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September 30, 2006

Norway: Muslim Hijacker Who Bragged Of "Mujahideen" Status Now Faces Drugs Charges

An Iranian Muslim who hijacked a plane in 1993 has now, according to Aftenposten and Nettavisen been arrested on drug smuggling charges. 33-year old Fahrad Mohammed Injeh (pictured) has frequently made headlines in Norway since the time that he and two others boarded a plane in Baku, Azerbaijan.

The other hijackers included his brother, and they used the threat of waving live hand grenades at staff to be allowed into the cockpit of the Aeroflot plane. They ordered the pilot to fly to Norway, with a brief refueling stop in Kiev. Once in Norway, Injeh, his brother Mansour and their accomplice were kept in a detention center for two years. They were extradited to Russia, and there served a short prison sentence until 1997.

After the prison sentence, they made their way to Denmark, where they were kept in a refugee center at Fyn. Here the two brothers acted like gangsters. One refugee there said to Ekstrabladet, a Danish newspaper: "Farhad and Mansour bragged all the time that they belonged to the Mujahedin in Iran, and they acted like kings in the camp." The two brothers regularly beat up other refugees in the Flyn center, where "it was Mansour who made the plans, and Farhad who carried them out." The pair were refused asylum in Denmark, so they arrived back in Norway.

In June 2002 the brothers were granted asylum and rights of residence in Norway, a decision which shocked the public, and drew condemnation from some ministers. The issue became more scandalous when it was revealed, just after asylum was granted, that the brothers were in no danger of being executed in their native Iran, where they should have been returned.

Norway is not a member of the European Union, and therefore is not subject to the ECHR, the European Convention of Human Rights. Article 3 of this convention states that "no-one can be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment". A similar case of hijackers being granted asylum happened in Britain, where it was argued that nine Afghans could not be returned to their native country, in case they received harsh punishment.

Even though Norway is not subject to the terms of the ECHR, it nonetheless has a policy which prevents individuals being returned to their countries if there is a risk of them being executed. This principle has so far prevented the terrorist Mullah Krekar from being returned to his native Iraq. Krekar has resided in Norway for 14 years as a result of this. Nonetheless, he still went back to Iraq, where he set up the terrorist organisation Ansar al-Islam fi Kurdistan or "Supporters of Islam in Kurdistan" in 2001. Krekar still lives as a free man in Norway, threatening violent reprisals if he does not get his way.

Days after the Iranian brothers had been granted asylum in Norway, it was revealed by the Norwegian embassy in Iran that embassy officials and the Iranian authorities had assured the Directorate of Immigration (UDI) that, if the Injeh brothers were returned to Iran, they would be in no danger of receiving death sentences. The Iranian authorities claimed that no person in Iran would receive any punishment for crimes committed abroad, if they had already served a sentence.

In the fall of last year, Fahrad Mohammed Injeh was arrested in a drugs case, which was dropped for lack of evidence. His latest brush with the law concerns a plan to smuggle amphetamines from Sweden into Norway. It was reported on Friday that police had been trailing drug couriers from Svunesund on the Swedish border to a garage in As, which was then raided. Five men were arrested, including Fahrad Mohammed Injeh.

Injeh was one of two men who were believed to have received the drugs. Two others had driven the vehicle, which was found to contain more than five kilograms of the drugs. The other man owned the garage.

Injeh's lawyer said that his client was "baffled" by the charges. Petter Sørensen said: "This is probably a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Just like those people terrorized on the Aeroflot plane, or those beaten up by Injeh and his brother Mansour in Fyn refugee center, who also happened to be in "the wrong place at the wrong time."

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 3:42 PM | Comments (2)

Germany: High-level Politician Criticizes Islamic Violence

Signs of courage from Germany: German lawmaker blames Islam for religious violence

BERLIN, Sept 30 (Reuters) - A top German politician and close ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday Islam was one of the main factors in religiously motivated violence, and urged Germany's Muslims to reject all forms of brutality.

But Ronald Pofalla, general-secretary of Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats, also acknowledged that many Muslims would find it painful that their religion was being abused for violent ends.

"Certainly it is painful for many Muslims that their religion is misused for violence," Pofalla wrote in a guest column for Sunday's Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

"But ... the problem of religiously motivated violence is today almost exclusively a problem of Islam. In addition, many of the victims are Muslims themselves," he said, according to extracts released in advance on Saturday.[...]

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 11:16 AM | Comments (1)

India: Islamic Terrorists Threaten India Over Possible Execution

First, we attack your political institutions, then we threaten to murder your citizens if you dare do something about: Islamic rebels warn India over execution

Islamic rebels warned Friday of "dire consequences" if India executes a Kashmiri Muslim convicted over a 2001 attack on parliament, as a protest strike paralysed the state's main city.

The threat came on the third day of protests in insurgency-racked Indian Kashmir against a New Delhi judge's order for Mohammed Afzal, one of the masterminds of the attack, to be hanged October 20.

"We warn of dire consequences if the death sentence is carried out," said Sadaqat Hussain, spokesman for the United Jihad Council, Indian Kashmir's main militant alliance which fights New Delhi's rule here.

And by "Jihad", Mr. Hussain means "inner spiritual struggle", I'm sure.

Hussain did not make any specific threats in the statement published in local Indian Kashmiri newspapers but said Afzal was innocent.

Shops, businesses and schools were closed in Srinagar to protest the planned execution of Afzal who was convicted of conspiracy in the assault on parliament in December 2001 which left 14 people dead, including the attackers, and brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war.[...]

The people participating in the strike, are only part of "a tiny minority of extremists", who "in no way represent the views of the peaceful Islamic majority."

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 11:05 AM | Comments (0)

US: Boston Islamic Society's Lawsuit Progresses

Yesterday, states the Boston Globe, the Islamic Society of Boston was given a further signal from a US judge that its vindictive court case could continue. The ISB is mounting a lawsuit against a number of individuals and organizations, including Fox television station Channel 25 and the Boston Herald, for defamation.

We first reported on this case back on January 2 in an article entitled: Boston Islamic Society: The Enemy Within?, when its attempted defamation suit was by then an ongoing concern, after being filed in May of last year.

ISB was founded in 1982. It has been linked with a dodgy land deal with Boston City, itself the subject of another lawsuit which is mounted against Boston and was allowed in November 2005 to progress through the courts by a Suffolk Superior Court judge. This case is being made against the city of Boston and the Boston Redevelopment Authority by James Policastro.

The land was sold to ISB at a knock-down price of $175,000 by the Boston Redevelopment Authority, even though its market value was said to be worth nearly half a million dollars. The land at Roxbury was to be used for the construction of a giant mosque which will, when completed, be the largest mosque in North America. On November 7, 2002, ISB officials and members of the City establishment posed with shovels for the cameras as the first "groundbreaking" took place. John Kerry praised ISB for its "outstanding work" and said the mosque was being built at a time when people needed cross-cultural understanding and cooperaton."

The mosque's construction costs are estimated at $25 million. It will have a 125-foot high minaret and a 75 foot high dome.

Boston Islamic Society decided that anyone who even remotely criticised its work in constructing the giant eyesore would be sued for defamation. Those who are listed in its suit are welcoming the chance to fight their arguments in court. Another enthusiastic supporter of repression of free speech via litigation, the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) joined the fray in January.

As well as mounting punitive lawsuits, there are other issues which connect CAIR and the Islamic Society of Boston - anti-semitism, terrorism and extremism. As some of CAIR's former officials have been imprisoned for terrorism offenses, the same can be said of the Boston Islamic Society.

One of the eight founders of the Boston Islamic Society is Abdurahman Alamoudi, currently serving a 23-year prison sentence for being involved in an assassination plot. Listed by the US treasury Department as a fund-raiser for al-Qaeda, Alamoudi was an outspoken supporter of terror groups Hamas and Hezbollah.

In March, 2004, Dr Walid Fitaihi, another founder of ISB and also a trustee and treasurer, reputedly wrote in an Arabic newspaper that Jews were the "murderers of Prophets". He has been accused of making other anti-semitic comments, such as Jews would be punished for their "oppression, murder, and rape of the worshipers of Allah" stated the Boston Herald.

After the accusations, made in the Boston Herald, ISB wrote a statement on its website in September 2004: "Ultimately, we decided, based on what we know of Dr. Fitaihi's views, the historic and linguistic context of the articles, as well as Dr. Fitaihi's internal statement on the issue, to accept his contention that the articles were intended to condemn particular individuals whom he believes were working to destroy one of Islam's holiest sites, killing innocent children, and thereby blocking the possibility of peace in the Middle East; the articles were not meant to incite hatred of an entire faith or people."

The Anti-Defamation League persisted in exposing Fitahi's obvious anti-semitism. On October 14, 2004, the Boston Globe reported that ISB had publicly distanced itself from Dr Fitahi. In a letter signed by seven board members, ISB wrote: "We unequivocally condemn all hateful, insensitive, and divisive statements. Furthermore, we have expressed these sentiments to Dr. Fitaihi in writing." Despite this, Fitahi remained on the board of trustees.

One of the original listed trustees of the ISB in its tax returns was the Qatari-based spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Sheikh Yusef al-Qaradawi, who has publicly supported the use of suicide bombers against innocent Israelis. In 2003, an Islamic scholar found several publications and videos in the ISB library which promoted hostility to the US and denigrated other faiths.

As well as Fox Channel 25 and the Boston Herald, a further 14 individuals and groups are named in ISB's defamation suit. These include TV presenter and terrorism pundit Steve Emerson, who is described in the defamation suit in defamatory terms as a "widely discredited and self professed 'expert' on radical Islam and Islamic terrorism".

Another is Charles Jacobs, who belongs to a group, the David Project which aims to come to a "fair and honest understanding of the Middle East conflict." Mr Jacobs is a founder-chairman of the American Anti-Slavery Group, which for more than a decade has helped free 80,000 slaves, and also someone who has drawn attention to genocides in Darfur. Anna Kolodner, the David Project's director of education is also on the list.

Another of those who are being hounded by ISB is the group Citizens for Peace and Tolerance, who provide more details of the case on their website.

The Jewish Advocate noted that the lawsuit had been expanded to claim that the defendants conspired to deprive the plaintiffs of "their basic rights of free association and the free exercise of religion."

On Thursday, 5 January, Boston's Jewish Advocate newspaper carried a full page advertisement, in which ISB was accused of using litigation to suppress discussion, and also of failing to adequately respond to Jewish leaders' questions. Jewish leaders have, since London's 7/7, where mosques have been cited as sources of extremism, been concerned about mosques with possible terror links.

There are an estimated 240,000 Jews in Boston, and 70,000 Muslims. The American Jewish Committe's branch in Boston is headed by Larry Lowenthal, who said in January of the leading figures in ISB: "There is a great deal of anxiety.... The distance that I think has to be established between these current leaders and their colleagues who have made troubling statements ... that distance has to be clearly distinct and established."

On July 20 Judge Janet L. Sanders said that a 1994 law, which was designed to protect private citizens who brought legal cases against developers, was not applicable when applied in a defamation case, and said that the lawsuit could go ahead.

Howard Cooper, the attorney for the Islamic Society of Boston, said: "For many months since my clients simply sought to file a lawsuit and redress their rights in court, all we heard was that we were attempting to intimidate people and we would end up having to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorneys' fees. The court has now rejected the defendants' arguments in their entirety and ruled that the ISB filed its lawsuit appropriately."

He also invited the defendants to enter mediation, and if they did so, ISB would drop its suit.

Now more than ever, no-one should give in to such bullying tactics. Enough citizens rights are being threatened in different parts of the world by Muslims who intimidate yet claim to be "peace-loving". There are many unpleasant skeletons in ISB's cupboards concerning its former founder, Abdurahman Alamoudi, and a court case will give the defendants a chance in a wide arena to really expose the other unpleasant aspects of ISB.

Yesterday, Superior Court Judge Janet L. Sanders dismissed a claim by the defendants. ISB had made claims that the stories disseminated by the defendants had caused mosque donations to dry up. The defendants' lawyers had stated that the claims of conspiracy and defamation were related to stories which were protected under the First Amendment. This, the defendants argued, should mean the litigation should be abandoned. Judge Sanders rejected this line of argument and said that ISB's case should be heard in court.

And while ISB wastes its funds (now where do there funds come from?) on litigation, the proposed giant mosque remains in a state of incompletion at Roxbury Crossing.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 7:20 AM | Comments (2)

Germany: Mobile Mosque Takes Off

Looking like a cross between a traditional Gypsy caravan and a whelk stall on the Blackpool sea-front, the Islamobil is a traveling mosque. Yesterday, the mosque was described in the UK Daily Mail, but detailed accounts of the mosque on wheels can be found on Deutsche Welle and der Spiegel.

Firstly, why should a mosque on wheels exist? It is not, it appears, like a mobile library, catering to isolated Muslims in outlying communities. It is used to promote Islam in non-Muslim communities in Germany, which may be why it has something of a fairground appearance. When the moving mosque comes to town, Islamic music blares from its loudspeakers, so that it never fails to get noticed.

It has two fake minarets which extend and retract like lipstick applicators, and a blue and white dome, surmounted by a golden crescent. The Islamobil has fake pillars and arches on its extrerior, and a stage extends from one side when it is stationary.

Once attracted, the infidels are lured inside, where computer monitors give promotional information about Islam, which is continued via panels on the walls. Ceiling-mounted lights are said to give the Islamobil's interior a "cool, comfortable atmosphere". The "information" is skewed with a strong bias - no mention of killing infidels, or references to Islam's permission for wife beating (Sura 4:34).

Instead, the panels spread disinformation. One states "The Koran says that men and women are equal before God. In some parts of the Muslim world, women aren't treated the way Muslim teachings demand. But that's a matter of culturally specific customs." No mention of a woman's testimony in a sharia court being worth half that of a man, of course.

Another panel reads: "What does Islam have to say about war? The expression 'jihad,' often misunderstood and overused, literally means 'total commitment,' not 'holy war'."

Jihad has often been said to mean "struggle", which conjures to mind that famous book by Hitler, Mein Kampf, which meant the same thing.

Der Spiegel stated: "There are no struggles, no problems, no September 11, 2001 attacks in the Islamobile. The discord and conflict of recent years never make an appearance."

The idea for this garish monstrosity was hatched by a group of young Muslims from Brühl near Cologne in 2001. Built by "Islam Info" for the princely sum of 250,000 Euros ($317,500), this summer, the Islamobil has been trundling from town to town in the German heartland, hauled along behind a truck.

The current showman who invites gullible Westerners into his palace of disinformation is Öczan Kuri. He is quoted as saying: "We've almost forgotten about September 11. We have to look forward. We're hopeful."

As well as being the mobile mosque's main "educator", Kuri belongs to the organization Milli Gorus which has thousands of members in Germany. Milli Gorus' Turkish name means "national vision". This group has previously been described by Verfassungsschutz, the domestic security agency, as a "foreign extremist organization". In 1996, a court in Hamburg described the group as a "threat to the democratic order in Germany". The security services are still monitoring Milli Gorus.

Milli Gorus opposes integration into European society. We reported earlier this month that one Milli Gorus imam, Yakup Tasci, told his congregation: "Those Germans, those atheists, they don't shave their armpits. Their sweat spreads evil smells, they stink. They are atheists, what good do they do to us? And since they are unbelievers, in the afterlife they can only burn in hell."

During the World Cup (June 9 to July 9), the security services kept Milli Gorus under strict observation, lest any of their members attempted terror attacks. In Holland and Germany, the group controls 500 mosques.

One of the individuals who founded the Islamobil, Gülüzar Keskin, said: "First we established an organization with the goal of informing Germans about Islam. Then we thought it would be a very good and practical idea to create a mobile mosque and travel around Germany in it."

"For us it was important to be provocative," he said. "We wanted to confront people directly and say either inform yourself or don't."

That would be good, if the information was not merely propaganda. Keslin claimed: "Many visitors have already asked us if we have addresses for mosques nearby, so that they can get more information about Islam."

Recently in Italy, according to AGI News Agency, in the town of Gallarate, the local mosque was closed down because it contravened building regulations. The Mayor, Nicola Mucci, agreed with Muslim community leaders to install a mobile mosque in an area near the Marinai d'Italia Park. The mobile mosque, which hopefully is not like the carnival crate used in Germany, will be present throughout Ramadan.

I have a fear that mobile mosques may become more common in the future.....

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 2:01 AM | Comments (1)

Australia: Shooting At Perth Mosque

News from ABC.net.au, and Associated Press in the Jerusalem Post and International Herald Tribune reports that shots have been fired outside a mosque in Perth, on the western coast of Australia.

The incident happened yesterday evening at 9 pm local time, as about 400 worshippers were celebrating Juma evening prayers on the first Friday of Ramadan.

Neville Patterson, Western Australia state police Inspector, said: "A single shot was fired from a high-powered rifle from outside the mosque through a window on the second level, narrowly missing a couple of worshippers."

Police spokeswoman Ros Weatherall stated: "A witness has stated that he observed a green Jeep Cherokee four-wheel drive parked across from the mosque and saw a flash and heard a gunshot."

"Police attended and found that a shot had actually gone through the upper window and had lodged in the wall and they will be continuing their investigations today."

No-one was injured in the shooting, but the bullet is said to have nearly hit women and children on the second floor of the mosque.

The mosque is situated in the suburb of Mirrabooka. Police ballistics experts were investigating the incident.

The gunman is said to fled in the Jeep.

UPDATE: Deutshe Presse Agentur via Monsters & Critics recounts the statement of 38-year old Ahdielah Edries, president of the Islamic Council of Western Australia, who was on the upper floor when the bullet was fired, segregated from the men who were gathered on the ground floor.

"If I stood a little bit to the left, I would be dead. I am so grateful nobody died. Kids were screaming, mothers were running. We hope it is just a stupid person. It was a callous act," she said.

And Ameer Ali, head of prime minister John Howard's Muslim reference group, the government's advisory body, used the incident to fire his own barb. He said: "Where do the criminals get the courage to do this? It comes from what our leaders say in public, so I think our leaders share some responsibility for these acts."

A typical Islamic response - blame someone else, rather than accept Islam's responsibility. Islam is now a widely-hated religion because it actively promotes violence. So-called "moderates" never accept this simple truth, and thereby passively condone the violence of other Muslims.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 1:02 AM | Comments (1)

UK: Muslims Once Again Conned With Toxic Zam Zam Water

Last year, on October 18 during Ramadan, we reported that bottles claiming to be Zam Zam water were on sale in Barnsley, South Yorkshire.

Real Zam Zam water comes only from one source, a spring near Mecca. This water is said to have special properties, and was drunk by Mohammed, the so-called prophet of Islam. The angel Gabriel (Jibril) is said to have opened up Mohammed's chest, and poured Zam Zam water into the cavity.

Narrated Ibn Abbas:
I gave Zam-zam water to Allah's Apostle and he drank it while standing. 'Asia (a sub-narrator) said that 'Ikrima took the oath that on that day the Prophet had not been standing but riding a camel.
Volume 2, Book 26, Number 701: Hadith of Sahih Bukhari.

Zam Zam water is strictly protected by Saudi authorities, and it is forbidden to allow the product to be marketed. Pilgrims on Haj and Umrah regularly drink the water as it is said to possess spiritual and health-giving properties. Pilgrims are allowed to take very small amounts of this water back home with them, but never in any quantities to be commercially exploited.

When the half-litre and quarter-litre plastic bottles of fake Zam Zam water first appeared last year, trading standards officers analyzed contents of some examples. These were found to contain levels of nitrates beyond the acceptable legal limits for natural mineral water, spring water and bottled drinking water. In one example they studied, analysts found arsenic in the water, at amounts three times higher than permitted levels.

Despite the warnings, soon after the emergence of the tainted holy water, bottles of the stuff made their appearance in London, in the borough of Westminster. The Westminster Council issued warnings after it appeared on sale.

Now, Muslim fraudsters are up to the same tricks, according to Yorkshire Today and 24dash.com. The bottles of fake Zam Zam water are once again on sale. And once again, arsenic is in the water, as was confirmed earlier this month by analysts hired by Leicester City Council.

The Food Standards Agency has issued warnings to local councils, urging them to prevent sale of the bottled water.

Why should Muslims who sell this water want to poison their co-religionists? There are confidence tricksters in every community, but to taint water with a toxin seems initially odd. We suggested last year that the reasons for the presence of arsenic may have been done to give the water a "sweet" taste. Chemically pure "white" arsenic is said to be tasteless, but Richard Wilson, a Harvard physicist described water from tube wells tainted with arsenic as "the water was nice and sweet - well, it was because that's the arsenic taste."

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 12:47 AM | Comments (1)

September 29, 2006

Islam: Al Qaeda Deputy Calls Pope And Bush "Charlatans"

Today, a video was released by Al Qaeda on the internet, states the Guardian, Catholic World News, BBC, CNN, The Australian, Al Jazeera, Bloomberg and other sources. The CIA has confirmed the video's authenticity.

In this 18 minute long video, which has been advertised on the internet for some days, Ayman al-Zawahiri (pictured), former eye surgeon and now deputy leader of Al Qaeda, began his attack upon US president George W. Bush. President Bush was called a "murderer and spiller of Muslim blood" and also a "charlatan."

Zawahiri claimed that the US was losing the war on terror. He said terror attacks "have deprived you of the pleasure of quenching your thirst for revenge."

"Bush you are a lying failure and a charlatan. It has been three and a half years [since the arrests] ... What happened to us? We have gained more strength and we are more insistent on martyrdom."

"Why are your troops retreating in secret from the south and east of Afghanistan? Be aware that the liberation of our captives is a debt on our shoulders which we must fulfill."

"Why don't you tell them how many million citizens of America and its allies you intend to kill in search of the imaginary victory and in breathless pursuit of the mirage towards which you are driving your people's sons in order increase your profits?"

Zawahiri also made mention of the Al Qaeda leader Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was arrested in Pakistan and handed over to the US authorities. This individual has confessed to plotting the 9/11 attacks and is currently in detention in Guantanamo, after being transferred there from a secret prison.

He said: "I ask this lying failure, who are the leaders of al Qaeda whose killing or capture was facilitated by the information extracted from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed? Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, may Allah free him, has hurt you thousands of times more than you have hurt him."

"Can't you be honest at least once in your life and admit that you are a deceitful liar who intentionally deceived your nation when you drove them to war in Iraq under the pretext of the presence of nuclear weapons there and under the pretext of al Qaeda's connections with Saddam Hussein, following which evidence proved that you intentionally lied and misled?"

"You should worry about your presence two areas. The first is the Gulf, from where you will be expelled, God willing, after your defeat in Iraq, and your economic ruin will be achieved. And the second is Israel, because the jihadi reinforcements are getting closer, with God's help and power, and your defeat there will put an end to the superiority of the Zionists and Crusaders."

He said that mujahideen "are a people who do not sleep under oppression and who do not abandon our revenge until our chests have been healed of those who have aggressed against us."

Zawahiri also spat venom at the United Nations. He said: "Rise, O Muslim nation, to defend your land and your honors from the crusaders' aggression who are now hiding behind the masks of the United Nations. Nothing will protect you but a jihadi popular war that will be led by the mujahedeen."

He spoke of Darfur in Sudan, and urged Sudanese Muslims to mount a Holy War against "crusaders" disguised as United Nations troops.

Much of this bravado-fuelled rhetoric is to be expected from Zawahiri, though it appears to be more ranting than usual. But some of his strangest claims came when he addressed Pope Benedict XVI. He called on the pontiff to convert to Islam, which may be seen as ludicrous, but also could be seen as an ominous threat. Traditionally, if a Muslim leader wages war upon an infidel, he firstly urges the infidel to convert. The exhortation to Pope Benedict to become a Muslim could be seen as a prelude to a jihad against Christians.

He said: "This impostor, Benedict, reminds us of another impostor, his predecessor Urban II from the 11th century in Clermont, France, who urged the people of Europe to kill the Muslims and launched the crusades."

He said that the Pope's religion is "made of myths, like the Trinity, crucifixion, sacrifice and the original sin."

Referring to the Regensburg speech made by Benedict XVI on September 12, Zawahiri said that the Pope "went beyond his way to defame us, we will respond to his insult with kindness."

"This charlatan accused Islam of being incompatible with rationality while forgetting that his own Christianity is unacceptable to a sensible mind."

"We will call upon him and all of the Christians to become Muslims who do not recognise the Trinity or the crucifixion, and say that Allah united with the human."

At no stage in his speech did Zawahiri make mention of Osama bin Laden.

**************

Yesterday, an audio tape appeared on jihadist websites, coming from the head of Al Qaeda in Iraq and successor to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Muhajir urged Muslims in Iraq to kidnap Christians. Details of his speech can be found on the BBC, AKI and Associated Press on Topix.net, Washington Times, Times of India and numerous local papers with AP feeds.

Muhajir, also known as Ayyub al-Masri, said: "I call on every holy fighter in Iraq to strive to capture some dogs of the Christians so that we can liberate our imprisoned sheikh."

This was a reference to Omar Abdul Rahman, the blind Egyptian sheikh, who is currently in prison in the US for his role in the plotting of the first attack upon the World Trade Center of February 26, 1993, in which six people died. The sheikh is the spiritual leader of Gamaa Islamiya, a group which has claimed to have renounced violence. Al Qaeda states Gamaa Islamiya has now officially joined its ranks.

As well as urging Iraqis to kidnap Christians, he gave Muslims a Ramadan greeting, saying: "I congratulate the Muslim nation on the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan, the month of jihad. I ask God to make it a month for honour and victory for Muslims."

Muhajir also urged scientists, including nuclear scientists, to join the cause of jihad. He said: "We are in dire need of you. The field of jihad can satisfy your scientific ambitions, and the large American bases are good places to test your unconventional weapons, whether biological or dirty, as they call them."

"The blood has been spilled in Iraq of more than 4,000 foreigners who came to fight." he said, admitting that his fighters have suffered heavy losses.

He concluded his speech with the following: "To the tribal leaders who are on our side and help us economically and with manpower I say Allah will reward you....but to those who are with the traitors and the occupiers I say that certainly you may earn money and important positions but the truth is with Allah. We ask them to return to their faith and they can do so only if they repent."

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 11:29 PM | Comments (1)

Tanzania: Zanzibar Islamists Seek To End Tourism

Zanzibar, a grouping of two islands (Zanzibar island and Pemba island) in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa, is part of Tanzania though it is regarded as semi-autonomous. It has a population of nearly 1 million people, the majority of whom are Muslim. It relies upon tourism for its economy, but a report from Associated Press via International Herald Tribune and Independent Online states the group Hizb ut-Tahrir has become active on the island, and it has been trying to turn the population against tourists.

Abbas Hussein, a leader of Hizb ut-Tahrir, said: "Tourism is the source of moral and religious decay in Zanzibar. Visitors are just coming here to pollute the culture and religion of Zanzibar."

Hizb ut-Tahrir was formed in 1953 by an Islamic jurist in Jerusalem. It seeks to establish an Islamic Caliphate. Although it claims to be against violence, this is a lie. It supports suicide bombings in Israel, and in Russia, where it has been illegal since February 2003, some of its followers have been found with weaponry. In Kyrgyzstan the group has turned to violence, linking with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. Hizb ut-Tahrir is banned in more than 20 countries, and is banned in most countries of the Middle East as it is seen as a threat to political stability.

In recent months, Hizb ut-Tahrir has been engaging in a massive recruitment drive on Zanzibar, and already has an estimated 3,000 members.

Fadhil Soraga, a spokesman for Zanzibar's official Muslim leader, said; "Hizb ut-Tahrir preaches inflammatory views against Islam, other religions, and societies. Their ideology is different from us. It spread radical views in the name of Islam. It's wrong."

Currently the Tanzanian government security unit is keeping a close watch on Hizb ut-Tahrir's activities. An official within the unit said: "They pose a threat to national unity, peace and stability if they start putting out inflammatory statements. The government will keep eyes on them."

Last year, 500,000 tourists came to Zanzibar. A popular destination is Stone Town in Zanzibar island, which is listed as a World Heritage site.

There had been plans to celebrate Freddie Mercury, lead singer of Queen on Zanzibar, as he had been born there sixty years ago, as "Faroukh Bulsara". The 60th birthday party, which would have happened this month was cancelled after protests from the The Association for Islamic Mobilisation and Propagation (UAMSHO). The group objected to the celebration of Mercury, on account of his open homosexuality. Abdallah Said Ali, the leader of UAMSHO, said: "We have a religious obligation to protect morals in society and anyone who corrupts Islamic morals should be stopped".

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 10:07 PM | Comments (0)

Thailand: Islamist Insurgent Campaign Continues

Since January 4, 2004, the southern provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala, as well as two districts of Songkhla province, have been involved in an insurgency which has killed at least 1,400 people. One Thai academic estimates there have been more than 1,700 killings. The southern provinces had formerly been an independent Sultanate, but in 1906 this became annexed within Siam. The inhabitants of the three provinces of the south are predominantly Muslims, who make up 80% of the demographic and are ethnic Malays.

The Bangkok Post and the Nation report that today, three bombs were set off in Narathiwat province this morning. Around 7.40 am local time, a bomb went off near a teashop in Muang district. The teashop was known to be frequented by traffic police. The bomb, weighing about 7 kilograms, had been secluded in a ditch, and was detonated using mobile phone signal.

A traffic policeman, Sergeant-Major Wichit Chanwidoon, was hit by shrapnel in his right thigh, but was well enough tobe discharged from hospital later. A fish shop by the teashop suffered damage, and shrapnel was spread across the road.

In Bacho district in Narathiwat province, two other bombs were set off. These bombs, weighing about 5 kilograms, had been left under a bench. No-one was hurt when these went off.

In Si Sakhon district in the same province, a member of the local administration of Choengkiri tambon (borough) was killed today. 37-year old Saipuding Muming was riding his motorcycle to attend a meeting when a pick-up truck carrying four people drew up. One of the individuals in the truck shot him.

The Nation writes of the sanctions imposed on Thailand since the bloodless military coup of September 19. It also announced that yesterday the European Union criticized the suspension of democracy and political campaigning which has been ordered by the military.

The European presidency is currently held by Finland, and a statement from Helsinki read: "The European Union attaches great importance to Thailand's speedy return to democracy and constitutional order, legitimised by free and democratic elections to be held as soon as possible."

Since 9/11, Thailand has been a supporter of the US "war on terror". It is also diplomatic ally of the US and a non-NATO ally. The sanctions imposed by the US State Department may put under threat "Cobra Gold". This is an annual live-fire exercise, the largest US war game event in Asia. Usually this is hosted by the US and Thailand. The exercises were initiated 25 years ago.

Despite the issues with the coup, according to Stuff and AKI, the US has given its support for the nomination of a former Thai foreign minister, Surin Pitsuwan, as a candidate to replace Kofi Annan as the United Nations secretary general. Surin is a Muslim. John Bolton, US ambassador to the UN, is pushing for a quick resolution to the issue of Annan's replacement.

The coup was led by General Sonthi Boonyaratkalin, a Muslim. A new administrative body has been set up in Thailand, with Gen. Sonthi as its head. This group calls itself the Council for Democratic Reform (CDR), and on September 22, the Thai monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej officially endorsed the CDR.

The Bangkok Post reports that the CDR head, Sonthi Boonyaratkalin, has announced today that the media should become involved in drafting a permanent constitution, which will come into effect when democracy returns. He made the suggestion while meeting a 20-strong delegation from the Press Council of Thailand.

On Sunday, an interim constitution will come into effect, which has drawn concerns from the delegates. Gen Sonthi said that the interim constitution had included allowances for press freedoms, and said the CDR depended upon the support of the people and the press. The interim constitution has already been presented to King Bhumibol for royal assent.

Sonthi suggested that the mass media nominate a representative to sit on the 35-member panel which he has set to draft the permanent constitution.

A bloodless coup, supported by many of the populace and also by businesses is one thing, as long as it is done with the intention of restoring democracy. For the leaders of this coup to then start tampering with a new constitution is a step too far. A constitution can only be made by the elected representatives of a democracy. Anything else is a step towards totalitarianism. The unelected CDR is moving in directions which will ultimately become sources of discord and dissent.

UPDATE: According to the Times, the King is expected to confirm the appointment of Surayud Chulanont, a 63-year old member of the Privy Council, as national leader.

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

UK: Queen Allows Ramadan Prayer Room At Windsor

Taking a leaf from the book of appeasement used by her idiot son, Charles, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of England has allowed a special prayer room to be made available for Muslim worship. The prayer room is in Windsor Castle, her favourite royal residence, and it has been set aside for the use of only one employee.

The Daily Mail reports that the Queen gave her permission for the room after a request was made by 19-year old Nagina Chaudhry (pictured), who works in the castle's gift shop.

During Ramadan, Muslims are expected to conduct a half hour prayer session in the middle of the day. Chaudhry said: "It feels amazing to be the first Muslim to read namaz at Windsor Castle. I was reciting the prayer with more power than usual because I knew I was making history."

"I was worried that I might not get it because there are so many misconceptions about Islam. I've only worked there for two months, so I was surprised when everybody went out of their way to help me. The Queen is the head of the Church of England so it's great to know she respects other people's faith. I think I'm the only Muslim who works here so I feel special knowing they've made such an effort for me."

In the past, Muslim employees have been given time off for daily prayers, but this concession occurs during the employee's usual lunch break. As she is not eating during her official lunch break, Ms Chaudhry is not demanding special time off.

It is a precedent, which could mean that other Muslim employees will start demanding special rooms during Ramadan.

I wonder if the Royal House of Saud in Saudi Arabia would ever allow a parallel concession for Christians?

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 7:47 PM | Comments (1)

UK: Police Launch Inquiry Into Ramadan Pig Problem

The Jamia Mosque in Newport, South Wales (pictured left) had a severed pig's head left outside its premises on the first day of Ramadan. Not a particularly pleasant thing to happen, admittedly, but placed in a context of British policing as a whole, the actions of Gwent police expose the abject hypocrisy of national police policy.

The news of the pig's head is reported by the BBC, IC Wales, South Wales Argus and even appears in the Turkish Press and on US Yahoo via Agence France Presse.

Gwent Police Superintendent Simon Prince said: "We treat all incidents of hate crime seriously and are pursuing a number of lines of inquiry to identify the offender."

Sheikh Mohammad Thair Ullah, who is from the neighbouring Shah Poran Bangladeshi Jame Mosque said the incident was "disgusting" and provocative."

Ullah continued: "Muslims are peace-loving people which has been interpreted wrongly to show that we are all terrorists and criminals. That is the impression given by the world's media and politicians which is totally wrong."

The pig's head was found at 10.30 pm on Saturday, 23 September. Gwent Police's Divisional Commander for Newport, Kevin Price, said: "We are working with the Muslim community to try and find out who would have been in the street that night when the pig's head was placed at the mosque. We are also looking at CCTV. I would describe this sort of thing as very irresponsible, there was obviously an element of premeditation about it to get a pig's head and on a night of religious significance."

"It was intended to offend and I believe the person who is responsible probably has no idea just how much offence this has caused."

Worshippers expressed their anger, which is understandable.

But let us compare the attitudes of Gwent police with that of the smug fool in charge of the Metropolitan Police in London, Sir Ian Blair.

We reported earlier today that Ian Blair had decided that a protest outside Westminster Cathedral, where 100 Muslim extremists harassed worshippers, and calls were made for the Pope to be executed, did not merit prosecution.

In the Daily Mail Ian Blair is quoted as saying: "The Met can only police the law as it stands. No substantive offences were discovered during that demonstration."

So a pig's head left outside a mosque is a hate crime, and harassing Catholic worshippers in an illegally convened demonstration, where placards stated: "Curse the Pope", "Pope Benedict go to Hell," "Pope Benedict you will pay, the Mujahideen are coming your way," "Jesus Loves the Muslims," "Islam Will Conquer Rome," "Trinity of Evil: Western Crusade Against Islam," does NOT constitute a hate crime?

No wonder many people think that Britain today is only a vague shadow of the great nation it used to be.

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

Cambodia: Three Islamists Get Life Sentences

News from AFP via the Nation, DPA via the Bangkok Post and Playfuls.com, Associated Press via International Herald Tribune and Xinhua via People's Daily reports that today, an appeals court has upheld the life sentences handed out to three Muslims.

One of the convicted men is a Cambodian, while the other two are Thai Muslims. They were first given their life sentences two years ago by Phnom Penh Municipal Court for conspiracy to cause terrorist attacks against foreign targets in Cambodia.

Lawyer Kov Soupha said that he would next week be filing an appeal in the Supreme Court against the sentences of Cambodian Sman Ismael, and Thais Abdul Azi Haji Chiming and Muhammad Yalaludin Mading. The three individuals had been former teachers at an Islamic school on the outskirts of Pnomh Penh.

The three were charged with plotting the attacks between 2002 and 2003, working in conjunction with Nurjaman Riduan Isamuddin, also known as Hambali, who was formerly a chief operative of the Indonesia-based terror group Jemaah Islamiyah. Hambali (pictured) had been arrested in Thailand on 15 August 2003. Hambali was involved in a 1995 plot to bomb 11 U.S. commercial airliners in Asia (Operation Bojinka) and directed the late-2001 foiled plot to attack U.S. and Western interests in Singapore. He was handed to the US authorities and was held in a secret location until he was recently transferred to Guantanamo.

Hambali has a Cambodian wife and had spent extended periods inside Cambodia. When the three others were given life sentences in 2004, Hambali and two other associates, an Egyptian and a Malaysian, were also found guilty and given a life sentence in absentia.

Appeals Court Judge Thou Mony, who presided over a three judge panel, said today that the Cambodian, Sman Ismael, had helped to arrange a Cambodian visa for Hambali as well as arranging his travels during his stay in the country. The two Thais had bought telephones and made other arrangements for the terror leader.

Judge Mony said: "Having seen that there is sufficient ground of guilt in their attempts to commit terrorism, the decision is to uphold the verdict issued against them by the lower court."

UPDATE: Hambali is an Indonesian national. The Jakarta Post reports that the Indonesian vice president, Jusuf Kalla, has expressed his displeasure with the US authorities for not allowing free access to Hambali. He said on Wednesday, after a meeting with U.S. Vice President Richard Cheney and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley: "I don't understand why the U.S. is being difficult in granting us access to Hambali. I have requested access, but they appear to be very reluctant to disclose the simplest form of information about Hambali. Why is it so difficult for the Americans to grant us access?"

Indonesian Deputy Chief of Mission to the United States Andri Hadi has also raised the issue through the Indonesian Embassy in Washington, and says: "The Embassy has requested access to Hambali as we are responsible for our citizens' individual rights being fulfilled." He said that the US was "considering our request."

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 4:53 PM | Comments (0)

Philippines: Abbu Sayyaf Supported by Foreign Terrorist Organizations

The Jihad is world-wide and eternal: Analysis: Abu Sayyaf supported by Darul Islam, Jemaah Islamiyah

Koronadal, South Cotabato (29 September) -- Despite many recent arrests, the continuing threat posed by extremist Islamic terror groups operating in the Southern Philippines is very real.

Sources even say that their numbers may be multiplying, as more fighters from other countries are being shipped in to commit terrorist acts of violence. Alarmingly, the most common group, the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf, has now asked for assistance from two other very dangerous foreign-based al-Qaeda-linked groups: Jemaah Islamiyah and Darul Islam.

These groups may be even more dangerous than Abu Sayyaf because they have better training and resources to launch attacks against civilians. The presence of these groups in the Philippines is a major concern for authorities, and their activities must be halted as soon as possible. On the positive side for authorities, it shows the desperation of Abu Sayyaf. The group has suffered multiple defeats in the past several months. It would not need this foreign assistance if it were winning battles and gaining support.

Recent arrests of 12 terrorist suspects, including two Filipinos, in Malaysia confirmed what many had long suspected: The terror group Darul Islam is trying to make progress into the Southern Philippines. Malaysian authorities said publicly that the arrests crippled the activities of the group in the area, but there is still concern about possible future activities. They will pass on official word of the intelligence they have gathered to home authorities soon. Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesmen Jose Angel Honrado said, "When we receive the report, we will take matters seriously."[...]

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 1:51 PM | Comments (0)

Cameroon: Muslim School Rapes - Imam Jailed

News from South Africa's Sunday Times reports that in the Central West African republic of Cameroon, a Muslim cleric has been sentenced to jail for raping pupils at a Koranic school.

The trial took place at Ngaoundere, where a strongly religious community thrives. The convicted imam, Modibo Mamadou Babba, had been found guilty of raping 20 of his students. The pupils ranged in age between 16 and 21.

Babba was sentenced to fifteen years' jail for these crimes. In addition to the prison sentence, Babba was given a lifetime ban preventing him from acting as an imam.

Sapa-APF, who provided the news, said that the case had provoked a local scandal. Some factions within the Muslim community were angered that Babba had not been given the death penalty.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 1:31 PM | Comments (0)

UK: Islamist Who Wants Pope Dead Will Not Face Charges

We reported on September 18 that a group of Muslim extremists held a protest on Sunday September 17 outside Westminster Cathedral, complaining about Pope Benedict's Regensburg speech.

Demonstrators were holding placards saying "Curse the Pope", "Pope Benedict go to Hell," "Pope Benedict you will pay, the Mujahideen are coming your way," "Jesus Loves the Muslims," "Islam Will Conquer Rome," "Trinity of Evil: Western Crusade Against Islam."

The leader of this illegal demonstration was Anjem Choudary, who said then: "The Muslims take their religion very seriously and non-Muslims must appreciate that and that must also understand that there may be serious consequences if you insult Islam and the prophet. Whoever insults the message of Mohammed is going to be subject to capital punishment."

"I am here to have a peaceful demonstration. But there may be people in Italy or other parts of the world who would carry that out. I think that warning needs to be understood by all people who want to insult Islam and want to insult the prophet of Islam."

Choudary could have been charged for holding an illegal demonstration, glorification of terrorism, and even solicitation to murder.

But the Metropolitan Police's appallingly indifferent chief commissioner, Sir Ian Blair has now, according to the Telegraph, said that no charges will be brought against Choudary.

What is the point of having laws, if our police are too politically correct or appeasing to bother to enforce them? Ian Blair has already said that he approves the notion that when there is a terrorist raid in London, a panel of four Muslims must first be consulted.

When it was revealed that he had publicly lied about the circumstances surrounding the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezez last year, Ian Blair was more concerned about finding the source who had leaked information which proved he had lied, and punishing her, rather than taking responsibility for his public dishonesty.

Blair said yesterday that at the protest outside Westminster Cathedral, "no substantive offences" were committed. He added: "We are in an angry time and it is our job in the Met to hold the line on free speech."

The shadow home secretary, David Davies, said: "It is quite disgraceful. It sends out a message to Muslim extremists that we, as a country, do not have the moral courage to stand up to them."

How true. And Blair should be replaced as head of the Metropolitan Police. He undermines every last ounce of confidence that the public possesses concerning how the police act in the battle to counter extremism.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 8:19 AM | Comments (0)

UK: The Muslim Judge, And His Sex, Lies & Videotape

A case concluded this week in which a Brazilian cleaner, 37-year old Roselane Dirza was found guilty of blackmailing her employer, and also her employer's girlfriend, who also employed her as a cleaner. Ms Dirza stole two videotapes which featured her employer engaged in sex. The details of the case are sordid, involving deception, claims of cocaine use and videotaped sex sessions.

But what makes the case more sordid is that the two people whom Dirza was said to have blackmailed were judges. Dirza was an illegal immigrant, and those she blackmailed were employed as Asylum and Immigration judges. Her attempts at blackmail revolved around her threatening to tell Lord Falconer of Thoroton, the Lord Chancellor, that she had worked at the woman judge's home illegally for nearly five years. Dirza wanted payment of £20,000 ($37,376). She also threatened to go to the press. She had a gangster boyfriend allegedly, and it is implied, but not proven, that Dirza used his existence to intimidate her employers.

And both judges were said to be having frequent sex with each other. The woman judge has not been named, but when the case ended, the name of Dirza's employer became revealed.

He is a 60-year old Muslim, Mohammed Ilyas Khan (pictured), who has worked as an immigration judge for 23 years. And yet he employed an illegal immigrant. At one stage he advised her to flee the country, but this decision was made to save himself from the inevitable embarrassment when his own sexual shenanigans became, as they now have done, public knowledge.

As Leo McKistry states in the Telegraph:

Even the most acerbic satirist would have struggled to come up with a plot as outlandish as the trial that concluded this week at the Old Bailey, involving a blackmailing Brazilian cleaner and a pair of adulterous, sexually uninhibited members of the judiciary. The ingredients of this extraordinary case, featuring a Serbian gangster and serial killer, a series of explicit videos, one of them including a "mystery blonde", allegations of cocaine snorting in Thailand and a trouser-dropping, bearded Muslim judge by the name of Mohammed Khan, would have stretched the bounds of credibility if staged in a West End farce.

Mohammed Ilyas Khan earned £98,418 ($183,915) per year, while Miss J, as a senior immigration judge, earned £117,680 ($219,922). The Times stated yesterday that neither judge is likely to face a disciplinary hearing. Today, the Sun describes how Judge J (not Judge Judy I hope) found Khan in bed with Dirza around Christmas 2004. Since shortly after that time, Khan has not been in work, said to be suffering from stress. He still seems to be in receipt of his full salary. A spokesperson at the Judicial Communications Office said: "We wouldn't be able to comment on individuals' sick pay arrangements." The Department for Constitutional Affairs, which is said to be considering holding an investigation into Khan and Judge J, confirmed that Khan would not be returning to work for some time.

Khan said: "I deeply, deeply regret the very fundamental error of judgment that I made with Driza, believing her when she said she was legal and not realising she was such a devious woman. Judges are human beings. They also make mistakes. I have made a mistake, in judging her character, but in my work I do not make character judgments."

The Times reports that Khan's estranged wife Amtul has said: "None of the family have anything to do with him. His parents are both deceased and I doubt his siblings have anything to do with him. The court revelations are no surprise to me."

A friend of the Khans said: "Mr Khan is a weak man who seems quite easily led. This whole thing is very embarrassing for them all and I feel so sorry for Amtul and the kids. He should have behaved more responsibly and thought about them instead of himself."

The Times sates: "Driza's elderly mother, Jandira Araujo, was said to have been devastated by her daughter's conviction. The night before the guilty verdicts were delivered, Driza was allegedly seen in a pub holding newspaper reports of the case and allegedly claimed that she would walk free and make thousands of pounds by selling her story. She will be sentenced next month."

It was revealed in the trial that Khan had called Driza his "real chilli hot stuff". Driza stole two tapes. One showed Khan in bed with a blonde woman, and another tape, which Driza claimed she had destroyed, allegedly showed Judge J sniffing cocaine.

I do not like reporting on sex cases. What people do in private with consenting partners should be their own business. But what has emerged from this case is a disturbing pointer to the ethics, or lack of them, which seem to pervade our judiciary. Judges make decisions which irrevocably affect people's lives. We should be able to trust them.

Leo McKistry states: "If this incident had been isolated, it would not be so serious. But it is just part of a pattern where amoral anarchy has now triumphed in the running of the immigration system. Earlier this year, it was revealed that a senior official in the Home Office was not only willing to trade favourable treatment towards immigrants in return for sex, but was an illegal immigrant himself."

Driza had remained in Britain illegally for five years, and was employed by immigration judges in their own homes. Did the two judges, as they claim, really not know that she was illegal until the blackmailing began?

For details from the trial, reports are found in the Independent, Daily Mail, Telegraph, Metro.co.uk, Telegraph (again), Guardian, BBC, Yahoo News, Times the Guardian (again) and IC Berkshire.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 7:55 AM | Comments (1)

September 28, 2006

US: After Muslim Book Burnings, Comes Knowledge

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who has lived with the threat of death from Muslim fanatics since November 2, 2004, met in New York Public Library with someone who was the first public figure in the West to live under Muslim death threats, Salman Rushdie. Salman Rushdie was in the audience while Ms Ali was engaged in a public conversation with Philip Gourevitch. The transcript of the conversation between Ali and Gourevitch can be found in pdf format here. The talk happened on April 30 this year, before Hirsi Ali resigned from her position as a Dutch MP and moved to the United States to work.

When merely a teenager in Kenya, Ayaan Hirsi Ali had taken part in a burning of Salman's book "The Satanic Verses". After the talk, Salman Rushdie and Hirsi Ali were filmed together discussing There is no need for commentary on this, other than that they both agree that there has been a growth in knowledge, and that there is still more that needs to be done on this front. Though this is not a recent "current affairs" issue, it is interesting nonetheless. Both Hirsi Ali and Salman Rushdie have been caught up in the history of our times. Their conversation was recorded on film. It has Dutch subtitles, and is short (about three minutes) but the pair speak in English. The video can be viewed HERE.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 11:12 PM | Comments (0)

Germany: The Text That Muslims Had To Ban

We reported on September 24 that Egypt had banned three newspaper editions, the current issue of the international Guardian Weekly, the September 19 edition of Le Figaro, and one edition of the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

The reason for the banning of these newspapers was because they contained articles which were "offensive" to Islam. The articles may have offended Islam, but they were 100% true. We have already presented our translation of the article from Le Figaro by Robert Redeker, which has now led to the French philosopher being subjected to death threats.

The September 15 edition of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung contained an article by German historian Egon Flaig. Not able to translate the original German article we did not present our readers with a translation. Flaig's article is long, it is intense, but it is searingly truthful and historically accurate.

We are very proud on Western Resistance to bring you the full translation of Egon Flaig's article, "Der Islam will die Welteroberung". The translation has been made by a delightful German friend, who does not wish to be named. Let me just call her the delicious Diotima. She did the entire translation in one day, a staggering achievement.

Here is Diotima's superb translation of a stunning article.

Islam wants to conquer the world

by Egon Flaig

"For we want the flag of Islam to fly over those lands again, who were lucky enough, to be ruled by Islam for a time, and hear the call of the muezzin praise God. Then the light of Islam died out and they returned to disbelief. Andalusia, Sicily, the Balkans, Southern Italy and the Greek islands are all Islamic colonies which have to return to Islam's lap. The Mediterranean and the Red Sea have to become internal seas of Islam, as they used to be".

These are not the words of Al Qaeda, they were taken from the programme formulated by the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan Al Banna, in a speech. The Brotherhood today has millions of adherents and spread out far beyond Egypt. Its intellectuals are working in Europe and the United States; they count as "moderates" and are treated accordingly by the media. Re-conquest of "lost" territory according to plan is part of the agenda of states, that is political communities, fighting about territorial power. How can it be part of a religion's programme? Is Islam a religion like any other?

Since the beginning of the classical period between the ninth and the eleventh century Islamic jurists have divided the world into two parts, namely the "House of Islam" and the "House of War". This dichotomy is independent of where Muslims live in large numbers, or even form the majority, but depends on where Islam rules supreme - by applying Shariah - or where it does not rule. So, this dichotomy is not religious in nature, but political. Between these two parts of the world naturally exists a state of war, until the House of War is no more and Islam rules the world (Sura 8, 39 and 9, 41). Thus, according to classical teaching, for the Muslim community there is a duty to wage war against the disbelievers, until those either convert, or submit. This war is called jihad.

While Jesus' missionary call meant to convert all peoples, but to leave their political order untouched, Islam's aim is to submit all non-muslims politically, but to leave their religion untouched, if it is a religion of the book. God's general call to jihad is based on surah 9, 29. It is true though, that minute factions of islam did not accept this interpretation. The Shiites accept it, but demand that a true imam must be leading the Muslim community (and has been waiting for such a one for more than 13 centuries), so that for the time being they only feel bound to defensive jihad, in the case of attacks on the Muslim community.

On the other hand, the other factions, e.g. the so-called Kharijites, have radicalised the content of Sura 9.29: for them, jihad is an individual duty of each able-bodied muslim, which counts as a sixth pillar next to the other five cardinal duties. In the consequence of such teachings: when everyone has to either take part in the collective war against the unbelievers, or, should the Muslim community be too weak for the time being, has to wage war alone or in small groups, then assassinations and terror attacks are right. What the Kharijites demand for offensive jihad, most proponents of orthodox Sunnah-teachings demand for defensive jihad: when Islam is being attacked, or islamic territory is being invaded by infidels, jihad becomes an individual duty, e.g. a fatwa of the Grand Mufti of Cairo's Al-Azhar university - against Israel - leaves no doubt about that. Any enemy power that acts according to the Hague rules of warfare and strictly distinguishes combatants and non-combatants will be in great difficulty. The state of war lasts so long, until the House of War is destroyed, and the world is conquered. This is why Majid Khadduri calls Islam a "divine nomocracy on imperialist foundations". Peace treaties, which Islamic rulers closed with non-Islamic rulers, were only considered as cease-fires; this is why as a rule, they were only closed for no more than ten years. Two schools of jurisprudence permit no more than three to four years of peace. The short deadlines made it possible for the militarily superior Muslims to constantly blackmail their adversaries; this way throughout the centuries huge amounts of money and humans went to the Muslim side. When the paradigm of power shifted, Muslim rulers had to change their practice.

Thus in 1535 Suleiman the Magnificent made a peace with the French king which was to last for the lifetime of the Sultan - a break with tradition. Christian theologians tried to define, in the face of a plurality of states, what could be deemed a "just war" and what could not be deemed such. To wage war just in the interest of faith for the most part was not considered just. For Muslim scholars on the other hand, the "house of islam" is a political unit, which does not permit internal war, therefore only war for the sugjugation of infidels was considered legitimate and even a duty, as the famous fourtheenth-century scholare Ibn Chaldun categorically states: "In Islam the jihad is prescribed by law, because it has a universal calling and is supposed to convert all of humanity to Islam, be it of their own free will, or by force".

The rules of engagement for jihad are flexible. According to Khadduri, anything is possible, from mercy to mass enslavement to mass killing, just like with Greeks and Romans. This is a fundamental difference between the holy war of islam and of Old Testament Judaism, which prescribed the killing of all males outside of Israel, and the killing of every living thing within Israel (Deuteronomy 20, 10-20). We usually are outraged at what the Crusaders did in Jerusalem in 1099. Yet, the Crusaders acted in accordance with the ius bellum of the times, Muslim conquerors did the same all the time and everywhere: 698 they hit Carthage, in 838 Syracuse; the notorious vesir of the Cordoban Caliphate, Al Mansur, led 25 wars in 27 years against the Christian realms of northern Spain, enslaving, destroying, laying waste. They hit Zamora (981), Coimbra (987), Leon, Barcelona twice (985 and 1008), then Santiago de Compostela (997).

The worst destruction was wreaked by the jihadis on Byzantine Anatolia, which was then still full of cities; the massacre of Amorium (838) has remained a symbol for a long time; the urban culture of Anatolia never recovered from it. The Seljuk Alp Arslan had entire Armenian cities massacred, the worst being the capital Ani in 1064. Bat Ye'or's evaluation therefore is more than justified: "Its lack of measure, its regularity and the systematic character of the destructions, which Islamic theologians had decreed to be law, make the difference between jihad and other wars of conquest".Certainly, mass enslavement remained the favourite aim of the wars. That was the way in which, as early as the eight century, the biggest slave-holder society developed that world history has ever known; it demanded a permanent influx of new slaves, transformed the African continent into the biggest supplier of slaves, a destiny which Europe narrowly avoided.

The incredible speed, in which in 90 years an Arabian empire spanning from the south of France to India developed, with no single conqueror guiding the expansion, is unique. The world's most succesful imperialism was admired by no less than Hegel: "Never has enthusiasm as such done bigger deeds". If "enthusiasm" could do such a thing - what was its source? The answer is simple: martyrdom. Something happening in 963 in Constantinople may illustrate this: the emperor Nikephoros Phokas had just swept the Muslim invaders from Crete; now, he was planning a big war, to liberate eastern Anatolia and northern Syria from muslim rule. A council should help him: he pleaded with the bishops, to elevate soldiers dying in the war to the status of martyrs. Paradise would then have been assured for those soldiers. The patriarch stood up against the emperor: no church council could be empowered to anticipate God's decision, only God could decide on eternal salvation.

A scene of historical significance. The emperor knew what was at stake. Again and again, the Byzantians had to witness the Muslim troops fighting with a ferocious courage that the Christians could not emulate. Fallen Muslims were considered martyrs of the faith and marched straight to paradise. The concept of a martyr is fundamentally different in the two religions. Christian martyrs imitate the passion of Jesus, passively submit to torture and death; Muslim martyrs are active fighters.

Decisive for the warriors' acceptance of death was the firm promise of eternal salvation for those who die for the faith (surah 4, 74-76). Muslims should withstand a tenfold force (surah 8, 66-67); retreat was judged to be acceptable by later scholars if the enemy was at least double as strong, as Khadduri describes. As the decisive factor in any war is the fighting human being and his readiness to sacrifice himself, being on a par technically with the Arabs and Seljuks - in the long run, they had to succumb, if their morale was not of the same kind. Higher readiness to die is an enormous advantage in a fight- foolhardy operations can be waged and dashing manoeuvers to surprise and confuse the enemy; in that way, victory can be forced, that is technically and materially almost impossible, and battles are won, that would be lost under the usual circumstances.

Nikephoros knew about the military consequences of surah 4, 74-76; he was the first who tried to correct the conceptual military disadvantage of the Christian religion. But the bishops of the Eastern Church found themselves incapable of manipulating their theology in a way to create warlike martyrdom. This was it. The Byzantine emperors had to wage their heavy defensive wars against the permanent Saracen and Seljuk aggression without the help of religion, where they needed that help most.

Only the Western Church changed the theological-political situation: when Pope Urban II called the first crusade in 1095, he promised the Christian warriors forgiveness for their sins: fallen crusaders avoided divine judgement and were put on a par with martyrs in that respect, although they were denied that name. The Pope as head of a monarchic church did just that, what the Council of Eastern bishops had not been able to do: he dispensed salvation. The papal church now could have the kind of "holy war" islam had been waging for centuries. What is the difference between Crusade and jihad? A Crusade could only be called by the Pope, and thus remained a rare occurence - compared to the countless, neverending and ubiquitarian jihads of the islamic world.

And the goals of the Crusades remain precisely defined; in November 1095, Urban II defined reason and aim of the crusade: "it is obvious, we must give help to our brothers in the east as soon as possible. The Turks and Arabs have attacked them and have invaded the realm of Romania (Constantinople) and by invading the lands of these Christians ever more deeply, they won seven battles, killed or captured a huge number of the Christians. If you don't oppose them now, the faithful servants of God in the Orient will not withstand this storm much longer". The first Crusades were meant to either help Christians in need, or to liberate the holy places in Palestine or to liberate Christians that had been subjugated by Muslims. On the other hand, the Muslim scholars always kept firm to their final goal, to conquer the "house of war" and subjugate all infidels.

Urban II was right. Had Constantinople fallen in 1100, the enormous military power of the Turk armies would have plagued Europe four hundred years earlier. Then the manifold European culture probably would never have been: no free urban constitutions, no constitutional debates, no cathedrals, no renaissance, no scientific boom, because in the Islamic world, free - Greek! - thinking was dying just at this time. Jacob Burckhardt's evaluation - "A stroke of luck, that Europe as a whole could ward off Islam" - means, we owe about as much to the Crusades, as to the Greeks' victory against the Persians.

But, have the Crusades not been abused? Certainly. Crusades "derailed" and were "abused", like the one that led to the conquest of Christian Constantinople in 1204. But that happened much more often with jihads. When slaves became scarce, emirs did not merely wage wars against non-Muslim peoples, who had to be enslaved anyway, but more and more often against Islamized peoples, under the pretext, that they were no true Muslims. That happened mainly in Africa and against black Africans, e.g. when first in 1468 Songhay and then the Moroccans in 1552 invaded Mali, or when in the 18th century religious reformers waged their jihad against Muslimized Hausa cities, which led to the creation of the Sokoto-caliphate - containing the third largest number of slaves after Brazil and the American south. Africa to this day suffers from the consequences of this permanent jihad with its genocides and mass-enslavements

Well, and what was the political order that the Muslims waged their holy wars for with such vehemence and success? For Shariah. A political order, which for one strictly separates masters from the subjugated and secondly takes political and social order away from human influence for the most part. Let's talk about the first aspect: According to the Shariah, the Muslims are masters, the followers of other "book religions" - Christians, Jews, Parsees, Buddhists, are subjugated, Dhimmi. These were not religious minorities, but huge majorities, especially in Syria, Anatolia or the Christians of North-Africa.

The subjugated were not allowed to carry weapons, they were unarmed, thus not 'real men'. Christians and Jews had to wear special colours or pieces of clothing (this discrimination was the origin of the "Judenstern") so as to be visibly "dhimmi"; they were not allowed to ride on horseback, only on mules, to remind them of their subjugation; they paid a special tribute (jizyah), that they had to pay personally, while being given a slap on the head. They had to let themselves be beaten by any Muslim, without being allowed to defend themselves; if a dhimmi retaliated, his hand would be cut off, or he would be executed. A dhimmi's witness did not count against a Muslim, who only had to pay half the fine for any crime committed against a dhimmi, and could never ever get executed for any such crime. On the other side, the most cruel methods of execution were reserved for the dhimmie.

Even the discrimination against the Jews, installed by the Western Church in the 4th Lateran Council in 1215, four hundred years after Islam, and which seems so barbarian to us, did not intend and did not lead to such a degree of humiliation and demeaning of people. A special horror was brought by the Turkish rule: from 1360 up to a fifth of Christian children were abducted into slavery. They were forcefully converted. The number of slaves through four centuries must have been millions; hundreds of thousands of choice boys among those were raised to be fanatical Muslims and elite fighters, the notorious Janissaries: a politic meant to systematically increase the Muslim population and slowly exterminate Christians. It was successful. "Dhimmitude" put non-muslims in a state of radical "otherness". To call people in this state "second class citizens" is a euphemism.

In the same way national socialism divided humans into master-race and subhumans on racial grounds, so Shariah did it on religious grounds. As the first world-religion, Islam created an apartheid, where Christian or Parsee majorities were colonised and slowly Islamized. Islamic tolerance meant: tolerate the subjugated as humiliated and demeaned. All this is well known via studies about "dhimmitude". But who wants to hear about the millions of victims?

Islam religiously "cleansed" huge territories: the second Caliph made the Hijaz, Arabia except Yemen "judenrein" and "christenrein"; the alternative was either to convert, or to be forced into emigration. Except for some Old Testament cases no religion ever before had done that. In the same way the Almohadis and Almoravids "cleansed" Spain after the breakdown of the Caliphate in 1031: tens of thousands of Jews and Christians had to either convert or flee to the Christian north of Spain, or the Levant. Certainly, English and French kings and the kings of Spain later on did the same - they applied the Muslim recipe in doing it. And the pogroms? Since the Caliph Al-Mutawakkil (847-861) waves of persecution again and again hit the Orient and North Africa, where Jews and Christians were forcibly converted, kicked out or massacred. The destruction of churches went on and on right until the century before last. Slowly, the rosy picture of Muslim Spain created by European anti-imperialism in the 19th century loses its fake colours. A scrupulous study of documents shows a different picture below that. In 889 in Elvira and in 891 in Seville, there were massive pogroms against Christians. In Moroccan Fez in 1033, 6000 Jews were massacred. 1058 Christian Antioch was forcefully Muslimized with torture and threats of death.

The first large pogrom against Jews on European soil happened in 1066 in Muslim Granada, 1500 Jewish families were killed. In 1135 the Jewish quarter of Cordoba was burnt down, it might be good, not to know the number of people massacred then. In 1159 all the Christians in Tunis had to chose between conversion or death. At this time, the vital Christianity of North Africa was completely wiped out. The pogroms in Christian lands are nothing to be proud of in European history, but their scope lags behind the ones in the Muslim world. We urgently need a comparative study of religious oppression.

Let's talk about integration of the Jews? Nowhere under the rule of Islam, not even in the Spanish Caliphate, were Jews citizens of their own cities, they always remained subjugated. In some German cities - Worms, Augsburg and others - during the high Middle Ages the Jews were citizens, albeit of special legal satus. They had the right to carry arms and were better off than poorer Christian people. Right until the 14th century, when their situation got worse, they were far better integrated than Jews in Muslim Spain could ever hope to be. Who thinks highly of political integration cannot but prefer Augsburg to Cordoba. All this has been well known in academic circles for fifteen years. But who wants to hear it?

To ignore the past means to re-live it. He who keeps on spreading the fairytale of Muslim tolerance, stands in the way of those Muslim intellectuals, who seriously work towards a reformation of islam, which started out so promisingly in the 19th century. He steals away their chance to overcome a past, which threatens to become a horrible present. If the reformers could achieve a radical de-politicization of Islam, the Muslims could become real citizens of their states. That would leave the highly spiritual religion, which fascinated not only Goethe. Hegel called Islam the "religion of the sublime". It could become that.

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Translation by Diotima

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 9:03 PM | Comments (5)

France: Protests Against Hani Ramadan, Tariq's Islamist Brother

We wrote on September 25 that Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan was refused a visa to enter the United States, on account of his giving money to charities which are believed by the US to be funders of the terrorist group Hamas.

We also mentioned that Tariq Ramadan himself has links with extremists and individuals convicted of terrorism. His brother is a controversial figure in his native Switzerland. Hani Ramadan (pictured) runs a Muslim center in Switzerland, the Islamic Center of Geneva, and he believes that women should be stoned to death for adultery or for sexual indulgence outside marriage.

When Hani Ramadan voiced this opinion in 2003, the Islamic Center dismissed him from his post after pressure from the authorities of the canton of Geneva, but after two court appeals he had himself reinstated.

Now, Hani Ramadan is in the news in France, as he has been invited by the Union of Young Muslims (UJM) to teach a series of courses at the Shatibi center, at the bookshop, the Tawhid Islamic Center. The Tawhid (meaning "monotheism") is situated in the city of Lyon in the south of France. As well as Hani Ramadan, two other scholars who promote sharia have been invited from universities in Medina and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia to teach at the Shatibi center. The courses are due to start on October 14.

The decision to invite such an extremist to France has been protested by women's rights groups and others in France, states AKI and Guysen.com (in French).

The protests have been made in the form of a petition, which has various signatories, including former ministers, members of the UFAL university of Rhone, which was addressed to Nicolas Sarkozy, the interior minister.

The petition reads: "How can one tolerate the teachings of Hani Ramadan and other preachers of sharia, when their writings and books are fundamentally contrary to and antagonistic towards the values and principles of our Republic?"

"Hani Ramadan justifies the stoning of women in cases of adultery or "illegitimate" pregnancy (outside marriage): this would be purification! For him, AIDS happens to people who "behave in a deviant manner". That this is a punishment for "lack of respect for divine ordinances" (" Sharia Misunderstood" in Le Monde, September 12, 2002)"

"Would the Tawhid bookshop be above the laws (of France)?"

The petitioners requested "the prohibition of entry into the country or the expulsion of "religious specialists" who preach the totalitarian ideology of Sharia. This doctrine, recognizing neither the authority nor the legislation of democratic states, is contrary to the secular principles of the constitution and against the equal rights of men and women."

The petition was written by Michele Vianes, the president of Regards de Femmes a women's rights group.

Whether Nicolas Sarkozy will take any notice of the requests by these representatives of rights groups and former politicians is unknown. This evening, according to France-Echos, Sarkozy was having an "iftar dinner" at the Grand Mosque of Paris, hosted by Dalil Boubakeur, the senior imam at the mosque, and president of the Conseil Français du Culte musulman (CFCM). As we reported earlier, CFCM is suing France Soir for reprinting the Mohammed cartoons. The Paris mosque is also suing satirical magazine Charlie-Hebdo for reproducing cartoons of the child-molesting "prophet".

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 6:58 PM | Comments (0)

Thailand: After Coup, Killings Continue In Muslim South

We reported on September 19 that a bloodless coup had been staged by the Thai military, while the caretaker prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, was in New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly. The coup was led by a Muslim, General Sonthi Boonyaratkalin, and though a surprise, it was welcomed by many within the country.

On September 22, the Thai King, Bhumibol Adulyadej, gave his approval for the coup, endorsing Sonthi Boonyaratkalin to head the newly formed Council for Democratic Reform under Constitutional Monarchy (CDRM). Within the first week of the coup, however, there were riots in three jails - on Wednesday September 20, two inmates were shot dead at Nonthaburi provincial prison, and 27 others were injured. A similar disturbance had happened in Nakhon Si Thammarat. Another riot took place at Yala in the Muslim south.

There had initially been optimism that the ongoing insurgency would be alleviated by the coup leadership. With Sonthi in control of the Council for Democratic Reform, Muslims in the south hoped the situation would improve. Sonthi had supported negotiations rather than a heavy-handed approach which had been favored by the government of Thaksin Shinawatra and his Thai Rak Thai party. Abdulrosak Ali, chairman of the Islamic committee in Narathiwat had said the day after the coup began that efforts to restore peace would be more united without the contradictory messages issued by the now ousted government. Ongkorn Thongprasom, head of the Fourth Army, similarly thought the violence would lessen, and peace could be negotiated.

Since January 4, 2004, the southern provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala, as well as two districts of Songkhla province, have been involved in an insurgency which has killed at least 1,400 people. One Thai academic estimates there have been more than 1,700 killings. The southern provinces had formerly been an independent Sultanate, but in 1906 this became annexed within Siam. The inhabitants of the three provinces of the south are predominantly Muslims, who make up 80% of the demographic and are ethnic Malays.

The honeymoon period for the Muslim south came to an abrupt end this week, when on Monday, September 25, two civilians were killed in a shootout between Islamist insurgents and police in Yaha district, Yala province.

The attack took place at the tambon Patae police station, after a village defense volunteer warned that a band of 30 heavily-armed insurgents were making their way to the station. The insurgents blew up a trandformer to cut off power, and cut down trees and burned tires in the roads to block access.

When the insurgents arrived at the station, a gunfight took place which lasted twenty minutes before the insurgents were driven off. When the shooting had finished, the body of 27-year old Supaporn Kijsamret, wife of a police officer, was found in wooden living quarters behind the station. She had been killed by a gunshot in the head. Also killed was 42-year old Abdulloh Joho, a deputy chief of tambon administration. His body was found in the house he lived at, adjacent to the police station.

A police lieutenant, 26-year old Sappasit Himakun, had slight injuries. Hundreds of spent rifle cartrisdges were strewn at the scene, as well as at least three remains of molotov cocktails.

At the same time as attack in Yaha district, another attack happened on a police station in Raman district. 20 militants, armed with M16, AKA and HK rifles and rocket-propelled grenades tried to storm the station in a firefight which lasted only ten minutes. No-one was hurt in the gunfire. This attack was subsequently believed to be the work of Abdullah Seh or Ustaz Seh, a chief of the Runda Kampulan Kecil (RKK) insurgent faction. The attack was said to have taken place as revenge for the arrest of five members of the RKK.

The attack upon the tambon Patae police station was thought to have been organized by Ismael Rayalong, also known as Ustaz Soh, an insurgent whose movements in the area had been tracked.

Also on Monday night in Sungai Padi district in Narathiwat province, a village headman was shot and killed in front of his house. 45-year old Satapo Awae had been lured out of his home by firecrackers thrown by the assailants. He had been killed with an AKA rifle.

In Rueso district in Narathiwat province on the same day, an army outpost was stormed by insurgents armed with M16 assault rifles.

On Wednesday, September 28, in Muang district in Yala province, three Buddhist villagers were shot dead, and in Pattani province, a grocer was shot dead by insurgents. All four were Buddhists. This story, as well as being in the archives of Bangkok Post is also covered by the Australian. The Nation covers the story of the Yala killings, and also the killing of the Pattani janitor.

The three who were killed in Yala died around midday. Two militants on a motorcycle stopped at a grocery shop, ostensibly to buy cigarettes. They then shot at the grocery owner, his wife, and other customers. The grocer, 61-year old Rerm Pakdeejit, was hit in the chest and died on the spot. His wife Yard, aged 60, and a customer, 39-year old Chartchai Sukprasit, died in Yala hospital.

The school janitor who was killed in Pattani was named as 44-year old Amnuay Nilnam, who worked at Sirirat Samakkee School in Mayo district. He was traveling on a bus on his way to work when two gunmen, posing as passengers boarded the bus and sat near him. Amnuay was shot in the neck with a .9mm pistol and died in his seat. The attackers fled from the bus.

Another killing took place in Narathiwat province on Wednesday night, states the Nation. One man was shot dead and two others were injured outside a grocery shop. Police said the shooting was intended to lure the individuals inside the shop, where a 10 kilogram bomb was hidden. Police defused the bomb before it could be detonated.

Also yesterday, in Betong district of Yala province, a 46-year old tambon administrator was shot and injured. Jehming Walah was driving in his jeep when four assailants ambushed and shot at him. His six year old son was also in the vehicle, and was wounded, though not seriously.

Today, states TNA English news, Buddhists and Muslims in the south held separate religious ceremonies to boost morale. In Pattani province, representatives of several Buddhist groups gathered to pray and to offer alms to Buddhist monks, who had been invited from 226 temples in the four troubled southern provinces.

In Sai Buri district of the same province, Muslim teachers students and residents met at Sai Buri Wittaya Islamic school today, to hold a "Lamad Hayad" or Muslim prayer ceremony. The ceremony was held to thank Allah for a bloodless transition of power which had "brought peace and order to Thailand". Pattani provincial officials and members of the Southern Border Provinces Peace-Building Command (SBPPC) were present. The Muslims showed their support for the Council for Democratic Reform (CDR).

Despite ceremonies of goodwill, at 7.30 am, a man was shot dead in Sai Buri district this morning. 35-year old Anat Peng-iad, a member of local tambon administration, was shot dead while he drove his pickup truck to his home. The usual contingent of soldiers who patrolled the stretch of road where he was killed had been deployed elsewhere, guarding the Sai Buri Wittaya Islamic school, where the "Lamad Hayat" was taking place.

There was further violence today, states the Nation, TNA English News and the Bangkok Post. A roadside bomb was set off at Sungai Padi district in Narathiwat province. A 15 kilogram bomb was detonated by mobile phone when six soldiers were travelling past in a Humvee vehicle. The Humvee overturned, and five soldiers were injured.

A three meter deep and four meter wide hole was left in the road, and shrapnel was found 30 meters from the spot. One of the injured soldiers died later from blood loss. The soldiers had been assigned to guard local schools and teachers from attack. After the bomb attack, five schools in Sungai Padi district were closed indefinitely. A second "booby trap" bomb was found at the scene, which was defused by a bomb squad.

In Pattani district today, a man was shot dead by insurgents. The man had just dropped off a group of children at a school when he was shot in the head.

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Despite the fact that the coup was widely welcomed in Thailand itself, and the baht has rallied after initial instability to the level it was before the coup, the US administration and many other Western governments have not been pleased by the coup. The BBC reports today that the US has imposed sanctions, and has withdrawn $24 million in military assistance. State Department spokesman Sean MaCormack said that humanitarian aid would not be cut, but said that aid funding was being cut for military education and training, peacekeeping operations and counter-terrorism. He said: "The United States continues to urge a rapid return to democratic rule and early elections in Thailand".

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 4:48 PM | Comments (3)

UK: Home Secretary Savages "Muslim Extremists"

In a speech delivered today, the fiery Scottish-born Home Secretary voiced his opposition to the viewpoints which had earlier been expressed by Muslim extremist Abu Izzadeen. We wrote that on September 20 a speech made by John Reid to Muslim parents in Leytonstone was interrupted by the rantings of Izzadeen, aka Omar Brooks, who was ejected from the scene by stewards and police.

Izzadeen had made the mistake of saying to John Reid: "How dare you come to a Muslim area", implying that Leytonstone with a mixed ethnic community had suddenly become exclusively Muslim territory. Izzadeen's rant has now proved itself to be an "own goal", as the minister insisted this morning that there would be no "no-go areas in Britain."

Addressing the Labour Party conference in Manchester, Reid spoke for 33 minutes, and received rapturous applause, in a standing ovation which lasted for 41 seconds. A full transcript of his speech can be found here, and at the foot of this article.

Commentary is found in the Guardian, IC Berkshire, Politics.co.uk and South Africa's Independent.

He said: "Waltham Forest (Leytonstone's borough) may have been my first visit but it won't be my last. When the loudmouth advocates of terrorism tell me that we will not be allowed to visit this or that part of the community...my answer is simple. Yes, we will. There will be no no-go areas in Britain."

"We, all of us, all religions and all citizens, will go where we please. We will never be browbeaten by bullies. That is what it means to be British."

He said that he would be toughening his stance on Muslim extremism, and quoted John F. Kennedy, who had said that in the face of threat one must be prepared to "bear any burden, pay any price, face any foe, and support any friend."

He said: "And Muslims are our friends as well as our fellow citizens. They are owed our support."

"Because if we, in this movement, are going to ask the decent, silent majority of Muslim men - and women - to have the courage to face down the extremist bullies, then we need to have the courage and character to stand shoulder to shoulder with them in doing it."

One heartening comment from Reid came with his statements that he was going to outlaw forced marriages, which afect at least 300 young Muslim girls every year. We wrote on June 10 that the government had abandoned its plans to make this abuse of natural human rights illegal.

The government had been consulting for 18 months about how to get rid of this archaic practice, and had given in to pressure from the terror-supporting Muslim Council of Britain. The MCB had suggested that outlawing forced marriage would see children made to give evidence at their parents' trials and could lead to the Muslim community being "stigmatised".

Today, he said that there was no question that people living in the UK should be protected from this custom. He did not say, however, how he would tackle the issue. He said that forced marriages were in breach of "fundamental human rights" and said the issue would receive renewed attention.

He also made references to the current leadership issues, stating in no uncertain terms that he would be willing to sand for leadership of the party when Tony Blair steps down next year.

Currently the main contender is Gordon Brown, who lacks charisma, and who may be younger than Reid. But John Reid has balls, and passion, and a strong sense of moral justice, whereas Brown is merely a humorless accountant.

Perhaps in anticipation of his own future leadership of the party, someof his speech was spent criticising David Cameron, new head of the Conservative Party, who seems to have gone from the right to the left and whom Reid claims is unable to make decisions.

Cameron said, tastelessly on 9/11's fifth anniversary, that Britain should not rely "slavishly" on its relationship with the United States. Reid said that "you don't have to love everything George W Bush stands for to hate everything that Osama Bin Laden stands for."

He spoke of the need to maintain UK-US relationships, and also pledged to tackle the issue of immigration. He said he was in favor of tighter immigration controls and identity cards. He said tougher action needed to be taken against rogue employers who "misuse illegal immigrant labour. That's why I want to establish an independent Migration Advisory Committee to advise on how migration should be managed to the benefit of the country as a whole."

His strong, no-nonsense speech was met with near unanimous approval. Tony Blair was seen to be beaming after the Home Secretary's speech. If there is a good candidate for leadership of the party, John Reid seems the most forceful and charismatic contender so far.

The full text of John Reid's Speech

I'd like to start by thanking all of those - my predecessors, ministers and officials - who've given me so much support in the task that I've been privileged to be given.

The events of August have shown how difficult and dangerous a task that can be.

And - on behalf of the whole country - we extend our gratitude to those members of the security services who've been working night and day to protect us from the terrorist threat.

The prime minister has asked me to review, in the light of our August experience, Britain's counter terrorist capacity.

We agree that we need a radical step change to ensure that there is a seamless co-ordinated approach to the now seamless threat.

To counter radicalisation as a nation, we need not only to tackle the immediate dangers but put in place the concept, doctrine, laws and capabilities for a challenge we expect will last a generation.

We extend our gratitude too to the members of the police service, and in particular, to the friends and families of those who risked their lives that our lives might be protected, and have died in the line of duty.

Let me tell you where I stand on the big issues of security, crime and terrorism confronting us today.

I stand with the public.

I believe in a Britain where there is no compromise with terrorism.

Where immigration is managed fairly.

Where rights are matched by responsibilities.

Where policing is based in the community - visible, accessible, responsive.

And where respect is put back at the heart of our communities.

These values are what drive me.

But we have to apply them in a new age of insecurity and uncertainty.

I know that means difficult choices, uncomfortable choices.

Nobody in this hall, including me, joined the Labour party to fight a war against terrorists.

We didn't sign the party membership card because we were motivated by a driving desire to deport illegal immigrants from our shores.

We joined this party because we wanted to see a more equal and just society, where people are no longer held back by the accident of birth, where everybody has the chance to make the most of their potential.

And we still want that.

But we have come to realise that without security, none of the other things are possible.

To those who say we should concentrate only on combating poverty, rather than security, I say this - there's little point in trying to end child poverty if kids are brought up on estates awash with crime, drugs and disorder.

There is more than one type of poverty.

A life blighted by drug addiction or afflicted with fear of leaving the house is an impoverished existence for any human being, whatever the riches, whatever the rank.

But it's the weak and the vulnerable who suffer most in an insecure world.

Security is a Labour value, just as much as opportunity and solidarity that have long motivated us in this movement.

And in this age of uncertainty, people should feel able to turn to us under the pressures of modern life.

Not for bland assurances.

Not for empty promises.

But for leadership and courage and strength of character.

My guiding purpose is to reduce fear: to create opportunity; and as far as possible ensure security for everyone, especially the weakest and most vulnerable in our society.

We talk a lot about human rights.

Let me give you my view.

The chance to live, and to live our lives without fear of terror or crime should be the most basic of our human rights.

It is the right to peace of mind - Nye Bevan called it serenity.

An unfashionable word, but one that goes to the heart of today's anxieties and today's challenges.

It's worth remembering that Bevan's great socialist tract was not entitled In Place of Injustice, or In Place of Poverty.

It was entitled In Place of Fear.

That fear and feeling of unfairness is most evident today in relation to mass migration.

It isn't fair when desperate people fleeing persecution who need asylum are put at risk because criminal gangs abuse an antiquated asylum system.

It isn't fair when someone illegally enters our country and jumps the queue.

It isn't fair on British workers if they find their terms and conditions undermined by unscrupulous employers deliberately taking on cheap illegal labour.

And it isn't fair, or sensible, if in assessing immigration levels we don't take into account the effects of immigration on the schools, and hospitals and housing.

So, I'm putting fairness at the heart of everything we're doing in the Home Office.

That's why I favour tighter immigration controls and ID cards.

And we need firmer action against rogue employers who misuse illegal immigrant labour.

That's why I want to establish an independent Migration Advisory Committee to advise on how migration should be managed to the benefit of the country as a whole.

And if they want somewhere to start, now that we have a lot more homegrown doctors and nurses, maybe we should be asking if we need quite so many medical staff, junior doctors, for instance, from the developing world.

And on the awful trade in human trafficking I can tell Conference that next week we will open with the police the UK's first specialist centre to fight this terrible scourge.

All of this approach goes with, not against, the grain of the British sense of fairness and decency.

And in the same way, the public want to see more fairness in our approach to law and order.

People want to know that the government is on the side of the victim, not protecting the criminal.

That's fine by me, because it's this party, and has always been this party, that's on the side of the decent, hard-working majority in our country.

Why? Because we believe in rights balanced by responsibilities.

It is that, that has always divided us from the Conservatives.

That's why I am going to introduce a Community Payback scheme.

Simple, swift, just.

So, if people ruin our community they are going to have to put it right themselves.

And why shouldn't violent offenders pay towards the healthcare costs of their victims?

And there are other values that we are going to insist on too - that our society is based on mutual tolerance of each other's beliefs, protecting each and all of us from those who would stir up hatred.

And let's be clear.

It cannot be right that the rights of an individual suspected terrorist be placed above the rights, life and limb of the British people.

It's wrong. Full stop.

No ifs. No buts. It's just plain wrong.

And we insist too that men and women are equal and will be treated as such.

In this country that's not an optional extra.

That's why we will return again to the question of forced marriages.

They are a breach of children's rights, a breach of women's rights and a fundamental breach of human rights.

And that's why we will continue our drive against domestic violence.

It effects one in four women and ruins the lives of men, women and children.

Well, we are changing that.

For the first time, under this Labour government, domestic homicides are going down.

We are saving the lives of women and better protecting the children.

That's not an optional extra either.

But it's not just at home we face challenges.

The world is a less secure, more dangerous place than even a decade ago.

We face an unconstrained international terrorist threat that doesn't accept any limitation on human destruction.

Even here, in the midst of all this violence, the struggle of values is central.

That's why I went to Waltham Forest last week, to play my part in that debate.

Five years ago, in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, I was asked to do the closing speech for this conference.

I said then and I repeat today that no religion, no political creed, no ideology has a monopoly on terrorism.

This is not a clash of civilisations. It's not Muslims versus the rest of us.

It's evil terrorists on one side against all civilised people on the other.

There can be no compromise, no appeasement with terrorism.

Faced with the terrorist threat, as John F Kennedy said, we must be prepared to "bear any burden, pay any price, face any foe, and support any friend".

And Muslims are our friends as well as our fellow citizens. They are owed our support.

So, Waltham Forest was my first visit. But it won't be my last.

Because if we, in this movement, are going to ask the decent, silent majority of Muslim men - and women - to have the courage to face down the extremist bullies, then we need to have the courage and character to stand shoulder to shoulder with them in doing it.

So when the terrorists or their loud-mouthed sympathisers tell me that we won't be allowed to raise our arguments in this or that part of our community, my answer is simple.

Yes we will. This is Britain.

There are, and there will be, no "no-go areas" in our country for any of our people, whatever our background, colour or creed.

We will go where we please, we will discuss what we like and we will never be brow-beaten by bullies.

That's what it means to be British.

Of course, these attempts to bully, or browbeat are all part of a wider struggle to break our spirit.

That is the objective of terrorism. To break the spirit of their opponent by terror.

So we must have the courage of our convictions.

This is a time for standing up for what we believe. And I mean all of us, irrespective of party affiliation.

I want to see the widest, deepest, national alliance.

That's why I am genuinely saddened by the response of the opposition.

I understand that David Cameron has not been in post long.

The public may understand that he doesn't want to rush to judgement on every decision. But he has to be capable of making some decisions. Tha