12, according to the Telegraph and some of the boasts appear to have been made either to impress ElBareidi, or to capitalise on his presence, giving their claims some "validity".

"Annihilation" of Israel

On Friday, April 14 Ahmadinejad returned to a theme which had earlier caused alarm to the international community, the threats of annihilation of Israel.

The first of Ahmadinejad's tirades against Israel came on Wednesday October 26 when he had only been in power for just over two months. He called for Israel to be "wiped off the map" and said a new wave of Palestinian attacks will destroy the Jewish state. The statements were made at a conference called "A World Without Zionism".

A mere six days previously his government had also announced a ban on all cinema films which promoted "arrogant powers, the propaganda name for the US.

On October 28, or Al Quds (Jerusalem) Day, set up in 1979 by Ayatollah Khomeini to celebrate hatred for Israel, Ahmadinejad walked among crowds calling for "Death to Israel" and "Death to America". Iranian television carried cartoons for children, which featured suicide bombers as heroes, and depicted Israelis as red-eyed thugs, murdering "innocent Palestinians".

After the Al-Qaeda bombing of three hotels in Amman, Jordan on November 9, Hamid Reza Asefi, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman said: "The explosions in Jordan are a suspicious matter. Most probably the Zionist regime (Israel) was behind them".

On December 14, Ahmadinejad belittled the holocaust, a repetitions of comments he had made on December 8, where he had said to the OIC meeting in Mecca: "Some European countries insist on saying that Hitler killed millions of innocent Jews in furnaces. Although we don't accept this claim..."

On December 14, in a televised speech, he told supporters in Sistan-Baluchestan that the West "fabricated a myth under the name 'Massacre of the Jews,' and they hold it higher than God himself, religion itself and the prophets themselves".

On January 21, Sha'ul Mofaz, Israel's defense minister, announced that Iran had given $10 million to anti-Israeli terrorist group Islamic Jihad during 2005, double the amount donated in 2004.

So Ahmadinejad's speech last Friday was a further confirmation that Iran is gearing itself up for a game of brinkmanship. Goading and threatening Israel, almost pushing the United States to defend its ally and friend in the Middle East. He was opening a conference in Tehran to support the Palestinian cause, and said that Israel was a "rotten, dried tree" and announced that it would be annihilated by "one storm".

It has been taken that this recent speech was a declaration that his country was prepared to use nuclear weapons in an "Armageddon scenario" against Israel.

Once again, he denied the Holocaust. "If such a disaster is true, why should the people of this region pay the price? Why does the Palestinian nation have to be suppressed and have its land occupied?" Ominously, he stated that the land of "Palestine" would "be freed soon."

Further posturing at the conference was provided by General Yahya Rahim Safavi who warned the US: "You can start a war but it won't be you who finishes it."

Jewish Exponent reported after the speech the opinions of Israeli military experts, who claimed that Israel could attack Iran, without the back-up of the US or other nations, though the task would be risky.

There is no doubt that Iran is threatening Israel, through funding terror operations against it, as per the Islamic Jihad suicide-attack on Tel Aviv on Monday April 17. Monday's attack killed nine. Islamic Jihad has threatened that there will be 70 more suicide attacks to follow.

But why should a president indulge in such an apparently insane desire to create international chaos? Ahmadinejad has a strongly-held interest in implementing chaos, and his reasons are as much religious as they are political.

Ahmadinejad is not the most inspiring politician, and was one of the students who kidnapped 52 US Embassy staff in 1979. He is not a dynamic character. He was born into a blacksmith's family in Garmsar, near Tehran, on 28 October, 1956, one of seven children. Though a student radical, connected to the Office for Strengthening Unity, Ahmadinejad's real speciality was in controlling traffic.

He graduated from the University of Science and Technology in Tehran, where he gained a PhD in traffic and transport. He had been a civil engineer and also a lecturer at the same university he graduated from. In May 3, 2003, he had been elected mayor of Tehran, where he gained a reputation as an opponent of reform. But there is a singular power behind Ahmadinejad's political throne, a power which is well accustomed to the manipulations of a theocratic state.

Messianic Fantasies

The man pictured above is a person who may be more responsible for the recent escalations of Ahmadinejad's rhetoric and threats against Israel than any other. His name is Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi.

As we reported in December, this cleric has been exceedingly influential on the development of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's political career.

Born in 1934, Ayatollah Mesba-Yazdi became a student of Ayatollah Khomeini, and founded his own religious school, Haghai School. He is a hardliner, who earned himself the nickname "Professor Crocodile" among his students. He has a directorship of the Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute in the holy city of Qom, where he is based in a long-established Haqqani seminary.

A measure of Mezba-Yazdi's hardline credentials can be found in his statement: "If anyone insults the Islamic sanctities, Islam has permitted for his blood to be spilled, no court needed either." Another of his quoted statements is "If someone tells you he has a new interpretation of Islam, sock him in the mouth". Former president Ayatollah Khatami had called Mezba-Yazdi the theoretician of violence.

Mesba-Yazdi is the most influential member of a group called the Hojjatieh. This group was founded in 1953, and though it gained great influence in the revolution of 1979, and the deposition of the Shah, it fell foul of Ayatollah Khomeini, who banned it in 1983. The group went officially dormant for a brief period, and recently it has been gaining in influence.

During the early years of the Hojjatieh Society, it had been exploited by the Shah of Iran to persecute members of the Ba'hai faith.

Ayatollah Mesba-Yazdi has become both a spiritual and political guru for President Ahmadinejad, and the cleric's influence certainly helped Ahmadinejad to become elected sixth president of the Islamic Republic of Iran on June 28, 2005. In the run-up to the elections, the cleric issued a fatwa urging people to vote for Ahmadinejad, who was almost unknown outside of Tehran. His support ensured that Ahmadinejad became the first non-clerical president since the revolution.

Mesbah-Yazdi is totally opposed to the West, and has urged total isolation from it. He accuses the United States of trying to destroy Islamic values forever. These themes have resurfaced in Ahmadinejad's speeches. Mesbah-Yazdi supports floggings, the death penalty, and vehemently supports the forcing of women to wear traditional chadoors, which are the Iranian equivalent of burkas.

A sign that perhaps gives insight into Ahmadinejad's perspective on "peace-keepers" is found in a sermon given by Ayatollah Mesbah-Yazdi at Tehran university, where he stated: "We should know that 1,400 years ago the Koran said that the enemies of Islam will always fight while chanting peace-seeking slogans."

The cleric was contemptuous of the liberalising and democratic reforms introduced by Ayatollah Khatami: "An Islamic government must combat this, because injecting misleading ideas is like injecting the Aids virus!"

Mesbah-Yazdi is also responsible for authorising death-squads during the 1990s, which killed opponents of Iran both a home and abroad. He gained his nickname "Professor Crcodile" when he had Nikahang Kowsar, Iran;s most prominent cartoonist, thrown in jail for depicting an academic reptile, throttling a journalist with its tail.

But the real worry over Iran's development of nuclear technology aimed ultimately at creating a nuclear bomb can be found in the theology of the Hojjatieh Society. On Sunday, the Telegraph published an article written by Amir Taheri, who used to be the Executive Editor of Kayhan, Iran's largest daily newspaper, before coming to Europe to live.

Taheri is in no doubt that Ahmadinejad is influenced by the theology espoused by the Hojjatieh Society. We reported here that at a Friday sermon, Ahmadinejad had declared: "Our revolution's main mission is to pave the way for the reappearance of the 12th Imam, the Mahdi."

The Mahdi is Abul-Qassem Mohammad, the 12th leader whom Shi'ites consider descended from the Prophet Mohammed. Abdul-Qassem is said to have disappeared from earth in the year 941. According to the doctrines of the Hojjatieh Society, he will return as the Mahdi at the end of time, to introduce an era of Islamic peace and justice.

According to Amir Taheri:

In every generation, the Imam chooses 36 men, (and, for obvious reasons, no women) naming them the owtad or "nails", whose presence, hammered into mankind's existence, prevents the universe from "falling off". Although the "nails" are not known to common mortals, it is, at times, possible to identify one thanks to his deeds. It is on that basis that some of Ahmadinejad's more passionate admirers insist that he is a "nail", a claim he has not discouraged. For example, he has claimed that last September, as he addressed the United Nations' General Assembly in New York, the "Hidden Imam drenched the place in a sweet light".

Taheri warns that Ahmadinejad is involved in a campaign of trying to weaken the US, and may by the end of the month agree to suspend the nuclear programme, but would continue it in secret.

But what is truly worrying about the doctrines of the Hojjatieh, and its messianic prophecy concerning the return of the 12th Imam, is the way in which certain circumstances must be set in place to presage his arrival. The only way to bring the Mahdi back from his "grand occultation" is for there to be a world full of chaos. And for the world to be full of chaos Ahmadinejad is doing all that he can to bring about the wishes of the Hojjatieh Society.

Ahmadinejad is certainly succeeding. One means of introducing chaos is to threaten Israel, and yesterday's UK Guardian reports that a group of radicals based in Tehran publicly announced that it is trying to recruit Iranians and Muslims, currently living in Britain, to become suicide bombers in Israel.

This group is called The Committee for the Commemoration of Martyrs of the Global Islamic Campaign, It claims to be independent, but it is backed by the regime. This organisation made its announcement hours after the attack upon Israel by Islamic Jihad, who are funded by Iran.

Mohammad Samadi, a spokesperson for the group said: "The first target is Israel. For us, that is the battlefield. All the Jews are targets, whether military or civilian. It's our land and they are in the wrong place. It's their duty to pay attention to safety of their own families and move them away from the battlefield." Samadi claimed that several hundred volunteers have become members during the past few days. Among its aims, the killing of Salman Rushdie appears to be an objective.

A spokesperson for the Uk foreign office said: "We have longstanding concerns at the support that Iran provides to groups undermining peace in the Middle East through violence, including the activities of this group."

The Committee for the Commemoration of Martyrs of the Global Islamic Campaign was formed two years ago, and is linked to the feared Revolutionary Guards.

Though the current situation seems dire, there may still be a sign of hope to come.

ANOTHER WAY FORWARD?

The hope may lie in the Iranian people themselves, who until Ahmadinejad started his West-baiting agenda, complete with banning of Western movies, increasing power to the vigilantes of the Bassij, and removing women's rights to walk uncovered, had been spoiled by reforms.

Under Rafsanjani, Ahmadinejad's presidential predecessor, the people had seen a (slight) relaxation of the totalitarian theocratic society, for the first time since the days of the Shah.

We wrote in February of the bus driver's strike which had gone on in Iran. The repressive measures taken against strikers left citizens in no doubt about the oppressive nature of Ahmadinejad's rulership. One thousand striking drivers were cast into jail. Massoud Osaniou, the leader of the bus driver's union, was abducted from his home by Bassij vigilantes, and to keep him quiet, part of his tongue was cut out.

The United States has been following a twin track towards countering the insanity that is Iran. While the Pentagon holds talks discussing the logistics of a pre-emptive strike against nuclear facilities, Condoleeza announced in February that the State Department would be asking for $75 million from Congress to help to support Iran's fractured pro-democracy movement and fund Farsi-language satellite broadcasts, stated the Telegraph.

The working class poor people had voted for Ahmadinejad because he had promised to improve their financial position. The actions around the bus strike have shown how little the working person is valued by Ahmadinejad.

While the press is censored, and journalists are threatened with death or jail, the internet has been a new weapon in countering the propaganda of the regime. The most notable internet source, challenging the dogma and abuse of the system is Rooz Online.

Similarly, though it is criticised for being a pro-monarchist site, Iran Focus relies on reporters within Iran feeding out information to the outside world. For exampe, today it details the case of a youth who was flogged publicly 74 times in Karaj city, north-west of Tehran, for the crime of drinking alcohol.

As well as the internet, there is also the ubiquitous cellular phone network, and text messaging is used to disseminate facts, criticisms and humour to a wide audience within the country. Earlier this week we reported how Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was outraged by satirical text messages which claimed that he does not wash enough. A normal person would brush off such comments, but the Islamist leader was incensed, as not washing (wudu) is a sin in Islam.

News of this event, and the leader's repressive reactions, came from Rooz. And as well as journalism-driven websites, there are blogs. Rooz claims there are 100,000 bloggers in Iran. 70% of these have been harassed, but their news reaches others, within and outside of Iran.

But earlier today, the Guardian reported that a survey, published on Wednesday, indicated that the biggest threat to Ahmadinejad's repressive regime will come, not from US or Israeli air strikes, but from internal political divisions

Entitled Understanding Iran, the report was conducted by the Foreign Policy Centre. It announces: "The only chance of modifying Iran's behaviour in the short term will come from a serious effort to engage with the current leadership."

The report advised setting up an international body in the Middle East to attempt to quell the rising fears of military action. But it is in no doubt about the weaknesses of the regime.

"Behind the scenes a fierce struggle is under way. In one camp is President Ahmadinejad, his supporters in the Revolutionary Guards and the paramilitary force known as the Basijis, and messianic fundamentalists inspired by the teachings of Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi. In the other camp is Iran's embattled democratic movement [and] an array of forces that benefited from the status quo before Ahmadinejad came to power, including former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani," the study states.

The population of Iran is more than 70 million. 65% of its people are below the age of 25. The government is prone to corruption, its energy industry is producing less oil for export, and the youth of the nation are finding ways around the government's tight controls on people having access to the foreign media and internet accessibility.

The only way to keep a population content is to provide food and work, and in this the government is failing. "According to the government's own estimates some 900,000 new jobs are needed annually to accommodate the burgeoning labour force and prevent an increase in unemployment, officially at 16%, unofficially at over 20%."

As well as abuses of human rights, the public executions of young people, the discrimination of women (who had felt socially freer under the last president), there are enough underlying sources of dissent from within the nation to bode badly for Ahmadinejad's repressive regime.

The report suggests that these conditions within the nation could be the catalysts for finally bringing to an end to the orthodox and unyielding theocracy which has governed the nation since 1979. Though advising against interference from outside, the report suggests that there may still be hope for freedom and change.

* End of article

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 2:02 AM | Comments (0)

April 19, 2006

US: Speaker Needs Protection from Islamic Students

Via Liquid Life Hacker, comes a story that happens disturbingly often to politically incorrect speakers in America's college campuses. The obvious solution--to throw the disrupters out as soon as they begin--is somehow unacceptable: Muslims muzzling Memphis

Universities, for those of us who lecture on campuses, are the battleground for the heart and soul of the next generation of leaders. It is the battleground where we must fight to win back the opinion and allegiance of American college students. This is made harder when Islamists in both the college and local communities try to intimidate us and deny our free speech on campuses in some of the least likely places.

We have grown to expect these things on the major East and West Coast "elite" university campuses that harbor radical professors and anarchist student and radical Muslim community activities. But not in the heartland where I spoke last week at the University of Memphis. What was shocking was that it occurred in the South, in "Bubbaland" as my friends from the region call it.

I was invited to give a lecture sponsored by Professor David Patterson of the Judaic Studies Program. When news about my appearance spread, the Muslim community both on and off campus launched a full-scale campaign to stop my lecture. They demanded that Dr. Patterson cancel my speech. E-mails flooded the University of Memphis administration and Dr. Patterson from Muslim students on campus and Muslims in the community and mosques. Here are some of their comments:[...]

And here is Brigitte Grabiel's website: American Congress for Truth

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 11:13 PM | Comments (0)

Yemen: Islamists Jailed For Anti-US Plot

News from AKI, from Associated Press via Santa Barbara News Press and Middle East Online states that earlier today, 13 Islamists were jailed in Yemen for a plot to abduct Americans and to attack Western targets.

On Saturday 15th two more individuals were charged, bringing the total number of accused to 14. AKI states today that 14 were found guilty, and sentenced to jail terms of between 18 months and seven years. The other sources claim that one man, Faisal Abdul-Aziz was acquitted. This happened because he had turned himself in to the Yemeni authorities, and had cooperated with them.

The men sentenced today admitted planning to abduct US hostages in order to negotiate the release of prisoners. Between 1991 and 2001, 200 foreigners were kidnapped in Yemen.

Yemen is tied to the US in the "war on terror", but this has provoked reactions from extremists. On February 27 an al-Qaeda Islamist was executed for his part in the killing of three US hospital workers in an attack on a hospital in Jibla, which took place on December 20, 2002.

In April, two more Islamists were executed.

In today's trial, Ali Sufyan al-Amari, the leader was sentenced to seven years for planning to kidnap foreigners and for bombing Western targets in Yemen.

Relatives of the group say the sentences were "unjust", and claimed the trial had taken place to "satisfy the Americans".

172 people are awaiting trial in Yemen for suspected links to al-Qaeda.

In another trial, prosecutors called for the death sentence for Saudi-born Mohammed Hamdi al-Ahdal, wo is believed to be the second in command of Yemen's branch of al-Qaeda. Al-Ahdal had been arrested in November 2003, but said that he was innocent, and that he was put on trial because the United States had pressured the Yemeni authorities to convict him.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 10:54 PM | Comments (0)

Pakistan: Shia Muslim Cleric Immolated After Shooting

News from Asian Age, the Pakistan Daily Times and the Bangladesh Daily Star gives the story on a leading Muslim cleric and his driver who were shot at in the outskirts of the Pakistani industrial city of Faisalabad last night.

The Shia cleric, Fazal Hussain Alvi, was being driven late on Tueday night when two gunmen on a motorbike approached and shot at the car. A bullet his the vehicle'sfuel tank, causing the car to burst into flames. The ensuing conflagration was so fierce that he two bodies in the car were charred beyond recognition. The 50-year old cleric's family were only able to identify him due to his wooden leg and the car's number plate.

A police spokesperson said that the killing was a "targeted" operation, but said it was too soon to state if it was as a result of a sectarian issue or for more personal reasons.

Alvi hailed originally from Garh Maharaja, Jhang, and had been based in Faisalabad for 15 years, where he had a reputation as an outspoken orator. Following his killing, police were placed on high alert, and roads leading to the Markazi Imambargah Azakhanea Shabbir mosque were blocked off.

On April 11 in Nishtar Park in Karachi, a suicide bombing at a Sunni gathering, held to celebrate Mohammed's birthday saw 57 people killed. In the explosion, the entire leadership of the Sunni Tehrik movement were killed.

Following the murder of Fazal Hussain Alvi, local Shia Muslims tried to demonstrate, but were forbidden by the police. Sajid Naqvi, leader of the Shia political party Tehrik-i-Jaaria said Alvi's death was a sectarian killing. "I think Pakistan's rulers have failed to combat terrorism in this country," he said.

The Shia Muslim community in Pakistan is in a minority, comprising only 20% of the total. The rest of the Muslim demographic is mostly made up of Sunnis, with a few Ahmadiyya.

Violence between the Sunnis and Shias has been frequent in Pakistan, particularly in the north. On February 9 a suicide bomber attacked a Shia procession in northwestern Pakistan, killing 29 people. The Shias were celebrating Ashura, the commemoration of the murder of Ali ibn Abi Talib in 661 AD, which led to the schism between Shia and Muslim sects.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 9:31 PM | Comments (0)

France & Italy: 12 Islamist Suspects Arrested

News from Agence France Presse via Expatica and Le Monde details how 12 Islamist suspects were arrested in France and Italy today, in a combined exercise by counter-terrorism agents from both countries.

The individuals were all believed to be part of the Algerian terror organisation, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC). Investigators believe that those arrested, all Algerians, were financing Islamic extremists.

In Italy, suspects were arrested in Caserte, Naples, Milan and Bologna. In France, five suspects were arrested near Marseille. The French operatiion was conducted by DNAT, the National Directorate of Antiterrorism.

The Italian operation came after a two-year long investigation into forged document activities, where fake identity documentation was given to illegal immigrants. The Italians informed the French when they discovered a link with criminal groups in Marseille. On a near-weekly basis, forged documents were sent from Naples to Marseille on tourist buses.

In September, the GSPC stated that France was a potential terror target, its "number one enemy".

Currently, more individuals are being sought in France, and the Italian investigation continues.

The GSPC is active in Europe. A trial commenced recently on March 21 in Paris of 27 individuals suspected of belonging to the group, which has links with Al Qaeda. Most of those on trial were arrested in September and October. These individuals are accused of plotting a major terror attack in France. Initially, their arrests had been linked with parallel operations in Italy.

There have been numerous arrests of suspects from GSPC in Spain, particularly around the Costa del Sol, where a mosque in Malaga had been used by its imam, Abu Sufian to recruit extremists.

The GSPC also has had members who have lived in Norway.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 8:56 PM | Comments (0)

Saudi Arabia: Wahhabis Destroy Heritage Of Mecca

The UK Independent today published photographs from the Islamic Heritage Foundation which show clearly how the Wahhabi ideology, espoused by the House of Saud, the Saudi royal family, is destroying sites which are not only precious to Muslims, but also valuable for archeological reasons, and as part of world heritage.

The picture above shows how the Grand Mosque at Mecca (left) is becoming overshadowed by rising skyscrapers, including the Zam Zam tower, being constructed by the bin Laden family.

The religious zealots of Wahhabism do not cherish sacred sites, as they believe pilgrimage to such places encourages heretical and idolatrous worship. The Saudi religious authorities have been engaged in wholesale destruction of historical places for decades now.

In 1998, the grave of Amina bint Wahb, the prophet Mohammed's mother, was bulldozed and doused in gasoline. Irfan Ahmed al-Alawi, who chairs the Islamic Heritage Foundation, said that despite petitions from thousands within the ummah, the Saudis went ahead regardless.

The birthplace of the prophet Mohammed came under threat 50 years ago, when the House of Saud decided to build a library over the site. The architect then persuaded the authorities to allow him to preserve the remains beneath the library. Now the authorities want to concrete over the site and turn it into a car park.

The house of Khadijah, the prophet's first wife, was demolished and replaced with public lavatories. The house of Abu Bakr, the friend of Mohammed and father of AIsha who first compiled the verses of the Koran, was demolished to make way for the Hilton hotel.

Lay people, and in some cases even US senators could be forgiven for thinking that the House of Saud has been the guardian of the two holy places for time immemorial. In fact, it is only 80 years since the tribal chieftain Ibn Saud occupied Mecca and Medina. The House of Saud has been bound to Wahhabism since the 18th century religious reformer Mohamed Ibn Abdul-Wahab signed a pact with Mohammed bin Saud in 1744. Wahab's warrior zealots helped to conquer a kingdom for the tribal chieftains. The House of Saud got its wealth and power, and the clerics got the vehicle of state they needed to spread their fundamentalist ideology around the world. The ruler of this fledgling kingdom needed the legitimacy afforded by declaring himself " custodian of the two holy places".

The Independent states that as early as 1929, Wahhabists began to censor who could visit the Ka'aba, and what ceremonies could be performed. Egyptian pilgrims were prevented from visiting to carry out their Mahmal ceremonies, and at least 30 were killed in that year.

There are now less than 20 structures remaining which date from the time of the prophet Mohammed. Above is the scene of destruction when the mutawi or "religious police", visible in red headgear, supervised the demolition of the ancient Mosque of abu-Qubais. This mosque, built 1,200 years ago, stood on the site where Ali-Oraid, grandson of Mohammed, had lived. Now it is covered by the King's palace.

The picture above show all that remains of the grave of Mohammed's wife Al Baqi. Destroyed 50 years ago, the mutawi guard the site to prevent pilgrims placing flowers or praying by the ruins.

The mountain pictured is the al-Nour or "Mountain of Light". A cave is situated on this mountain, which was where Mohammed received his first "communications" which became the first verses of the Koran. The Independent states: "Hardline clerics want it destroyed to stop pilgrims visiting. At the foot of the hill there is a Wahhabi fatwa: " The Prophet Mohamed (PBUH) did not permit us to climb on to this hill, not to pray here, not to touch stones, and tie knots on trees..."

The Saudis happily spent money subsidising the Taliban in Afghanistan. When the Taliban blew up the World Heritage site of Bamiyan, home of the giant Buddhas carved into cliffs, the world was aghast. The current destruction, which is encouraged by the House of Saud is an equally disgraceful activity, and Muslims and non-Muslims alike should similarly be aghast at such wanton vandalism.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 11:57 AM | Comments (5)

Germany: Muslim Honour Killing Family Wants Victim's Son

We described on April 13 the end of the trial of Ayhan Surucu, who was jailed on that day for nine years and three months. On February 7, 2005, then aged 18, he had walked up to his 23-year old sister Hatun, who was waiting at a bus stand in the Tempelhof district of Berlin. The young man pulled out a gun and shot his sister three times in the head.

Hatun was a mother of a child, the product of a forced marriage her parents had made for her when she had been only 15, to a cousin in their "home" country of Turkey. Hatun had left Turkey in May 1998, pregnant, and upon her return decided she did not want to live as a "Muslim girl". She refused to wear the hijab, she got her own apartment, she finished her schooling, which had been interrupted by the marriage, and applied to enroll at a technical college to study electronics.

She also decided that, as a German citizen, she would live as a German, wear make-up and date men, including non-Muslim Germans. For this "outrage" she was murdered publicly. Though she had turned her back on her Muslim upbringing, her Turkish/Kurdish parents ensured her funeral was Islamic, with verses from the Koran draped over her coffin. At her brother's trial, the judge had said that her family lived in Germany but "wasn't really living in Germany."

Today's Telegraph carries a sad postscript to this case. Hatun's sister has now applied for adoption rights for Hatun's six-year old son, Can. The German public are outraged.

When Ayhan Surucu was jailed, his two elder brothers, 25-year old Alpaslan and 26-year old Mutlu were acquitted. It had been argued by the prosecution that they had supplied the killer with the handgun which dispatched Hatun. The prosecution is appealing against the acquittal. The judge said their involvement could not be unequivocally ruled out.

The family, who had cheered in the courtroom when the acquittal was announced, announced it was going to hold a party. At the weekend a Berlin newspaper showed pictures of five members of the family strolling with a friend through their neighbourhood of Kreuzberg, smiling.

In Turkey a popular newspaper, Hurriyet ran a story with the caption "Their victory is the shame of the whole world." Other Turkish commentators noted how in their country such a crime would have been punished more severely.

Apart from the family, few people in Germany think that the application for adoption, requested by Hatun's sister, is justified. The Telegraph quotes a youth affairs senator, Klaus Borger. He said an orphaned child is normally given to close family members in its best interests yet "in this unusual case that would be absolutely wrong... the family's reaction to the verdict clearly shows that they - beyond any legal acknowledgement - were answerable for the murder of the boy's mother."

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 8:07 AM | Comments (0)

April 18, 2006

Sweden: Chancellor of Justice Suspends Investigation of Mosque

If you want to understand to what depths left-wing moral equivalence sinks, this story provides the answer: Open season on Swedish Jews

Earlier this year Swedish Chancellor of Justice Mr Goran Lambertz decided to discontinue his department's pre-trial investigation into the Grand Mosque of Stockholm, where audio cassettes with highly inflammatory anti-Semitic content were being sold. After Swedish radio programme Dagens Eko unveiled the contents of the cassettes in November 2005, a charge of racial incitement was filed with the police against the Stockholm mosque. The Swedish Chancellor of Justice responded by closing the pre-trial investigation on the grounds that "the lecture did admittedly feature statements that are highly degrading to Jews (among other things, they are consistently referred to as the brothers of apes and pigs)" but pointing out that such statements "should be judged differently - and therefore be regarded as permissible - because they were used by one side in an ongoing and far-reaching conflict where calls to arms and insults are part of the everyday climate in the rhetoric that surrounds this conflict".

In other words; some laws for the Muslims, different laws for everybody else, Jews be damned. And the man has the nerve to admit it. (Emphasis mine.)

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 11:01 PM | Comments (1)

Venezuela: Government Denies Iranian Missiles Link

This might well be an unfounded rumor, but the Iran-Cuba-Venezuela axis is very real nonetheless: Foreign minister denies report Iran to send nukes to Cuba, Venezuela

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuela's foreign minister denied Tuesday a local media report alleging that Iran was planning to send nuclear missiles to Venezuela and Cuba.

The Caracas-based newspaper 2001, citing unnamed U.S. intelligence sources, reported that Iran and Venezuela had reached a secret arms deal to ship missiles to Venezuela and Cuba aboard oil tankers to avoid detection from U.S. satellites and spy planes.

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 10:55 PM | Comments (0)

Germany: Koran May Go On Trial

A piece of news from the always excellent Islam Watch reports that the Koran may be sued in Germany, on grounds that it is "unconstitutional". I will not be condensing this article for our readers, as it should be read in its entirety, not filtered by myself. The piece is written by Kent Olsen, who is a correspondent for Denmark's Jyllands-Posten newspaper.

A broad alliance of grass-roots movements have gone to the prosecutors of several states to hinder the dissemination of the Quran. According to the indictment, the Quran is not just a religious and historic book, but also a political book, which is incompatible with the constitution.

At the prosecutor's office at Gorch-Forck-Wall 15 in Hamburg, an unusual letter was received Monday morning, containing an indictment filed this weekend. The indictment targeted the Quran, charging that the holy book of the Moslems, according to the accuser, is incompatible with the German constitution.

To read the rest of the article, click to visit QURAN REPORTED TO THE POLICE IN GERMANY.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 10:10 PM | Comments (0)

India: Muslim Cleric's Henchmen Assault Reporters

Last week, on April 14, one of India's oldest mosques, the Jama Masjid in New Delhi, was hit by two bombs, which injured only 10 people, despite the complex being full of worshippers ready to attend Friday prayers. The building was erected in the 17th century, and can house 25,000 worshippers. Police said the bombs were low-impact, home made devices.

The senior imam, or Shahi Imam of the mosque is Sayeed Ahmed Bukhari. Earlier today, he was involved in a media dispute, in which journalists, women included, were attacked by his henchmen, according to Asian Age, the Calcutta Telegraph and rediff.com. At one point, the imam himself had to be restrained from assaulting a reporter.

The incident happened when journalists were waiting outside the residence of the Indian prime minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, on Race Course Road, New Delhi. The controversial imam had been visiting the prime minister, to hand over a statement, demanding compensation for Muslims affected by earlier riots in Gujarat, the release of Muslims detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act in Gujarat and Maharashtra. The memorandum also called for Aligarh Muslim University to be given proper status as an educational establishment, unconditional talks with certain "leaders' from Kashmir , an increase in the corpus of funds for the Maulana Azad Educational Foundation from 100 crore rupees to 500 crore rupees and other demands.

A crore is a unit of 10 million. Therefore the figures for the Muslim foundation are currently $22.2 million US, and Bukhari wishes them raised to $111 million US.

The dispute with journalists erupted after the Imam was asked about the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government's decision, made last month, to reserve jobs for 'backward classes" in the private sector and places in education. We announced last October that in Andra Pradesh, the state government introduced "quotas" for economically deprived Muslims, though the high court later ruled this decision as unconstitutional.

But, after giving a conference, this question brought a negative reaction. The imam wished to terminate the press briefing. When pressed to answer questions on the reservations issue, this prompted a violent reaction. Bukhari shouted at journalists, and his entourage then started to hit out. Bad lanuage was also hurled. Microphones were snatched from journalists' hands. Bukhari appeared to go for one journalist, marching forward until he was restrained. Yusuf Ansari, a TV reporter from Zee News protested that the imam was not answering questions, and was beaten by one of the imam's aides.

Ansari later said that the imam had done nothing to prevent his aides from violence. Vijay Trivedi of NDTV, according to rediff, had a narrow escape when the Imam's driver decided to make a quick exit with Bukhari. He nearly ran over the journalist's foot. According to Asian Age, the incident led to a journalist having his foot run over by the car. He was taken to hospital, where a fracture was diagnosed.

A complaint about the incident has been registered at the Vhanakyapuri police station.

More ominously, for someone who is regarded as an imam, Bukhari announced before the fracas blew up that if his demands on the government were not met, he would be launching a political movement. He said: "We do not want to chart a different path but would be forced to do so if our demands are not met."

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 9:13 PM | Comments (0)

Holland: Muslim Alderman Condemns Women In Burkas

The problem which Holland appears to be having with burkas, the all-enveloping costumes which only allow a small aperture for the woman inside to peer through, is causing more controversy again, and this time from a Muslim, the Social Affairs Alderman of Amsterdam, Ahmed Aboutaleb (pictured, below right). Mr Aboutaleb is a member of Amsterdam's Labour Party (PvdA).

News from Expatica states that the Alderman, who was born in Morocco in 1961, gave an interview to the magazine Opzij. In this interview, he stated that women who choose to wear the burka are hindering their ability to gain work, and should not automatically gain welfare benefits.

We already reported in October that in the city of Utrecht, the City Council voted to withhold benefit payments for women who wore the burka, as they were effectively making themselves unemployable. The decision came after two women who received 550 Euros ($671 US) a month in unemployment benefits, had stated that they did not bother to go to job interviews any more, as they were never offered work.

A spokesperson for Utrecht City Council said the women were educated and spoke good Dutch, but were not being deprived of all their welfare payments. Only 10% of their benefits were withheld. The Times stated that the city of Utrecht based its decision on the Work and Social Security Act. This states that somebody receiving welfare should not act in a way to prevent themselves getting work.

Now Alderman Aboutaleb has suggested that the rule in Utrecht should be universally applied and it appears he does not mean to see benefits reduced by a mere 10%. Aboutaleb said he was averse to the notion of burka-wearing, but said government had to expect citizens to take reponsibility. He stated to the magazine: "Nobody wants a an employee in a burka. In that case, I say: off with the burka and apply for work. If you don't want to do that, that's fine, but then you don't get a benefit payment."

He was making the statement in a response to the recent incident, which we reported earlier, in which a woman who refused to shake hands with men at the college she wished to attend in Amersfoort. She said Islam forbade a woman having physical contact with any male above the age of 12. The national Commission for Equal Treatment upheld the woman's appeal, ruling that the college was wrong to bar her from classes.

Aboutaleb said that such a women should perhaps reconsider her position. He said: "She has to realise her behaviour is building enormous obstacles for her in almost every situation. This woman must recognise that she is sidelining herself and that she runs the risk of being turned down for a job more often."

The issue of burkas being worn in public has caused parliamentary controversy. The right wing MP Geert Wilders suggested that burkas should not be worn in public places. The immigration minister, Rita Verdonk ("Iron Rita") introduced a bill to this effect in parliament, and on December 21, the parliament voted to approve the banning of burkas in public places. Instead of rushing the bill into law, parliament announced that the measure would be subjected to judicial reviews first.

In January, the BBC announced that the Dutch government would be anouncing the results of their legal review "soon". Since then, the issue has disappeared from the media's eye.

There are only 50 women in Holland who wear the burka, and no country in Europe has national laws banning them outright. However, as we reported in September, burkas are forbidden in the Belgium Flemish towns of Ghent, Antwerp, Sint-Truden, Lebbeke and Maaseik. In Masseik, where only six people woe the burka regularly, five complied with the ruling, which was brought about as children cried and were upset at the sight of women who looked like walking black tents.

The only woman who refused to comply with the Masseik ban, and also refused to pay fines imposed, was the wife of Khalid Bouloudou. Her husband, a pastry chef from Morocco was indicted for being part of a group which was held responsible for a series of bombings at Casablanca on 16 May 2003 which killed 45 people.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 8:06 PM | Comments (0)

Uganda: Islamist Is Released

News from AKI reports that a suspected al-Qaeda suspect, who has been in prison in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and detained in Guantanamo Bay, has been freed by the authorities in Kampala. The Ugandan authorities could find to reason to keep him in detention.

27-year old Jamal Kiyemba, who came originally from Catholic family in Uganda, was captured in Pakistan in March 2002, suspected of membership of al-Qaeda. He had been a member of the Taliban, which he had joined in Pakistan. He had converted to Islam in 2000.

After his parents divorced and is father was killed in a road accident, he arrived in London in 1998, to join his mother and sisters and brothers who had migrated there. He went to a Catholic school, and then studied pharmacy at University.

Kiyemba told Uganda's Anglophone newspaper New Vision: "This is the first time I am free since 2002", He thanked Muslims in Uganda and elsewhere for praying for him, and said the Ugandan security had been good to him in detention.

He said: "Being in Guantanamo Bay taught me one thing: to be patient and to put my trust in God."

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 6:10 PM | Comments (0)

Singapore: Muslim Father Jailed For Raping Daughters

We reported on April 14 on the case of a Muslim man in Singapore who pleaded guilty to raping his daughters. He had used passages from the Koran to justify to his wives and to his daughters his rights to sexually abuse his own flesh and blood, though there is nothing within the Koran, nor the Hadiths, to justify incest, unless one takes liberties in their interpretation.

The man had employed the controversial custom of mut'ah marriage to avail himself of numerous women over a period of more than twenty years. A mut'ah marriage is legal in Iran, and also Bahrain, and is mainly a Shi'ite custom. This is a short-term contract marriage, which allows a man to have a sexual relationship with a woman for a fixed period of time. Although illegal in Singapore, his exploitation of mut'ah marriage meant that, at the time of his arrest on June 25, 2005, he had 10 wives, six more than is allowed under Islamic custom. He also had a grand total of 66 offspring.

He had raped six of his daughters repeatedly between December 2003 and June 2005. The girls had been aged between 12 and 15 at the time they were raped. At least four of his wives colluded with the assaults, telling the girls they had to give in to their father's desires. The man's defence lawyer, Harold Seet, had argued that the 45-year old man had thought that by satisfying his daughters' needs he could prevent them from associating with boys. He also argued that the man was stressed from running his own firm, and providing for his large family.

The man who, to protect his children's identities, is not named in court reports, admitted the rapes and asked for 34 more cases to be taken into consideration. It is believed he committed more than 43 instances of sexual abuse.

News today from Channel News Asia states that at the Supreme Court in Singapore, Justice Tay Yong Kwang sentenced the man to 32 years' imprisonment. He said the man had wielded a strong influence over his family.

The judge said: "It was a sad and shameful abuse of this trust and respect that allowed him to do what he did with the five daughters. Equally, it was because of this trust and respect that no violence accompanied each occasion of violation as none was needed to make the daughters submit to him....Like any other young girl, I am sure they appreciated their father's love but simply could not comprehend why it was taking a perverse dimension."

The man was arrested after his eldest daughter had reported the matter to the police on June 24, 2005. Justice Tay said that the girl had done the right thing. He added that none of the girls should feel any shame, because their father had done the wrong thing.

Justice Tay conceded that the man had admitted his crimes, thus sparing the family the ordeal of testifying in court. He said it was hard to sentence the main provider of a family, but said that his dependents must now accept that the family breadwinner would not be contributing financially for some time. They should adjust to that.

After sentencing the man to 32 years' jail, Justice Tay allowed the man and his family to meet for 15 minutes.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 5:52 PM | Comments (0)

Pakistan: More Muslim Girls In Child Forced Marriage Scandals

We reported yesterday on a 13 year old girl, Bibi Jan, who was bought at a market and then given in a compensation package to a family in Northwest Frontier Province. The custom of giving girls as brides in a compensation deal n this region is called swara, but in effect is exactly the same as vani. Vani is the term employed in the Punjab region. We first reported on vani marriage in November last year.

Cases of vani and swara marriage are usually decreed by village councils, which are known as jirgas or panchayats. A jirga in the Pashtun community near Peshawar had ordered the family in the Bibi Jan case to buy a girl to be given in marriage. A discussion on this case can be found here, but being a BBC site, the link to our site has now been censored as of 9pm GMT tonight.

Recent reports, such as that of even unborn girls being promised in vani marriages, show that the custom is alive and showing no signs of abating. Last week we described how a girl was suing her father and her "bridegroom" for being forced into a marriage arrangement when she had been only one years old. The nikah or marriage contract, had been authorised by an imam for her and her sister to become betrothed to grooms who were also one years old. They were forced into this vani marriage because of a murder committed twenty years before they were even born.

Following a scandal around the case of a young girl of three years of age was given to a sixty year old man in 2004, the custom of vani became outlawed. It finally became law a year ago, as Article 310A of the Pakistan Penal Code.

On Monday, the Pakistan Daily Times reported on yet another case of forced vani marriage. Here two girls had been given (in their absence) in nikah to a family on the orders of a panchayat. The family to which the girls are to be given live in the village of Bundial in Qaidabad, 25 miles from Mianwali (see map). A detailed map of the region can be found here.

The girls are aged only 12 and 7, and the panchayat ordered that they must be handed over to the family before April 20. They were to be given away because of a "crime" committed by their brother, Rehmatullah. The young man had developed a relationship with a Shahnaz, a girl neighbour, from the family of Ghulam Muhammad. The young couple eloped in March this year, later sending a copy of the nikah mama marriage decree to their parents.

Ghulam Muhammad took his "case" to the local panchayat, claiming he had been dishonoured, and demanding vengeance for the loss of his daughter. The panchayat was convened and ordered the groom's father to give his daughter as compensation to Shahnaz's brother, Muhammad Afzal, who is already married with two children.

As a result of this ruling, 12-year old Amina Bibi will be given to 28-year old Muhammad Afzal, and her 7-year old sister, Rehana Bibi, will be given in marriage to Ghulam Muhammad's nephew, 8-year old Ramzan. The nikah ceremony was formalised by Muhammad Eseb, the local imam, but has not been registered.

The panchayat ordered the eloped couple, Shahnaz and Rehmatullah, to be banned from the village. More ominously, the panchayat also commanded the young girls' father not to contact the police nor the press. However, the girls' father decided to ignore this command, and made his own campaign to save his daughters. He contacted the inspector general of the Punjab police, the Punjab Chief Minister, and the chief justices of the Supreme Court in Lahore, to get them to intervene.

When the head of the panchayat which had made its decree, he said the case was a "minor incident involving a Kamee (low-caste) family." So much for valuing the rights of two young girls.

In a follow-up, the Daily Times reports that the father of the two girls' appeal to the police has had some success. They arranged for the marriages to be officially annulled in a divorce decree arranged on Monday morning.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HCRP), which has said that tribal jirgas/panchayats should be prevented and declared illegal, has expressed its approval of the divorce arrangement. However, it has now stated that the two girls are still not safe.

The father of the two children (also called Ghulam Muhammad, like the father of Shahnaz) is being pressured on account of the clause in the panchayat's decision, which was witnessed by 15 people. This clause stated that, should the government intervene, then Malik Muhammad Yar, the leader of the panchayat, would still retain power to hand over the girls to their husbands.

HCRP has said that for these reasons the government should intervene. One wonders what the police are paid for, as vani marriage is now illegal, and a girl under the age of 16 is not allowed to legally marry.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 4:44 PM | Comments (0)

April 17, 2006

Australia: Muslims Unhappy With Federation Of Islamic Councils

The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils (AFIC) was founded in 1964, to provide an umbrella group for various Islamic bodies, or Islamic Councils, across Australia. It currently comprises nine state and territorial councils, including Australian Capital Territories (Canberra) and Christmas Island. It has sponsored mosques and Islamic schools, and has ingratiated itself with various governments. It claims to be representative body for the 300,000 Muslims in Australia. But now, it seems that AFIC's star may be fading.

Its outgoing head is Dr Ameer Ali (pictured), whom we discussed back in November. Then, he was claiming that it was not practical for members of the Muslim community to report to the authorities those imams who preached radicalism or terror. He had claimed: "Islam is not for example like Christianity where there is a Pope and an Archbishop, and so when the Pope says something others carry it out. The Imams are not a structurally organised community."

Despite this, in 1989 AFIC awarded the honorary title of "Mufti" of Australia to the controversial imam of the Lakemba Mosque in Sydney, Sheikh Taj al-Din al-Hilaly. We reported earlier this month on the AFIC's plans to depose Hilaly, who has spoken of the 9/11 attacks as "God's work against oppressors". The Mufti has also blamed Jews as "the cause of all wars". The AFIC also pays the Mufti.

But the reasons for the Mufti being deposed, to be replaced by a figure chosen by a body of imams, chosen by AFIC, are not connected to his extremist views, nor to his Machiavellian outlook. The reasons given were that he was "out of touch".

Now, a new survey has shown that for many Muslims in Australia, the Australian Federation of Muslim Councils is, of itself, "out of touch". The Australian and the Australian Daily Telegraph report on the results of the survey, which was carried out by the Islamic Council of Victoria (ICV).

Next week there will be crucial elections within the AFIC, to fill important posts, including Dr Ameer Ali's post of president. The report found that Muslims polled found the AFIC to be "sexist, secretive, unrepresentative and irrelevant".

It is also corrupt, with its own internal investigators revealing in March that it was diverting money from a non-profit Muslim school for its own ends. The Malek Fahd school in western Sydney, which is funded by the government, was found by accountant Robert Smith to have siphoned money from schoool funds to subsidise political activities of Islamic groups across Australia.

A report produced by the ICV states: "The ICV executive committee found the most pressing concern the Muslims of Victoria have about AFIC is its transparency and representativeness...The community feels very strongly that AFIC is a closed, unrepresentative and therefore irrelevant organisation."

ICV found people thought of the current AFIC as a sexist "old boy's club" and that it had little relevance to Muslim youth and Muslim women, who together comprise at least 60% of the Australian Muslim demographic. It bemoaned the "complete absence of women and youth in AFIC" and criticised its poor consultation with state councils, and its lacklustre performances in the media.

The report noted Muslims' concerns about secretive aspects of AFIC, stating: "Community members were concerned they did not get to see and retain documents outlining AFIC's true financial position."

The IVC, which represents 90,000 Muslims in the state of Victoria, has decided that the lack of support for AFIC among its community needs to be challenged. It is therefore nominating one of its own, Ikebal Patel, to take over from Dr Ameer Ali, the AFIC president.

Dr Ameer has denied the claims made in the report, and Amjad Mehboob, the AFIC's chief executive, dismissed the claims of accountancy fraud as being unsubstantiated.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 7:28 PM | Comments (0)

Pakistan: Islamists Behead Two "US Spies" In Waziristan

We described earlier the conflicts taking place in in Northwest Frontier Province on the border regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan, where Al Qaeda and Taliban militants have been escalating in their influence in the region. In South Waziristan, local clergy declared a state of Sharia law in the region in early March, after threats from militants. On March 26, the first man was killed on the orders of a sharia court based in Wana, main town of South Waziristan.

North Waziristan has been home to many Al Qaeda, Taliban and other "foreign" Islamists for some years. A military contigent of 70,000 Pakistani troops have been stationed there for three years, to combat these insurgents.

On Thursday December 1 last year, an explosion caused the death of individuals in a house in the village of Haisori near Miran Shah, main town of North Waziristan. It was later revealed that one of those killed was Al Qaeda's third in command, Egyptian-born Abu Hamza Rabia.

On January 13, a US airstrike on the village of Damadola, six miles from the Afghan border, attempted to kill Al Qaeda's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, who was due to attend a meeting. The loss of life caused riots in Pakistan, but on January 19, it was revealed that Al Qaeda's chemical and explosives expert, Egyptian born Midhat Mursi al-Sayid 'Umar, also known as Abu Khabab, was among the dead. Midhat Mursi had trained Richard Reid and Zacarias Moussaoui at a terror camp in Derunta, Afghanistan, stated Jack Cloonan, a former FBI agent. He had a bounty of $5 million on his head.

Last week, on Wednesday April 12, another senior Al Qaeda operative was killed in North Waziristan, near the Afghan border. 45-year old Mohsin Musa Matawalli Atwah was killed in an attack mounted by Pakistani security services, using helicopter gunships, near the village of Naghar Kalai.

Like Midhat Mursi, Atwah had a $5 million bounty on his head under the US "rewards for justice" scheme. Atwah had been wanted for the twin attacks upon the US embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya, which killed 12 US citizens and 200 Africans on Friday August 7, 1998. It is believed that before coming to the Waziristan borderlands, Atwah had been hiding in Somalia, protected by warlords.

Today, news from Zeenews, Ireland's Breaking News, and Pakistan's Daily Times reports that two local Pashtun tribesmen have been found in North Waziristan, with their heads removed.

On Sunday, the body of a headless man was found in a market area of Madakhel village, accompanied by a note in the local Pashto language which read: "He was American spy and all of you will face this if you follow him." Villagers identified the man from his clothing as a local 45-year old.

On Saturday, the decapitated body of another man was found in another village in North Waziristan. An official did not give the man's name, but claimed that he was an Islamic cleric, who had been abducted with his pickup truck. The truck is still missing.

Since the start of this year, more than 120 pro-government tribal elders have been killed by Islamist (Taliban and Al-Qaeda) militants, according to Interior Minister, Aftab Khan Sherpao. Since the end of last year, many ordinary villagers, described as "bandits" have been killed, and their gruesome "executions" are filmed and appear on DVDs and videos sold in local shops and markets, where they are popular.

In separate news, Associated Press via CNN reports today that in the northwestern city of Peshawar, three Islamist militants were arrested. These appear to be "foreigners", two Afghans and an Arab.

The men were among four individuals traveling in a car which went though a roadblock at high speed on the edge of Peshawar city, and when police fired at the vehicle, the occupants fired back. The tires were shot out, and the vehicle was brought to a halt. One man escaped, and the three were apprehended. An AK-47 assault rifle and grenades were discovered in the vehicle.

Two of the men had been siting in the car, dressed in burkas, the traditional Muslim woman's clothing from the region, which envelopes the whole body.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 4:32 PM | Comments (0)

Italy: Muslims Whine Over Cartoon Of Mohammed In Hell

An Italian Catholic monthly magazine, Studi Cattolici, has created a storm amongst the Muslim community in Italy, as in its March issue, it has featured Mohammed in Hell. I say featured, rather than depicted, as the cartoonist did not actually depict the so-called "prophet". Cleverly, they had Mohammed invisible behind a wall of flames.

Fresh after the issue of the Danish cartoons of Mohammed, which caused international condemnations and displays of Muslim intolerance and violence, with scores killed, the latest drawing has reignited a debate which most had thought had died down.

The Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published its 12 images of Mohammed after children's author Kare Blultgen, writing a book on Mohammed, found that illustrators were too scared to submit work for publication, for fear of reprisals by Muslim fanatics. The publication of the cartoons in September showed the world just how fanatical and barbaric many Muslims can be.

The issue only became an international furor this year, after Palestinian-born Danish cleric Abu Laban, together with his Lebanese-born sidekick Ahmed Akkari toured the Middle East to incite anger. They made matters worse by including three extra pictures, which had never been published. One of these was said to have shown Mohammed depicted as a pig. In fact, this picture was of a Frenchman participating in a pig-squealing competition, wearing a pig mask.

The Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten reported with some glee that Studi Cattolica had published the new cartoon.

Today's UK Daily Telegraph reported on the cartoon today, but in an extremely mendacious example of poor journalism. Malcolm Moore either has not seen the image, or is trying to sensationalise the issue, for he writes: "An Italian magazine has infuriated Muslims by publishing a cartoon showing the Prophet Mohammed cut in half and burning in Hell."

We are reproducing the original cartoon below, to disprove his opening statement. Mohammed is not shown. The image is a pastiche of more famous images of Mohammed in Hell, which we described earlier in an illustrated anthology. It is a send-up of illustrations depicting the famous work by Dante Alighieri (1265 - 1321), called the Divina Commedia or Divine Comedy.

In book One, the Inferno in Canto 28, Mohammed (called Mahomet by Dante) is described cleft from his chin "to where one breaketh wind. Between his legs were hanging down his entrails; His heart was visible, and the dismal sack that maketh excrement of what is eaten. While I was all absorbed in seeing him, he looked at me, and opened with his hands his bosom, saying: "See now how I rend me; How mutilated, see, is Mahomet; In front of me doth Ali weeping go, cleft in the face from forelock unto chin; And all the others whom thou here beholdest, disseminators of scandal and of schism while living were, and therefore are cleft thus."

Mahomet is witnessed by Dante, accompanied by Virgil, his guide through the Inferno. Mohammed is disembowelled, and Ali, the figurehead of the Shia faith, has his face split in two. We depicted illustrations of this subject by Gustave Dore, Salvador Dali and WIlliam Blake.

The captions read, from left to right: "That one split in half from his head to his rump is Mohammed?"
"Yes, he is split because he brought division to society."
"While instead that other one with his pants down (or with burning coals) is Italian politics regarding Islam."

Studi Cattolici has links to the orthodox Catholic group Opus Dei. The magazine's editor, Cesare Cavalleri, said: "If, contrary to my intentions and those of the author, anyone felt offended in his religious feelings, I freely ask him in a Christian manner for forgiveness."

He had formerly stated: "We must not fear freedom of opinion, and had alluded to reactions from "the idiotic positions" of Islamists. he stated: "This is not a cartoon against Mohammed. It is a cartoon which addresses the loss of the West's identity. Why all the fuss over a cartoon which only represents that which has already been written centuries ago by Dante Alighieri?"

The Union of Italian Muslim Communities said the cartoon was "odious and racist". Is spokesman said: "The rage was just calmed and here, with an absurd and criminal logic, they go and stir things up."

Opus Dei distanced itself from the magazine, saying it was not an official publication of the group.

The Washington Times reports that Souad Sbai, of an associaion of Italian Muslim women said that Studi Cattolic should "step back, stop and lower the tone." She asked: "Wouldn't it be better to sit down around a table and talk about it, instead of provoking things? What can such an initiative mean?"

According to Arab News, Italy's Interior Ministry recently announced that it had foiled a terrorist attack, which had been planned against a church in Bologna, which is home to frescoes depicting "Mahomet" in Hell, inspired by Dante's work.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 12:11 PM | Comments (0)

Israel: Islamic Jihad Kill Six In Tel Aviv Blast

Today, outside a fast food outlet in Tel Aviv, Israel's capital, a suicide bomber blew himself up and has killed six people, state Reuters, Associated Press via Yahoo News and CNN.

The groups Islamic Jihad and the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade claimed responsibility for the attack. Hamas, which has committed at least 60 suicide attacks against Israelis since 2000, claimed that the bombing was an act of "self-defence".

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the blast was "a natural result of the continued Israeli crimes against our people. The Israeli occupation bears responsibility for the continuation of its aggression. Our people are in a state of self-defence and they have every right to use all means to defend themselves."

Mahmoud Abbas, of the Palestinian Authorty, called for the "Quartet" of peace-keeping bodies, the US, Russia, the EU and UN to intervene to prevent further escalations of violence. He said the attack was not in line with the needs of the Palestinian people.

A male suicide bomber had walked up to the food outlet in a busy commercial area of Tel Aviv. Today is Passover Monday holiday. Six people were killed at the scene, and at least 35 people were injured. Israeli TV showed people with clothes covered in blood. Nine of the injured are in a serious condition.

A security guard had stopped the bomber from entering the building, and probably prevented a higher toll of deaths. The guard was injured in the explosion. Though her car was parked 50 yards away from the scene of the blast, a witness, 62-year old Sonya Levy said: ""I was about to get into my car, and boom, there was an explosion. A bit of human flesh landed on my car and I started to scream." Her windshield was smeared with blood.

The injured were attended to by paramedics and ambulancemen on the sidewalk. Windows were smashed in nearby cars, and bottles and debris were thrown 25 yards from the blast point.

At the weekend, Islamic Jihad's spokesman, Ramadan Shalah (who is based in Syria) posted on the Islamic Jihad website a statement that the group vowed to continue its offensive against Israelis, state Ha'aretz, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Reuters.

Today's explosion is the first to have taken place during the Palestinian leadership of Hamas. Their open support for today's atrocity will hopefully convince any undecided people that they do not deserve a penny of foreign funding from the West.

An earlier explosion outside a falafel restaurant was the first suicide attack this year, but fortunately this only managed to kill the terrorist himself.

UPDATE: The toll of injuries has now risen to 49. Ireland's Breaking News states that Islamic Jihad have released a video of the suicide-murderer. They claimed in a phone call to Associated Press that he is Sami Salim Mohammed Hammed, from the town of Jenin in the West Bank. Later a video was shown, depicting the terrorist as a young teenager, dressed in black. He wore a yellow headband, emblazoned with text from the Koran. The murderer claimed on the video: "There are many other bombers on the way."

UPDATE 2: The death toll of the terrists' victims has risen to nine. ITV News showed female members of his family weeping and wailing, and saying they had no idea their son was going to be a suicide-murderer. They did not make any statements of sympathy for the innocent Israelis killed by their son.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 9:29 AM | Comments (1)

Pakistan: Muslim Child Bride For Sale

We have tried to make our readers aware of how in Pakistan, Islamic jirgas or panchayats (village courts), have condoned abuses of the rights of girls and women, Such abuses include the ordering of gang-rape against women such as Mukhtar Mai, because of a "crime" committed by her brother. We have also tried to make our readers aware of the custom of vani, where girls are promised off in marriage, as compensation for a relative's crime.

Though the custom of vani was made illegal, with honor-killing, in 2004, coming into effect early last year, the practice continues. We reported last week how even unborn girls were promised in vani marriage, as terms of a "compensation package", almost always mitigating a crime committed by a man. We also described how one 25-year old woman, Naheed Akhtar who had been betrothed in vani marriage at the age of one, was suing her father and her groom for forcing her into nikah or Muslim engagement. Naheed and her sister had been forced to become officially pledged to their "grooms" to compensate for a killing their father had committed twenty years before she was born.

As well as vani, which is commonly practiced in the central Punjab region of Pakistan, there is another near-identical custom, which is called swara. The custom of swara is common in Pashtun areas of Pakistan, in the regions adjacent to Afghanistan. The practice is still common in Northwest Frontier Province.

In 2004, an article published originally in Khaleej Times described cases from the region, such as that of Afsheen, then aged 19, who had been married off at nine years old to a man four times her age, in a swara marriage. She was given away because her father had committed a murder. "This marriage has ruined my life," she said. "It is a terrible custom. It does nothing but destroy the life of a poor girl. It must be abolished."

The concept of 'badal", or revenge, is strong in Pashtun society, and leads to a need for disputes to be settled quickly, to avoid further bloodshed. According to anthropologist Samar Minallah, the girls are treated as second-class citizens when they are sent to be a bride in a new family. "They are treated like enemies," she said, referring to the way the girls' presence reminded others of the feuds and rivalries which caused the swara marriage in the first place.

Samar recently made a documentary film, entitled "Swara - A bridge over troubled water" in which she states that the stigma of being in a swara marriage lasts until death, and many child brides forced into swara marriage contracts commit suicide when they reach maturity.

An article by Amnesty International states that Pakistan ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Child in 1980, prohibiting child marriages. Under Pakistan's Muslim Family Law Ordinance, a girl must reach 16, and a boy must reach 18, and both must give consent, before a marriage can take place.

But children are often sold in marriage. Prices for brides range from 80,000 rupees to 200,000 rupees ($1,340 to $3,350 US), and though illegal, they are used as ways to supplement incomes. In March 2004 in Sindh province, a man was charged for selling his 7 year old daughter to a 35 year old man for marriage. The daughter had tried to escape, but Ali Hassan, her "husband" kidnapped her back.

Today, Pakistan's Daily Times documents a shocking case, which involves both the selling of a child bride in a market, and the girl then being given away in a swara marriage. What makes the matter more humiliating for Bibi Jan, the thirteen year old girl, is that when she was presented as a bride, she was then rejected.

Bibi Jan was purchased in a market, the Nothia bazaar in Peshawar. The people who bought her were looking to find a girl as a result of a decision made by a jirga in Rusthum, in Mardan district.

This jirga had decreed that the family of Afsar Ali of Shahbaz Gari should provide a girl in compensation to the family of Gul Sanga, who lived in the same village where the jirga was held. The reason for the compensation was that a girl from Gul Sanga's family had eloped with a male member of Afsar Ali's family. Afsar Ali did not have a sister or another close female relative to give away, he was ordered by the jirga to buy a girl.

A cousin of Afsar Ali, called Sajjid, bought the girl from Nothia bazaar for the sum of 53,000 rupees (888 dollars). When 13-year old Bibi Jan was then presented to the family, they rejected the girl, demanding that they be given a "healthier" girl.

The family of Gul Sanga claimed Bibi Jan was mentally upset and a minor.

The local police are being blamed by Samar Minallah for the current incident. Minallah, who runs the Ethnomedia organisation, is still an active campaigner against swara marriage. It would have been officially outlawed at the same time as Vani, a ruling legally effective as of one year ago. But Rakhshanda Parveen, from the non-governmental organisation Sachet, describes swara as a "culturally-sanctioned practice of violence against women".

For girls to be given away in marriage is a crime against their human rights, especially when this is done to exculpate a male relative's crimes. To sell a girl into marriage is a denial of her human rights. But for a girl such as Bibi Jan to firstly be sold, and then offered up for a marriage with a stranger, when she is not even out of childhood, is a sign of the backwardness of Pashtun society. In rural communities of Pakistan, girls and women are treated no better than livestock, chattels to be bought and sold, and forced into breeding with people who are not chosen of their own volition. And then, swara marriage condemns them to be treated as creatures of shame.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 1:15 AM | Comments (1)

April 16, 2006

UK: Muslims Criticise The Terrorism Act 2006

Finally, on Thursday 13 April, the UK had a law to counter terrorism, called the Terrorism Act 2006. The entire transcript of the new Act can be found HERE, from Her Majesty's Stationery Office. Clicking on the titles will bring up the entries/sections.

We have described the tortuous process by which the UK government has led its original proposal for a new law against terrorism, given the working title of the Prevention of Terrorism Bill into law, as it through parliamentary and judicial reviews.

When first published in draft form in October, there was an intention to produce a list of historical events and instances which could be classed as acts of terrorism. This list was dropped, but its context in which the list would have been place remained.

The list referred to the creating a new legal offence called "glorification of terrorism", which went on to have more controversy than any other part of the Bill. Surprisingly, this clause in the law has not been deleted. This clause of the Bill was debated by various individuals, and when the Bill finally reached the House of Lords, it was this particular clause which caused the Bill to be rejected in January this year, and sent back to the House of Commons. The clause was rejected five times in all, before finally being passed in March.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal had said in January of this clause: "The government does not believe it acceptable that people should be allowed to make statements which glorify terrorism and in doing so make it more likely their audience will themselves commit acts of terrorism."

As expected, the clause was reintroduced to the Bill, and surprisingly, it is now in the Terrorism Act 2006, and on the statute books. It features in Schedule 1 of the final Act, which deals with "Encouragement of Terrorism" and its details can be read HERE.
Schedule 1, section 1 (3) qualifies such terms of encouragement of terrorism as a statement which

- "(a) glorifies the commission or preparation (whether in the past, in the future or generally) of such acts or offences; and (b) is a statement from which those members of the public could reasonably be expected to infer that what is being glorified is being glorified as conduct that should be emulated by them in existing circumstances.

There are further qualifications, but in essence, encouraging terrorism, encouraging terrorist acts or committing the act of glorification of terrorism can now bring in a penalty of up to 7 years' imprisonment maximum, or a fine, or both, when convicted following an indictment, and on summary conviction a sentence of up to 12 months' imprisonment.

Another proposal from the original Bill was that the maximum time for suspects to be held without charge was to be raised from 14 days to 3 months. This notion was attacked by Lord Goldsmith the Attorney General, and even jurors from a notorious "ricin trial", held in 2002. This proposal was also criticised by Lord Carlile QC, an independent assessor of terrorism legislation.

The 90 day detention was voted out in the House of Commons on November 9, with 291 votes for this, and 322 against. Faced with a defeat, the Commons voted again for a lesser amount of time a detainee could be held. A second motion was put before the House, in which terror suspects should be detained without charge for no more than 28 days. This vote was passed. 323 MPs voted for the measure, while 290 were against it.

In the new Terrorism Act 2006, this clause remains, as stated within sections 23 to 25, allowing 28 days as the maximum amount of time a suspect can be held in detention without trial.

When the Bill was reviewed by the second, or upper house, the House of Lords on November 21, the "glorification of terrorism" clause was still an issue of debate, and had been condemned by the Association of Chief Police Officers and Human Rights Watch, who claimed it would be "likely to have a chilling effect on free expression in classrooms, media newsrooms and mosques."

In December, the Association of Chief Police Officers suggested that mosque closures, another controversial part of the proposed Bill were unwise. Assistant Chief Constable Ron Beckley suggested that to temporarily close down mosques where radical Islam was being preached, would drive extremism underground. The proposal even met with opposition from the Church of England.

The "mosque closure" proposal was dropped later in December, during the second reading of the draft Bill in the Lords.

We reported on November 1 that the Muslim Council for Britain had been publicly condemning the proposals within the Bill, including the mosque closure proposals. Abdurahman Jafar, vice chairman of the legal affairs committee of the MCB told the UK Parliament's joint committee on human rights that he feared a really "horrific counter-productive effect" from the "glorification of terrorism" proposal.

Jafar had stated that the proposal confused: "the issue of illegitimate attacks against peaceful democracies, with legitimate acts of resistance against illegitimate regimes around the world." The secretary general of the MCB, Iqbal Sacranie attended a memorial service for Sheikh Yassin, the founder of the terrorist group Hamas, so it is obvious why the MCB disapproved of this clause.

Now, according to The National Ledger, the Terrorism Act 2006 is still under fire from Muslim groups, most notably the Muslim Council for Britain, as well as civil liberty campaigners.

The Muslim Council for Britain has urged the government to exercise "maximum restraint", and said that it would take legal action should ministers try to criminalise "non-violent organisations."

These "non-violent organisations" would almost include Hizb ut-Tahrir. Back last year, the MCB tried to blackmail the government by saying that that they would only support the banning of Hizb ut-Tahrir if the government also banned the British National Party.

The Terrorism Act 2006 does not specifically mention groups which will be proscribed. But it is certain to outlaw Al-Muhajiroun successors such as Al-Ghurabaa, who notoriously held placards calling for the beheading of those who insulted Islam on February 3. The group's website also states that people who insulted the prophet should be killed.

Emergency measures introduced by Home Secretary Charles Clarke last year, as amendments to the existing Terrorism Act 2000, which include control orders - such as house arrest - were dealt a blow on Wednesday (April 12) by a High Court judge, who said they breached human rights law.

The government has said that it will appeal against the judge's ruling.

Britain's human rights law is actually governed by the European Union, and the European Commission on Human Rights, and it is likely that the Muslim Council will attempt to challenge other aspects of the new Act via their courts.

MCB Secretary-General Sir Iqbal Sacranie added: "The fact that these laws are based upon a number of false premises and an unacceptably vague definition of terrorism makes them a recipe for disaster as well as a huge blow to our freedoms."

The human rights group Liberty, which like the MCB campaigned vigorously against certain parts of the bill, said it was deeply concerned that the legislation's silencing of dissent would lead to a growth in extremism.

"These new powers make us not only less free, we are also less safe when we drive dissent underground and alienate minorities," said Policy Director Gareth Crossman. "Swept up in this new anti-terror safety net could be those who protest against dictators like Zimbabwe's Mugabe or North Korean dissidents."

It has been a long road for the Prevention of Terrorism Bill to finally become the Terrorism Act 2006. And it looks like it will have a rocky road ahead. But until it is challenged, the Act has passed all the requisite procedures to enable it to become law.

The only challenge which can now be made will involve the definition of what the EU decides "Human Rights" are about. I am more concerned at present about my human rights not to be blown to pieces, rather than the rights of people who openly call for governments to be overthrown, or people who publicly call for others to be beheaded.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 10:41 PM | Comments (0)

Egypt: Christian-Muslim Conflict Continues, Muslim Dies

We described how on Friday, April 14, in three churches around Alexandria, Egypt, Muslim knifemen attacked worshippers, leading to the death of one Coptic Christian, 67-year old Noshi Atta Girgis and up to 16 Christians being injured. At Mr Girgis's funeral yesterday, the funeral procession became a demonstration, which then descended in sectarian violence between Muslims and Christians. Thirty people were injured, and fifteen were injured.

Today, the violence has broken out again in Alexandria between the two factions, and 43 people have been injured, with one Muslim dead. News reports come from Jordan Times, Iran Daily, Reuters via the Melbourne Age, and Associated Press via The Hawaii Channel and MSNBC.

The Muslim who died had apparently been badly beaten in yesterday's funeral clashes, and died today. He was aged 24, said a representative of the Muslim Brotherhood. A hospital source claimed the man was in his 40s, was called Mustafa Meshaal, and had been clubbed on the head yesterday.

Today, Christians gathered around the region of the Saints Church (Al-Quidissin) in Sidi Bishr district, downtown Alexandria, to demonstrate. Many carried banners. This church was the location where Noshi Atta Girgis had been stabbed to death. Some sources, such as the Jordan Times and Iran Daily, claim Mr Girgis was aged 78.

According to the interior ministry, the man who had stabbed the man to death had been a former government employee who had been fired for mental instability. His name is Mahmoud Salaheddin Abdul Razek. The ministry claimed that the killer had acted out of revenge for the Danish cartoons of the "prophet" Mohammed.

The demonstration (pictured above left) at All Saints/Al-Quidissin church began fairly peacefully after the Sunday service, but a group of about 200 young people had broken through the cordon which had been erected in front of the church by about 2,000 riot police. The youths were carrying wooden crosses, clubs and machetes (pictured right).

Most of the young rioters were aged between 12 and 25. One boy, aged about 12, was witnessed being repeatedly beaten by police. The violence began with stones and bottles being tossed by Coptic Christians, from within the police cordon. From balconies of buildings, Molotov cocktails were being thrown.

Later, a large mob of Muslims charged the police cordon, and in the ensuing chaos, at least 43 people were injured, and 50 people were arrested. Injured individuals included Muslims and Christians.

The situation appears to have been brought to a close when police fired live ammunition into the air, and used tear gas to scatter protesters.

According to police, the Alexandria Governor, Mohammad Abdel Salam Mahgoub, together with the Muslim Brotherhood and local politicians were attempting to defuse the tensions between the two communities.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 6:53 PM | Comments (0)

Iran: Islamist Leader Cannot Take A Joke, Or a Bath

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is currently acting as if he is barking mad, which we will try to explain later today, appears to have no sense of humour at all. Italy's AKI news agency reports that the crazed Islamist leader has been incensed by an anonymous text message, widely disseminated, which says that he does not wash enough.

He has fired the president of a phone company, has taken legal action concerning the text, and has had four people arrested. These have been accused of collaboration with Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency. The news was reported originally in Rooz Online, an anti-government website.

Rooz claims that it is an Iranian national pastime to poke fun at its grubby-looking leader. Jokes comparing Iran's nuclear programme to sex are circulating, and several individuals have received court summonses for making jokes along these lines.

There is also a clampdown on internet bloggers, who apparently number 100,000. 70% of these have faced harassment or imprisonment, states Rooz.

The Iranian regime admits that since the start of the electoral compaigns, prior to last June's election, text messages have been monitored.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 12:01 PM | Comments (0)

Germany: US Asks Germany to take Uighur Gitmo Detainees

If a German in the audience asks, "if they are so wonderful, why don't you take them", I might ask him to tone down the (guttural-sounding) sarcasm, but I would have no honest way to defend my country. (On the other hand, perhaps Frau Merkel will refrain from calling for the shut down of Gitmo again.) Still, if the Uighur Muslims are bad for the United States, they are equally bad for Germany: US asking Germany to take 15 Chinese Muslims from Guantanamo

BERLIN: The United States is pressing Germany to offer a home to 15 Chinese Muslims detained in the US jail for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, a German newspaper reported Saturday. US authorities want to release the 15 ethnic Uighurs, but have yet to persuade Germany to accept them, the Welt daily said, citing unidentified diplomats in Berlin and Washington. A spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the report. A US military tribunal has determined that five Uighurs held at Guantanamo are "no longer enemy combatants" and can be released. However, US officials agree they could face persecution in China, but have yet to find a third country to take them. The newspaper said Germany is an option because a group of Uighurs already live in exile in Bavaria. Chancellor Angela Merkel has called publicly for the Guantanamo camp to be shut down.

A note about the concern for "human rights" that is behind the negotiations: wouldn't be a violation of the human rights of the German people to release potential terrorists in their midst?

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 11:15 AM | Comments (0)

Yemen: Pirate Attack "a False Alarm"

I don't know about you, but if I was in a three-person yacht off the coast of Yemen/Somalia, and I saw men with rocket-propelled grenades, I might have issue a distress call too, even if it was an--ahem--"pre-emptive" distress call: No attack on US yacht off Yemen: US Navy

DUBAI (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy denied reports on Sunday that a U.S.-flagged yacht had been attacked by pirates off the coast of Yemen.

A Navy spokesman confirmed that the yacht had issued a distress call after spotting "people with weapons" but said no shots were fired and that its three passengers were safe.

"There was no attack and the yacht is still at sea and out of any danger," Commander Jeff Breslau, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, told Reuters by telephone from Bahrain.

Earlier, the Italian Coastguard said the yacht, Tir Na Nog, had been attacked by pirates wielding rocket launchers. The vessel's distress call was picked up by an Italian freight ship which had informed the Italian Coastguard.

"The people on board saw people with weapons and they got scared and issued a distress call," Breslau said. "There was no attack by rocket propelled grenades."[...]

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 10:59 AM | Comments (0)

Chad: Intra-Islamic Jihad Extends South

Recent news indicate that armed conflict will resume in the Central African nation of Chad. Islamic militias (although the Press refuses to call them that) have resumed attacks on Muslim-majority Chad from the North, from the violence-ridden Sudanese region of Darfur. The Organization of the Islamic Conference is caught in the middle, but in the end supporting the Sudan by "expressing regret", a diplomatic cop out if I ever saw one. In the meantime, according Australia's The Daily Telegraph, the Chadian capital remains on edge following the attacks: Attacks leave capital on edge

Chad's President Idriss Deby held a victory rally attended by thousands of supporters in the sun-baked capital N'Djamena overnight but many nervous residents feared rebels fighting to topple him may return.

Insurgents bent on ending Mr Deby's near 16-year rule over one of the world's poorest countries launched their most daring strike yet on Thursday, slipping into the dusty city at dawn before loyalist forces fought them off.

Chad, which says the fighting killed more than 300 people, has accused Sudan of backing the rebels and cut diplomatic ties with Khartoum on Friday, shutting its borders and threatening to stop sheltering refugees from Sudan's Darfur region.

Mr Deby criticised the international community for failing to heed his warnings that the Darfur crisis was spreading and that Sudan was a threat to the security of central Africa as a whole.[...]

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 10:09 AM | Comments (0)

Yemen: Mosque Clash Leaves Four Dead

News from Associated Press via the Seattle Pi and the Jerusalem Post and Al Jazeera reports that a battle took place yesterday in a Shi'ite mosque in northern Yemen. The clash involved followers of the anti-US cleric Hussein Badr Eddin al-Hawthi (Badreddine al-Houthy) who was killed in September 2004. This cleric had been the founder of the Faithful Youth movement, and had been accused of sedition, forming an illegal armed group and inciting anti-American hatred. After Hussein was killed, his father continued, replacing his role as leader of the movement, until he surrendered and was imprisoned on September 23, 2005.

The current incident took place as Friday prayers began at the Grand Mosque of Harf Sufiyan district in Amran province, and saw four supporters of al-Houthy shot dead by police, with three other followers injured.

According to Abdullah Mohsin Dhabaan of Amran city council, the gun battle was started by the worshippers who fired at police guarding the mosque: "A group of al-Hawthi's loyalists tried to take over the mosque by shooting the police, which forced the policemen to return fire."

Amran is located 25 miles northwest of San'aa, the capital of Yemen.

The population of Yemen is mostly Sunni, but in the north, the Zaidi live, who comprise about 25% of Yemen's population. The Zaidi or Zaydi are Shia, but share many aspects of doctrinal faith with the Sunni. The Zaidi sect, named after Zayd bin Ali, grandson of Hussain, was formed by the followers of Zayd bin Ali, who led an unsuccessful rebellion against the Umayyad caliph Hisham in 740.

The Zaidi sect claims to be moderate and to reject violence. In 893, a Zaydi state had been created in Yemen. From the eleventh century a continuous tradition of Zaydi imams existed until 1962, when the imamate was ended by a coup was mounted by a republican government, in an event known to Yemenis as the September 26 revolution.

The Zaidi rebels, however, are not moderate, and have links to the increasingly hostile nation of Iran. In December we reported how one Zaidi follower of al-Houthy, Yehya Dalimi, was sentenced to death for terrorist offences, and for working for the Iranian government to stir up unrest in Yemen.

In January, we reported that four pro-government members of al-Oujeri, a tribal representation group, were killed, and two more injured, following a mortar attack by supporters of al-Houthy. Also two Yemeni soldiers were killed by al-Houthy supporters in Sadaah province.

In March this year, President Ali Abdullah Saleh released 627 Zaidi rebels, followers of Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi who had been involved in his rebellion. The release of the rebels was in accordance with an amnesty announced last September.

A report entitled Jihadist Goups in Yemen, made earlier this month by Arabic news source Asharq Alawsat, gives a fascinating insight into the undercurrents of the Yemeni situation.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 9:40 AM | Comments (0)

April 15, 2006

US: Indonesian Muslim Tried To Buy Illicit Weaponry in Hawaii

News from Antara, China People's Daily, from Xinhua News and the Jakarta Post reports that a group including Indonesian Muslims has been detained last Sunday in Hawaii, after being caught trying to buy weaponry.

The arms were to be exported to Indonesia via SIngapore. The individuals arrested are Hadianto Djoko Djuliarso (41), Ibrahim Bin Amran (46) (from Singapore), Ignatius Ferdinandus Soeharli and an individual called David Beecroft, whose nationality has not been identified. They were apprehended while at a meeting with a Detroit businessman in Hawaii, negotiating the arms purchase.

The weaponry is said to include air-to-air missiles, submachine guns and ammunitions, Sidewinder missiles and aviation radar equipment and hundreds of handguns.

Hadianto and Ibrahim bin Amran have been charged with money laundering and violating US export laws. Breaches of the US Arms Export Control Act are punishable by up to five years in prison and a US$250,000 fine.

The question now remains as to what purpose the arms were wanted by these individuals. Three possibilities exist - for terrorism, for a coup against the government, or, more far-fetched perhaps, by the Indonesian government. The last possibility would be dismissed, were it not for the fact that Hadianto Djoko Djuliarso is owner of PT Ataru Indonesia which is partner of the Air Force.

He was apparently in the US to verify a legitimate sale of radar spareparts of F-5 Tiger jet fighters, before having them shipped to Indonesia.

The chief spokesman for the Indonesian Air Force, Air Commodore Sagom Tamboen said: "We are still waiting for the result of the verification, including on where the products came from and how they would be sent to Indonesia."

Sagom said that it would be impossible for the government to sever its connections with PT Ataru Indonesia, and was awaiting a government decision on the case. "But if the government, in this case the Ministry of Defence has appointed PT Ataru as partner in the procurement of arms, its reliability is good," he said.

The possibilities are ominous. The meeting was not a legitimate purchase of weaponry officially sanctioned by the Indonesian government. The government has encouraged Islamism, but is also corrupt. It has treated extreme terrorists with leniency, such as Lashkar Jihad. This group mounted a war in the Moluccas against Christians, which led to the deaths of 9,000 people, between 1999 and 2002. There were rumours that members of the government administration at that time (led by Baharuddin Jusuf Habibie) had actually helped form this paramilitary Islamist group in 1999.

So there are no easy answers forthcoming. The worst case-scenario is that the arms were to be used to mount another sectarian war or to bring about an insurgency. The current government is not the most transparent of bodies, so we will have to wait for the US trial to find out more concrete details.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 9:38 PM | Comments (0)

Holland: Reactions To Controversial Report On Islam

We reported on April 11 on a report produced by Jan Schoonenboom of the Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy, the WRR, entitled: "Dynamiek in Islamitisch Activisme - Aanknopingspunten voor Democratisering en Mensenrechten", or in English: "Dynamism in Islamic activism. Reference points for democratization and human rights. In this report, the head of the Christian Democrat Party (CDA), Maxime Jacques Marcel Verhagen was criticised for "Islam-bashing" for his statements condemning any attempt to introduce Sharia Law into the Netherlands.

Unfortunately the WRR will not be producing this report in English until July, but on 12 April, the Dutch-language was officially presented to Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ben Bot on behalf of the Dutch government. This is the group's summary of its report.

Manifestations of Islam as a significant political factor - Islamic activism - and reactions to it, lead to international tensions. Such confrontations have had a negative impact on the relations between Muslims and non-Muslims in European countries as well. This resulted in the a general notion that Islam cannot coexist with democracy and human rights. In this report the WRR examines the developments of Islamic activism since the Seventies in the Muslim World. Emphasis is placed on intellectual developments, the changing attitude of Islamic political movements and the meaning of Sharia (Islamic Law) to national law in Muslim countries. The results show that there are more starting points for democratization and human rights than often assumed.

For our Dutch readers, a complete copy of the report is available in pdf format. It is 4.8 mb in size, and stretches to 234 pages. To download the document, click HERE.

Today, the left-leaning French newspaper Le Monde had an article on this report, by their Brussels correspondent, Jean-Pierre Stroobants. I have decided to translate it for our Anglophone readership.

The Unjustified Aversion of The Dutch toward Islam

A report on Islam by the very official scientific Council for govermental policy (WRR) has stirred up a controversy in the Netherlands. An independent body charged to deliver advice on public administration, the WRR published, on Tuesday 11 April a document entitled: Dynamism in Islamic activism. Reference points for democratization and human rights

The experts here make audible a discordant voice in the debate, very strong in the nation, on the compatability of Islam and democracy. They emphasise that they mention the progress made on human rights by one part of the Muslim world, rejecting the idea of the "Clash of Civilisations" and plead for the birth, in Holland, of parties inspired by Islam. Such institutions could, according to the experts, enrich the public debate. The Council criticises certain responsibility-bearing Dutch politicians for having played on people's fears and having thus created "an unjustified aversion towards Islam." Various inquiries have shown that public opinion has become one of the most hostile in Europe towards Muslims and, in consequence, to the attitudes about people of foreign origin.

Various examinations have, over the course of recent years, turned around the right of asylum, immigration, and the deliquency and the place of the Muslim faith in the society, with all these notions mixing into the political debate where, often, only extremist views are given prominence. The assassination of film-maker Theo van Gogh, killed in 2004 by a Dutch-Moroccan Islamist, had again poisoned the climate of opinion.

An "unbalanced" study

Another other tenet of the WRR has rattled the government. The experts invite the establishment of "explicit and visible" ties, at the same time as the EU, with organisations such as the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, Lebanese Hizbollah, or Palestinian Hamas. "It is counterproductive for the peace process to only see this movement as a terrorist organisation", notes the Council. Ben Bot, the foreign minister, immediately distanced himself (from the findings), underlining that the Hague considers. as do the other countries of the EU, that Hamas must officially recognise the existence of Israel and condemn policies of terrorism before a dialogue can be initiated.

The analysis of the WRR concerning the application of Sharia, Islamic law, offers another subject of controversy. Jan Schoonenboom and Wendy Asbeek Brusse, the two principal authors of the report, underscore that it is not applied to its fullest other than in a few countries. Besides, emphasise the two specialists, "the rule changes in reality and modernises itself under (its own) guardianship." They affirm that this evolution could bring about "in certain nations, an improvement in the situation of women." The Dutch political parties, on the left and on the right, have criticised such an approach, deemed "unbalanced", of this study.

********
End of translation. What a load of appeasing PC nonsense. No wonder people are not happy with the report.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 7:34 PM | Comments (0)

Egypt: Muslims And Christians Fight At Funeral

Yesterday, Muslims attacked three churches in separate synchronised attacks. In one church, a 67-year old man, Noshi Atta Girgis, was killed in a knife attack outside the Al-Quidissin church east of Alexandria.

Today, according to Reuters AlertNet and News 24, Mr Girgis, a Coptic Christian, was buried. According to News 24, which gave Mr Girgis' age as 78, as his funeral procession made its way from the Al-Quidissim church to the cemetery, fighting broke out between Christians and Muslims.

Several hundred Coptic Christians had turned up for the funeral, and the procession became a demonstration calling for Coptic unity. Witnesses claimed that Muslims and Copts set about each other with sticks, and stones were hurled from windows.

Thirty people were injured in the clashes, according to medical and police sources. Two cars were set alight, shop windows were smashed, and 15 people were arrested. Police put an end to the fighting by firing tear gas into the melee.

During the procession, Christians chanted "We want justice. Christ is the winner". Banners carried by marchers bore slogans, such as "Why can't we live in peace?" and ."No to oppression."

President Hosni Mubarak made similar appeasing noises to the ones he made following the last serious clashes caused by Muslims attacking Christians, last October. His words of reassurance then did little to stem the ongoing persecutions of Christians by the Sunni Muslim majority.

He said "Egypt is considered a model of national unity and religious tolerance. The occurrence of an individual incident or problem cannot disturb the serenity and strength of this relationship between the two elements of the nation."

Despite these platitudes, Muslims, often encouraged by the Mosques, have continued to regard Coptic Christians as easy targets. In January this year, a community centre at el-Udaysaat, near Luxor, which was used as a Christian place of prayer, was subjected to an arson attack in which a Coptic Christian died.

In late 2002, Hosni Mubarak made one positive concession to the Coptic communities, when he declared that January 7, which the Copts regard as the date of their Christmas, should be made into a national holiday.

There is institutional discrimination against Copts, exemplified by the legal restriction upon building Christian places of worship, which Mubarak has made no attempts to repeal in more than 20 years of leadership. This legislation, the The Hamayouni Decree, which dates from 1856 and the rulership of the Ottomans, places severe restrictions only upon the construction or repair of non-Muslim houses of worship. Mosques are unaffected. In December 2005, Mubarak announced a revision to the law.

As a result of this revision, Churches no longer need to have presidential approval to repair or build churches. But the law has not been repealed. Now Christians must apply to local governors, who are in turn obliged to respond within 30 days to such requests. But still, Muslim places of worship have no such restrictions.

As reported in 1994 by the Jubilee Campaign the Hamayouni Decree was deliberately employed to prevent churches being either built or even repaired. Along with beatings, other instances of persecutions by Muuslim extremists included the pratice of Itawa or protection money, which was demanded of Christians by Muslims in various parts of Egypt.

Recently, there have still been cases of forced conversions of Christians to Islam, in which a woman is usually kidnapped and made to profess Islam as her faith.

A famous case of forced conversion took place in 2004, according to Egypt Today, which wrote after the October disputes in Alexandria:

Last year, tensions erupted between the church and the state over the disappearance of a priest's wife and her alleged conversion to Islam. Hundreds of Copts rallied inside the Coptic Cathedral to protest the so-called "forced conversion" of Copt females. The Pope (Shenouda III, titular head of the Coptic church) went into seclusion in a desert monastery to object the detention of a number of Copt demonstrators and the state's approach to the crisis. Tensions did not ease until the police handed over the woman, Wafaa Costantine, who reportedly affirmed her adherence to Christianity, to the church and released Copt detainees.

The animosity between Egyptian Copts and Muslims even continues when they flee abroad, as suggested in the case of a murder of a Coptic family in the US in February last year.

The worst case of Muslim attacks upon Copts in recent years took place in 1999, in the southern village of Kosheh, in which 22 people were killed in sectarian strife.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 5:56 PM | Comments (0)

US: Islamist Professor To Be Deported

News from Voice of America the Washington Post and Tampa Tribune states that Sami Al-Arian (pictured, right), a former professor at the University in South Florida has agreed to deportation. Al-Arian who recently was tried on terror charges pertaining to funding of the Palestinian terror group Islamic Jihad. Al-Arian was arrested in February 2003 with three others, and brought to trial on June 6 last year.

On December 5, a jury of 12 acquitted Sami Al-Arian on eight counts, including conspiracy to murder and maim, as well as several charges of providing material support to a terrorist group. The Tampa jury also acquitted Al-Arian of obstruction of justice.

The jury could not decide on a further nine counts of racketeering conspiracy, money laundering, conspiracy to provide material support, and conspiracy to make and receive contributions of funds, goods or services to terrorists.

Crucially, they could not definitive evidence to support the allegation that Al-Arian was linked to a terrorist attack in 1995 that killed seven Israelis and one American, Alisa Flatow.

Two of his co-defendants, Sameeh Hammoudeh and Ghassan Ballut, were also acquitted of all charges against them The third, Hatem Fariz, was acquitted on eight counts of some of the charges against him, but undecided on 25 others.

Kuwaiti-born Sami al-Arian was a Palestinian, who had spent the last 30 years as a US resident, also acting as a Palestinian rights campaigner. Following the trial which gave disappointment to prosecutors and counter-terrorist agencies, there was an option of retrying the former professor.

Now a deal has been struck between Al-Arian and prosecutors, in which the former professor admits involvement with a terrorist organisation and agrees to be deported, without recourse to a further trial. The deal involves giving Al-Arian a sentence which is more or less equivalent to the time that he has spent behind bars, according to William Moffitt, who had formerly been a defense attorney during Al-Arian's trial.

Ahmed Bedier of the Council on American Islamic Relations or CAIR, who himself stated that before 1995 that it was "not immoral" to support the terror group Islamic Jihad, has denied the statements that Al-Arian has pleaded guilty to terrorism charges.

"He stayed true to his convictions - he stayed true he wasn't going to plead to those issues. There is no conspiracy to support terrorism," Bedier said.

Bedier organised a news conference, saying he expected Al-Arian's family to attend. They did not.

Allegations concerning AL-Arian's possible support for terrorism stem back to a PBS TV report made in 1994, entitled "Jihad in America". Since 1993, the computer sciences professor has been subject to government wiretaps on his faxes and phone calls.

Al-Arian was suspended from his job as a Professor at the University of South Florida in September 2001, after he appeared on Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor". He was officially fired in February 2003 following his indictment. The University then stated that he had used his academic position for noneducational, improper purposes.

Bedier and CAIR have campaigned to have Al-Arian released, holding a Fundraiser in February entitled preposterously "Justice Delayed is Justice Denied: Growing Worldwide Demand for Prof. Sami Al-Arian's Release", to drum up support for Al-Arian.

Where Al-Arian will be deported is unknown. Born in Kuwait, raised mostly in Egypt and also linked to Palestine, he appears to have three locations he has some affinity with.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 4:21 PM | Comments (0)

US: Dalai Lama to Work to Improve Image of Islam

Dear Readers;

This is exactly why, even though I have always hated the Chinese Communists, I have never loved Tenzin Giatso. Peace-worshipping is not a virtue, but a vice of the worse kind: it allows the peace worshiper to elevate his stature at the expense of those willing to defend themselves. It allows shameless liars and naked aggressors to gain the upper hand. Peace-worshipping compels you to turn your back on your own people. (If you are--say--the most recognizable Buddhist leader in the world, it compels you to forget the destruction of Buddhism in Northern India by the Islamic Horde.) Peace-worshipping compels you to try to stop the only force capable of stopping the Islamic onslaught: Dalai Lama seeks to improve Islam's image

The Dalai Lama, a powerful icon for peace worldwide, will gather with influential American Muslim leaders in San Francisco today to help refashion Islam's image in the United States.

Concerned that Muslims are unfairly demonized in American popular consciousness, the world-renowned Buddhist leader hopes to help show Islam in what he sees as its truest form, one of peace.

"The enemy is not out there," said Tenzin Dhonden, the Dalai Lama's emissary for peace. "The enemy is within you. ... How we see religion is in our mind. But religion itself is the truth: peace and harmony."[...]

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 12:37 PM | Comments (1)

Australia: The Islamist Threat From Within

Much has been written on the activities of Hizb-ut Tahrir, the extreme Islamist group, banned in most countries of the Middle East, which seeks to overthrow governments to establish a Muslim Caliphate, which would ultimately work to subjecting the globe to the rule of Islam.

We provided a brief sketch of Hizb ut-Tahrir in December. The group was founded in Jerusalem in 1953 by an Islamic jurist, Taqiuddin al-Nabhani. It has inernational status, and has active branches in the UK, Denmark, Bangladesh, the US, Canada, Indonesia and Australia.

It is illegal in Egypt, where three individuals from Britain were jailed and apparently tortured in 2004, being released on March 1 this year. Most Middle Eastern countries make Hizb ut-Tahrir illegal, as even Muslim countries fear the effects of a group which actively campaigns for the overthrow of their governments.

The group is banned in Germany, in Holland, and in February 2003, they were banned Russia, leading to 29 of their members currently being in prison. They are banned in Bashkortastan and Tajikistan.

Even in Pakistan, where extreme Islamist parties are allow to function with near-impunity, Hizb ut-Tahrir was banned in January this year.

Why such governmental animosity against the group? If one looks at their actions in countries where they are legal, their behaviour is vile and oppressive. In Denmark, Fadi Abdullatif was given a 60 day suspended jail term for distributing racist propaganda in October 2002. He had utilised passages from the Koran to argue for violence against Jews. As the BBC:

In March and April 2002, Hizb Ut Tahrir handed out leaflets in a square in Copenhagen, and at a mosque. The leaflet, which also appeared on the Danish groups internet site, makes threats against Jews, using a quote from the Koran urging Muslims to 'kill them wherever you find them, and turn them out from where they have been turned you out.' The leaflet also said, 'The Jews are a people of slander...a treacherous people... they fabricate lies and twist words from their right context.' And the leaflet describes suicide bombings in Israel as "legitimate" acts of "Martyrdom".

Currently Fadi Abdullatif is again awaiting trial, charged with threatening the Danish government for this call to "eliminate your rulers if they stand in your way", referring to his calls for Muslims to go to Iraq to fight against coalition troops.

In Britain the group has been officially banned from University campuses, following visious campaigns of intimidation against Muslim students, who are threatened and pressured to wear the hijab, or Muslim headscarf. Though outlawed, the group has tried to bypass restrictions by posing as a group calling itself Stop Islamophobia. UK gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell received numerous death threats from Hizb ut-Tahrir representatives throughout the 1990s.

In Bangladesh, the group has been responsible for most of the protests about the Danish cartoons of Mohammed. In February, thsy organised a march in Dhaka, in which banners carried the slogans: "Death to those who degrade our beloved prophet!", "Hang culprits" and also demanded the expulsion of EU ambassadors from Muslim countries.

In Indonesia, Hizb ut-Tahrir is actively involved in persecution campaigns against Christians, and works in conjunction with the violent Front Pembela Islam to close down churches and prevent Christians from practicing their faith.

On Saturday, November 5 last year, we reported that at a carnival held in Melbourne that day, to celebrate Eid ul-Fitr, the end of Ramadan, Australian Hizb ut-Tahrir's members were distributing leaflets. These fliers claimed that Muslims had "enormously rejected their evil and corrupt rulers that the West have appointed over them, and they are looking forward to consigning them to the dustbins of history". The fliers also praised terrorist atrocities overseas where Muslims had "inflicted the most humiliating lesson on supposed superpowers".

The leaflets, which were condemned by the carnival's organisers, proclaimed: "Ally yourselves with those who work day and night to confront this war against Islam."

I recently did a Google search for information about Hizb ut-Tahrir's activities in Australia, and found very little openly available information. Hizb ut-Tahrir's obese spokesperson, Dr Imran Waheed had mentioned that Hizb ut-Tahrir was active in Australia, Canada and the US. We reported earlier that in August last year Australia's Attorney General, Philip Ruddock had considered moves to have Hizb ut-Tahrir banned. He decided that the group was not "terrorist".

Ruddock appears to have looked at the group's propaganda, and not their track record. The group claims to renounce violence officially, but it certainly supports terror and violence. It regards suicide attacks against Israeli civilians as "justifiable".

My search for information on Australian activities of Hizb ut-Tahrir was rewarded yesterday, following an article in Robert Spencer's Dhimmiwatch. This alluded to a commentary by Andrew Bolt, published in yesterday's edition of the Australian Herald Sun.

Mr Bolt's article is eye-opening. He describes how in February, Australia's Treasurer Peter Costello was demonised for telling Muslims that if they did not accept Australian values, they should not come to the country. Costello is nothing if not consistent. He made similar comments in August and November last year.

Bolt describes how in response to Costello's calls for Muslims to have loyalty to Australia, for which he was called an "Islam-basher", the declared attitudes of official Muslim groups are not dissimilar:

The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils declared "Islam law teaches that when you go into a country you embrace the laws of that country".

The Islamic Council of Victoria said: "Muslims are Australians first."

The Lebanese Muslim Association claimed the "majority of Muslims . . . accept Australian values".

But Andrew Bolt goes on to describe the values of a group of Australian members of Hizb ut-Tahrir, who certainly do not subscribe to these values. Importantly, Hizb ut-Tahrir does not support democracy. Last week members were outside Bankstown Town Hall, and voicing their opposition to democratic values, secular society and Australia.

Usman Badar, who is president of the University of New South Wales Muslim Students Association declared that: "Western values are not worthy of human subscription.....Democracy sounds nice enough - not to a Muslim....Sovereignty is for none but Allah." He added: "Allah did not say....whatever the people want, we'll have this."

Badar said of secularism that "it relegates Allah to the margins of public life and places human beings above him. This, to put it blatantly, is as blasphemous as it gets.....The overriding commitment of a Muslim is to Allah, and Allah alone."

Hizb ut-Tahrir's commitment to bypassing and removing democracy is part of its modus vivendi - in Britain, the group has described Westminster as "the infidel parliament". Khalid Mahmood, Labour MP for Birmingham Perry Barr has said that: "These people manage to get at young people. I have spoken to parents who say they 'lost' their sons and daughters as a result." This did not stop pug-ugly pugilist MP Clare Short inviting the group into the "infidel parliament" on March 1.

But in Australia, Hizb ut-Tahrir are not the only Muslims who despise the culture they live in. On Wednesday, Australia's Daily Telegraph described the statements of 33-year old Khaled Cheikho, one of the terror suspects arrested in Sydney on November 8 last year.

Cheikho said that Australia would ultimately be ruled by Muslim law. He described democracy pejoratively, saying it was "full of shit". He also said "So you tell Howard this and pass it on to Bush the motherfucker, tell him (I'm) gonna come and chop him up."

He also announced that "Sharia law is gonna prevail throughout the land . . . You tell Howard this, tell him Islam is gonna rule this land.....The land, all the land is Allah's land, Allah created it and he's given it to Muslims and the Muslims are going to rule it."

The spiritual leader of Cheikho and his associates, 46-year old cleric Abu Nacer Benbrika has said "There are two laws -- there is an Australian law and there is an Islamic law."

Firebrand Sheikh Mohammed Omran, a cleric who runs a prayer centre in Melbourne's inner north, has said: "We believe we have more rights than you because we choose Australia to be our country and you didn't."

Benbrika, Omran and Cheikho can be dismissed, as can NSW Students Union and Hizb ut-Tahrir, as aberrations from mainstream Australian values, unrepresentative of the Muslim community as a whole. But Andrew Bolt eloquently points out that even the mainstream individuals who are regarded by mainstream media as "moderate" Muslim leaders have produced statements which would fit with Costello's descriptions of Muslims who did not espouse Australia's national values.

For example, Sheikh Faiz Mohamad, who runs the Glocal Islamic Youth Centre in Sydney, has said: "A victim of rape every minute somewhere in the world. Why? No one to blame but herself." Nice...

We have already described how the self-styled Mufti of Australia, Sheik Taj el-din el-Hilaly has said that the September 11 attacks were "God's work against the oppressor". Hilaly is imam of the Lakemba mosque in Sydney. Andrew Bolt says that the "Mufti" has blamed "Australian society" for the pack-rapes committed by Muslim Lebanese youths. At least the "Mufti" is soon to be deposed.

The spokesman for the "Mufti", one Keysar Trad has said: "The criminal dregs of white society colonised this country and...the descendants of these criminal dregs tell us that they are better than us."

Bolt summarises his piece with a quote from the brave and indomitable woman psychiatrist, who openly challenges Islamic intolerance, Wafa Sultan: "It is a clash between civilisation and backwardness, between the civilised and the primitive, between barbarity and rationality. It is a clash between freedom and oppression, between democracy and dictatorship."

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 9:15 AM | Comments (0)

Australia: Abattoirs Approved For Muslim Slaughtering

News from Nine MSN, Australia's ABC Rural and Bernama reports that three abattoirs have been given the seal of approval by a Malaysian religious body to perform halal slaughter of beef, which can then be exported to Malaysia.

The abattoirs are Stanbroke Beef Pty Ltd, based in Grantham, Queensland, and two from Victoria - Tasman Group Services, Brooklyn, and Victoria and Novic Food Processing, in Wodonga.

On June 4 last year, Malaysia suspended its beef imports from Australia, as it was decided that normal humane methods of killing bovines did not conform to halal standards.

Traditionally, halal meat has to be prepared by cutting an animal's throat and allowing the blood to drain out of the creature. Western methods of killing usually involve firing a metal bolt into the animal's brain to kill it instantly.

Jon Hayes, CEO of Norvic foods said: "Malaysia is only taking a very small percentage of the Australian beef and it's another market that Australia needs. We can't consume what we produce for 20 million people and we need the total global scene, and Malaysia is a very important market."

The three abattoirs were awarded their Islamic certification by the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim), and came into effect as of April 6.

Datuk Mustapa Abd Jalil, of Malaysia's Veterinary Services Department (JPH) said on Friday: "As our need for beef and offal from Australia is only between 6,000 to 8,000 tonnes a year, we don't expect any shortage of beef in the market."

Mustapa said that two US abattoirs have also been given halal clearance. Strauss and Lamb in Franklin, Wisconsin and J.F. O'Neil Packing in Nebraska had received their certification since February 13 this year.

I am surprised that none of the articles described the methods of slaughter to be employed in these abattoirs. Halal meat is not killed humanely, if done in accordance with Islamic custom. I am sure animal rights activists would be upset to know that money issues were coming before issues of humane slaughtering.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 6:55 AM | Comments (0)

Malaysia: Highest Court To Decide Powers Of Islamic Courts

We described in January the case of Lina Joy, a woman who was classified under Malaysia's bizarre religious profiling as a Muslim. She decided in 1998 to convert to Christianity, but found herself unable to legally call herself a Christian. She had been named Azlina Jailani, when she was a Muslim, but changed her name to Lina Joy when she converted.

She took the case to a Syariah Court (Sharia or Islamic court) but was told she could not become a Christian, as reported in NECF Malaysia and Religioscope. A pdf document on her case can be downloaded HERE. Her cases are described in a graphic, available by clicking HERE.

The problem for Lina Joy stems from a flaw in Malaysia's constitution, which in effect makes it impossible for anyone to convert out of Islam, and is in breach of acceptable standards on human rights. The flaw is created by Article 121 (1A) of the constitution, which was introduced as an amendment in 1988. This article declares that "civil courts have no jurisdiction on "any matter" which falls within the jurisdiction of the Syariah (Sharia, Islamic Law) courts.

Issues of conversion and apostasy are covered by the Syariah courts, and therefore, no court can challenge any decision made by Syariah courts. These courts are run by fanatical Muslims, who regard apostasy as something they refuse to endorse. In fact, no living person has ever been able to be declared a "convert" by their rulings.

The only person ever to be allowed to officially apostasise is Nyonya Tahir, aged 89 years, (pictured above), who had lived as a Buddhist for more than sixty years. During her lifetime, Nyonya had tried repeatedly to be allowed to call herself a Buddhist, but her requests had been refused. It was only after she died on January 19 that the Syariah courts relented, and following an appeal by her family, she was allowed to be buried as a Buddhist. Her request to be allowed to be identified as a Buddhist was something she was never able to see during her lifetime.

Disingenuously, Muhamad Burok, president of the Malaysian Syariah Lawyers Association stated after Nyonya's case: "It shows that our two court systems - the Civil Court and Syariah Court - can exist in harmony, so the issue that the Constitution should be amended does not arise. The decision shows that everyone can get protection from all the courts."

As well as having a constitutional article, which pushes all decisions into the hands of the extreme fanatics of the Syariah courts, the problems for converts are compounded by the Malaysian system of identity cards, which are issued to people from the age of 12 onwards. These state which religion a person follows. The body which authorises the cards is the National Registration Department, and any changes to a person's stated faith on one's cards must be dome with approval from the Syariah courts.

Lina Joy first applied to the National Registration Department to have her status as "Muslim" altered to "Christian" in February 1997. In August that year, she was told that she could not change her status, and that she was still a "Muslim", because she did not have the necessary permission from the Syariah courts. In 1998, she was allowed to change her name to Lina Joy, but could not change her official status as a "Muslim."

In 2001, when she made her first case to the Syariah courts, High Court Judge Datuk Faiza Tamby Chik told her "As a Malay, the plaintiff exists under the tenets of Islam until her death." Malays are automatically deemed to be Muslim, and the ruling is obviously racist. Judge Faiza stated that he could not make a ruling on the case, and the issue had to be dealt with by the Islamic courts. This is because of Article 121 (1A). Only Syariah courts can rule on issues of apostasy, marriage, divorce and inheritance. It also can rule on issues of burial.

In October 2004, Lina again took her case to the Court of Appeal once more, to try to have the name "Muslim" removed from her card.

With the Islamofascism rampant in Malaysia, Lina Joy cannot marry anyone outside her faith. And as her faith is officially "Muslim", she cannot marry a Christian under the law.

Malaysia pretends to be a moderate Muslim nation, propagating the concept of Islam Hadhari, or "progressive Islam". In practice, the case of Lina Joy and others proves that its version of Islam is totalitarian and inflexible. The 1988 amendment which created Article 121 (1A) is in total contradiction of other Articles in the constitution. Article 3(1) of the constitution states that 'other religions may be practiced in peace and harmony in any part of the Federation. Article 11 of the constitution guarantees Malaysian citizens the right to adopt the religion of their choice.

The issue of whether an Islamic court can make a ruling on a person who refuses to profess Islam is perhaps not even legal, as Malaysia's Constitution, Schedule IX, List II, limits the scope of the Syariah courts to "persons professing the religion of Islam."

Lina Joy had argued in 2001 that she did not "profess" Islam, and therefore was not subject to Islamic Law. Islamic law professor Shad Faruqi stated in the Straits Times on October 11, 2004 that "the requirement for official approval of conversions was a legal safeguard. Without it, Muslims could evade sharia law by leaving their faith whenever they were charged with a religious offense".

Now, according to a ruling made on Thursday (13 April) in relation to Lina Joy's case, there may be some hope on the horizon. Malaysia's highest court, the Federal Court, has agreed to take up the issue of whether those who renounce Islam are still to be subject to Islamic Court rulings. The news is carried by CBS News, from Associated Press sources, and carried by the Guardian and numerous other press outlets.

The decision of the court has stemmed directly from the case of Lina Joy, She is now 42, and has been wanting to marry a Christian for some time, but the Catch-22's of Malaysia's legal system have prevented her from marrying her sweetheart.

On Friday her lawyer, Benjamin Dawson, said: "This case should be viewed in the larger context of Islamization and the erosion of constitutional rights." He said that the constitution does not state that a person needs approval to convert out of Islam. He said that if a Shariah court did have that authority, it would never allow a Muslim to convert because it does not "believe that anyone can change from Islam."

That much is true. The case of Nyonya Tahir is the only time anyone has been allowed out of the clutches of Islam, as it is dictated by the Syariah courts. And Islamification of the country is a very real fear. In January, even a Senator, Kamaruddin Ambok, was hauled before the Islamic courts, for not divorcing his wife under the aegis of the Syariah Courts.

On December 22 last year, a controversial Islamic Family Law Bill was pushed through parliament. This law made it easier for a man to divorce his wife, and also to bring in extra wives in Islamic polygamy. It even allows a man to gain control of funds belonging to his wives and offspring if he is planning a new marriage or a divorce.

The Islamic courts have recently been on an offensive, attempting to set up vigilante snitch-squads, ready to inform on people caught kissing in parks, or breaking Islamic rules in other ways. The Federal Territory Islamic Department in Putrajaya state announced in January that it had formed a 75-member "Islamic Council Volunteer Squad" whose duty was to snoop on Muslim citizens and report their activity to the Islamic Department. The government moved to disband the vigilante squad.

As well as having federal law and Islamic law governing people's lives, there is also State Law. As we mentioned in March, many states have adopted a controversial Control and Restriction Bill, which allows fines of 10,000 ringit or $2,653 and terms of imprisonment for up to one year for anyone guilty of "persuading, influencing a Muslim to leave Islam for another religion."

The Law Minister in the Malaysian government, Mohamad Nazri Abdul Aziz, declared in March that for anyone who was non-Muslim and acted in too critical a manner by "belittling Islam", he would invoke the Sedition Act against them which can allow a person to be imprisoned for three years.

The rulings of the Syariah courts have led to heartache for those trapped under their fanaticism. The ethnic Malays, who constitute almost all of Malaysia's Muslims, constitute 60% of the population. Other minorities, such as Buddhists, Christians and Hindus, feel threatened by the increasing encroachment of Islamism into their lives. 30 Hindu groups have banded together to form the Hindu Rights Action Force (HRAF) to protect themselves against the effects of Sharia law on their lives. Many Hindus have been shocked by the Moorthy case.

The supreme authority of the Syariah courts over issues of burials led to a Hindu mountaineering hero, Manian Moorthy, being declared in his last weeks of life as a Muslim by a Syariah court, while he was in a coma. The court had been been told by an informant who claimed to be Lieutenant Corporal Moorthy's friend, that he had converted to Islam, and the Syariah court took this statement over that of his wife Kaliammal, who strenuously denied the allegation. When her husband died, she took her case to the High Court. Justice Mohamed Raus Sharif told her he had no power to alter a decision of the Syariah Court, and her husband was taken away and given Muslim burial rites.

The cases of those who are regarded as "heretics" against traditional forms of Islam are equally distressing for those involved. We reported in January on a lonely widow called Kamariah Ali, who has tried to apostasise from Islam for years, but has been consistently refused that right.

She was a member of the Sky Kingdom sect, and had renounced official Islam seven years ago. Her husband was also a member of the sect, whose charismatic leader, Ayah Pin, who declared Christians, Muslims and Buddhists are welcome to worship with his followers. Kamariah Ali's husband, Mohammed Ya, had been imprisoned for two years for "insulting Islam". He died shortly after he was released from jail.

On December 31, Kamariah, aged 54, went to the High Court, to fight her right to apostasise. Her case was reviewed by Justice Mohamed Raus Sharif, who ruled against Mrs Moorthy. Similarly, he said he had no legal powers to infringe the jurisdiction of the Shariah courts.

It is hoped that the Federal Court will once and for all make a ruling that allows people to "apostasise" or convert from Islam. Not to allow a person to do so is an infringement of basic human rights.

An appraisal of Malaysia's religious freedoms, or lack of them, was produced by US State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor on November 8, 2005. It was written before the Islamic Family Law Bill was passed, and does not factor in recent ominous statements from the Law Minister from the ruling UMNO party. But it is revelatory nonetheless. Called the International Religious Freedom Report 2005, it can be found by clicking here.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 12:19 AM | Comments (0)

April 14, 2006

Thailand: Muslim Killings Continue

The insurgency in Thailand, which began in January 2004, and has since claimed more than 1,100 lives, is showing no signs of abating. Originally, commentators claimed that the insurgency was being led by criminals and Muslim separatists, though those comments have faded as the situation progresses.

The southern provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala, as well as two districts of Songkhla province were formerly part of an independent sultanate called Pattani. This sultanate was invaded by Thailand, and officially became annexed into Thailand a century ago. In these regions, the population is 80% Muslim, and only 20% Buddhist.

The separatists who are mounting the insurgency wish for the former territory of Pattani to secede from Thailand to create an independent Muslim nation.

Unfortunately for many of the Muslims living in these regions, they are currently as likely to become targets of the insurgents as non-Muslims. Those killed are often people with a sense of public or civil responsibility, and are deemed by their assailants to be "collaborators".

Today, the Bangkok Post reports that two more Muslims have been shot dead, and police believe that separatist insurgents are their killers.

Earlier today, a Muslim fruit grower was shot dead in Narathiwat province. 64-year old Abdulloh Mayusoh was tending his orchard in tambon Paluru in Sungai Kolok district, when gunmen approached. He was shot five times and died instantly.

In Yala province, a Muslim man was shot dead as he went home. following afternoon prayers at his local mosque. The incident happened in Tanoh Putae, Bannang Sata district. 53-year old Mala Heng was ambushed and shot in the body, causing him to die instantly.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 9:30 PM | Comments (1)

Russia: Muslim Cartoons Claim New Victim

The furore concerning the cartoons of Mohammed, which were published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in late September last year have claimed lives and careers throughout the Muslim world, where protests have taken place.

The Irish Examiner reports that today, a Russian newspaper editor has become the latest victim of the affair.

Anna Smirnova was today found guilty in a Vologda city court, of inciting religious strife, by reproducing the Danish images in the weekly newspaper Nash Region. She was said to have deliberately stirred up religious hatred, and had abused her position. She was given a fine of 100,000 roubles ($3,609 US). Her husband, who owned the newspaper, called the decision "absurd" and said that Anna would appeal. The newspaper has since ceased its publication.

Mikhail Smirnova told Associated Press by telephone from Vologda: "On the contrary, the publication was aimed against stirring up religious hatred." The newspaper published a collage of the cartoons on February 15, but has since ceased as a publication. The depiction of the cartoons in Nash Region was the first time the cartoons were seen in the Russian press. Mikhail Smirnova closed the newspaper when a scandal erupted.

President Vladimir Putin has claimed it is wrong to publish the cartoons, ostensibly for fear that Russia could become destabilised. There are 20 million Muslims in Russia, almost 14% of the population.

In February, another newspaper in Volgograd, which is in the south, about 500 miles from Moscow, was closed down on the orders of the mayor. The newspaper was Gorodskiye Vesti, and had published a cartoon depicting the prophet.

It appears that the Soviet mindset is still alive in modern Russia. And once again, those who support freedom of speech are becoming the State's victims.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 6:15 PM | Comments (0)

UK: Scottish Anti-Terror Units Arrest Young Muslim

News from The Scotsman reports that yesterday morning, a group of 60 police officers, some armed, surrounded a house in Alva, Clackmannanshire, and then used a battering ram to enter the house, where they arrested a 20-year old Muslim man, Mohammed Atif Siddique. The raid took place at around 7 am in the morning.

Siddique had been under surveillance for several weeks leading up to his arrest. He was taken to Govan Police station in Glasgow, the location designated for the processing of terror suspects under the terms of the UK's Terrorism Act 2000.

Siddique lived with his family in a four-bedroom home, opposite the home of local Labour Member for Parliament, Gordon Banks.

The family owned an nearby grocery store and off-licence (selling alcohol, forbidden to Muslims). Siddique occasionally worked in the shop.

As is usual after a terror arrest, neighbours told the press that Siddique was a "nice fellow". Siddique attended a mosque in nearby Alloa, and also studied computing at Glasgow College of Nautical Studies, which is close to the Central Mosque.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 1:44 PM | Comments (0)

US: Welcoming the Grand Mufti

Joe Kaufman has a new article in Frontpage Magazine about the visit to the U.S. of Ikrima Sa'id Sabri, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. I want to comment on a point raised by Mr. Kaufman:

By allowing sadistic hatemongers, such as Ikrima Sabri, into the country, the United States sends a mixed message to the world. It says that, while the nation is engaged in a far-reaching war on terror, it will tolerate those that spread the violent ideologies which ignite the enemy. This includes the terrorist support network within our borders. In the Denver event alone, over 400 people attended, standing room only.

The message the United States sends is that you can preach the destruction of our way of life, you can work toward the enslavement of our children, you can work to destroy our liberty, as long as you cloak it as part of your religious freedom. This is an unacceptably broad definition of tolerance when it comes to Islam, and it must change if the West is to survive this century.

That's enough of me; read Mr. Kaufman's article here.

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 10:43 AM | Comments (0)

India: Mosque Explosions - 10 Wounded

Breaking news from the Times, the Sun, Associated Press via 6 abc local, and Reuters via Yahoo News gives details of explosions which took place at the largest mosque in India's capital, New Delhi.

The redstone Jama Masjid mosque is also one of the oldest mosques, having been built in the 17th century, under Mughal emperor Shah Jehan (he who built the Taj Mahal). Two bomb explosions took place, within 10 minutes of each other, shortly after Friday evening prayers. Currently the mosque is closed and cordoned off. No group has claimed responsibility. Muslims have protested with placards, blaming the government for poor security.

The mosque's senior imam, Sayeed Ahmed Bukhari, claimed that the first of the two blasts happened at 5.20 pm local time. "I cannot put a figure on the number of those injured, but I saw one man critically injured and women running with their bleeding children on their arms," he said.

"We did not see the first explosion but the second one definitely originated from a bag that was kept inside the prayer grounds. The second blast went off as people were helping those injured and if this is not a terror attack then what is?" he said.

According to some reports, the first explosion took place in an area used by worshippers for washing, before prayers. Police have said the devices were low-impact "improvised" bombs.

The Jama Masjid mosque can hold 25,000 people. Latest reports say at least 10 people were injured in the two blasts, with at least two of these critically wounded.

On March 7 20 people were killed in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi, in Uttar Pradesh state, in a series of three bomb blasts, one of which took place in a crowded Hindu temple while weddings were being celebrated on the day of a festival for Hanuman, the monkey god. On April 5 a Muslim cleric called Waiullah claimed responsibility for causing the explosions. He was working with members of the Bangladeshi terrorist group Harkatul Jihad-al Islami

Reuters further states that earlier today, five people were killed and 31 wounded in six explosions in Srinigar in India's Jammu and Kashmir state, in the disputed region of Kashmir. At the city's holiest Muslim shrine, Hazratbal, worshippers were offering Friday prayers for "prophet" Mohammed's birthday, which officially takes place on 11 April.

Update on the Srinigar incident: Persian News states that the sixth blast was caused by a grenade thrown at security forces at Sakkidafar Chowk in downtown Srinigar. The militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility for the last incident with the grenade.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 10:39 AM | Comments (0)

US: Comedy Central Censors Mohammad Image in 'South Park' Episode

A U.S. Television Network surrenders to Muslim threats, even though specific threats were never made. Cowardice at its finest: South Park duo criticise network

The duo behind South Park have used the cartoon's latest episode to attack their network for banning them from using an image of the Prophet Muhammad.

Comedy Central prevented Matt Stone and Trey Parker from using the image after the furore caused by a Danish newspaper publishing caricatures of Muhammad.

Instead, Wednesday's episode showed an image of Jesus Christ defecating on President George Bush and the US flag.

Michelle Malkin has round-up of reactions to this story as well as a collection of "new" Comedy Central logos:

Reactions to Comedy Central's cowardice.

Funny Reactions to Comedy Central's cowardice.

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 10:28 AM | Comments (0)

India: Eight Injured in Shia/Sunni Muslim Clash

The "Religion of Peace" is once again showing how inherently violent it actually is. In India, according to Reuters' AlertNet, in Kalol town in the western state of Gujarat, Shias objected to the presence of Sunni Muslims being outside a mosque in the town.

As a consequence, violence broke out, in which a madrassa (Islamic school) was set on fire, along with several houses, before police fired teargas into the rioting crowd to disperse them.

District administrator D. H. Brahmbhatt said several people had been arrested. He stated: "The situation is under control, but we are maintaining a strict vigil in the areas."

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 9:53 AM | Comments (0)

Egypt: Muslims Attack Coptic Christians - One Dead, Three Hurt

News from Al Jazeera, the Times, the Sydney Morning Herald, the BBC and Reuters' AlertNet reports that earlier today, in three separate incidents, Muslims attacked Coptic Christians in three churches in Alexandria. One Coptic Christian has been killed, and three have been hurt. Obviously the BBC refuses to use the word "Muslim" when describing the attackers.

A security official claimed that the Muslim assailants were working in conjunction with each other. Three men were captured after the assaults. At a fourth church, a man was captured before he could commit a similar assault, at an area known as Sporting.

At Saint George's Church in Hadra, Alexandria, a 67-year old Coptic Christian was today stabbed to death. His assailant has been identified as Mahmoud Abdul Galil. Galil is a former employee of the Egyptian government. He lost his job after he developed mental illness.

The 67 year old man who died has been identified as Noshi Atta Girgis. The Sydney Morning Herald states that he was among three people attacked outside the Al-Quidissin church east of Alexandria.

At the Saints Church in the Sidi Bish area of Alexandria, three worshippers were wounded by Mohammed Salah Eddin, a recent university graduate.

At the Virgin Mary (Mar Girgis) Church in the Fleming area, an unknown man attacked worshippers, but no-one was hurt.

Agence France Presse claimed that at one of the churches, Coptic Christians fought back with sticks against the man sent to attack them.

"The attacker stormed the church armed with a knife and shouted 'There is no God but Allah' and 'Allah is the greatest' before stabbing the worshippers", said an employee of the Mar Girgis church. "We closed the doors of the church as soon as he started attacking the worshippers and we fought back with sticks but he tried to flee through one of the church's underground passages."

The attacks today are designed to provoke offence to the Coptic community. Like Muslims, who value Friday prayers as the high point of their week, the Coptic Christians celebrate their main Masses on a Friday.

The Coptic Christian community split from the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Church of Rome in 451 AD, because of a theological dispute., but now they share many doctrinal positions with the Eastern Orthodox.

Coptic Christians are led by Pope Shenouda III. The Christian community represents about 10% of Egypt's total population of 73 million. Conflicts and persecutions are not unknown. In 1999, 22 people were killed in a sectarian battle in the village of Koshesh in the south.

There were previous Muslim riots and attacks against Coptic Christians in October last year, where a nun had been stabbed and had fingers amputated by a Muslim knifeman. She survived the attack. The stabbing had taken place inside St George's Church. In February, her 19-year old attacker received a three year jail sentence.

In riots held outside the St George's church, which had been deliberately whipped up by Muslim clerics at Friday prayers, complaining about a DVD of a play, three people had died in the streets outside the church earlier that month. St George's church is the main center of Coptic worship in Egypt.

We reported on January 20 that a Christian died when Muslims burned down a community centre in the town of el-Udaysaat, near Luxor, which was being used as a church.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 9:37 AM | Comments (0)

Singapore: Muslim Father Pleads Guilty To Raping Daughters

We mentioned earlier that a Muslim man in Singapore was accused of raping six of his daughters. He has 66 offspring, as a result of his exploitation of a Muslim marriage custom called Mut'ah, which is described as "marriage for pleasure".

The practice of Mut'ah marriage is primarily a Shiite custom, which is legal in Iran and some other Muslim countries. Effectively, it means that a man who fancies a woman sets up a short term contract with her, so that he can have sex for a short period, without being guilty of fornication or adultery. Mizyah marriage is similar, but does not have a fixed "end of contract". If he likes the woman, he can continue in marriage.

The 45 year old man, stout with greying hair and spectacles, pleaded guilty to nine charges of rape and aggravated rape, with a further 34 cases asked to be "taken into consideration".

The news is reported in Monsters & Critics, Australia's ABC News, the Daily India and DNA India. The man is well-versed in Islamic history and is fluent in Arabic, and used the Koran to justify incest. The Straits Times in Malaysia stated that the man had even convinced some of his mut'ah wives that he had ownership over his daughters, which Islamically entitled him to have sex with them.

His defense lawyers claimed that the man (who cannot be named to protect the identities of his victims) believed that by "satisfying" his daughters' sexual "needs", they would be less likely to have pre-marital sex with boys.

Between December 2003 and June 2005, hee raped five of his daughters, with the help of some of his wives. The girls were aged between 12 years and 15 years at the time their father raped them. Two went on to get pregnant, and had abortions.

Yesterday, deputy public prosecutor Eugene Lee told the court: "The incidents of abuse were so numerous that they (the daughters) were hard-pressed to keep count, much less remember the exact specifics of each incident."

"Instead of providing paternal love and support to the victims, he chose to systematically abuse them to satisfy his sexual desires," Lee said.

Lee told the court that the man would send one of his wives to inform a daughter that she should go to her father's bedroom. He had sex with his daughters, even when they cried out in pain. The eldest of the raped daughters went to the police on June 24, 2005. The next day, the man was arrested.

The girls are now in the care of Singapore's Ministry of Community Development. The man currently has 10 wives - four of them legally married to him under Islamic practice, and the other six as a result of Islamic "mut'ah" marriage. Neither form of polygamy is recognised by Singaporean law.

Justice Tay Yong Kwang yesterday set next Tuesday as the date for sentencing. In the laws of the city-state of Singapore, rape carries a maximum penalty of 20 years' imprisonment, with caning. The penalty for aggravated rape is eight years in prison, and 12 strokes of the cane.

The prosecution would not say whether the wives who assisted in the rape of the girls would be prosecuted.

The Muslim population of Singapore is 15% of the total demographic.

UPDATE: Further information from the Malaysia Star states that the prosecution alleged there could have been more than 43 instances of abuse. Even the rapist could not remember all the events. The man's lawyer, Harold Seet, denied that his client had been motivated by lust, and said that the incestuous rapist, who ran his own firm, had been "stressed out by having to provide for his large family." Additionally, Seet claimed, his client had found out that his daughters had been "behaving inappropriately" with boys.

A second article from the Star describes how the girls were blackmailed into allowing themselves to be raped. One mother told her 14 year old daughter that her fathers intentions were "right" and that the girl should "relax and not think too much". When the daughter resisted, the woman came close to tears.

Another mother even prepared her 14-year old daughter for sex, telling the girl to shower in the room next to her father's bedroom. When the girl knew this was a prelude to sex, she refused, but the mother told her that one of the "Prophet"'s wives sacrificed herself, which caused the girl to comply.

Another mother praised her 13 year old daughter for being a "good girl" after enduring painful sex with her father. Court documents reveal that at least four mothers connived in the incest.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 7:58 AM | Comments (1)

April 13, 2006

US: Moussaoui Says Muslims Have To Be The Superpower

Today, Zacarias Moussaoui told the court in Alexandria, Virginia, that Muslims are called to fight for the rulership of Allah. "We have to be the superpower, we have to be above you" he told the court. Reports of his bizarre behaviour are currently found in the Times, the Guardian, and icWales and the BBC.

His appearance on the stand should have been an opportunity for him to argue the reasons why he should not receive the death sentence, but French national Moussaoui, who is of Moroccan descent, seemed more interested in inspiring contempt and hatred.

Against his lawyers' advice, he testified that he felt "no regret, no remorse" about the attacks on 9/11. When asked if he would be prepared to kill Americans, he answered: "Anytime, anywhere."

He had earlier mounted an attack upon his lawyers, who have tried to portray him as being mentally ill, and as a failed hijacker who is trying to become a martyr for islam. Moussaoui accused his defense team of "criminal non-assistance".

He said he had not been allowed to have a Muslim lawyer, and claimed his defense team was letting him be condemned to death.

When Gerald Zerkin, his lead defense lawyer asked: "Do you believe that your attorneys are in a conspiracy to kill you?", Moussaoui had answered: "I will say that I believe you have, in the last four years, been doing what I will call more precisely 'criminal non-assistance' ."

"You are American, you are Jewish... You showed clearly to me that you didn't have my best interests at heart," he said.

37-year old Moussaoui showed resentment that the trial was taking place in Alexandria, Virginia, a few miles from the Pentagon, which had also been attacked on September 9, 2001.

Zerkin referred to Moussaoui's earlier shock confession that he had been earmarked to fly a plane into the White House, in association with the British wannabe shoe-bomber, Richard Reid. Zerkin asked if this had helped his case.

"I was putting my trust in God, so from an Islamic point of view, yes", Moussaoui replied.

Reid, currently serving 60 years in a maximum security jail in Colorado, is expected to arrive in court soon to verify or deny the allegation. Zerkin asked the jury to show clemency, even if Moussaoui seemed not to wish it. He said: "We will ask you for what Mr Moussaoui believes is impossible because you are Americans, and for what we believe is possible for that same reason: a sentence of life in prison without possibility of release."

Prosecutor Rob Spencer asked him: "So you would be happy to see 9/11 again?"
"Every day until we get you," Moussaoui retorted.

Moussaoui said Army Lt. Col. John Thurman's account of escaping the blazing Pentagon left him with "regret that he didn't die."

He derided a Navy officer who wept as she described the death of two subordinates in the attack on the Pentagon.

"I think it was disgusting for a military person to cry", Moussaoui said, talking about Lt. Nancy McKeown. "She is military. She should expect people at war with her to want to kill her."

Asked if he was happy to hear her sobbing, he said, "Make my day."

Moussaoui noted many relatives of victims wept on the witness stand. "I find it disgusting that people come here to share their grief over the death of some other person," he said.

"I'm glad there was pain, and I wish there will be more pain,? Moussaoui said. "The children in Palestine and in Chechnya will have pain. I want you to share their pain."

Spencer asked: "You have no regret, no remorse?"

"No regret, no remorse," Moussaoui replied.

When Moussaoui was led out of the court for a brief and closed legal argument, he shouted "Victory for Moussaoui! God curse you all!"

His testimony became an impassioned bout of Muslim antisemitism. He called the US "the head of the snake for me. If we want to destroy the Jewish state...we have to destroy you first."

After claiming that Islam demands that Muslims have to be the superpower, above the US, he was asked by Ferald Zerkin why he hated the US and the Americans.

Moussaoui replied: "For theological reasons and life experience reasons. You are on a crusade, like George W. Bush says. In Europe, they call New York 'little Israel'.......There is no difference between the Jewish state of Palestine (Israel) and Hawaii."

On being asked what his defense might be, Moussaoui claimed that if Americans fighting abroad were taken hostage, his freedom could be traded for theirs. "This could work on even the most revengeful juror," he said. "Let's put him in jail, and one day he can save American life."

He argued that martyrdom was a reward, and life imprisonment was a harsher punishment.

The prosecution wound up their case yesterday with harrowing accounts from relatives of those murdered on 9/11, with recordings from people about to die, made on their mobile phones, and the voice recordings from the last moments of Flight 93.

The graphic below shows the flight paths of the four hijacked planes on 9/11.

On April 3, Moussaoui had been found "eligible for death". He had confessed and been found guilty on April 22 last year on charges of conspiracy, connected with his involvement with the 9/11 attacks. His current trial, watched by relatives and surviving victims of 9/11 in videolinks played to six courthouses in America, was held to ascertain if Moussaoui should receive a life in prison or if he should be executed.

He had been arrested in Minnesota on August 16, 2001, a mere three weeks before the horrors of 9/11. He surprised the court on March 27 when he claimed he had known the attacks were going to happen, but deliberately lied to FBI investigators. He even said that while in prison, he had bought a radio, so that he could hear the live news reports of the atacks as they took place. This, and his confession that he had been scheduled to fly one of the 9/11 planes, before arrest had scuppered these plans, was probably the point over which the jury decided to find him "eligible" for the death penalty.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 9:30 PM | Comments (0)

Germany: Muslim Jailed For "Honor Killing" Of Sister

We described last September the honor killing of Hatun Surucu (pictured), a Turkish-born 23 year old mother of a five-year old. Today, according to Reuters, Australia's Daily Telegraph and Expatica, Hatun's brother was jailed today by a court in Berlin. When he heard his sentence today, hhe laughed.

Hatun's younger brother, Ayhan Surucu, now aged 20, had shot her in a Berlin street. He had been aged 18 at the time. The shooting took place on February 7, 2005. Hatun had been waiting at a bus stop near her home in Tempelhof district when her brother walked up to her, and shot her three times in the head.

At her funeral, Hatun's Turkish/Kurdish parents, who came from Anatolia, draped her casket in verses from the Koran. They gave Hatun a Muslim burial, despite her choice to live as a secular German citizen.

Today, presiding judge Michael Degreif said that Hatun had been killed "because she lived her life as she saw fit", and had Western notions of sexuality. Ayhan Surucu was found guilty of murder, and was given a sentence of nine years and three months' imprisonment. Because he was a minor at the time of the killing, he could only have received a maximum sentence of 10 years under German law.

Two older brothers, 25-year old Alpaslan and 26-year old Mutlu, were acquitted. Prosecutors had suggested they had provided Ayhan with a gun, and had sought life sentences. It was not proved without a doubt that they had given him the murder weapon. Prosecutors have said that they will be papealing the decision made on the brothers, who cheered on hearing of their acquittal.

Ayhan Surucu told the court in September that he had shot his sister dead because he disapproved of her lifestyle and her morals. Hatun had walked out of a marriage she had been forced into, and was living as a single mother. She had declared that she had the right to live as she pleased, and to sleep with whosoever she wanted.

Ayhan said: "It was too much for me. I grabbed the pistol and pulled the trigger. I don't even understand what I did anymore."

In 1998, when only 15, Hatun had been forced to go to Turkey to marry a cousin. She left the cousin and returned to Berlin in May 1999, aged 17 and pregnant. She gave birth to a son. By the end of that year, she had left her parents' apartment and refused to wear the hijab or Muslim headscarf.

Shortly before her death, Hatun had tried to forge some sort of reconciliation with her family. She had completed her school education, despite raising a son on her own, and had enrolled in a college to begin an apprenticeship as an electrician.

The case of Hatun's killing provoked national outrage, made worse by the behaviour of boys at a nearby school, filled with children of immigrant families, who openly applauded the killing of Hatun, because she had lived "like a German". Their public demonstration against Ayhan's prosecution was widely covered by the media.

Judge Michael Degreif said that, even though the Surucu family lived for many years in the Berlin district of Kreuzberg, it "wasn't really living in Germany."

A key witness at the trial, Ayhan's girlfriend, had gone into hiding under a witness protection programme.

There have been several cases of "honor killings" in Germany recently, and these highlight a problem of people of immigrant cultures, who refuse to respect or integrate with the values of German society. Recently, we described the case of the school at Neukoelln, a suburb of Berlin, where Muslim pupils have refused to be taught or disciplined by female teachers. The situation of unruliness there has led to police being employed to check students for weapons.

There are about 2,5 million Turkish people living in Germany, out of a national population of 82 million.

The situation of honor killings and lack of integration by Muslim families has led Germany's legislature to attempt drastic measures. A law is currently being considered. This would make anyone trying to make someone partake in a forced marriage liable to a prison sentence of 10 years.

The UN Human Rights Commission says that every year, 5,000 women are killed in these so-called "honor" killings.

A report in der Spiegel stated that between June and September 2005, there had been six Muslim women living in Berlin murdered by their relatives in honor killings. One was Hatun. Of the others, two of them were stabbed to death in front of their young children, one was shot, one was strangled to death and a fifth was drowned.

The Turkish women's organization Papatya has documented 40 instances of honor killings in Germany since 1996. In one case from April 2004, a girl in Darmstadt had been clubbed to death with a hockey stick by her two brothers. They had found out that she had slept with a boyfriend.

In December 2003 in Tuebingen, a father strangled his 16-year old daughter and then cast her lifeless body into a lake, merely for having a boyfriend.

At the time of the article (September) there were six boys in Berlin's juvenile prison for honor killings.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 6:04 PM | Comments (2)

Pakistan: Muslim Woman Sues Over "Vani" Marriage

As we described in November, earlier this month and only yesterday, the custom of vani is still continuing in Pakistan, despite being declared illegal in late 2004, becoming law in early 2005.

Vani is a custom where, in order to settle a dispute, a man can promise a young female relative to be married to a man he has committed an offense against. The most notorious case of vani happened in 2004, where a three year old girl was promised in marriage to a sixty year old man. Public outrage over this case led to the change in the law, which also meant honor killings would, for the first time, become an offense in Pakistan's bizarre penal code.

We described yesterday how one case of vani involved girls not even born being promised as future brides to male members of one family, after a man was killed. Vani happens primarily in rural areas, where village courts, or jirgas decide the outcome over personal disputes, particularly over issues of family law. President Musharraf has encouraged the settling of family disputes by jirgas, outside of federal jurisdiction.

Today, Pakistan's Daily Times reports that a woman who is now 24 is rebelling against a decision agreed when she was only one year old, when she was promised as a "bride". Naheed Akhtar has filed a police petition against the man scheduled to be her husband, and also against her own father, for "selling" her rights in order to gain a lesser penalty for his own crimes.

The case derives from a crime committed before she was born. In 1960, her father, Muhammad Zaman, together with his brother Sahalat, killed a man over a land dispute, in their home village of Pacca Ghanjera in Mianwali. Muhammad and Sahalat were tried under Section 302 of the Penal Code, and a district and sessions court sentenced them to death.

Due to the bizarre nature of Islamic law, a murderer can avoid a death sentence if compensation is made to the family of the victim, and the family agrees. So in 1982, when Presidant Zia was pushing for more Islamification of the legal system, an intervention was made, and both families came to an agreement.

The terms of the deal meant that three women from Muhammad and Sahalat's family would be offered in marriage to members of the family of their victim, Muhammad Rafique Soi.

Alam Khatoom, the daughter of Sahalat, was married to Ismail, the brother of murdered Rafique Soi. Both marriage "partners" were adult at the time, and went on to have six children until Ismail's death after 2000.

Naheed, the woman now pressing a legal claim, was betrothed to Irfan, grandson of Rafique Soi. Both Irfan and Naheed were only one year old.

Khatoon, who was also one, was promised in marriage to Ahmed Nawaz, also one years old. Nawaz was the nephew of murdered Rafique Soi. The official betrothals, or nikahs of the two "couples" was solemnised by an imam, Maulvi Noor Muhammad.

In the twenty three years since the betrothals were formalised in Muslim nikah ceremonies, neither couple consummated any marriage. When the government officially abolished the custom of vani in 2005, the girls rebelled against the proposals. They had refused to be associated with their grooms.

Naheed filed a petition in a court, against Irfan (her groom), Nawaz (Khatoon's groom) and her own father.

She said they did not accept the nikah, as it had been performed forcibly during their childhood, adding that they had been made scapegoats by their elders for saving their skin. The case would revive old enmity between the families.

What is so bizarre about this situation, is that a man could escape criminal punishment for murder so easily. And all he had to do was to give away his child, and deny her her rights to choose for herself whom she could marry. And yet, under Pakistan's repressive blasphemy laws, introduced by the military dictator General Zia in 1986, a person can receive the death penalty merely for insulting the "prophet" Mohammed.

Pakistan Penal Code, Article 295-C:
Use of derogatory remarks, etc; in respect of the Holy Prophet. Whoever by words, either spoken or written or by visible representation, or by any imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly, defiles the sacred name of the Holy Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine.

We show our derogatory views of the paedophile "prophet" every day. Fortunately, none of us live in Pakistan.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 3:27 PM | Comments (0)

April 12, 2006

US: Moussaoui Trial Horrors - "Allah is the Greatest" "No!"

Last Monday, on April 3 the trial of Zacary Moussaoui, held in Alexandria, Virginia, heard from the jury their verdict that the Muslim terrorist was eligible for the death penalty. Moussaoui had already pleaded guilty on April 22 last year, on charges of conspiracy, connected with his involvement with the 9/11 attacks.

The current trial is being viewed by live link to six courthouses by relatives of those who died in the attacks on September 11, 2001. The aim of the trial was to ascertain if Moussaoui, a French national of Moroccan descent should be sentenced to life imprisonment, or given the death penalty. The jury and the relatives have had the most harrowing ordeal since the trial reconvened. After a short recess, the verdict of "eligible for death" has meant that now, the worst evidence, the recorded phone calls of those who died in the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York, and the recordings from Flight 93 have been played. Jurors have been reduced to tears.

It is hard to describe the horror of what went on for the victims. Yesterday, the court heard recordings of the final phone conversations of those trapped in the World Trade Center. Some of these are found on the BBC and the Times. I find it hard to describe these accounts, as, like many others across the globe I watched the event unfolding live on TV, from before the second plane hit the second tower. The horror which happened then is impossible to extinguish.

But the words of those doomed to die, voices unheard till now, both from the New York scene and from the passengers on Flight 93 are heart-breaking.

Kevin Cosgrove, trapped on the 105th floor of the first tower to go, was talking to an emergency dispatcher when the building collapsed. He said "Tell God to blow the wind toward the west....We're very young. We're not ready to die." There was a pause, then he said "Please hurry. I've got young kids. Oh my God...Aaaarrgggghhhh". His voice faded out amid crashing sounds caught on the phone before the line went dead. Jurors were shown a synchronised video of the external view of the tower starting to collapse as they heard his voice.

The other audiotape was of Melissa Doi, trapped on the 83rd floor. She said to the operator that she was with five others, trapped in a smoke-filled room and lying on the floor. She said: "It's so hot. It's very, very hot. Please, God, it's so hot, I am burning up."

Melissa said: "I am going to die, aren't I? I am going to die."

"No, no, no, no", the operator said.

Mary Ellen Salamone told the court that her husband John was on the 104th floor. Their marriage had been on ups and downs, and on the morning of 9/11, it was on a down patch. She said she had attempted to call him "a million times" but had not got through to him. "I was so desperate to talk to him and tell him I loved him...In death, I did not get John. I got a body bag seven months later that I had to say goodbye to in the basement of a refrigerated morgue, and I had to try and find peace with that."

C. Lee Hanson, the father of one of the victims who were on the second plane which was to be flown into the World Trade Center, United Flight 175, described to the court how he received a call from his son Peter, who told him his plane had been hi-jacked, and how a flight attendant had been stabbed to death.

Peter Hanson had told his father that his wife Kim and his two and a half year old daughter Christine were terrified, and that passengers were vomiting. Peter Hanson told his father that he thought the plane was going to be flown into a building. Seconds later, the plane hit the tower.

73 year old C. Lee Hanson said: "As we were talking he said, very softly: 'Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God'. And there was a scream in the background." Mr Hanson said, in tears by now: "I looked at the television and saw the plane fly into the building."

Mr Hanson described how he had searched in hairbrushes and toothbrushes to retrieve DNA samples which could be used to identify victims. Mr Hanson said that months after the attacks, he received one single bone from his son's body. It was just a few inches long. He told the jury: "I held the small bone in the palm of my hand. It was all I had left of my beautiful son."

Ronald Hans Clifford told the court that when the second plane hit, he was in the lobby of the North Tower, assisting a woman with burns. The woman died 41 days subsequently. Ronald learned later that his sister Ruth and his niece Juliana were on board that second plane.

US Judge Leonie Brinkema at one stage reacted to the extreme nature of the material, saying to prosecutors not to overdo it. The impact of emotive accounts could be regarded as prejudicial, and could cause a death sentence to be overturned on appeal.

The Times has presented two versions of a video trailer of the events of Flight 93 as presented in the movie by Universal. That plane, following its hijacking, was probably bound for the White House. The version for broadband can be found HERE. The version for 56k modem can be found by clicking HERE.

Below, we will reproduce an extract of the public report of The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, August 21, 2004. Pages 10-14.

The passengers of Flight 93 were aware that those who had hijacked their plane were intending to crash it into a building. The black box recordings were today played to the jury, detailing the last minutes of that flight, where passengers heroically tried to wrest control from the hihackers, which led to the plane crashing into a Pennsylvania field. Though they lost their lives, they probably saved many more.

A transcript in pdf format of those last minutes, lasting nine pages, can be found HERE.

The official report on Flight 93:

At 8:42, United Airlines Flight 93 took off from Newark (New Jersey) Liberty International Airport bound for San Francisco. The aircraft was piloted by Captain Jason Dahi and First Officer Leroy Homer, and there were five flight attendants. Thirty-seven passengers, including the hijackers, boarded the plane. Scheduled to depart the gate at 8:00, the Boeing 757's takeoff was delayed because of the airport's typically heavy morning traffic.

The hijackers had planned to take flights scheduled to depart at 7:45 (American 11), 8:00 (United 175 and United 93), and 8:10 (American 77). Three of the flights had actually taken off within 10 to 15 minutes of their planned departure times. United 93 would ordinarily have taken off about 15 minutes after pulling away from the gate.When it left the ground at 8:42, the flight was running more than 25 minutes late.

As United 93 left Newark, the flight's crew members were unaware of the hijacking of American 11 Around 9:00, the FAA, American, and United were facing the staggering realization of apparent multiple hijackings. At 9:03, they would see another aircraft strike the World Trade Center. Crisis managers at the FAA and the airlines did not yet act to warn other aircraft! At the same time, Boston Center realized that a message transmitted just before 8:25 by the hijacker pilot of American 11 included the phrase, "We have some planes."

No one at the FAA or the airlines that day had ever dealt with multiple hijackings. Such a plot had not been carried out anywhere in the world in more than 30 years, and never in the United States. As news of the hijackings filtered through the FAA and the airlines, it does not seem to have occurred to their leadership that they needed to alert other aircraft in the air that they too might be at risk.

United 175 was hijacked between 8:42 and 8:46, and awareness of that hijacking began to spread after 8:51. American 77 was hijacked between 8:51 and 8:54. By 9:00, FAA and airline officials began to comprehend that attackers were going after multiple aircraft. American Airlines' nationwide ground stop between 9:05 and 9:10 was followed by a United Airlines ground stop. FAA controllers at Boston Center, which had tracked the first two hijackings, requested at 9:07 that Herndon Command Center "get messages to airborne aircraft to increase security for the cockpit."

There is no evidence that Herndon took such action. Boston Center immediately began speculating about other aircraft that might be in danger, leading them to worry about a transcontinental flight- Delta 1989 - that in fact was not hijacked. At 9:19, the FAA's New England regional office called Herndon and asked that Cleveland Center advise Delta 1989 to use extra cockpit security.

Several FAA air traffic control officials told us it was the air carriers' responsibility to notify their planes of security problems. One senior FAA air traffic control manager said that it was simply not the FAA's place to order the airlines what to tell their pilots. We believe such statements do not reflect an adequate appreciation of the FAA's responsibility for the safety and security of civil aviation.

The airlines bore responsibility too. They were facing an escalating number of conflicting and, for the most part, erroneous reports about other flights, as well as a continuing lack of vital information from the FAA about the hijacked flights. We found no evidence, however, that American Airlines sent any cockpit warnings to its aircraft on 9/11.

United's first decisive action to notify its airborne aircraft to take defensive action did not come until 9:19, when a United flight dispatcher, Ed Ballinger, took the initiative to begin transmitting warnings to his 16 transcontinental flights: "Beware any cockpit intrusion- Two a/c [aircraft] hit World Trade Center." One of the flights that received the warning was United 93. Because Ballinger was still responsible for his other flights as well as Flight 175, his warning message was not transmitted to Flight 93 until 9:23.

By all accounts, the first 46 minutes of Flight 93's cross-country trip proceeded routinely. Radio communications from the plane were normal. Heading, speed, and altitude ran according to plan. At 9:24, Ballinger's warning to United 93 was received in the cockpit. Within two minutes, at 9:26, the pilot, Jason Dahl, responded with a note of puzzlement: "Ed, confirm latest mssg plz - Jason."

The hijackers attacked at 9:28. While traveling 35,000 feet above eastern Ohio, United 93 suddenly dropped 700 feet. Eleven seconds into the descent, the FAA's air traffic control center in Cleveland received the first of two radio transmissions from the aircraft. During the first broadcast, the captain or first officer could be heard declaring "Mayday" amid the sounds of a physical struggle in the cockpit.

The second radio transmission, 35 seconds later, indicated that the fight was continuing. The captain or first officer could be heard shouting: "Hey get out of here - get out of here - get out of here."

On the morning of 9/11, there were only 37 passengers on United 93 - 33 in addition to the 4 hijackers. This was below the norm for Tuesday mornings during the summer of 2001. But there is no evidence that the hijackers manipulated passenger levels or purchased additional seats to facilitate their operation.

The terrorists who hijacked three other commercial flights on 9/11 operated in five-man teams. They initiated their cockpit takeover within 30 minutes of takeoff. On Flight 93, however, the takeover took place 46 minutes after takeoff and there were only four hijackers. The operative likely intended to round out the team for this flight, Mohamed al Kahtani, had been refused entry by a suspicious immigration inspector at Florida's Orlando International Airport in August.

Because several passengers on United 93 described three hijackers on the plane, not four, some have wondered whether one of the hijackers had been able to use the cockpit jump-seat from the outset of the flight. FAA rules allow use of this seat by documented and approved individuals, usually air carrier or FAA personnel.

We have found no evidence indicating that one of the hijackers, or anyone else, sat there on this flight. All the hijackers had assigned seats in first class, and they seem to have used them. We believe it is more likely that Jarrah, the crucial pilot-trained member of their team, remained seated and inconspicuous until after the cockpit was seized; and once inside, he would not have been visible to the passengers.

At 9:32, a hijacker, probably Jarrah, made or attempted to make the follow ing announcement to the passengers of Flight 93: "Ladies and Gentlemen: Here the captain, please sit down keep remaining sitting. We have a bomb on board. So, sit." The flight data recorder (also recovered) indicates that Jarrah then instructed the plane's autopilot to turn the aircraft around and head east.

The cockpit voice recorder data indicate that a woman, most likely a flight attendant, was being held captive in the cockpit. She struggled with one of the hijackers who killed or otherwise silenced her.

Shortly thereafter, the passengers and flight crew began a series of calls from GTE airphones and cellular phones. These calls between family, friends, and colleagues took place until the end of the flight and provided those on the ground with first-hand accounts. They enabled the passengers to gain critical information, including the news that two aircraft had slammed into the World Trade Center.

At 9:39, the FAA'S Cleveland Air Route Traffic Control Center overheard a second announcement indicating that there was a bomb on board, that the plane was returning to the airport, and that they should remain seated. While it apparently was not heard by the passengers, this announcement, like those on Flight 11 and Flight 77, was intended to deceive them. Jarrah, like Atta earlier, may have inadvertently broadcast the message because he did not know how to operate the radio and the intercom. To our knowledge none of them had ever flown an actual airliner before.

At least two callers from the flight reported that the hijackers knew that passengers were making calls but did not seem to care. It is quite possible Jarrah knew of the success of the assault on the World Trade Center.

He could have learned of this from messages being sent by United Airlines to the cockpits of its transcontinental flights, including Flight 93, warning of cockpit intrusion and telling of the New York attacks. But even without them, he would certainly have understood that the attacks on the World Trade Center would already have unfolded, given Flight 93's tardy departure from Newark. If Jarrah did know that the passengers were making calls, it might not have occurred to him that they were certain to learn what had happened in NewYork, thereby defeating his attempts at deception.

At least ten passengers and two crew members shared vital information with family friends, colleagues, or others on the ground. All understood the plane had been hijacked. They said the hijackers wielded knives and claimed to have a bomb. The hijackers were wearing red bandanas, and they forced the passengers to the back of the aircraft.

Callers reported that a passenger had been stabbed and that two people were lying on the floor of the cabin, injured or dead - possibly the captain and first officer. One caller reported that a flight attendant had been killed.

One of the callers from United 93 also reported that he thought the hijackers might possess a gun. But none of the other callers reported the presence of a firearm. One recipient of a call from the aircraft recounted specifically asking her caller whether the hijackers had guns. The passenger replied that he did not see one. No evidence of firearms or of their identifiable remains was found at the aircraft's crash site, and the cockpit voice recorder gives no indication of a gun being fired or mentioned at any time.

We believe that if the hijackers had possessed a gun, they would have used it in the flight's last minutes as the passengers fought back.

Passengers on three flights reported the hijackers' claim of having a bomb. The FBI told us they found no trace of explosives at the crash sites. One of the passengers who mentioned a bomb expressed his belief that it was not real. Lacking any evidence that the hijackers attempted to smuggle such illegal items past the security screening checkpoints, we believe the bombs were probably fake.

During at least five of the passengers' phone calls, information was shared about the attacks that had occurred earlier that morning at the World Trade Center. Five calls described the intent of passengers and surviving crew members to revolt against the hijackers. According to one call, they voted on whether to rush the terrorists in an attempt to retake the plane. They decided, and acted.

At 9:57, the passenger assault began. Several passengers had terminated phone calls with loved ones in order to join the revolt. One of the callers ended her message as follows: "Everyone's running up to first class. I've got to go. Bye."

The cockpit voice recorder captured the sounds of the passenger assault muffled by the intervening cockpit door. Some family members who listened to the recording report that they can hear the voice of a loved one among the din. We cannot identify whose voices can be heard. But the assault was sustained.

In response, Jarrah immediately began to roll the airplane to the left and right, attempting to knock the passengers off balance. At 9:58:57, Jarrah told another hijacker in the cockpit to block the door. Jarrah continued to roll the airplane sharply left and right, but the assault continued. At 9:39:52, Jarrah changed tactics and pitched the nose of the airplane up and down to disrupt the assault. The recorder captured the sounds of loud thumps, crashes, shouts, and breaking glasses and plates. At 10:00:03, Jarrah stabilized the airplane.

Five seconds later, Jarrah asked, "Is that it? Shall we finish it off?" A hijacker responded, "No. Not yet. When they all come, we finish it off?" The sounds of fighting continued outside the cockpit. Again, Jarrah pitched the nose of the aircraft up and down.

At 10:00:26, a passenger in the background said, "In the cockpit. If we don’t we’ll die!" Sixteen seconds later, a passenger yelled, "Roll it!" Jarrah stopped the violent maneuvers at about 10:01:00 and said, "Allah is the greatest! Allah is the greatest!" He then asked another hijacker in the cockpit, "Is that it? I mean, shall we put it down?" to which the other replied, "Yes, put it in it, and pull it down."

The passengers continued their assault and at 10:02:23, a hijacker said, "Pull it down! Pull it down!" The hijackers remained at the controls but must have judged that the passengers were only seconds from overcoming them. The air plane headed down; the control wheel was turned hard to the right The air plane rolled onto its back, and one of the hijackers began shouting "Allah is the greatest. Allah is the greatest?"

With the sounds of the passenger counter-attack continuing, the aircraft plowed into an empty field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, at 580 miles per hour, about 20 minutes' flying time from Washington, D.C.

Jarrah's objective was to crash his airliner into symbols of the American Republic, the Capitol or the White House. He was defeated by the alerted, unarmed passengers of United 93.

The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, August 21, 2004. Pages 10-14.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 8:58 PM | Comments (0)

Turkey: Indictment Of Young Islamist Accused Of Killing Catholic Priest

On Sunday, 5 February, 60-year old Father Andrea Santoro, a Catholic priest, was praying in his church in Trabzon, Turkey, by the Black Sea Coast. While the priest was focusing on God, the Muslim world was exploding with rage over the Danish cartoons of "prophet" Mohammed. A 16 year old youth entered the church, shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is great) and shot Father Santoro twice in the back.

Santa Maria Church in Trabzon was built in the 19th century during the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Abdulmejid I. Father Santoro had just finished holding Sunday Mass when he was murdered.

Three days after the killing, a young man, identified only as O.A., was arrested. He had been hiding at a relative's home in Trabzon when he was arrested at about 3.30 am on February 7. The youth was a high-school student. A .9mm handgun was recovered during the raid which saw him apprehended. The youth was identified following witness reports.

AKI reports that earlier today, Turkish prosecutors have asked for the youth to receive a life sentence.

An indictment was submitted to Trabzon Criminal Court, in which a life sentence was sought for a sentence of murder, one year for possessing a firearm without registration, and a sentence of from 6 months to 36 months for intentionally jeopardizing public security.

AKI states that if the youth pleads guilty to the charges when he goes on trial, his sentence could be reduced, due to his youth.

It has been suggested by Turkish authorities that the murderer's motives may have been to stop Father Santoro's ministry to prostitutes, trying to help them leave their profession. Another theory suggests that the priest was killed because of the issue of the Danish cartoons.

Another theory is that the killing may have been inspired by the media coverage of Ali Agca, the man who had shot Pope John Paul II in 1981. Agca had been released from jail around that time, but was then returned to prison because a miscalculation had been made concerning the time he should have served behind bars.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 7:29 PM | Comments (0)

France: Two More "Muslim Barbarians" Surrender

We described earlier the case of the "Barbarians" a gang led by 26-year old Youssef Fofana (pictured), a Muslim French national originally from the Cote d'Ivoire. Styling himself as the "Brain of the Barbarians", he led the gang which employed a 17-year old schoolgirl called Yalda to seduce and entrap a 23-year old Jewish man named Ilan Halimi, who worked in a cellular phone store. Ilan agreed to meet her, and the Barbarians then abducted him, holding him hostage and torturing him for nearly three weeks.

Ilan's family were subjected to ransom demands, interspersed with quotes from the Koran, and were told that, being Jewish,they were rich enough to pay. Ilan's parents could not afford the ransom. On Monday, February 13, Ilan's naked body was discovered in the southern Parisian region of Saintee-Genevieve-des-Bois, in Essonne, Ile de la Cite. Ilan was tied to a tree, with cuts and burns caused by cigarettes and acid covering 80% of his body. He died on the way to hospital.

After Ilan's death, a number of arrests were made, mostly in the peripheral regions of Paris, and one in Belgium. Fofana fled to Cote d'Ivoire to escape justice, where he was arrested on February 23. He was then extradited, arriving back in Paris on March 4.

Today, news from Expatica and Le Monde reports that two more individuals fro the "Barbarians" gang have voluntarily surrendered themselves to police.

One surrendered on Monday, and the other on Tuesday (yesterday). The most "interesting" to investigators is Jean-Christophe S. who is aged 20 and of African origin, and nicknamed "Marc", "Crim" or "Craps". After several weeks on the run, he confessed to taking part in the abduction of Ilan Halimi. Originally from Bobigny, Jean-Christophe S. said he had been recruited in January by Fofana, whom he had met at Bagneux, in Hauts-de-Seine, in a context of a narcotics deal. Fofana had pretended that they had met in prison. Fofana had promised him 40,000 Euros ($48,478 US) for kidnapping, then releasing him, after payment of a ransom.

"Craps" maintained that the Jewish ethnicity of the victim had not been mentioned, states a source close to the inquiry. He had conducted the operation with two other men who had subdued and gagged Ilan Halimi when the young lure led him to the place arranged for their "rendezvous". They had then taken Ilan to Bagneux, to an apartment obtained by the gang, who were close to the caretaker of the block.

Jean-Christophe S. affirmed that he had not seen Ilan more than one time since his kidnap. There are two versions of Ilan's last hours. Samir Ait Abdelmalek, one of the gang, had explained that Youssef Fofana had made out that he would be solely responsible for freeing Ilan. Abdelmalek had claimed last month that Youssef Fofana had been in a panic: "With a knife, Youssouf struck him (Ilan) in the throat near the carotid vein, then gave a jab to the other side of his throat. Then he had tried to cut him at the base of the nape of his neck. Then he had stabbed him in the side", before dousing him in gasoline.

On February 23 in Cote d'Ivoire, Fofana had claimed that he had left Ilan Halimi in the custody of two men, of which one was Jean-Christophe S. The next day, he had said that: "Crim and his mate had met at Sainte-Genevieve-des Bois, where they disposed of the body in a copse, and that they had poured acid on his entire body, which they had then set on fire and it made a ball of flame."

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 4:23 PM | Comments (0)

Iraq: Beauty Queen Resigns After Death Threats From Islamic Terrorists

Remember the Nigerian anti-pageant riots? Shades of that in Iraq: Iraq's Beauty Queen Resigns After Four Days

BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 10, 2006 — Iraq's newly crowned beauty queen, Tamar Goregian, has decided to step down — just four days after her election, making this the shortest reign in the pageant's 60-year history.

On April 9, the 23-year-old, who was the first Armenian Iraqi to win the Miss Iraq pageant, announced her resignation after receiving threats by a group of religious extremists who referred to her as "the queen of infidels" for participating in the contest.

The pageant director said: "I respect her decision. The country is undergoing rough times, and we understand her desire to protect herself and her family."

This was the first time since the U.S.-led war against Iraq that the pageant was held on Iraqi soil. The last time this pageant was held here was in 2002. Since then, Iraqi exiles had been forced to hold the contest in Kenya where a wealthy Iraqi businessman funded the event.

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 1:43 PM | Comments (0)

Indonesia: Muslim Vigilantes Vandalise Playboy Building

Back in January we reported that an Indonesian version of the famous magazine Playboy was being planned. Avianto Nugroho announced he had a license to publish the magazine, and the first local edition was scheduled to hit the stands and shelves in March. Nugroho said the magazine would contain no nude photos, so it should not cause offence.

At that time, the Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia or Indonesian Council of Holy Warriors threatened to make protests if the magazine went on sale. The group's leader, Irfan Awas, said "Different or not, Playboy is Playboy. It is a porn magazine.... The magazine will damage the morality of the nation."

The Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia had as their "spiritual leader" Abu Bakar Bashir, currently jailed for approving the bombings on Bali in 2002, which killed 202 people. The group denied that the bombs were the work of Muslims (Taqiyya).

Five days ago, on April 7, the proposed magazine was finally published. As promised, the magazine did not display nudes, and did not seem as tacky as home-grown pornography and videos on sale in Jakarta.

However, about 24 members of the Front Pembela Islam, or Islamic Defender's Front (FPI) protested on the day of the magazine's launch, outside the offices of Indonesian Playboy. A spokesman for the hardline Muslim group, Muhammad Alawi Usman, warned: "If within a week they are still active and sell the magazine, we will take physical action. Playboy is not suitable for reading because its contents degrade women."

Unlike Islam, of course, which degrades women by depriving them of rights, expecting them to be covered up and to shut up.

Another member of FPI, Tubagus Muhamad Sidik, told Reuters that merely the name Playboy, with its associations, was enough to cause offence. He threatened: "Even if it had no pictures of women in it, we would still protest it because of the name. If they don't withdraw it then we will act in our own way, the forceful way. Our crew will clearly hound the editors."

When published, radio stations buzzed with comments. But there were more complaints that Indonesian Playboy, the 18th international "edition" of the famous title was too tame than complaints of its raunchiness. One caller said "It's sinful to read Playboy if there's no nudity!"

But today, the situation has changed. Following on from yesterday's celebrations for the prophet Mohammed's birthday (Eid Miladun Nabi), the FPI have today gone on the rampage, making good on their earlier threats.

News from Reuters via Yahoo News and Associated press, via Canada's Canoe News reports that about 300 members of the Front Pembela Islam have attacked the offices of Indonesian Playboy in south Jakarta.

The building has been stoned, and the FPI members, dressed in white shirts and wearing white skull caps clashed with police officers guarding the building. Several windows were smashed, as were the door and gate of the building.

Shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is Great) they also tore up copies of the offending magazine.

Unlike the members of Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia, who turn up at terrorist court cases and shout a lot, the Front Pembela Islam are a far more intimidating and dangerous group.

In February this year, they were particularly active in their protests against the Danish cartoons of Mohammed, and threw stones, burned effigies and made threats outside the Danish consulate. On February 19, they stormed the US embassy, even though the US never endorsed the images. Later that month FPI were harrassing foreigners outside the Holiday Inn Hotel in Bandung, demanding whether or not they approved of the cartoons. If any foreigners said they approved, they were threatened, and told to leave the country. 27 members of FPI were arrested, but soon released.

The Front Pembela Islam was founded in August 1998 by Middle Eastern born and Saudi-educated Habib Rizieq Shihab (aka Muhammad Rizieq). This individual (pictured in inset) was taken to court in 2003 for inciting followers to make raids on foreign establishments. He served his seven month jail term at Salemba Penitentiary in Central Jakarta, being released on November 19, 2003.

Financed by extortion from businesses, the Front Pembela Islam, was attacking Christians in October, charging that they would burn down houses if Catholics continued to hold religious services in their homes. But their main policy is to attack places it deems "un-Islamic", such as bars, pool halls. In 2001, they mounted a campaign against American businesses in Indonesia. Some of their more drastic assaults are carried out by a paramilitary wing called Laskar Pembela Islam

In January last year while relief aid was being carried out following the tsunami devastation in Banda Aceh, they accused Christian and other charity workers of trying to convert Muslims, and threatened them with death. They are active in 22 provinces in Indonesia, and it has been suggested that they are "tolerated" by the authorities. Most of the leading players in the Front Pembela Islam are not even Indonesian-born, and come from the Middle East.

As we reported last month the climate towards repression of personal freedoms has been increasing, with the government threatening to introduce an "anti-pornography bill", and with many local provinces introducing harsh regulations which curb women's rights to walk alone after dark.

Last weekend, the Sunday Times described how the anti-pornography bill was threatening many aspects of people's lives in Indonesia. The bill proposes to make it illegal for people to display areas of their bodies. In Papua, where indigineous tribes such as the Asmat and the Dani of the Baliem valley traditionally have men walking naked, with a penis gourd for modesty, such a bill is bound to lead to human rights abuses. In Bali, the tourist trade is likely to suffer, if people are not allowed to wear bikinis and swimming costumes on beaches.

But many Indonesians fear their president is losing his grip on a political debate increasingly dominated by fundamentalists, who have made a parliamentary bill on indecency the centrepiece of their campaign to purify the nation.

"This is an attempt by some people to import Arab culture to Indonesia," said Yenny Wahid, a Muslim campaigner for women's rights.

The draft bill would extend a ban on indecency to prohibit kissing in public, which would be punishable by five years in prison. Public nudity or the "indecent" exposure of the stomach, thigh or hip - some religious jurists argue that shoulders could also be deemed inflammatory - could be punished by a 10-year sentence and a 30,000 pound ($ 50,000) fine.

It seems that Indonesia is going to be going through a lot more social agonising and injustice before these issues are resolved. Or its image as a "moderate" and tolerant Muslim nation will be just a forgotten myth.

What is happening today in the case of Indonesian Playboy is a microcosm of the struggles ahead.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 8:05 AM | Comments (0)

Pakistan: Muslim Council Orders Unborn Girls To Be Married Off

We reported in November that in Pakistan, it has been a traditional practice amongst some Muslim village courts (jirgas) for daughters to be given away in marriage as part of a compensation package. The custom is called vani.

We described how five young women had been promised in marriage to young men from a different family, as compensation for one of the girl's male relatives shooting a man. The fatwa had declared them as brides to illiterate strangers when the girls were aged from six to thirteen years old. When the girls were older, and declared they did not wish be married off, another jirga was held in the village in the Punjab, which said it was allowed to either rape, abduct or murder the girls.

As we reported last week, when in 2004 a three-year old girl was pledged in marriage to a sixty year old man, a national outcry ensued, condemning the custom of vani. As a consequence, President Musharraf pushed for a law which entered the statute books in late 2004, outlawing the customs of vani and also honour-killings. These came into effect at the start of last year.

Now, however, a fresh case of vani has come to light, and the girls who were promised in marriage were not even been born when the order was made.

The Pakistan Daily Times reports that a Muslim council in Dera Ghazi Khan in Punjab province made a fatwa eight years ago. Three cousins, Abdul Karim, Noor Bakhsh and Faqeer Muhammad , had gunned down a man called Hussain Bakhsh. A federal court had ruled that Noor Bakhsh should serve a life sentence, but had released the two other men due to insufficient proof of their guilt.

Karim and Muhammad were released, but an Islamic cleric, Hamid Khan Zanglani who was a nazim (imam) at Fort Munro, held a jirga, assisted by two other elders. The jirga declared that the two men should pay compensation. This amounted to 3.5 million rupees ($48,380 US) in cash, property worth 5.5 million rupees ($91,730 US) and six girls.

According to the fatwa, the girls would be girls born in the house of Imam Bakhsh, father of Noor Bakhsh, Riaz Muhammad, Jan Muhammad, Abdul Karim and Ali Haider. These girls would then be given to the family of the murdered man.

Last Friday (7 April), another jirga was held by Hamid Zanglani, Ahmad Ali, Aslam Qaimani and others, which decided that the amount of compensation should be reduced from six girls to four.

Hamid Zanglani, the imam, declared that he had never held a jirga or deciding to give away girls who had yet to be born. He claimed he was being defamed. Police are investigating.

In Islam women are regarded as being legally less than a man in issues of marriage. When they can be promised in marriage before they are even born, it shows that in Muslim villages in Pakistan, they are merely chattels, with no rights to choose their own destinies.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 12:06 AM | Comments (0)

April 11, 2006

Australia: Claims That Hardline Muslim Teacher Is "Peaceful"

We reported in December last year that Islamic scholar and teacher Yahya Ibrahim was refused entry to the United States when he tried to enter via Detroit. He was detained for five hours, denied an entry visa, and bundled on a plane bound for Canada, the place of his birth.

Currently, he is based in Perth, western Australia, where he is the deputy principal of the Australian Islamic College. Of Egyptian extraction, his biography claims that he was born in Waterloo, Ontario in Canada. He is proficient in Arabic and English and has acted as translator for visiting Islamic dignitaries. He memorised the Koran in its entirety, he claims, having begun the task when he was 16 and completing the task 20 months later. He started preaching in Toronto mosques at age 17.

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