By Khaled Abu Toameh A Palestinian female journalist complained over the weekend that Hamas policemen attempted to arrest her under the pretext that she came to a Gaza beach dressed immodestly and was seen laughing in public. The journalist, Asma al-Ghul, said that the policemen instead confiscated her passport. Since the incident, she added, she has been afraid to leave her home, especially after receiving death threats from anonymous callers. "They accused me of laughing loudly while swimming with my friend and failing to wear a hijab," Ghul told a human rights organization in the Gaza Strip. "They also wanted to know the identity of the people who were with me at the beach and whether they were relatives of mine." In a phone interview with the Dubai-based Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya news Web site, the journalist said that the policemen who stopped her belonged to the Hamas government's Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice security force. Read more ...Source: Jerusalem PostH/T: Weasel Zippers
 July 6, 2009 | Martin Fletcher Iran’s biggest group of clerics has declared President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election to be illegitimate and condemned the subsequent crackdown.
The statement by the Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qom is an act of defiance against the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has made clear he will tolerate no further challenges to Mr Ahmadinejad’s “victory” over Mir Hossein Mousavi.
“It’s a clerical mutiny,” said one Iranian analyst. “This is the first time ever you have all these big clerics openly challenging the leader’s decision.” Another, in Tehran, said: “We are seeing the birth of a new political front.”Professor Ali Ansari, head of Iranian Studies at St Andrews University, said: “It’s highly significant. It shows this is nowhere near resolved.” The association’s statement also shows how deeply the political establishment is divided, and the extent to which the Supreme Leader now derives his power from military might, not moral authority. It makes it much harder for the regime to arrest Mr Mousavi and other opposition leaders. At the weekend a top aide to Mr Khamenei demanded that Mr Mousavi and other opponents be tried for “terrible crimes”, and the elite Revolutionary Guards accused them of “trying to overthrow the Islamic establishment”. In other developments, David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, said yesterday that he expected the eighth of the nine British Embassy employees arrested ten days ago to be released soon but a lawyer representing the ninth — a political analyst named Hossein Rossam — said he would be charged with threatening national security. Mr Miliband expressed “cold anger” at the way the nine had been treated. The regime freed Iason Athanasiadis, an Anglo-Greek journalist arrested on June 19. However, a lawyer for Maziar Bahari, a Canadian-Iranian journalist working for Newsweek, said he faced charges of “instigating riots and acting against national security”. The Association of Researchers and Teachers is based in Qom, the clerical nerve centre of Iran, and includes many leading ayatollahs with impeccable revolutionary credentials and big personal followings. The association did not support a candidate in the election, but has now lined up firmly behind Mr Mousavi. In a rebuke to the regime it declared on its website: “Candidates’ complaints and strong evidence of vote-rigging were ignored . . . Peaceful protests by Iranians were violently oppressed . . . Dozens of Iranians were killed and hundreds were illegally arrested . . . The outcome is invalid.” It called on other clerics to speak out, demanded the release of all those arrested in the past three weeks, and directly challenged the authority of the Guardian Council, a body of 12 senior clerics that has openly backed Mr Ahmadinejad and his patron, Mr Khamenei. “How can one accept the legitimacy of the election just because the Guardian Council says so?,” it asked. On Wednesday, a day after the Guardian Council said that the election result was final, Mr Mousavi talked of forming a new political grouping to fight an illegitimate government. With the popular former president Mohammad Khatami and Medhi Karoubi, another defeated candidate, challenging the Government’s legitimacy, and Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, another former president, pointedly meeting the families of those killed in street demonstrations, that coalition is beginning to take shape. “The fact that anyone dares to condemn the election when people were calling for Mousavi and Karoubi’s heads is remarkable,” said the analyst in Tehran. “It shows there is depth to Mousavi’s support. They have not been bullied into silence, there are factions forming and this is not over.” Mr Mousavi issued a 25-page paper detailing election abuses ranging from the printing of 14 million extra ballot papers to bribes to ballot boxes containing not a single vote for him even in his hometown. Mr Miliband expressed fury at Mr Rossam’s detention. The charge that he had helped incite the protests had “absolutely no basis”. Mr Rossam, 44, was “an honourable, patriotic Iranian, who has been working in a completely open and transparent way for the UK”. The European Union’s member states have protested to Iran and will consider tougher measures if Mr Rossam is not released this week. British officials are also hoping for a strong statement from Wednesday’s G8 summit. Source: Times Online
Robert Spencer here : Atlas has very kindly allowed me to guest post here while Jihad Watch is down. We are working on getting things up and running over there again. Sometimes you can get to the site, but it is very slow. In the meantime, I am grateful for the space here. Thanks, Atlas! Here is another honor killing story, this one out of South Africa. Islamic apologists routinely dismiss honor killings as having nothing to do with Islam; however, Islamic law stipulates that a parent who kills a child incurs no penalty, and as for wife-killing, a few years back the Jordanian Parliament rejected on Islamic grounds attempts to stiffen penalties for honor killings. In light of such facts, the refusal of Islamic leaders in the West to face this issue is criminally irresponsible, and only ensures that honor killings will continue. Note also that "Abdul Rudolph" sounds like the name of a convert. Did he pick up the idea that honor killing could be justified from those who converted him to Islam? How is it that they failed to instruct him in those true, peaceful Islamic teachings that we hear so much about? "Man allegedly doused wife with petrol," by Jade Witten in IOL.co.za, July 3 (thanks to Maxwell): An investigating officer has told the Goodwood Magistrate's Court how an Athlone man walked into his wife's place of work and slit her throat before attempting to set her alight.
It is alleged that Abdul Rudolph slit the throat of his wife, Firdous Fortune-Rudolph, and doused her with petrol in the kitchen of Morkels furniture store at N1 City Mall, where she worked.
Inspector Anton Abraham, testifying in Rudolph's bail application yesterday, relayed the events that unfolded at around 2pm on April 29.
He said Rudolph, 30, entered the store to speak to his 25-year-old wife. The couple then went to the kitchen where he asked her "if she didn't love or want him anymore". Minutes later, Abrahams told the court, a knife was produced and he slit her throat.
This was premeditated: he had five liters of gasoline with him:
He then poured petrol from a five-litre bottle over his wife, before attempting to set her alight with his lighter.
But, as this took place, two of Fortune-Rudolph's colleagues stormed into the kitchen and shoved him aside.
They rescued her and rushed her to hospital.
Abrahams testified that Rudolph then knelt on the kitchen floor and slit his own throat. Later he drove off.
Mall security guards gave chase and found him unconscious at the wheel of his car. He was admitted to hospital....
The court also heard Rudolph had a separate case of attempted murder and rape of a former wife pending in the Wynberg Regional Court.
He had allegedly choked and then raped the woman in 2005 and was later released on R2 000 bail....
Abrahams said Rudolph should not be granted bail as he had violated the conditions of the order which prohibited him from physically, emotionally and verbally abusing his wife, harassing her or entering her place of work....
July 05 | By Aaron Klein  JERUSALEM – The U.S. will not stand in the way if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes Israeli military action is needed to eliminate the Iranian nuclear threat, Vice President Joe Biden said during an interview with ABC News today. The statements mark the first time the Obama administration has openly put on the table a possible Israeli military strike against Iran. "Look, Israel can determine for itself – it's a sovereign nation – what's in their interest and what they decide to do relative to Iran and anyone else," Biden told ABC's George Stephanoupolos in a pre-taped interview. Stephanoupolos asked if Israel can still attack without U.S. approval. "Whether we agree or not," replied the vice president. Continued Biden: "They're entitled to do that. Any sovereign nation is entitled to do that. But there is no pressure from any nation that's going to alter our behavior as to how to proceed. What we believe is in the national interest of the United States, which we, coincidentally, believe is also in the interest of Israel and the whole world. "And so there are separate issues. If the Netanyahu government decides to take a course of action different than the one being pursued now, that is their sovereign right to do that," Biden said. "That is not our choice." Stephanopoulos persisted: "But just to be clear here, if the Israelis decide Iran is an existential threat, they have to take out the nuclear program, militarily the United States will not stand in the way?" "Look, we cannot dictate to another sovereign nation what they can and cannot do," Biden stated. Stephanopoulos pointed out the U.S. can deny Israeli over-flights of Iraq – one of the main aerial routes to strike Iran from the Jewish state. "We can stand in the way of a military strike," the ABC host said. Biden replied: "I'm not going to speculate, George, on those issues, other than to say Israel has a right to determine what's in its interests, and we have a right and we will determine what's in our interests." Source: WorldNetDaily
 By Jonny Paul Dozens of Islamic courts operating in the United Kingdom are "seriously out of step with trends in Western legislation," according to a report published by London think tank Civitas on Monday. Denis MacEoin, author of the Civitas report "Shari'a Law or One Law For All?" wrote that Shari'a rulings contained great potential for controversy and could involve acts contrary to UK legal norms and human rights legislation. According to the report, Shari'a courts should not be recognized under Britain's 1996 Arbitration Act, as they claim authority over the private lives of individuals in a way that is contrary to the British tradition. "Among the rulings, we find some that advise illegal actions and others that transgress human rights standards as applied by British courts," MacEoin wrote. Examples set out in the study include a ruling that no Muslim woman may marry a non-Muslim man unless he converts to Islam, and that any children of a woman who does should be taken from her until she marries a Muslim. Read more ...Source: Jerusalem PostH/T: Islamist Watch
 By Rachel Zoll NEW YORK -- Sayyid Syeed remembers an interfaith event several years ago when a Jewish leader went to embrace him, saw someone snapping a photo, then suddenly pulled back. "He said to the man, 'Stop,'" Syeed recalled, "'I'll lose my job.'" Times have changed for the Islamic Society of North America and for Syeed, who leads the group's interfaith outreach. In a sign of growing acceptance of U.S. Muslims, one of the most prominent religious leaders in the country, evangelical pastor Rick Warren, will speak at the Islamic Society's annual convention this weekend. Representatives from the two largest streams of American Judaism, the Reform and Conservative movements, will also be there to highlight their recently formed partnerships with the Muslim group. "The landscape of religion in America is changing," Syeed said. "America itself has reached a certain level of fulfillment in terms of diversity of faith." The Islamic Society, an umbrella association for tens of thousands of Muslims, has worked for years to persuade leaders of other faiths to attend its convention, a massive family reunion in its 46th year that draws about 30,000 people. Read more ...Source: APH/T: Islamist WatchRick Warren
Latest recipient of the Demented Priest Award
 By Brett Clarkson and Joe Warmington The Canadian Arab Federation moved to distance itself from one of its own executives who resigned yesterday after he apparently posted "F--- Canada Day" on his Facebook page, called Canada a "genocidal state," and said he "couldn't be more ashamed to be Canadian." The tirade on Omar Shaban's profile stirred up a firestorm of controversy and put CAF leaders in damage-control mode as they were quick to condemn the posting on the social networking site. Just after 8:30 last night, Shaban, 23, resigned his post as the CAF's executive vice-president for Western Canada, CAF national president Khaled Mouammar confirmed. "There was a big outcry from our member organizations and it was felt that he had to correct that," Mouammar said. "He decided that the best thing for him to do was to resign." 'Ashamed' Shaban didn't return requests from the Sun for interviews and to verify that the comments on his personal Facebook status update were indeed his writings. But his Facebook page spoke volumes. "It's finally Canada Day ... Couldn't be more ashamed to be Canadian," he wrote, apparently in reference to Canada's treatment of the native population. Read more ...Source: Toronto SunH/T: Islamist Watch
July 5, 2009 | Uzi Mahnaimi in Tel Aviv and Sarah Baxter The head of Mossad, Israel’s overseas intelligence service, has assured Benjamin Netanyahu, its prime minister, that Saudi Arabia would turn a blind eye to Israeli jets flying over the kingdom during any future raid on Iran’s nuclear sites. Earlier this year Meir Dagan, Mossad’s director since 2002, held secret talks with Saudi officials to discuss the possibility. The Israeli press has already carried unconfirmed reports that high-ranking officials, including Ehud Olmert, the former prime minister, held meetings with Saudi colleagues. The reports were denied by Saudi officials. “The Saudis have tacitly agreed to the Israeli air force flying through their airspace on a mission which is supposed to be in the common interests of both Israel and Saudi Arabia,” a diplomatic source said last week. Although the countries have no formal diplomatic relations, an Israeli defence source confirmed that Mossad maintained “working relations” with the Saudis. John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the United Nations who recently visited the Gulf, said it was “entirely logical” for the Israelis to use Saudi airspace. Bolton, who has talked to several Arab leaders, added: “None of them would say anything about it publicly but they would certainly acquiesce in an overflight if the Israelis didn’t trumpet it as a big success.” Arab states would condemn a raid when they spoke at the UN but would be privately relieved to see the threat of an Iranian bomb removed, he said. Referring to the Israeli attack on an alleged Syrian nuclear facility in 2007, Bolton added: “To this day, the Israelis haven’t admitted the specifics but there’s one less nuclear facility in Syria . . .” Recent developments have underscored concerns among moderate Sunni Arab states about the stability of the repressive Shi’ite regime in Tehran and have increased fears that it may emerge as a belligerent nuclear power. “The Saudis are very concerned about an Iranian nuclear bomb, even more than the Israelis,” said a former head of research in Israeli intelligence. The Israeli air force has been training for a possible attack on Iran’s nuclear site at Natanz in the centre of the country and other locations for four years. Source: Times Online
 Saturday, 04 July 2009 Neda, the young and beautiful freedom-loving Iranian student was slain in cold-blood by the current Islamic regime in Iran. Almost instantly, Neda became, not only the divine call of the Iranian uprising, but, she symbolized the call for liberty around the globe. Here's the video of Richard Roth's report which contained the image of Neda.If either President Ronald Reagan or President John F. Kennedy were alive today, they would stand in solidarity with the Iranian people. In fact, they would declare “Today we are all Iranians." It appears the Iranian people are showing the world what a revolution looks like and some Americans have started paying close attention and taking notes. Neda knew the value of freedom. She died for it. Her blood was not wasted and she did not die in vain. Headlines have heralded the young woman as a martyr and some even dubbed her Iran's Joan of Arc. Not only has she become a "symbol of goodness" battling against her brutal oppressor, her story has laid open a much larger issue, freedom and liberty. There is a site dedicated to Neda proclaiming, “We are all Neda.”Each year, on the fourth of July, we celebrate America’s birth and independence. This is a day that the heart of every American must glow with pride and appreciation. On this special occasion, the Iranian martyr, Neda, has a special message for all freedom-loving Americans: “Do not take your liberty for granted” “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure," said Thomas Jefferson. I think Neda would have said, “I have given my blood for the cause of liberty for my country and I hope you don’t have to give yours once again.” We are going through some troubled times in America. We Americans need to wake up and realize that our liberties and freedoms that we take for granted are slowly and inexorably being taken from us. Once we lose them, it will be very hard to get them back. Let the blood of the Persian freedom-fighter, Neda, inspire all of us to cherish our liberty. “We are fighting and dying on the streets of Tehran to have what you have had for more than two centuries. You, America, have been an inspiration to millions of us in Iran to become free, free to roam, free to grow, and free to bloom,” Neda would have said. Read more here....
Latest recipients of The MASH Award
Court wades into brewing battle over rights of Internet journalists July 04 | By Drew Zahn When Internet journalist Joe Kaufman wrote an article exposing terrorist connections in two American Muslim groups, he was sued by a swarm of Islamic organizations, none of which he had mentioned in his online article. The technique is called by some "legal jihad" or "Islamist lawfare," and the Thomas More Law Center, which is representing Kaufman in the lawsuit, claims Muslim advocates are using the strategy to bully online journalists into silence. "The lawsuit against Kaufman was funded by the Muslim Legal Fund for America. The head of that organization, Khalil Meek, admitted on a Muslim radio show that lawsuits were being filed against Kaufman and others to set an example," claims a Thomas More statement on the case. "Indeed, for the last several years, Muslim groups in the U.S. have engaged in the tactic of filing meritless lawsuits to silence any public discussion of Islamic terrorist threats." The organizations suing Kaufman also sought to legally deny him certain legal protections granted to traditional journalists, claiming that as an Internet writer, his right to seek a quick and inexpensive dismissal of the case didn't apply. The case set up a battle, not only between Islamic advocates and those that would question their political connections, but also between organizations that fly low under the mass media's radar, enjoying little public scrutiny, and the burgeoning field of Internet journalism that often investigates places the mainstream media ignores. In an unanimous decision from a three-judge panel of the Texas Second Court of Appeals, however, not only did the court rule that the Muslim organizations had no basis for claiming defamation – since Kaufman didn't name or point to them in his article – but the judges also declared that online journalists do merit the same status and legal protections that their more traditional media peers enjoy. Though the case against Kaufman is therefore dismissed for now, the Law Center reports the seven Muslim organizations have filed an appeal, continuing their quest for, according to court documents, "injunctive relief related to Kaufman's existing and future Internet publications." As WND reported, Kaufman's troubles began when he wrote an article for the online FrontPage Magazine in 2007, criticizing two Islamic groups for hosting a "Muslim Family Day" at Six Flags over Texas, a Dallas-area amusement park. The Islamic Circle of North America and the Islamic Association of North Texas, Kaufman revealed, had funneled money to the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and al-Qaida. "While using images of cartoon characters and sponsoring events at amusement parks may seem innocuous, the danger that the Islamic Circle of North America poses to the United States, Canada and others is clear," Kaufman wrote. "As a faction of the Muslim Brotherhood, the organization looks to impose Islam on Western society, and as a donor to a terrorist organization, the group is a willing participant in the act of violence." And while neither the ICNA nor the IANT claimed libel, seven other Muslim organizations – the Islamic Society of Arlington, Texas, Islamic Center of Irving, DFW Islamic Educational Center, Inc., Dar Elsalam Islamic Center, Al Hedayah Islamic Center, Islamic Association of Tarrant County and Muslim American Society of Dallas – cried foul, bringing the defamation suit against Kaufman. Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, commented, "This frivolous lawsuit is an example of the legal jihad being waged by radical Islamic organizations throughout our nation. These lawsuits are aimed at stifling the free speech rights of Americans who dare to expose their agenda. They intentionally file lawsuits to intimidate reporters who seek to expose their agenda. By making it costly to defend against their lawsuits, they hope journalists will refrain from writing about the threat to our nation." The opinion of the court, written by Justice Terrie Livingston, overturned a lower court's denial of Kaufmann's motion to dismiss the libel claim before a time-consuming and expensive trial. Listing seven different reasons for the court's decision, Justice Livingston wrote, "We conclude that an Internet author's status as a member of the electronic media should be adjudged by the same principles that courts should use to determine the author's status under more traditional media." The court did not, however, uphold that all Internet writers – such as bloggers – should be afforded the protections traditional journalists enjoy. Kaufman, the court noted, has written for a variety of national publications since 1995, has appeared on several television news networks and in writing for FrontPage Magazine, was writing for a separate online news source with the freedom to accept or reject his article. The court concluded, "We believe that these facts and circumstances, establishing Kaufman's journalistic background and his notoriety outside of the parameters of the article and graphic at issue and FrontPage Magazine's broad readership and its existence as a news/commentary medium that is independent from Kaufman's articles, are sufficient to qualify Kaufman as a member of the electronic or print media and to qualify FrontPage Magazine as an electronic or print medium." Furthermore, the court ruled, that the Muslim organizations' contention that an Internet author could "never" qualify as a member of the media "would make as little sense as an inverse rule that a print author (such as someone distributing their own photocopied musings) would always qualify as such." Source: WorldNetDaily
According to news received by the International Committee against Executions, 29 people are to be executed tomorrow, Saturday, in Ghezal Hesar prison in Karaj. It has been reported that the 29 have been separated from other prisoners. There is no information on their charges.
The executions are being carried out in order to intimidate people and is directed at the protesting people of Iran.
We are calling for people in Iran and everywhere to condemn the executions and exert pressure to stop them.
Please send your Protest letters to:
President Islamic Republic of Iran
His Excellency Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection
Tehran 13168-43311
Islamic Republic of Iran
E-mail: dr-ahmadinejad@president.ir
Chief of State
His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei,
The Office of the Supreme Leader
Islamic Republic Street - Shahid Keshvar Doust Street,
Tehran
Islamic Republic of Iran
E-Mail: info@leader.ir / Fax: +98-21 649 5880 (unreliable)
Minister of Justice
Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Office of the Head of Justice
Pasteur St., Vali Asr Ave., South of Serah-e Jomhouri
Tehran 13168-14737
Islamic Republic of Iran
E-Mail: info@dadgostary-tehran.ir / Fax: +98-21 879 6671/640 4018 or 4019 (unreliable)
Thank you for your solidarity and ongoing support for our Iranian colleagues.
Yours faithfully,
Saeed Valadbaygi
Source: Revolutionary Road
H/T: Atlas
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