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December 31, 2006

UK: TV Message Muslim From Fanatical Sect

Britain's Channel 4 TV planned to have a veiled Muslim woman present an "alternative" Christmas message. Khadija Ravat was chosen to speak about the joys and tribulations of Muslim life in Britain. Ms Ravat is a teaching assistant at al-Aqsa Primary School in Leicester, headed by Ibrahim Hewitt, who is chairman of the so-called "charity" Interpal, which is designated by the US Treasury as a terrorist entity. Ten days before Christmas, Khadija decided to pull out of the agreement to appear. Sources at Channel 4 suggested that her own religious community pressured her not to appear.

However, Channel 4 were determined to have a Muslim in a face-veil appear, if that is the right word. So on Christmas Day, while the Queen appeared in a lime green coat and extolled the supposed virtues of multiculturalism, a black-shrouded female appeared on Channel 4. The woman behind the veil also claimed to be called Khadija.

The Mail provides some details about Khadija II. I was hypnotized by the Queen's lime-green outfit and did not switch over to hear Khadija's message, where she criticized comments made by Jack Straw on October 5 about veils. Khadija II spoke of how they "liberated" women. Such a bizarre viewpoint led some to speculate that the true identity of Khadija II was Yvonne Ridley, the journalist who was sacked by Al Jazeera for being too "extreme". Ridley was forced to convert by the Taliban in Afghanistan, and now appears in a burka and promotes the lie that veils liberate women.

The Mail states that Khadija II is a 38-year old English convert to Islam called Elaine Atkinson. Her great grandmother was a suffragette, and Atkinson was formerly a "feminist". She converted to Islam in 1996. Previous statements by Atkinson have included her describing non-Muslims as "rats or gerbils in cages going round on a treadmill" of consumerism whose true destiny is Argos (a store chain). Atkinson has said she wants to see UK pubs turned into mosques. Married to a man of Pakistani origin, Atkinson now goes under the name of Khadija Iqbal.

She told fellow Muslims at a Sheffield conference this year that it was morally wrong to listen to music or watch soap operas on the TV. She even urged Muslims not to watch any TV. Yet she sees herself fit to appear on television, albeit shrouded in black fabric.

Atkinson lives in Barking, east London, not far from her mosque in Forest Gate (292 - 296 Romford Road, London E7 9HD). This mosque is the UK headquarters of Minhaj ul Quran, an Islamic "missionary" or "dawah" group which was founded in Pakistan in 1981. The exact number of countries in which Minhaj ul Quran operates is hard to quantify - the figure ranges from 50 to 80 to 92.

The founder of Minhaj ul Quran is Dr Muhammad Tahirul Qadri (pictured), who lives in Lahore in the Punjab. It is in Lahore that Minhaj has its international headquarters. Recipient of numerous awards around the globe, and extolled as an Islamic scholar, there is nonetheless a side to Qadri which is politically ambtious.

He is head of the Pakistan Awami Tehrik, or PAT, a political party. This party claims in its propaganda to uphold the rights of women, and says it aims at the "eradication of poverty, violence, child labor and crimes against women and ensuring universal standard of respect for all human rights."

Despite this, there are some serious doubts about what Qadri really believes. In Sialkot city, Pakistan, in 2002, the local branch of Qadri's Minhaj ul Quran group issued a fatwa denouncing the Islamic sect known as Ahmadiyya (the Ahmadis). The fatwa said: "Ahmadis are apostates, hypocrites, infidles etc; anyone who thinks that Qadianis have been wronged, is himself an infidel; and anyone who does not consider him an infidel is also an infidel; all Muslims should boycott Qadianis on all occasions of life and death; it is not permitted to inquire into the health of a sick Qadiani, nor is it allowed to join his funeral."

Formerly, Qadri stood in the Pakistan National Assembly as a member of parliament, representing the PAT party. He supported Musharraf at first, but in late 2002 began to criticize the Pakistan-US coalition against terror. He finally left the National Assembly in late October, blaming Musharraf's autocracy.

In September 2002 he had an electoral rally in Jhang district, in Punjab. During this rally, his guards openly displayed their weaponry to the public. The police stopped Qadri's convoy and arrested nine guards. Along with the guards, police seized two Kalashnikovs, a pistol, a 44 bore rifle, one 12 bore gun, one pump action gun and 235 cartridges.

In 2005, one of the American websites of his religious group, Mirhaj ul Quran stated its goal as "Islamic world domination, elimination of the influence of atheist ideologies and Islamic domination both politically, culturally, academically, socially, spiritually and economically."

On the issue of the Danish cartoons of the so-called prophet Mohammed, Qadri was so incensed at freedom of speech that he was a signatory to a fatwa against the images.

Minhaj ul Quran is behind a Danish Islamic group called Muslims in Dialogue which was one of the groups which tried to mount a lawsuit against Jyllands-Posten, the newspaper which published the cartoons. The lawsuit was thrown out by a Copenhagen court on October 26.

The internet is flooded with websites promoting Mirhaj ul-Quran. They all claim to be advocating a "moderate" Islam. As Oriana Fallaci said: "There is only one Islam." There is nothing to convince Western Resistance that this group is in any way moderate. A group that can issue fatwas against a genuine non-violent sect of Islam is hardly "moderate". If the founder of the group, Dr Qadri, has his armed guards openly displaying semi-automatic weapons to the crowds at election rallies, there are more doubts about the nature of this group.

Channel 4's attempt to present a "view from Islam" as an alternative to the Queen's Christmas message was a cheap gimmick. Their naivete is exposed by a statement which they issued, saying: "Minhaj-ul-Quran is a spiritual movement which promotes peace and tolerance of other faiths. It is against all forms of extremism and radicalism whether religious or otherwise."

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 5:15 PM | Comments (2)

Libya: Death Sentence for Medical Workers Confirmed

Libya's mad leader continues in his path of madness--and enjoying political benefits in the process: Gaddafi rejects release of medics

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has rejected calls for the release of six foreign medics sentenced to death for infecting children with HIV/Aids.

Those who committed crimes must accept the consequences, he said.

Libya has been under increasing pressure because of international doubts over the fairness of the trial.

Five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor have been tried and found guilty twice of deliberately infecting more than 400 children with HIV.

Colonel Gaddafi stressed the "the independence of the Libyan judicial system", and he rejected what he called "Western intervention and pressure in this affair"....

Thanks to reader Giussani for the tip.

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 10:50 AM | Comments (1)

Commentary: On Islam and Soviet 'Aloofness'

While reading The World Was Going Our Way: The KGB and the Battle for The Third World (only $4.99 at Amazon.com fellow cheapskates), the following passage caught my attention (p. 153, emphasis added):

The vast Soviet investment in Nasser's Egypt during the 1950s and 1960s rested on a far more precarious basethan Moscow was willing to acknowledge. The influx of Soviet advisers served only to underline the gulf between Soviet and Egyptian society. Russians and Egyptians rarely visited each other's homes. Though almost half of the 15,000 Arabs who studied in the United States during the late 1950s and 1960s married Americans, marriage between Soviet advisers and their Egyptian hosts was virtually unknown...

Author Christopher Andrew goes on to blame this state of affairs on the 'aloofness' of the Soviet advisors. Aloof they may have been, but Andrew is spectacularly wrong. Soviet advisors were happy to cavort with all sort of women around the World--German women from the German Democratic Republic, Cuban women, Ethiopian women--all were taken as wives in a smaller or larger proportion. The key to understanding the 'spousal taking' differences begins with understanding the fact that both the Soviet advisors and the 'Arab students' in the United States were males. The 'Arab' (Muslim) students were happy to take infidel women for themselves as Islam allows, while the Soviet advisors were not allowed to take Muslim women as Islam prohibits.

This is not, incidentally, to condemm Christopher Andrew or the heroic Vasili Mithrokin, whose two books should be read by those who wish to understand the workings of intelligence during the Cold War. The blame should be laid at the feet distinguish scholars of Islam who gloss over things like this, and at the feet of those who have supported the larger regime of 'political correctness', which makes a proper intellectual inquiry into the nature of Islam all but impossible. Errors like the one discussed crop into otherwise sound books with frightening frequency.

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 12:28 AM | Comments (0)

December 30, 2006

Norway: Somalis In Oslo Supporting Islamists

A report from Aftenposten highlights the need to fully understand if immigrants really do share the values of the cultures they choose to live within. There are 8,000 Somalis who have Norwegian citizenship. Most came seeking shelter during the years of chaos which followed the 1991 ouster of Mohamed Siad Barre.

Aftenposten chose one of the Somali cafes in Oslo to gauge opinions from the customers within. One individual, banging on a table, said: "If the Ethiopians continue to occupy Somalia, we won't sit here. We will go back to Somalia and fight as one!"

Another said: "I have been in contact with my relatives in Mogadishu. Ethiopian soldiers are already raping women and cutting the throats of civilians in the city. It is all in return for their humiliating defeat in 1977." He was making reference to Somalia's illegal invasion of Ethiopia's Ogaden region, where many ethnic Somalis live.

Most agreed with the comments, and state that relatives in Somalia say that life under the Islamists was better than the warlord-dominated lawlessness which preceded.

However, not all feel the same way. The Somalian Council in Norway represents 11 smaller groups. Its head, Shirdon M. Abdikarim, claims that the council supports the transitional government, which was formed by the UN in 2004.

He stated that a number of Somali refugees have returned to their homeland recently, but is unaware of how many have done so.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 7:42 AM | Comments (2)

December 28, 2006

India: Ban On Muslim Burka After Jewel Store Thefts

News from Times of India and AP via Daily Times:

Pune is a city in Maharashtra state in central India. The Pune Jewellers Association has made a petition to the state home minister to allow them to ban women wearing burkas from entering their jewelry stores. The association is not intending to ban women who are veiled, but only those who do not show their faces.

The reason for the request is based upon three recent robberies. Closed circuit TV cameras showed that the perpetrators in these cases were women wearing the all-enveloping burka.

During the Diwali (Hindu New Year) rush, two large stores were subjected to robberies of gold by burka clad women. One store lost 400,000 rupees' worth of stock ($9,054), while another lost 300,000 rupees' worth ($6,790).

Jewelry stores in Pune will be closed on Friday, and they have announced that starting on January 1, they will not be serving women who wear burkas.

DN Jadhav, Pune's police commissioner, has said that the ban would not be allowed if it caused resentments in the Muslim community. He said: "If they are really concerned about security, they can appoint saleswomen and women security guards in their shops."

In Canada in November a robbery was carried out by two people who presented themselves as a man with a burka-clad wife. Abdul Rasheed Khalid allowed the pair into his Toronto store, Zaibi Jewellers, thinking a married Muslim couple would be trustworthy. Once inside, the pair attacked him, and tied him up at gunpoint. The "wife" was a man. The pair then cleared out Mr Khalid's entire stock.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 11:12 PM | Comments (1)

Somalia: Mogadishu Falls to Joint Ethiopian/Somali Government Troops

The "strategic retreat" of the Union of Islamic Courts apparently goes all the way to the sea: Somali govt troops march into Mogadishu

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Triumphant Somali government forces and their Ethiopian allies marched into Mogadishu on Thursday after Islamist rivals abandoned the war-scarred city they held for six months.

The flight of the Islamists was a dramatic turn-around in the volatile Horn of Africa nation after they took Mogadishu in June and spread across the south imposing sharia rule.

Terrified of yet more violence in a city that has become a byword for chaos, some Mogadishu residents greeted the arriving government troops, while others hid.

"People are cheering as they wave flowers to the troops," said resident Abdikadar Abdulle, adding scores of government military vehicles had passed the Somalia National University west of the city centre.

Parts of Mogadishu shook with the sound of gunfire and there were outbreaks of looting after leaders of the Somalia Islamic Courts Council (SICC) fled its base early in the morning. Some fighters ditched their uniforms to avoid reprisals.

"We have been defeated. I have removed my uniform. Most of my comrades have also changed into civilian clothes," one former SICC fighter told Reuters. "Most of our leaders have fled."[...]

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 1:26 PM | Comments (0)

December 27, 2006

Media: Catch It While You can - Stuck Mojo

It is highly likely that the Islamist appeasers who run Youtube, allowing pro-Jihadist propaganda but banning any anti-Jihadist videos, will soon step in and delete this video.

It also features a cartoon image which was drawn exclusively for Western Resistance, of the so-called prophet Mohammed.

The video by Stuck Mojo entitled "Open Season" is good, and very well edited. It is aimed fairly and squarely at the Islamists in CAIR (Council of American Islamic Relations).

Click HERE to watch. Do it quick, before the PC commissars delete it.

If the video has gone, you can still see a pared-down version on the Stuck Mojo website.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 11:32 PM | Comments (2)

Spain: Third Attempt By Muslims To Commandeer Cathedral

Cordoba cathedral is situated inside a complex that used to be a mosque. The mosque itself was built upon the remains of a church which had been destroyed by the invading Moors. It is currently the subject of a third attempt by Muslims to allow it to be used as an Islamic place of worship.

History

The Christian church of St Vicente was built by the Visigoths in the 5th century. The church was built upon the site of a pagan temple to the Roman god Janus, the deity of past and present, whose two faces simultaneously looked back and forward. In 711, the church of St Vicente became used as a mosque. The church was finally demolished in 786 by Abd al-Rahman 1, who used much of the church's materials in constructing a new mosque. The mosque built by Rahman was expanded three times, with the final enlargement made in 988 by Al-Mansur.

Al-Mansur was a despoiler of Christian places of worship. He went to Santiago de Compostela, and had his horse drink from the Cathedral there. He had the massive bells of its Cathedral dragged from Santiago 500 miles to Cordoba. Here the bells of Santiago were melted down to be made into oil lamps for his pet project, the Cordoba mosque.

In 1236, Cordoba was conquered by Ferdinand of Castile and was re-consecrated as a Christian site of worship. Ferdinand III ordered that the oil lamps be transported back to the shrine of St James at Santiago, where they were melted down to become made into bells again.

Alfonso X built the Villaviciosa Chapel inside the mosque complex using Moorish craftsmen, and the Royal Chapel was built. In the 14th century, Enrique II had the Royal Chapel (Capilla Real) rebuilt.

In 1523, it was decided by the Catholic Church, supported by King Carlos V, to erect a cathedral inside the center of the Cordoba mosque complex. An area of the mosque was hollowed out and a cathedral nave was erected. This became continually expanded with more elaborate features. Choir stalls, built with mahogany from the New World, were carved by Duque Correjo in the 18th century.

The Cathedral inside the mosque complex (known as the Mezquita) is comparatively small, with only places for 1,000 worshippers inside.

Muslim demands

There are only 500 to 1,000 Muslims in Cordoba, but the Mezquita has become a focus for political Islam to force itself into a battle with the Catholic church. In 2002, Muslim women who tried to pray in the mosque complex were thrown out. These were the first foot-soldiers in the political battle.

In 2004, Muslim terrorists set off bombs on trains in Madrid on March 11, killing 191 and injuring 1,700. Despite national revulsion at Islamic terrorism, the political Muslims in Cordoba still made requests for their own "space" at the Mezquita. In the same month that the mainly Moroccan (Moorish) terrorists showed their contempt for Spanish culture, a group calling itself Junta Islamica petitioned Pope John Paul for permission to be given to Muslims to pray in the complex.

At the time, Mansur Escudero, the secretary-general of the Spanish Islamic Commission stated that allowing Muslims to pray at the Mezquita would be an important gesture. He said: "In these difficult times, it could be an important symbol for both Catholics and Muslims, an expression of willingness to enter into dialogue. We're not trying to take the Mezquita away from anyone, but simply open it up."

In April 2004, before the decision by the Vatican was made, Zakarias Maza, director of the Taqwa mosque in Granada said: "We hope the Vatican will give a signal that it has a vision of openness and dialogue. It would be good if there were a gesture of tolerance on their part. Cordoba has been a symbol of the union of three cultures for centuries. Even now, Jews and Muslims live together with Christians in the neighbourhood around the mosque. The church council doesn't seem to be open to dialogue."

The March 2004 request was not greeted positively by the Catholic Church. Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, the Vatican's president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, said that the issue should be decided by Cordoba's bishop. He added: "Muslims must accept history."

Archbishop Fitzgerald made some interesting observations. He said: "A general reflection is needed here. As there are monumental buildings in Cordoba, there are also others around the world which currently have a use different from that of the original - like the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, now an Islamic museum, despite pressure put on by some Muslims to use it again as a mosque."

He mentioned that Pope John Paul had visited the Umayad Mosque in Damascus and had prayed at the tomb of John the Baptist. He noted that the then-Pope "did not ask to celebrate Mass in the mosque."

He said: "It is difficult to have Christians and Muslims mixing and sharing a common life. The shared use of a building by various churches is problematic. There are spaces dedicated to this purpose, for example, in airports. But they are not churches or mosques. They are interfaith spaces, capable of being used by Jews, Christians, Muslims and persons of other faiths alike."

"But this is based on a type of agreement to allow for their shared use. Yet this is not the reality in Cordoba, where the building belongs to a specific community. We want to live in peace with persons of other religions. However, we don't want to be pushed, manipulated and go against the very rules of our faith. If it is a Catholic chapel with the Blessed Sacrament inside. It should not be used for prayer services of another religious tradition."

One local priest, who did not wish to be named, said: "It's a reconquest. Through force, through geography, through culture, they [the Muslims] are trying to take over."

The Madrid train bombings brought a new consciousness to Spain's political life. Osama bin Laden, in a message made five months before the Madrid atrocities, stated that Muslims must reform Al-Andalus. This was the name given to the Moorish kingdom of which Cordoba was the capital. Its name survives in the title of the province, Andalusia. Three days after the Madrid bombs, a general election was held. The government of Spain was replaced by the left-wing PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) of José Luis Rodríguez Zapotero.

In May of 2004, the bishop of Santiago de Compostela removed from his cathedral a statue of St James the "Moorslayer". In a climate of sudden appeasement, created by Muslim terrorists, the bishop announced that he removed the statue to avoid "offending the sensibilities of some visitors."

Isabel Romero, a Spanish convert to Islam, directs the Halal Institute near Cordoba and is a member of the Islamic Council of Spain. In 2004, she said: "We don't recognize that the Muslims were from here, that they were Andalusians too, that they are our roots. What remains from Al Andalus are not just the Mezquita's stones, but our culture itself. We have to reconcile ourselves with our history."

On the March request for Muslims to be allowed prayer rights in the Mezquita, she said: "In no way is this request about reclaiming our rights - far less any kind of reconquest. Instead, we want to give our support to the universal character of this building."

The issue of Cordoba's Mezquita has become a political issue as much as a religious issue. Antonio Hurtado, a spokesman for Andalusian socialists, said: "We hope to see Cordoba become a place for the meeting of faiths."

Rosa Aguilar, mayor of Cordoba (from the United Left - IU - party) was said to approve the Muslim prayers being permitted in the Mezquita, but said that the time (a month after the Madrid attacks) was not right for the council to debate the issue.

Her deputy, Andres Ocoa said: "There has been a series of meetings between the IU and the Islamic Council to open up a dialogue between religions. In today's world, we have to make every effort to maximise our knowledge of different cultures to help us live together better."

Such attempts to impose socialist idealism upon political Islam, which has no plans to allow any mosques to be given over to Christian worship, were symptomatic of the political correctness which overtook Spain in the aftermath of Madrid.

Spain's premier, José Luis Rodríguez Zapotero, has tried to be at the forefront of a "dialoque of cultures" between Islam and the West since 2005. His government in March 2006, after the Danish cartoon protests, even collaborated in a move to petition the United Nations to make blasphemy against Islam a "crime", with no corresponding attempt to make blasphemy against Christianity a "crime".

Since the Reconquest of Spain from the 800-year rule of the Moors, there have been traditions of celebrating the departure of Muslim imperialists from the land. These pageants are called Moros y Cristianos festivals. Yet across Spain, the traditional spectacles of these pageants are being deliberately altered, so as not to offend Spain's new Muslim immigrants.

The Current Petitions

And now, once more, political Islam in Spain is trying to assert itself. The trial of the Moorish terrorists and their accomplices who attacked Madrid is due to start in the New Year. On Tuesday December 26, only a day after Spain celebrated Christmas, the birth of Christ, Spain's Islamic Commission announced that it had decided to petition the new Pope, Benedict XVI, to allow Muslim worship at the Mezquita.

In December, a conference of Spain's Catholic Bishops released a statement in which it said it "did not recommend Muslims to pray in any way inside the Cathedral."

Mansur Escudero, secretary-general of the Spanish Islamic Commission, complained that Muslim worshippers at the Mezquita are still being prevented from praying. He said: "There are reactionary elements within the Catholic Church, and when they hear about the construction of a mosque, or Muslim teachings in state schools, or about veils, they see it as a sign we are growing and they oppose it."

The same group of Muslims led by Mansur Escudero had written a letter to the socialist premier of Spain, José Luis Rodríguez Zapotero. In that letter, they stated: "What we wanted was not to take over that holy place, but to create in it, together with you and other faiths, an ecumenical space unique in the world which would have been of great significance in bringing peace to humanity. We (Spanish Muslims) would like to share it with you (the Catholic community) a prayer, that could serve to awake the conscience of Christians and Muslims and prove that it is possible to bury past confrontations."

The letter made reference to Pope Benedict's recent visit to Turkey, and how the Pope had prayed in the Blue Mosque in Istanbul.

While Muslims are seeking to exploit the issue of the Mezquita to their own political advantage, there are also plans to build a giant mosque in Cordoba, plans announced earlier in December. The proposal has been backed by Saudi Arabia and other countries. First put forward in 2003 and again in 2005, the request was turned down by Cordoba City Council.

The group behind this proposal is the same Islamic Commission which is trying to undermine the Catholicism being practiced at the Mezquita in Cordoba. As well as planning to build a giant mosque, it also wants to erect a "multi-purpose center" in the city, near its headquarters and also the al-Morabito mosque.

With all the complaints by Cordoba's Muslims (who number no more than 1,000) that there are not enough places where they can worship, Andalusia already has 100 mosques.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 10:57 PM | Comments (3)

Pakistan: Islamists Bomb Girls' School

Peshawar is the administrative capital of North-West Frontier Province in Pakistan. The province adjoins Afghanistan, and some agencies within it (North and South Waziristan in particular) are under the control of the Pakistan "Taliban".

News from the Daily Times reports that yesterday, a girls' school in Noor Ali village in Darra Adam Khel, which lies between Peshawar and Kohat, was bombed by the Pakistan Taliban. Darra Adam Khel is predominantly inhabited by Pashtuns of the Afridi clan. The town produces military ordnance.

The girls' school had leaflets left at the scene, after a bomb went off near the principal's office. Three rooms at the Government Girls Middle School were destroyed, and four others were damaged. The bomb went off at 00.45 am. The leaflets, in Urdu, read: "Be veiled, otherwise we will bomb you again." No-one was injured in the explosion.

The local Taliban, like their counterparts in Afghanistan, had been campaigning for girls to stop attending schools. A local source said that: "They have however allowed veiled students to go to middle and high schools".

The local Taliban have been active in closing down many businesses, such as video centers, and have recently warned opium growers and car-thieves that if they do not cease their activities within six months, they will "face action".

In Afghanistan on December 8, two women teachers in Narang district, Kunar province in Afghanistan were shot dead by Taliban. They died with three other members of their family. The Taliban had earlier warned them several times to stop teaching. It appears that the Taliban in Pakistan are adopting the same methods as their counterparts across the border.

A peace accord was signed in North Waziristan on Tuesday September 5 by members of the Pakistan Taliban, and this Sunday (December 24) it was announced that the local tribal leaders who had convened the accord are to hold a council, or jirga. There are serious problems with the accord, as it has done nothing to stop Pakistani militants from entering Afghanistan, one its key points. Nor has it it prevented targeted killings. The accord has been severely criticized by Western media and politicians (apart from Britain's naive Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Kim Howells).

Yesterday, the Pakistani government announced that to prevent cross-border passage by Islamists into Afghanistan, a border fence will be erected at key points. Additionally, mines will be laid on the Pakistani side of the Afghan border, Foreign Secretary Riaz Muhammad Khan said.

He said: "Mining (the border) is easier and can be done expeditiously while fencing, of course, requires a huge budget and time. However, the decision will be taken after we get suggestions from the armed forces. There is an extraordinary situation which needs extraordinary measures."

"Pakistan needs no permission or agreement with any country, including Afghanistan, while carrying out any such project within its territorial boundaries. We have publicly stated this many times."

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 12:19 AM | Comments (0)

December 26, 2006

Russia: Islamist Terrorists Arrested in South

News from Interfax, Itar-Tass, UPI and Associated Press:

Astrakhan lies in the south of Russia, in the Volga delta, close to where the river empties into the Caspian Sea. It is about 250 miles from Chechnya. Today, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB, a successor to the KGB) announced that six individuals have been arrested in the city. Burned by Tamurlane in the 13th century, about half of the population is Muslim.

They are said to belong to a group called Jamaat of Muwahids (company of Mujahideen), which is assumed to follow the strict outlook of Wahhabism. The six men, aged between 22 and 24, are claimed by the FSB of plotting a terror attack on New Year's Eve. Details of this attack have not been given.

Searches conducted at the homes of the suspects have recovered a home-made bomb, a sawn-off hunting rifle, ammunition, and a hand grenade. Additionally large amounts of extremist propaganda has been found, including printed matter, CDs and audio and video tapes.

The searches and arrests took place after tip-offs that the men were raising funds and had extremist literature.

This is the first such case to be recorded from Astrakhan and its surrounding region.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 11:29 PM | Comments (0)

Somalia: Islamists Suffer Major Blows In Conflict With Ethiopia

On June 5, the Union of Islamic Courts announced that its fighters had taken control of Mogadishu, capital of Somalia. The head of the UIC then was Sheikh Ahmed Sheikh Sharif, but on June 27, the Islamist body he represented was made subliminal to the Supreme Council of Islamic Courts, which became headed by Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys. Since November 2005, Aweys had been gathering troops for his militia.

In February, an alliance against the Islamists, comprising businessmen and warlords who were part of the legitimate government was formed, under the leadership of Bashir Rage. In the same month, the anti-terror aliance engaged in its first clashes with the UIC. The legitimate government is based in Baidoa, and was formed under the aegis of the United Nations in 2004. This "transitional" government is supported by Ethiopia, and was the only form of legitimate lealdership since the ouuster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.

For the past week, there have been serious clashes with the Ethiopian military. On October 24, Ethiopia's prime minister, Meles Zenawi, announced that his country was "technically" at war with Somalia.

On November 17, Aweys announced his plans to expand Somalia's borders to "recapture" parts of Kenya and Ethiopia, to create "Greater Somalia". The Ogaden region of Ethiopia has a high population of ethnic Somalis, and over the past three decades, there has been dispute over the rulership of this region.

After taking over Mogadishu, the Islamists began a campaign of conquering of Somalia, assisted by foreign Islamists and aided by Eritrea, which is in a permanent dispute with Ethiopia. In the first week of July this year, the airport at Mogadishu was taken by the Islamists. Since that time, the relationship between the transitional government and the Islamists has been fraught.

The African Union had been trying to mount peace talks between the two sides, but the Islamists would attend, then break agreements, or refuse to attend. It appears now that the African Union supports the Ethiopian military's campaign against the Islamic Courts.

The airport at Mogadishu began to be used to import weapons into Somalia. On Friday, July 28, the third plane arrived at the airport. Unidentified cargo was unloaded, which many assume to have been weapons, which the government claims are coming from Eritrea. As the goods were unloaded, roads were closed, and onlookers driven away from the scene. A similar plane load had arrived on Wednesday, July 26.

On December 25, the Ethiopians attacked the airport at Mogadishu with fire from a MiG fighter. Three planes also attacked a military airfield in Balidogle, in the south of Somalia, which lies 60 miles west of the capital. The runway was targeted. Abdirahim Adan, managing director of Mogadishu international airport, claimed a bomb had been dropped on the runway at the capital's main airport. He said: "The airport has been hit. A MiG jet dropped something. We are still trying to assess the damage, but one person has been injured."

A spokesman from the Ethiopian government claimed that the attacks were to prevent "illegal flights" and said: "It was also reported some of the extremists were waiting for an airlift out of Mogadishu."

However, shortly after the raid, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys and Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed landed at Mogadishu airport, indicating the runway there was still intact.

Beledweyne, a town near Baidoa, seat of the transitional government, was receptured by the government and Ethiopian military on Sunday (December 24). This town had been invaded by Islamist militia on Wednesday August 16. This is a strategic town, lying along the main route between the north and south of the country. With Beledweyne now in the hands of the legitimate government, the Islamists will have a problem moving ordnance.

Meles Zenawi, the Ethiopian prime minister, said: "We are not trying to set up a government for Somalia, nor do we have an intention to meddle in Somalia internal affairs. We have only been forced by the circumstances. We want to end this war urgently and we hope that Ethiopian people stand by the defence forces."

Earlier today, Ethiopian troops advanced towards Mogadishu. The US State Department has expressed tacit approval for the actions of the Ethiopians. Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys is linked to Al Qaeda. He led an Islamist terror group called Al-Ittihad al-Islami which was formed after Mohamed Siad Barre was deposed. This group carried out bomb attacks in Ethiopia and also Kenya.

The head of the Islamists' |army" is Aden Hashi Ayro who is reputed to have been involved with Al Qaeda when he fought the Soviets in Afghanistan. He had said in September: "Among our militia will be Somalis and foreigners." Journalists noted that his bodyguards seemed to be Arab, and had been told that there were other bodyguards from Other African countries, but also from Central Asia. On July 6, video was released showing foreign fighters alongside the Islamists, reinforcing fears that they were linked to Al Qaeda's international network.

Peter Pham, a US-based counterterrorism expert, as well as UN investigators and diplomats, affirm that Aden Hashi Ayro is the Islamists' main link with al Qaeda. The UN has linked Ayro with the murders of 16 people, including BBC journalist Kate Peyton, who was shot in Mogadishu on February 9, 2005.

Kurtis Cooper, State Department spokesperson, said from Washington: "Ethiopia has genuine security concerns with regard to developments within Somalia and has provided support at the request of the legitimate government authority. We have urged and continue to urge the Ethiopian government to exercise maximum restraint in intervening or responding to developments in Somalia and to assure the protection of civilians."

The foreign minister of the Somali transitional government, Ismail Hurre, has said from Kenya that he was "sure" that US surveillance craft were providing intelligence to the forces of the transitional government and their Ethiopian allies.

While Ethiopia claims to have half "broken the back" of the Islamists' militia, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed said: "The war is entering a new phase. We will fight Ethiopia for a long, long time, and we expect the war to go everyplace."

Abdirahman Janaqow, deputy chairman of the Islamic courts' executive body, has said: "We will overcome the Ethiopian troops in our land. Our forces are alert and ready defend our country."

Thousands of Somalis have fled their homes to avoid the conflict, and more fighting broke out again this evening. The Ethiopian troops have also marched closer to the important strategic port of Kismayo in the south of Somalia. This port was captured by the Islamists on September 25. Formerly under the control of the warlord Colonel Bare Adam Shire Hiraale and the Juba Valley Coalition, its "leadership" had fled while the Islamists had surrounded the port for two days prior to invading.

No violence had taken place when the Islamists invaded, but they son began to meet opposition from the populace. A 13-year old boy was shot on the day of their conquering the port.

An attempt by militia from the Juba Valley Alliance to recapture Kismayo on October 13 failed.

The Ethiopians claim to have killed 1,000 Islamists over the past week of fighting, and the front-line of the Islamists' militia appears to have pulled back. Whether they are in genuine retreat or are merely regrouping will be known soon.

It is known that the Islamists are employing foreign fighters. The Ethiopians have claimed that in one very recent battle with the Islamists, they captured 300 Islamist fighters. Some of these had British passports.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 11:00 PM | Comments (0)

Bulgaria: Muslims' Hopes And Fears Of EU Accession

On April 25, 2005, Bulgaria officially signed the European Union Accession Treaty. Germany became the 25th member nation to drop its opposition to Accession on November 24 2006, paving the way for the nation to officially join the EU on January 1, 2007. Romania will also join the EU on the same day.

When the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Poland joined, the British government seemed unprepared for the flood of immigrants and migrant workers from these countries. With these individuals prepared to work for less than the minimum wage, the flooding of central European workers has led to resentments, and fears of the employment marketplace becoming destabilized. The government had predicted only 5,000 to 13,000 would arrive. In practice, 600,000 came. The government of Britain has placed some restrictions on new migrants from Bulgaria and Romania, but the immigration minister, Liam Byrne, admitted this month that the UK government has no idea how many from these countries will be subject to employment restrictions.

There are 7.5 million citizens in Bulgaria. The population of Muslims in Bulgaria is 966,978 (12.2% of the population), according to the 2001 Census. The vast majority of these are ethnic Turks (713,000), with 131,000 ethnic Bulgarian Muslims, and 103,000 of Roma (gypsy) descent. Most of the nation's Muslims are Sunni, with about 100,000 Shia.

Islam arrived in Bulgaria in the 15th century, with the invading Ottomans, and in general, Muslims and Christians in Bulgaria are said to have fairly peaceful relations, which are called "komshuluk", meaning neighborliness. Under the regime of the Communist dictator Todor Zhivkov (1954 - 1989), a crackdown was mounted on Muslim "identity" from 1984-5. Muslims were urged to abandon customs, such as circumcision and Islamic funeral rites. 100 Muslims died during this campaign.

A report in Reuters today highlights the uncertainties of Muslims in Bulgaria. Bulgaria is the only EU nation to have had a centuries long population of Muslims.

Around the time that Todor Zhivkov was ousted from the presidency and expelled from the Communist party in November 1989, Bulgaria opened its border with Turkey, and about 300,000 Muslims fled. Some did return later. At the time of Zhivkov's ouster, there were 1,267 mosques in the country. Several new mosques have been built since the end of his rule. Democracy returned to Bulgaria in June 1990, after 59 years of Communism.

Reuters suggests that Muslims in Bulgaria are looking forward to uniting with millions of "brothers in faith" in the European Union, and hope that accession to the EU will bring an end to the poverty and high unemployment which is prevalent in the country.

However, they have fears. One fear is that the EU nations will be hostile to them, and also there are fears that with a reduction in border controls, extremists from the EU will try to have influence in Bulgaria.

Salikh Arshinski, secretary of the Union of Muslims in Bulgaria, is quoted as saying: "We have to stop the infiltration of radical Islamic groups here to avoid what is happening in Western Europe."

The issue of headscarfs has recently come to the fore in Bulgaria as it has done in countries like France (where it has been banned in schools since September 2004) and Germany, and also Britain and the Netherlands, where politicians and public have expressed concern about the wearing of the full face-veil.

On Friday July 28 this year, two 17-year old BUlgarian girls, Fatme and Mikhaela, lost their claim against the authorities which had prevented them from wearing the hijab, or headscarf. The girls attended a state-run school, which had ordered them not to wear the headscarf. However, the girls also attended an Islamic school, an establishment which of a type which has become increasing common recently. Most of these schools are funded by the Wahhabist regime of Saudi Arabia.

The girls had claimed that they had been told by their "madrassa" to cover their heads. When banned by their formal school from wearing the items, a group based in their town of Smolyan, southern Bulgaria, took on their case in June this year. This group is the Organization for Islamic Development and Culture. The ruling that the school was within its rights to ban all religious symbols was made by a parliamentary anti-discrimination commission.

The decision came just two days after it was announced that a 15th century mosque in Stara Zagora, central Bulgaria, became the subject of an arson attack.

Bulgarian nationalists from the party Ataka (Attack) have been campaigning in Sofia this year for a mosque in the capital to have its noise-levels reduced, as the calls by the muezzin to prayer, broadcast on loudspeakers, are said to be upsetting non-Muslims. The mayor of Sofia, Boyko Borissov, sent a letter to the mufti of the mosque on July 12, requesting the noise levels be reduced. The mosque claimed it had already pandered to local feeling by reducing the muezzin's calls to prayer from the required five times a day down to only three.

The issue of the girls in headscarfs has been seen as a result of the imminent joining of Romania to the EU, though it could also be seen as a sign of Arab/Islamist influence coming from groups such as the Organization for Islamic Development and Culture.

Reuters quotes from a 27-year old carpenter who hopes his future wife can wear a hijab. He said: "I hope things change for better and this problem with the headscarves is solved. I want my future wife to be able to wear one without being laughed at."

Simeon Evstatiev, a lecturer on Islam at Sofia University said: "The whole headscarf issue in Bulgaria has been 'imported' from France. It can change the status quo."

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 9:31 PM | Comments (0)

Russia: Islamists Killed In North Caucasus

News from Interfax, Associated Press, CNN, Guardian, and in RIA Novosti, with update:

On Christmas Day, an operation to capture Wahhabist Muslims took place in Cherkessk, capital of the federal republic of Karachai-Cherkess (also called Karachayevo-Cherkessia). This North Caucasus republic, which adjoins Georgia, has just under half a million inhabitants, 92% of whom are Muslims.

The operation took place at a five storey apartment block, where the Islamists were hiding out in an apartment owned by Temirlan Bastanov, a man suspected of the murders of seven local businessmen. The Federal Security Servicehas issued a statement claiming the Islamists who were hiding in the apartment were wanted for the murders of local police officers.

On Monday (Dec 24), it was reported that two of the wanted men had been killed, and another had been captured. One man was said to remain in the apartment, occasionally firing shots at members of the security forces after the two men had been killed. Smoke grenades had been fired at the apartment. RIA Novosti states that the detained man is a brother of the apartment's owner.

Early in the morning, the raid began, and residents of the apartment block were evacuated. A day care center and secondary school which adjoined the condominium were also evacuated, with classes in the school cancelled.

Wahabbists in the Caucasus are linked with terrorism. In Nalchik on January 27, 2005, seven members of a cell of Wahabbists were killed. Nalchik is the main city in the Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, which adjoins Karachayevo-Cherkessia. On October 13, 2005, 150 Islamists staged a raid upon Nalchik, leading to more than 100 people being killed, the majority being the assailants.

In Cherkessia this year, Islamists killed an imam who practiced "healing" on August 7 in Karachaevsk. During this year, six other Muslim "healers" have been killed in the republic by hardline Islamists, who believe such practices are not authentically "Islamic".

The incident at Cherkess took place as results were expected at a trial of more than a dozen Islamists, including the owner of the apartment, Temirlan Bastanov. Another man who was among those on trial was Ali Kaitov, the former son-in-law of Mustafa Batydev, the head of the republic.

The businessmen who had been murdered were shareholders in the republic's national large cement company. Ali Kaitov gained a majority holding in the company in 2004. On the night of October 10 to 11, 2004, Rasul Bogatyrev and six major shareholders went to Ali Kaitov's house to negotiate, but were never seen again. Neighbors heard shots, but police said they found no evidence of wrong-doing. On October 21, relatives of the missing businessmen went to the house and made their own search, where they found bloodstains and bullets near the building.

They went to the government palace in Cherkessk, demanding an "immediate and impartial investigation". Both Kaitov and the leader of the republic, Mustafa Batydev, disappeared.

On October 25, 2004, shortly after Batydev had officially announced that his daughter would be divorcing Kaitov, his son-in-law handed himself in to the police.

The bodies of the seven missing persons were found on November 9, 2004, burned and secreted in an abandoned mine, near Aul Kumysh, in Karachaev district. There are currently 16 people awaiting a verdict in the trial. Eight of these, including Kaitov and the owner of the apartment in which the Islamists were hiding on Christmas Day, are accused of murder, and eight are accused of concealing the crime.

On December 17, the hearings at the trial came to a close, and the Supreme Court ordered that all 16 defendants be remanded in custody until tomorrow (December 27).

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 7:50 PM | Comments (0)

US: Muslims Protest Accurate Portrayal of Their Religion

The Islamic effort to blind the American people to the truth about Islam has hit a roadblock in Baltimore. Some local public schools have dared deviate from the official doctrine that Islam is a religion of Peace and Tolerance. Muslims, naturally, have protested at this unprecedent turn of events. What are the Muslims' objections? Let's look at them.

1. Calling Muhammad ibn Abdullah "Muhammad" instead of "Prophet Muhammad" is disrespectful.

This one is so obvious an attempt to impose the Muslim judgement on the pupils that it deserves no further rebuke.

2. The meaning of Jihad.

The Muslim 'activist' advances the canard that since 'jihad' means 'struggle', then it doesn't mean holy war. Well, I believe Walid Shoebat has said it best; yes, jihad means 'struggle', but so does Mein Kampf! In other words, refering to the original meaning of a word is an attempt to confuse, as the Islamic doctrine and practice of Jihad is well documented. Muhammad ordered an armed struggle against the unbelievers until Islam reigned supreme.

3. The Muslim agitator also objects to the depiction of Islam as a religion that embraces force. He refers to the Islamic prohibition of forced conversions.

People who raise this objection are quick to forget the triple choice given to unbelievers; conversion, subjugation, or death. That is use of force, no matter how do you wish to portray it.

And they are even quicker to forget the choice given to the Pagan Arabs; conversion or death. Muhammad didn't give his fellow Arabs the choice of Dhimmitude--they had to accept him as the prophet of God of die. Most of them chose conversion. It is a sad reflection of our times that the false view that Islam abhors forced conversions is the prevalent one.

Source: Schools' Islamic lessons inaccurate, group says

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 6:52 PM | Comments (1)

Egypt: Minister Rebukes Iran Over 'Nuclear Country' Comment

Another Sunni Muslim state worries mightly over the possibility of a nuclear-Armed Iran: Egypt slams Iran over 'nuclear' words

CAIRO -- Egypt rebuked Iran's president for claiming his state is "a nuclear country" - a comment that touched a nerve among Iran's neighbors in the Middle East.

Iran has consistently denied it seeks to build nuclear weapons, saying it aims to use its nuclear technology only to produce electrical power. But President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's ambiguous statement stirred fears about its nuclear ambitions.

Ahmadinejad's comments came in reaction to a U.N. Security Council resolution adopted Saturday which imposed limited sanctions on Iran for its refusal to cease uranium enrichment. Enriched uranium, which Iran insists on producing, can be used as fuel for nuclear reactors or as material for atomic weapons.

"Iran is a nuclear country" whether the world likes it or not, he told a gathering Sunday in Tehran.[...]

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 1:30 PM | Comments (0)

Somalia: Islamic Fighters Retreat After Heavy Casualties

What do you know, in a battle between Armor and fanatical Islamic fighters, Armor, even Soviet-era Armor, still wins: Islamic Fighters Quitting Somalia Front

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - Islamic fighters attempting to wrest power from Somalia's internationally recognized government retreated from the main front line early Tuesday, witnesses said, a day after Ethiopian fighter jets bombed the country's two main international airports.

Troops loyal to the Council of Islamic Courts withdrew more than 30 miles to the southeast from Daynuney, a town just south of Baidoa, the government headquarters.

The Islamic forces also abandoned their main stronghold in Bur Haqaba and were forming convoys headed toward the capital, Mogadishu, residents in villages along the road told The Associated Press by telephone.

"We woke up from our sleep this morning and the town was empty of troops, not a single Islamic fighter,'" Ibrahim Mohamed Aden, a resident of Bur Haqaba said.

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 1:21 PM | Comments (0)

December 24, 2006

Steyn: Biggest Story of Our Time

Like Mark Steyn, I'm rapidly becoming a full-time demography bore. (Not so much over here as in 'real life'.) But this is the greatest story of our time, and hardly anybody is paying attention. And before solving a problem it is necessary to understand it. Let's try to think along with Steyn: Biggest story of our time: our self-extinction

Suppose for a moment that the birth in Bethlehem that Christians celebrate this week never happened --that it is, as the secularists would have it, mere mumbo jumbo, superstition, a myth. In other words, consider it not as an event but as a narrative. You want to launch a big new global movement from scratch. So what do you use?

The birth of a child.

If Christianity is just a myth, then it is, so to speak, an immaculately conceived one. On the one hand, what could be more powerless than a newborn babe? On the other, without a newborn babe, man is ultimately powerless. For, without new life, there can be no civilization, no society, no nothing.[...]

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 1:43 PM | Comments (2)

December 23, 2006

UK: Bishop Says Muslim Veils Should Be Outlawed

The Bishop of Rochester, the Right Reverend Michael Nazir-Ali, aged 57, was the youngest person in the world to become a bishop. He was only 35 when ordained. Brought up in Pakistan as a Catholic, Nazir-Ali became a convert to Protestantism aged 20.

Last month, he made forthright statements about the Muslim face-veil or niqab. He said: "I can see nothing in Islam that prescribes the wearing of a full-face veil. In the supermarket those at the cash tills need to be recognised. Teaching is another context in which society requires recognition and identification."

He also highlighted the way that Muslims have a dual perspective on life, alternating between their often fictitious claims of victimhood (which are as nothing compared to the treatment of non-Muslims in Muslim countries) and their attempts to have dominion over others.

He said then: "Their complaint often boils down to the position that it is always right to intervene when Muslims are victims, as in Bosnia or Kosovo, and always wrong when the Muslims are the oppressors or terrorists, as with the Taliban or in Iraq. Given the world view that has given rise to such grievances, there can never be sufficient appeasement and new demands will continue to be made."

Now, according to the Independent, the bishop has gone a step further, by saying that Muslim face-veils should be banned in public places.

He said: "Given that we are facing an unprecedented security situation, legislation needs to be introduced that allows officials to remove the veil." He said that at airports, ports, tube stations, train stations, the veil should not be worn. He said that in places of employment, employers should be able to demand the right that staff have uncovered faces.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 8:34 PM | Comments (1)

Somalia: Islamists Urge Foreign Muslims to Fight Ethiopia

The Islamists of Somalia have been engaged in a conflict with Ethiopian troops since Tuesday, with dozens on both sides killed. The fighting has been promised for months now, and during November, skirmishes began. Only now are these developing into an all-out war.

The first threats against Ethiopia began on July 21, accusing the neighboring nation of siding with the transitional government of Somalia, which is based in Baidoa. On October 8, the Islamists, led by the Al-Qaeda linked Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, announced a "holy war" against Ethiopia.

Ethiopia is predominantly Christian. Meles Zenawi, prime minister of Ethiopia, announced on October 24 that his country was in effect "at war" with Somalia. "The jihadist elements within the Islamic Court movement are spoiling for a fight. They've been declaring jihad against Ethiopia almost every other week. Technically we are at war, " he said.

On Friday November 17, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys announced that his forces would be working to regain "lost territory". He said: "It is unbelievable that a country population that is like one family to be divided into 10 parts. As Islamic Courts, we will not accept divisions and we will gain back the Somali provinces forcefully annexed to Ethiopia and Kenya."

"We will leave no stone unturned to integrate our Somali brothers in Kenya and Ethiopia and restore their freedom to live with their ancestors in Somalia." Aweys, in stating his true agenda, used the term "Greater Somalia".

The region of Ethiopia which is conceivably part of "Greater Somalia" is Ogaden. In 1977, socialist dictator Muhammad Siad Barre, who ruled from 1969 to 1991, invaded this region. The Somali troops were ousted from this part by Ethiopia, backed up by Cuban and Soviet military, in 1978. Siad Barre claimed one of the five points in the star of the Somali flag represented the "unredeemed" territories in Kenya's North East province, as well as Ogaden and Djibouti.

The Islamists are backed by extremists from Yemen and Eritrea. The latter naton is a sworn enemy of Ethiopia. Though Somalia's Islamists have taken in foreign jihadists to assist their aim, they have publicly denied this, and have condemned the transitional government of Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed in Baidoa for its links with Ethiopia. The transitional government was formed by the UN in 2004, and is the only legitimate holder of the title "government" in the nation.

On July 6, a month after the Islamists captured the capital, Mogadishu, video emerged of Arabs who had been fighting alongside the Islamists, despite their constant denials of using outsiders to fight their battles.

Today, Reuters AlertNet reports that the Islamists' defense chief Yusuf Mohamed Siad "Inda'ade" has urged foreign Muslims to join in their jihad against Ethiopia. He said: "Our country is open to Muslims worldwide. Let them fight in Somalia and wage jihad, and God willing, attack Addis Ababa."

Speaking in Mogadishu, he said: "We told the world to stop this problem. We told them to do something before it becomes a blazing fire that would engulf the region."

Osama bin Laden on June 30 made an audio message, in which he said: "We will continue, God willing, to fight you and your allies everywhere in Iraq and Afghanistan and in Somalia and Sudan until we waste all your money and kill your men." On July 1, he expanded on his theme, stating: "We will fight (US) soldiers on the land of Somalia ... and we reserve the right to punish it on its land and anywhere possible. We warn all of the countries in the world not to respond to America by sending international troops to Somalia."

Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys is undoubtedly linked to Al Qaeda. He founded the Islamist group Al-Ittihad al-Islami in the early 1990s, after Muhammad Siad Barre was ousted in 1991. Al-Ittihad al-Islami aims to establish an Islamic Sunni empire in Somalia. It is said to have links with Al Qaeda. It also had a presence in Ogaden in Ethiopia. The group tried to take over the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, but was chased out by Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed. In November 2002, the group is said to have carried out the bombing attack upon a Jewish-owned hotel in Kikambala, Kenya. 7 Kenyans and 3 Israelis were killed in the attack.

Al-Ittihad al-Islami carried out bombings in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia in 1996 and 1997, and in 1998 was behind the kidnapping of relief workers.

Al Qaeda has for more than a year been trying to strengthen its influence in the Horn of Africa. With its allies in the Islamic Courts of Somalia, it seems that the group is now actively pursuing a campaign to destabilize the entire region.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 7:31 PM | Comments (0)

December 22, 2006

Russia: Muslim Leader Claims United States Murdered Turkmen Leader

Geydar Dzhemal, the chairman of Russia's Islamic Committee, lashed out at the United States accusing it of murdering President-for-life Saparmurat Niyazov of Turkmenistan, whose death was announced on Dec. 21. Along with promoting his version of the Mohammadan cult, Niyazov turned Turkmenistan into one of the most brutal and reclusive police regimes in the world.

``I don't have the slightest doubt that [Niyazov] was murdered,'' said Dzhemal, reports Islam News, a Russian language Islamic news agency. As ``evidence'' Dzhemal offered Turkmenistan's reluctance to join the US in the fight against Islamic terror in Afghanistan. Hence, the Americans murdered Niyazov, claims Dzhemal.

``The US needs Turkmenistan to hit Iran from the air,'' added Dzhemal, who is one of Russia's most vociferous critics of the West, and who has called for an alliance between Islam and Russian Christian Orthodoxy against the West.

Mr Dzhemal probably can't be imagine how happy we'd all be if he is correct with these assertions.

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

Jordan: Islamist Tourist Killer To Hang

On September 4 this year, an Islamist gunman lay in wait as tourists were visiting the Roman amphitheater in Amman Jordan. As the tourists prepared to walk up the steps leading from the ancient stage, the Islamist began shooting. 12 shots were fired, and six tourists were hit. One of these, a 30-year old Briton, was killed. A policeman was also shot, but this man also managed with others to chase and capture the gunman.

The man who died was Christopher Stokes, a chartered accountant from Littleborough near Rochdale. Last month the gunman, 38-year old Nabeel Ahmed Issa al-Jaourah, went on trial. A blacksmith by trade and father of five children, Jaourah was born in the Baqaa Palestinian refugee camp near the city, and had lived in Zarqa, the same slum town where terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had grown up.

During the trial, he showed no remorse. He said: "God blessed me when I killed a British man and hurt others, because they are fighting the Prophet and his soldiers since (the) Balfour Declaration. The British people.... insulted the honorable Koran and women who wear the head cover."

The Balfour declaration was a decision made in 1917 by the British government, to create the state of Israel. His reference to the headcover was a reference to comments made in October by various politicians, including Tony Blair, that suggested Muslim face-veils were a "mark of separation."

Yesterday, according to AKI, the Telegraph and the Times, Jaourah was convicted, and sentenced to hang.

As the sentence was read out, Jaourah called out: "I am a holy warrior and I thank God for this verdict." His lawyers will be appealing the sentence, though Jaourah has admitted to carrying out the murder, and the appeal is more of a formality. The judge said the defendant was "guilty beyond any doubt of undertaking a terrorist action", and said: "You deserve to die for your hideous crime."

Rod Stokes, the victim's father, said: "It feels like closure. We've no strong revenge feelings at all. We take the view that if it was an act of terrorism as they say, and if it's the law of the land that the guy be executed, then that's it."

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 6:42 AM | Comments (0)

Islamic World: Al-Zawahiri Calls for Jihad to Help Hamas

Before anything else, please disregard the discussion of the "distrust" between Hamas and al-Qaeda in the link at the end of the article. It is the distrust of rival gangs competing over turf and the desire of Hamas to avoid America's wrath, not a matter of pursuing different objectives as the story implies. I almost searched for an alternate story because of it. But I do want to talk about the information in following short paragraphs:

"Those who are trying to liberate the Islamic territories through elections based on secular constitutions, or on decisions to hand over Palestine to the Jews, will not liberate one grain of sand of Palestine," he said.

"Any way other than holy war will lead us only to loss and defeat," he said."

Any way other than holy war will elad us only to loss and defeat.

That's because is a holy duty, the supreme spiritual exercise, whose automatic reward is paradise. Muslims of al-Zawahiri's stripe believe that deviating from Jihad is a moral failure, and they have reason to do so, because Muhammad said as much.

This is what we are up against.

Source: Al-Qa'eda calls for jihad to aid Hamas

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 6:11 AM | Comments (0)

US: Documenting the Islamic Advance

The Islamic Threat blog has done useful research on the advance of the Islamic Agenda in the United States. It would take sober thinking and concerted action to roll back the Islamic penetration of our society. Here is the link: Why Virgil Goode Is Concerned

In 2002 Daniel Pipes wrote his book 'Militant Islam Reaches America', which is a highly recommended read BTW. In the book Pipes listed the Islamic agenda for America. The book was written right after the September 11th attacks and when I read the book then I thought that this list of 20 goals would never come to pass in this society.

After Keith Ellison declared his intent to use the Koran when swearing his oath in Congress and with the flying Imams case in full swing I checked out the book again and I re-read that list. I went on Google and looked to see what kind of progress Islamists have had in accomplishing this agenda during the past 4 years and I was horrified of how how much progress they have had since then.

So, below is the list with links to news stories and other material that show beyond doubt that CAIR and its allies in the US have been extremely successful.[...]

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 5:55 AM | Comments (0)

December 21, 2006

Russia: Survey Shows that Muslim Population Is Much Smaller Than Previously Believed

A recent social survey by one of Russia's most prominent polling organizations puts the country's Muslim population at 6 percent, far below the 15 percent claimed by Russian Muslim leaders. This smashes the myth that Russia is on its way to becoming a `Muslim' country, and it serves as ammunition to stop the incessant attacks by Russian Muslim leaders on the country's political establishment by which they hope to establish Muslim law in the country.

This recent authoritative research was carried out over the past few weeks by VTsIOM, Russia's top polling agency, and Izvestiya, a leading daily newspaper. The poll also reported that 63 percent of Russians consider themselves Christian Orthodox, while 17 percent claim to be atheists. Russia's total population is 146 million.

This latest research deals a severe blow to plans by Russian Muslim leaders to wrench concessions from the Kremlin. These Muslim leaders are pushing for the creation of a new high-ranking position in the government just for so-called `Muslim Affairs', and they are also trying to have Islamic law officially accepted in those areas of the country where ethnic Muslims dominate.

So-called `ethnic' Muslims --- people traditionally seen as Muslims, such as Tatars, Bashkirs, Chechens, and Ingush --- account for about 15 percent of the total Russian population, or 20 million people. The fact that only 6 percent of the total Russian population, about 9 million people, claimed to be Muslim means that more than half of `ethnic' Muslims have abandoned the Mohammedan cult practiced by their forefathers.

This is also a very good example whereby Muslim leaders deny any freedom of choice to `their' peoeple. They claim as their own anyone born into an ethnic group that is perceived to be `Muslim', and under no circumstance will they let go of these people. According to Muslim leaders: once a Muslim, always a Muslim. Islam is all about violence, coercion and the absence of freedom.

The VTsIOM poll is very encouraging news. True, more and more mosques are opening in Russia, but not many people are attending them. Indeed, many Tatars and Bashkirs have become Orthodox Christian; or simply do not have any religious affiliation. Islam in Russia, however, remains most virulent in the North Caucasus among the Chechens and Inghush, whose inclination toward violence and terrorism is well-known.

Recently, the Russian and international press have been full of stories about the Islamization of Russia. Muslims around the globe have been joyous on claims that the Russia's Muslim population is growing rapidly while the ethnic Russian population is declining rapidly.

This recent research should put these delusions to rest once for all. We must not put up with Muslim propaganda that make the Mohammedan cult appear to be ``the world's fastest growing religion.''

Quite the opposite: Islam is in its death throes. It's days are numbered as more and more people learn the truth about the Mohammadan cult and its hideous founder, the 7th century Arabian warlord.

What intelligent, tolerant, peace-loving person would ever want to join a totalitarian cult that calls for its devout believers to murder and main non-believers? Many so-called `ethnic' Muslims in Russia have been smart enough to free themselves from this cult. Let's hope that the peoples of the Middle East, Southeast Asia and everywhere else where the insidious Mohammedan cult rears its head will also find the strength and courage to free their minds.

Posted by at 6:44 PM | Comments (1)

India: Drunken Words Lead to Islamic Divorce

Traditionally, alcohol is "haram" or forbidden to Muslims. One man from Parbodhi village near Hajipur in Vaishali district in Bihar state, India, got drunk and is now paying the price, states New Kerala. A few days back, drunken Mohammed Mokhtar was engaged in a row with his wife and blurted out "talaq" three times at his wife, Sakina Khatoon.

In Islamic law, all a man needs to do to be rid of his wife, and all responsibilities towards her, is to say "talaq" three times. As a result of Mokhtar's drunken words, a local Muslim group has put pressure on his wife and children. Village religious leader Maulana Inamul Haque has declared that the declaration of "talaq" is Islamically binding.

Mokhtar is protesting that he did not intend to split from his wife, saying: "I frankly and honestly admit that even if I pronounced divorce to my wife, it was in a drunken condition. I hardly recall that I did it. I requested people to forgive me if I pronounced divorce in an inebriated condition but some village men forced us to live separately."

Sakina is prepared to live with her husband, but is being forced to take her children and live apart, as a result of villagers' pressure.

In Islamic tradition, she can not remarry her husband in a simple manner. She must go through halala - a process whereby she marries another man, and then divorces him, to then remarry her former husband.

This process is not so easy. A woman cannot divorce a man on her own. Only a cleric can arrange a Muslim woman's divorce.

And who said Islamic law is fair to women?

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 2:05 PM | Comments (0)

Malaysia: Mexican Muslim Cleric Jailed

News from the Star and the New Straits Times:

An imam from Mexico was given a four year jail sentence for defrauding a businesswoman. 46-year old Said Louahabi had been arrested on April 23, 2004. He conned 36-year old Felicia Ang Pei-shan into believing that five bags of black "notes" could be processed and converted into US dollars, Euros and sterling.

Ms Pei-shan gave him 297,000 ringgit ($84,012) of her own money. The incident took place between February and March 2004, at the Maple Suite, Maple Tower hotel in Chagkat Raja Chulan.

Said Louahabi had no previous convictions, and his defense had tried to use the argument that he worked as a translator at international conferences and had a wife and two children to support.

Louahabi was said to be remorseful. He had founded an Islamic center in Mexico.

Deputy public prosecutor Mohd Abazafree Mohammed Abbas said: "His actions did not reflect those of an imam. He had abused his position to cheat." Abbas asked for a punitive sentence as the case was of public importance and "involved a foreigner".

Sessions Court judge Nursinah Adzmi ordered that Louahabi's seentence should commence from April 2004, the time of his arrest.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 7:11 AM | Comments (1)

December 20, 2006

Netherlands: No-Handshakes Muslim Teacher Sacked

In September, a Muslim woman teacher at the Vader Rijn College in Utrecht was suspended. The reason given by the school's principal, Bart Engbers, was that the teacher refused to shake hands with males. The school is a vocational college. It has an intake of 700 students, 80% of whom are of Moroccan or Turkish background. The woman had worked at the college for a year before being asked to stay home. She had only decided not to shake hands with males upon her return from the 2006 summer vacation.

Bart Engbers said then: "If she doesn't want to shake hands at home, fine. But everyone is welcome at this school. Discussion is great, but religious and political flag-waving must stay at home."

"We are preparing our boys and girls for the labour market. We all know how fragile the situation is for allochtone (non native Dutch) young people. Therefore it is good that they shake hands during a job interview. We believe that is important."

The woman, who was not named, took her case to the Commission for Equal Treatment, which made its ruling in November.

The Commission ruled that the Muslim teacher was within her rights to refuse to have any physical contact with males. The Commission has no statutory powers to enforce its decisions, and following the result, Mr Engbers was said to be consulting with other staff members. Engbers allows teachers to wear the hijab or Muslim headscarf.

Now, according to Expatica News, Mr Engbers has written the woman a letter, in which he has terminated her employment.

The Commission for Equal Treatment had ruled that the Vader Rijn College should not sack the woman purely for her refusal to shake hands with males. Bart Engbers believes she sets a bad example to students.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 5:12 PM | Comments (2)

Uzbekistan: Teachers Of Radical Islam Jailed

News from Associated Press and Interfax.

Two men have been convicted by the city court in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, of organizing an illegal Islamic school, where radicalism was on the curriculum. 30-year old Shoakmal Nosirov was sentenced to nine years in a high-security prison. His associate, 21-year old Farkhod Muminov, was sentenced to six years and six months jail.

The pair had been arrested in early summer. The pair were thought to belong to the extreme Wahhabi sect of Islam. Surat Ikramov, a rights activist, said that extremist charges against the pair had not been proved. They had only organized a summer camp for 50 children who were under the age of 14, where Islam was promoted and Koran-reading sessions were held.

Ikramov said that the two men were being punished for having supposed links to Rukhitdin Fakhrutdinov, imam of the Khuja Nuriddin mosque in Tashkent. Fakhrutdinov and another imam, Obidhon qori Nazarov, were wanted by Uzbek authorities in 2003. They were accused of radicalism.

Nazarov escaped to an EU country, and Fakhrutdinov fled to Shymkent in the south of Kazakhstan, He was arrested on November 21, 2003, and beaten while in custody. He was handed over to Uzbekistan on November 24, 2003. His trial was due to start in June this year in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Following the detention of Fakhrutdinov, members of the clerics' families were subjected to persecution, and according to a 2004 report by Human Rights Watch, several associated Muslims in Tashkent were subjected to arrest and torture by Uzbek authorities. Fakhrutdinov was to stand trial with four others who had been abducted and returned from Kazakhstan, charged under article 244-2 "Creation, management, participation in religious extremist, separatist, fundamentalist, or any other banned organisations". The group members were said to be part of the "Wahhabist" movement, but though tried under terrorism offences, their main crime appears to be political, that of belonging to a religious group not approved by the Uzbek state.

Fakhrutdinov was given a sentence of 30 years' jail. There must always be doubts about such cases in a country like Uzbekistan (and also neighboring Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan), as the regimes are extremely dictatorial, relics of their former status as Soviet enclaves. President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan has ruled since 1991, and for a decade he has mounted a crackdown on what he perceives to be "fundamentalist" elements.

The most extreme and well-publicized example of the Karimov regime's atrocities happened in the capital, Andijan on May 13, 2005. Several thousand people had gathered in Andijan's main square. Hundreds of protesters were shot dead, but the Karimov government has only admitted that 187 people died.

A "show trial" ended on November 14 with 15 young men convicted of leading the May uprising. They were given sentences ranging from 4 to 20 years, but their wan and haggard appearances indicated that they had been subjected to abuse or forced drugging.

Karimov's tactics are no different from the Soviet KGB. In October last year, the leader of the opposition "Sunshine" party was arrested on a trumped-up charge of theft. Sanjar Umarov was fed with psychotropic drugs, and was found naked in his cell, incoherent and mumbling. He has not reappeared in public life since.

The worst cases of Karimov's regime of oppression came to light in August 2002, when the bodies of two independent (not following state-sponsored doctrines) Muslim leaders were returned to their families. Mazafar Avazov and Husnidin Alimov had been detained in Jaslyk prison and had died in custody in suspicious circumstances.

The body of Avazov (pictured) showed signs that he had been "boiled alive", amongst other injuries.

So the news of the two men who were convicted by the Tasjkent city court, Shoakmal Nosirov and Farkhod Muminov, cannot be treated as genuine cases of religious extremism. They may have preached a brand of radical Islam. However, when faced with the authoritarianism of the regime of a dictator like Islam Karimov, it must be said that totalitarianism is a factor to push people towards radicalism.

Nosirov was charged with "violating Uzbekistan's Constitution, producing and distributing materials that pose a threat to social security and public order, and establishing, heading and participating in religious extremist, separatist, fundamentalist and other outlawed organizations."

Muminov was convicted of "involvement with religious extremist, separatist, fundamentalist and other outlawed organizations."

They are probably only guilty of following an independent faith not approved by Karimov.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 3:19 PM | Comments (0)

Saudi Arabia: "Trespasser" Sentenced By Islamic Court To Beheading

Saudi Arabia, purported ally of the West, is as far from the West as a country can be. A story from New India Press demonstrates how alien the country is. An Indian national, 31-year old Jojo Joseph, wanted to see his wife, who worked as a nurse near Medina. She had just given birth to their son.

Mr Joseph, who was based in Jeddah, where he was an employee of an electronics company, traveled towards where he thought his wife was based, and lost his way. He found himself on the road to Medina.

Unbeknownst to Mr Joseph, during the pilgrimage season, this road was forbidden to non-Muslims. He was arrested by police at Al-Azeez, and was hauled before a religious court on Monday. Full of that Islamic tolerance which the Saudis like to promote in the West, the religious court ordered that Mr Joseph should have his head sliced off on Tuesday, merely for "trespassing into a Muslim-only area".

Mr Joseph told his relatives back home in Mariyapuram, India, who contacted Oommen Chandy, leader of the opposition and former chief minister of Kerala state. Chandy contacted the Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia and various ministers.

As a result, the External Affairs secretary managed to convince the Saudi Government that Mr Joseph had merely become lost and had no malicious intent.

When the Saudis insist on promoting their religion in the West, and fund groups like CAIR to change the legislation in Muslims' favor, one wonders how they would feel if Muslims were ordered to be decapitated for trespassing on kaffir territory.....

UPDATE: The same story as above is carried by The Hindu, but the Arab News tells a different tale entirely. There are still elements which disturb.

The Arab News states that he was a passenger in a taxi, and therefore the taxi-driver should have been blamed for taking "Jojo" into a forbidden area. It reads:

There is no recorded incident where a non-Muslim was executed for entering restricted space in Madinah or Makkah. Authorities generally treat these violations in much the same way trespassing is dealt with. In cases where the violation seems accidental, authorities will simply escort the trespasser out of the prohibited zone.

Joseph was arrested and detained for three days after the taxi apparently took the wrong route and strayed into the prohibited zone of the city. The man was rushing to a hospital where his wife had given birth. Persons volunteering as morality enforcers spotted the man's maroon work/residency visa (denoting the carrier is non-Muslim) and called police.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 10:36 AM | Comments (1)

UK: Muslim Council's Interference In Blair's Policy

An article today from Family Security Matters by Adrian Morgan, on the Muslim Council of Britain.

Reproduced with acknowledgement to Family Security Matters.

FSM has often published in these pages that a robust Islamist fifth column is alive and well in America, working each day to undermine and destroy America from within. To make matters worse, FSM Contributing Editor Adrian Morgan informs us that the Islamist fifth column in Britain, spearheaded by the Muslim Council of Britain, has taken over nearly all reason in deciding the policies of Britain's Labour Government. Will our British ally turn out to be more like Chamberlain or Churchill in this existential 21st century war?

Muslim Council of Britain - Tony Blair's Extremists

Adrian Morgan

Founded in November 1997, the Muslim Council of Britain has long had the patronage of the UK government. It claims to represent at least 400 Muslim groups in Britain, and thus has been taken seriously by politicians and civil servants. As an unelected body representing only a fraction of the 3% of the nation's Muslims, its influence upon the elected Blair government has been disproportionate.

Last year, the MCB had argued for Blair to modify the almost obsolete 1697 Blasphemy Act, to include blasphemy against Islam as a crime. Blair obliged by introducing an "Incitement to Religious Hatred Act", which would have outlawed criticism of any religion, and given a maximum seven-year jail term for anyone guilty of "words or behavior intended or likely to stir up religious hatred". Note the word "likely" - the Bill removed any need to prove intent.

This bill, despite being against democratic principles of free speech, was pushed through the Lower House of Parliament in June, and then sent on to the Upper House (the Lords). Less than a month after the Commons passed this bill, four Muslims blew up themselves and 52 others on London Transport. The Bill was defeated by the House of Lords on October 25, 2005 by a majority of 149, and was only passed after its main points were removed.

The government had been considering outlawing the custom of forced marriage since October 2004. Each year, at least 250 young British Muslim girls are taken abroad, and forced to marry against their will. The MCB argued that children would have to give evidence against their parents, and claimed that such trials would "stigmatize" the Muslim community. As a result, the government announced in June that it had abandoned its plans. Muslim sensibilities were more important than the human rights of Muslim girls.

For a body to have such unprecedented influence upon the government, it could be assumed that the MCB is a paragon of virtue. This is not the case, and the MCB does not even represent the majority of British Muslims. Like CAIR, it is an organ of political Islam, intent on changing the politics of Britain. The government has encouraged them without question.

One of the founders of the MCB is Mehboob Kantharia, who was on its Central Working Committee from 1997 to 2004. He has since left the group. Last year he said that within the MCB is a faction that is anti-British, and anti-Islam. On the MCB's attitudes toward extremism, he said: "A lot of them still live in a state of denial. It is my personal belief that because they are in this state of denial, they cannot become... forthright about wanting to do something about the kind of extremism that prevails."

The MCB is overtly political, even though most UK Muslims are of the apolitical Sufi strand of Islam. With the MCB failing to represent their viewpoints, on July 19, this year, the Sufi Muslim Council of Britain was formed. This group represents at least 300 mosques, but was condemned by the MCB as "divisive".

Though the MCB publicly condemns extremism, its leading figures all have histories of encouraging extremism. Its last secretary general was Iqbal Sacranie, who headed MCB from 2004 to 2006. He is 55 years old. As a younger man, he was a leader of the campaigns against Salman Rushdie's book "The Satanic Verses". As a result of the publicity given by Sacranie and his associates, on February 14, 1989 Ayatollah Khomeini issued his notorious death-fatwa against Rushdie.

Sacranie said of Rushdie on the day of the fatwa: "Death, perhaps, is a bit too easy for him... his mind must be tormented for the rest of his life unless he asks for forgiveness to Almighty Allah."

In 1996, the extremist group Al-Mujahiroun invited Osama bin Laden to Britain, to attend a "Rally for Revival". The Board of Deputies of British Jews condemned the move, but Sacranie responded with the comment: "The Board of Deputies of British Jews should seriously consider what action they take on this matter because of the detrimental effect on community relations which could result. Taking a hostile view towards scholars who wish to come to this country to present their points of view at a conference will not serve good community relations."

By this time, bin Laden was known to be a militant, yet for Sacranie he was a "scholar". In January last year, Melanie Phillips asked Sacranie about how his proposed "Incitement to Religious Hatred" bill would affect comments about Muslim terrorism. Sacranie responded by saying: "There is no such thing as an Islamic terrorist. This is deeply offensive. Saying Muslims are terrorists would be covered by this provision."

Sacranie was knighted last June, in the 2005 Queen's Birthday honors list. Salman Rushdie responded in August that "If Sir Iqbal Sacranie is the best Blair can offer in the way of a good Muslim, we have a problem. The Sacranie case illustrates the weakness of the Blair government's strategy of relying on traditional, essentially orthodox Muslims to help eradicate Islamist radicalism."

Sacranie has praised Hamas suicide bombers as "freedom fighters", and has called Ahmad Yassin, the founder of Hamas "the renowned Islamic scholar". The MCB has consistently refused to partake in Holocaust Memorial Day celebrations, but Sacranie found time to attend a memorial service for Sheikh Yassin, held at the Regents Park Mosque.

In the Observer last Observer, Martin Bright noted that the MCB "has its origins in the extreme orthodox politics in Pakistan." He noted that both Sacranie and another key player in the MCB, Inayat Bunglawala, held the views of Syed Abul Ala Maududi in high regard. Maududi (1903-1979) wrote on how Islam should be a political force, and in 1941 he founded Pakistan's radical party Jamaat-e-Islami. His ideas influenced Sayyid Qutb, ideologue of the Muslim Brotherhood.  In Pakistan, Jamaat-e-Islami seeks to establish sharia law. In Bangladesh, the party is linked to the terrorist organization Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) whose leaders are awaiting execution for their bombing campaigns. Maududi called all non-Muslims "barbarians" and wrote that "the aim of Islam is to bring about a universal revolution".

Sacranie said: "Yes there is a following for Maududi in the UK. I am not a scholar, but in many areas I am inspired by what he has to say and in others I am not."

Inayat Bunglawala said: "Maududi is a very important Muslim thinker. The book that brought me to practice Islam was Now Let Us Be Muslims by Maududi."

Bunglawala called Osama bin Laden a "freedom fighter" in April 2001. In January 1993 he also called Omar Abdel Rahman "courageous", a month before the blind sheikh bombed the World Trade Center. Despite his support for fanatics, in September last year, Bunglawala was part of a government taskforce charged to work out a strategy against extremism. Tariq Ramadan, grandson of Hassan al-Banna (founder of the Muslim Brotherhood) has been denied entry entry to the US for funding terrorism. Yet Ramadan, who is not even a British citizen, was also invited to sit on this government taskforce.

In August last year, a brown paper envelope was sent to Martin Bright, containing a set of documents leaked from the UK government's Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The documents showed how the government was deliberately engaging with the Muslim Brotherhood, and also showed how the MCB were being allowed to influence government policy. The documents can be found in a pdf file HERE.

After the 7/7 suicide bombings in London, BBC journalist John Ware presented a documentary called "A Question of Leadership". A transcript of the show can be found HERE, and the documentary (40 minutes long) can be viewed HERE.

Even before the program was broadcast, Inayat Bunglawala was denouncing it, and saying that the BBC was "pro-Israel". Sacranie condemned the documentary. Details of Ware's investigation showed that the MCB was far from the "moderate" group it proclaimed itself to be.

MCB had included in its affiliate groups Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith, which has 41 branches in Britain. Its website advocated that "The disbelievers are misguided and their ways based on sick or deviant views concerning their societies, their universe and their very existence."

In June this year, the new secretary general of the MCB was announced. This man is Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari (pictured above left), who is chairman of the East London Mosque, which was built with donations from Saudi Arabia. Last year, when he was the deputy secretary general of the MCB, Bari was asked by Ware why he had invited the imam at the Grand Mosque at Mecca to the East London Mosque.

This imam, Sheikh Abdulrahman al-Sudais (also spelled Sudeis or Sudayyis), has frequently condemned Jews. He has said: "Read history and you will understand that the Jews of yesterday are the evil fathers of the Jews of today, who are evil offspring, infidels, distorters of words, calf-worshippers, prophet-murderers, prophecy-deniers... the scum of the human race 'whom Allah cursed and turned into apes and pigs...' These are the Jews, an ongoing continuum of deceit, obstinacy, licentiousness, evil, and corruption." In another sermon, Sudais has called Jews "the scum of the human race, the rats of the world, the violators of pacts and agreements, the murderers of the prophets, and the offspring of apes and pigs."

John Ware asked Bari: "Do I take it that if you were satisfied he had said such things you would not have invited him over?" Bari answered: "Well of course if it was proved that he exactly said this thing that you mentioned then why do you invited people who would be saying like this?"

Since coming to power as head of the MCB, Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari has shown his support for extremists. In July this year, Bari welcomed war criminal Delwar Hossain Sayeedi to the East London Mosque. Sayeedi (pictured above right) is a Bangladeshi member of Maududi's Jamaat-e-Islami.

In December last year in Bangladesh, Aman Ullah, a JMB terrorist was telling reporters of the links of Sayeedi and Jamaat-e-Islami to his terror group. Ullah's police handlers intervened, saying: "Why don't you ask him about Indian intelligence agency RAW and his visit to India instead of asking him about Sayeedi?"

Sayeedi has called Hindus excrement and has said that US soldiers in Iraq should convert to Islam or die, as well as other examples of hate speech. During Bangladesh's war for liberation from Pakistan, Sayeedi supplied young Bengali girls, abducted from villages, to the Pakistani military.

Sayeedi has a history of causing trouble in the UK. In 1999, he said that 90% of Muslim women were involved in illicit relationships. In 2000, his supporters beat up five Bangladeshi elders. In London, his thugs attacked three individuals, including an elderly man (pictured left).

The only reason for inviting Sayeedi to the East London Mosque is because of Bangladesh-born Muhammad Abdul Bari's support for Jamaat-e-Islami. Even though Eric Taylor, who is India Pakistan Relations Desk Officer, South Asia Group at the UK Foreign Office, warned that Sayeedi should not be allowed entry to Britain, his warnings were ignored by Mockbul Ali, the young Islamist at the Foreign Office, who awarded him a visa.

On August 12, the MCB was among several groups that signed a public document. This threatened the government that, if it did not change its foreign policy (i.e. Iraq and Afghanistan), there will be terrorism on British soil.

In the hands of Muhammad Abdul Bari, the MCB will continue to foster conflict within Britain's Muslim communities. Sadly, the MCB, which has constantly criticized Britain's terror laws, its police and its media, will continue to exert an undue influence upon the policies of Britain's Labour Government.

Family Security Matters Contributing Editor Adrian Morgan is a British based writer and artist who has written for Western Resistance since its inception. He also writes for Spero News. He has previously contributed to various publications, including the Guardian and New Scientist and is a former Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Society.

© 2003-2006 FamilySecurityMatters.org All Rights Reserved

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 7:22 AM | Comments (0)

UK: Airline Bans Bible To Appease Saudi Muslim Laws

Following on from the case of Nadia Eweida, an employee of British Airways, who was banned from wearing a small crucifix (even though BA allows Muslim hijabs and Sikh turbans) another British airline has proved itself to be more supportive of Islamism than Christianity, the national fait of Britain. A poll last year showed that 70% of people in the UK wanted Christian values to be upheld in Britain.

Not so for BMI (British Midland Airways) which is the only British airline to have flights to the Islamist kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Telegraph reports that a stewardess is taking BMI to an employment tribunal, because her employers forbid her from carrying her Bible on flights to Saudi Arabia.

BMI states for its part that it is only following advice from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, which states: "The importation and use of narcotics, alcohol, pork products and religious books, apart from the Koran, and artefacts are forbidden."

BMI states that is complying with Saudi law. But is Saudi Arabia's Islamofascist prohibition of Christian artefacts legal? Saudi Arabia is certainly hypocritical - it funds building of mosques in Britain and the United States. Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal promotes Islam in the West and last year he donated $20 million to found a center of "Muslim Christian understanding" at Georgetown University. He also gave the same figure to Harvard University to promote Islamic studies.

Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: "Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance." Saudi Arabia was one of eight nations which abstained from signing this declaration when it was accepted at the United Nations General Assembly of 1948.

Though not legally binding of itself, an announcement at the 1968 United Nations International Conference on Human Rights stated that the Declaration of Human Rights "constitutes an obligation for the members of the international community".

Saudi Arabia has been condemned by the United States under the terms of its International Religious Freedom Act of 1998. The US Commission on International Religious Freedom was founded as a result of this Act. In September of last year, Eritrea became the first nation to undergo US sanctions as a result of its religious intolerance. Saudi Arabia too was listed as a violator of the terms of the 1998 Act, but was allowed a waiver of 6 months by Condoleezza Rice, to allow the nation to move towards more freedom.

Obviously Saudi Arabia has made absolutely no attempts to become more tolerant of other faiths, and remains on a USCIRF watch list, with no punitive sanctions enforced against it.

The unnamed employee of BNI will probably have no rights to carry her Bible onto a plane bound for Saudi Arabia, but as demonstrated below, Saudi Arabia is allowed to do what it wants with Britain.

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

Saudi Corruption Condoned by UK Government

British defense firm BAE has been involved in a $19.6 billion contract to produce 72 Typhoon fighters for the Saudi government. This contract is part of a package which began with Al Yamamah contract secured by Margaret Thatcher two decades ago.

However, for 3 years, 15 members of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) have been investigating allegations that BAE officials had been involved in bribing the Saudis. This involved a "slush fund" of $110 million. The inquiry was halted by the SFO, acting on instruction from Tony Blair and the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith. On Thursday, Goldsmith had told Parliament that he had closed the inquiry after he "obtained the views of the Prime Minister and the Foreign and Defence Secretaries" on the effect that the investigation was having upon Anglo-Saudi relations.

The government appeared to be blackmailed by the Saudis, who threatened earlier this month that if the SFO did not drop its investigation within 10 days, the contract for the Typhoon jets would be scrapped.

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister, Prince Saud Al-Faisal has dismissed the reports of the corruption as "baseless". He said: "Old stories are repeated now and then in order to create some kind of suspicion not only about the deal but also bilateral relations."

A legal challenge to the SFO decision is likely to be mounted, states the Times. The solicitors Leigh Day & Co have been instructed by Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) and The Corner House, a social justice group to initiate a case.

Blair is facing some tough questions on the dropping of the corruption inquiry. The Liberal Democrat party have said the issue risks Britain's international reputation. Professor Mark Pietch of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) claims to have concerns at the political interference in the decision.

The Independent on Sunday claims that police involved in the inquiry are saying that they were "bugged" as they made their investigations.

This case is just another example of how shabby Britain's moralists like Blair really are, when faced with the chance of bettering financial relationships with an ugly Islamofascist regime like Saudi Arabia.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 4:41 AM | Comments (0)

Netherlands: Muslim "Terrorist" Will Be Extradited To US

News from Expatica and Associated Press:

Yesterday a court in the Hague ruled that a Dutch citizen of Iraqi origin will be extradited to the United States, accused of possessing explosives and planning attacks against US military personnel in Iraq in 2003.

The man, 32-year old Wesam al Delaema, has made claims that he will not receive a fair trial in the US, and is likely to face torture there. In 2003 in Fallujah, Delaema took video footage of Islamists from the group "Warriors of Fallujah" preparing a roadside bomb.

Delaema's home in Amersfoort was raided in May last year after information was provided by the US. A copy of the video, which had been broadcast on Arabic TV channels, was found in his home.

In 2003, Delaema appeared on Dutch TV denouncing the US, and saying: "I don't care if I myself die or not. I want to offer myself up for my land, for my people." His family claims Delaema was joking in this interview.

The US authorities state that Delaema will be tried in a federal rather than a military court, and have said that if he is convicted in the US they have no objections to him spending his jail term in a Dutch prison.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 3:08 AM | Comments (1)

UK: Muslim Murderer Fled Country In Sister's Veil

On November 18 last year, two policewomen responded to an armed raid at a Universal Express travel agent's office in Bradford, Yorkshire. Both women were shot by the gunmen, who were Somali. 38-year old Sharon Beshenivsky died as a result of her injuries. Her colleague Teresa Milburn was seriously injured, but survived. The death of WPC Beshenivsky happened on the same day that her youngest daughter Lydia was holding her fourth birthday. Her family knew when Sharon did not arrive for Lydia's party that something was wrong.

The prime suspect in the murder was 25-year old Mustaf Jama, who had 21 previous convictions. On May 4 it was revealed that Mustaf Jama had fled to his native Somalia. Jama had not been deported after serving a prison sentence, because the Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, had ruled that Somalia was too dangerous. A few days later, Clarke was sacked, and was replaced by John Reid.

The 11-week long murder trial of five Somali men took place at Newcastle Crown Court. 25-year old Muzzaker Imtiaz Shah pleaded guilty to WPC Sharon Beshenivsky's murder in early October. The gang was said to have brought a machine gun, a knife and a pistol to the raid. The night before the fatal raid took place, the gang of seven drank champagne at an address in Harehills Lane, Leeds.

On Monday December 18, Yusuf Abdillh Jama, the younger brother of Mustaf Jamma, was convicted of murder.

25-year old Raza Ul-Haq Aslam was cleared of manslaughter and murder. Brothers 25-year old Faisal Razzaq and 26-year old Hassan Razzaq of orest Gate, London, were convicted of manslaughter.

Piran Ditta Khan is another member of the gang, who like Mustafa Jama has eluded detection. It is now revealed by various news sources, including the Times, BBC that Mustaf Jamma is thought to have fled the country while wearing a Muslim woman's face-veil, and carrying his sister's passport.

The shadow Home Secretary, David Davis, has said that Jamma's escape through passport control wearing a veil was "barely credible", Davis said: "Doing so when an All Persons Bulletin for murder has been issued demonstrates that our borders are not just porous but non-existent."

Jama (pictured left) is said to have fled Britain between Christmas Day and New Year's Day a year ago. His face had been widely publicized. Jamma's father was formerly a Somali MP who was a cousin of the ousted dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. The Times states that "British immigration officers rarely carry out a visual check to match a passport photograph with a departing female passenger's veiled face."

Mustaf Jama and his brother Yusuf were asylum seekers. Yesterday, Sharon Beshenivsky's father said: "It is absolutely disgusting that this man - a criminal who acts like an animal - is shown human rights. What about my kids, my wife, my family?"

The Telegraph reports that Mustaf Jama had entered Britain using a forged passport, and thus should never have been granted asylum. A leader states that Jama's "escape was made possible by our misguided acceptance of a form of dress that so effectively conceals an individual's identity as to make even his gender unrecognisable."

During their trial, the members of the Somali gang made much of their Islamic faith, even leading the case to be briefly suspended to allow the men to have a day off for Eid al-Fitr (the holiday after Ramadan ends). In the raid, Muzzaker Shah warned the staff at Universal Express: "Don't make me shoot you on a Friday (holy day for Muslims)." Despite their "piety", some of the gang attended a brothel on the night preceding the raid.

In October, the Times revealed that at least one UK terrorist has evaded detection while wearing Muslim woman disguise, with a niqab or face-veil to hide his features. In Iraq and Afghanistan, terrorists have disguised themselves in burkas, and the Sunni murderer Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was said to frequently disguise himself as a veiled woman.

This case of Mustaf Jama is bound to fuel the controversy over the veil, which was initiated in Britain after comments made by former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw on October 5. The full face veil is not an Islamic obligation, and is really a political gesture, representing Islamism's contempt for Western values. For more information see the article by Adrian Morgan on Family Security Matters and a Danish article by Chahdorrt Djavann, translated on Gates of Vienna.

In Canada last month, a burka-wearing Muslim "woman" with her male partner conducted a robbery at a Toronto jewelry store. "She" was a man, who drew a gun on the store owner, Abdul Rasheed Khalid. Surely it is time to discuss the banning of all face coverings, in the name of public security?

Keyword: Jamma, Jama, burka, burqa, niqab, nikab, hijab

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

December 19, 2006

Spain: Arrested Islamists "Members Of Salafia Jihadia"

On December 12, 11 Islamists were arrested in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, on the North African Coast ("Spanish Morocco"). Two of these were brothers of the "Spanish Taliban", Hamed Abderrahman Ahmed, who had spent time in Guantanamo.

News from: Reuters AlertNet, EITB24, Associated Press, Canoe News, Zee News and Eapatica.

The National Court judge who had ordered the arrests of the 10 Spaniards and one Moroccan, Baltasar Garzon, ordered on Sunday evening that four of the men should be released. These four should keep the authorities informed of their whereabouts at all times.

The surveillance of the eleven individuals had taken place for more than a year. The seven who were jailed include the two brothers of the "Spanish Taliban". According to Judge Garzon, the men are members of the group Salafia Jihadia, which he described as part of Al Qaeda's North African network.

Garzon made a statement: "The focus of this group is the Darkawia mosque. In this the leaders of the group... carried out proselytising and recruiting work to create a Yihad (Jihad) with international connections in Morocco, using common crime as a means of finance."

"Police action prevented the group from forming itself further, which would have greatly raised the threat against lives and physical targets."

The suspects had been arrested because they were believed to be close to mounting attacks. In the raids, which took place before dawn in locations around Ceuta, a farewell note had been written by one of the men, to his mother.

According to Garzon, this letter read: "Allah sent me to fight and to be sacrificed for his cause. We beg Allah to accept our effort and to give us shelter in the sublimity of his paradise. Do not suffer or cry for me. I will always be in your hearts."

Other items which had been seized in the raid included false identity papers, a bullet-proof vest, an "incriminating video", audio material and cash. Garzon suggested the men planned to attack an arms depot and a supermarket.

Salafia Jihadia

The group Salafia Jihadia or Salafia Yihadia, which is also known as At-Takfir wal-Hijrah, was formed in the 1990s and is based in Morocco. One of its leaders, Ilamado Yusef Fikri, was sentenced to death on July 12, 2003. 21 members of the group were sentenced to terms ranging from 12 months to life imprisonment. Eight people got life sentences, seven received 20 year terms, five had 10 year jail terms, and one individual was sentenced to a year's jail.

These individuals had not been accused of the bombings at Casablanca, which had taken place on May 16, 2003. Ilamado Yusef Fikri had written letters to the local newspapers, claiming to have killed people for being "enemies of Allah". One of those whom Fikri had killed was his own uncle, whom he suspected of being a homosexual.

Though the associates of Fikri were not themselves charged with the Casablancca bombings, the attacks of May 16 2003 killed 45 people, and led to a crackdown on other members of Salafia Jihadia.

As Fikri's cell was charged, ten members of Salafia Jihadia (including Fikri himself, Mohamed Damir, Saleh Zarli, Abderrazak Faouzi, Kamal Hanuichi, Bouchaib Guermach, Lakbir Kutubi, Buchaib Mghader, Omar Maaruf and Laarbi Daqiq) were sentenced to death for involvement in the plot to carry out the Casablanca bombings.

According to MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base, the goals of Salafia Jihadia are to overthrow "impious" Arab governments and to use violence to force the West to cease supporting such regimes. Salafia Jihadia is linked to GICM (Groupe Islamique Combattant Marocain) which aims to establish an Islamist state in Morocco. GICM had its assets frozen by the US Treasury on November 22, 2002.

It has been argued that Salafia Jihadia, rather than being a coherent entity is in fact a grouping of smaller autonomous cells. In late 2004, the Moroccan Justice Ministry stated that Salafia Jihadia had 699 activists. Some of those who took part in the Casablanca suicide bombings, such as Abdelaziz Beyaich, are known to have been Salafia Jihadia activists. The 14 attackers had come from a bidonville of Casablanca, called Sidi Moumen. In the wake of the Casablanca, many youths from the run-down suburbs of Moroccan cities joined up to Salafia Jihadia.

On the second anniversary of 9/11, a leading Jewish Moroccan, Albert Ribido, was killed by Salafia Jihadia. The Casablanca bombings had attacked three Jewish targets, including a Jewish cemetery and a Jewish-owned restaurant.

The "spiritual leader" of Salafia Jihadia, Mohamed Fizazi is currently serving a 30-year jail term, imposed on him in August 2003. Originally from Tangier, but moved to Sidi Moumen, Casablanca. He claimed Osama bin Laden to be a "companion of the prophet", and said that "Christians and Jews should have their throats slit."

He preached at the Al-Qods mosque in Hamburg, Germany, where his audience included members of the "Hamburg Cell" which spawned the 9/11 attacks. Mohammed Atta attended this mosque. Fizazi left Germany before the attacks on the United States.

Fizazi is said to have had communications with Jamal Zougam, Mohamed Chaoui, and Abelaziz Benyaich from northern Morocco, three of the individuals who are charged with involvement in the Madrid train bombings of March 11, 2004.

For more information on terrorism and extremism in Morocco, see articles by the Jamestown Foundation, from May 2005 and October 2005.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 7:07 PM | Comments (0)

Sudan: Sunni Islamists Condemn Shia Influence

News from AKI reports that the Sudanese wing of the Muslim Brotherhood had a meeting yesterday with the Khartoum authorities. The Brotherhood members warned that Iran has been making attempts to convert Sudanese Sunnis to Shia Islam.

The leader of the Sudan chapter of the Brotherhood, Sadiq Abdullah Abdel Majid, told al-Hayat newspaper: "It's a large scale plan conceived by Shiite groups and local organisations with the objective of spreading Shiitism in Sudan."

Several Shi'ite mosques have been opened in Khartoum recently. The Muslim Brotherhood have asked the authorities to close the Iranian embassy's cultural center, and to prohibit any conferences or propaganda mounted by this center. Majid blamed the Sudanese authorities for not exerting enough control, allowing Shia "penetration" in the country.

The number of conversions from Sunni to Shia Islam has risen recently in the east and Horn of Africa, apparently linked to the high profile operations of Hizbollah in their conflict with Israel this summer.

Last week, 11 teachers in Algeria were suspended, blamed on spreading Shia propaganda amongst their pupils.

Shia Islam began as a result of the schism which happened in the line of succession from Mohammed. Ali Ibn Abi Talib, the cousin of Mohammed, was for Sunni Muslims the fourth Caliph, who succeeded Uthman, who was overthrown by a mob and murdered in his house at Medina. Ali was murdered by Kharijite assassins in 661 AD. He had married Fatima Zahra, daughter of Mohammed for nine years and she had borne two sons and two daughters.

According to the Hadith of Sunan Abu Dawud (Book 36, Number 4271), the future Muslim "messiah"or "Mahdi" will be descended from the line of Fatima. The death of Ali was the trigger for the schism between Shia and Sunni. The Shia claim that Mohammed had chosen Ali as his successor, and therefore refer to him as the first Caliph.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 5:38 PM | Comments (0)

Libya: Medical Workers Sentenced to Death in HIV Conspiracy Case

This dirty conspiracy, after serving its originals purposes of manufacturing grievances against the United States and Israel, deflecting responsibility for the suffering of those children, and propping up the Ghadaffi regime in the process, is now doubling as an extortion scheme. These are the people we are asked to sacrifice for by our governments: Medical workers sentenced to death in HIV retrial in Libya

PARIS: A Libyan court on Tuesday again sentenced five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor to be shot by a firing squad for deliberately infecting more than 400 children with HIV, more than 50 of whom have died. The decision complicates Libya's efforts to improve relations with the West.

The verdict drew expressions of anger and alarm from Bulgaria and its supporters in the nearly eight-year-old case, which now appears likely to drag on for months, if not years, more.

"We are going to urge the Libyan political leadership to engage in the process," the Bulgarian foreign minister, Ivailo Kalfin, said from Washington, where he met with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice hours after the verdict was announced.

Kalfin said his country was working through the Libyan Foreign Ministry to ask the nation's leader, Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi, and political institutions to intervene on the ground that an inefficient and biased judicial system had failed to deal with the case credibly.[...]

Hat tip, The Religion of Peace.

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 5:23 PM | Comments (0)

Iran: Merry Christmas, Islamic Style

More Islamic "Tolerance", from the Shi'a Theocracy, with thansk to Giussani: Police arrest 15 members of Christian sect in lead-up to Christmas

Teheran (AsiaNews) - Iran' secret police have conducted raids against some Christian communities in the lead-up to Christmas. On Sunday, 10 December officials arrested 15 Christians in different areas of the country: Karaj, Teheran, Rasht and Bandar-Anzali. Only two have been released, according to the Compass Direct agency that broke the news on 14 December. Compass initially reported 10 arrests but yesterday more details became available.[...]

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 5:14 PM | Comments (0)

December 18, 2006

Germany: Muslims Refuse To Attend Mohammed Opera

On September 25 Germany's main opera house, the Berlin-based Deutsche Oper, announced that it had cancelled a production of Mozart's opera "Idomeneo". The opera contains no references to Mohammed, founder of Islam, but the director of the scheduled production decided to add some extras. Hans Neuenfels had first presented his amended version of Idomeneo in December 2003, and then it had incited some outrage.

In one scene, the hero of the opera is singing, while the severed heads of Mohammed (pictured), Christ, Buddha and Poseidon are carried onto the stage by the king of Crete, and are placed on four chairs. A theme of the original 1781 opera was about the sacrifice of humans to a sea monster sent by a deity (Poseidon), and Neuenfels had expanded the theme to condemn all organized religions.

Originally scheduled to be performed on November 5, 8, 15, and 18, the director of Deutsche Oper, Kirsten Harms decided that the production could be on the receiving end of Muslim retaliation. She said that Ehrhart Korting, the regional Interior Senator, had warned her in August. Harms said that the senator had claimed to love the "Deutsche Oper very much, drives past it every day and wouldn't like it if it weren't there anymore".

The staff of the opera house had agreed with the decision.

However, the move to abandon the production, for fear of how Muslims may have reacted, was condemned by politicians, such as Berlin's mayor, Klaus Wowereit, and the Deputy Parliamentary Speaker, Wolfgang Thierse. The latter said: "This is a very dangerous sign about fears of violence motivated by Islam in Germany. Has it come so far that we must limit artistic expression? What will be next?"

Peter Ramsauer, head of the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU), said that the decision to drop Idomeneo was motivated by a "naked fear of Violence", and was an act of "pure cowardice". Wolfgang Schaeuble, Germany's Interior Minister warned that by showing too much sensitivity to Muslim sensibilities, the non-Muslim world "will not succeed in convincing people" that free speech and tolerance "are better than fundamentalism." Even Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is said to love opera, condemned Deitsche Oper's"self-censorship out of fear".

Muslim reactions seemed tolerant. The head of Germany's Islamic Council, Ali Kizilkaya, agreed that an image of a severed head of Mohammed "would offend Muslims" but observed: "I think it is horrible that one has to be afraid...That is not the right way to open dialogue."

Kenan Kolat, a leader of the German Turkish community said: "This is about art, not about politics. We should not make art dependent on religion - then we are back in the Middle Ages."

Following widespread criticism to withdraw the production, Deutsche Oper reconsidered its decision. Tonight, the opera will be shown at the Opera House, with another performance on December 29.

According to DPA, two notable figures in Germany's Muslim community have refused to attend either of the two performances.

In November, the Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble invited Ali Kizilkaya, head of the Islamic Council, to attend tonight's performance. Kizilkaya refused. Schaeuble is said to be at the Deutsche Oper, with Klaus Wowereit and the federal minister for cultural affairs, Bernd Neumann.

On Sunday, Aiman Mazyek, secretary general of the Central Council of Muslims told Tagespeigel newspaper: "I go to the opera to relax and not to be thrown into the same pot with religion, art and politics. I am a member of a religious community, not an arts critic or responsible for matters of taste."

According to Associated Press, Deutsche Oper's spokesman Alexander Busche has said that electronic scanners will be operating at all gates. Kenan Kolat, the Turkish community leader, is scheduled to attend. Neuenfels, the director, will not be attending.

DL-Online states that the original four heads which had been intended to appear in the withdrawn November performances had disappeared - either stolen by pranksters or mislaid. The heads have been remade.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 3:24 PM | Comments (1)

December 17, 2006

UK: Muslims Condemn School's Political Correctness

With a Hat Tip to Marc at USS Neverdock, a story how the politically correct desire not to "offend" has exposed the ignorance abounding at a British place of learning. The Burnley Citizen reports that Walter Street Primary School in Brierfield, Lancashire, has dropped the term "Virgin Mary" from its Christmas cards this year.

The school has a 90% majority of Muslim pupils, and the head teacher, Sarah Watson, thought the move would be necessary to "tread a line between two faiths....We mention the birth of Jesus, but we cut reference to the Virgin Mary to just Mary because Muslims believe Jesus was a prophet, not the son of God."

The move has exposed how little Ms Watson knows of the religion of her pupils' families. And in her desire to be patronizing towards Muslims in this manner, she has been condemned by Muslims.

The Koran has an entire Sura (Number 19, "Maryam") dedicated to Mary, in which it asserts that she is a Virgin. Once she conceives, she gives birth to Christ under a date palm, which drops its fruit for her to eat. In some Arab countries, a woman who has given birth is traditionally given three dates to eat.

Anjum Anwar, who heads Lancashire's Forum of Faiths and is education co-ordinator of the Lancashire Council of Mosques, said: "This is absurd and offensive. The Virgin Mary is covered extensively in a chapter of the Koran and Muslims believe Jesus, praise be upon him, was born from an immaculate conception. The Virgin Mary is also considered a role model. Muslims don't want to see Christmas diluted. The intentions may well be good but it is a Christian festival and should be celebrated accordingly."

Last month, Muslims from the Christian Muslim Forum delivered a savage attack upon politically correct town councils in Britain who have tried to excise mentions of Christmas. In 1998, the city council at Birmingham in the Midlands decided to call its Christmas festivities "Winterval".

The Royal Mail has issued this year's Christmas stamps with no reference to Christmas at all. The Christian Muslim Forum, a grouping of Muslim and Christian leaders, condemned the secularisation of Christmas. Muslim representatives claimed that by removing Christmas references from Christmas, "extremists" would blame Muslims.

One school in Rotherham decided that in order to have its Muslim pupils (20% of the total) to enjoy a Christmas dinner with non-Muslim children, 100% of the pupils would have to eat halal chicken. The Oakwood School had thought the move would be a gesture of sharing, unaware that many people in Britain find halal methods of slaughtering (where a creature's throat is slit and the blood slowly drained) barbaric.

One parent explained: "It has really rocked my boat because I feel my culture is being stolen away from me. I have no objection to halal meat being on the menu so long as there is a choice of traditional Christmas fare. Our culture and religion are being trampled on and it is not right."

The school eventually backed down, and agreed to have optional halal chicken and traditional turkey with all the trimmings.

Britain's efforts to be politically correct have been enacted in North America. In one recent instance, pandering to suppositions about other people's faiths backfired spectacularly.

When Sasha Cohen, a 22-year old US Olympic medal winning ice skater was recently performing, a choir was ordered to stop singing. The choir at Rubidoux High School Madrigals in Riverside, California, were singing "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" when they abruptly broke off.

The reason was that Staci Della-Rocco, director of the choir, had been asked not to sing a Christian carol in front of a Jewish performer because he was fearful of a lawsuit. Sasha Cohen was not pleased. Her mother Galina said that Sasha "celebrates everything" at this time. She said her daughter "was stunned. We both thought the voices were just lovely, they were doing such a wonderful job. Christmas carols are part of celebrating the holiday season."

In Toronto, Canada, a Christmas tree was removed from a courthouse lobby in case it offended non-Christians.

Tarek Fatah, founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress said: "It's so stupid. I'm at a loss for words. The judge should take a trip to the rest of the world. Christmas is celebrated by Muslims in many countries - they should ban political correctness, not Christmas trees."

Sometimes excuses for not offending people are suspicious, such as a decision by the Royal Bank of Scotland, which has banned all Christmas decorations in its offices and branches, because it claims these are threats to Health and Safety, or "Elf and Safety" as Christmas safety regulations have been dubbed.

Muslims seem more prepared to encourage traditional Christmas than politically correct non-Muslims, who would rather chuck their own traditions away in favor of the supposed sensibilities of others.

In Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, Muslims have spoken up against the bland exhortations in the town and Aylesbury Vale district for people to have "Season's Greetings" among the Christmas lights. Only the Friars Square Shopping Centre in Kingsbury Square actually displays the words 'Merry Christmas.' Christmas lights began as a tradition, because of Christmas. To deny this seems shallow and on the part of the council, an exercise in secular commercialism.

Politicians in Britain, such as Gordon Brown, and also John Reid, the Home Secretary, have objected to the secular messages. John Reid said he was "sick and tired" of political correctness which means that Christmas cannot be called "Christmas".

The US store chain Walmart had in recent years wanted to stop its staff wishing customers a "Merry Christmas", substituting instead "Happy Holidays". Last year, the store was condemned for promoting Hannukah and the entirely fictitious pseudo-Gambian festival of "Kwanzaa" but not Christmas.

This fall, when the company announced to a convening of 7,000 store managers that it intended to refer to Christmas "early and often", the hall erupted with cheers.

In Warwick, New York State, a school has been threatened with a lawsuit for its plans to have its annual fund-raiser, called "Breakfast with Santa". A parent, with an attitude so politically correct that one could describe it as deranged, has said that the proposed visit of Santa Claus would offend non-Christians.

A poll in the United States has shown that 95% of Americans found nothing offensive in the term "Merry Christmas". However, the same poll showed that 46% were offended by the term "Happy Holidays".

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 5:41 PM | Comments (10)

Indonesia: How Islamist Fanatics Diverted Tsunami Donations

On Boxing Day, December 26, 2004 a tsunami struck southeast Asia. People in the West were shocked by the carnage. Many Western tourists on Christmas vacation in Thailand were swept away. The images of the tsunami, captured as it surged inland by hand held video cameras, and images of the scale of its aftermath, touched the consciences of people throughout the world. Donations began to pour in to the stricken regions.

The worst affected area was the province of Aceh, on the northeastern tip of Sumatra in Indonesia. 260,000 people lost their lives, with 170,000 of these in Indonesia. Western aid workers were despatched to Banda Aceh, the coastal regency which received the full force of the giant wave.

As philanthropic work was being carried out by these relief workers, the Islamists were quick to exploit the situation to their own ends. Foremost among these were the militants of the Front Pembela Islam, or Islamic Defenders' Front. In January 2005, Hasri Husan, a leader of the group, made plain to Christian charity workers that any who attempted to "spread Christianity" would be killed. "We will chase down any Christian group that does anything beyond offering aid," he threatened, making a gesture of throat-slitting.

The Front Pembela Islam is one of the main forces which is trying to turn Indonesia's "moderate" version of Islam into a hardline sharia-controlled variety. They had 5,000 individuals in the tsunami disaster area within a month of the calamity. Other groups who came to Banda Aceh were the Islamic extremists of Hizb ut-Tahrir and Laskar Mujahideen. The latter group had been involved in fighting a sectarian religious war in Sulawesi and the Moluccas between 1998 and 2002, which killed 9,000 people, mostly Christians.

One local group took advantage of the tsunami's destruction to finally gain a semi-autonomy within Indonesia. The GAM (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka) had been fighting for thirty years for independence. 15,000 people had died in the fighting between the factions of GAM and government. In August 2005, a peace deal was signed in Finland between GAM representatives and indonesia.

By October 2005, 500,000 people still remained homeless in Aceh as a result of the tsunami, but by this time, the Islamists in the region had made steps towards implementing full sharia law.

A religious police force, called the Wilayatul Hisbah was able to control the population, exploiting religious beliefs to enact strict discipline upon the stricken survivors. Marluddin Jalil, a sharia judge, told people in the region last December that "The tsunami was because of the sins of the people of Aceh". He also said that it had brought about because women had been sinful. A year ago, he was telling housewives: "The Holy Koran says that if women are good, then a country is good."

Sharia law had officially been introduced in 2002 to Aceh - the first of Indonesia's 33 provinces to enact Islamic law. Before the tsunami, enforcement of Islamic law generally applied only to issues of family law, but with the promotion of the myth that the tsunami had come because of the region's sins, its enforcers became more draconian. The Wilyatul Hisbah made sure that women were to be kept under strict control. Women without headscarfs were hunted down, and if girls were found in cars with boyfriends, they were taken in front of the Islamic courts. If a woman is in close proximity to a man who is not a close family member or her husband, she is guilty of an Islamic crime called "khalwat". Additionally, women transgressors were paraded in public in an open car, a spectacle of shame to be jeered at by their communities.

In Lhokseumawe, 20 women had been punished in this way last December. Canings began to take place under sharia, but last year these punishments, which had previously taken place in private, became public spectacles. By March this year, 100 men and women in Aceh had been subjected to beatings.

The BBC described this month how trucks containing members of the Wilayatul Hisbah drive around, specifically looking for people to target. One woman member of this morality police said: "We just patrol around. We look for anyone not wearing proper Islamic dress, or any couples who are hanging out together without being married. We usually head down towards the beach - there's where lots of people hang out."

Even a husband and wife who are sitting in a car get a stern lecture from the Wilyatul Hisbah enforcers. The woman told the BBC: "We reminded them that in Aceh you have Sharia Law now and you're not allowed to do this even though they were actually husband and wife. This is a public place and it stirs up socially jealousy - people don't know they're husband and wife, so they're not allowed to do it."

Under sharia law, there is nothing to prevent a man sitting in close proximity with his wife. But power obviously has corrupted many within the Wilyatul Hisbah.

In theory, under Sharia Law, the law is applied to Muslims. Where there is a civil code and Sharia, a non-Muslim should be tried under the civil code, but not in Aceh.

In April this year, a minister in the Indonesian government, state secretary Yusril Ihza Mahendra, announced that in one district of Aceh, non-Muslims would not be allowed the option of being tried under the Indonesian civil code.

Yusril announced that a new Islamic Court would be set up in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam district. Non-Muslims who are accused of crimes like theft and adultery will have no choice but to submit to sharia by-laws. The state secretary said a two-tier legal system would create legal confusion. He said: "Should such freedom be given, non-Muslims will certainly choose to be tried under the Criminal Code, because it carries more lenient punishment."

In mid-July this year, the public beatings (carried out with a rattan or cane, which must be 1.2 meters long) took on a new dimension of spectacle, when a caning was broadcast nationally. 27-year old Saifullah Bin Ali had been caught by the Wilyatul Hisbah drinking alcohol. He was taken onto a stage, forced to kneel, and was lashed with the cane. He had been sentenced to 40 lashes, but after 7 strokes, he passed out.

Members of the WIlyatul Hisbah carry a blue book, entitled The Law of Islam in Aceh at a Glance. This lists the varioous punishments for transgressing Sharia.

Not going to the mosque for Friday prayers on three occasions: six months' jail or three strokes of the cane.

Eating and drinking in public during the fasting month: four months' jail or two strokes of the cane.

Consuming alcohol: 40 strokes of the cane.

Committing an immoral act such as sex outside marriage: maximum nine strokes of the cane and minimum three strokes and/or a fine.

The Sharia law enforced in Aceh is only partial, as it does not allow for amputations or stoning to death for "zina" - illicit intercourse, such as adultery. Some Muslim clerics bemoan this lack of totalitarianism in their sharia arrangements. Mawardi Sirega, a Muslim teacher, said: "Shariat Islam in Aceh is only lipstick."

For many within Aceh, particularly women and human rights workers, the sharia system as enforced by the Wilyatul Hisbah has already gone too far from the values they enjoyed in Aceh when it was just another province in Indonesia.

The Sunday Times today reports on the situation in what has now become in the eyes of many of its inhabitants a corrupt province. And as someone who donated the contents of my penny jar (more than $50) to tsunami relief, I find it shocking to hear that the implementation of sharia by over-zealous Islamists has been funded in the main from tsunami donations.

The Times states that international aid workers and Indonesian women's organizations are shocked to find donations intended for relief have been siphoned off to subsidize a top-heavy bureaucracy and more enforcers of the Wilyatul Hisbah. According to some, there are more of the Wilyatul Hisbah than there are regular police, and many of these Islamist "enforcers" are aggressive young men.

A woman lecturer at the Ar-Raniri University in Aceh, Nurjannah Ismail, said: "Who are these sharia police? They are men who, most of the time, are trying to send the message that their position is higher than women."

In Lhokseumawe, women are to be subjected to a gender-based curfew, if current plans come to fruition. No woman will be allowed out after dark.

As a result of the activities of the Front Pembela Islam and the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI), several provinces and municipalities have already enforced sharia by-laws, and women caught outside after dark have been prosecuted for prostitution.

The public canings have now numbered 140 in the province. But worse may be to come. Today's Jakarta Post reports on the consternation which has greeted the new bill which has been proposed in Aceh - amputation. I cannot believe anyone gave their donations to the tsunami remotely believing that their gifts would be ear marked for this.

The "Bill on thieves" contains the following:

Chapter 4: Anyone stealing others' belongings (that are) equal to 94 grams of gold with the intention of possession faces the threat on hand-amputation (jarimah uhud)

Chapter 5: Anyone stealing others' belongings equal to 94 grams of gold or more faces the threat of a maximum 60 canings (uqubuat ta'zir) and a minimum 20 canings or a maximum fine of Rp 60 million and a minimum Rp 20 million or a maximum ten years' imprisonment and a minimum 39-month jail sentence.

Chapter 7: Anyone stealing others' belongings equal to six but less than 46 grams of gold faces the threat of 15 canings at maximum and five caning in minimum, a maximum fine of Rp 15 million and a minimum Rp 5 million or a maximum 30 month-jail sentence and minimum ten-month jail sentence.

Chapter 8: Anyone stealing others' belongings equal to less than six grams of gold faces a maximum five canings and minimum two canings, or a maximum fine of 5 million and Rp 2 million in minimum, or a maximum ten-month jail sentence and a minimum four-month jail sentence.

There are still signs of hope for those who wished for the moderate version of Islam favored by the majority of Indonesians to thrive in Aceh. There were gubernatorial elections on Monday December 11, part of the package of reforms promised in the August 2005 peace deal negotiated between the GAM rebels and the government.

The clear victor in the elections was Irwandi Yusuf, though vote-counting has yet to be officially completed. Irwandi is a graduate in veterinary science, which he studied in Oregon. He had been in prison as a GAM fighter two years ago. After the tsunami arrived, he escaped from jail and joined other GAM representatives in Finland.

He is not impressed by the way sharia has been implemented by moral vigilantes. He says it would be better to impose sharia amputations on people who are engaged in corruption in Aceh's bureaucracy. He claimed: "If the harsh bill is imposed on corrupters it will effectively help eliminate or minimize the corruption that has contributed to the poverty of a majority of the Acehnese people."

"Sharia law was created not to get humans in trouble but to form an Islamic religious community. How can we prohibit people from stealing what they need to survive after their rights have long since been stolen. The bill will be effective only after the people's social welfare has improved."

As governor, he will be entitled to pass or prohibit bills. He has said that he will not pass such a bill. He said on Friday: "I will never agree to such a stiff bill. Common people steal because they're hungry and they usually commit such crimes because their situation forces them to do so. It is not fair to impose such a harsh sanction on the common people."

There is still an air of tension in Aceh. The international Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM) has now left, after monitoring the elections for provincial governor. Their mandate ran out on December 15, and if the peace which has lasted so far breaks down, it will be up to the corrupt authorities in Aceh to maintain law and order. If corruption is not imposed on the poll results and Irwandi Yusuf takes up his post as governor, then the amputation bill will become vetoed. Whether he will act to draw back the powers of the vigilantes within the Wilyatul Hisbah is another issue entirely.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 3:11 PM | Comments (1)

UK: "Nun" Convicted of Religious Harassment

Of all the people who might be convicted of religious harassment, they convict a nun? Nun accused of religious harassment

A nun was convicted of religious harassment after ranting against 'terrorist' Muslims in the middle of London's busy Oxford Street.

Sister Ruth Augustus, 66, was fined £200 after she shouted at two women in full robes and veils "you're probably terrorists, get back to your own country".

Later she told cops who arrested her they should go back to Iraq and have their heads chopped off.

City of Westminster Magistrates Court heard how trouble flared when Augustus, a missionary who has worked with prostitutes in the developing world, was handing out prayer leaflets outside Debenhams department store on Easter Tuesday.

When people of Muslim appearance passed she called out "Jesus loves Muslims," but two ladies in traditional dress took offence.

Fellow leafleter, Tony Rollins, told the court: "The ladies answered back and told her shut her stupid mouth.

"Sister Ruth said to them 'you're probably terrorists, get back to your own country'. They gave her a long, hard stare before walking away.[...]

Update: 'Sister' Ruth is not a nun--but the point about the double standard remains. I have updated the title of the post to reflect that fact. Here is the evidence of 'Sister' Ruth's non-nun status: here, and here.

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 10:49 AM | Comments (1)

UK: MCB Leader Claims Muslims Persecuted Like Jews

In what appears to be a new trend for Muslims who seek to exploit their fictitious victimhood, the secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, has compared Muslims in Britain to Jews under Hitler.

Last week, the Scottish spokesman for the Muslim Association of Britain, Osama Saeed, said: "Hitler was a product of German society, where anti-Semitic attitudes had existed unchecked for decades. We have got to listen and learn from what happened there and be vigilant." The irony in Saeed's comment is that MAB (which is affiliated to the MCB) was founded by Muslim Brotherhood members, with one of them being a former fund-raiser for Hamas. The "spiritual leader" of the Muslim Brotherhood is Yussuf al Qaradawi, who supports suicide bombing against Israeli civilians.

Dr Mohammad Abdul Bari (pictured, above left), who became head of the Muslim Council of Britain in early June, is also the chairman of the East London Mosque.

In today's Sunday Telegraph, it is reported that Bari has criticized the government for "unfairly targeting" Muslims. In a presentation to members of parliament, Bari blamed the government for blaming extremism on the "largely deprived" Muslim community. Bari claimed this led to a "deterioration of community cohesion and fuels xenophobia". He said: "What is the degree of xenophobia that tipped Germany in the 1930s towards a murderous ethnic and cultural racism?"

He said: "In recent months there has been a veritable drip-feed of ministerial statements stigmatising an entire community. We have seen ministers' tours and even legislation being proposed on the premise that 'mosques are a problem'."

"We have been told to accept that greater numbers of Muslims will be stopped and searched and also to 'inform on our children'. You will understand our worry about where all this is leading. Some Muslims have even sought the MCB's advice on whether they should change their names in order to avoid remarks."

"This is what happens when a community is singled out by those at the helm of affairs."

Bari spoke of the "relentless barrage" of anti-terror laws, and later defended the MCB's continued policy of boycotting Holocaust Memorial Day.

By continuing to oppose any commemoration of the Holocaust, in which 6 million Jews were slaughtered, yet comparing Muslims in Britain to those same victims, Bari's hypocrisy is astounding.

His comparisons of Jews under Hitler to the Muslims in Britain today has been condemned by Jon Benjamin, the chief executive of the Board of Deputies of British Jews. Mr Benjamin said: "To try to recast modern Britain as equivalent to Nazi Germany is equally offensive and disingenuous, but also dangerous in that it will fuel alienation and anger, particularly at a time when conciliation is vital."

Bari sees fit to associate himself with Jews when he wants to cast those he purports to represent as "victims". However, he has a history of also seeing fit to associate himself with virulent anti-semites when presenting his credentials as a "good Muslim".

The East London Mosque which he heads was built with Saudi donations. Shortly after it was completed, the mosque welcomed from Saudi Arabia the controversial Saudi state-appointed senior imam at the Grand Mosque at Mecca, Sheikh Abdulrahman al-Sudais.

Sudais (also spelled Sudeis or Sudayyis) has made numerous sermons condemning Jews, even in one announcement calling for Allah to annihilate the Jews. Sudais called Jews ""the scum of the human race, the rats of the world, the violators of pacts and agreements, the murderers of the prophets, and the offspring of apes and pigs."

In another sermon, Sudais said: "Read history and you will understand that the Jews of yesterday are the evil fathers of the Jews of today, who are evil offspring, infidels, distorters of words, calf-worshippers, prophet-murderers, prophecy-deniers... the scum of the human race 'whom Allah cursed and turned into apes and pigs...' These are the Jews, an ongoing continuum of deceit, obstinacy, licentiousness, evil, and corruption..."

John Ware, one of the BBC's foremost investigative journalists, last year confronted Dr Bari about his welcoming the anti-semite Sheikh Sudais to the East London Mosque. The conversation appeared in a documentary entitled "A Question of Leadership", broadcast on August 21, 2005. The Panorama documentary can be viewed in its entirety (40 minutes long) HERE.

The segment where Bari is confronted over his links to Sudais can be found on Little Green Footballs. Ware asked Bari of the SHeikh's anti-semitic comments: "Do I take it that if you were satisfied he had said such things you would not have invited him over?"

Bari answered: "Well of course if it was proved that he exactly said this thing that you mentioned then why do you invited people who would be saying like this?" Bari then went on to deny that that the Sheikh had made such comments.

Bari at that time was the deputy secretary-general of the MCB. The documentary by John Ware was condemned by the press officer of the MCB, Inayat Bunglawala, who wrote to the BBC before the broadcast. Bunglawala accused the BBC of being "pro-Israel". The letter stated: "It appears that the Panorama team is more interested in furthering a pro-Israeli agenda than assessing the work of Muslim organisations in the UK."

In 1992, Bunglawala had accused the media of being led by Jews, calling one media controller, Michael Green one of the "Tribe of Judah", who "as joined an elite club whose members include fellow Jews Michael Grade and Alan Yentob." He also praised Omar Abdel-Rahman as "courageous", a month before the blind Egyptian Sheikh bombed the World Trade Center on February 26, 1993. He also described Osama bin Laden as a freedom fighter.

Until June this year, the secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain was Iqbal Sacranie, who had led protests against Salman Rushdie's book "The Satanic Verses". Sacranie had said of Ayatollah Khomeini's death fatwa issued against Rushdie: "Death, perhaps, is a bit too easy for him .. his mind must be tormented for the rest of his life unless he asks for forgiveness to Almighty Allah." Sacranie made this comment on Tuesday, February 14, 1989, the day the fatwa was initially broadcast.

Sacranie consistently opposed the Holocaust Memorial Day, but still found time to attend a memorial service for Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, the founder of the terrorist group Hamas. Sacranie even defended Yassin as a "freedom-fighter".

But Bari has followed in the footsteps of Sacranie, and has argued that Britons should engage in arranged marriages. In September, Bari argued that the police and the media were directly responsible for "Islamophobia" in Britain. He threatened that if such "demonizing" continued, "Britain will have to deal with two million Muslim terrorists - 700,000 of them in London. If you attack a whole community, it becomes despondent and aggressive."

Threatening terrorism if one does not get one's way is hardly a secure method of argument. Bari is typical of the MCB, which tried to sabotage Britain's Terrorism Act 2006. On August 12, the MCB was a signatory to a letter demanding Britain change its foreign policy or face the threat of terrorism on home soil.

In June at the East London Mosque, Bari hosted the extremist Delwar Hossein Sayeedi, a Bangladeshi Islamist who compares Hindus to excrement and persecutes Ahmadiyya Muslims in his native country as "heretics".

Bari's latest comments about how Muslims in Britain are to be compared to Jews living under Hitler are disingenuous. And they also fly in the face of documented facts.

Jews in Britain are a far smaller group than Muslims in Britain. Yet Jews are on the receiving end of more physical attacks based on their religion than are Muslims. The Telegraph highlights this today. Jewish people are FOUR TIMES more likely to be on the receiving end of faith-based attacks than Muslims.

And to make matters worse, even though figures on the faith of attackers is not recorded, it seems that many attacks against Jews are carried out by Muslims.

Rabbi Alex Chapper is from Ilford in Essex. Last year, he was attacked by a group of seven Muslim teenagers while returning from a synagogue with three Jewish friends. The Jews were identified by their wearing of skull caps. The Muslims called out "Yehudi", and one shouted: "We are Pakistani, you are Jewish. We are going to kill you." This individual then punched Rabbi Chapper in the face. One of the rabbi's friends was hit over the head with a bottle.

Rabbi Chapper said: "We identified the youths and told the police but they were never prosecuted. They just did not seem interested. I feel very let down."

The anti-Semitism within Islam cannot be blamed merely on the existence of the state of Israel, even though most political Muslims in Britain condemn Israel's existence, and whine about "Zionist conspiracies". Contempt for Jews is contained within Islam's "sacred texts", the Koran and the Hadith.

In the Koran, certain Jews were turned into apes and pigs (5: 60), and in Sura 5, verse 82, one finds the words: "Thou wilt find the most vehement of mankind in hostility to those who believe (to be) the Jews and the idolaters."

The Hadith of Sahih Muslim, Book 041 (Kitab Al-Fitan wa Ashrat As-Sa'ah), Number 6985, states:

Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews.

Sheikh Sudais invokes Surah 5:60 to condemn all Jews as "apes and pigs". Before Israel came into existence, the period leading up to World War II, the so-called Palestinians were actively involved in their own massacres of Jews. The Mufti of Jerusalem, Amin al-Husseini, engaged in slaughters of Jews in the 1930s, and went to Germany where he was welcomed by Hitler. Amin al Husseini then went on to found a regiment of Muslim Nazi soldiers in Bosnia. Details of Amin al-Husseini can be found HERE. Husseini is shown (right), meeting Heinrich Himmler, who with Adolf Eichmann had been an architect of the Holocaust.

So far in Britain, attacks by Muslims against Jews have been verbal and sometimes physical. But soon, Britain may be facing the same sort of situation as exists in Paris. Here, groups such as Tribu Ka, a black Muslim group which formed itself upon the ideology of the Nation of Islam, has attacked Muslims physically, and in May even paraded itself through the Jewish district of Marais, threatening Jewish civilians. Tribu Ka was banned in July.

Banning specific groups who openly publicize themselves and their activities is one thing. But the ideology which motivates them can not be so easily removed. On February 13, the body of a young Parisian Jew, Ilan Halimi was found naked, tied to a tree in Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois in Essonne, Ile de France, a suburb of Greater Paris. Ilan had been subjected to prolonged torture. He had been cut with knives, burned with cigarettes, acid had been poured on him, and he had been set on fire. He died on his way to hospital.

Ilan had been kidnapped by a Muslim gang, the "Barbarians" a fortnight earlier. Their leader, Youssef Fofana (pictured, left), had deliberately sought out Ilan as a target because he was Jewish. Fofana paid Yalda, a 17 year old schoolgirl, $5,400 to seduce Ilan at the cellular phone store where he worked. She met him, seduced him, and arranged a meeting, knowing Ilan was to be abducted.

Fofana had planned to kidnap several Jews, and extort money from their relatives. Ilan's family received phone calls and demands for money, interspersed with quotes from the Koran, but they were poor and could not afford the ransom.

The Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France stated that when the second Palestinian intifada began in 2000, attacks upon Jews in Paris rose abruptly. Some of the blame for attacks upon Jews has been laid at the feet of Dieudonné M'bala M'bala, a Muslim comedian who was convicted in June of inciting racial/religious hatred.

Muslim spokespeople in Britain, such as Osama Saeed and Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari are currently playing on the ludicrous assumption that their "victimhood" is remotely commensurate with the fate of the Jews under Hitler.

The truth is - Muslims have made no attempts to condemn the anti-semitic words of leading imams, such as Sheikh Abdulrahman al-Sudais in Mecca, and the host of others who appear on Saudi and Palestinian TV calling for the destruction of Jews.

When the Koran and the Hadith of Sahih Muslim perpetuate myths that Jews are descended from apes and pigs, and that Allah will exterminate all Jews in the prelude to Judgement Day, there is no religious need for them to condemn such anti-semitism. Hostility against Jews, irrespective of what may happen in Israel and Palestine, is an article of Muslim faith.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 8:26 AM | Comments (3)

December 16, 2006

US: Veiled Muslim Bus Woman Still Upset

On Friday December 8, the Rapid bus system in Grand Rapids, Michigan, announced that it would abandon its policy of banning travelers with face coverings. The reasoning for having the ban had been to do with security - particularly against individuals wearing Halloween-style face masks or ski masks.

The ban was rescinded as a result of an incident in July, when a Muslim woman wearing a full face veil was barred entry to one of its buses. Jennifer Kalczuk, spokeswoman for the Rapid bus company, said that her employers had apologized to the woman, and in future would rely upon closed circuit cameras mounted in vehicles to maintain security.

The Grand Rapids Press now carries more details on the original incident which led to the bus company's ban on face-coverings being lifted. The Muslim woman is called Tasha Douglas, and she is a 30-year old resident of Flint. She has worn the full veil on Rapid buses for the past three years, since she first adopted the attire. The incident took place on July 3.

The driver of a bus at South Division Avenue told Douglas that the system prevented him from picking up people with covered faces. Douglas said she was shocked and leaned into the bus and asked his to repeat his statement. The driver had repeated the comment.

Douglas saw a female bus driver who had allowed her to ride on the us earlier in the day, and waited for vehicle to make its return journey, and boarded it to go home. The female bus driver had told her she knew of what had happened because the male driver had called other bus driver by radio, informing them not to pick her up.

Douglas submitted a complaint on a comment card to the Rapid bus company, and since September has been represented by lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union, who have negotiated with Rapid. The ACLU is focusing on issues of the company's policy and staff awareness of religious sensibilities.

Her own attorney, Miriam Aukerman, argues that Douglas, whom she says has a low income and is too traumatized to ride the bus again, should receive a cash compensation. Aukerman did not exclude the possibility of legal action against Rapid, but would give details on her negotiations.

Aukerman claims that the Rapid bus company did not offer any apology until the ACLU "explicitly asked for it".

Douglas was raised as a Muslim, but for the past three years has worn the veil "every time I leave the house, even if I'm going to the mailbox. Me coming outside without my face covered is like me coming outside naked."

Since the incident on July 3, Douglas has not been comfortable riding on a bus. She relies upon taxis and lifts from her family.

She said: "I cannot express enough how this has devastated me. I was hurt. I was humiliated. I wanted to cry. I didn't tell my family members. I didn't tell anyone at first. But I have a daughter and I don't want her to be ashamed to cover her face."

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 6:48 PM | Comments (4)

UK: Veiled Muslim With No Christmas Message

At the start of the month, Channel 4 announced that while viewers of other terrestrial British TV stations would be seeing the Queen's traditional Christmas Speech, they would be showing a veiled Muslim. The woman, Khadija (pictured) was to have spoken on the issue of veil wearing and being a Muslim.

Channel 4 had eagerly announced in a publicity statement that: "The right to wear religious symbols from niqabs to crucifixes, remarks made by the Pope about Islam and the publication of cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed have all generated a debate about multiculturalism, secularism and integration - a debate in which British Muslims have played a key role and one that will shape the future of British society."

They had apparently picked on Khadija to front their "alternative" Christmas message slot because of comments she had made subsequent to those of former former foreign secretary Jack Straw. He had written on October 5 that he found full face-veils hindered communication, were an obstacle to integration and personally made him uncomfortable.

Khadija Ravat, who is in her 30s, is an assistant teacher in Leicester, and was born in Zimbabwe. She appears to have been used by the station to promote their own agenda, rather than her own. Every year, the channel presents "alternative" figures to give their speech to the nation.

Khadija has decided to withdraw from presenting the Christmas message, states the Telegraph today. On Friday, Khadija haad talks with senior figures at Channel 4, and decided to step down.

In an official statement, she announced: "My initial thoughts about the programme were that it would be a fantastic opportunity to do something positive and to convey a warm message for everyone to share. However, after careful consideration, I have decided not to appear on the programme. I have no doubt that Channel 4 will continue with its inquiring and sensitive approach on issues relating to Muslims in Britain."

Khadija is a part-time assistant at the al-Aqsa Primary School in Leiceser. This school is headed by Ibrahim Hewitt, aged 50, who is also chairman of the charity Interpal, which has been designated by the US Treasury as a terrorist entity.

Hewitt said: "I have known her for a long time, and she is a very sincere person. Nobody at the school has raised any objections - indeed, parents have come to me and said they were very happy she was going to do it. But some people think she is trying to upstage the Queen, which is certainly not the case. But I think she feels it would rub people up the wrong way."

Sources close to Channel 4 have suggested that Khadija has been pressured by members of her own religious community not to appear.

Channel 4 still intends to find a Muslim woman to present the alternative Christmas message.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 7:32 AM | Comments (3)

December 15, 2006

UK: Muslim Charity Or Islamist Fundraiser?

Once more, an article from Family Security Matters, which follows on from the earlier article on Mohammed Sawalha of the Muslim Association of Britain. This concerns a charity run by Sawalha's friend, Essem Yussuf (Essam Salih Mustafa Yussuf).

It is more than disheartening to know that our most staunch ally in the war against Radical Islam is Britain, but that Britain refuses to ban a charity that America itself has designated as a terrorist entity. FSM Contributing Editor Adrian Morgan calls on the UK Charity Commission to ban Interpal in this meticulously documented, hair-raising piece about them. If you see the light after reading this article, we suggest that you do the same. Contact information is at the end.

The Muslim Charity Britain Refuses To Ban

Adrian Morgan

The US Treasury designated Interpal as a terrorist entity (Executive Order 13224) on August 23, 2003. The Treasury decided that the British-based charity, which purports to send money to alleviate poor social conditions amongst Palestinians, was a conduit for Hamas funding. Interpal was founded in 1994, as an offshoot of the Manchester-based Palestine and Lebanon Relief Fund (PLRF), which was run by Essem Yussuf (Essam Salih Mustafa Yussuf). The PLRF was forced to freeze its activities, as it was not registered with the British Charity Commission. Essem Yussuf relocated the charity to Kilburn, west London and legally registered it under its new name.

Interpal or the "Palestinians Relief and Development Fund" - registered charity number 1040094 - has been investigated twice by the Charity Commission. The first time was in 1996, at the request of Britain's then home secretary, Michael Howard. Another investigation took place in 2003, completed on September 6 , 2003. Both investigations claimed Interpal had no links with supporting Hamas.

When Interpal was first operating, its representatives appeared to admit that some of their funding sent to Palestinian charities went indirectly to Hamas. Essem Yussuf said in early 1996 that though no money went to Hamas, it was possible that Interpal funding went indirectly to families of Hamas activists. On August 7, 1997, the Guardian newspaper carried an interview with Ibrahim Brian Hewitt (pictured) of Interpal, who said it was possible that some of Interpal's funds were invested for specific purposes in the PA-administered territories, which were pre-determined by Hamas. He justified this by claiming that Hamas' social wing was separate from its military wing.

According to the Center for Special Studies in Israel, Essem Yussuf also runs the Union of Good ('I'tilaf al-Khayr) an umbrella organization of 56 so-called charities. It began operations in October 2000, to channel money to Palestinians in need. However, it also channeled funds to the families of suicide bombers, via the charity Al-Tadhamun in Nablus. The official head of the Union of Good is the "spiritual leader" of the Muslim Brotherhood, Sheikh Yussuf al-Qaradawi. Qaradawi has issued a fatwa declaring that it is permitted for Muslims (including women) to commit suicide attacks against Israel.

Qaradawi has said of the Israel-Palestinian conflict: "We must plant the love of death and the love of martyrdom in the Islamic nation." When recently asked by BBC journalist John Ware if his Union of Good website supported Hamas, Essem Yussuf denied this, even though it carries an image of Sheikh Yassin on a page called the "al Yassin fund". Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, as Gaza leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, founded Hamas in 1987. Yassin was killed by an Israeli target strike on March 22, 2004.

John Ware produced an extraordinary documentary for the BBC's Panorama strand, called "Faith, Hate and Charity", exposing the links of Interpal to Hamas. Ware traveled to the PA territories to see where Interpal's money had gone. Originally broadcast on July 30 2006, "Faith Hate and Charity" can be viewed directly here, or from the BBC Website here Ware's findings were presented to Kenneth Dibble, of the UK Charity Commission. As a result of Ware's investigation, the Charity Commission is now deciding whether to mount its third investigation into the activities of Interpal.

Ibrahim Hewitt is now the chairman of Interpal. A convert to Islam, he runs the Al-Aqsa Primary School in Leicester. He seems to compare the Israeli government's attempts to protect its citizens to the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust, in which at least 6 million Jews were killed. Last year, Muslim advisers to Britain's government suggested that the Holocaust Memorial Day should be scrapped, because it "excluded Muslims". Hewitt then said: "There are 500 Palestinian towns and villages that have been wiped out over the years. That's pretty genocidal to me." Mahmoud Ahmadinejad employs such tactics in Iran as do other Muslim Holocaust deniers.

When the Charity Commission conducted its 2003 inquiry into Interpal, it claimed "The US authorities were unable to provide evidence to support allegations made against Interpal within the agreed time scale. The commission concluded that in the absence of any clear evidence showing Interpal had links to Hamas's political or violent militant activities, Interpal's bank accounts should be unfrozen and the inquiry closed."

Despite this, the inquiry found that Interpal had received funds from the Al-Aqsa International Foundation, a group based in Germany, which is banned in Britain for its links to Hamas. The US Treasury designated Al Aqsa on May 29, 2003. The Telegraph stated that the commission was only handed "press-cuttings", which were not considered as evidence.

When the Charity Commission decided to unfreeze Interpal's accounts, the move stunned US officials. At a Senate Hearing on September 25, 2003, David Aufhauser, General Counsel at the US Treasury, said: "What happened with Interpal in Britain is really quite chilling. This - these were the best of our friends. If we cannot convince them to join us against one of the primary funders of Hamas, in the millions of dollars, within weeks after the designation by the EU of Hamas as a foreign terrorist organization, it gives you some taste of how difficult it is to get other, less friendly, nations to join us."

The Charity Commission did not visit the Palestinian Territories to see how Interpal's money was spent. Since then, information gathered by the Israelis under its "Defensive Shield" operations of 2002 has become declassified. Many documents from Interpal are presented at the Center for Special Studies website, which clearly show donations being made to "charities" in the Palestinian territories which support terrorism.

These charities include the Bethlehem Orphan Care Society, founded in 1997, and outlawed by Israel in 2002. Run by Dr. Ghassan 'Issa Mahmoud Harmass (Abu Tayib), a leading Hamas activist, this charity specifically gave support to the families of suicide bombers.

Another Interpal-funded charity on the Center for Special Studies' files is the Al-Islah Charitable Society. During Operation Defensive Shield, two documents were found in its Bethlehem office, showing that $33,800 was sent by Interpal to the Ramallah branch of Al-Islah. The money was sent via the City Bank, New York to the Al-Aqsa Islamic Bank in Ramallah. The transfer documentation was signed by Jamal Muhammad al-Tawil on January 23, 2001. Tawil was a leading Hamas activist.

Tawil was jailed for three years on November 9, 2003. He had admitted setting up the Ramallah bank account to provide a legal cover for illicit transfers of funds. He admitted that he provided financial aid for imprisoned Hamas members and their families and transferred funds to those in charge of Hamas' terrorist-operative infrastructure in Ramallah.

Another document found in Bethlehem relates that Al-Islah with assistance from Interpal organized donations of $100 to be given to the families of suicide-bombers as a special Eid al-Fitr gift.

An Interpal-funded kindergarten for girls, the Al Khalil Al Rahman Girls' Society, has video of its pupils singing: "Give me the Kalashnikov if you are thinking of giving up the fight. For the sake of glory to religion we give our blood. Fasten your bomb belt oh would-be martyr and fill the square with blood so that we get back our homeland. We will sacrifice ourselves for our country. We answer your call and make of our skulls a ladder to your glory.. a ladder.. Rise with us to liberate Palestine through the path of the Islamic dawah. Whoever abandons the path of Muslims will live under humiliation and slavery."

The Al Sharia Girls' School and Orphanage, run by the Islamic Charitable Society of Hebron (funded by Interpal) has flags of Hamas at its entrance. When searched by the Israeli army in August 2004, a computer was retrieved. Its hard drive was filled with graphic promotional material, praising Hamas suicide bombers.

The issues of Interpal's funding of Hamas have not entirely gone away in the United States. The subject was brought up on April 27, 2005, at a hearing before the House of Representatives, on Islamic Extremism in Europe. Here, the 2003 inquiry by the UK Charities Commission was lambasted: "...the Charity Commission's failure to account for the plethora of open source evidence linking Interpal to Hamas was only half the problem. The Commission did not investigate whether Interpal funded Hamas charities or organizations, only whether Interpal was linked to the group's "political or violent militant activities."

Though Interpal's leaders appear to be supporters of the "Islamic agenda" as promoted by Hamas, they are quick to threaten lawsuits to silence any opposition. The Board of Deputies of British Jews suggested that Interpal was a "terrorist organization" in an article it published in 2003 on its website. Rather than face the exacting costs of a High Court action, on December 17 last year it published an official apology, stating "We would like to make it clear that we should not have described Interpal in this way and we regret the upset and distress our item caused."

The findings of John Ware appear to support the assertions made by the US Treasury - that Interpal sponsors charities that are fronts for Hamas. Ware stated that Interpal has funded the Abdul Nasser mosque in Ramallah, which he states is "quite obviously influenced by Hamas". The mosque had a banner of the latest "martyrs" hanging in front of it. At the Dura Islamic Society for Orphans near Hebron, Israelis found framed posters made by children that glorified local Hamas "martyrs".

Appearing on Qaradawi's Al Jazeera TV show in 2002, Interpal's vice-chairman and founder Essem Yussuf said: "Greetings to the Sheikh of the Mujahideen... But my biggest salutation is to the Mujahideen, to the heroes of the Palestinian people who are sacrificing everything that is precious." Yussuf is also an associate of Yemeni citizen Mohammed Ali Hasan al-Moyad. He met him in Yemen.

Moyad was arrested in Frankfurt on January 10, 2003, and on November 16 he was extradited for trial in the US. The Federal Court of Brooklyn gave him a 75-year jail sentence for funding terrorism on July 28, 2005. Moyad had met with Bin Laden and provided over $20 million to al Qaeda. He had also funded Hamas.

FBI surveillance film played at Moyad's trial showed him in a Frankfurt hotel where he met with undercover FBI agents. Moyad was demonstrating how he could raise money for jihad. He had four receipts with him, one of which was from Interpal, for $70,000, ostensibly for benign purposes. On the surveillance video, Moyad stated; "This one, for instance, we deliver it to Hamas. This one we deliver it to the interior. This one we send it to the martyrs. But when we are in front of our government?" He then laughed.

The BBC investigation by John Ware triggered a surprised reaction from Kenneth Dibble of the Charity Commission when screened. However, since August 15, there has been no further move by the Commission to state whether or not it will investigate the damaging claims that Interpal is knowingly funding charities linked to Hamas.

It is not enough for the Commission to say it is "looking into" these issues. Aaron Klein of WorldNet Daily wrote that a security source has said: "The [British] authorities are afraid of the large Muslim community. Britain's failure to close Interpal and take action against Hamas' charities is coming from internal politics."

There is a lack of will power on the part of many civil servants in Britain to even question the activities of Islamist groups. Most of Britain's Muslim "representatives" have a clear political agenda, and the UK government has encouraged such perspectives, even when they openly support acts of terror against Israel. As long as these groups do not advocate terrorism on Britain's soil, they are allowed to operate freely.

The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, was officially endorsed as a candidate by the Blair government. Yet Livingstone has welcomed the Muslim Brotherhood's "spiritual leader" Qaradawi to London, even though the Sheikh has condoned suicide bombings against Israeli civilians and openly supports Hamas.

One of the most ardent supporters of Interpal in Britain is George Galloway of the "Respect" party. When he appeared on "Celebrity Big Brother" in January, he demanded that his fee be given to Interpal.

The UK Charity Commission can be contacted by telephone on (+44) 0845 3000218. Letters can be sent to: Charity Commission Direct, PO Box 1227, Liverpool, L69 3UG, United Kingdom.

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Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 11:34 PM | Comments (0)

Pakistan: Muslim Morality Bill Suspended

News from: Daily Times, DNA, UPI, Reuters, BBC:

The Regional Assembly of Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) is controlled by Islamists belonging to the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal or MMA. This is a coalition of six parties, who make up the national opposition. The national head of the MMA is Qazi Hussein Ahmad, who has threatened revolution, called for sharia law in the country, and has links to the Pakistani Taliban, who have control of parts of NWFP adjoining the Afghanistan border.

The MMA came to power in NWFP in the 2002 elections. On July 14, 2005, the Assembly of NWFP voted in a bill which would have created an Islamist "morality police". This bill, called the "Hisbah" or "Hasbah" bill, was essentially an attempt to create a "prevention of vice and promotion of virtue" department, similar to that which existed in Afghanistan under the Taliban, or the existing group in Saudi Arabia, which is enforced by the religious police or muttawa.

The Hasbah Bill in 2005 would have created this department, under the supervision of an Islamic cleric called a Mohtasib. The Mohtasib would have had powers which would have allowed his "Hisba police" to enter any government office and seize documents, to enforce people to attend prayers. Amongst a host of responsibilities, the Mohtasib would be expected to ensure all NWFP government policies conformed to Sharia law. The Mohtasib would have had the same powers as a Federal Sharia Court judge, and any "ridicule" of his position would invoke a fine or prison term.

This bill, passed by the regional assembly, needed to be signed by the NWFP governor to be passed into law. This never happened. In August 2005, the Supreme Court ruled that the Hasbah Bill was unconstitutional.

Despite failing to have the Bill becoming law, the NWFP Regional Assembly legislators slightly modified the original Hasbah Bill to present before the house. On November 13, the modified Hasbah or "accountability" Bill was passed.

President Pervez Musharraf petitioned Pakistan's Supreme Court on the subject of this bill. Earlier today, the Supreme Court ruled that the new Hasbah Bill should be suspended, and ordered the governor of NWFP not to sign the Bill into law at this time. The law will be reviewed by the Supreme Court in the third week of January, when the NWFP government will be expected to mount a defense of the Bill.

The information minister for the NWFP Regional Assembly, Asif Iqbal Daudzai of the MMA coalition, said: "We are really surprised. We drafted the bill in light of the Supreme Court's directives. The federal government's decision to go to the court exposes their claims that they believe in democracy."

"The provincial government has amended some sections and clauses of the Hasba Bill after the SC declared them ultra vires to the 1973 Constitution... Now we can go to the people and expose those who are blocking implementation of Islamic laws. We'll ask the people to decide who wants an Islamic system and who doesn't."

Apparently the main point of difference between this version of the bill and the one rejected in 2005 is that the Mohtasib will not be allowed to set up a "Hisba police" to enforce his rulings. However, he will be allowed to commandeer existing members of the police to enforce the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice.

According to Makhdoon Ali Khan, the Attorney General, President Musharraf filed his petition in the Supreme Court on Thursday. The Supreme Court has taken note of the question that the Bill will envisage an alternative structure of power. The panel on the Supreme Court charged to review the legal status of the Bill is led by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

Within the NWFP region, if the Bill is passed it will create more employment for Muslim clerics. There will be posts created for them within the Provincial Advisory Council, and the Mohtasib will have supplementary staff in the province - District and Tehsil (borough) Mohtasibs, and members of District Advisory Councils.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 11:10 PM | Comments (0)

Indonesia: Government Plans to Expand Islamic Banking

This is the kind of story that gets lost in the heat of the moment, but is important nonetheless. The Islamization of Banking paves the road for further Shari'a advances in the future (with thanks to Giussani): INDONESIA: CENTRAL BANK BOOSTS ISLAMIC BANKING

Jakarta, 12 Dec. (AKI/Jakarta Post) - Indonesia's central bank (BI) has launched a new programme to accelerate the development of the country's Islamic, or sharia, banks, which at present only account for about 1.68 percent of the country's total banking assets. Under this ambitious programme the central bank hopes that banking assets that comply with Islamic law will increase by 75 percent to Rp 47.94 trillion (about 5.3 billion dollars) by the end of 2007, from the approximately Rp 27.14 trillion expected by the end of 2006.

Through the programme, the central bank also wants to boost the Islamic banking sector's share of the country's total banking assets to 5.25 percent by the end of 2008 from the current 1.68 percent.

The program is based on four main strategies: promoting supply and demand; strengthening the sharia banking system, especially as regards capitalization and management; optimizing the functions of government and the central bank; and involving all the stakeholders in the sharia banking sector in the program.

Indonesia adopted its dual banking system policy, which allows both standard and sharia banking practices, in 1992.[...]

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 9:10 PM | Comments (0)

Egypt: Government Raids Target the Brotherhood

I guess Hosni Mubarak won't be allowing elections any time soon, and repressing the brotherhood instead. That pesky minority of extremists seem rather influential: Egypt cracks down on Brotherhood

One of the top leaders of Egypt's opposition Islamist movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, has been detained.

Police also rounded up about 10 other prominent members and dozens of students in dawn raids.

Khairat al-Shatir is one of two deputies to Brotherhood leader Muhammad Akef, and was taken from his home in north-eastern Cairo, the capital.

The group is officially banned, but its supporters make up parliament's largest opposition group and it is tolerated.[...]

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 8:58 PM | Comments (0)

December 14, 2006

Saudi Arabia: Connect Those Stories!

The following two stories emerge from the same source:

Story 1: Official: Saudis to back Sunnis if U.S. leaves Iraq

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has warned Vice President Dick Cheney that Saudi Arabia would back the Sunnis if the United States pulls out of Iraq, according to a senior American official.

The official said the king "read the riot act" to the vice president when the two met last month in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

The New York Times first reported the conversation Wednesday, saying Saudi support would include financial backing for minority Sunnis in the event of a civil war between them and Iraq's Shiite majority.

Asked about the meeting, a senior Saudi official -- who spoke on condition he not be named -- ruled out using terminology such as "warning" or "threatening." He said, "I believe the Saudi position was clear, that things might deteriorate or drift in Iraq, and then the kingdom will find itself forced to interfere."

The official also added: "This is not only expected from Saudi Arabia, but also Jordan and a lot of other Arab countries can't stand still and see things going that direction."[...]

Story 2: Gulf poised to equal nuclear Iran

Riyadh - Fearing Shi'a Iran is on the verge of becoming a nuclear power, Sunni Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab states are warning they will not hesitate to join a rumbling regional arms race, analysts say.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which groups Arab countries in the world's top oil and gas exporting region, said at a summit meeting on Sunday that it has decided to set up a nuclear energy programme for peaceful purposes.

The announcement by the six countries - Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman - came amid concerns in the West and in the Gulf that non-Arab Iran's nuclear enrichment programme could produce an atomic bomb.[...]

The two "Arab" (e.i., Sunni Muslim) reactions come from the same source: fear of a militant, expansionist Shi'a Iran. They also spring from the real or perceived U.S. weakness--if the U.S. was victorious in Iraq and poised to destroy Iran's nuclear program, they wouldn't dare try to pull the nuclear stunt so openly.

The Sunni Arab States are now in a collision course with Iran.

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 2:57 PM | Comments (0)

December 13, 2006

UK: MAB "Spokesperson" Compares Muslims To Jews Under Hitler

As a follow-on from the FSM article on the links between the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) with both the Muslim Brotherhood and the terrorist group Hamas, we have more news on the Scottish spokesman for MAB. Osama Saeed has, according to JTA, compared the condition of British Muslims to those of the Jews in pre-war Germany.

The irony that the head of the Muslim Brotherhood, Yussuf al-Qaradawi, supports suicide attacks against Jewish civilians in Israel, and one of the spokespeople for MAB, Mohammed Sawalha, was formerly a fundraiser for Hamas, seems to be lost on Osama Saeed.

He states: "Hitler was a product of German society, where anti-Semitic attitudes had existed unchecked for decades. We have got to listen and learn from what happened there and be vigilant."

"I am not talking about large numbers of people being rounded up, but we could be looking at situations where Muslims are routinely assaulted in the streets."

Perhaps Saeed is also unaware that the Mufti of Jerusalem, Amin al-Husseini, was involved in the slaughter of Jews in the prewar period in Palestine. Al-Husseini then went on to Germany, where he was welcomed by Hitler and Himmler, and founded a Nazi regiment of Muslim soldiers in Bosnia. Copies of Mien Kampf were translated into Arabic and were read avidly by Muslims in Palestine.

With Azzam al-Tamimi, the Muslim Association for Britain's main spokesman, openly stating that he would willingly become a suicide bomber against Israelis, to hear a MAB spokesman comparing the plight of Muslims to those of Jews is not only hypocritical, it is cheap and tasteless.

Any attacks upon citizens, whatever their religion, are to be condemned. No-one should live in fear in a democratic society (despite the best attempts of Muslim extremists to frighten their critics into silence).

So who is Osama Saeed? What does he really believe? He was a former Scottish Nationalist Party candidate, but now appears to have left that group behind him. He has his own blogsite, where he publishes self-important pieces, and argues bitchily with his commenters.

But while Saeed talks of the conditions suffered by Muslims, he does nothing to foster the integration which may dispel some of the antagonism that some Muslims unnecessarily receive. For example, we reported in January that Saeed, as coordinator for the Campaign for Muslim Schools has tried to have Catholic schools forced into becoming Muslim schools, once their Muslim pupil intake reaches a certain percentage.

He was arguing that the Catholic-run St Albert's Primary school in Pollockshields, Glasgow, should become a Muslim school, as 90% of its pupils were Muslims. He said then: "Clearly the parents of that area find a faith school, even if it is of another denomination, preferable to a secular one. But surely it should be possible for them to have one that is relevant to their own faith. To move towards this would be a fantastic example of good faith - in more ways than one - on the part of the Church."

In November 2003, Saeed's organization, the Muslim Association of Britain identified four Glasgow Christian schools for conversion into Muslim schools. These included St Alberts', as well as Pollockshields Primary, AnnetteStreet Primary, and Willowbank Primary.

So much for the notions of "integration". Saeed seems to believe that Muslims have a right to demand Church schools succumb to Islam once Muslim parents have sent enough of their children to be educated in these institutions.

Saeed is certainly not a believer in Muslims being "good citizens". Last month, the Dundee Courier reported that Osama Saeed urged Muslims in Dundee not to cooperate with a Special Branch community contact unit, set up in 2005 by Tayside Police.

Saeed said: "What Special Branch are doing is isolating the Muslim community. There is no extremism in Dundee - they are barking up the wrong tree. My message to the police is 'lay off', but my message to the Muslim community is we have got to be stronger in our defiance of this."

"There can be no excuse for being scared of the police. If we look at the history of our faith, what else is there other than the Prophet's example to stand up to tyranny and stand up to oppression."

"The police are doing their jobs and their job is to push the boat out and push the limits they can push. Our job is to resist that, and resist that we must."

Perhaps it is no surprise, then, to find that Saeed, from a group linked with the Muslim Brotherhood whose "spiritual leader" justifies suicide-bombing, also thinks that George Galloway is a heroic figure. In May, Galloway said that it would be "morally justified" for Tony Blair to be assassinated by a suicide bomber.

Admittedly, Saeed praised Galloway before he made this statement, in a website called iwitness. He called this daft polemic "We need 646 George Galloways", and suggested that parliament should be filled with George and 646 other like-minded politicians.

Saeed frequently writes for the Guardian's "Comment" section. Here, he has praised the notion of a Caliphate. The last Caliphate, that of the Ottomans, was dissolved by the secularist leader of modern Turkey, Kemal Ataturk, in 1924. Saeed's pining for a Caliphate, a goal also sought by extremists such as Jemaah Islamiyah, Al Qaeda, Hizb ut-Tahrir and the groups which succeeded Al-Muhajiroun,is impractical.

Not only would a Caliphate (a unified central body of Islam) be unable to coherently address the differing demands of Shia and Sunni Muslims, Islamic experts quoted in Reuters today suggest that a Caliphate would undermine the diversity of the world's Muslims.

There is no denying that Muslims appear to be under increasing pressure in today's Britain, and in some areas, they are victims of reprehensible physical attacks. But these assaults appear to be increasing in direct proportion to the increasingly strident demands being made by Muslim "representatives", including Saeed's own group, the Muslim Association of Britain.

Saeed seems to want to make headlines by espousing "controversial" viewpoints. But as Murdo Fraser, head of the Scottish Conservative party states of Saeed's most recent comments : "I don't think it's a rational response to compare the treatment of Muslims in today's Britain in any way to the horrific treatment that the Jewish people suffered at the hands of the Nazis. An approach of this sort will win no friends."

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 5:50 PM | Comments (4)

UK: Muslim Brotherhood's Association Of Britain?

The following is an article which appears in FAMILY SECURITY MATTERS today. It asks the serious question - should the Muslim Association of Britain be trusted as a "moderate" group?

Although many Americans have an idealized vision of Britain's famous security agency MI5, it is apparent in this thoroughly researched and documented article by FSM Contributing Editor Adrian Morgan that MI5's sterling reputation may be a bit tarnished. Read this truly shocking report of how Britain has a "a laissez-faire approach to dealing with extremists who promote terror". If the West is going to win this war against Muslim extremists, we will have to get an awful lot smarter...fast.

Do Leopards Change Their Spots?

Adrian Morgan

Britain has a laissez-faire approach to dealing with extremists who promote terror. Finsbury Park Mosque became notorious when the hook handed-cleric Abu Hamza took up residence there, intimidating the mosque trustees with threats of violence. Hamza lost both his hands and one eye. He claimed that he lost these while clearing landmines in Afghanistan. The reality is that he fudged one of his lessons in bomb-making while at the Al Qaeda-run Darunta training camp near Jalalabad, eastern Afghanistan, and blew himself up with his own bomb.

Hamza preached jihad at the Finsbury Park mosque for years, saying that it was acceptable to kill unbelievers, but particularly to kill Jews, whom he described as "the first monkey and the first ape". He said to followers: "Killing an adulterer, even if he is a Muslim is OK. Killing a Kaffir who is fighting you is OK. Killing a Kaffir for any reason you can say it is OK even if there is no reason for it."

He had eventually been ousted from the mosque, where he had been one of its trustees. His replacement as mosque imam was his friend Abu Abdullah (Attila Ahmet), who also justified armed jihad. Abdullah told PBS Broadcasting in October 2004: "Allah mentioned jihad in the Quran 26 times, and Allah mentioned quital 79 times. Quital is fighting by a physical fighting -- 79 times."

Hamza's rule at Finsbury Park ended a month after a raid took place at the mosque on Monday, January 30, 2003. Abu Abdallah's reign came to a close on February 8, 2005, when a newly appointed Board of Trustees arrived with police and changed the locks.

On February 7 this year, Abu Hamza was finally jailed for soliciting murder. Only then were the full findings of the 2003 raid made public. Three starting pistols, which could easily be reassigned to firing live rounds, a stun gun, knives, CS gas and chemical and nuclear warfare protective suits were found in the mosque. Also, hidden behind ceiling tiles, dozens of forged documents were discovered, including driving licenses and passports

On September 1 this year, Abu Abdallah was also arrested and taken into custody. He is charged with eight counts, including encouraging the murder of non-Muslims (soliciting to murder), and publishing a statement encouraging the public to commit acts of terrorism.

The new Board of Trustees for Finsbury Park Mosque had been appointed on February 1, 2006. The media hailed the new management. Where Hamza's so-called "mosqueteers" had earlier hung a banner from the mosque stating "Islam: Britain's Future", a new banner was placed, stating: "A new beginning for the mosque". The BBC hailed the change in management as "a fresh start."

It was widely touted that the new Board of Trustees was representing the "moderate" Islamic community. It has been renamed the North London Mosque. But the mosque's trustees were co-ordinated by the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), who placed one of their senior members, Mohammed Sawalha (pictured) as one of the trustees.

The Muslim Association of Britain claims that it is "moderate", but its leading figures are associated with the Muslim Brotherhood. MAB was founded in 1997 by Kamal Tawfik el-Helbawy, who was then the Brotherhood's European spokesman. MAB's current spokesperson is Azzam al-Tamimi, who was also a former Muslim Brotherhood activist in Jordan. Tamimi, who also runs the pretentiously-titled "Institue for Political Thought" has openly condemned the suicide bombings which took place in London on July 7, 2005.

Despite publicly condemning the London attacks which killed 52 people, Tamimi supports suicide attacks against Israel. He said on BBC TV in November 2004 that such an act would be a "noble cause" and said that he would do it himself "if I had the opportunity."

Tamimi is sensitive to criticism. He threatened to sue Jewish member of parliament for Liverpool Riverside, Louise Ellman, if she repeated comments she had made in parliament. Ms. Ellman had launched into a spirited attack on MAB and Tamimi on December 18, 2003. No quivering lily, Ellman responded to Tamimi's threats and reiterated her accusations outside parliament. Tamimi never sued her, as the evidence of his support for terrorism against Israel is widely documented.

Ellman said in parliament: "It is time that the spotlight fell on the Muslim Association of Britain, particularly the key figures, such as Azzam Tamimi, Kamal el Helbawy, Anas Al-Tikriti and Mohammed Sawalha. All of them are connected to the terrorist organiaation Hamas. The Muslim Association of Britain itself is a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood - an extremist fundamentalist organization founded in Egypt in 1928, and the spiritual ideologue of all Islamic terror organizations. It is militantly anti-Semitic and always has been."

Louise Ellman also noted that MAB had invited American imam Anwar Al Awlaki to talk in Britain in June 2003. Awlaki was the spiritual adviser of two of the 9/11 attackers, Khalid Almihdar and Nawaf Alhazmi,. Twice busted for soliciting prostitutes in San Diego, Awlaki is still regarded by many Muslim websites as a "pure voice" of Islam. He fled to Yemen, and on August 31 this year, he was arrested in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, suspected of involvement in terror networks.

But the most interesting figure in MAB is Mohammed Kassem Sawalha, one of the Board of Trustees at the mosque in Finsbury Park. He had come to Britain in 1990 from the West Bank, and for reasons that defy belief, he has been granted residence in Britain. Not only is Sawalha linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, but also he is directly linked to the Brotherhood's bastard offspring, the terror group Hamas.

Hamas was not designated as a terrorist entity by the US Treasury until August 22, 2003, but its notorious "charter" explains clearly its aims to destroy Israel by force.

Even after Sawalha entered the United Kingdom and set up a comfortable house here, he continued to collect funds to send to Hamas' military wing. The military wing of Hamas began attacking Israeli soldiers in 1989, two years after its foundation. It later moved towards attacks against Jewish citizens, with its first suicide bombing carried out in April 1994.

Sawalha maintains that he has helped Hamas' social wing, but Israeli and other analysts have shown that funds for the social wing get diverted into "military" operations. In the West Bank, Sawalha went under the code-name Abu Abada. Even the BBC, via its journalist John Ware, has confirmed that in 1992, Sawalha received a Hamas operative into his house and gave him funds to distribute to the terror group in the Palestinian territories. This man, Mohammed Salah, had arrived from the US, and was en route to the Palestinian territories.

According to John Ware: "With Sawalha's agreement Salah began distributing about a quarter of a million dollars to local Hamas operatives. Some was ear marked for military activities. Some for missionary dawah. More money was in the pipe line from his bank in Chicago."

Mohammed Salah was arrested by the Israeli authorities in March 1993 and was jailed. He was interrogated extensively. An extradition request by Israel, made in a New York court in May 1996 against Abu Marzook, then the leader of Hamas political wing, refers to Mohammed Salah and his testimony. He said: "After Abu Abada left the West Bank for the West, he called me through Musa Abu Marzook and I met both of them. The following came up during the meeting: The military situation in the West Bank is frozen and it has to be revived by means of the following people, whom Abu Abada knows: (names deleted)."

"They [Israeli interrogators] asked me about the charity associations who gave me the money and I told them the money was deposited by Abu Abada. I don’t know what the source is exactly, but there are 31 charity institutions collecting funds for the Islamic world. The mosques also collected funds for the deportees during the Friday prayers, immediately after the deportation."

John Ware states that although Sawalha (aka Abu Abada) was known by MI5, Britain's Homeland Security intelligence service, the authorities let him operate freely here. According to Dr Reuven Paz, former head of the Research Division, Israel General Security Service: "Maybe even in London, I would say, he (Sawalha) became more important for Hamas than during the period he was in the territories."

The newly re-named Finsbury Park Mosque is now under the influence of the Muslim Association of Britain. This group, described as a front for the Muslim Brotherhood, organized protests in February 11, condemning the Jyllands-Posten cartoons of Mohammed. When the mosque was attacked by vandals in September this year, a spokesman for MAB, Haris Bokhari, said the attack "smacks of extremism and is reminiscent of the infamous "wars of religion" that plagued Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, now seen as the historical pinnacle of religious intolerance."

In July, while other people were commemorating the first anniversary of the 7/7 attacks of 2005, Mohammed Sawalha organized a celebration of Islam, called the "Islam Expo". This event was held at Alexandra Palace, on a hill overlooking most of London. The "Islam Expo" claimed to be promoting an image of the "real Islam". With its organizer being a former Hamas commander, it is no wonder that among the proposed speakers to the "Expo" were individuals accused of supporting terrorism, such as Tariq Ramadan, Azzam al-Tamimi, and also the head of the Islamist coalition in Pakistan, Qazi Hussein Ahmad.

Ahmad is leader of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Ama (MMA), a coalition of Islamist parties, which opposed reforms to the dire rape laws in Pakistan. These laws stated that a woman who claimed to be raped and did not provide four male Muslim witnesses was accused of adultery. Many rape victims have been jailed under these laws. Qazi Hussain Ahmad has advocated suicide bombings in Iraq, Israel, Chechnya and Kashmir. His party, Jamaat-e-Islami, boasts of its close ties to Hamas. He himself has praised al-Qaeda members as heroes.

In the end, Ahmad could not appear at the Islam Expo, but the fact that he was even invited to "promote real Islam" says a lot about what Mohammed Sawalha and the Muslim Association of Britain consider to be the "real Islam."

Finsbury Park Mosque, now the North London Mosque, claims to be in the hands of "moderate" Muslims. With Mohammed Sawalha on its Board of Trustees, perhaps we should start to redefine what the word "moderate" actually means.

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Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 10:35 AM | Comments (3)

December 12, 2006

Commentary: Thoughts on Pro-Islamic Myths

During the Cold War, which was mighty hot in some places, the United States and Europe were subject to the greatest influence operation--propaganda--the World has ever seen. We are seeing a rival operation these days, although what is being propagandized is not that wonderful Socialism, despite its remaining advocates, but the latest, most wonderful wave of the future; the magnificently peaceful and tolerant religion, Islam.

In this short article we will examine five of the most prevalent myths told and retold to advance the Islamic cause. We hope to make our readers aware of these myths so they are better equipped to fight them.

1. The Myth of Past Islamic Greatness:

This myth has several variations, all amounting to the same thing; Muslims were once great, and infidels owe them a lot, if not their whole civilization. Variations of this myth include the Andalusian utopia, the tolerant Baghdad Caliphate, and the golden Ottoman rule. According to the myth of the Andalusian utopia, for example, tolerant al-Andalus served as a beacon of light upon dark Europe during the worst of the dark ages. (At this point all morally upright people are supposed to exhale in awe of the wonderful Islamic past.) Thomas Aquinas himself stole his philosophy from the greatest philosopher of all, al-Ghazali.

2. The Myth of Islamic Tolerance.

This is a variation of the Myth of Islamic Greatness but it is so prevalent it deserves its own paragraph. According to this view, Islam has a great record of tolerance and peaceful coexistence with other religions, in contrast to that awful Christian religion or the obscurantism of Hinduism. This is a tergiversation of the first order and a reckless denial of the past, but it doesn't matter; it has become the conventional wisdom. It has been argued (1) that Jews were better off under Islam in part because, under certain circumstances, Muslims would marry Jews, but Christians would not. This overlooks the rather crucial fact that only Muslim men would marry Jewish women, which is in a far worse oppression to Jewish men than not marrying Jews at all.

3. The Myth of the Inevitability of the Islamic Victory.

This is a standard myth advanced by almost all proselytizing ideologies. Its objective is to demoralize current or potential opponents. It amounts to "Islam is the wave of the future, so why bother fighting it. You are better off joining the bandwagon instead." Many efforts are spent to show Islam victorious everywhere, and to exaggerate Islamic victories to the largest extent possible. However sad the fact that Islam has been advancing in recent decades, we should not fall for this myth. Victory is earned, not guaranteed; that is true for Islam as it is for any other ideology.

4. The Myth of the Wickedness of the Infidel.

This is the "other side of the coin" to the Myth of Islamic Greatness. For infidel societies to be worthy of destruction, they must be wicked beyond belief. This is how the failings of our societies--some real, some not--are exaggerated and falsified. It is not that we are imperfect, as we surely are, but that we are beyond redemption.

5. The Myth of the Great Zionist Conspiracy.

Just as it is necessary to exalt the failings of the infidel, it is necessary to explain away the failings of Islamic societies, and for this nothing has proven as useful as the Myth of the Great Zionist Conspiracy. Think of the possibilities: we are poor; it is the Zionists' fault. We lose wars; blame the Zionist devils. The price of oil falls; it is those clever Zionist bankers. Some of our children and unmarriageable (true story); it is those clever, clever Zionists. As Eric Hoffer once observed, alibis are to be preferred to achievement, because an alibi doesn't expire while an achievement is only a temporary solution. The Great Zionist Conspiracy is the ultimate alibi.

Note:

1. I have erased an allusion to a passage in Daniel Pipes' Conspiracy: How The Paranoid Style Flourishes and Where It Comes From in which Dr. Pipes argued that since Jews participated more in the mainstream cultural life and had more social interaction with Muslims they were less vulnerable to assault. I do not agree with the conclusion (I'm agnostic on the matter), but Dr. Pipes didn't claim intermarriage was a sign of Islamic tolerance, just that it was part of a pattern that made violence against Jews less likely. Apologies to Dr. Pipes.

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 6:15 PM | Comments (6)

Spain: Eleven Islamists Arrested

News from AKI, Expatica, The Scotsman, EITB24, Think Spain, Typicaly Spanish, CBC, Associated Press, Fox News:

Today, at least 10 Spanish nationals and one Moroccan were arrested in pre-dawn raids in Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in North Africa. Forces sent from the Spanish mainland arrived by boat to conduct the raids, which were carried out in several parts of the city. Arrests took place in the Principe Alfonso, Principe Felipe, Los Rosales and Juan Carlos 1 districts, with about 300 members of the security forces taking part.

The interior minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said on Spanish TV from a location in Algeria, which he is visiting: "It was an Islamic cell in the process of being formed, so they had no specific targets. But when we saw that they were moving from fanatic discussion to direct action we moved ahead to detain them."

Earlier in the year, an Islamist website posted a message, ostensibly from Al Qaeda, which said that the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, whch are on the North African coast beside Morocco, would be taken by force. Though the majority of the inhabitants of these two regions are Muslim, they have been under Spanish rule for centuries.

Those who were arrested are suspected members of the Moroccan Islamic Combat Group (Groupe Islamique Combattant Marocain or GICM). This group, which was placed on a list of proscribed groups by the UK government last year, is thought to have been involved with the bombings on Casablanca on May 16, 2003, which killed 45 people.

GICM emerged at the end of the 1990s, and seeks to establish an Islamist state in Morocco. The US Treasury froze GICM's assets on November 22, 2002. GICM is also thought to have been involved with the Madrid train bombings of March 11, 2004, in which 191 people were killed and 1,755 people were injured. This attack brought down the Jose Maria Aznar government and allowed the socialist Popular Party, led by Luis Rodriguez Zapatero to come to power. So far, 29 people have been charged in connection with the Madrid train attacks.

Among those arrested today were two brothers of Hamed Abderrahman Ahmed (pictured) who is known in Spain as the "Spanish Taliban". He was born in Ceuta in 1974. Early reports claimed that Hamed Abderrahman Ahmed himself had been among those detained, though these have since been refuted.

In 2001, Hamed Abderrahman Ahmed was captured in Pakistan, and was taken to Guantanamo. He was extradited to Spain in February 2004. On July 13, 2004, after being in detention for four and a half months, Spanish authorities released him on bail, taking into consideration his "experiences" at Guantanamo.

On Wednesday October 5 2005, Hamed Abderrahman Ahmed was sentenced in the National Court in Madrid to six years' jail, for being a member of Al Qaeda. He was freed on July 24 this year by orders of the Supreme Court, which ruled that there was "a total absence of proof that the defendant was a member of Islamic terrorist group Al Qaeda." Two days later, he said he was planning to sue the US government for compensation.

The arrests today were ordered by Spain's legendary anti-terrorist judge, Balthazar Garzon. The judge will be expected to personally interview the suspects over the coming days.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 10:32 AM | Comments (2)

Algeria: Islamists Claim Responsibility For Bomb Attack

News from Reuters, Associated Press, VOA News, UPI, Press Association and the BBC:

On Sunday, the first attack upon foreigners in several years was carried out in Algeria. The attack took place at Bouchaoui, nine miles west of the capital, Algiers. Two buses carrying workers from an oil company were being driven back to their accommodation at a Sheraton hotel when Islamists attacked the vehicles.

The assailants threw a bomb at the first bus and then started to fire bullets at the second. The second bus turned around and returned to the offices of the company they worked for, Brown & Root-Condor, which is an affiliate of the US company Halliburton.

The Algerian driver of the first bus was killed in the attack, and nine others were injured. The wounded included four Britons, an American, a Canadian and a Lebanese. The British Foreign Office would only confirm that three British nationals have been wounded, though it said their injuries are not serious.

The US Embassy immediately gave out a Warden Notice to its citizens in Algeria, warning them to be on high alert and tighten their security procedures. About 800 US nationals live in Algeria, most of them employed in the oil/hydrocarbon sector.

Yesterday, a message appeared on an Islamist website, which purported to come from the Algerian terror group GSPC or Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat. This group has long been associated with Al Qaeda, but on September 11 this year, this was confirmed officially by Ayman al-Zawahri, the deputy leader of Al Qaeda.

In September last year, Algerian citizens went to the polls to vote on a referendum to allow amnesty for the perpetrators of Islamist terror in the country. When in 1992 the army refused to allow the Islamic Salvation Front, an elected Islamist party, to take power, various groups emerged who conducted a war against Algerian interests. The majority of their victims were civilians. At least 150,000 people had been killed by Islamist groups.

The referendum was held on September 29 2005. The referendum results were announced on October 1, stating that the public was willing to approve an amnesty. Within hours of the results, GSPC's leader, Abou Mossab Abdelouadoud (Abdelmalek Droukdel) made an announcement on a jihadist website. He said: "The Jihad will go on ... we have promised God to continue the Jihad and the combat."

The message which appeared yesterday from GSPC called the Sunday attack "a gift to all Muslims". The statement read: "We carried out this raid as a gift to all Muslims who are suffering from the new Crusader campaign targeting Islam and its holy places."

"We reiterate our call to all Muslims in Algeria to keep away from the interests of the infidels to avoid harm... once (these interests or individuals) are targeted."

It is believed that the oil workers were attacked because of Brown & Root-Condor's links to Halliburton. It is widely believed in the Muslim world that Halliburton sought to exploit the Iraq invasion for its own ends. However, Brown & Root-Condor also carry out work for the Algerian government, who are perceived as "enemies" by Islamist groups, including the GSPC.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 3:31 AM | Comments (0)

December 11, 2006

Australia: "Jesus" Assaults Muslim School Official

News from Sydney Morning Herald, the Melbourne Age and News.com.au, with a follow-up from News.com.au:

The East Preston Islamic School in Melbourne was the center of controversy last week, when it was revealed that two students had been expelled for desecrating a Bible. The incident had happened at the end of November, when 33 teenage Muslim pupils had been on a school camp at Bacchus Marsh, 36 miles west of Melbourne.

One student urinated on the Bible, tore out some ages and burnt them, followed by spitting on the book. Another student "tore pages from the Holy Bible and then he rolled it up like a cigarette and pretended to smoke it."

The school receives Aus $ 3.9 million (US $3,071,942) annually, in state and federal funding. The principal, Shaheem Doutie, said he was appalled by the incident, and commissioned an imam from Newport mosque to lecture the school's 650 pupils that the Bible and Christianity should be respected by Muslims.

22 of the school's teachers had signed a petition which included the statement: "This whole incident implies a deep hatred inculcated in the students towards the Christians/non-Muslim teachers."

Half of the school's teachers are non-Muslims, and it was subsequently related by one non-Muslim teacher that he had witnessed students being shown an extremist video. The video was of a lecture by British convert Abdur-Raheem Green, (born Ashley Green) who argued that non-Muslim Australians are "evil people". On the video Green urged Muslims to openly condemn Christianity and turn people to Islam.

The widespread publicity given to this case has now brought a negative reaction from at least one non-Muslim. Samir Mohandis, a member of the East Preston Islamic School's board was inside the school at around 4.45 pm on Friday. A man wearing a grey T-shirt and dark trousers, and apparently with a gun entered the school grounds.

The man, who was in his 30s with straight brown hair and of slightly above average height, approached Mr Mohandis and physically attacked him.

Mr Mohandis said that the man said that he was called "Jesus". Jesus has a muscular build and bears a tattoo on his right forearm. The school official told Southern Cross Broadcasting: "I still have scars to my head".

He has said that the security at the school will be increased. Police said that the attacker was not known to Mr Mohandis and had said nothing to indicate that the attack was racially motivated.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 5:19 AM | Comments (0)

December 10, 2006

UK: More Money Wasted On Patronizing Muslims

Yet another example of how Britain is frittering away its taxpayer's money on making empty gestures towards Muslims at home and abroad can be found in today's Sunday Telegraph.

Last month, Tony Blair announced that he had promised $910 million to Pakistan (£480 million), with most of this money to be spent on Islamic seminaries, or madrassas. When Pakistan and Britain do not even have an extradition treaty with each other. This over-generous and pointless donation was part of a package worth £7,000,000,000 ($13,279,983,802) to be spent on Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan between now and 2011.

This is in addition to the existing costs of the military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. These have so far cost £5,000,000,000 ($9,485,702,716) for Iaq and £1,000,000,000 ($1,897,302,733) for Afghanistan.

We have already written of the Islamist member of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Mockbul Ali, who is employed as an "Islamic Affairs adviser" to the Foreign Office. Ali heads the "Engaging With The World Islamic Group (EIWG)". This has an annual budget of £8.5 million ($15.8 million), much of which has been wasted on ventures which do not remotely benefit Britain. 26 people are employed in the EIWG department.

Mockbul Ali, aged only 26, was a student radical. As a student he was a member of the Union of Muslim Students (UMS), where he edited its newspaper, which has praised at least one Palestinian suicide bomber, describing Aayat al-Akhras who blew herself to bits in a Jerusalem supermarket, killing two Israelis as "heroic", and dubbing her a "bride in the dress of martyrdom".

The current president of the UMS, Sharif Hasan al-Banna, has been sent by Mockbul Ali, at taxpayer's expense, to Islamic conferences in Indonesia and Nigeria.

In June Mockbul Ali approved the funding of an Islamic conference which was held in Turkey, at a cost to the taxpayer of £300,000 ($550,863). The costs included flying the "spiritual leader" of the Muslim Brotherhood, the terrorism-supporting Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, along with his wife, from Qatar to Istanbul and back. 180 other Muslims were treated similarly. They were housed in a luxury hotel while in Istanbul.

The Telegraph reveals today that another Foreign Office scheme has involved sending parties of Muslims to foreign locations to "share their experiences" with other Muslims. These excursions involve groups of up to eight people. The groups have so far gone to 18 nations, including Morocco, Egypt, Bahrain, Singapore, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Malaysia, Algeria, Indonesia, Qatar and Sudan. Other tours went to Bosnia, Spain, Germany, France, India and Holland, with the next trip planned for the United States.

A spokesman at the Foreign Office claims that "The idea is to promote British Muslims overseas, to try to get rid of the myth that British Muslims are oppressed, and to give Muslims in the UK the experience of how Muslims in other parts of the world live."

The official stated that the trips have brought clarity and understanding about mutual countries' perceptions. On a trip to Qatar, a group met with the supporter of suicide attacks within Israel, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the Muslim Brotherhood's spiritual head.

In Sudan, the group met with Hasan al-Turabi. This 75-year old cleric was the head of the Sudanese wing of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood. He joined the Brotherhood in the 1950s and while Egypt's Sayyid Qutb was advocating armed jihad in the 1960s, Turabi was the head of the group. Turabi was formerly part of the government of the Islamist dictator Omar al-Bashir. He allowed the terrorist Carlos "the Jackal" to reside in Sudan between 1991 to 1996, helped to arm the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda, and also provided sanctuary in Sudan to Osama bin Laden between 1991 and 1996. Turabi's imposition of Sharia law upon non-Muslims in the south of Sudan led to fighting which caused the loss of 2 million lives.

Mockbul Ali is not alone in supporting moves to make better relations with the Islamist terror-supporters of the Muslim Brotherhod and the Pakistan and Bangladesh party, Jamaat-e-Islami, which advocates sharia in its host nations and is fiercely opposed to women's rights.

Angus McKee from the Foreign Office Middle East and North Africa department has written: "Given that Islamist groups are often less corrupt than the generality of the societies in which they operate, consideration might be given to channelling aid resources through them, so long as sufficient transparency is achievable."

They may be less corrupt, but in the case of the leader of Pakistan's Jamaat-e-Islami party, Qazi Hussain Ahmad, they are borderline psychotic and fully opposed to democracy. Qazi Hussain Ahmad opposed changes to Pakistan's "Hudood" laws which meant a woman who had been raped had to produce four witnesses. If she reported a rape and could not provide the four witnesses (who had to be male and Muslim), she would automatically be accused of adultery. The maximum penalty for this was stoning to death and 100 lashes, but no stoning took place. However many rape victims received heavy jail terms.

The news of these trips was brought to light by Ben Wallace, who is Conservative MP for Lancaster and Wyre. He used parliamentary questions to uncover the sponsored trips, and how they were managed. He said: "I'm not sure how sending British Muslims abroad to other Islamic countries helps to counter the jihadi movement at home. I can't see that this is anything more than a jolly for a lot of people. It should not be forgotten that Britain has an appalling record of exporting jihadi fighters to other countries, not the other way around."
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And while news of more wastage of money on religious issues is being highlighted, the Telegraph additionally notes that the "Church" of Scientology has managed to secure massive rate reductions on a property it owns in London. This is their new center near St Paul's Cathedral (a real church). The Scientologists, who charge people extortionate fees to join classes with names such as "happiness rundown course", are already exempt from IRS tax in the United States.

In Britain, the group tried to get "charity" status, but the Charities Commission decided that the group did no charity work at all, and refused to register it. With assets estimated at $398 million, the Scientologists have used European rulings and Government equality regulations to have 80% of their annual rates on their east London center removed. This has been allowed by the City of London corporation on the grounds that the group is a charity, even though it is not a charity.

Instead of paying £343,045 ($670,861) in rates, the Church of Scientology has been awarded a discount of £274,436 ($536,689).

Founded by Lafayette Ron Hubbard in 1954, whose main claim to fame was an appalling science fiction novel (recently filmed by John Travolta as a resounding flop), Scientology uses obscure methods of "auditing" to promote its ideology of "dianetics". It believes humanity was manipulated by aliens, and we are reincarnated. To become a "clear" or "Operating Thetan" - the highest rank of dianetic "wisdom", individuals must spend ridiculously large amounts of money to the so-called Church.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 11:34 AM | Comments (5)

Book Review: America Alone

A writer for this website believes I worship Mark Steyn. Nothing could be further from the truth. Sure I've built a Yoruba shrine in his honor with my own hands. Sure I light a candle there every night; two when his Sun-Times column comes up. But that doesn't mean I worship the man.

Considering my lack of worship, it is rather surprising I rushed to buy America Alone: The End Of The World As We Know It as soon as it came out. I read it as soon as I received it. Yet only now I'm writing about it. Why is that so?

Because, truth be told, the book's message is depressing. Not even Steyn's famed wit can change that fact. But let's look at it nonetheless.

America Alone's central premise can be summarized as follows: within our lifetimes, much of what we now call the free world--and part of the unfree one too--will cease to exist in its present form, after dying at the hands of the world-wide Islamic revival.

The causes of the upcoming events will be many, each contributing in its own way, large or small, to the world-changing disaster. For example; the infantilization of our populations and propaganda against large families have already depressed the birth rates in Europe to a dangerous levels. The loss of civilizational confidence brought about by self-hatred (so-called multiculturalism) leaves our peoples vulnerable to Islamic Da'wa. Our implied Pacifism makes meaningful self-defence difficult, if not outright impossible.

The book is well-argued and superbly written, but I must criticize it nonetheless. I won't criticize Steyn's description of the trends that threaten our civilizations, mind you: those are real, painfully so. But I cannot endorse the book's overarching pessimism. It is true, alas, that we face serious challenges, dealy ones. It is true that the World today is going the enemy's way. But present trends are not written in stone, and the World does turn. The future can still be changed by our actions. But we will need to act.

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 5:28 AM | Comments (5)

December 9, 2006

US: Veiled Muslim Woman Destroys Bus Policy

News from Grand Rapids Press and from Associated Press via the International Herald Tribune and Seattle Post Intelligencer:

Once more, a Muslim who refuses to act like other citizens has forced another institution in America to rethink its rules. This time, the security policy of a bus company in Michigan has been scrapped because of one Muslim woman who refused to remove her veil.

On Friday, the Rapid bus system in Grand Rapids stated that it would end its policy of barring people who covered their faces from boarding public transit vehicles. The decision stems from an incident in July when a Muslim woman wearing a full face-veil, or nikab, was refused entry onto a bus, because her face was not visible.

She complained, and according to a spokesperson from the Rapid company, Jennifer Kalczuk, the company has now apologized to her, and the ban on face-coverings has now been rescinded. Originally designed as a security measure, she said that an onboard security camera system could help to identify those on buses in case of a disturbance. She said that religious dress had not been considered when the rule was introduced. The original intention of the ruling had been to prevent people who were wearing Halloween masks and ski masks.

Kalczuk said the bus company would be reviewing all of its other policies as a result of this. Drivers will still be assessing security issues when passengers board buses. The veil-wearing woman who started this situation has not been named.

One Islamic "activist", Debbie Mageed of the Interfaith Dialogue Association said she was pleased with the sincerity of the bus company's approach to the handling of the situation. She claimed: "These are extremely pious women who are trying to be the most modest that they can be."

I see these woman as either political activists who choose to flaunt their difference in front of others, or arrogant show-offs who flaunt their supposed "piety" as a tool of making themselves seem better than Muslim women who do not choose to go around like walking tents.

A slightly similar situation occurred in Manchester, Great Britain, when on November 2 it was revealed that a Muslim woman was refused permission to board a bus. The difference here was that the woman carried a bus pass, which featured a photograph of her un-veiled face. This student pass entitles a person to free travel. The driver refused to let the woman board the bus unless she verified that she had the same face as the identifying photograph on the pass. The woman was not prevented from traveling because of the veil - she was allowed to travel if she paid like other passengers. She was refused permission to travel as the holder of a pass which she refused to prove was her own.

Sultana Freeman (pictured), a now 39-year old Florida woman, attempted to have the identification photo on her driving license depicting her in full face veil, with only her eyes visible. She had been attempting to have her covered face as her identification since 2001, when the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles had initially granted her such a license but had then revoked it.

On September 7 2005, after numerous court cases, the Fifth District Court of Appeal at Daytona Beach, Florida, refused her request to have an identification photograph which did not show her identity.

In New Jersey last December, Sarah Elfayoumi who wears a >i>hijab or Muslim headscarf, complained that the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission (NJMVC) subjected her to humiliation. When she was having her license photo taken, she was told to expose part of her hairline, which sent her sobbing to the bathroom. She said: "Not only was this an offense to my religion, but I was also stripped of my dignity."

In Britain, women who wear face-veils when they take their driving tests are now required to have their veils briefly removed in a private room in the presence of no men, to check their identity. The Driving Standards Agency (DSA) introduced the requirement in September this year, because of fraud. In 2006, 250 people had been investigated for sending other people to take the rigorous driving exam on their behalf. In 2005, 260 such individuals had been investigated for substituting someone else to take the test.

Keyword: Nikab, niqab

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 11:40 PM | Comments (2)

US: Mullah Krekar Placed On Sanctions List

The Kurdish Iraqi known as Mullah Krekar has lived in Norway for fourteen years, claiming to be an asylum seeker. Despite claiming that his life was in danger, Krekar still made several visits to the country he claimed held dangers for him. On one of those visits, he founded the terrorist group Ansar al-Islam fi Kurdistan or "Supporters of Islam in Kurdistan" in December 2001.This group is based in Biyarah, Tiwela, and surrounding regions, near the border with Iran.

Human Rights Watch noted in September 2002 that Ansar al-Islam, which had ordered strict Wahhabi discipline on the inhabitants in its area, was committing atrocities against civilians and had murdered captured combatants. In one instance, 53 captured combatants from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan were beheaded. Documents found in Afghanistan suggested that Al Qaeda was involved with the formation of this group, which had formed from a merger of a faction from the Islamic Movement of Kurdistan and Jund al-Islam, the Soldiers of Islam.

Jund al-Islam operated a policy of "propagation of virtue and prevention of vice" (al-amr bil ma'ruf wal nahiy 'an al-munkar), which was continued by Ansar al-Islam when Krekar was its inaugural emir, or leader. Ansar al-Islam burned down schools which educated girls, and women who did not wear the burka were murdered on the street. The group was involved in assassinations of political opponents. It also used children among its "soldiers"

On March 22, 2003, three days after the coalition invasion of Iraq began, the group mounted a suicide car bombing, which killed an Australian journalist, Paul Moran. On September 9, 2003, a bomb attempt upon a US Department of Defense office in Arbil was made, killing three people.

Krekar has denied involvement with Al Qaeda, even though in June this year he called bin Laden an "international political figure with global influence," and said he would be prepared to sacrifice himself for the Al Qaeda chief.

Krekar's life in Norway is under surveillance by the government, but the authorities have refused to deport him to Iraq, despite orders for his deportation being made on February 2003 and again on September 2005 with the latter Oslo court ruling upheld last month.

Norrwegian authorities are fearful that if Krekar is returned to Iraq he may face the same fate as those he perceived to be his enemies - torture or death. It was ruled on November 22 that Krekar must pay court costs of 290,000 kronor ($45,000). The likelihood of this money being paid back is remote, as Krekar claims to have no money in his bank account.

While openly defiant, and even making veiled threats against Norway on Al Jazeera TV last September, Krekar's biggest fear is the CIA. In 2003, fearful that he might be abducted by the CIA in a process of "extraordinary rendition", he sought official protection. In June this year, Krekar's lawyer, Brynjar Meling, spoke of Krekar's renewed fears of being kidnapped by the CIA.

Krekar, born Najmuddin Faraj Ahmad, is now the head of a list of terrorists which was issued by the Treasury on Thursday, December 7. The list includes another man of Moroccan origins who is currently residing in Sweden, and three Kuwaitis, 45-year old Mubarak Mushakhas Sanad Al-Bathali, 47-year old Jaber Al-Jalamah and 46-year old Hamid Al-Ali. The three Kuwaitis are all said to provide financial support for Al Qaeda-affiliated groups.

According to the US Treasury, the Moroccan who is based in Sweden is called Mohamed Moumou (born July 30, 1965). He still maintains links to Al Qaeda in Iraq and is still connected to the circle which surrounded terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed by a US airstrike in June.

According to Swedish records, Moumou has lived at four different addresses around Stockholm over the past two years. Anders Thornberg, director of Sapo, Sweden's security police, there had been an exchange of information with the US authorities "at a number of levels".

The US Treasury report states that Moumou also had an address in London, England. Moumou has connections to senior Al Qaeda members he met in Afghanistan and Pakistan in the late 1990s when he traveled to Afghanistan to particpate in the Khalden terrorist training camp. This was run by Al Qaeda.

In Sweden, Moumou had been the leader of an extremist group centered around the Brandenburg Mosque, Stockholm. He had been Zarqawi's European representative for "issues related to chemical and biological weapons".

On Friday, states DPA, Mullah Krekar and Mohamed Moumou were also placed onto a UN list of sanctions. Under the clauses of the UN Security Council Resolution 1267, the assets of the two men are to be frozen.

The Swedish Foreign Minister, Carl Bildt said on Friday that his government had not opposed the decision made against Mohamed Moumou, and spoke of the need for such a system while "we have a threat of international terrorism over us".

Anders Romarheim, a researcher at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (Norsk Utenrikspolitisk Institutt, NUPI) has speculated that the reason for Krekar's being placed on a US sanctions list has been to apply pressure upon Norway. Romarheim said that the American authorities are unhappy about Krekar's being free in Norway, and he believes this move is intended to make Norway confine the leader of Ansar al-Islam until he is deported to Iraq.

On October 11 two members of the small Albany Mosque in New York were convicted of charges connected with their attempts to fund Krekar's group, Ansar al-Islam. Yassin Aref, a refugee of Kurdish Iraqi origin who was imam at the mosque, was convicted on ten of the 30 counts with which he was originally charged. 51-year old Mohammed Hossain, a naturaliized US citizen and pizzeria owner, was convicted of all of the 27 charges against him.

The pair had been arrested in August 2004 after an undercover operation which had involved money laundering, connected to attempts to sell a shoulder-held missile launcher which they thought would be used to kill a Pakistani diplomat in New York City. Both men will be sentenced on February 12th, 2007.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 3:48 AM | Comments (0)

December 8, 2006

US: Muslim's Illinois Christmas Carnage Plot

News from various sources, including Fox News, Washington Post, Bloomberg, Reuters, BBC, International News and Associated Press via Forbes and the Guardian:

A 22 year old man from Rockford, 90 miles west of Chicago, appeared in court today, charged with plotting to mount grenade attacks at the CherryVale shopping mall in Rockford, three days before Christmas.

Derrick Shareef, a black Muslim convert, had been arrested in a "sting" operation after he had tried to buy four grenades from an undercover agent working with the Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Today, he appeared before Judge Maria Valdez, charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, and attempting to destroy or damage a building in an explosion. The US Magistrate ordered that Shareef be held in custody until December 20 when the defense can mount an application for bail.

Shareef's plans to carry out an act of jihad had come to the attention of the FBI in September, when he confided in an associate who then informed the bureau. From that time onward, Shareef was kept under close surveillance, and with the assistance of an undercover agent, his movements and intentions were known. Several of his conversations were recorded, where he discussed possible targets.

The undercover agent suggested that he could introduce Shareef to someone who get hold of weaponry. Shareef apparently made several surveillance missions of his own, to decide the best place to mount an attack. He settled on the notion of CherryVale mall as it would be busy before Christmas. He had scheduled Friday 22 December as the day of the attack when Christmas shoppers would be at their greatest number. He intended to place grenades in bins at the mall.

US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said that at no stage was the public placed in danger during the surveillance operation, and Shareef acted alone. Even though affidavits and statements give the impression that Shareef was attempting an ambitious act of terror, he was still amateur. He did not have the funds to buy weaponry, but had arranged on the day of his arrest to exchange a set of audio speakers to receive the grenades. If Shareef does get convicted, each of his charges carries a maximum life sentence and a $250,000 fine.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 10:11 PM | Comments (0)

Canada: Walid Shoebat Denied Entry

Walid Shoebat is a former PLO terrorist who had committed acts of Jihad against Israel. He turned his life around and now, at risk to his life, he publicly condemns Islamist and other anti-Semitic radicalism, and supports the rights of Israel to exist. He has apostasized from Islam, itself a crime worthy of death in many Muslims' eyes, and is now a Christian. He appears on TV without disguising his face, and openly condemns the anti-Semitism of his former compatriots of the Palestinian territories. He lives in the United States.

His website, which details his work, books and life, can be found here.

Now, according to World Net Daily, he has been barred from entering Canada to attend a conference at the Simon Weisenthal Center. He arrived at Toronto airport, carrying accreditation documents from US Homeland Security, but was detained for several hours before being made to fly home.

For the full story read: Canada turns away former terrorist.

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

UK: Muslim Men Must Swim Alone

News from the Sun today reports that Croydon Council, which receives funds from all of those who live within its region, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, has decided to segregate the swimming pool for Muslims.

For people who are working from Monday to Friday, or who have children at school on these days, Saturday and Sunday are the days when most families can visit the indoor swimming facility, owned by Croydon Council, and paid for by its rate-payers.

But now, Sunday afternoons from 4.45 pm to 6.45 pm at the pool are out of bounds for women, as the Council has ordered that Muslim males are to be given special privileges. Non-Muslim men may only swim at this time if they wear "Islamically modest" swimwear, which covers the navel and extends to the knees.

During the week, there are times when Muslim women may swim, and here any female attending the venue must be clothed from their necks to their ankles.

Croydon Mosque, which has tried to claim that it is "moderate" after banning radical group Hizb ut-Tahrir from its membership, issued a statement which reads: "Muslims are not allowed to show off intimate parts of their body. This is non-negotiable. Muslims have as much right to go swimming as anyone else."

A spokesperson for Croydon Council said: "We are keen to ensure sports facilities are there for everyone."

So they introduce religious apartheid.

Today, in a speech at his official residence in Downing Street, prime minister Tony Blair made a statement in which he claimed that all citizens should conform to "common values". He said: "When it comes to our essential values - belief in democracy, the rule of law, tolerance, equal treatment for all, respect for this country and its shared heritage - then that is where we come together, it is what we hold in common."

"If you come here lawfully, we welcome you. If you are permitted to stay here permanently, you become an equal member of our community and become one of us. The right to be different, the duty to integrate: that is what being British means.And neither racists nor extremists should be allowed to destroy it."

The politically correct lobby at Croydon Council, in the name of "multiculturalism", is practicing its own divisive policies which encourage a lack of integration.

And the hypocrites at the Croydon mosque are asserting that their rights not to conform and not to integrate are "non-negotiable."

This is the state of Britain today.....

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 5:37 PM | Comments (4)

Belian: How the Turkish Government Influenced the Dutch Elections

The Brussels Journal presents a fascinating tale--fascinating for all the wrong reasons: Trojan Horse: Ankara Influenced Dutch Election Results

Yesterday evening, the Dutch television program Nova caused considerable embarrassment in the Netherlands by revealing how the Turkish government influenced last months' Dutch general elections. In an e-mail sent to thousands of ethnic Turks in the Netherlands the Turkish Ministry of Religious Affairs called on them to vote for Fatma Koser Kaya, a 38-year old woman whose family emigrated to the Netherlands when she was six years old. Koser Kaya is a member of the leftist “social-liberal” Democrats 66 (D66) party. On 22 November, D66 lost three of its previous six seats in Parliament. Koser Kaya, however, though only sixth on the list of D66 candidates, was elected as one of the party's three parliamentarians thanks to the 34,564 individual votes she got, possibly as a result of the Turkish government’s interference.[...]

Link via National Review's The Corner.

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 2:10 PM | Comments (0)

December 7, 2006

Malaysia: No Muslim Burial For Christian

The case of Rayappan Anthony (pictured) has caused a stir within Malaysia and has been taken up by the international press. 71-year old Rayappan died of complications from diabetes at Kuala Lumpur Hospital on Wednesday November 29. Rayappan lived at Shah Alam, in Selangor state.

Instead of having the body given to his family, the hospital had refused to hand over the body until there was clear indication of his religious status. Rayappan, an ethnic Indian, had been a Christian. However, in 1990 he had converted to Islam on January 20, 1990 in order to marry an Indian Muslim woman. He had changed his name to Muhammad Rayappan Abdullah.

The lawyer for Rayappan's family, A. Sivenasan, said: "But after about eight years of being a Muslim, Rayappan decided to return to his family and applied to renounce the faith." He claimed that Rayappan had made a sworn declaration before a Commissioner for Oaths to renounce Islam. On May 10,1999, Rayappan had applied to the National Registration Department (NRD), and had been issued with a new identification card, or MyKad. This carried his original name, Rayappan Anthony.

The Selangor Islamic Religious Department refused to accept that Rayappan's conversion back to Christianity was valid, as such decisions can only be made by an Islamic (Syariah) court.

42-year old Jaymarie, Rayappan's daughter, had said her father had stopped being a Muslim when he returned to his family and his wife, Lourdes Mary Maria Soosay, in 1999. Jaymarie said: "We hope we can claim the body amicably and our lawyer has given all the documents to JAIS (Selangor Islamic Religious Department, also called MAIS)."

On Friday, the Shah Alam Syariah Court adjudicated in a closed session upon the issue of whether or not Rayappan was to be buried as a Muslim or a Christian. Syariah High Court judge, Abu Zaky Mohammad ruled that the body should be buried according to Muslim tradition. He ruled that on Monday (December 4), the Selangor Islamic Religious Department could claim the body of Rayappan from the Kuala Lumpur hospital.

A. Sivenesan stated that the family would be filing a civil suit on Monday to order, demanding that Kuala Lumpur hospital return the body to the family. When that day arrived, more dramas ensued. The civil suit was lodged with the Wisma Denmark high court. The government was named as a defendant in the family's suit.

At the Syariah Court hearing on Monday, the Selangor Islamic Religious Department requested a review of the decision which had been made on Friday, that the body should be buried as a Muslim.

The family of Rayappan Anthony were visited by two policemen and three religious enforcement officers on Monday night at 8.20 pm. Sisters Mary, aged 45, Jaymarie, 42 and 44-year old Josephine were all issued with subpoenas, ordering them to attend a Syariah High Court hearing on Tuesday. They refused to attend the Islamic court, as they were not Muslims. On Tuesday, they went to Brickfields police station accompanied by A. Sivenasan, and filed a police report.

The report, Mary explained, was to deter the Selangor Islamic Religious Department or other parties from forcing them to attend a Muslim court, as they were not compelled to attend an Islamic court unless they were Muslims. She said in the report: "The action taken by the council is not right."

The family lawyer, A. Sivenesan stated on Tuesday: "We do not care what the outcome from today's hearing is. We are firm with our decision not to appear in court."

Sivenesan also said of the situation: "It's known as corpse-snatching. You don't bother about the man when he is alive. When he dies you come and snatch the body."

Because the three daughters of Rayappan Anthony did not appear at the Syariah High Court, the judge who had earlier ruled that their father should be buried as a Muslim, Abu Zaky Mohammad, was placed in an awkward position. He was forced to adjourn the case, to seek guidance from his superior Selangor chief Syariah judge Zohdi Toha.

The issue took a turn when the government was named as a defendant in the family's suit against the director-general of the Kuala Lumpur hospital. The prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced on Wednesday that the cabinet had discussed the situation. He said that the cabinet had ordered that the case should be handed over to the Attorney General, as it was important for the case to be resolved.

He said to reporters: "We want the A-G to find out his religious status, and if he is not a Muslim the authorities should hand over the remains to Rayappan’s family."

A. Sienesan, the family's lawyer had submitted the documents on Rayappan's renouncing of Islam to the National Registration Department, and apparently the NRD had accepted his return to Christianity. The MyKad of the deceased, which had been issued in 2003, also noted that Rayappan's religion was "Christianity".

The government, led by the UMNO party, had received embarrassment at its recent 57th annual meeting, where three leaders in the party had made extremist comments, including at least one threat of violence against non-Muslims who did not support the party.

Minister in the prime minister's office, Nazri Aziz, has a reputation for hostility towards non-Muslims who criticize aspects of the constitution which place the rights of Islamic courts above those of the civil courts (Article 121 (1A) of the Constitution, introduced in an amendment in 1988, rules that civil courts have no jurisdiction on "any matter" which comes under the ruling of the Islamic Courts).

In March, Aziz had threatened to invoke the Sedition Act against critics of the Islamist constitution. This act, introduced by the British before Malaysia's independence on August 31, 1957, allows for a jail term of three years and a fine of up to 5,000 ringgit or $1,350.

On Wednesday, his words appeared conciliatory. He said that Rayappan's family should give evidence at the Syariah court. Aziz said: "They are being asked to give evidence. There is a precedent in the case of Nyonya Tahir; the family went to submit evidence. My personal view is that they should do this if they want a solution." He hinted that the family would receive a positive result if they went to the Syariah court. He said that the Syariah court would be fair to the family and he did not see a problem for them. "It is clear he had gone back to his earlier faith, and the identity card does not state that he is a Muslim." Aziz said.

The case of Nyonya Tahir, an 89-year old Buddhist woman, did set a precedent. A Buddhist since 1936, she had died on Thursday January 19 this year. When alive, she had tried repeatedly to get the National Registration Department to change her religious identity, as stated on her MyKad to Buddhist.

At age 12, all Malaysians are given a MyKad, and because of the racial/religious apartheid enacted in the nation, all ethnic Malays (like Nyonya Tahir) are listed as "Muslim". Ethnic Malays comprise 50.8% of the population. They are not allowed normally to convert from Islam, as the NRD states that such claims can only be decided by the Syariah Courts. And in the 49 years since independence, no living "Muslim" has been allowed to convert.

When Syariah officials commandeered Nyonya's body, her family protested. For the first time in the history of such courts, the Buddhist children of Mrs Tahir were called to give evidence at the Syariah court. On January 23, the court allowed the old lady's body to be interred as a Buddhist.

The Attorney General, Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail, said on Wednesday that all parties must respect each others' religions. He said: "Let us sit down and discuss the problem. Solutions can only be found if all parties sit down and look at the problem in a fair and equitable manner. Everyone must respect each other's religion and try to solve it amicably without immediately taking any stand. I will be meeting with several Islamic religious bodies including the Majlis Agama Islam Selangor (Selangor Religious Affairs Department or MAIS),'' he said.

The Attorney General noted that he could only give advice. He had no legal power to influence the decisions of a Syariah court.

Today, at 4.45 pm local time, the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (MAIS) announced that it had dropped its claim, according to its chairman, Mohamad Adzib Mohamad Isa. He said that there was additional evidence to show that Rayappan was not a Muslim.

He announced: "We have two sets of facts – some stating that he was not a Muslim and some stating that he was. But the existing facts were more towards him being a non-Muslim."

An hour before the decision, the Syariah Appeals Court had said the Syariah High Court in Selangor state had the power to review its decision to grant custody of the body to MAIS.

Rayappan's family went to the Kuala Lumpur hospital, and claimed the body of the 71-year old former van driver.

Rayappan's widow, Lourdes Mary Maria Soosay, said she had prayed for the body to be returned to them. She said: "The whole family is happy that everything has been sorted out and we can take his body back home with us." Her daughter Mary said she would find it hard to forget the trauma of the ordeal the family went through.

The funeral will take place at 1 pm on Saturday at the Church of the Good Shepherd, Air Panas, Setapak.

It seems that what has turned the event around for this family is the involvement of the government, whose main party, UMNO, has been embarrassed by comments made at its conference in mid-November. A year ago, a case involving a Hindu, Lt. Corporal Maniam Moorthy, made headlines around the world, when his wife's claims that he had never converted to Islam were ignored by Islamic authorities, who had Moorthy buried as a Muslim on Devember 28, 2005. His widow Kaliammal, had an appeal to the High Court unheeded, as the judge claimed that under Article 121 (1A), he had no power to contradict decisions of the Islamic courts.

In summer, a famous convert to Christianity, Lina Joy, took her case to the Federal Court, the highest court in the land, to demand her right to be a Christian, despite being classified as a Muslim. The decision on this case, and also a separate case at a Syariah court involving a woman called Kamariah Ali, has not yet been reached.

While the Lina Joy case remains undecided, the government cannot refer to the rights of citizens to follow or to be barred from following the Articles of the constitution which guarantee freedom of religion. Article 3(1) of the constitution states that "other religions (than Islam) may be practiced in peace and harmony in any part of the Federation", while Article 11 states that anyone can follow any religion of their choosing.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 8:57 PM | Comments (1)

December 6, 2006

Denmark: Muslim Terror Trial Begins

News from BreakingNews.iol.ie, Associated Press, Copenhagen Post and Serbianna:

The trial began today of four young Muslims who had been picked up in terror raids last October in Copenhagen. Most of these were worshippers at a mosque in Noebbro district, headed by the notorious Palestinian-born preacher Abu Laban. He made a name for himself after he deliberately provoked the Danish cartoon crisis when he showed the Jyllands-Posten cartoons, with three fake cartoons to Middle East leaders.

Seven people had been arrested last year. Four had been apprehended on October 28, with two more arrested on October 29, with another apprehended shortly after.

The suspects have been named as Abdul Basit Abu-Lifa, Elias Ibn Hsain, Imad Ali Jaloud and Adnan Avdic. When they were arrested, they had been linked to two individuals who had been arrested in Bosnia-Hercegovina on October 23, a Bosnian who had lived in Sweden, named Mirsad Bektasevic and another Bosnian with a Turkish passport and a Danish residency permit, Cesur Abdulkadir.

When arrested the Danes were suspected of plotting a major terror attack against a major European target. It was soon revealed that they had been in contact with a man in Bosnia named "Maximus", who is in fact Mirsad Bektasevic (pictured). As a demonstration of how international terror plots have become, the Danish suspects appear to be linked to three men charged in Britain on November 4, with conspiracy and terror charges - Waseem Mughal, Younis Tsouli and Tariq al-Daour.

The four Danish suspects on trial have been linked to Mirsad Bektasevic ("Maximus") by mobile phone conversations and internet communications, said the prosecutor, Joergen Jensen. He said he would be presenting evidence of these at the trial. Mr Jensen told the 12-member jury: "They agreed with Maximus and Cesur that (the latter two) should travel to Bosnia to get hold of explosives."

The defendants are aged 17 to 21, and could face life imprisonment if found guilty. The trial is expected to continue until February 16. Abdul Basit Abu-Lifa, Elias Ibn Hsain, Imad Ali Jaloud and Adnan Avdic have all pleaded not guilty to charges of "attempting terrorism", relating to their allegedly planning an attack in Bosnia or another European country. Their please were entered for them by lawyers. They themselves said nothing during the hearing today which took place in the Eastern High Court, Copenhagen.

Of the four, Adnan Avdic is a Bosnian national, but the other three, Abdul Basit Abu-Lifa, Elias Ibn Hsain and Imad Ali Jaloud, were all born in Denmark to immigrants from the Middle East.

Prosecutor Joergen Jensen said that the three Danish born suspects should lose their citizenship status, and that Avdic should have his residence permit revoked. Mr Jensen said that all four should be deported from Denmark when they have served their sentences.

They were apprehended in the west Copenhagen suburb of Glostrup. According to Joern Vestergaard, a specialist in criminal law from the University of Copenhagen, there may be problems in securing a conviction for the four accused. He said: "The crucial point will be how the court interprets information about what the accused have done, and a ticking bomb is lacking here. To lift the burden of proof, the individual and divergent elements must be connected to form a sufficiently solid case."

The trial is being modeled upon the trial which is currently taking place in Sarajevo, Bosnia, involving Mirsad Bektasevic (Maximus), Cesur Abdulkadir and a third man, Barjo Ikanovic, a native Bosnian. This trial had commenced officially on May 3. Cesur Abdulkadir and Mirsad Bektasevic had arrived in Bosnia a few weeks before their arrest. In their possession was discovered suicide vests, about 30 kilograms, or 65 pounds, of exploding bullets and high explosive, and a machine pistol. It was alleged that Ikanovic had helped Abdulkadir and Bektasevic to buy 22 kilograms (44 pounds) of explosives, which the two had intended to form into a suicide belt.

The three individuals entered their pleas of not guilty to the court, and judge Mehmed Sator adjourned the case. It re-convened on September 26 this year. Mirsad Bektasevic, who had lived on the west coast Sweden, admitted that he had made a video, on a camera borrowed from his Bosnian aunt. On this video, two men in masks stated that they intended to carry out terror attacks in Europe. They displayed a collection of weapons, including hand grenades and what seem to be explosives on the video.

Bektasevic (Maximus) had become radicalized only after he started visiting a mosque in Gothenburg, Sweden, his mother explained last November. There he came under the influence of three men, a Palestinian from Syria, a Kurd and a Somali. She said: "He was not religious before, but in the past two years he practiced more seriously. Some people frightened him and talked to him about hell, and told him he would be tortured in hell if he does not pray and does not believe."

Despite his mother's attempts to cast him as an innocent victim, Mirsad Bektasevic had become known to police and intelligence officials as a recruiter of Muslims, who were to go to Iraq and Afghanistan to join the insurgency. He appears to be the main link between Bosnian Islamists, would-be terrorists in Copenhagen, and British Islamists.

The British suspects who were arrested on October 21 and 22, 2005, are said to have planned to make terror attacks against the United States. Waseem Mughal of Kent is charged on 8 counts. He is accused of having a recipe for making rocket propellants and also possessing a DVD of jihadist "martyrdom operations." Younis Tsouli of West London also has 8 charges laid against him. He is accused of having a video presentation on his computer showing how to make a car bomb, and also is said to have had a picture presentation of various locations in Washington DC on his computer. Tariq al-Daour, also from west London, is accused of receiving money and assets knowing that they may be used in terrorism. All three are charged with credit card fraud. Their trial has yet to start.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 9:01 PM | Comments (1)

Somalia: Town Proclaims Beheading for Those Who Refuse to Pray

Islamic Law in action in Somalia: Somalia Town Threatens to Behead People Who Don't Pray 5 Times Daily

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Residents of a southern Somalia town who do not pray five times a day will be beheaded, an official said Wednesday, adding the edict will be implemented in three days.

Shops, tea houses and other public places in Bulo Burto, about 124 miles northeast of the capital, Mogadishu, should be closed during prayer time and no one should be on the streets, said Sheik Hussein Barre Rage, the chairman of the town's Islamic court. His court is part of a network backed by armed militiamen that has taken control of much of southern Somalia in recent months, bringing a strict interpretation of Islam that is alien to many Somalis.

Those who do not follow the prayer edict after three days have elapsed, "will definitely be beheaded according to Islamic law," Rage told The Associated Press by phone. "As Muslims we should practice Islam fully, not in part, and that is what our religion enjoins us to do."

He said the edict, which covered only Bulo Burto, was being announced over loudspeakers throughout the town.[...]

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 4:10 PM | Comments (1)

Iraq: Chaldean Priest Kidnapped

It was some random Buddhists, I'm sure of it: Another Chaldean priest abducted in Baghdad

Baghdad (AsiaNews) - Another Chaldean priest was abducted yesterday in Baghdad. Fr Samy Al Raiys, whose disappearance was announced last night, is in the hands of unknown men who picked him up near his home.

The Chaldean Patriarchate of Baghdad, which reported the abduction, launched an appeal on its website. Addressing the abductors, it asked: "We beg you not to harm him but to treat him well. We trust Father Samy in the hands of the Lord and of Providence, asking Him to help save Iraq from these kidnapping which terrorise everyone, adults and children alike". The appeal ended by calling upon "Our Lady that She may save him and return him soon to his church and to the service of his faithful".

Father Samy was just a few metres from his home, in Sinaa Street in Baghdad, when some unknown people took him away. Nothing has been heard from him since then. His car, too, has not found.[...]

Thanks to reader "Giussani" for the link.

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 1:19 PM | Comments (0)

Australia: Muslim School Promotes Hate

The Australian yesterday reported on the goings-on at the East Preston Islamic College in Melbourne Victoria. Two Muslim students were expelled for desecrating a Bible.

The incident took place while a group of 33 teenage students were on a school camp at Bacchus Marsh last week. Bacchus Marsh is a community situated 36 miles west of Melbourne, near gorges and other scenic locations.

Three students took part in the desecration, with two more witnessing the event. A report from the school states: "The main perpetrator (a Year 7 student) urinated on the Holy Bible, tore some pages from the Holy Book and burnt them then finally spat on the Holy Book." A Year 9 student "tore pages from the Holy Book and burnt them, while a Year 7 student "tore pages from the Holy Bible and then he rolled it up like a cigarette and pretended to smoke it."

The children come from different backgrounds - one is Albanian/Malaysian, one Lebanese and another Indonesian. The first two students were expelled, while the third was suspended.

Principal Shaheem Doutie said he and the school were appalled by the incident. Omen Hauli, an imam from Newport Mosque, has been brought in to lecture the 650 students that the Bible and Christianity should be respected. The school annually receives Aus $ 3.9 million (US $3,071,942) in state and federal funding.

Half of the school's teachers are non-Muslim, and 22 of these have signed a petition which includes the statement: "This whole incident implies a deep hatred inculcated in the students towards the Christians/non-Muslim teachers."

The petition mentions "previous incidents of students misbehaving towards non-Muslim teachers" and urged the school to "take steps to rectify this explosive situation".

Further news on the case has revealed that the school has shown video material to children which calls non-Muslim Australians "evil people" and urges Muslims to openly condemn Christianity and lure people into Islam.

The video from the school's library was made by British convert Abdur-Raheem Green, (born Ashley Green) when he was in Australia in 2003. Last year, Green, who argues that Muslims and Westerners "cannot live peaceably together" was barred entry to Australia. He was placed on an Immigration Department "movement alert list". He has previously stated that East/West conflict is "ordered in the Koran" and "dying while fighting jihad is one of the surest ways to paradise and Allah's good pleasure."

When he was banned from entering Australia last August, he said: "I've always been known as a moderate. I condemn terror. Killing women and children is against Islam."

On the video which was shown to students at the East Preston Islamic College, Green states; "If we leave (Muslims) in these (non-Muslim Australian) schools they will be destroyed. You know very well what takes place in these schools ... it is all about evolution, Christmas, Easter, St Valentine's Day - a barrage. And you expect your children to survive? You think you live in a sewer and you come up smelling of roses?"

"Merely living in the company of evil people will inevitably begin to rub off on us and we will begin to acquire their characteristics."

Green was raised as a Roman Catholic before his conversion in 1987.

A teacher at the school told the Australian that students had been shown this video, though he could not confirm if the boys involved with the desecration of the Bible had viewed it.

Another teacher claimed that he had seen students downloading pages from EvilBible.com. This website attacks Christianity and Judaism.

The school has been existence for eight years, and principal Shaheem Doutie has been at his post only since April. He says that he was unaware of any radical material in the school's library.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 10:59 AM | Comments (0)

US: Muslim Woman Thinks Gym Is A Prayer Room

A report from the Detroit News describes how a Muslim woman has been using a gymnasium as her own prayer room, and has decided to make a public fuss when her prayer sessions were interrupted by a woman patron.

The Muslim woman, from Dearborn in Michigan, is Wardeh Sultan. She claims that she has used the gymnasium, a branch of Fitness USA, for seven or eight years, and has "never had a problem with praying there".

She says that she complained that her religious rituals were interrupted, and was told by the manager: "You have to respect her (the woman who interrupted Sultan), but she does not have to respect your God."

Sultan told the manager "I can't believe you said that...Honestly, I feel humiliated and I feel ashamed, right now, to go back to Fitness USA."

I cannot personally imagine how this case is to be taken as a breach of her rights. The gymnasium is what it says it is. If a Muslim intends to bow down on the floor and get in the way of patrons who are there to exercise, perhaps that Muslim should choose the times when she comes to a fitness arena.

But, stupid though this case is, the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee has filed a case of discrimination against Fitness USA on Sultan's behalf. Imad Hamad, regional director of the group said: "They (Muslims) are resenting that they are to be suppressed from expressing themselves freely, like others. It's OK for a Christian fellow or a Jewish fellow to pray, and it would be regarded highly and respected. When it comes to a person of Muslim faith, especially if a woman is wearing the head cover or a man with a typical clergy outfit, yeah, it is becoming like something that is offensive to people and making them nervous."

I doubt if Jewish or Christian patrons of gymnasiums hold their prayers kneeling down on the floor where other people are expected to pass. The argument by Hamad is spurious, and irrelevant.

Sultan is a Jordanian-born Palestinian who wears a veil, who says she came to the US 17 years ago to "avoid intolerance". She said: "We're here in the great United States and for this happening, it truly breaks my heart. You know, things are starting to change backwards, instead of frontward. We need to keep this United States, our country, up on our shoulders. We don't want it to go down."

Perhaps one of the things which is making America "go down" is the attitude of people like Wardeh Sultan and Imad Hamad, who appear to believe that their rights to do whatever they like whenever they like must be respected at all times.

A gymnasium is a gymnasium, and not a mosque. Fitness USA has already modified its dress code to allow Muslim women to attire themselves more "modestly". It should ban Wardeh Sultan for being a deliberate trouble-maker.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 9:46 AM | Comments (3)

UK: Christmas TV Message From A Veiled Muslim

Channel 4 began its life in 1982 as an alternative to the "mainstream" fare on offer in Britain. It promised to have more representations of minorities, and to deal with issues not covered by the three other terrestrial channels broadcasting at that time.

A few years ago, the channel decided to broadcast "alternative" Christmas messages, in competition with the Christmas broadcasts to the nation which Queen Elizabeth II has made since the 1950s. It has featured Sharon Osborne, Ali G, Quentin Crisp and others, whose message was essentially "secular".

But as the Sun now reports, this year's Christmas message is no longer a secular message, as it will come from a woman who dresses in Muslim hijab, nikab and abaya. Whether this Muslim woman will have any screen "persona" remains to be seen. Where only her eyes are visible in her dowdy garb, she wears thick glasses over the slit in her apparel, which give her the appearance of a large black frog.

Named only as "Khadija", the facially obscured presenter of Channel 4's Christmas message is a teacher and a lecturer in Islamic studies. A spokesman for Channel 4 said: "Khadija will be reflecting on the year that’s gone by - a year in which issues of religious and racial identity, freedom of expression and social cohesion have dominated the news agenda."

"The right to wear religious symbols from niqabs to crucifixes, remarks made by the Pope about Islam and the publication of cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed have all generated a debate about multiculturalism, secularism and integration. It's a debate in which British Muslims have played a key role and one that will shape the future of British society."

Zimbabwe-born Khadija is a British citizen. What is curious is the fact that her full name is not mentioned. If this person is going to give what is essentially a political and religious speech, it would be helpful to know who this woman is - to explore where her ideas come from. Is she a member of the extremist groups who promote the hijab (headscarf) and nikab (face-veil), such as the Tablighi Jamaat or Hizb ut-Tahrir?

The Queen's speech is a staid, traditional affair, but in the past, some of Channel 4's "alternative" Christmas messages have had some humor. The message from Sharon Osborne, who was then battling cancer, was actually an inspiring testament to the human spirit. But I am deeply suspicious of both "Khadija" and the motives of Channel 4. I am not against a Muslim giving a speech at Christmas (providing they show their faces and give their full names), but to call it a "Christmas message" is an insult to Christians for whom Christmas actually means something special.

Would Khadija, for example, approve of an "alternative" Eid address to be given by a Hindu at Mecca? I believe Khadija, by not providing her name, is being placed as a "token Muslim" by Channel 4 executives, merely to be provocative. Khadija may be sincere, hoping to promote her faith, but I cannot envisage many viewers, even Muslims, wanting to watch the televisual equivalent of a talking black beanbag.

The founder of Channel 4, Jeremy Isaacs, has been particularly scathing of the current management of the channel. He recently claimed that the channel is obsessed with sex and bad behaviour.

In the magazine Prospect he cited examples of Channel 4's output - "Designer Vaginas", "The Wold's Biggest Penis" and a week-long series on masturbation called a "Wankathon". He complained that the channel once offered "a quiet seriousness that today has mostly disappeared." The dumbing down of Channel 4 is marked by its screening of Big Brother, which Isaacs said "now embodies a mildly prurient voyeurism."

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 7:28 AM | Comments (0)

December 5, 2006

Belgium: Muslims Stone Jewish Children

A story I found in Expatica News caught my attention. It described how Jewish children, who were visiting Beringen, in Limburg province, Belgium, were set upon by "local residents of foreign origins." I tried to think which people "of foreign origins" would want to attack a group of Jewish schoolchildren.

Being of a suspicious mind, I Googled, and eventually found more information, care of Islam in Europe, backed up by reports in Dutch from HLN.be and Eyes and in English from JTA News. Their attackers were, unsurprisingly, Muslim youths of Turkish origin. What is bizarre is why Expatica bothered to report the ethnicity of the victims, but not their assailants.

About 60 Jewish children had gone to stay at a youth hostel on an excursion on Thursday, November 30. They had come to visit the Beringen mines, which include the Vlaams mijnmuseum, a mine which had closed in 1992 but has been preserved, with a museum. Other former coal mines, such as the Charbonnages de Beringen (pictured) which closed in 1989 lie deserted in the area, as historical sites of interest.

The Jewish children had come from Antwerp, and were aged from 12 to 15 years, expecting a stay which would be an educational holiday. The children were Hasidic, and wore their traditional black attire and hats, with long sideburns. As soon as they reached the youth hostel where they were to stay, they came under attack from a group of Turkish Muslims, who pelted them with stones. Once the children had gone into the hostel, the Muslims continued to throw stones and concrete blocks, smashing windows of the building. The Muslims were shouting anti-semitic abuse. The children had to shelter from the missiles and flying glass in an inner corridor of the hostel.

The leaders of the school group called the police, but even after the arrival of police, the youths continued to throw stones and shout insults for about an hour. Once the aggression had subsided, the Muslims continued to stay in the vicinity of the hostel. As a result, police decided that they could not guarantee the schoolboys' safety, and escorted them to the highway for them to return to Antwerp.

Four adults and six youths under the age of 18 were arrested, and at the weekend they were brought before a district court. All were sentenced to 30 hours' of community service, and were ordered to pay compensation to the youth hostel. The commune (district authority) issued an apology to the schoolchildren. It may press charges once all information on the case is clarified.

Already, charges have been filed by centre against racism and for equal chances. Claude Marinower, a Jewish member of parliament, said he will "raise the issue with the ministers of justice and the interior."

Forum, an Antwerp-based Jewish group demanded "drastic measures to guarantee the safety of all youth throughout Belgium. A failure to do so would endanger our democracy."
___________________
UPDATE Dec 6

With thanks to Esther of Islam in Europe, there is more information on this case. There were about 20 to 30 Turkish Muslims involved in the assault at the youth hostel at Beringen. Claude Marinower has said that the attackers also made the Nazi salute.

He has said that the Turkish youths had claimed that they had never met Jews before, and had spontaneously "reacted" to the dress of the children. Mr Marinower pours scorn on this account.

The youths will do their community service during the Christmas vacation, so as not to interupt their own schol studies. Additionally 7 Turkish groups are to meet aout the incident, with the intention of writing a letter to the Jewish comunity.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 6:33 PM | Comments (7)

Iran: Ahmadinejad Criticized for being too Liberal

Sometimes you just have to appreciate the irony; for some in Iran's Islamic Regime, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a dangerous liberal reformist: Hardliners turn on Ahmadinejad for watching women dancers

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, who flaunts his ideological fervour, has been accused of undermining Iran's Islamic revolution after television footage appeared to show him watching a female song and dance show.

The famously austere Mr Ahmadinejad has been criticised by his own allies after attending the lavish opening ceremony of the Asian games in Qatar, a sporting competition involving 13,000 athletes from 39 countries. The ceremony featured Indian and Egyptian dancers and female vocalists. Many were not wearing veils.

Women are forbidden to sing and dance before a male audience under Iran's Islamic legal code. Officials are expected to excuse themselves from such engagements when abroad but TV pictures showed Mr Ahmadinejad sitting with President Bashar Assad of Syria and Ismail Haniya, the Palestinian prime minister, during last Friday's ceremony in Doha.

Religious fundamentalists, usually Mr Ahmadinejad's keenest supporters, are asking why he attended a ceremony that violated his own government's strict interpretation of Shia Islam.[...]

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 9:37 AM | Comments (0)

Malaysia: Islamists Demand Women "Cover Up"

Kota Baru (Kota Bharu) is the capital city of Kelantan state, Malaysia. Its municipal council is run by Islamists who are allied to the PAS party. Kelantan is the only state to have a PAS majority. Led by Tuan Guru Haji Abdul Hadi Awang, the PAS party was first registered on May 31, 1955. Formerly called Persatuan Islam Se-Malaysia, it now calls itself Parti Islam Se-Malaysia. PAS wants to have an Islamic government which rules the entire country, irrespective of ethnic or religious belief, under the principles of Sharia law.

In 1990, PAS gained control of Kelantan state from then prime minister Mahathir Mohammad's UMNO party, and in Kota Baru Municipal Council (MPKB), Islamist laws were soon enacted. In 1996, the city council ordered that all supermarkets should have separate check-out lines for males and females, though this was loosely enforced. Additionally, unisex hair salons were banned, and thus many hair salons had their clientele halved.

Lipstick-wearing at work was banned, cinemas were ordered to keep lights on during performances (lest un-Islamic things went on in the dark) and women were ordered to wear the tudung (the Malaysian equivalent of the Hijab or Muslim headscarf), whilst at work. In 2000, 23 women were fined for not wearing this garment.

Laws on Islamic dress can only apply to Muslims, but this does not include images of Muslim or non-Muslim women with their heads uncovered. In May 2002, the head of Kota Baru Municipal Council, Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman, ordered that images of women on advertising billboards should not show them without the tudung.

In 1992, PAS had introduced an order that asserted that in Kelantan state, all female models should be shown wearing the tudung. Rahman noted that by 2002 this ruling was not being followed. He announced that any advertisements showing women without headscarves would be ripped down. He said: "However, lately we have noticed some sections of the business community are not adhering to the requirement." He claimed he was acting to protect "the image of women in the state."

Once again, Kota Baru Municipal Council has decided to ensure that women's image in the state is protected, by imposing more restrictions upon the women themselves. And women's groups are not happy at this demeaning treatment, states Malaysia's Star newspaper.

Mohammad Azman Daham, who is public relations officer for the MPKB, said that under local council by-laws, any woman, Muslim or non-Muslim, who "dressed sexily or indecently" could be fined up to 500 ringgit ($140). It was announced by MPKB that it would "no longer tolerate indecent dressing".

Issues of what is considered "indecent" are highly subjective, so the council has indicated a set of guidelines to clarify what is decent and what is indecent for women who work in retail outlets and in restaurants. It appears that service jobs are the only ones MPKB thinks women can do, or allows them to do. No mention is made of bank tellers, solicitors, business managers or other professions where women might be seen by the public, so one must assume the glass ceiling in Kelantan is set very low. Under Malaysia's religious apartheid, the rules are different for Muslims and non-Muslims.

Muslim women must dress in clothes which cover them down to their ankles, and they must also wear the tudung. For non-Muslim women, they must wear "decent outfits which do not expose the navel, show a lot of cleavage and emphasize the buttocks".

Outlawed for all women in employment, especially non-Muslims, are: "body hugging outfits which show off the body, blouses which show the navel, see-through blouses, mini-skirts, tight pants,"

Mohammad Azman Daham said: "Such outfits are prohibited here as it smears the reputation of Kota Baru and affects its status as an Islamic City." He admitted that prohibition of indecent dressing has been in place under by-laws for some time, but stated: "But now, MPKB will no longer tolerate skimpy outfits, following mounting complaints from the public."

Enforcement officers from the council would patrol localities to ensure the rules were followed. He spoke of "suspicious areas", listing off shopping malls. Any business which allowed its female employees to not dress like spinster librarians or in Muslim shrouds are to be subjected to fines.

Takiyuddin Hassan, Kelantan's State Local Government Committee chairman, said: "We define proper attire as wearing respectful clothing. We apologise to non-Muslims if this comes across as harsh but we must respect our Asian culture and religion in public."

Women's representatives have been infuriated by the latest enforcement of Muslim prudery. The executive director of Women's Aid Organisation (WAO), Ivy Josiah, called the ruling unacceptable and ridiculous. She said women were continually blamed for being raped or subjected to sexual harassment on account of the way they dressed, while men were never blamed for their predatory behavior.

She said: "I would like to know what is the (acceptable) level of tightness of a pair of pants or jeans, and what happens to those of us who have larger buttocks? Is the MPKB saying that we cannot wear pants or jeans as it will emphasise the buttocks?"

She said that the MPKB should stick to cleaning drains, managing parks, collecting garbage and providing child care centers.

The women's section chief of the MCA party, Dr Ng Yen Yen, was not amused. MCA (the Malaysian Chinese Association), is the second largest partner in a coalition with the ruling UMNO party. Dr Ng said: "If men wear tight fitting jeans, is that not deemed sexy? Why is it only the women are targeted, so much so that the ruling covers non-Muslim women as well?"

Maria Chin Abdullah, who is executive director of the Women's Development Collective wondered if the MPKB intended to impose rulings on decency to men who dressed in singlets and shorts, exposing their thighs, arms and armpits.

She said: "Firstly, are these gatal (lecherous) men intending to buy products or eat at the restaurants, or are they there to see how the women are dressed? If that is their purpose, then it is an insult to the mentality of Malaysian men."

Honey Tam, executive director of the All-Women's Action Society (Awam) said that forcing women to be the ones to be responsible in issues of morality is both discriminatory and a violation of women's rights.

Ms Tam said: "It is not the job of the council to become the 'moral police', and if it is concerned about the community it serves, it should encourage men and women to respect each other regardless of their dressing."

The illustration above right depicts a "tudung". By wearing lipstick, the model would be considered "indecent" and would be subject to a fine in Kota Baru if she appeared at work like this.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 1:26 AM | Comments (0)

December 4, 2006

Egypt: Foreign Islamists Arrested

News from AKI, Associated Press, CBC, Reuters and VOA:

Egypt has arrested several foreigners whom it claims are members of an Islamist cell, which planned terror attacks. Among those arrested were nine French citizens, an American, and two Belgians. Additionally, several Egyptian nationals, Tunisians and Syrians were also arrested. The news was announced on Monday by the Interior Ministry.

The suspects were arrested a week ago in Cairo and Alexandria, and had been under the guise of individuals in the country to study Arabic language and Islamic studies.

According to Le Monde, the French individuals include converts to Islam and Muslims of black African and north African origin, most of whom live in the Paris area. Most had been arrested in Cairo. They are aged over 25. Egypt authorized their deportation. Two other French individuals have been held in custody, and are named as Denis Boulanger and Habib Belkhair.

The Interior Ministry has not provided names or details of the American and the other individuals it mentioned. US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack confirmed a US citizen had been arrested, and said consular officials were trying to gain access to him, but would not give more information. An un-named source close to the Belgian authorities has confirmed that two of Belgian nationals have been arrested and are of Moroccan origin.

Some of those arrested in Cairo had attended the influential Al-Azhar University, the highest seat of Sunni learning in the world, as well as the largest Islamic college.

The statement from the Egyptian Interior Ministry said: "These people had links with certain terrorist organisations abroad. Investigations showed that they were trying to recruit others and indoctrinate them in their destructive beliefs and incite them to jihad and to travel to Iraq to carry out operations."

"The members of the secret organisation have adopted takfiri and jihadi ideas... It includes Arabs and foreigners resident in the country under cover of studying the Arabic language and Islamic religious learning."

Takfiri Muslims are the inheritors of the traditions of the original assassins, and they believe that if they are on a mission to kill, they can put away some of the Islamic codes, such as dress, beard and diet, in order to go unnoticed. They believe it is acceptable to kill Muslims whom they consider to be not devout. It is said that some of the 9/11 bombers, such as Mohammed Atta, were Takfiri.

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

Pipes: Rethinking the Egypt-Israel "Peace" Treaty

It is a part of the human condition to want to judge actions by their stated intentions, not by their eventual results. I have no doubt the intentions of the Westerners who promoted the Egypt-Israel Peace treaty were pure. But the results have been abysmal. (And I would add entirely predictable, given the one-sided nature of the treaty in favor of Egypt and the history of Islam.) Daniel Pipes explains: Rethinking the Egypt-Israel "Peace" Treaty

Ninety-two percent of respondents in a recent poll of one thousand Egyptians over 18 years of age called Israel an enemy state. In contrast, a meager 2% saw Israel as "a friend to Egypt."

These hostile sentiments express themselves in many ways, including a popular song titled "I Hate Israel," venomously antisemitic political cartoons, bizarre conspiracy theories, and terrorist attacks against visiting Israelis. Egypt's leading democracy movement, Kifaya, recently launched an initiative to collect a million signatures on a petition demanding the annulment of the March 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty.

Also, the Egyptian government has permitted large quantities of weapons to be smuggled into Gaza to use against Israeli border towns. Yuval Steinitz, an Israeli legislator specializing in Egypt-Israel relations, estimates that fully 90% of PLO and Hamas explosives come from Egypt.

Cairo may have no apparent enemies, but the impoverished Egyptian state sinks massive resources into a military build up. According to the Congressional Research Service, it purchased $6.5 billion worth of foreign weapons in the years 2001-04, more than any other state in the Middle East. In contrast, the Israeli government bought only $4.4 billion worth during that period and the Saudi one $3.8 billion.[...]

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 12:07 PM | Comments (0)

December 3, 2006

Yemen: Two Australian Muslims Released

News from Arab News, the Melbourne Age, Sydney Morning Herald, Sky News.au, DPA and ABC News:

Two Australian Muslims were released from custody in Yemen late on Saturday night. Brothers Mohammed and Abdullah Ayub had been among seven people arrested on October 17 in Sanaa, the capital. The two brothers, who came from Sydney were arrested with a German man, and also another Australian called Marat Sumolsky. Additionally, a Dane and a Briton were also arrested.

Only the Australians were detained, and because their arrests came at the end of Ramadan, consular officials were not able to see the men - 19-year old Mohammed Ayub, 21-year old Abdullah Ayub and 35-year old Marat Sumolsky (Samulski) - for a fortnight.

The three Australians were accused of smuggling weapons to Islamists connected with Somalia. It is possible that Samulski, who also comes from Sydney and remains in custody in Yemen, will be charged on this offense. However his lawyer, Stephen Hopper, denies this, saying that nothing should be inferred from Samulski's remaining in detention. He said: "All that means that the processes in relation to those boys finished before my client. That's the only conclusion that can be drawn at this stage."

What has made this issue complicated, and a source of contention in the Australian press, is the fact the father of the Ayub brothers is a terrorist. Abdul Rahim Ayub (pictured) is Indonesian, and formerly headed the Australian branch of Jemaah Islamiyah. When Jemaah Islamiyah carried out the Bali bombings on October 12, 2002, killing 202 people including 88 Australian tourists, Abdul Rahim Ayub fled from Australia.

Ayub senior is currently in Indonesia, where he is living with his new wife and their six children. The mother of the Ayub brothers is Rabiah Hutchinson, who became a convert to Islam. Last year, her passport was confiscated by ASIO, Australia's intelligence service.

According to Abdul Rahman Ayub, who is the twin brother of Abdul Rahim Ayub and who lives in Jakarta, Mohammed and Abdullah Ayub had been "indoctrinated in antisocial behaviour by their mother who taught them to hate non-Muslims."

Rabiah Hutchinson now lives in Mudgee, western Sydney. She went to Bali in 1984 to marry Abdul Rahim Ayub. She had come into the circle of Abdullah Sungkar, the founder of Jemaah Islamiyah in the early 1980s. It was when she went to hear Abdullah Sungkar preach in Jakarta that she first met the future father of her two sons, and his twin brother.

She claims that when she telephoned her former husband to tell him that Mohammed and Abdullah had been arrested, he said to her: "This is no business of mine - I don't know and I don't want to know." Rabiah Hutchinson had split from her husband in 1996, and she apparently kept her sons away from their father. She also has a daughter. After leaving Abdul Rahim Ayub, she then went to Afghanistan during the reign of the Taliban. She worked as a midwife and nurse, and returned to her hometown of Mudgee immediately after 9/11 and just before the US invaded Afghanistan.

The uncle of the brothers, Abdul Rahman Ayub, denies that he had been in the Philippines with members of Jemaah Islamiyah and Filipino terror group Abu Sayyaf. He is now a preacher, who claims to have abandoned his associations with Jemaah Islamiyah and its spiritual head, Abu Bakar Bashir.

He and his twin brothers both blame Rabiah Hutchinson for turning Mohammed and Abdullah Ayub from "sweet, cute boys" into hardliners who wish to establish a Muslim caliphate. Abdul Rahman had been deported from Australia just before the Bali attacks of 2002. Abdul Rahman had also fought in Afghanistan in the 1990s, alongside Osama bin Laden. He also knew Hambali, the leader of Jemaah Islamiyah after Abdullah Sungkar died in November 1999. Hambali (aka Nurjaman Riduan Ismuddin) was arrested in Thailand on on 15 August 2003, and is now in US detention in Guantanamo.

Abdul Rahman told the Australian a month ago: "But should we be responsible for people we once used to be friends with? Just because I knew Hambali means nothing. People think that all the veterans from Afghanistan are the same, but it's just not true. In Afghanistan I organised taking care of orphans and giving them food, but on my return I'm somehow a terrorist."

Even though the Ayub brothers have been released from Yemeni custody unconditionally, they will not be returning to Australia just yet. They intend to remain in Yemen, to learn more about religion and language, states their lawyer, Adam Houda.
________

In other news, DPA reports that on Saturday morning, an armed man threw a hand grenade at a house in a residential district of Sanaa, the Yemeni capital. Six people were injured, one seriously. He fled in a car after the attack.

Additionally, on Saturday, state security prosecutors in Yemen began questioning 22 suspected Al Qaeda operatives, who are thought to have planned terror attacks in the country.

The group is connected to Fawaz al-Rabyee, who had been sentenced to death in 2004. While on the run and hiding, he is believed to have recruited the 22 suspects to form a terror cell. Al-Raybee was killed when his refuge in Sanaa was raided on October 1.

The group are linked to suicide attacks which took place on September 15. Four cars, packed with explosives, had been driven into two oil facilities in the east of the country, at Hadhramout and Mari provinces. One security guard was killed. Al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the September attack.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 11:48 PM | Comments (0)

Iran: Second Ayatollah's Death Fatwa Condemned

Back in February 14, 1989, Ayatollah Khomeini shocked the world with his fatwa, issued against the British author Salman Rushdie, for his "blasphemous" book, the Satanic Verses. Khomeini's fatwa stated that the author and all involved in the book's publication should be sentenced to death. The world had its first wake-up call to the true nature of Islam, if news reports of barbaric sentences which followed the 1979 Iranian revolution had not already made it take notice.

A report comes from the agency Reporters Without Borders, concerning a fatwa issued by an Iranian cleric against two Azeris who were jailed last month for publishing a newspaper article on November 6, which "insulted Mohammed".

The edior-in-chief of Azeri fortnightly newspaper Senet ("industry"), Samir Sedagetolu, and journalist Rafiq Taghi, were sentenced to two years' imprisonment. They had published an article by Taghi, who is also a cardiologist, entitled "Europe and Us". This claimed that Islam has impeded humanity's development. The article also said that all misunderstandings connected with Islam were the responsibility of Mohammed himself.

Before their sentencing, Islamists gathered at the village of Nardaran, 17 miles north of the capital of Baku in Azerbaijan. The Islamists called for the death of Taghi and Sedagetolu. The calls persisted after the sentencing, with Islamists demonstrating each Friday, and calling for the journalists' death. The protests had been initiated by Haji Ali, a local religious leader who had summoned people on November 17 by striking a pillar with his stone.

He said: "Last week we, the residents of Nardaran, condemned Rafik Taghi and the editor-in-chief of the newspaper. Our religion knows only one punishment for such people, which is execution. This is not our decision, this is what our holy book prescribes. The authorities sentenced the journalists to two weeks (years) in custody. But that is not enough!"

Nardaran, population 8,000, is predominantly Shia, and in 2002 there were clashes between residents and police. On June 4, police shot dead one protester from the village and wounded dozens more. The day before the shooting, police had arrested 8 protesters who had been demonstrating against poverty and poor infrastructure in the village.

On November 17 last month, the day after Tagi and Sedagetolu had been jailed, Haji Ali announced to the crowd in Nardaran: "We declare that if these people are not sentenced to life imprisonment, we will take measures to punish them by ourselves. It's a pity that there's no death penalty in our country. We are told that their houses are being guarded, but let them hear us vow - Muslims never take vengeance on women and children. No one will touch their families. We've heard that Rafik Taghi's family members have asked Denmark for political asylum, but no matter how things turn out nothing bad is going to happen to them. Rafik Taghi is the only one we want to have punished."

As is de rigueur for Islamists having public hissy fits, there were calls of "Death to Israel" and American and Israeli flags were burned. Hajiaga Nuriev, the chairman of Azerbaijan's Islamic Party, who is also a village elder in Nardaran, said that Taghi and others were "acting on behalf of international Zionism and Armenia, and they have deliberately damaged Azerbaijan's credibility with its brothers-in-faith. In this situation, the residents of Nardaran could not have acted otherwise... to the enemies of Islam... who discredited Azerbaijan in the eyes of the world. This blasphemy ought to be punished."

Azerbaijan is currently chairing the 57-nation OIC, and Hajiaga Nuriev said that by rejecting the sentencing, Nardaran's citizens had defended their country's reputation.

The protest by Shias in Nardaran then spread to its neighbor Iran. At the Azerbaijan embassy in Tehran on November 19, a demonstration was held, with about 50 people present. On the Iranian TV station Seher, calls for the overthrow of Azerbaijan's "anti-Islam" were aired.

We reported on November 27 that an Iranian cleric, Ayatollah Morteza Bani Fazl, had called for the murder of Rafik Taghi in a fatwa. As an inducement to any willing assassin, Fazl had offered him a house which had been inherited from his father.

In the article today from Reporters Without Borders it is stated that a far bigger Iranian Ayatollah than Morteza Bani Fazl has now announced his own fatwa. This newer fatwa comes from the highly influential cleric Grand Ayatollah Fazel Lankarani (pictured).

Existing news sources, such as Reuters, RSI, Radio Free Europe, AsiaNews, the Azeri news source IWPR and others have claimed that the original fatwa was made by Morteza Bani Fazl, who resides in Tebriz in the northwest of Iran, which has a large Azerbaijani population.

Azeris comprise about 25% of Iran's population of 70 million. There is sometimes tension between this minority and the authorities. A talented Iranian cartoonist of Azeri descent, Mana Neyestani, did a cartoon which was published in the weekly newspaper Iran Friday on May 19 this year. Though the cartoonist and the publisher of the paper were jailed, and the newspaper closed down, Azeris staged demonstrations, in which 5 people were killed. The first riots, where police dired tear gas at protesters, took place at Tebriz, and then spread to Ardebil, Naqadeh and Meshkin Shahr. On May 27, banks, TV stations, government buildings were burned down in Meshkin Shahr.

The BBC from Wednesday November 29 states that the Grand Ayatollah Fazel Lankrani made his fatwa against the two Azeri journalists after being consulted by Azeris living in Iran. Though born in the holy city of Qom in 1931, the son of another Ayatollah of the same name, Lankarani is an ethnic Azeri.

The statement from Reporters Without Borders reads: "We urge the Iranian authorities to calm people down as there has been a great deal of tension since the publication of Mohammed cartoons in a Danish newspaper last February. We also ask the Azerbaijani authorities to do everything necessary to protect these two journalists."

"It is deeply shocking and completely unacceptable that religious fundamentalists should call for the murder of two people who just expressed their opinions."

The press freedom organization states that the fatwa was published on Grand Ayatollah Lankarani's official website on November 25. I have checked this site, and on the English language section, no translation has yet appeared.

It can be read in Farsi - Persian - HERE.

The fact that a Grand Ayatollah has now taken on the original fatwa of Morteza Bani Fazl makes the situation for the two Azeri journalists a lot more serious. The fatwa condemns not only Rafiq Nazar Oughlo Taghi (or Taghizadh) but the editor-in-chief of Senet, Samir Sedagetolu (Samir Sedaght Oughlo).

Earlier, when only Morteza Bani Fazl had issued a fatwa, Vugar Aliev, spokesman for the prosecutor's office said of the original protests in Nardaran: "We live in a constitutional state, and all issues should be solved in accordance with the law. What happened in Nardaran is a protest reaction to what these people did. But the law-enforcement bodies have already taken appropriate actions, and these harsh calls with regard to the two journalists are unacceptable. The police responded in a timely fashion and there remains no danger of any civilians undertaking any illegal actions against them."

Once again, Iran's clerics are showing to the world that their interpretation of Islam is backward, intolerant, and murderous. Hypocritically, Lankarani prefaces some of his articles, such as a recent vicious attack upon Pope Benedict XVI, with the words "In the name of Allah, the Compassionate the Merciful". Islam is a religion of peace? Dream on......

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 8:59 PM | Comments (2)

UK: Thinktank Blames Government For Muslim Animosity

Demos is a leading think-tank which is influential within the Labour government, and is responsible for many ideas which later become government policy. In September, Demos was headed by Madeleine Bunting, the Islam-appeasing left-wing columnist from the Guardian. With only journalistic experience and an opinionated ego to justify her position, the management of Demos decided that she had to go. Bunting's departure was announced on October 19. She had served barely a month in the position. Currently a more intelligent but equally leftist individual temporarily heads the group - Catherine Fieschi, who is a member of the Fabian Society.

Reuters announces today that Demos has produced a report which blames the government for breeding resentment amongst Muslims, and leading some to extremism and violence.

The report, entitled "Bringing it Home" is not available online, but a copy can be obtained by emailing bringingithome@demos.co.uk. On December 4, there will be a launch for the report, attended by several Muslims. It should be noted that no Muslims wrote the report - only three white middle-class leftist women members of Demos's staff: Rachel Briggs, Dr Catherine Fieschi and Hannah Lownsbrough.

The summary of the launch is reproduced from their website here:

This event launches the Bringing it Home pamphlet by Rachel Briggs, Dr Catherine Fieschi and Hannah Lownsbrough.

It argues that we need to put communities at the heart of our approaches to counter-terrorism for four reasons. First, they offer important sources of information and intelligence. Second, communities picking up these signs are best placed to act pre-emptively to divert their young people from extremism. Third, while the state must also play a role, communities must take the lead in tackling problems which either create grievances or hinder their ability to organise, such as poverty, poor educational and employment attainment, and the paucity of effective leadership and representation. Finally, the police and security service cannot act without the consent of the communities they are there to protect. Security is delivered though consent and never through force, arguing that Muslims should tolerate inconveniences for the greater good, fails to understand this.

The report is the culmination of a 12 month research project looking to identify effective ways of tackling home grown terrorism through the active engagement of Muslim communities. It involved research in London, Leicester, Leeds and Birmingham, over 100 interviews with Muslim community members, local police, community officials and national policy makers, and a conference at Wilton Park in March. The research has been supported by ACPO, DCLG, ESRC and AHRC

Those attending the launch of the pamphlet will include Abdul Haqq Baker, chairman of Brixton Mosque, Azad Ali, chair of the Muslim Safety Forum, Shareefa Fulat, director of the Muslim Youth Helpline, the Islamist supporter of terror Tariq Ramadan, Salma Yaqoob of Birmingham City Council and Dilwar Hussain, head of an Islamic Foundation called the Policy Research Unit.

The Home Secretary, John Reid, claimed on Sky News that Demos' report was outdated. He said foreign policy could not be blamed for international terrorism. He conceded: "Because we say it isn't a primary or significant cause of the growth of international terrorism.... that is not to say that it isn't one of the motivating factors for young Muslims in this country. We recognise that. We recognise we need to engage with young Muslims over this. Anybody who has got a degree of poverty, lack of opportunity or anybody who has been made a victim of terrorism has some cause for grievance."

If many British-born Muslims are in poverty, then perhaps they have only themselves to blame for their poor academic achievements. If Muslim extremism exists, it is because world-wide, Islam is mounting a campaign for dominance, and any pretext - Israel and Palestinians, not being allowed special rights or thinking Islam is not respected - can be employed to justify hostility against the infidel. And Islam, as specified in the Koran and the Hadiths, is itself extremist, and hostile to non-Muslims.

Reuters gives some quotes from the report, which states: "In the meeting rooms of Whitehall, ministers were assuring Muslim leaders of the need for partnership. But in press briefings they were talking of the need for Muslims to "get serious" about terrorism, spy on their children, and put up with inconveniences in the greater good of national security."

If Muslim youth are engaged in extremism to the extent that they may commit murder in the name of their "religion", then it is every citizen's duty, Muslim parents included, to identify them and have them stopped. For the report to condemn this is just another example of appeasement and in a patronizing manner casting Muslims as "victims". They do that themselves, without any need from middle-class white women in Demos to encourage it.

The authors of the report have not, it appears, really examined the true cause of Islamic radicalism, Islam itself, because that of itself is too radical and objective an approach. If the Koran condones acts of war against infidels and numerous Hadiths also support warfare against infidels and hostility to Jews, Christians and pagans, then to ignore this in any report on Muslim extremism is dishonest.

Numerous Muslim groups and individuals on August 12 published an open letter in the national press. This is the letter:

Protect civilians wherever they are

Prime Minister,

As British Muslims we urge you to do more to fight against those who target civilans with violence, whenever and wherever that happens.

It is our view that current British government policy risks putting civilians at increased risk both in the UK and abroad.

To combat terror the government has focused extensively on domestic legislation. While some of this will have an impact, the government must not ignore the role of its foreign policy.

The debacle of Iraq and now the failure to do more to secure an immediate end to attacks on civilians in the Middle East not only increases the risk to ordinary people in that region, it is also ammunition to extremists who threaten us all.

We urge the prime minister to redouble his efforts to tackle terror and extremism and change our foreign policy.

Attacking civilians is never justified. This message is a global one. We urge the Prime Minister to redouble his efforts to tackle terror and extremism and change our foreign policy to show the world that we value the lives of civilians wherever they live and whatever their religion.

Such a move would make us all safer.

Sadiq Khan MP, Shahid Malik MP, Mohammed Sarwar MP, Lord Patel of Blackburn, Lord Ahmed of Rotheram, Baroness Uddin, Association of Muslim Schools, British Muslim Forum, Bolton Mosques Council for Community Care, Confederation of Sunni Mosques, Midlands Council for Nigerian Muslim Organisations, Council of Mosques - London & Southern Counties, Council of Mosques - Tower Hamlets, Da'awatul Islam UK & Eire, Federation of Muslim Organisations (Leicestershire), Federation of Students Islamic Societies (FOSIS), Indian Muslim Federation, Islamic Forum Europe, Islamic Society of Britain, Jama'at Ahle Sunnat UK, Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith UK, Jamiat-e-Ulema Britain, Lancashire Council of Mosques, Muslim Association of Britain, Muslim Council of Britain, Muslim Council of Wales, Muslim Doctors and Dentists Associaion, Muslim Parliament, Muslim Solidarity Committee, Muslim Students Society UK & Eire, Muslim Welfare House (London), Muslim Women Society (MWS), Muslim Women's Association, Northern Ireland Muslim Family Association (NIMFA), Sussex Muslim Society, The Council of European Jamaats, UK Action Committee on Islamic Affars, UK Islamic Mission, UK Turkish Islamic Association, World Federation of KSIMC, World Islamic Misssion, Young Muslim Organisation UK, Young Muslim Sisters (UK), Young Muslims UK

Basically, this myth that the Muslim community has chosen to maintain - that if Britain removes its troops from Iraq and Afghanistan (and probably severs ties with Israel) then Muslims extremism will disappear along with threats of terror - is a poor excuse for Muslims' own responsibility in allowing extremism to develop. Violence is at the heart of Islam. To deny this to stick one's head in the sand, or to live in a fool's paradise.

The authors of the Demos report similarly prefer to buy into the myth. It is so much easier to blame the government for Muslim extremism, rather than the global movements for jihad which have been proliferating since 1992, and which use the internet, video and Koranic literature to inspire young Muslims to embrace violent Jihad. And these jihadi Muslims are following the same Islam as the so-called "moderates", only the jihadis do it with more honesty and sincerity.

UPDATE: When this article was written, the report was not available from Demos' site. However, with thanks to reader JohnM, the report "Bringing it Home" is now available, and can be downloaded as a pdf document HERE.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 4:01 PM | Comments (1)

UK: Church Bookshops Delete Koran From Shelves

Britain's oldest chain of church bookshops, SPCK Bookshops, have decided to remove copies of the Koran from its shelves, states today's Times. The reason is that the Koran is inimical (i.e. hostile) to Christianity.

The move follows SPCK's sale of a majority stake to the St Stephen the Great Charitable Trust (SSG). This trust is connected to the Eastern Orthodox church, which has had its own history of confrontations made by Islam against it.

The acquisition of the bookshop chain was made on November 1, following a unanimous vote of approval from SPCK's governing body at their annual meeting, held on October 19.

Mark Brewer, a lawyer from Texas who is chairman of the St Stephen the Great Charitable Trust says: "Stocking books which are inimical to Christianity, which without question the Koran is, could well create the wrong impression among some that we endorse the belief systems of other religions as equal or viable alternatives."

This is only logical, as I have been inside Islamic bookshops which have sprung up like toadstools in Britain's inner cities, and not once have I seen a Bible on display. Islam has a clear agenda - to proselytize and conquer. Christianity too used to have a "mission", but in recent years, bogged down with the banality of "inter-faith services", Christian leaders in Britain have sought to apologize for promoting their beliefs.

SPCK was formerly part of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, which was founded 308 years ago. The St Stephen the Great Charitable Trust has clear aims - to return SPCK to the aims expressed in its name - promoting Christian knowledge - and to reverse the advances of Islam and secularism.

SPCK has 23 shops in Britain, and Mark Brewer wants it to expand. On its website, the St Stephen the Great Charitable Trust states: "Remaining true to Orthodoxy, the shops, under Saint Stephen the Great ownership and management, will introduce a strong selection of Orthodox literature, icons and other religious items. It will also continue to offer other Christian materials with an emphasis on SPCK publications. The trustees of Saint Stephen the Great believe that a broad array of Orthodox Christian material can be distributed in England and Wales by continuing to serve SPCK's existing customer base of Anglicans, other Protestants and Roman Catholics."

With the Pope's recent visit to meet Bartolomeos I, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, strengthening relations between Catholicism and the Eastern Church, and a revival of the defense of Christian values being made by notable Anglicans such as John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, and Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester (though not Rowan WIlliams, who supports Muslim face-veils), the new approach to SPCK is both timely and necessary.

70% of Britain's population claim to be Christian and want to see Britain run on Christian values, a poll from a year ago revealed. Church attendance is poor in many areas (though John Sentamu is succeeding in attracting many young people to his busy services).

Sadly, while Islam has campaigned vigorously to stamp its identity on Britain, the leaders of the Anglican Church and to a lesser extent the Catholic Church have stood back and let this happen. Churches and cathedral managements allow interfaith services to take place in their buildings - when such a notion would be unthinkable in a mosque. Over the last year, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, Britain's leading Catholic, has made several speeches condemning the treatment of Christians in Muslim countries.

Some Anglicans may be alarmed that the St Stephen Charitable Trust plans to reorient churches which have closed, and install Orthodox priests. One such case has already happened in Bradford, which has seen its community become predominantly Muslim.

St Mary Magdalene, a Bradford Anglican church that closed two years ago, has been bought by the trust, and an Orthodox priest will be installed "in this difficult mission field, surrounded by Muslims".

Two Anglicans still sit on the board of SPCK, so their views will be considered. If an Anglican church has failed to attract worshippers and has closed, it is better for Christianity in Britain that a Christian group tries to make it succeed as a Christian house of worship, rather than be demolished or sold off as a warehouse or mosque.

The Muslim Council of Britain appears dismayed at the change of direction of SPCK. MCB luminaries such as Inayat Bunglawala and Iqbal Sacranie have supported terrorism by praising Osama bin Laden and Sheikh Yassin (the founder of terror group Hamas). The current leader of MCB, Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, recently invited Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, a Bangladeshi extremist and supporter of jihad against US and coalition troops, to his Saudi-sponsored East London Mosque.

The head of MCB's interfaith department is Ibrahim Mogra. He said: "Islam is currently under the spotlight. It is misunderstood and has been abused by some who have carried out violence in its name. Now is the time for people to have access to the Koran and the writings of Islam. This will help people understand the faith and what makes Muslims tick."

There is some merit in Mogra's argument. If anyone can manage to read through the entire Koran (a harrowing task due to its lack of coherence and linear direction) then they will realize that Osama bin Laden and others are following its dictates to the letter, and that Islam is "inimical" to Christianity, Judaism and other faiths.

However, until Bibles are on sale in the East London Mosque, or in any of the other mosques or Muslim centers affiliated to MCB, Mogra is just using the SPCK issue to express his hypocrisy and to proselytize for the handbook of his own vicious and intolerant faith.

The St Stephen the Great Charitable Trust states: "We are not 'against' Protestants, Catholics or any others; rather, we are 'for' Orthodoxy."

The SPCK bookshop also has an internet outlet, http://www.spckonline.com/, where its books and other items can be purchased.

Bishop Michael Perham, the new chairman of SPCK said: "We are delighted to have found partners with a similarly strong vision and a determination to invest in the mission of presenting the Christian message imaginatively and effectively in an attractive environment."

Mark Brewer stated on the SSG website: "People in our stressful, modern age, care deeply about spirituality and long for a deeper faith. SPCK Bookshops will offer a primary solution to these questions of faith. SPCK will continue into its fourth century with its shops as places where all people, Christian or otherwise, are welcome and given the chance to widen their spiritual horizons."

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 8:06 AM | Comments (2)

December 2, 2006

Malaysia: Heretical Islamic Cult That "Never Went Away"

The man pictured right, wearing the sort of turban that would normally grace a fairground fortune-teller, is a very wealthy individual. 69-year old Ashaari Muhammad has four wives and 37 children. He gained notoriety in Malaysia when his Islamic sect, called Al-Arqam was banned for being heretical.

The group he founded has now been in the headlines of the Malaysian press for more than a week, since it was revealed that a multi-national business he owns, Rufaqa Corporation, has been exposed as a front for the revival of Al-Arqam. Two officials of the company were taken into custody on Friday. On Saturday four more businessmen, or "sheikhs" were arrested in a raid, but were later released. The four are expected to be charged by a Syariah (Islamic) court next week.

At Shah Alam, capital city of Selangor state, officials from the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (JAIS or MAIS) infiltrated the Rufaqa group and over four months documented some of the "heresies" which the cult was now preaching. They found that the new revival of Al-Arqam is more extreme than its predecessor.

The group is, like most Islamic groups, virulently anti-semitic. JAIS officials found that its recruits were told that they could only effectively fight Jews if they joined up. And the sect promised gifts of supernatural powers to those who followed the teachings of Ashaari Muhammad. A prayer taught to the neophytes runs thus:

"Those who fight in this battle will receive the same power bestowed upon the Prophet by Allah. The pinnacle of this miracle is when you point a finger towards an aeroplane intending it to fall, and it will fall."

Another states: "If we become followers of Fata At-Tamimi, practicing this sect, the miracles of Imam Mahdi will flow within everyone, only then we can battle the Jews and Nasrani (Christians). Otherwise everyone will become followers of Dajjal or the beast."

The Mahdi is the Muslim "messiah" who is said to return one day. In the original teachings of Al-Arqam, the Imam Mahdi was regarded as Muhammad As-Suhaimi, who died in Klang, Selangor, in 1925. "Fata At-Tamimi" is the "herald" who announces the advent of the Mahdi and reforms Islam to its true state to allow the Mahdi to return. In some circles he is said to come from the East and will have his path obstructed, yet he will persevere - in this case, Fata At-Tamimi is assumed to be Ashaari Muhammad.

In the Hadith of Sunan Abu Dawud (Book 36, Number 4272), Mohammed is said to have prophesied that "The Mahdi will be of my stock, and will have a broad forehead a prominent nose. He will fill the earth will equity and justice as it was filled with oppression and tyranny, and he will rule for seven years." Muhammad As-Suhaimi is said to be a descendant of Mohammed.

Al-Arqam

Ashaari Muhammad founded Al-Arqam in 1968, and by the time it was officially blacklisted in Malaysia in August 1994, it had gained an estimated 100,000 followers.

He took as his inspiration the works of the Sufi Sheikh Muhammad Bin 'Abdullah as-Suhaimi, but placed the Sheikh on a pedestal which as-Suhaimi's late grandson would never have done. By declaring as-Suhaimi as the Imam Mahdi, Ashaari was already veering into the realms of Islamic heresy. His declaration that the Mahdi would rise from the dead was among the claims which led to the group becoming outlawed in 1994.

Ashaari told his followers that he was receiving dreams, which came directly from the "prophet Mohammed". As such, he was casting himself as a prophet. He declared that he had the power to forgive people's sins, another heresy in Islam.

Like many unscrupulous cult leaders, Ashaari told his followers to leave their homes if their families did not believe in his teachings, and many worked for a pittance at the numerous businesses which Ashaari owned. They lived in Al-Arqam "communes". By the time of Aashari's arrest, he had established 48 of these across Malaysia. Each commune had its own school and health clinic.

Followers wore Islamic regalia - long flowing robes and turbans for the men, and black robes and niqabs (face-veils) for the women. In groups of seven, followers went door to door to distribute literature from Al-Arqam. Ashaari Muhammad, who went under the title "Abuya" or "father of the people", wrote several books and his sermons were distributed on audio cassettes..

Male followers were urged to engage in polygamy, in the manner of their leader. The group had also spread its influence to Indonesia, where it was known as Darul Arqam and had about 1,000 members. Various groups in Indonesia campaigned in the 1990s for the group to become outlawed.

Al-Arqam managed to amass 400 trading companies, including 56 manufacturing companies, 20 department stores, 52 retail shops, 18 restaurants, as well as several publishing companies. It had gathered assets worth $8,000,000,000.

During the 1980s, tensions between Malaysian authorities and Ashaari increased, and Al Arqam was banned in this decade from government premises, and its publishing permit was withdrawn. As a result, Ashaari moved with his wives to Changmai, Thailand.

The end of the line for Al-Arqam had come in 1994, when the prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad decided that the group posed a threat to national security. Media reports suggested Ashaari had gathered a fighting force in Thailand, and was ready to overthrow the government. Tapes of Ashaari's conversations with prophet Mohammed had circulated, in which it was suggested that Allah had chosen Ashaari to become the leader of Malaysia's Muslim community.

Some press reports had said that Ashaari had openly sated his intention to come from Thailand and challenge the leadership in Malaysia. He said he would lead the country one day. Ashaari was by this time banned from entering Singapore, Indonesia and Brunei.

7,000 government employees were said to have been followers of Al-Arqam. In July, these were warned by the government that they had to leave the movement.

On August 25, 1994, AL-Arqam was declared illegal under the Societies Act of 1996. On September 2, Ashaari was detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) of 1960. He was subjected to interrogation by Islamic authorities, along with seven other prominent members of Al-Arqam. On October 20, 1994, Ashaari confessed to the National Fatwa Committee that he had strayed from Islamic teaching. He claimed to have repented. He also renounced his belief that Sheikh Muhammad Bin 'Abdullah as-Suhaimi was the Imam Mahdi.

Ashaari Muhammad was then placed under a form of virtual house arrest on the island of Labuan, under strict supervision of the government.

Rufaqa

Despite his being under close surveillance, Ashaari founded Rufaqa Corporation in 1997 in Rawang. It now has 80 businesses under its wing in Malaysia, with hundreds of branches worldwide. A former leading member of Al-Arqam, Sheikh Hussein Sheikh Omar told the Bernama News Agency that most of the businesses are not profitable, and that they exist to recruit new members to the Al-Arqam "revival".

He said that employees are not paid salaries, and that money earned was channelled into the hands of the leaders of the group. The majority of followers were asked to donate their earnings to the leaders of the group "to gain a place in heaven".

Some new recruits were being asked to pay from 150 to 250 ringgit ($42 to $70) to obtain "degrees" in courses about Al-Arqam. Followers had to pay 30 ringgit ($8) merely to register for these courses.

Khadijah Aam, one of Ashaari's wives, published a book about her husband, which is essentially an exercise in hagiography. This was launched recently in Malaysia and Thailand, and is said to have made recruitment easier.

The website of Rufaqa eulogizes Ashaari. Copies of his speeches and sermons can be obtained, and photographs promote a recent meeting in a hotel in Thailand where the leader is praised.

In shops which are owned by Rufaqa, such as its supermarket in Grace Square, Sembulan in Kota Kinabalu, large posters of Ashaari hang from the ceiling.

Prime minister Abdullah Badawi has said that legal action will taken against anyone who tries to resetablish the Al-Arqam group. Most of the leaders of the revived Al-Arqam group are said to be people who were leaders just before the group was banned in 1994.

The two officials of Rufaqa who were arrested were taken into custody on Friday because they were said by the Selangor Religious Affairs Department to have breached a fatwa. The fatwa was the one issued in 1994 by the National Fatwa Council, banning the Al-Arqam group and its deviant teachings. The two officials have not been named.

The businesses owned by Rufaqa comprise mini markets, cafeterias, herbal products, tourism, advertising, furniture, clinics, electronic and multimedia, childcare centres, motivation and counselling and publishing groups. It is said to have 700 branches worldwide, and Ashaari is said to have a 78% stake in the company, which has investments in the Middle East, Asia, Europe and Australia.

Under Malaysian law, the government cannot directly ban a company. However, under Section 195 of the Companies Act 1965 a company can be investigated by the government if this is deemed to be in the public interest, and following such a probe, a minister is allowed to declare a company against public interest. He could then apply to a court to have the business dissolved.

Last Saturday (November 25), 107 people were detained following a meeting which was held above a bakery in Shah Alam, Selangor state. After the arrests, the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department called for Rufaqa to be banned.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 11:57 PM | Comments (0)

Somalia: American Citizen Leader in the 'Islamic Courts'

The Jawa Report reports: American Traitor Leading Jihad in Somalia

A few days ago we brought to your attention the fact that an American citizen is the Foreign Minister for the Taliban-like Islamic Courts Union of Somalia. We asked readers to find out anything they could about Professo Ibrahim Hassan Addow. We wondered if it could possibly be true that an American would be a high ranking official in a government that has ties to al Qaeda, which is exporting jihad, and which calls for death to America?

Thanks to Vonski we've learned some more about the American traitor, Ibrahim Addow. It seems that the problem with finding information was in the spelling of his name. The more common spelling of his name is Ibrahim Hassan Addou.[...]

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 10:22 AM | Comments (0)

Philippines: Islamist Leader Arrested

News from INQ7, Associated Press, Reuters, AFP and DPA:

Security forces in the Philippines have announced today that a leading figure from an Islamist terror group was arrested on Thursday November 30, on the southern island of Basilan. Feliciano de los Reyes aka Ustadz Abubakar was one of the founders of the Rajah Solaiman movement (RSM).

Reyes had been arrested in 2002 in a raid on an RSM training camp at Anda town in the northern province of Pangasinan. He was charged with illegal possession of explosives, and was imprisoned for six months. He jumped bail after posting a bail bond of 200,000 pesos ($4,040).

Also arrested in the Anda town raid was Ahmad Islam Santos, aka Hilarion del Rosario Santos III, and he similarly jumped bail. Santos was the leader of RSM. Santos (pictured below left) was arrested with eight of his followers in San Jose Town, Zamboanga City, on October 26 last year.

Feliciano de los Reyes, who also goes under the name Jorge Castro, was captured by Marine and military intelligence troops as he sought refuge in the town of Lamitan, Basilan island. Lieutenant Colonel Ariel Caculitan, Philippines Marines information officer, said that Reyes was arrested around 6 pm on Thursday. He said he could not give further details on the circumstances of Reyes' arrest.

Caculitan said that Reyes had been involved in the bombing of Awang airport, Cotabato city on February 20, 2003, at Maguindanao province on the large island of Mindanao. A soldier was killed and three civilians had been wounded when a bomb made from an 81 millimeter mortar exploded beneath a van parked near the gate of the airport.

The Rajah Solaiman group is formed from Christian converts to Islam. Converts to "Balik Islam" in the Philippines are said to call themselves "reverts", as they believe that the Philippines would have been fully Muslim, were it not for the arrival of the Spanish under Miguel Lopez de Legazpi.

RSM names itself after Rajah Soliman (Sulayman), who originally came from Borneo, and ruled over a kingdom based in Maynilad, Luzon, where Manila now stands, when Legazpi arrived in the late 16th century.

RSM has links with the larger Islamic terror groups, such as Abu Sayyaf and the pan-southeast Asian group Jemaah Islamiyah or JI. The latter group, linked to Al Qaeda, carried out the October 12, 2002 bombings on Bali, killing 202 people, and the Bali bombs on October 1, 2005, which killed 20.

On February 14 2005, members of Rajah Solaiman, Jemaah Islamiyah and Abu Sayyaf joined forces to carry out a series of multiple bombings, known as the Valentine's Day bombings. A bus in Makati city, Manila's financial district was bombed, killing four, and other bombs took place in Davao. Eight people died and more than 150 people were killed in the Valentine's Day attacks. Rajah Solaiman are active on Luzon (Manila) and also around the region of Zamboanga province on Mindanao, where they act as "couriers" for Abu Sayyaf.

Abu Sayyaf was originally formed from a small group which broke away from the MNLF (Moro National Liberation Front) in 1991. The group took its name from a legendary Mujahideen fighter from the late 1980s in Afghanistan. Many Abu Sayyaf members had also fought in the Afghan/Soviet conflict.

Rajah Solaiman assisted Abu Sayyaf when it mounted a bomb attack upon a ferry on February 27, 2004. The SuperFerry 14, carrying 900 people was traveling from Manila, bound for Bacolod in the southern islands. While still in the Bay of Manila, a bomb went off, causing a fire in which 116 people died.

Last month, Chief Superintendent Romeo Ricardo, director of the national police intelligence group, told the press that the Philippines authorities were monitoring RSM members in Manila, who were thought to be planning bomb attacks. Ricardo said two or three of the group's members had been trained by Jemaah Islamiyah.

However, Ricardo said that the group had been severely weakened, and only had 15 to 20 militants left. A year ago, it was thought to have had 100 members.

The leader of RSM, Ahmad Santos, had converted to Islam in the 1990s, with help from the Islamic Studies Call and Guidance, which is linked by US intelligence to Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, the brother-in-law of Osama bin Laden.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 8:29 AM | Comments (0)

December 1, 2006

Malaysia: Islamist Courts Win Fight Over Corpse

A year ago, an undignified battle took place over the mortal remains of a Hindu mountaineering hero, Lt Corporal Moorthy. The case highlighted the contradictions in Malaysia's constitution, and how, despite its claims to be a moderate Muslim nation, Malaysia is an authoritarian Islamist state, where Islam comes before all else, including the rights of its non-Muslim minorities.

Lt Corporal Moorthy had been on the first Malaysian team to reach the summit of Everest in 1997, and had been regarded as a national hero, even though he was a Hindu. In 1998 Moorthy was injured in a training exercise, which paralyzed him. Last year, he fell from his wheelchair and lapsed into a coma.

While 36-year old Moorthy was in his coma, army colleagues then told the authorities that the former mountaineer had secretly converted to Islam a year earlier. As a result, when Moorthy died in December, the Islamic Affairs Department claimed custody of his body, saying that he was to be buried as a Muslim.

Kaliammal Moorthy went to the High Court to claim rights over her husband's body, desiring to have him buried according to Hindu custom. She told the court that he drank alcohol and took part in Hindu festivals, and had never converted to Islam.

The judge, Justice Mohammed Raus Sharif, told Kaliammal that he had no power to act against the Islamic authorities. An amendment had been made to the Constitution in 1988, to the effect that Article 121 (1A) now states that civil courts have no jurisdiction on "any matter" which falls within the jurisdiction of the Syariah (Islamic) courts.

As a result, on December 28, 2005, Moorthy's body was taken by the Islamic Affairs Department, washed, wrapped and buried with Muslim rites. His widow was not present at the funeral.

All citizens of Malaysia are obliged to carry a card which denotes their ethnic and religious status. This card, called MyKad is issued to people when they are 12 years old. Because of the racial apartheid practiced in Malaysia, all ethnic Malays are registered as "Muslims". All the details on the MyKad, including non-Muslims' conversion to Islam, are recorded by the National Registration Department.

At no stage had Moorthy registered with the National Registration Department that he had converted to Islam, and at no point during the proceedings of either the Sharia court or the High Court did the Islamic Affairs Department produce any documentary evidence to prove their case that Moorthy had converted. Based upon a rumor, and nothing more, Kaliammal's claims were ignored and overridden.

The case sparked a national scandal. When it was widely reported in the international press, deputy prime minister Najib Tun Razak tried to make amends to Mrs Moorthy. In January 2006, Razak gave Lt Corporal Moorthy a promotion to the rank of Sarjan (Sergeant) backdated to June 2005. As defense minister, Razak's move was honored by the military, and allowed Mrs Moorthy increased widow's benefits.

At the recent 57th annual congress of the ruling party, UMNO, which has ruled in coalition governments continuously since Malaysia's independence of August 31, 1957, some party members threatened violence against non-Muslims who did not accept the policy of "ketuanan Melayu", the "Malay agenda". This doctrine states that the Malay people, who are all regarded as "Muslim", are the original and defining populace of Malaya, and thus should have special status and privileges.

Though UMNO promotes another doctrine of "Islam Hadhari" or "civilizational Islam", it supports the discrimination against non-Muslims, and the contradictions in the constitution which forbid anyone from converting out of Islam. Article 3(1) of the Constitution indicates that 'other religions (apart from Islam) may be practiced in peace and harmony in any part of the Federation. Article 11 gives citizens the right to profess and practise any religion they choose, even though Article 121 (1A) dictates that civil courts have no jurisdiction on "any matter" which comes under the ruling of the Islamic Courts.

Issues of changing one's faith out of Islam falls under the terms of the Syariah or Islamic Courts. Even though a person may claim under Article 11 that they can profess any religion of their choosing, the National Registration Department refuses to acknowledge anyone's conversion unless it has been approved by the Islamic Courts.

And so far, in 49 years of independence from British rule, there has not been a single case of anyone being allowed by these courts to officially apostasize, or renounce their claim to be Muslim. The only person ever to be allowed to convert out of Islam was only granted this privilege AFTER she had died.

Nyonya Tahir (pictured top right), an 89 year old Buddhist woman, died on Thursday, January 19 this year. During her life, Nyonya had appealed to the National Registration Department repeatedly to have her designation as "Muslim" removed from her MyKad. She was an ethnic Malay. Ethnic Malays comprise 50.8% of the population, but because of the religious and racist apartheid of Malaysia's NRD, she was automatically classed as a Muslim. She had become a Buddhist when she married a Chinese man in 1936.

When Nyonya's family tried to have her buried as a Buddhist, the Syariah courts commandeered her body. For the first time in recorded history, the Islamic courts heard evidence from Buddhists - two of Nyonya's children. Finally, on January 23, the Sharia court allowed Mrs Tahir to be buried as a Buddhist.

Muhamad Burok, president of the Malaysian Syariah Lawyers Association dishonestly stated: "It shows that our two court systems - the Civil Court and Syariah Court - can exist in harmony, so the issue that the Constitution should be amended does not arise. The decision shows that everyone can get protection from all the courts."

Once more, the issue of Malaysia's Islamofascist policies has been in the national media, and once again, it involves the undignified spectacle of the Islamic courts holding a tug of war over a dead body, in defiance of the wishes of the deceased's relatives.

This time, the subject of the dispute is a Christian, 71 year old Rayappan Anthony, who had lived at Shah Alam, Selangor state. He died in Kuala Lumpur Hospital on Wednesday, November 29, as a result of complications, arising from his diabetes. There was chaos in the hospital morgue as the two factions of the family and the representatives of the Selangor Islamic Religious Department claimed rights to the corpse. The family demanded rights to have their relative buried as a Christian, while the Islamists insisted that Rayyapan was a Muslim.

For a day, the body remained in the morgue as the factions argued. A lawyer for the deceased's family, A. Sivesan, said that Rayappan had embraced Islam on January 20, 1990. He had become a Muslim in order to marry an Indian Muslim wife. (Under Malaysia's religious apartheid, a non-Muslim man and a Muslim woman are legally prevented from marrying). Rayappan had changed his name to a Muslim one - Muhammad Rayappan Abdullah.

Sivanesan said on Thursday, November 30, at the morgue: "But after about eight years of being a Muslim, Rayappan decided to return to his family and applied to renounce the faith." Sivenesan said that Rayappan had made a sworn declaration before a Commissioner for Oaths to renounce Islam, but had not submitted the letter until the day he died.

On May 10 1999, Sivenasan claimed, Rayappan applied to the National Registration Department (NRD) by submitting his sworn declaration. He had been issued with a new MyKad, which was under his non-Muslim name, Rayappan Anthony.

Sivenesan said that he had spoken to officials from the Selangor Islamic Religious Department on the morning of Thursday, November 30, and had handed to them all the legal documentation from the NRD. He said that the issue would be taken to the Syariah (Sharia) Court on Friday, December 1.

Rayappan's daughter, 42-year old Jaymarie said that her father had stopped being a Muslim when he went back to his Christian family and his former wife, her 65-year old mother M. Lourdesmary, in 1999. She said: "We hope we can claim the body amicably and our lawyer has given all the documents to JAIS (Selangor Islamic Religious Department, also called MAIS)."

So on Friday (today), the issue was adjudicated upon by the Islamic court of Shah Alam. As a result, the court has predictably ruled that former van-driver Rayappan is a Muslim, even though he had officially proclaimed himself to be no longer a follower of the faith.

At Shah Alam Syariah Court the Sharia High Court judge, Abu Zaky Mohammad, ruled that the body should be buried according to Muslim tradition. Juraish Kamaruddin had produced documents to support the claim that Rayappan had embraced Islam.

Apparently ignoring the documents from lawyer A. Sivenesan, which claimed that Rayappan had renounced his embrace of Islam, Abu Zaky Mohammad considered the issues during a closed hearing which lasted 55 minutes. He ruled that only on Monday, December 4, can the body of Rayappan be claimed by JAIS. (This is because the order was issued in a different state, the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, and each state has its own Syariah rules).

Lawyer A Sivenesan announced that the family will be filing a civil suit in the High Court at Wisna Denmark on Monday.

A spokesman for the Selangor Islamic Religious Department said that the family could be allowed to hold last rites for Rayappan, in accordance with their Catholic faith.

He said: "There have been previous cases on special request where the council allowed the family of deceased converts to perform last rites according to their own beliefs, provided they promised to surrender the body to us to be buried according to Muslim rites. In Rayappan's case, we are also open to negotiation."

The family's civil suit will ultimately be rejected by the High Court as, according to Article 121 (1A) of the Constitution, civil courts have no jurisdiction on "any matter" which comes under the ruling of the Islamic Courts. But at least their case will further draw attention to the religious apartheid and social injustice which proliferates in Malaysia.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 11:29 PM | Comments (0)

Egypt: Three Islamists Sentenced To Death For Taba Bombings

News from AKI, BBC, Courier Mail, Al Jazeera, DPA and Associated Press:

Three Bedouins were sentenced to death by a court in Islamiyah, Egypt on Thursday (November 30). They were convicted of involvement in bombings at resorts frequented by Israelis in the Red Sea resorts Taba and Ras Shitan in October 2004, which killed 34 people. The three men, Younes Mohammed Mahmoud, Osama al-Nakhlawi and Mohammed Jaez Sabbah, belong to the group Tawhid Wal Jihad (Monotheism and Holy War).

Ten other individuals were found guilty of involvement in the bombings. Two were given life sentences, and the remaining eight were given sentences ranging from five years' to fifteen years' imprisonment.

The attacks from October 2004 had included an assault on the Taba Hilton. Most of the dead were Israeli tourists. The mastermind of these attacks, Ayad Said Saleh, was a Palestinian who lived in Sinai. He had died in the bombings.

The trial of the 13 convicted men had begun on March 27 this year.

The group Tawhid and Jihad had been formed in Al Arish in the northern Sinai in 2002, by a young dentist called Khaled Mosaed. He is said to have been motivated by anger at the United States, whom he considered to be humiliating the Muslim world. Mosaed recruited about 100 members to the group, who were kept in separate cells to limit damage should they be arrested.

Mosaed died in a car in September 2005 after firing at police who mounted a roadblock in the SInai. Police shot him, but arrested another occupant of the vehicle, Abu Grier, whose subsequent interrogation led to substantial information being acquired.

It seems that the main leaders of al Tawhid wal Jihad have either been killed or dispersed. At least nine militants from the group were shot last year. On November 21, 2005, Salem Khadr al-Shnub was shot dead in the mountainous region of Jabal Halal, in the SInai. Two of his relatives were also killed. As well as being involved in the 2004 Taba bombings, Shnub was wanted for the Sharm el-Sheikh bombings of July 23 2005, which were also the work of Tawhid and Jihad. Shnub was held responsible for an attack on a vehicle belonging to international peacekeeping forces in Sinai on August 15, 2005, in which two Canadian women were killed.

The Sharm el-Sheikh attacks cost the lives of 64 people and wounded and 170 injured when bombs hit a market and two hotels. Many of the victims were tourists.

On April 24 this year, Tawhid and Jihad mounted another series of bombings at the Red Sea resort of Dahab, which is popular with divers. 19 people were killed.

The Dahab attacks led to a counter-offensive by the Egyptian government. The leader of Tawhid and Jihad, 30-year old Nasser Khamis el-Mallahi, was killed in a shootout with police near al Arish on Tuesday May 9. A top aide to Mallahi, one Abdallah Alyan Abu Jarair, was captured. Automatic weapons, hand grenades and ammunition had been in the pair's possession after the firefight with police.

On May 19, Mallahi's deputy, Arafat Ali, was involved in a police shootout in he town of Rafah on the Egypt/Gaza border. He tried to throw a bomb at the police but he managed to detonate it prematurely, killing himself. His incompetence echoed that of two footsoldiers of the group who tried to be suicide bombers against multinational forces posted in Sinai on April 26. They only managed to kill themselves.

Following the deaths of the group's leaders, at least a dozen members of the group gave themselves up to police. The most prominent of these was the brother of Salem Khadr al-Shnub, Mohammed al-Shnub, who gave himself up on Friday May 26. Salem Khadr al-Shnub was thought to have been the main bomb-maker for the group.

Tawhid and Jihad were formerly believed to have been assisted by militants from Gaza, though now the Egyptian authorities claim that the group is formed from impoverished and disaffected individuals from the Sinai.

Those who were convicted on Thursday have no right of legal appeal, as they were tried at a state security court. Their only hope of clemency can from a direct appeal to President Hosni Mubarak. Several of the defendants had claimed that they had been tortured.

Ahmed Seif el-Islam, one of the defense lawyers, said the sentences were "unjust".

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 5:45 PM | Comments (0)

Netherlands: Islamist Samir Azzouz Is Jailed At Last - For Eight Years

News from Expatica, ITV, BBC, Reuters, Deutsche Presse Agentur and Associated Press:

Samir Azzouz (pictured) is a 20 year old Dutch citizen of Moroccan origin. He has been identified as a potential terrorist for several years, with links to the notorious Hofstad Group. This group comprised nine members who were convicted under new Dutch terrorism laws on March 10 this year. The Hofstad Group also includes Mohamed Bouyeri, who stabbed, shot and tried to behead the Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh on an Amsterdam street on November 2, 2004. Van Gogh was murdered for allegedly "insulting" Islam in a documentary.

Samir Azzouz had first come to the attention of the Dutch intelligence agency, AIVD, in January 2003 when , with another individual, he had attempted to enter Chechnya. Russian police stopped him from crossing at the border, and sent him home. From that time onwards, Azzouz had been under surveillance.

In October 2003, Azzouz and four others were detained on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack. He was set free. He was again arrested in July 2004, and machine-gun cartridges, a bullet-proof vest, two fake bombs, a silencer and maps were recovered. At his trial this year in Rotterdam in 2005, he was convicted of possessing illegal arms, though a further charge, that of plotting to attack public buildings, fell through. Having spent time in jail, his three month sentence was considered "used up". He was acquitted on April 6, 2005.

Azzouz was re-arrested on October 14 2005, after AIVD discovered a "farewell video" which Azzouz had made. Six other associates were also arrested at this time, from locations in Almere, Amsterdam and the Hague.

The farewell video, which was broadcast on NOVA TV on September 14 this year shows (above) Azzouz dressed in jihadist combat gear. Behind him is a gun, which bears a strong similarity to a Scorpion 61 which was recovered from a basement in the Hague on September 4 this year.

The Czech-made CZ Scorpion 61 submachine pistol and a Smith & Wesson handgun, along with two ammunition clips and 300 conical tipped bullets for the submachine pistol had been found in the basement of an apartment complex in the Hague. A woman who lived in the complex, who had been arrested on October 14 last year, Soumaya Salah, was re-arrested. The weaponry was discovered after flooding of the basement.

Soumaya Salah was the wife of Nourridine El Fatmi, aka Faoud, who was one of the Hofstad Group members who had been convicted in March this year. Her husband had received a five year jail sentence for possessing a submachine gun in Amsterdam. He had been with the gun in June of last year.

The "farewell video" made by Azzouz referred to an "act" which he has carried out. This statement was the trigger for AIVD to send the alarm, which led to the arrests of Azzouz and six others under "Operation Piranha". Azzouz says on the video: "You crusaders support Bush when he said: Let the crusades begin. So we speak the language of the sword until you leave Muslims in peace."

Azzouz dedicated the "farewell video" to "the Muslims in Europe, my parents, my brothers in the jails of the despots and the government and people of the Netherlands."

The trial of Azzouz and the other six, including a woman, had commenced on October 16. Azzouz's defense lawyer, Victor Koppe, argued that Azzouz was innocent and was being tried because the authorities were prejudiced against him. During the trial, Azzouz expressed his own prejudice - saying he hated the Netherlands, and promising to leave the country when he could.

Today, Azzouz was found guilty of plotting a terrorist attack against the headquarters of AIVD in the Hague. Though prosecutors had asked for a 15-year jail sentence, he was given instead an 8 year jail term.

The court had heard that a bomb-making manual had been recovered from Azzouz's home, and also it heard a taped conversation that Azzouoz had made in a phone call to a convicted terrorist. In this conversation, it was hinted that a terrorist attack was imminent.

Presiding judge E. Koning said that the "farewell video" suggested Azzouz had been close to achieving his goal, "such as an explosion that would mean the death of many people... or a political murder." Judge Koning said that two machine guns and a revolver found in Azzouz's possession were "professional arms that could have caused many casualties." The judge said that Azzouz had wanted to strike at the heart of Dutch democracy.

Though the gun depicted in the "farewell video" bore a close similarity to the one found in the basement of Soumaya Salah's apartment complex, at the start of the trial forensic experts ruled that there was no evidence to prove the Scorpion 61 had been in contact with Azzouz.

Soumaya Salah and her husband Nourridine El Fatmi, aka Faoud, were also on trial with Samir Azzouz. The married couple, with another individual named Mohammed Chentouf, also received jail terms for involvement in terrorist plots. Soumaya Salah got a three year sentence, while the two men received four-year jail terms.

Two other individuals who were on trial were acquitted on terror charges, but one of these was given a three month sentence for providing false information in identity documents.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 2:05 PM | Comments (0)

Saudi Arabia: Clinic for Rape Victims Opens

The Shari'a, or Islamic Law, asks for an absurdly high, nearly impossible to achieve and illogical test to prove rape cases. To make matters worse, the 'four witness' requirement came directly from Muhammad, when he was defending his then-teenage bride Aisha from rumors she had had an illicit relationship with a young man. Muhammad's verdict is recorded in the Koran (see Koran 24:1-6.) It is unclear how Saudi Arabia's new clinic will help rape victims who are victimized again by the ramblings of a long-dead madman: SAUDI ARABIA: CLINIC FOR RAPE VICTIMS OPENS

Riyadh, 28 Nov. (AKI) - In apparent recognition of rising rates of sexual violence in the Kingdom, Saudi Arabia has opened a specialised clinic to carry out tests on rape victims, Gulf News reports. The establishment of the clinic comes after a teenage gang rape case that has triggered debate. The Girl of Qatif, as she has been dubbed by the Saudi media, was sentenced to more lashes than one of her alleged rapists received, under a system which gives judges wide discretion. Doctor Saeed Gharamullah Al Gamdi, supervisor of the centre, said the clinic would also help dispell mysteries regarding cases of sexual assault.[...]

Thanks to reader "Giussani" for the link.

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 12:24 PM | Comments (0)

Saudi Arabia: United Kingdom Given Ultimatum to End Fraud Investigation

"Violate your laws or we won't buy from you." This tells us what the Saudis think of us; soft, money-grubbing cowards. Let's see whether the U.K. proves them wrong: Saudi Arabia gives Britain given 10 days to halt fraud investigation - report

LONDON (AFX) - Saudi Arabia has given Britain 10 days to halt a fraud investigation into the arms trade or lose the 10 bln stg Eurofighter contract, the Daily Telegraph reported.

Meanwhile, the Times cited 'senior Saudi sources' as saying an agreement with defence group BAE Systems PLC... can still be reached, despite the growing speculation about the collapse of the deal.[...]

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 12:11 PM | Comments (0)

Lebanon: Islamic Supremacists Demand Bold Advance to the Past

The self-procalimed Party of God attempts to regain power: Huge Beirut rally demands change

Hundreds of thousands of supporters of Hezbollah and its pro-Syrian allies have held a mass rally in Beirut to protest against Lebanon's government.

Amid tight security, demonstrators chanted slogans denouncing Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

The opposition says it will keep up the pressure until the government resigns.

The protests follow weeks of rising tension in Lebanon, with the killing of a leading anti-Syrian politician and resignations from the cabinet.

Mr Siniora has vowed to resist what he called an attempted coup.[...]

Posted by Ruy Diaz at 12:06 PM | Comments (0)

US: How To Deter Mosque Building - Host Pig Races

News from ABC Local, (and also available in a Mpeg audio - Windows Media Player - version HERE) reports on one man's mission to deter the building of a mosque in Texas.

Two signs are on Baker Road, one advertising a new mosque, and the other advertising "Pig racing" which will be held on Friday nights. Craig Baker, whose family gave their name to the road, claims that the Katy Islamic Association had asked him to move, a week after they bought their plot of land on the road.

The Katy Islamic Association claims it did not tell Mr Baker to leave, but Baker is mounting his protest by mounting Friday night pig races. Friday is the sacred day of Islamic worship, when evening Juma prayers take place.

Click the links to find out more.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at 7:03 AM | Comments (5)