 Omar Tarazi is the CAIR-appointed attorney for the parents of America's most renowned ex-Muslim, Rifqa Bary. He is doing all he can to get Rifqa back into the clutches of her father, whom Rifqa says threatened to kill her for converting to Christianity. Tarazi has repeatedly said that he has nothing to do with the Islamic supremacist, jihadist Noor Mosque, of which Rifqa's parents are members. But -- surprise! -- he is lying, and has even perjured himself. "Rifqa Bary's Parents CAIR Appointed Attorney Perjures Himself in Motions," from Atlas Shrugs, January 7: "Back on December 14th Atlas broke the EXCLUSIVE story that the CAIR appointed lawyer for Rifqa Bary's parents, Omar Tarazi, was speaking at the extremist Noor mosque (here) - one big happy (Mansonish) family.
He joined Salah Sultan, Major Hasan, Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, and a veritable CAIR cabal.
The NOOR Mosque has come out publicly against Rifqa The reason why this is germane is because it is being reported that Omar Tarazi perjured himself in recent court motions, when he denied connections to CAIR and to the Ohio terror mosque responsible for spying on Rifqa and revealing her conversion to her parents with the ominous threat to "straighten her out". Further, during Rifqa's last hearing, Jamal Jivanjee told me that CAIR-Columbus executive director Babak Darvish was there. Darvish is the same CAIR rep who was coaching the Barys when they met with the press. Omar Tarazi was going out into the lobby and colluding with the CAIR representative SEVERAL times before and after the hearing.... Read it all. With thanks to JihadWatch 
 At least he asked politely. This time. "Anjem Choudary: an open letter to families of British soldiers in Afghanistan," from the Telegraph, January 4 May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon those who follow the guidance. This is the traditional Islamic greeting that a Muslim is to extend to a non-Muslim. (To a fellow Muslim, a Muslim says "Peace be upon you.") Since it is only the Muslims who "follow the guidance," this greeting in effect says, "Peace be upon the Muslims." [...] We begin by inviting all non-Muslims to Islam, the perfect and most beautiful way of life, a favour from Allah (God) to mankind to take him out of the darkness of worshipping his own desires to the exclusive worship, submission and obedience of Allah alone, without partners and to testify the Messenger-ship of the final Prophet Muhammad (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).
We urge you to embrace Islam and save yourselves and your family from the hellfire and not to believe the lies and distortions which the Western media and non-Islamic regimes would have you believe about Muslims and their true intentions.... This invitation accords with Muhammad's instructions: "Fight in the name of Allah and in the way of Allah. Fight against those who disbelieve in Allah. Make a holy war...When you meet your enemies who are polytheists, invite them to three courses of action. If they respond to any one of these, you also accept it and withhold yourself from doing them any harm. Invite them to (accept) Islam; if they respond to you, accept it from them and desist from fighting against them....If they refuse to accept Islam, demand from them the Jizya. If they agree to pay, accept it from them and hold off your hands. If they refuse to pay the tax, seek Allah's help and fight them." (Sahih Muslim 4294) Choudary asserts, in a flight of fantasy, that the war in Afghanistan is to prevent the establishment of Sharia there. He ignores, of course, that the Afghan Constitution already establishes Sharia as the highest law of the land: The rich resources of Afghanistan, its position on the cusp between the Indian sub-continent, Southern Russian, Asia and China and its populations call for the Shari'ah are the real reasons why the military has sought to establish a permanent role there, no matter what the cost to the lives and wealth of the indigenous people or indeed their own.
Pivotal in this is the desire to prevent Muslims from running their own affairs and establishing an Islamic State if they so wish but rather to maintain a puppet in the area (Mr Karzai) to maintain and protect Western interests....
 AMRITSAR: A Sikh advocate in Pakistanwas reportedly thrashed and threatened with dire consequences recently if he did not convert to Islam, forcing his family to run for safety to a gurdwara in Hassanabdal near Rawalpindi.
While the victim, Anup Singh, was yet to regain consciousness, the incident has left the Sikh community in Pakistan rattled and insecure.
Talking to TOI from Islamabad, Anup’s brother, Ravinder Singh, recalled horror of November 21. ‘‘A group of at least eight men kidnapped my brother from his office and took him to Mohammad Amin’s residence, where he was stripped and photographed with Amin’s wife.’’
Undergoing treatment for fractures and severe head injuries in Holy Family Hospital, Ralwalpindi, where doctors said it might take a few months before Anup could start leading a normal life, the advocate was reportedly assaulted for fighting a separation case for Amin’s wife, Safina Kanwal.
‘‘The goons made my brother sign on a blank paper, after which they cut his hair, beard, moustaches and threatened him to convert to Islam if he wanted to live in Pakistan.’’
 A masked gunman entered a Moscow church and murdered a Russian Orthodox priest who had received death threats for converting Muslims to Christianity and criticizing Islam, prosecutors and church officials said Friday. The killing could threaten delicate relations between the powerful majority Russian Orthodox Church, which has close ties to the Kremlin, and the country’s growing Muslim minority of about 20 million. The gunman approached priest Daniil Sysoyev, 34, in St Thomas Church in southern Moscow Thursday night, checked his name and then opened fire with a pistol, a spokesman for the investigating committee of the Prosecutor-General’s office said. Sysoyev was from Tatarstan, a predominantly Muslim region of Russia on the Volga river. He was threatened after preaching to Muslims and Christians from other denominations. “I have received 10 threats via e-mail that I shall have my head cut off (if I do not stop preaching to Muslims),” Sysoyev stated on a television program in February 2008, according to Interfax. “As I see it, it is a sin not to preach to Muslims.” “Islam is far from being a religion in the way we understand it,” he said in one of his video lectures posted on YouTube (here in Russian). “Islam can be rather compared with projects like National Socialism or the Communist party seeking to create God’s kingdom on Earth using humanly instruments,” he added. Reuters
 Analyst Gal Luft explains in a report by Harvard that Saudi Arabia has spent millions of dollars to convert American soldiers to Islam (and obviously, their version of Salafi Islam) since the Gulf War. Nearly two decades have passed since the Saudi conversion campaign, and most of the converts may no longer be in uniforms,” the analyst, Gal Luft, said.
“But the seeds sown during the Gulf War have germinated, creating scores of radicalized Americans who are a threat to their comrades in uniforms as well as to their civilian communities.” …At one point, Saudi commander and now deputy defense minister, Prince Khaled Bin Sultan, bragged that more than 2,000 U.S. troops converted to Islam in 1991. Some of the U.S. officers were said to have been given as much as $30,000 to convert. This doesn’t mean that the Saudis directly converting Hasan necessarily, but we should look into the circumstances of whether he was radicalized to a more strict form of Islam due to Saudi-funded networks or mosques, or perhaps one of these soldiers who has been converted in this campaign. Source: World Threats
 By Robert Spencer Previously he had said that he would not do so until the family's immigration status was cleared up, and that wasn't going to happen -- given Pamela Geller's discovery that the family was here illegally.
And despite the clear threat relayed by the girl and incompetently handled by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and you can see here. Now apparently none of that matters. The gods of political correctness must be appeased.
And if a girl is killed? So what? "Judge orders Fathima Rifqa Bary to return to Ohio," by Amy L. Edwards for the Orlando Sentinel, October 23 (thanks to Pamela, who has much more here): An Orange County judge has ordered the Florida Department of Children and Families to make arrangements to send Ohio teen runaway Fathima Rifqa Bary back to her home state. A DCF spokeswoman just confirmed her agency received an order from Circuit Judge Daniel Dawson. "This order indicates that the Court has relinquished its emergency jurisdiction and orders the Department to arrange the transportation of the child to the proper authorities with Franklin County Children Services in Ohio," spokeswoman Carrie Hoeppner said. "The Department will proceed with those arrangements. Please understand that the details of the transfer will not be released, to best ensure her safety."... Rifqa's father, Mohamed Bary, was laughing and giddy during a brief Friday afternoon phone call with the Orlando Sentinel. He would not comment, though, citing a gag order. Source: JihadWatch
 The invitation to Islam has long been a prelude to war if the invited party fails to return an RSVP in the affirmative: Fight in the name of Allah and in the way of Allah. Fight against those who disbelieve in Allah. Make a holy war...When you meet your enemies who are polytheists, invite them to three courses of action. If they respond to any one of these, you also accept it and withhold yourself from doing them any harm. Invite them to (accept) Islam; if they respond to you, accept it from them and desist from fighting against them....If they refuse to accept Islam, demand from them the Jizya. If they agree to pay, accept it from them and hold off your hands. If they refuse to pay the tax, seek Allah's help and fight them. (Sahih Muslim 4294) That hadith restates and elaborates upon Qur'an 9:29, which offers unbelievers conversion, subjugation or death: Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued. Choudary is not deluding himself that the Queen is likely to break into programming on the BBC and recite the shehada, the Islamic profession of faith. He's just following protocol. "Hate preacher tells Queen: Turn Muslim," by Simon Hughes for Sun, October 18: Hate preacher Anjem Choudary sparked fury yesterday after calling for the Queen to become Muslim. He demanded an Islamic revolution across Britain. Choudary, 42, said Her Majesty - head of the Church of England - should convert to ensure her place in paradise. He also wants to see senior members of the Government switching faiths. Choudary, a key henchman of rabble rousing cleric Omar Bakri, said: "We invite everyone from the Queen, to the ministers, to the Parliament, to the aristocracy, to the ordinary person in Britain to embrace Islam. "Save yourself and your children in this life from misery and prepare them for a great destiny in the hereafter." He made his call during an internet rant to promote a march in London later this month supporting Sharia law. The ex-lawyer also made a scathing reference to the next general election, declaring: "Britain does not need a new leader, it needs a revolution - an Islamic revolution." Labour MP Andrew Dismore said: "It'd be laughable if we didn't know that some take this man seriously." A Muslim group branded Choudary an "extremist nut". That was MPACUK, the Muslim Public Affairs Committee in the U.K., seizing on a moment at which Choudary's "extremism" might make them look "moderate," though their own track record is none too impressive, either. Source: JihadWatch
Muslim World Must Stop Double Standards
Wednesday, September 23, 2009 - Tawfik Hamid The story of Rifqa Bary, who recently escaped from her father in Ohio for fears of being killed after converting from Islam to Christianity (which would be in accordance with Shariah law), has raised important issues about the Muslim world and has drawn attention to how the Muslim world deals with apostates. Under normal circumstances, the lives of apostates in the Muslim world are threatened, and they are usually subject to humiliation and disrespect from their society. For example, the following innocent people and thinkers were either killed or received death threats in accordance with the Redda law, which prescribes the killing of apostates: - The Egyptian thinker Farag Fouda, who was declared an apostate by al-Azhar scholar Mohammed al-Ghazali and shot to death in his office on June 8, 1992, by two Islamic fundamentalists. - Sudanese reformer Mahmoud Taha was killed on the government’s authority on Jan. 18, 1985. Read more: http://www.newsmax.com/tawfik_hamid/rifqa_bary_muslim_obama/2009/09/23/263871.html
“Might I ask, what has Omar Khadr got to
do with Eid or Ramadan or with Muslims?"
Tarek Fatah - National Post The annual Muslim holiday of Eid has come and gone, and once more the community has been showered with messages from politicians tripping over one other to prove their credentials as lovers of Islam and all things Muslim.I have an offer to make to all these men and women who stumble and mumble to utter “Salaam Alaikum” messages written by their Muslim staffers: If you are so enamoured by my faith and impressed by the conduct of my community, then stop these annual shenanigans and once and for all come join our ranks. Convert to Islam. Perhaps, some have already taken the plunge. Take for example this year’s Eid message by Jack Layton. Addressing us Muslims as “Dear brothers and sisters” the NDP leader preaches the end of Ramadan “is an opportunity to renew the spirit and faith in Islam.”I am waiting with bated breath to see Layton “renew” his faith in Islam. Will he be following... Read more...
By M. Zuhdi Jasser At the center of the Rifqa Bary case is more than the plight of one teen. While we all like for our courtroom dramas to begin and conclude in a one hour timeframe including the commercials, the real world is not black and white. For this reason, the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD) has been very deliberate in our response to this case. Let us begin by saying that within some Muslim families and communities, belief in some type of punishment for apostasy is a very real threat.
It may be dressed differently or given a different name, but it is still intolerance for apostasy. But also significantly, in my lifetime as a Muslim, I have not met Muslim parents who personally countenance punishments for apostasy. But I have met Muslim clerics who do (Islamists). That being said, as a father, the thought of anyone – let alone the courts – usurping the place of the parents in the decisions of a teen is chilling. If we take religion out of the mix in this a priori discussion and hypothetically state that the girl was a younger teen who had run away from her family to pursue an abortion, I believe we would be having a much different discussion.
Rifqa's legal case is, however, particularly compelling in her favor due to her reports of prior abuse, verbal threats, and how close her age is to the age of majority of 18. Addressing the issue of apostasy is a very real concern for AIFD and has been since our inception. I believe that the Bary case should be used as tool to bring to light many questions that Muslims should ask themselves. While I have never heard a Muslim directly or personally justify violence against another Muslim for the act of apostasy, there is a significant amount of pathology in the way many Muslims deal with apostasy from almost every level – from the familial to the tribal to the intellectual levels.
What I will show here is that the preponderance of the intellectual evidence shows a systemic intolerance and, in fact, there is strong evidence for legal (Shar'iah-based) underpinnings for the intolerance, abuse, discrimination, and even at its worst, direct countenance of murder of apostates.
I will also show that, thankfully, there is a disconnect between rational, moral, lay Muslims (the majority) and authoritative Islamic law as defined by the ulemaa (the theocratic scholars) who still, unfortunately, drive the ideas of a significant minority of Muslims in the West.
This problem, as evident in Afghanistan's Rahman case of March 2006 is magnified manifold in Muslim majority nations where there is far less influence of Western ideas of religious freedom upon Muslim interpretations of Shar'iah law and their treatment of apostates.
But the evidence will show that even in the West, the majority of Islamic scholars still endorse some sort of Islamic punishment for apostasy with various and sundry apologetics. Some scholars provide the absurd qualification of "only under an Islamic state" or "only as apostasy is a war against Islam," which somehow makes that all right.
And we will see that other texts in the West still basically endorse the death penalty. Fathima Rifqa Bary Many aspects of the Bary case are beyond troubling. From media reports, Fathima Rifqa Bary of New Albany, Ohio is the daughter of Sri Lankan immigrants Mohammed and Aysha Bary, who reportedly came to the U.S. in 2000 seeking medical care for Rifqa. According to some reports, "Rifqa, a high-school junior, had been questioning her faith for several months, her father said. She attended one church with friends from school and later attended services at another church, Xenos Christian Fellowship, a megachurch that emphasizes small groups meeting at home." She then apparently joined a Facebook prayer group and connected with the Lorenzs and their Global Revolution Church (GLC) in Florida online. She vanished from New Albany, Ohio on July 19, 2009. Her parents filed a missing person report with the local police in Columbus, Ohio. Hopefully further court proceedings will clarify Rifqa's whereabouts from July 19th to August 9th and why there was a delay in connecting her with the Ohio missing persons report.
Her whereabouts became known on August 11, 2009 after an interview with Rifqa surfaced and Pastor Lorenz of GLC reported her struggle. According to Fox News she testified in a custody hearing in Orlando on August 10, 2009 "that she'd recently changed religions and is worried her relatives will do something drastic, according to WFTV in Orlando and Central Florida News 13." Her parents denied the allegations. Going on only what they knew to be the truth from the 17-year-old Rifqa, the Florida's Department of Children and Families (DCF) then quickly placed Rifqa with a foster family.
A recent report from The Tampa Tribune on September 5, 2009 reviewed some of the more salient facts and accusations in the case.
While there is no denying that many of the blogs and news stories have been sensationalized from both sides of this issue, there is no escaping the fact that the pleadings of Rifqa Bary must be given the benefit of the doubt and due process. Regardless of the implications true or false to the community to which she belonged, thankfully individual rights trump those of the community in the United States. As Herb London recently discussed, our Constitution and religious freedoms which our government officials are sworn to uphold demand this.
Another hearing took place on August 21, 2009 with the coalescing of a legal and media firestorm. Rifqa's parents were present and Judge Daniel Dawson ruled that his court does have jurisdiction and more time was required to gain more facts until the next hearing. In this specific case with Rifqa Bary, the courts will surely demonstrate whether the physical threat to Rifqa is real. If there is any doubt whatsoever, I pray that she be protected.
We must surely take Rifqa at her word in her television interview that her father "would kill me or send me back to Sri Lanka…where they have asylums where they put people like me."
Rifqa also said that after learning of her conversion to Christianity, her father said, "If you have this Jesus in your heart, you're dead to me, you're not my daughter." She has said that "They have to kill me…I don't want to die," noting her fear of being a victim of honor killings. At this point in the case we also need to remember that America is founded upon the premise that individuals are innocent until proven guilty. Read more here ... Source: M. Zudhi Jasser
 by Ryan Mauro Some updates on the Rifqa case: The court has decided that custody is not to be given back to her parents.
Rifqa’s lawyer is also saying that she was beaten by her father and brother and was sexually abused by her uncle back in Sri Lanka. Her father, who she claims threatened to kill her upon finding out about her conversion to Christianity, is tied to a radical mosque with Muslim Brotherhood connections. Stemberger said in the petition the Bary family’s mosque – Noor Islamic Cultural Center in Columbus – was home to Salah Sultan as “resident scholar” before being banned from the U.S. and “is known as a global terrorist who publicly advocates the killing of Americans and Jews.” The petition also claims Columbus is under investigation for U.S. operations of Al-Qaeda, the terrorist organization responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on America… …With regard to the alleged threat facing Rifqa in Columbus, Stemberger told the Witness, “The documentation shows that this is a mosque that has ties to extreme Muslim groups and terrorist activity. The CEO and spiritual leader is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood … a group that is actually banned in most Muslim countries because of how extreme it is.” Source: World Threats
 By Nonie Darish Very few people in the West know what is going on inside the Muslim world and what it portends for them. The fact is that through the dominant media, such as CNN, Americans are subjected to much of the same misinformation with regard to Islam that I grew up with inside the Muslim world. The result is that Americans are in the dark attempting to formulate their strategy of how to defend themselves against the threat of terror, domestic jihad and Sharia. While Americans get ridiculed for being “Islamophobes,” the Muslim world itself is undergoing a huge and painful awakening. For instance, a prominent Egyptian lawyer and women’s rights activist, Nagla Al Imam, recently announced her conversion to Christianity in Cairo, Egypt. The announcement brought shock waves in and beyond Egypt. This is perhaps the first case ever of its kind, where a Muslim woman, who is also a Sharia expert, has openly challenged Islamic apostasy laws from within the Muslim world. Ms. Al Imam’s incredible courage was on display in an internet chat room, where she announced that she is not afraid, will stand up for the human rights of apostates and refuses to leave her homeland, Egypt. This was immediately followed by attacks and calls (‘fatwas’) for death of the 36 year-old graduate of Al Azhar Islamic University. Read more ...Source: FPMNote: The story above would have been much more inspiring if Nagla Al-Islam weren't such a bigot.
 Muslim inmate Anthony Waller, 31, prays inside his cell at the Twin
Rivers Correctional Center in Monroe. When he isn't praying,
Waller spends his time memorizing the Quran (at top) and
working on a bachelor's degree in Islamic studies.By Krista J. Kapralos MONROE -- The announcement rang out across the open courtyards of the Monroe Correctional Complex. "Movement is now open." Men wearing baggy navy-blue sweatshirts and loose-fitting pants or jeans drifted from one building to the next. They ambled along, laughing with one another and gulping in fresh air. It's free time, when prisoners who are being held for rape, burglary, murder and other crimes can attend classes or read in the library. A small group of men, many wearing crocheted skullcaps, filed into a windowless room. They tug off their shoes and ease down cross-legged on thin rugs that have been spread on the floor for the service. Prison is a tomb or a womb, they say. Either a man wastes his years on the inside and allows bitterness to rot his soul, or he uses the time to quiet the rage or fear or desperation that landed him in prison. Anthony Waller, like many Muslims at Twin Rivers, converted to the faith while behind bars. That changed everything, he said. Read more ...Source: Herald Net
 Muslim converts to Christianity ask religious experts at Vatican meeting for religious freedom
An appeal by 144 people calls on experts engaged in talks not to forget the difficult predicament in which Christians live. Often treated as “outsiders and outcastes”, they urgently demand protection for the right to change religion.
Rome (AsiaNews) – A group of 144 Christians, including 77 Muslims who converted to Christianity, have launched an appeal to Muslim and Catholics scholars who are currently meeting in the Vatican not to forget Christian minorities and new Christian converts living in Islamic countries. The petitioners, Catholic, Orthodox and Protestants from North Africa and the Middle Eat, want the meeting in the Vatican to agree to the following points:
1. that Islamic law does not apply to non-Muslims;
2. that dhimmi (or second class) status be abolished;
3. that the right to change religion be recognised as a fundamental right.
The appeal that was sent to AsiaNews was also published on an Algerian Christian site, Notre Dame de Kabylie (in French).
Those who signed the appeal are happy for the steps taken in the last few years and for the Letter signed by 128 Muslim scholars which many see as a sign that “Islam is not anti-Christian.”
They stress however that the minority condition endured by Christians in Muslim countries, already influenced by the unbearable status of dhimmi (group protection extended by Islamic rulers to their non-Muslim subjects in exchange for paying a tax, which in effect denies them equal treatment in society), has worsened lately as a result of the rise of militant Islamism.
“As for new Christians or converts, they are denied the right to express their new religious identity unless they are prepared to run the risk of being called apostate, which, if they can, effectively forces them into exile,” the appeal said.
Those who signed the appeal want the meeting between the Vatican and Muslim scholars to focus on “three urgent topics”:
1. that Islamic law not be applied to non-Muslims;
2. that dhimmi status, which marginalises Christians and turns them into outcastes, no longer be acceptable and be abolished instead because like slavery it offends human dignity;
3. that the right to change religions be recognised as a fundamental right since it comes from God who does not force anyone to worship him.”
To buttress its arguments, the appeal also points out that in the Qur’an there verses that are in favour of religious freedom even if some hadith call for the death of apostates.
“Sadly, some states have incorporated the latter in their constitution (ex. Mauritania), which they enforce despite the 1948 Universal declaration of Human Rights.”
In reaffirming the need for an Islamic-Christian dialogue, the signers of the appeal urge the experts “to take into account Christian communities who live in the said ‘Muslim’ world, or who hail from there. Leaving us out or forgetting about us can only be a sign of ignorance or a deliberate attempt to avoid the issues that cause problems. It is sad to say that current news reports unfailingly show that Christians in the Muslim world are in grave peril.” Source: Asia News
 18.10.08
Psychologists in the Prison Service will try to ‘cure’ extremist Muslim inmates of their political beliefs with controversial therapies similar to those used to ‘de-programme’ members of religious cults.
The experimental treatments are being developed by a special Extremism Unit set up by the Ministry of Justice in January last year, The Mail on Sunday has discovered.
Sources say the therapy forms part of a wide-ranging strategy to combat Islamic extremism in Britain’s jails.
Experimental techniques: One of Whitemoor Prison's Muslim inmates.
There are 90 Muslim prisoners serving time for terrorist offences, and the Ministry fears that, if left unchallenged, their violent, jihadist interpretation of Islam will spread.
About 11 per cent of prisoners are Muslim - three-and-a-half times the proportion in the UK population.
In maximum security ‘Category A’ jails such as Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire - the subject today of an exclusive report in Live magazine based on unprecedented access to both prisoners and staff - they make up 35 per cent of the inmates, and have converted numerous other prisoners to Islam.
In Whitemoor the 150 Muslim inmates include 39 who have converted in the jail since early last year. In some cases, officers believe converts have been subjected to bullying and changed their faith because they felt vulnerable.
A Ministry source said that to be a Muslim in jail was now seen as ‘cool’, and while Muslim prisoners once felt isolated and vulnerable, they were now ‘flexing their muscles’. This made it all the more important to ensure that extremist views did not spread.
The source added: ‘The great fear is that kids from places such as Southall in West London, who feel pretty alienated anyway, could be vulnerable to recruitment. We don’t have evidence this is happening - but we don’t have evidence that it’s not. We need to be aware of the possibility and act on it.’
Psychologists working with the Extremism Unit have for months been investigating ways of de-programming jihadists. Ministry sources said they planned to use ‘cognitive- behaviour’ methods, based on the notion that it is possible to change people’s behaviour by altering their perceptions and attitudes.
One source said: ‘It’s pretty clear it wouldn’t work with everyone. But our view of extremism is that, at the centre, the views of the hardcore, high-profile leaders will not be subject to change. But for those further out, it may be quite effective.’
Another source said: ‘Our focus is on protecting the public and on reducing the risk of offenders hurting others. It’s about stopping violence.’
Therapists would work with such prisoners individually, while the treatments would help the Prison Service determine whether prisoners would still be dangerous if released.
On the front line are approximately 150 prison imams, who are expected to challenge extremist beliefs on the basis of their own religious knowledge.
One source said: ‘We’re looking to them to shoot down the religious justification for violence. They have to be able to stand up to those who support terrorist killers and say they are wrong.’
At the same time, the Ministry had to accept that many Muslims felt a deep sense of grievance about British policy in Afghanistan and Iraq. Imams ‘have to become a valve for the venting of prisoners’ anger without lending support to extremism themselves’.
The unit will train staff to recognise the signs of extremism, such as a charismatic prisoner openly challenging the authority of the imam.
But one source said: ‘The great majority of Muslims want nothing to do with terrorism. Striking the balance is extremely delicate.’ Source: This Is London
 Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah
October 15, 2008
So you've heard about finding love on the 151 bus. How about finding religion?
That's exactly what a few Chicagoans have discovered after seeing Chicago Transit Authority buses rolling past them with giant advertisements for Islam.
A Chicago-area Muslim group called Gain Peace has spent $29,900 to place signs on 25 CTA buses serving the North Side in a month-long campaign organizers hope will help dispel misconceptions about Islam.
The sign caught Moses Robinson's eye. A 38-year-old Gary resident who works for a software company, he saw one of the buses on Canal Street when he left his office on a break. "Everything clicked into place," he said. After calling the number on the side of the bus and meeting with Gain Peace, he converted to Islam the next day.
Of course, most people interviewed at CTA bus stops downtown Tuesday hadn't even noticed the ads. And one rider thought they were inappropriate, although CTA officials say they see no problem as other ad campaigns on CTA vehicles have featured religious themes or messages.
Gain Peace says the campaign has been a success.
"We've had eight conversions, close to 400 calls and we've had close to 75,000 hits on our Web site in one week," said Sabeel Ahmed, the director for Gain Peace.
In fact, it's going so well, the group just bought six more weeks of ads. Source: Chicago Tribune
Riyadh: A Saudi man working with the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice recently killed his daughter for converting to Christianity. According to sources close to the victim, the religious police member had cut the tongue of the girl and burned her to death following a heated debate on religion. The death of the girl sent shockwaves and websites where the victim used to write with various nick names have allocated special space to mourn her, while some others closed temporarily in protest. According to the Saudi Al Ukhdoud news website, the victim wrote an article on the blog of which she was a member under the nickname "Rania" a few days before her murder. She wrote that her life became an ordeal after her family members grew suspicious about her after a religious discussion with them. Read more ...Source: Zawaya
Muslims who convert to Christianity face harsh persecution. Even those living in western countries aren't safe from retribution. More ...Source: CBN
 On Easter Eve, the Pope traditionally baptizes new converts to Christianity. This season Pope Benedict baptized seven adults, one of which was Egyptian-born journalist Magdi Allam, one of Italy's best-known intellectuals and deputy director of the its leading newspapers, Corriere della Sera. Allam, who has been a fierce critic of Islamic extremism, a supporter of Israel, and a defender of the Pope when in 2006 the Pope described the Muslim faith as being violent, is now under protection of the police due to threats he has received. In fact, Allam's conversion was kept secret and not disclosed by the Vatican until an hour before the Easter eve service started. Reuters reports that Allam, whom some have called the Italy's Salmon Rushdie, has been living in Italy for 35 years, and has said he was never a very devout Muslim. Still, his conversion to Christianity came as a surprise. "What amazes me is the high profile the Vatican has given this conversion," Yaha Sergio Yahe Pallavicini, vice-president of the Italian Islamic Religious Community, told Reuters. Submitted by kmacginn at Hummers & Cigarettes
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Copyright Muslims Against Sharia 2008. All rights reserved.
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Omar Tarazi is the CAIR-appointed attorney for the parents of America's most renowned ex-Muslim, Rifqa Bary. 
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