 Mithal Al-Alousi: Some people want to keep Iraq weak. They do not want Iraq to have powerful friends. They do not want Iraq to have room to operate on the international level. They do not want Iraq to receive economic support, or to be able to operate through international banks. They don't want Iraq to be able to send its sons to international universities – that new generation that will return with knowledge, and bring prosperity to our society. They do not want this for Iraq. Kuwait wants the great Iraq to have the same power as "beautiful" Kuwait – I don't want to call it a "beggar" country today... They want the Iraqi army to be less powerful than a military brigade, so they can always overcome it. Iran does not want Iraq to have any [regional] standing. It says that the Arab Gulf is Persian. Even in sports – if the term "pan-Arab games" is used, Iran objects and withdraws from the games. Iran has clear national expansionist ambitions. Iran's expansion can only be at the expense of Iraq. Iraq must fade away so they can control it. Our neighbor Turkey – that Muslim neighbor, which is now ruled by an Islamic party and not by the army – cuts off the water supply to the Iraqis, knowing this spells drought for the fields, and harms the Iraqi citizens and their economy. The king of Saudi Arabia is the Guardian of the Two Holy Places, in Mecca and Al-Madina, but this does not prevent some [Saudis] from sponsoring terrorists, killers, and criminals. The Syrian regime, which heralds pan-Arabism, does not dare to fire a single bullet in the Golan Heights, or even mention the word "Golan," yet it has the audacity to kill Iraqis. More ... Source: MEMRI
 When Yasser Arafat received the Nobel Prize, should Jews worldwide have rioted, issued fatwas demanding his murder and posted rewards for his execution? After all, Arafat was a self-acknowledged terrorist, complicit in the deaths of thousands of innocent Israelis, Jordanians, Lebanese and assorted others, including his own not-so-innocent followers who often fell out of Arafat’s inconsistent favour. When the Wahhabi version of the Word of God is absolute, when the radical Muslim world (now dominant and in ascendance) countenances no alternative views, no variations of subjective interpretation and mandates death for such apostasy, then the knighting last summer of Sir Salman Rushdie does indeed smack of provocativeness. But how many prizes and decorations have been given to Hugo Chávez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? Who in the West should honestly not be provoked by this lauding of these foul-mouthed gangsters, of an Iranian president who denies the Holocaust and demands the extermination of Israel, the only fully fledged democracy in the Middle East? Should not every Holocaust survivor and family, every Israeli, every freedom-loving individual everywhere be taking to the streets? Read more ...Source: Family Security Matters
By Ilan Weinglass
As many readers may know, The Free Speech Protection Act, is currently being considered by the House and Senate Judiciary Committees. The Act is essentially a federal version of New York State's "Libel Terrorism Protection Act," aka "Rachel's Law," designed to protect U.S. authors from superfluous, though legally enforceable, lawsuits in foreign jurisdictions. For those wishing to make a difference, a sample letter for a Congressman or Senator may be found here.
It is vitally important that this law pass, as Khalid bin Mahfouz and others have been using the rather absurd British libel laws to chill research into Saudi funding of terrorism and extremism. Source: The Terror Finance Blog
Continuing our look at the upcoming 2008 Islamic Society of North America convention to be held in Columbus less than a month from now, we turn to one of the featured speakers at this year’s event - Hatem Bazian. Bazian is a former fundraising speaker for Kindhearts, a HAMAS front closed by the US government in February 2006 and is listed as a specially designated terrorist organization. Bazian has long been a regular fixture at Islamic extremist events, making all kinds of incendiary remarks. Consider, for example, a statement he made at a May 1999 American Muslim Alliance conference in California. Read more ...Source: Central Ohioans Against Terrorism1995 ISNA Convention: Judaism "a most racist religion"Continuing our look at the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) in preparation for their annual national convention to be held next month in Columbus, we examine today an address delivered by Hamza Yusuf Hanson at the 1995 ISNA convention. In Hanson’s speech, he identified Judaism as “a most racist religion”: The Jews would have us believe that God has this bias to this little small tribe in the Middle of the Sinai desert and all the rest of humanity is just rubbish. I mean that this is the basic doctrine of the Jewish religion and that’s why it is a most racist religion. Ah, yes, those ISNA conferences draw such interfaith moderates! Wonder how the folks at the Columbus Jewish Federation will feel about that one? Read more ...Source: Central Ohioans Against Terrorism
Palestinian officials from the Gaza Strip have distributed a set of carefully-staged photographs they say are evidence that the smuggling tunnels running under the Gaza-Egypt border are for milk and other essential goods, not weapons. The photographs show masked Palestinian militants lifting jugs of milk and sacks of baby food from the entrance to one of the tunnels on the Gaza side of the border. Israel insists that the tunnels, of which intelligence estimates indicate there are hundreds, are used to import small arms and advanced weapons like heavy mortar shells, anti-tank missiles and anti-aircraft missiles. The tunnels are also said to be the conduit via which the Palestinians receive the material used to build their Kassam rockets. Read more ...Source: Israel Today
A huge blast late Tuesday night rocked a training base run by Hamas in southern Gaza, and at least five people were hurt, witnesses and a health official said. Ambulances raced to the scene of the blast, on the site of an evacuated Jewish settlement next to the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. The explosion could be heard all over the city. It was not immediately known what caused the blast. Hamas had no comment, and the IDF said it had no knowledge of the incident. Dr. Moaiya Hassanain of the Palestinian Health Ministry said two of the five wounded were in critical condition. He said all five were Hamas men. Read more ...Source: APMuslims Against Sharia congratulate Hamas with successful "work accident" and wish for many more "work accidents" in the immediate future.
By Shahnawaz Khan LAHORE: Tehreek-e-Islami Taliban Pakistan (TITP) has distributed a fifteen-days notice to several “un-Islamic” businesses in Kot Addu to shut down or face dire consequences. The TTIP wrote threatening letters to owners of CDs shops, Internet cafes and cable service providers urging them to close down their activities. Similarly, the group warned that women must wear hijab to ensure their safety. Muzaffargarh District Police Officer (DPO) Shahzad Sultan told Daily Times that Rao Yasin, owner of Nomi Video Center, at Railway Road received one such letter. Sultan said the police have increased the security though it could not independently confirm the group’s activities. Read more ...Source: Daily Times
 Copenhagen - Seven Danish Muslim associations were planning to appeal to Denmark's highest court over the publication of 12 cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that sparked violent protests in 2006, reports said on Thursday.
A spokesperson for the Islamic Society told Danish media that a lawyer was working on the appeal to the Supreme Court.
Earlier, a Danish district court and an appeal court had turned down cases filed against the former managing editor and cultural editor of the Jyllands-Posten newspaper, which published the cartoons in September 2005.
The Muslim associations maintain that Muslims were slandered when the prophet was depicted as a terrorist and war-monger, but both Danish courts ruled that the publication was not slander.
Islamic Society spokesperson Bilal Assaad said the groups were prepared to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, should the Supreme Court not support their case, news agency Ritzau said.
In February, Danish security police said they averted a plot to murder newspaper cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, who made one of the 12 cartoons, depicting the Prophet Muhammad with a bomb in his turban.
Leading Danish newspapers reprinted the cartoons after the plot against Westergaard was disclosed, sparking new protests. - Sapa-dpa
Source: SAPA-DPA
By Patrick Poole In June, the US Treasury Department listed the entire the Saudi-run “charity”, the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, a specially designated global terrorist entity for its active and longstanding role in financing international terrorism. Between 2002-2004, thirteen different Al-Haramain branches had been individually designated, including the US branch based in Ashland, Oregon, charged with providing funds to Al-Qaeda. This new announcement applies now to the entire organization worldwide. One important element to note in connection with the recent Al-Haramain designation is that on at least two separate occasions it had used legal threats against US media organization to coerce retractions following reports of its ties to the international terror network – ties that are now considered well-established by both the US government and the media. Read more ...Source: FrontPage Magazine
An Afghan journalist who printed a translation of the Koran in a Persian dialect is on trial for blasphemy and could face the death penalty if convicted. But with threats from various powerful groups, he could face the same fate even if acquitted. Ghaws Zalmay was arrested last November trying to flee to Pakistan after Afghanistan’s Senate backed a group of powerful Sunni clerics who were calling for his arrest. He was scheduled to have a third hearing in a Kabul court on Wednesday. Zalmay, who was a spokesman for the Attorney General and head of Afghanistan's Journalists' Union at the time of his arrest, was charged with 13 counts of blasphemy. He is accused of having "written his own Koran" in Dari, one of Afghanistan's official languages. His two brothers and a friend were imprisoned, too, charged with helping him flee. Read more ...Source: Fox NewsH/T: Jihad Watch
Palestinian children on annual vacation can choose between Hamas or Islamic Jihad summer camps, both of which boast militia-style training, Koran classes, lessons on political prisoners By Ali Waked In the Gaza Strip, as in Israel, children are currently in the midst of summer vacation, and the Hamas and Islamic Jihad’s “summer camps” are in full gear. In the past few weeks, the Palestinian groups have been holding camps throughout the strip, some of them proudly displaying rockets and other weaponry. Hamas alone is currently conducting no less than 300 summer camps for tens of thousands of children, and the focus is on familiarizing kids with the Palestinian towns and cities destroyed in 1948, as well as instilling religious fervor in them. The camps also feature sports and military-type trainings such as crawling under barbed-wire. Islamic Jihad has also launched its own summer camps, offering some 10,000 children activities similar to those of Hamas. The kids study passages from the Koran and participate in quizzes on religious matters, with emphasis on the required commitment to political prisoners and Palestinian land. They also learn how to hold a Qassam rocket-launcher. read more ...Source: Y Net News
 By Robert Spencer Can democracy survive the closing of a major political party – the ruling political party in the country? Imagine if the Supreme Court had convened to discuss banning the Democratic Party. Something no less momentous is happening in Turkey this week. Turkey’s constitutional court convened last Monday to discuss charges that the Justice and Development Party (AKP), the ruling party in that country, should be closed down. The party is charged with trying to destroy Turkey’s secular government and impose Islamic law. Al-Jazeera’s Hoda Abdel-Hamid estimates that the court should take “at least three to 10 days” to come to a decision. Closing down political parties has long been a means by which Turkey’s highest court has protected the increasingly fragile secular system established in that country by Kemal Ataturk in the 1920s. The court has shut down over twenty parties over the years – including the foremost proponents of the establishment of Islamic law in Turkey. The AKP is the linear descendant of the Nationalist Order Party (MNP), which the court shut down in 1971 because of its agitation on behalf of political Islam; the Welfare Party (RP), which was banned for the same reason in 1998; and the short-lived Fazilet Party (FP), which RP Parliamentarians established shortly after their party’s demise and was likewise closed down shortly thereafter. The Turkish court has good reason to suspect that the AKP is working to undermine Turkish secularism and impose Islamic law over the country. According to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), while Mayor of Istanbul in the 1990s (and a prominent member of the Welfare Party), Turkey’s current Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan railed against Turkish secularism. “If the people want it,” he declared, “of course secularism will go away. You cannot rule this people by force; you don't have the power to do that. This [i.e. secularism] cannot work in spite of the people.” And the people, he suggested, wanted Islamic law: “But the fact is that 99% of the people of this country are Muslims. You cannot be both secular and a Muslim! You will either be a Muslim, or secular!...For them to exist together is not a possibility! Therefore, it is not possible for a person who says ‘I am a Muslim’ to go on and say ‘I am secular too.’ And why is that? Because Allah, the creator of the Muslim, has absolute power and rule!” Read more ...Source: Human Events
 By Imran Asghar
RAWALPINDI: Would-be suicide bombers could be using explosives “underwear briefs” rather than explosives jackets to evade “conservative” body searches, sources said on Wednesday.
Sihala Police College forensic lab sources told Daily Times that the study of recent suicide attacks showed that suicide bombers used “explosives-laden” under-garments, briefs in particular, to carry out the attacks.
The sources said that the explosives could weigh between five kilogrammes to seven kilogrammes, made deadly by adding glass splinters, metal ball bearings and bullets. The law enforcers normally search upper body parts sparing the “privates”, the sources said, hence assailants are increasingly using the lower body parts to dodge the searches. The sources said that forensic experts were trying to devise methods to pre-empt suicide bombing. The experts have achieved successes in “Post Bombing Investigation,” the sources said, adding that resources are sharpening “Pre Bombing Investigation” techniques. Source: Daily Times
 US Military Chaplain ProgramActions:• On June 4, 2008, Rep. Myrick sent a letter to Department of Defense Secretary Robert Gates inquiring if the Department of Defense has reexamined its chaplain approval process for the military since the arrest and conviction of Abdurahman Alamoudi. • On June 25, 2008, the Department of Defense (DoD) replied to Rep. Myrick with a letter and packet containing the DoD Inspector General’s (IG) evaluation report on the DoD Chaplain Program, which was finished in November of 2004. The packet also included the DoD guidelines for the appointment of chaplains for the military service. The DoD IG report had five observations and suggestions to strengthen the DoD Chaplain Program. However, the concern is that Observation 3 was not adopted: Observation 3 suggested DoD establish nonreligious criteria that would allow DoD to withdraw or remove a religious organization or its agent from participating in the DoD chaplain program. Such examples of non-religious criteria suggested were advocating the violent overthrow of the US Government, listed on a watch list of terrorist organizations, or conviction of a religious organization or its principal leaders in connection with terrorism. Observation 3 also included suggestions to use the FBI or other agencies to help screen religious organizations and their agents. The DoD rejected this observation because they said that it was “legally problematic” and the DoD was focused on individual merit of the prospective Chaplin, while the IRS “should remain the focal point for institutional merit” (IRC- 501 (c) (3) criteria). NOTE: DoD has adopted part of this observation, which includes: removal and rejection of chaplains and religious organizations that are under indictment or have been convicted of a terrorist related offense, or if the religious organization appears on the State Department list of Foreign Terror Organizations. Read more ... Source: Hon. Sue MyrickHon. Sue Myrick
Latest recipient of The MASH Award
By Avi Issacharoff A moment before beginning his supper, Masab, son of West Bank Hamas leader Sheikh Hassan Yousef, glances at the friend who has accompanied him to the restaurant where we met. They whisper a few words and then say grace, thanking God and Jesus for putting food on their plates. It takes a few seconds to digest this sight: The son of a Hamas MP who is also the most popular figure in that extremist Islamic organization, a young man who assisted his father for years in his political activities, has become a rank-and-file Christian. "I'm now called Joseph," he says at the outset. Read more ...Source: HaaretzH/T: Gramfan
Riad, 30 July (AKI) - A Saudi court has sentenced a chemistry professor to 600 lashes and 8 months in jail for a 'telephone relationship' with a female student.
The student, whose marriage allegedly broke down as result of the relationship got 350 lashes and 4 months in prison.
The academic, who worked in a teaching hospital in the south of the country was convicted on the basis of the student's husband's testimony, according to Arabic satellite TV station Al-Arabiya.
The student's husband claimed his marriage broke down in 2004 as a result of his wife's relationship with the academic, who has said he will appeal the sentences at the Supreme Council of Magistrates.
The academic also hopes human rights groups will back his case. Source: AKIH/T: Gramfan
Police in Saudi Arabia have arrested a man working for the country's vice squad who is accused of having six wives, two more than allowed under Islamic law. The 56-year-old Saudi, detained in the south-western province of Jazan near the border with Yemen, is being questioned over charges that he is married to three Saudi and three Yemeni women, Al-Watan newspaper reported. The man is an employee with the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, or religious police commonly known as the Muttawa, which is in charge of enforcing a strict Islamic moral code in ultra-conservative Saudi Arabia. He has denied the charge, claiming he has divorced two of his spouses, the newspaper said. The province's governor has ordered the formation of a committee to look into the case, Al-Watan said. Muslim men can keep up to four wives at a time under sharia, or Islamic law, which is applied in oil-rich Saudi Arabia. Source: The Age
WASHINGTON: The US, Israel and the Palestinians agreed in talks today to strive for a Middle East peace deal without any 'shortcuts', Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said. The parties also regarded Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's announced resignation as an internal matter that would not dampen negotiations for an Israeli-Palestinian agreement. “We will not opt for an option of partial agreements, shortcuts or anything short of a full agreement on all issues,” Mr Erekat told reporters after he and chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qorei held talks with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. There have been reports that Dr Rice, who is to travel to the Middle East next month, is anxious to get the two sides to agree on a document of understanding on some key issues, such as borders for a Palestinian state and the right of return of Palestinian refugees to Israel. Such a document was on the cards ahead of the UN General Assembly session in September, some reports suggested, amid growing pessimism about a peace breakthrough before President George W. Bush leaves the White House in January 2009. Without citing these reports, Mr Erekat said, “Let everybody understand that we are negotiating the issues of Jerusalem, borders, refugees, security, prisoners and water and we want to achieve an agreement on all issues or no agreement.” “And this was agreed” at the trilateral talks, he said. The Israelis and Palestinians committed to forging a comprehensive deal by the end of 2008 during a conference Mr Bush hosted in Annapolis, Maryland, in November. Dr Rice, who has criss-crossed the Middle East since then to forge the deal, described the talks today as “very fruitful”. She acknowledged the difficulty of achieving a peace deal by the end of the year as targeted, but she noted growing recognition that the Palestinian question should be resolved swiftly for regional security. “The Middle East is not going to get better without the creation of a Palestinian state to live side-by-side with Israel in peace, security and democracy,” she said yesterday. “It simply isn't going to get better. And so the question is, if not now, when?” she said. Source: The Australian
 By Jeffrey Imm In fighting Jihad, America's greatest challenge remains understanding and confronting the ideology that provides the basis for Jihadist terrorism. Efforts to clearly define this enemy ideology recently have been undermined by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), and the State Department in promoting a "terror lexicon" that recommends federal government employees avoid terms such as "jihad," "jihadist," "Islamist," "mujahideen," and "caliphate" when addressing issues involving terrorism. The argument made by the DHS, NCTC, and others is that the use of such terms will aid in the "recruitment" of Muslims to join terrorist organizations, or will alternatively provide "legitimacy" to religious aspects of terrorist efforts. However, this tactical approach to create a "terror lexicon" to ban such terms used in federal government terrorism reports and the 9/11 Commission report undermines the strategic efforts to identify, understand, and confront the ideology that is the root challenge in a war of ideas against Jihad. And, as Bill West points out, it can also open the door to some unintended consequences for law enforcement. Congressmen Peter Hoekstra (R-MI) has been an outspoken critic of such "terror lexicon" efforts, and was the leader of an amendment to the House of Representatives' 2009 Intelligence funding bill to prevent government funding from supporting such activities. On July 16, 2008, the House passed (by voice vote) House Resolution 5959 "Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009," which included Congressman Hoekstra's amendment (Section 507 'Jihadists'). Read more ...Source: IPT News
 By Rebecca Torr BAHRAIN could soon follow a growing regional trend of Muslim men divorcing their wives by text message, if a family law is not implemented soon, women's rights groups warned yesterday. They say that it is wrong that men could legally divorce their wives in such a spontaneous and inhumane way. A family law should be introduced to ensure that husbands divorce their wives in an ethical manner and that they provide for them and their children, said Bahrain Women's Union member Fatima Al Rabea. "If we have a family law, they will think about this. But now there is no protection," she said. The union will submit its final draft for a family law by the end of the month. The draft of the law, which is also called the Personal Status Law, aims to govern family matters and improve the situation of Bahrain's women. It has been put together by the union, with submissions from various women's societies. A Sharia Court in Malaysia recently ruled that a Muslim man legally divorced his wife by sending her a short messaging service (SMS) saying: "If you don't leave your parent's house, you will be divorced". In another case, an Egyptian woman is seeking clarification from a court on whether her husband's declaration of divorce via text message was legally valid. Read more ...Source: Gulf Daily News
Tehran, 29 July (AKI) - Sixteen Iranians who converted from Islam to Christianity were arrested on Tuesday in Malakshahr, on the outskirts of the central Iranian city of Isfahan. The six women, eight men and two adolescents who were arrested were assisting in a conversion ceremony and baptism of three new members of the church at a private house that had been transformed into an evangelical church. The owners of the home, an elderly couple, were allegedly beaten up before they were locked up in an unmarked lorry. In April, 10 Christian converts were arrested in Shiraz. The official evangelical churches in Isfahan received orders not to allow any Muslims to attend their ceremonies and not to facilitate in any way the conversions. Read more ...Source: AKI
 By Deborah Haynes A woman pretending to be pregnant walks up to a hospital in one of Iraq’s most dangerous regions and blows herself up. Minutes later a man, also laden with explosives, attacks the rescue workers who rushed to the scene in Diyala province, north of Baghdad. Thirty-two people are killed and 52 wounded. The co-ordinated bombings that ripped through the town of Baladruz in May are one of twelve attacks involving thirteen women suicide bombers to strike Diyala so far this year – a huge jump, signalling a new tactic by insurgents. US officials suspect that al-Qaeda has built a network of cells that recruit women and turn them into killers. Women are the perfect weapon in a country where it is frowned upon culturally for a man even to approach a woman without her husband or father in tow, let alone frisk her for weapons at one of the many checkpoints that are the bombers’ favourite targets. In addition, it is easy to hide a vest packed with explosives under the traditional Islamic robes worn by women in Iraq without drawing suspicion. Read more ...Source: The Times
Over the week-end Muslim fanatics target a Christian school in the capital’s east side. Police evacuate the institute to protect students. Hundreds of police agents are now guarding it to prevent further violence.By Benteng Reges Jakarta (AsiaNews) – Police evacuated the Christian Theological Arastamar Institute (STT SETIA) which is located in an eastern district of the Indonesian capital after it suffered damages during clashes between Christians and Muslims over the week-end. At least 1,500 students were moved to nearby police headquarters and a local Christian-based political party. The situation remains critical and further violence between opposite factions cannot be ruled out. “The school foundation urged us to intervene to protect people,” said East Jakarta District Police Chief Senior Superintendent. “For this reason we moved everyone out.” Last night hundreds of residents from the village of Kampung Pulo had taken up arms threatening to storm the school after being instigated by an imam at a local mosque who claimed that a bunch of Christian gangsters were coming to “protect” the school after it was attacked on Saturday by a Muslim mob, causing damage to the building and hurting hundreds. Read more ... Source: AsiaNet
WHEN: Saturday, August 2nd, 4:00 PM
WHERE: Saudi Consulate at 2045 Sawtelle Blvd. Los Angeles, CA (Near W. Olympic & Sawtelle)
SAUDI ARABIA: World's greatest exporter of Terror.
Protest against:
- Saudi funding of terror with petro-dollars
- Saudi influence in American politics
- Saudi influence in American schools
- Saudi refusal to help ease high gas prices
- Saudi promotion of terrorism and extremism through the construction and funding of radical mosques and madrassas in America
Event sponsored by the United American Committee and other groups involved in the anti-jihad resistance. Source: UAC
By Amil Imani The Islamic Republic terror machine once again has taken off at the speed of light in Iran and exemplifies a depraved, clerical system of government, which legitimizes its depravity through a series of terror, fear and intimidation of Iranian people. With the additional handpicking of the newly selected members of the Islamic "Majles," the clergies have intensified their terror and war against the people of Iran and their insatiable appetite for another holocaust against the Jewish State, at all cost. The leaders of the Islamic Republic have gone completely mad. The Islamic Republic has stationed revolutionary and militia troops to actively and deliberately prevent anyone from any demonstrations or objections against the totalitarian regime. They are planning to silence people by any means available to them. Read more ...Source: Islam Watch
By Michael Bates On Wednesday, July 23, District Judge Linda Morrissey denied motions by the Islamic Society of Tulsa, Mujib Cheema, and the North American Islamic Trust to dismiss Jamal Miftah's lawsuit against them. Miftah is suing Cheema, IST, and NAIT, as well as several other individual leaders in IST for assault and battery, defamation, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Earlier this year, Judge Gordon McAllister granted several motions to dismiss, but gave Miftah's attorneys 20 days to present an amended petition. It was this amended petition that was the subject of the latest motions to dismiss, which were denied. We will keep you posted on developments. Here is a link to BatesLine's Jamal Miftah category, where you can catch up on the dispute between Miftah and IST regarding IST expelling him over his op-ed condemning terrorism in the name of Islam. Read more ...Source: BatesLineH/T: Cao's BlogJamal Miftah
Latest recipient of The MASH Award
Update:
Cindy Wockner July 30, 2008 12:00am THE death row Bali bombers want to be beheaded instead of being shot by a firing squad. They are appealing to the Indonesian Constitutional Court on the grounds that death by firing squad is torture. The three want to be beheaded in the way that capital punishment is carried out under strict Islamic law. They will claim that prisoners can take too long to die when shot. Their lawyers denied the move was a tactic to delay the executions, which authorities said were imminent. Lawyer Mahendradatta said the issue was about ensuring due processes of law were followed when it came to irreversible punishment and not about saving the lives of Amrozi, Mukhlas and Imam Samudra. The lawyers will meet Attorney-General Hendarman Supandji tomorrow to complain that the latest appeal knockback by the Supreme Court was in the form of a letter signed by a court clerk and not a decision by judges. Mr Mahendradatta said the Constitutional Court appeal would argue that death by firing squad could be torture. If the firing squad does not kill the prisoner immediately, the commander has what is known as an amnesty shot with his pistol. "The regulation itself admits that there is a possibility that one shot is not going to kill the prisoner, which means it is torture," he said. "The constitution says the right not to be tortured cannot be reduced under any circumstances. "They (the bombers) are on the death sentence not torture. "Amrozi and the others are ready to die, not only today but since they got the first verdict in Denpasar. But this is about the law and precedent." Executions should be carried out only when all legal procedures had been followed properly, he added. "If they want to execute Amrozi and the others, just go ahead -- but say it is in the name of revenge because if you want to execute them by the regulations then you have to follow all the procedures of the law." Mr Mahendradatta said the Muslim Lawyer Team, which represents all three condemned men, would meet the Attorney-General and press him to make sure the law was followed. "We are going to go to the Attorney-General to ask them to obey the law. I have never seen a situation before where a clerk makes a court ruling." It is unlikely the Constitutional Court appeal would stop the executions. Authorities want the executions carried out before Ramadan, the Islamic fasting month, which starts in September. Attorney-General Hendarman Supandji has previously said appeal or no appeal, the executions would go ahead. Prosecutors in Bali, who are in charge of arranging the executions of the bombers who killed 202 people in 2002, say everything is ready and they're waiting for a date. The three will be executed on Nusa Kambangan Island, off the coast of Central Java, where their jail is located. Source: HeraldSun
 Amsterdam, 29 July (AKI) - A court in The Hague has approved a request by Somali-born ex-MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali for witnesses to be heard in her claim for the Dutch state to pay for her security in the US, Dutch media reported on Tuesday.The Dutch government stopped paying for Hirsi Ali's police protection after she moved to the US permanently last year.
An outspoken critic of Islam and advocate of women's rights, Hirsi Ali had to live under police protection in the Netherlands after receiving death threats. She now works for a conservative US think-tank.
"Hirsi Ali clearly had protection in the Netherlands because she was in danger and probably still is," a senior researcher at the Netherlands Institute of International Relations' security programme, Bibi Van Ginkel, told Adnkronos International (AKI).
"She has for some time been the voice and face of women's emancipation under Islam, and is clearly under some threat," Van Ginkel said.
Hirsi Ali's radical opinions expressed in her writings and lectures have "really insulted some people," she said.
But Hirsi Ali is a former MP and public figure, and the Dutch government should "try and arrange some kind of protection" in cooperation with the US authorities, she argued.
"The Dutch government cannot look the other way and shouldn't try and get out but find more of a solution than it has done," said Van Ginkel.
She said the Dutch government had provided some extra protection for Hirsi Ali at the beginning of her stay in the US.
Former Dutch deputy Prime Minister Gerrit Zalm, Netherlands anti-terror chief Tjibbe Joustra and Justice Minister Ernst Hrsch Ballin, are among those Hirsi Ali has reportedly requested to be heard as witnesses.
The preliminary hearing is expected to be heard on two consecutive days later in this year. This could result in a full court case in which Hirsi Ali challenges the Dutch state to continue to pay for her security in the US.
In her orginal court application in May, Airsi Ali asked for eight witnesses to be heard, but on Monday the court said the number would initially be restricted to five.
A motion in the European Parliament to fund Hirsi Ali's US security failed in March to reach a quorum of half the deputies in the 785-member body.
Hirsi Ali has also set up a fund to finance her security in the US. "She has raised a considerable sum but it is not enough to pay for everything," Van Ginkel said.
Hirsi Ali wrote the screenplay for 'Submission', a controversial film criticising domestic violence towards Muslim women made by Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh.
A Dutch-Moroccan extremist Mohammed Bouyeri murdered Van Gogh in an Amsterdam street soon after the film was aired on Dutch television.
Hirsi Ali was given round-the-clock police protection after Bouyeri pinned a letter to Van Gogh's chest containing explicit threats towards her.
She has just written a children's book with Anna Gray, entitled 'Adan and Eva', about the impossible friendship between a Muslim boy and a Jewish girl.
Hirsi Ali's co-author is writing under a pseudonym, as she fears the book could put her life in danger. It is being translated into English, Danish, Spanish and Italian.Source: AKI
SOME stellar phrases dominated the election campaign last year. Australia faced a "fork in the road", said Kevin Rudd. As Prime Minister, he faces his own fork in the road. Rudd announced he was Multilateral Man, a modern social democrat leader who would forge a new foreign policy for Australia. Eschewing the Howard years, Rudd would apparently take us down a new, more inclusive road. He would fully embrace multilateralism as the best way to achieve global peace. But here's the thing. Multilateralism is not an inherent good. Sometimes its very inclusiveness ensures a rotten result. That much was obvious at the confab in Durban in 2001 when a conference aimed at combating racism degenerated into a bigoted hate-fest against the US and Israel. Non-government organisations in Durban handed out pamphlets depicting Israelis as modern-day Nazis and free T-shirts demanding the dismantling of Israel. Even former US secretary of state Colin Powell - a good friend of the UN - walked out, declaring that "you do not combat racism by conferences that produce declarations containing hateful language". Such was the moral bankruptcy at the Durban festival of hate, the then UN high commissioner for human rights, Mary Robinson, refused to be part of the ceremony that tabled the forum's documents. Multilateralism, Durban-style, provided a platform, under the auspices of the international community, for anti-West Westerners and the most egregious abusers of human rights to rail against the West. The Durban I debacle means that, if Rudd really is a sensible fusion between hardheaded realism and liberal idealism, as some have claimed, he will need to show that he can be choosy about multilateralism. And the measure of his commitment to multilateralism ought to go something like this. Meaningful multilateralism that actually achieves a common good is the aim. Harmless multilateralism is understandable. Nothing gained, nothing lost. But oppressive multilateralism that allows repressive regimes to hijack agendas for their own cause to thwart real progress is unforgivable. Rudd's test will be the next UN conference on racism. Dubbed Durban II - as a follow-up to Durban I - the meeting next year in Geneva looks set to become a multilateral platform aimed at suppressing free speech in the name of preventing Islamaphobia. How do we know? Let's start with who's in charge. That would be the UN's premier Human Rights Council which, as the preparatory committee for Durban II, elected Libya as its chair and includes Cuba, Pakistan and Iran. In multilateral land at the UN, Iran - a country whose leadership is openly committed to the destruction of Israel - will be involved in setting the agenda for the next global conference on racism. The HRC was meant to be the answer to the UN's discredited former Human Rights Commission. Nothing has changed. Next consider what's being said in the lead-up to Durban II. The Organisation of the Islamic Conference represents the most powerful voting bloc at the UN and many of its members happily sit on the Human Rights Council. In June, OIC secretary-general Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said "mere condemnation or distancing from the acts of the perpetrators of Islamophobia" is not enough. He wants Western nations to tighten basic freedoms of speech so there are no more cartoons or documentaries critical of Islam. Other OIC members such as Pakistan and Indonesia, and of course Iran, also have free speech squarely within their sights. Reasonable people agree that hate speech is abhorrent. But if hate speech were the real target of DurbanII, we should expect to hear denunciations of Holocaust inversion, where Israelis are treated as the new Nazis. Instead, under the cloak of hate speech and Islamophobia, the real agenda of many of the countries responsible for Durban II is stomping on criticism of Islam. As hard-nosed realists, the OIC bloc knows how to exploit the multilateral idealists in the West. Through sheer numbers they can and do throw around their weight to hijack agendas. One need only track the anti-Israel bias at Turtle Bay headquarters and the UN's other multilateral minions. At the HRC each year, special agenda item No8 is devoted to scrutinising one country: Israel. No other country. Just Israel. Australia's former ambassador to the UN, Mike Smith, has denounced the "singling out of one country for criticism under a unique agenda item". But with other democracies silent on the issue, the unequal targeting of Israel prevails. Gritty realism explains why OIC members adore UN conferences. It provides them with the perfect platform to invite anti-West Westerners to help promote their cause, ensuring worldwide media coverage on the evils of Islamophobia. For them, multilateralism is a highly effective way to do business. And why wouldn't they rail against free speech? The West has shown itself to be a faint-hearted supporter of its most cherished freedoms. Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal reported on the latest supine surrender in The Netherlands, the home of tolerance. "On a sunny May morning, six plainclothes police officers, two uniformed policemen and a trio of functionaries from the state prosecutor's office closed in on a small apartment in Amsterdam. Their quarry: a skinny Dutch cartoonist with a rude sense of humour. Informed that he was suspected of sketching offensive drawings of Muslims and other minorities, the Dutchman surrendered without a struggle." If charged, the cartoonist who uses a nom de plume - Gregorius Nekschot - faces two years in prison. This is precisely what many OIC members have in mind. And they have worked out that multilateralism is their best way to push their agenda against freedom of expression using the cloak of Islamophobia and the apparent legitimacy of the UN. They prevailed at Durban I in 2001. Next year in Geneva they get another shot. Canada has already refused to be part of Durban II. So has Israel. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said: "France will not allow a repetition of the excesses and abuses of 2001." As European Union President, he has promised to withdraw if the hate-fest is repeated. The question is, what will other democracies do? The US will have a new president in the lead-up to Durban II. If it is Barack Obama, he faces the same dilemma that confronts our Prime Minister. Both pitch themselves as a new generation of modern social democrats committed to multilateralism. If they are realists, they will reject Durban II as oppressive multilateralism. Being part of Durban II will give legitimacy to an agenda that looks destined to attack basic democratic freedoms. Dewy-eyed human rights activists, international lawyers and those on the jetsetting gravy train of multilateral shindigs will never admit it. But multilateralism for the heck of it is a one heck of a mistake. Source: The Australian
U.S. House Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minnesota), a Detroit native and the first Muslim elected to Congress, is visiting metro Detroit this weekend to raise money from local Muslims.
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Rep. Ellison will be speaking at a private fund-raiser for him in Shelby Township on Saturday at the home of Dr. Jukaku Tayeb, president of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Tayeb said.
Born and raised as a Catholic in Detroit, Ellison converted to Islam while a student at Wayne State University. He moved to Minnesota for law school and was elected to Congress in 2006 in a victory that garnered international attention because of his faith.
Since then, another Muslim – U.S. Rep. Andre Carson (D-Indiana) – was elected to Congress after he won a special election in March.
Ellison is up for re-election this year. Source: Detroit Free Press
Manama: A lawmaker demanded that the government immediately deny entry to homosexuals to eliminate indecency in Bahraini society. Brotherhood MP Mohammad Khalid told Gulf News on Sunday the government should implement a parliamentary proposal approved early this year by the Lower House on the issue. He also called upon the Ministry of Industry and Commerce to closely monitor saloons and massage parlours. The lawmaker also urged the Vice Police to interfere and deport homosexuals involved in illegal activities, as well as intensify punishments for students involved in homosexuality. Read more ...Source: Gulf News
PAKISTAN Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani called on the US not to act "unilaterally" against Islamic militants in Pakistan. Asked by CNN television about a suspected US missile strike on an al-Qa'ida leader in Pakistan, Gilani said he had told President George W. Bush at a White House meeting earlier on Monday that "unilaterally it should not be done". "We must have more co-operation with each other and it's our job because we are fighting the war for ourselves," he said. Gilani declined to directly accuse the US of being behind the missile attack which security officials in Pakistan said had targeted Egyptian militant Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar, al-Qa'ida's top expert on chemical and biological weapons. But he said that if it was proven to have been a US operation, it would be a violation of Pakistani sovereignty. "Basically Americans are a little impatient. Therefore in the future I think we'll have more co-operation on the intelligence side and we'll do the job ourselves," he said. Gilani was also asked by CNN about efforts to capture al-Qa'ida leader Osama bin Laden, believed to be hiding along the rugged border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. "My government certainly is doing its best," he said. "There are two things. One is the will, the other is ability. We have the will but at the same time the militants are equipped with the most sophisticated weapons in the world and therefore we can't match that equipment and the training," he said. "Therefore when there is US co-operation more on the defence side, we'll be able to have more capabilities of fighting." Source: The Australaian
![]() Information from Equality Now
Equality Now is urgently concerned about Kobra Najjar, an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery who lost her final appeal for amnesty. Iranian women’s rights activists working on her case report that Kobra has exhausted all domestic legal remedies and that her execution by stoning could happen any time.
Kobra is a victim of domestic violence who was forced into prostitution by her abusive husband in order to support his heroine addiction. He was murdered by one of Kobra’s “clients” who sympathized with her plight. Kobra has already served 8 years in prison as an accessory to her husband’s murder. The man who murdered her husband also served 8 years in prison and is now free after paying blood money and undergoing 100 lashes, while Kobra faces imminent stoning to death for adultery - the prostitution her husband forced upon her.
Equality Now is also concerned about recent reports of seven other women and one man, all accused of adultery sentenced to death by stoning, whose executions are also reported to be possible at any time. In Iran, adultery is the only crime punishable by stoning.
Stoning violates the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to which Iran is a state party. The ICCPR clearly prohibits torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment. It also limits the imposition of the death penalty “only for the most serious crimes.” No criminal or other act warrants violent and inhumane punishments such as flogging and stoning. Moreover, adultery is a private act and should not incur criminal punishment. Protection from arbitrary or unlawful interference under the ICCPR has been found by the United Nations Human Rights Committee to include consensual sexual activity between adults in private.
Recommended Actions
Please write to the Iranian officials below, calling for Kobra’s immediate release, the commutation of all sentences of death by stoning and the prohibition by law of all cruel, inhuman and degrading punishments in accordance with Iran’s obligations under the ICCPR. Urge the officials also to initiate a comprehensive review of the Civil and Penal Codes of Iran to remove all provisions that discriminate and perpetuate discrimination against women, including those regarding adultery and fornication, in accordance with Iran’s own constitutional provision for equality before the law.
His Excellency Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Head of the Judiciary
c/o Ministry of Justice
Park-e Shahr
Teheran
Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: iripr@iranjudiciary.org, irjpr@iranjudiciary.com and info@dadgostary-tehran.ir
Phone: +98 21 22741002, +98 21 22741003, +98 21 22741004, +98 21 22741005
Note: The contact information above may encounter delivery problems so please keep trying to send your message. Thank you for taking action!
Please also contact the Iranian embassy in your country. The following link may help you find the contact information: http://www.embassyworld.com/embassy/Iran/Iran.html
Bahrain: Embassy of Iran in Manama
Tel: 722400, 722660
Fax: 722101
Canada: Embassy of Iran in Ottawa http://www.salamiran.org/
Tel: 613 2354726 Ext 225
Fax: 613 2325712
Denmark: Embassy of Iran in Copenhagen http://www.iran-embassy.dk
Tel: 39160071
Fax: 39160075
Finland: Embassy of Iran in Helsinki
Tel: (9) 6869240
Fax: (9) 6869241
Germany: Embassy of Iran in Frankfurt
Tel: (0) 695600070, (0) 695600730
Fax: (0) 6956000728
India: Embassy of Iran in New Delhi
Tel: (011) 3329600, (011) 3329601, (011) 3329602, (011) 3320491
Fax: (011) 3325493
Jordan: Embassy of Iran in Amman
Tel: (6) 4641281, (6) 4641282
Fax: (6) 4641383
Kenya: Embassy of Iran in Nairobi
Tel: (2) 720343, (2) 720796
Fax: (2) 713966
Lebanon: Embassy of Iran in Beirut
Tel: (1) 821224
Malaysia: Embassy of Iran in Kuala Lumpur
Tel: (3) 4514830, (3) 4514824
Fax: (3) 4562904
Norway: Embassy of Iran in Oslo http://home.eunet.no/%7Eiranamb/
Tel: 23 27 29 60
Fax: 22 55 49 19
Russia: Embassy of Iran in Moscow
Tel: (95) 9177282, (95) 9170039, (95) 9178440
Fax: (95) 2302897
Sweden: Embassy of Iran in Stockholm
Tel: (80) 7650829, (80) 7653174
Fax: (80) 7653119
Switzerland: Embassy of Iran in Berne
Tel: (31) 3510801, (31) 3510802
Fax: (31) 3515652
United Arab Emirates: Embassy of Iran in Abu Dhabi http://www.iranembassy.org.ae
Tel: (12) 4447618
Fax: (12) 4448714
United Kingdom: Embassy of Iran in London http://www.iran-embassy.org.uk/
Tel: 02072253000
Fax: 02075894440
United States: Interests Section of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Washington, D.C. http://www.daftar.org/
Tel: 202 9654990
Fax: 202 9651073
Women's Action 29.1: March 2007
Please keep Equality Now updated on your efforts and send copies of any replies you receive to:
Equality Now P.O. Box 20646, Columbus Circle Station, New York NY 10023, USA
Equality Now Africa Regional Office, P.O. Box 2018, KNH 00202, Nairobi, KENYA
Equality Now P.O. Box 48822, London WC2N 6ZW, UNITED KINGDOM
info@equalitynow.org Source: equalitynow.orgH/T: International Campaign Against Honour Killings
A third of Muslim university students believe killing in the name of religion can be justified, a survey has revealed.By Duncan Gardham A study on the attitudes of students has found that 28 per cent said killing could be justified if the religion was under attack and another four per cent supported killing in order to "promote and preserve" the religion. Over half, 53 per cent, said killing in the name of religion was never justifiable but among non-Muslim students that figure was 94 per cent. While most students showed a typical generation gap where their parents were more religious than they were – 72 per cent – a significant 18 per cent said they were more strict in their religious observance than their parents. The importance of sharia law to most Muslim was underlined by the 40 per cent who said they supported its introduction into law for Muslims in Britain, although 37 per cent opposed it. A third of those surveyed supported the creation of a worldwide Muslim caliphate but 25 per cent opposed it and 42 per cent said they were not sure. Half of the students said they would not be supportive of a friend who wanted to leave Islam. Hannah Stuart, from the Centre for Social Cohesion, co-author of the report, said: "These findings are deeply alarming. Students in higher education are the future leaders of their communities yet significant numbers of them appear to hold beliefs which contravene liberal, democratic values. Read more ... Source: TelegraphRead the report
Muslim scholars have accused a Channel 4 documentary about the Qur'an of being "disappointing, misleading, even defamatory".By Jessica Salter In the documentary The Qur'an, film-maker Antony Thomas explored the history and message of the Qur'an, Islam's holy book and questioned how much Muslims and non-Muslims understood the text. While the film which was broadcast earlier this month was praised by some critics as a masterpiece, it has angered a prominent group of Shia Muslims who say it made some "seriously inaccurate statements" about their branch of the faith. In a letter to Channel 4 the scholars claim that there was an anti-Shia bias to the film because it promoted obscure or extreme views as the mainstream opinion. They said the programme accused Shias of believing that the Qur'an had been corrupted and that he said a central belief of the Shias, the imamate, was contrary to the Qur'an. Read more ... Source: Telegraph
LONDON: An umbrella organisation representing over 300 Hindu outfits in the UK on Sunday appealed to the government to probe into reports about British charities suspected of sending funds to terrorist groups in Pakistan that have been launching attacks against India. The appeal by Hindu Forum of Britain (HFB) comes in the wake of serial bombings in Gujarat in which at least 45 people were killed. The HFB requested Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to order a probe into reports of British charities sending funds to Pakistan-based terrorist groups. Read more ...Source: Shariah Finance Watch
The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas is moving to suppress an outbreak of violence in the Gaza Strip that began at the start of the weekend and left seven people dead. Explosions, believed to be the work of the rival Fatah group, on Friday evening near Gaza beach killed five senior Hamas members and a child. One of the explosions at an intersection was detonated by remote control as a car carrying the five Hamas leaders drove past. It killed them instantly as well as six-year-old Serena Safadi, who was standing near the intersection. Another bomb detonated at noon on Friday killed a Hamas official and a third explosion injured three people. In response, Hamas launched a crackdown against Fatah, arresting up to 160 of its members in dawn raids on Saturday morning. Gaza security police set up roadblocks across the coastal enclave, seized equipment and files from Fatah's news agency and raided about 40 Fatah-affiliated civic organisations. In one failed arrest attempt, police fired four rocket-propelled grenades at the home of a Fatah leader and exchanged fire with his guards. Among those killed in Friday's blasts were senior members of Hamas' military wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the most prominent of whom was Amar Musbah, the personal aide of the wing's commander, Mohammed Jabari. Iyad al-Hayeh, the nephew of political bureau member Khalil al-Hayeh, and Nidal al-Mabayed, a high-ranking member of the Qassam Brigades, were also killed. Fatah tried to deny any involvement in the attack, although scenes of its supporters celebrating news of the attacks were broadcast on Palestinian television. News organisations received emails of unclear origin claiming that a Fatah offshoot known as the al-Awda (Return) Brigades set off the beachside blast. Hamas carried the statement on its websites, and its leader, Ismail Haniyeh, called it "proof that Fatah is not interested in dialogue". The email claim could not be verified and Fatah officials said no such group exists. The prospect of more violence seems likely after one Hamas leader was quoted anonymously in Palestinian media yesterday saying the attacks "will not go by in silence". Dr Hayeh, speaking at his nephew's funeral, denounced Fatah as collaborators with Israel. "The collaborators who did this must be hanged in Palestine Square and shot," he said, referring to Gaza City's main square. "The people who stand behind this are from Fatah." Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar said police had information on who was behind the attack. Among those arrested was a cameraman for German television ARD, Sawah Abu Safeh, Palestinian officials said. Other Hamas members were quoted accusing Palestinian Authority president and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas of seeking to start a civil war. Mr Abbas was due to visit Egypt for talks on the situation in the territories and national reconciliation efforts. Hamas and Fatah have had an uneasy truce since June last year, when Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip. The two had shared power in a short-lived coalition that broke apart when a US-backed attempt by Fatah to take control of Gaza was defeated by Hamas. The split left Mr Abbas ruling the West Bank under emergency powers and Hamas under Mr Haniyeh, the democratically elected prime minister, in control of Gaza. Tensions in Gaza cooled last month after Hamas reached a truce with Israel, which, despite scattered violations, has largely held. With AGENCIES Source: The Age
 | The Centre For Social Cohesion
Founded by Civitas to encourage community cohesion |
The Centre for Social Cohesion's latest report, 'Islam on Campus: A survey of UK student opinion', was published this morning. Read the report ...Source: Centre for Social Cohesion
TWO bombs have exploded in Istanbul, leaving at least 13 people dead, and some 70 others wounded, Turkish television reported. The first bomb created a small blast in a telephone booth in the Gungoren neighbourhood on the western European bank of the Turkish city. A second stronger explosion took place several minutes later a few metres away while a crowd began to gather at the site of the first blast, NTV reported. The images broadcast by NTV showed scenes of panic, with people covered in blood and disoriented as they ran from the area of the blasts, littered with debris and shattered glass. Teams of firefighters and emergency workers were dispatched to the scene and police established a security perimeter. Local television stations had initially reported that the blasts were caused by a gas leak. The city's governor, Muammer Guler, downplayed speculation that rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) could be responsible for the blasts, saying it was too early to say who was to blame. He said officials would study the images filmed by surveillance cameras near the scene of the attacks. In the past, numerous attacks in Istanbul have been blamed on the PKK, considered a terrorist group by Turkey and Western powers, which has been fighting since 1984 for independence for the Kurdish-majority southeast region.
Source: The Australian
FoxNews Special
July 26, 2008
Download a higher quality copy of the video in AVI format: AVI Video
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H/T: somebodyhelpme.infoFox News Channel
Latest recipient of The MASH Award
Tiruchirapalli (PTI): Condemning the Friday's serial blasts in Bangalore, the Indian Union Muslim League has asked the media and public to not to brand the perpetrators of the deed as Muslims. "I appeal to the media and the public not to brand the perpetrators of the Bangalore blasts as Muslims," State president of IUML K M Khader Mohideen told reporters here on Saturday night. "These kind of people are neither Muslims, Hindus or Christians. The Centre and the state government should take steps to nab them quickly," he said. Read more ...Source: PTIDO NOT associate Bangalore bombings with Islam! IGNORE the fact that responsibility for the bombings were claimed by Indian Mujahideen!
Khader Mohideen
Latest recipient of the Distinguished Islamofascist Award
 Muslims Against Sharia unequivocally condemn Indian bombings.
Our thoughts in prayers with victims of the atrocities and their families.
May everyone responsible for the bombings burn in hell for eternity!
By Jaheerah Bint Abdullah Al-Masaad A young Saudi girl drove her brother’s car and was caught in the act. Notice, I have not made any reference to a “crime.” Necessary action was taken against her. What was the necessary action in this case? This involved interrogating the “wrongdoer.” Notice again I have not made any reference to a “criminal.” Her guardian was summoned and was made to pledge that she would not repeat this “act.” She was set free and went home. This news item, which was recently published in some newspapers, was not the first of its kind. Similar news items have been published, indicating there is an increase in the number of cases of women driving cars. So this story will not be the last. Read more ...Source: Al-Watan H/T: Arab News
It's a beautiful Sunday afternoon here in the land of the free and the home of the brave. No, not the States bunky, Canada! (OK, the States too!) However, things are not so peachy keen in all parts of the world as this report from the Amsterdam bureau of the Religious News Blog suggests!  Are you ready for this kids? Killing in the name of Islam is acceptable.... that's the view of one third of British Muslim students! I kid you not! What makes it even more hilarious, (if you can call it that) was that just the other day Britain was told “ by a United Nations committee" (and reported first here on Perspective) to take firm action to combat ‘negative public attitudes’ towards Muslims. (Gee, why are there "negative public attitudes" towards Muslims?) The nine-member human rights committee also criticised some of the UK’s anti terror measures.” But while it is a worthwhile to combat discrimination of any kind, one also has to be realistic. In this case that means recognizing and actively combating the very real threat formed by radical Muslims bent on spreading their hateful, violent version of Islam among those who want no part of it. News from around the around the world shows that the so-called ‘purest’ forms of Islam — various extremist groups do not quite agree on which form that is — is incompatible with democracy, human rights — and indeed, modern life. When angry Muslims engage in hateful and often violent protests throughout the world against cartoons, teddy bears, and whatever else they feel is an insult to Islam, no one — no person, no committee, and no government — will be able to change ‘negative public attitudes’ toward Muslims. -Ed.The following news article illustrates the very real dangers the Western world faces from the rise in Islamic fundamentalism: Almost one third of British Muslim students think it is acceptable to kill in the name of Islam, results of a poll show.
The findings shed light on the extent of campus radicalism and will raise concerns about extremism across British Universities.
The YouGov poll for the Centre for Social Cohesion also found that two in five Muslims at university support the idea of Islamic sharia codes being enshrined in British law, the Sunday Times has reported.
One of the report authors Hannah Stuart said the study’s findings came as an embarrassing blow to those who play down the threat of extremism within Britain’s campuses.
She said: ‘Significant numbers appear to hold beliefs which contravene democratic values.
‘These results are deeply embarrassing for those who have said there is no extremism in British universities.’
Fosis, the country’s largest Muslim student body criticised the report.
But Anthony Glees, professor of security and intelligence studies at Buckingham University, said: ‘The finding that a large number of students think it is okay to kill in the name of religion is alarming.
‘There is a wide cultural divide between Muslim and non-Muslim students.'
‘The solution is to stop talking about celebrating diversity and focus on integration and assimilation.’
The research saw 1,400 Muslim and non-Muslim students questioned and more than 20 universities were visited. It was discovered that extremist preachers regularly gave speeches that were inflammatory, homophobic or bordering on antisemitic.
The research found that 55 per cent of Muslim students thought Islam was incompatible with democracy!
The report also found that 40 per cent of recipients said it was unacceptable for Muslim men and women to associate freely; 25 per cent said they had little or no respect for gays.This figure was higher (32%) for male Muslim students.
Among non Muslims, the figure was only 4%.
A third of Muslim students interviewed supported the creation of a world-wide caliphate or Islamic state.  On top of this, a number of terrorists have been radicalised at British universities. Kafeel Ahmed, who drove a flaming jeep into a building at Glasgow airport last year and died of his burns, is believed to have been radicalised while studying at Anglia Ruskin university, Cambridge. If Britain is an indicator of what we will eventually have in store for us here in North America then things are not looking good! Almost a quarter of British Muslims say the London bombing attacks can be justified because of the Government’s support for the ‘war on terror’. The shocking 23 per cent figure is the equivalent of 370,000 of the 1.6m Muslims living in the UK. And it is almost double previous opinion polls suggesting 13 per cent believe the atrocity, which claimed 52 innocent lives, could be justified. It will re-ignite the debate over whether the Government and Muslim leaders are doing enough to tackle extremism. Allan W Janssen is the author of the book The Plain Truth About God (What the mainstream religions don't want you to know!) and is available as an E-Book H E R E ! and as a paperback H E R E ! Visit the blog "Perspective" at http://allans-perspective.blogspot.com
 Turkish women protesting shariah laws and headscrafsOzer Aksoy *VP of The Turkish World Congress, 821 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY USA* Headscarf is more than a piece of cloth: Pinned carefully to conceal the neck, throat and hair, Islamic headscarf has become the unmistakable symbol of political Islam. This is why secular people have been insisting on keeping it out of the universities and government institutions, as the secular laws require. I read Mark Mackinnon's article "Traditional head scarf unveils new rifts in Turkey" (Globe, July 22, 2008) with interest. There seems to be a chaos of concepts 'and I mean it in the nicest possible way' involving the dichotomies secularism and Islam, modern law and Islamic canon (Sharia,) the elites and the uneducated, the periphery and the center, black Turks and white Turks, old guard versus Islamic reformers, and more. I urge your readers to gain a deeper understanding of dichotomies before jumping into evaluating the recent issues about Turkey. Let’s see if I can shed some light on all this. Read more ...Source: Shariah Finance Watch
A man who had hit his wife in a parking lot and fractured her nose, because she had rolled up her veil due to the heat, was sentenced to two years in prison, 18 months of which are suspended, in a court in Marseilles.
The prosecution demanded eight months in prison, three of which to be suspended.
Ali Nassakh (30), of Algerian nationality, was placed in detention.
A passerby alerted authorities after seeing the young woman's bloodied face. She burst into tears when he husband testified that she had banged her head on a car parked nearby.
The young woman claimed compensation. To the investigators she had said she had explained to her husband that "in our religion the husband doesn't have a right to tell his wife to do what he wants." Source: Le Figaro (French)H/T: Islam in Europe
Poll attacked over claim that a third of Muslim students think killing in the name of religion is justified and 40 per cent support sharia law in the UKBy Jamie Doward Almost third of Muslim students on Britain's campuses believe killing in the name of religion can be justified, according to a controversial survey described as the most comprehensive of its kind. The poll, conducted for Islam on Campus, a new report from the Centre for Social Cohesion think-tank, also found that 40 per cent of those interviewed supported the introduction of sharia law for British Muslims. But the findings have been fiercely attacked by student groups which described the poll's methodology as 'deeply flawed' and accused the report's authors of isolating Muslims. The YouGov survey found that 32 per cent of Muslim students polled said killing in the name of religion was justified, compared to 2 per cent of non-Muslims. A third of those polled said they supported a worldwide Islamic caliphate, or government, and more than half - 54 per cent - supported the idea of having their own political party at Westminster. Just under a quarter did not believe men and women were equal in the eyes of Allah, while 25 per cent said they had little or no respect for homosexuals. 'These findings are deeply alarming,' said Hannah Stuart, the report's co-author. 'Students in higher education are the future leaders of their communities. Yet significant numbers of them appear to hold beliefs which contravene liberal democratic values.' Read more ... Source: The ObserverH/T: Shariah Finance Watch
ITALIAN daily La Repubblica today received a death-threat letter aimed at Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi which contained a bullet, the newspaper's website reported.
The letter, which also proclaimed “Allah is Great”, vows to “hit” Mr Berlusconi as well as the speakers of Italy's upper and lower parliamentary chambers, Renato Schifani and Gianfranco Fini, the website said.
According to the left-leaning title, a similar letter was received by the right-leaning daily Libero yesterday in Milan.
In January, a letter threatening Mr Berlusconi and his brother Paolo – containing two bullets – was received by the Milan daily Il Giornale.
Mr Berlusconi, while prime minister in 2001, infuriated Muslims and appalled Western diplomats with remarks asserting the superiority of Western civilization over Islam. Source: Herald Sun
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- Afghan charged with blasphemy faces death if convi...
- Gaza summer camps teach kids to fire rockets
- Turkey's Dilemma
- Terrorists develop 'suicide underwear'
- Sue Myrick's "Wake Up America" Agenda Progress Rep...
- MSA: Gihad in Academia
- Video of Islamic Honor Killings and Mutilations - ...
- Hamas' Christian convert: I've left a society that...
- Saudi Arabia: Academic gets 600 lashes for 'phone ...
- Saudi arrested for having six wives
- Mideast talks promise 'no shortcuts'
- Ignorance about the Enemy's Ideology is the Problem
- Muslims Against Sharia in the Media - July '08
- Rep. Peter King Calls on NY Transit Authority to P...
- SMS divorces spur call for family law
- Iran: Sixteen Christian converts arrested
- Love, blackmail and rape – how al-Qaeda grooms wom...
- Muslims storm Protestant school in Jakarta, injuri...
- Groups set to protest Saudi Arabia in Los Angeles
- Iran Mullahs' Reign of Terror
- Miftah suit against Islamic Society of Tulsa moves...
- Bali bombers demand beheading
- Netherlands: Former MP Hirsi Ali seeks police prot...
- Morally bankrupt multilateralism
- Ellison to visit metro Detroit this weekend
- Lawmaker wants ban on entry of homosexuals
- Pakistan PM raises attack in meeting with George Bush
- URGENT ACTION: Kobra Najjar faces death by stoning...
- Muslim students back killing in the name of Islam
- Channel 4 Qur'an documentary disappoints Muslims
- 'Probe into UK charities funding terrorism in India'
- Hamas arrests rivals after deadly bomb attacks
- New report published by the Centre for Social Cohe...
- Terrorist blasts kill 13 in Istanbul
- Murder in the Family: Honor Killing in America
- Dont' term perpetrators of blasts as Muslims: IUML
- The good Saudi woman and the car
- Killing in the name of Islam is acceptable!
- If The Turkish Secularism Goes, So Go The Turkish ...
- Marseilles: Husband sent to prison for veil attack
- Radical Islam gains ground in campuses
- Death-threat letter for Italian PM
- Islamic Democracy: Two law professors offer very d...
- Saudi Writer says Anti-Terror Plan is an Attempt t...
- Death toll in Ahmedabad blasts rises to 45
- Sharia lite for America - Muslims for Obama, what ...
- Here are the tips on 'How to be a Successful Musli...
- Death threat for editor Najam Sethi over Islamic c...
- Islamonazis Circling the Wagons
- Judge tosses Savage's suit against Islamic group
- "I'm Muslim and hate Jews"
- Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood goes on-line on Facebook
- Nobody Is Murdered for Christian or Jewish Satire
- Textbook Terrorism
- Brotherhood Against Democracy
- 'Peace partner' praises child-killing terroristCal...
- Detainees in Iraq established sharia courts, top M...
- Report: Iran plans mass execution
- Terrorists threaten Olympics
- Fox News Special: Islamic Honor Killings in America
- Norway: Attack at asylum center
- ISNA Admits Hamas Ties
- Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide: Bin Laden is a J...
- What War of Ideas?
- Dearborn: Two Muslim women sue McDonalds for $10 m...
- Mosley 'freedom of speech' case: Justice Eady's ru...
- Executions rising in Iran, Saudi Arabia
- Congressional Representatives Who Voted Against Ho...
- Police raid on Muslim charity
- Terrorist's Birthday Celebrated by Al-Jazeera
- Horror!... Syrian Prison Guards Desecrate Koran
- Stop Honorcide!
- For Residents of Los Angeles, August 2, 2008 Help ...
- Vermont Cable System Renews Contract for Jihad TV
- Does the BBC think the Brotherhood represent UK Mu...
- State Dept. stands aside
- Tarek Fatah and Salma Siddiqui: What jihad really ...
- Interview with Ahmed An-Na'im: "We Muslims Have No...
- Samir Kuntar Is a Convicted Killer - Not a Hero
- The Origins of the Muslim Brotherhood "Project"
- More Perils of Interfaith Dialogue
- Analysis: Indonesia tries deradicalization
- Tom Campbell: Will Republicans Stop a Pan-Jihadist...
- Despite Saudi Promises, Textbooks Filled With Hate
- Senior Saudi Cleric: Bin Laden "Is a Promoter of E...
- New Disclosures Tighten ISNA-Muslim Brotherhood Bonds
- UK woman may be deported to face sharia charges
- Obama campaign hires Muslim liaison
- 80% of Islamic literature in Russian offers wahabi...
- Christian teenager beaten to death for his relatio...
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Copyright Muslims Against Sharia 2008. All rights reserved.
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