JEDDAH: The Prosecution and Investigation Board has called for the death sentence to be passed on a 16-year-old Chadian boy who allegedly impregnated his 18-year-old sister.
The prosecution has called for the maximum sentence as the crime falls in the haraba (crime against society) category. The siblings are to appear before a general court in Jeddah in two weeks time once their confessions are authenticated by a summary court, which was scheduled to hear the case on Sunday.
According to court sources, after giving birth the girl drowned her baby in a water tank and, together with her brother, abandoned the body on the roof of their home.
The sources, who asked not to be named, said neighbors informed the police of a smell coming from the roof of the Chadian family’s home. Police investigated the smell and discovered the body. Subsequent DNA testing identified the brother and sister as the parents.
The siblings have confessed to having an incestuous relationship and killing the newborn baby.
Hamid Karzai signs law 'legalising rape in marriage'
President Hamid Karzai has signed a law the UN says legalises rape in marriage and prevents women from leaving the house without permission. By Ben Farmer in Kabul
The law, which has not been publicly released, is believed to state women can only seek work, education or doctor's appointments with their husband's permission.
Only fathers and grandfathers are granted custody of children under the law, according to the United Nations Development Fund for Women.
Opponents of the legislation governing the personal lives of Afghanistan's Shia minority have said it is "worse than during the Taliban".
Mr Karzai has been accused of electioneering at the expense of women's rights by signing the law to appeal to crucial Shia swing voters in this year's presidential poll.
While the Afghan constitution guarantees equal rights for women, it also allows the Shia community, thought to represent 10 per cent of the population, the right to settle family law cases according to Shia law.
The Shiite Personal Status Law contains provisions on marriage, divorce, inheritance, rights of movement and bankruptcy.
The bill passed both houses of the Afghan parliament, but was so contentious that the United Nations and women's rights campaigners have so far been unable to see a copy of the approved bill.
Shinkai Zahine Karokhail, a female MP, said the law had been rushed through with little debate.
She told the Guardian newspaper: "They wanted to pass it almost like a secret negotiation, "There were lots of things that we wanted to change, but they didn't want to discuss it because Karzai wants to please the Shia before the election."
The Afghan justice ministry confirmed the law had been signed, but said it would not be published until technical difficulties had been overcome.
A spokesman for President Hamid Karzai would not comment.
Mother-in-law 'kept her sons' three wives locked up like slaves or dogs for 13 years'
By Jaya NarainA mother locked up her three daughters-in-law and treated them as slaves for more than a decade, a court heard yesterday.
Naseebah Bibi, 62, is said to have ruled the women by fear - beating and slapping them if they disobeyed her, threatening to break their legs and denying them food.
Their ordeal only came to light when one wife managed to break free and ran into the street to alert a neighbour.
The court was told that Tazeem Akhtar, Nagina Akhtar and Nisbah Akhtar had arrived in Britain over several years after arranged marriages to Bibi's sons Nahim, Fahim and Nadeem in Pakistan.
Instead of living with their husbands and raising families, the women were put to work by their mother-in-law cooking and cleaning and using an industrial sewing machine.
Bibi, a mother of six, denies three charges of false imprisonment of the three women between 1993 and 2006.
Her son Nadeem, 31, denies falsely imprisoning his wife Nisbah between 2005 and 2007 and one count of actual bodily harm.
Philip Boyd, prosecuting, said: 'Mrs Bibi was clearly exploiting each of these women. They were treated like children, slaves or dogs by a regime of threats of force or actual force.
'These young women had been rejected by their husbands of their arranged marriages, they couldn't speak English, they couldn't go back to Pakistan, they were in limbo and so they were exploited by the defendant for her own purposes.'
Preston Crown Court heard that the first wife was Nagina Akhtar who had married her husband, Fahim in 1993.
The couple had three children, but she spent her days cleaning and making clothing on a sewing machine.
Mr Boyd said: 'As soon as she came to this country, she was ordered by Mrs Bibi to spend the day sewing on an industrial sewing machine.
'She sewed all day, every day. She sewed for money, but she didn't see any of the money.'
When she once left the small terraced house in Blackburn, Bibi warned her: 'How dare you leave the house. If you do it again I will break your legs.'
Mr Boyd told the court that Nagina was forced to live under these conditions for more than 13 years.
Her nightmare ended in October 2006, when her son Umar, three, told nursery staff that he had seen his grandmother beating his mother. Nagina was taken to a refuge by domestic violence workers and her children were taken into care.
The second wife was Tazeem Akhtar, who married Nahim in Pakistan and came to Britain after her visa was processed in 2001.
Mr Boyd said: 'She came expecting to live and have children with her husband, something she had dreamed of for some years. Her dream was doomed.
'She did not know that Nahim already had a partner, a white lady, and had two children. He had effectively no intention of living as her husband. He effectively had his own life and she only discovered that on the first day she arrived.'
She was also put to work by her mother-in-law in a 'gruelling' dawn to midnight routine that left her shattered.
Mr Boyd said: 'She was simply treated like a slave. She would get up 6am and was ordered to do all the house work, to clean the floors and windows and she even had to do the washing in cold water by hand, even though there was an electric washing machine.
'She did try to use the washing once but she was beaten by Mrs Bibi. She would be beaten by being slapped in the face, hit with a slipper on the arms and legs and had her hair pulled.'
She was allowed to eat only when she was given permission.
Her ordeal ended after 18 months in 2003 when Bibi flew her back to Pakistan and abandoned her there. Giving evidence via a videolink in Islamabad, Tazeem said: 'In England my life was not happy. I was very sad. I face a lot of grief and it was very distressing for me.'
Wiping away tears, she said that if she disobeyed Bibi would 'hit her with a brush across the head'.
She said: 'I was frightened and scared. She never let me out. I had to work, work, work.'
The third wife was Nisbah Akhtar - sister of Tazeem - who married Nadeem in Pakistan and arrived in England in December 2005.
'When she arrived she had the expectation of being husband and wife and she would have a rosy future,' said Mr Boyd. 'But on her arrival she was shunned by her husband and the same pattern of abuse began.
The court was told that on October 28, 2007, an argument broke out between Bibi and Nisbah which resulted in Nisbah's husband Nadeem punching her in the face and locking her in a bedroom.
She pretended she needed the toilet and then managed to escape, running out of the front door into the street. A neighbour alerted police, and Bibi and Nadeem were questioned.
The trial continues.
Taliban Leader Vows To Attack D.C. "Soon"
(CBS/AP) The top Taliban commander in Pakistan promised an assault on Washington "soon" - one he says will "amaze" the world."Soon we will launch an attack in Washington that will amaze everyone in the world," Baitullah Mehsud told The Associated Press by phone.
Mehsud also claimed responsibility for Monday's attack on a police academy outside the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore, saying it was in retaliation for U.S. missile strikes against militants along the Afghan border.
Mehsud and other Pakistani Taliban militants are believed to be based in the country's lawless areas near the border with Afghanistan, where they have stepped up their attacks throughout Pakistan.
One year ago, CBS News security correspondent Bob Orr reported that U.S. intelligence officials were increasingly concerned that Mehsud could eclipse even Osama bin Laden as a threat to America.
The U.S. recently announced a $5 million bounty on Mehsud's head. Asked about it, he told the AP he would be happy to "embrace martyrdom."
Mehsud has made voluminous threats against the West for years, as he rose to his current stature as the head of the Taliban in Pakistan, and he gave no apparent specifics in his threat on the U.S. capital on Tuesday, notes CBS News' Sami Yousafzai in Peshawar.
The attack on the police academy outside Lahore left at least seven police officers and two civilians dead on Monday.
Determining who actually carried out Monday's brazen assault on the police may prove difficult, if not impossible, in a country where numerous militant groups and tribes overlap and cooperate - both in acts of terror and claims of responsibility.
Conflicting Mehsud's claim, Pakistani intelligence officials based in Lahore told CBS News' Farhan Bokhari on Tuesday that Mehsud and the Taliban may not have been directly involved in the siege, based on ongoing interrogations of militants apprehended after the incident.
Security agents have not ruled out the possibility that militants from the banned group Lashkar-e-Taiba may have carried out the attack with some support from Mehsud, but the extent of any such link remains unclear.
A Taliban source told Yousafzai on Monday, meanwhile, that a group of militants called the Fedayeen al-Islam have been trying for some time to stage high-profile hostage takings to demand the release of Taliban and other militants held by the Pakistani government.
Last month's brutal attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore was part of that effort, the source claimed. The goal was allegedly to capture some of the famous cricketers riding in the team bus.
Refusing to be named, the Taliban source said Monday's attack might have been aimed at taking large numbers of police hostage - which they managed to do, but only until police snipers and commandos got the better of them.
The attack on Pakistan's police - who have become regular targets of the Taliban and other militant groups in recent months - came less than a month after the ambush on Sri Lanka's visiting cricketers and underscored the threat that militancy poses to the nuclear-armed country.
It prompted the country's top civilian security official to say that militant groups were "destabilizing the country."
Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik, who visited the police academy after the siege, described it as an "attack on Pakistan."
"There are two choices: to either let the Taliban take over your country or to fight it out. At this time the nation must unite," he said.
The country's information minister Qamar Zaman Kaira congratulated Pakistan's forces who participated in the battle with the militants, saying "they conducted it very successfully."
UK "Pamphlet-jihad" woman sentenced
Now, when will Anjem Choudary also be arrested and tried for inciting jihad? "Leaflet-jihad update. "Woman sentenced for jihad leaflet," from the BBC, March 30:
A woman who wrote a leaflet encouraging people to carry out jihad, or holy war, has been sentenced to a community order at Manchester Crown Court.Shella Roma, 29, of Oldham, had pleaded guilty to dissemination of a terrorist publication, and received a three-year order, with supervision for two years.
Roma was arrested after a photocopy shop employee was alarmed by a document she had produced, and alerted police.
The pamphlet contained an essay, "The Call", encouraging jihad.
The eight-page essay mentioned the 9/11 attacks and the war on terror, and repeatedly asked: "Will you go to Jihad (holy war)?"
It ended: "Jihad: the choice is yours."
The staff member at the business in Ashton-under-Lyne contacted police, who arrested Roma - a mother-of-one - on 31 January, 2008.
"Women told: 'You have dishonoured your family, please kill yourself'
As modern, moderate Turkey (finally) begins taking a tougher stance against honor killings (it's apparently still serious about gaining entry into the EU), "honor suicides" have emerged: by not having to do the actual dirty work, men can now totally evade prison.
More on this story: "Women told: 'You have dishonoured your family, please kill yourself,'" by Ramita Navai for the Independent, March 27:
When Elif's father told her she had to kill herself in order to spare him from a prison sentence for her murder, she considered it long and hard. "I loved my father so much, I was ready to commit suicide for him even though I hadn't done anything wrong," the 18-year-old said. "But I just couldn't go through with it. I love life too much."All Elif had done was simply decline the offer of an arranged marriage with an older man, telling her parents she wanted to continue her education. That act of disobedience was seen as bringing dishonour on her whole family – a crime punishable by death. "I managed to escape. When I was at school, a few girls I knew were killed by their families in the name of honour – one of them for simply receiving a text message from a boy," Elif said.
So-called "honour killings" in Turkey have reached record levels. According to government figures, there are more than 200 a year – half of all the murders committed in the country. Now, in a sinister twist, comes the emergence of "honour suicides". The growing phenomenon has been linked to reforms to Turkey's penal code in 2005. That introduced mandatory life sentences for honour killers, whereas in the past, killers could receive a reduced sentence claiming provocation. Soon after the law was passed, the numbers of female suicides started to rocket.
In Iran, a case of eye for an eye
TEHRAN. A judge in Tehran, Iran, has officially sanctioned a blinded woman’s plea for vengeance by allowing her to blind the man who threw acid on her face five years ago. Majid Emovahedi attacked Ameneh Bahrami with sulphuric acid in September 2004 after the woman had repeatedly spurned his attempts at romance. Now Bahrami, who was blinded and grossly disfigured by the attack, will have the opportunity to repay her attacker.“He will lie in front of me drugged,” Bahrami explained. “I will feel my way to his eyes and then drop 20 drops of acid in each eye.”
Bahrami, who has undergone 17 extensive facial surgeries in the aftermath of the attack and will never regain the use of her eyes, will stand over an anaesthetized Emovahedi as prison officials hold the man down. A doctor will be on site, holding open Emovahedi’s eyes to ensure the acid’s efficacy.
PA dismantles W. Bank youth orchestra for playing music to Holocaust survivors
Palestinian authorities disbanded a youth orchestra from a West Bank refugee camp after it played for a group of Holocaust survivors in Israel, a local official said on Sunday.Adnan Hindi of the Jenin camp called the Holocaust a "political issue" and accused conductor Wafa Younis of unknowingly dragging the children into a political dispute.
He added that Younis has been barred from the camp and the apartment where she taught the 13-member Strings of Freedom orchestra has been boarded up.
On Saturday, The Jerusalem Post found that leaders and representatives of the Jenin refugee camp condemned the participation of Palestinian teenagers from the camp in a concert honoring Holocaust survivors in Holon last week.
Illegal immigrant raped teenage girl in alleyway
By Staff Copy
An Afghan man who came to this country illegally, attacked and raped a Kenilworth teenager in an alleyway just hours after arriving in the town.
Rapist Jawid Armani was caught soon after the attack on the 16-year-old girl as she was walking home at 1.30am in the morning on March 14.
And a judge at Warwick Crown Court heard that the 32-year-old Afghan is wanted for questioning by Thames Valley police over a similar attack on a girl in that force's area.
Armani, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty through an interpreter to two charges of raping the Kenilworth girl.
Prosecutor Iain Willis said the attack took place in a dark alleyway in Kenilworth as the girl was walking home at 1.30am after a night out with friends.
She was attacked from behind by Armani who forced her to perform an act of oral sex on him, which is also classed as rape, before he proceeded to rape her.
Afterwards the girl fled from the alleyway and raised the alarm with someone who lived nearby.
The traumatised girl described her attacker and Armani was found and arrested a short time later.
Armani said he had travelled to the UK in a lorry and had only been in the country for 48 hours when he got out in Kenilworth.
He claimed he could not remember what had happened because he was very drunk at the time.
And Mr Willis revealed: "The defendant is suspected of having committed similar offences in the Thames Valley area, and is to be arrested on those matters."
He suggested that sentencing of Armani should be adjourned for two months to allow the Thames Valley matters to be investigated.
Armani's barrister Lawrence Watts, who asked for a pre-sentence report to be prepared on him, agreed.
Judge Christopher Hodson adjourned the case until May for the report and for the Thames Valley investigation to be completed, and remanded Armani in custody.
An Afghan man who came to this country illegally, attacked and raped a Kenilworth teenager in an alleyway just hours after arriving in the town.
Rapist Jawid Armani was caught soon after the attack on the 16-year-old girl as she was walking home at 1.30am in the morning on March 14.
And a judge at Warwick Crown Court heard that the 32-year-old Afghan is wanted for questioning by Thames Valley police over a similar attack on a girl in that force's area.
Armani, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty through an interpreter to two charges of raping the Kenilworth girl.
Prosecutor Iain Willis said the attack took place in a dark alleyway in Kenilworth as the girl was walking home at 1.30am after a night out with friends.
She was attacked from behind by Armani who forced her to perform an act of oral sex on him, which is also classed as rape, before he proceeded to rape her.
Afterwards the girl fled from the alleyway and raised the alarm with someone who lived nearby.
The traumatised girl described her attacker and Armani was found and arrested a short time later.
Armani said he had travelled to the UK in a lorry and had only been in the country for 48 hours when he got out in Kenilworth.
He claimed he could not remember what had happened because he was very drunk at the time.
And Mr Willis revealed: "The defendant is suspected of having committed similar offences in the Thames Valley area, and is to be arrested on those matters."
He suggested that sentencing of Armani should be adjourned for two months to allow the Thames Valley matters to be investigated.
Armani's barrister Lawrence Watts, who asked for a pre-sentence report to be prepared on him, agreed.
Judge Christopher Hodson adjourned the case until May for the report and for the Thames Valley investigation to be completed, and remanded Armani in custody.
Hamas wins teachers union elections for UN schools in Gaza
Hat Tip: Vlad Tepes
From the Jerusalem Post:
Hamas supporters scored a victory in elections for the school teachers’ union of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) that were held in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday.
However, the rival PLO list won a majority of votes for two other UNRWA workers groups: the employees’ and the services’ unions. This means that the PLO list has enough votes to form the next Executive Council of the General Workers’ Union. The results showed that Hamas won all 11 seats of the teachers’ union.
The Hamas victory means that Hamas supporters will continue to control UNRWA-run schools and other academic institutions throughout the Gaza Strip. Hamas has controlled the UNRWA teachers’ union for the past 16 years.
Some 10,100 UNRWA workers participated in the election, with the turnout being estimated at more than 97 percent. The voting was conducted at UNRWA’s main headquarters in the Gaza Strip.
The PLO list that ran in the election consisted of Fatah, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the People’s (Communist) Party. The PLO list won five out of seven seats of the employees’ union and five out of nine in the services’ union.
The services’ union will have three PLO representatives on the Executive Council, while the employees’ union will have only two.
A Hamas official in the Gaza Strip expressed satisfaction with the results, saying they were an indication of the “enormous support” that Hamas continues to enjoy.
From the Jerusalem Post:
Hamas supporters scored a victory in elections for the school teachers’ union of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) that were held in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday.However, the rival PLO list won a majority of votes for two other UNRWA workers groups: the employees’ and the services’ unions. This means that the PLO list has enough votes to form the next Executive Council of the General Workers’ Union. The results showed that Hamas won all 11 seats of the teachers’ union.
The Hamas victory means that Hamas supporters will continue to control UNRWA-run schools and other academic institutions throughout the Gaza Strip. Hamas has controlled the UNRWA teachers’ union for the past 16 years.
Some 10,100 UNRWA workers participated in the election, with the turnout being estimated at more than 97 percent. The voting was conducted at UNRWA’s main headquarters in the Gaza Strip.
The PLO list that ran in the election consisted of Fatah, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the People’s (Communist) Party. The PLO list won five out of seven seats of the employees’ union and five out of nine in the services’ union.
The services’ union will have three PLO representatives on the Executive Council, while the employees’ union will have only two.
A Hamas official in the Gaza Strip expressed satisfaction with the results, saying they were an indication of the “enormous support” that Hamas continues to enjoy.
New York Muslim child: "Who are struck by Allah's wrath?" "The Jews"
More on teaching children to hate: watch this cute little Muslim girl answer a series of questions about Islam (thanks to Martin for the heads-up). Note the ones about hating Jews and Christians, and about rejecting the idea that the Qur'an was created, rather than existing eternally with Allah, identical to the "Mother of the Book, in our presence" mentioned in Qur'an 43:4. This complicates the possibility of historical criticism and reform.
Note also all the approving comments from Muslims in the YouTube thread.
Filipino militants set time for hostage beheading
MANILA, Philippines – Al-Qaida-linked extremists set the time for the beheading of a Red Cross hostage after last-minute negotiations for the withdrawal of troops from their jungle stronghold failed, an official said Monday.Abu Sayyaf commander Albader Parad threatened to behead one of the three Red Cross hostages — who include a Swiss, an Italian and a Filipino — at 2 p.m. Tuesday (0600 GMT) unless police and militiamen withdraw from 15 villages on Jolo Island within 24 hours, Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno said.
"Their demands as of last night are physically impossible to comply with by anybody," Puno said at a news conference, adding they will continue to find ways to save the hostages "up to the last minute."
But Puno hinted that the government was ready to resort to force if any of the hostages, who have been held for 2 1/2 months by about 120 Abu Sayyaf gunmen, are harmed. They have been held in a hilly jungle in Jolo's Indanan town, and until the recent pullout, surrounded by more than 1,000 marines, police and militiamen for weeks.
"If we're talking of brute force, of course we can do something," Puno said, adding "these are not normal thinking people ... we don't want the hostages harmed."
Caving in to the militants, the marines withdrew to their camp last week and police and militiamen moved back from the Abu Sayyaf stronghold by six to nine miles (10-15 kilometers), hoping to prompt the Abu Sayyaf to comply with a pledge to release one hostage.
But the militants insisted that troops must withdraw from virtually the entire island into just two villages near the provincial capital — a demand the government says would lead to anarchy.
Sulu Gov. Abdusakur Tan said Monday he was praying the militants do not harm the hostages.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's spokesman, Cerge Remonde, also said he hoped "these bandits have a sense of humanity" and will release the hostages.
Puno said the government agreed to pull back troops from Indanan township, near the Abu Sayyaf positions, to demonstrate it has bent over backward to ensure the safety of the hostages — Filipino Mary Jean Lacaba, Swiss Andreas Notter and Italian Eugenio Vagni.
They were seized Jan. 15 after visiting a water project for a jail on Jolo, a predominantly Muslim region about 590 miles (950 kilometers) south of Manila.
The Abu Sayyaf has long been dreaded for beheading hostages, including an American tourist in 2001 as well as seven Filipino laborers in 2007 after the group failed to get a ransom on time.
The U.S. government has placed the Abu Sayyaf, which has about 400 gunmen, on its list of terrorist organizations because of beheadings and kidnappings, deadly bomb attacks and the militants' links to al-Qaida.
TTP bars women from Malakand shopping centres
By Ghulam Farooq
MINGORA: The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on Sunday announced a ban on women’s entry in shopping centres in Malakand, warning of strict action against those who violated the order.
However, women can visit bazaars if a male member of family accompanies them.
The TTP in Malakand left pamphlets at the Malakand Press Club in which its spokesman Mulla Ali warned women to stop visiting shopping centres alone.
The Taliban also asked shop owners to put up banners that informed the women of the announcement. The pamphlets also warned people in the computer and mobile ring tone businesses to stop their un-Islamic practices. The Taliban also warned the government to close family planning centres in Malakand and issued directives to the Batkhela Hospital medical superintendent to hire female technicians for ECG and female doctors for ultrasound.
Meanwhile, Swat TTP spokesman Muslim Khan said that there was no ban on administration of polio drops in Swat.
Source: Daily Times
MINGORA: The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on Sunday announced a ban on women’s entry in shopping centres in Malakand, warning of strict action against those who violated the order.
However, women can visit bazaars if a male member of family accompanies them.
The TTP in Malakand left pamphlets at the Malakand Press Club in which its spokesman Mulla Ali warned women to stop visiting shopping centres alone.
The Taliban also asked shop owners to put up banners that informed the women of the announcement. The pamphlets also warned people in the computer and mobile ring tone businesses to stop their un-Islamic practices. The Taliban also warned the government to close family planning centres in Malakand and issued directives to the Batkhela Hospital medical superintendent to hire female technicians for ECG and female doctors for ultrasound.
Meanwhile, Swat TTP spokesman Muslim Khan said that there was no ban on administration of polio drops in Swat.
Source: Daily Times
Cinema and theatre contrary to Islam, says Saudi grand mufti
Riyadh (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Cinema and theatre are “against Sharia” because they distract people from work and weaken their efforts in achieving progress, said Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Shaikh Abdul Aziz Alu Al Sheikh during a conference on leisure, visual arts and literature attended by students at King Saud University.“Theatrical performance, whether it is a cinema or a song, would generally make an impression that is against Sharia. People need only those (art forms) that are useful to them to change their way of life (in an Islamic manner),” he decreed.
Last year the Grand Mufti issued an edict, in which he slammed Turkish soap operas like ‘Nour’ and ‘The Last Years,’ the hottest shows on Arab TV, describing them as “so much evil” that “they destroy people's ethics and are against our values.”
The mufti’s pronouncements are however a sign that Saudi society is increasingly split between a ruling establishment made up of very conservative clerics who espoused strict adherence to Islamic precepts and a broader group of more liberal-oriented young Saudis who want greater openness, more freedom for women and a greater range of entertainment.
Like young people across the Middle East young Saudis routinely go online which gives them access to US action movies, but they cannot go to the movies, an issue that is still taboo.
Yet the recent screening of a Saudi comedy, ‘Menahi’, in two movie theatres twice a day for eight days—with women dutifully seated in the balcony, and men in the stalls—was cheered by many Saudis.
“We put sound and visual equipment, we sold tickets for the first time in Saudi Arabia, and we even sold popcorn,” said Ayman Halawani, general manager of Rotana Studios, the production arm of a company owned by Waleed bin Talal, a financier and member of the royal family, who has become the target of ultra-conservatives for his liberal ideas and investments in the TV and show business.
Overall some 25,000 people actually saw the film.
Such desire for openness is in contrast with what the ruling class wants for Saudi society. For the old guard any overture to customs and traditions that are not strictly Islamic is a threat that must be opposed.
In his address to students at King Saud University, the grand mufti warned against playing chess because it “causes a man to lose his wealth and waste his time.”
Conversely “photography is one of the necessities of life” because it helps in “lectures, [. . .] religious activities [. . .] while maintaining public security.”
“Only the photography of sculptures and models is prohibited,” he said.
Remuneration for poets who attend festivals and cultural events is permissible if their words are good, faultless, without “abusive words or references.”
Finally, the mufti urged students to stay away from cigarettes and avoid reckless driving, especially at night or early morning.
Uzbek Christians face persecution and discrimination even after death
The police and town authorities oppose a funeral for a man because his wife and son are Christian. Later they allow it, but in practically concealed form. Christians sentenced to prison solely because they gather together and pray. Persecution expanded against those who do not adhere to the country's official religion, Islam.Tashkent (AsiaNews/F18) - The Uzbek National Security Service (NSS, the secret police) and the leaders of the mahalla (local governing body) in the city of Khodjeli (Karakalpakstan) opposed the burial of Zhumabai Smetullaev, a Muslim. Sources for the agency Forum 18 speak of genuine discrimination against the wife and son of the deceased man, both of whom are Christian.
Mahalla officials admit that there were obstacles to the funeral, without explaining why. Finally, a modest funeral was permitted, but without any procession, and just outside of the cemetery. But the sources for F18 say that the discrimination continues: the wife was warned by NSS officials not to organize the traditional ceremonies and commemorations at 40 and 100 days after burial, and that those who help her would be punished. A number of local inhabitants report threats from the police that those who convert to Christianity "will not be buried after death."
In the tradition of central Asia, it is normal for the entire community to attend the funeral for the deceased. Failure to participate indicates that the dead person and his family are considered outside of the community, genuine pariahs. Local authorities deny that they opposed the funeral, and municipal official Khudoyor Kurbaniyazo says that "we have six cemeteries, and even one for Christians." Smetullaev's family had suffered persecution even before this. In February, the police searched their home without authorization, and without saying what they were looking for: they took a Bible away.
The Protestants in nearby Nukus also denounce similar problems in the burial of their loved ones, with a ban on the community participating in the funeral or providing any help.
In various areas of the country, systematic repression is underway against Christians and other non-Islamic faiths. At the beginning of March, the Protestants Mahmudjon Turdiev, Mahmudjon Boynazarov, and Ravshanjon Bahramov were sentenced to 15 days in jail, in Andijan, solely for having attended a meeting in a private home and talked about religious topics. In the capital of Tashkent, Roman Tsoi, a South Korean Baptist Christian, was sentenced to 10 days in jail for participating in a prayer meeting in a registered church: sometimes the authorities demand specific authorization for every religious activity, except for Mass on Sundays and feast days, even if this is not required by the law.
Mosque disputes sale of alcohol at nearby Knoxville restaurant
By ANN KEIL
KNOXVILLE (WATE) -- Plans are underway to open a new restaurant in a Fort Sanders neighborhood building that has sat empty for years. Its owner wants to serve alcohol, and that's a problem for members of the Muslim Community of Knoxville nearby.
The two buildings are 191 feet apart. The mosque is at 100 13th Street and the restaurant would be at 1105 Forest Avenue.
According to a Knoxville city ordinance, beer can't be sold within 300 feet of a house of worship. But as it turns out, there are other laws that make the issue more complicated.
"We assumed that in Knoxville, all houses of worship would have some sort of buffer," Nadeem Siddiqi says.
Siddiqi is talking about the building being renovated behind Annoor Mosque. It was once an eyesore.
In another month, it may become home to "The Hill," a restaurant that serves alcohol and has music and dancing.
"We're trying to promote some conservative behavior to some degree, and being right next to a nightclub seems like a bad location for us," Siddiqi says.
Still, construction continues on the restaurant.
The owner, Trevor Hill, says he doesn't see any problem with the location. He's applied for a beer permit and liquor license and he intends to have a large menu.
"I want to feed the community. We are providing a service to the Fort Sanders community and we have a good blue plate, a good cheap lunch and dinner," Hill says.
The city won't issue a beer permit if the restaurant in question is within 300 feet of a church and in this situation, the restaurant is less than 200 feet from the mosque and community center.
But if the state issues a liquor license, it's a different story.
A city ordinance reads that the distance requirement is void if the restaurant receives a state license for liquor by the drink. The state does not have a distance requirement.
"They're entitled to their opinion, and I am in compliance with the codes and laws of the state of Tennessee and Knox County so I don't know what else to do," Hill says.
He plans to hire 50 employees and open his doors in early April. By that time, he hopes to have a liquor license in hand.
The beer board deferred approval for a permit for The Hill Tuesday night as it has several times.
Beer Board Chairman Steve Hall says the board isn't going to make a decision about giving the owner a beer permit until the state approves or denies the liquor license.
The board will meet again on April 21 and likely take up the issue.
KNOXVILLE (WATE) -- Plans are underway to open a new restaurant in a Fort Sanders neighborhood building that has sat empty for years. Its owner wants to serve alcohol, and that's a problem for members of the Muslim Community of Knoxville nearby.
The two buildings are 191 feet apart. The mosque is at 100 13th Street and the restaurant would be at 1105 Forest Avenue.
According to a Knoxville city ordinance, beer can't be sold within 300 feet of a house of worship. But as it turns out, there are other laws that make the issue more complicated.
"We assumed that in Knoxville, all houses of worship would have some sort of buffer," Nadeem Siddiqi says.
Siddiqi is talking about the building being renovated behind Annoor Mosque. It was once an eyesore.
In another month, it may become home to "The Hill," a restaurant that serves alcohol and has music and dancing.
"We're trying to promote some conservative behavior to some degree, and being right next to a nightclub seems like a bad location for us," Siddiqi says.
Still, construction continues on the restaurant.
The owner, Trevor Hill, says he doesn't see any problem with the location. He's applied for a beer permit and liquor license and he intends to have a large menu.
"I want to feed the community. We are providing a service to the Fort Sanders community and we have a good blue plate, a good cheap lunch and dinner," Hill says.
The city won't issue a beer permit if the restaurant in question is within 300 feet of a church and in this situation, the restaurant is less than 200 feet from the mosque and community center.
But if the state issues a liquor license, it's a different story.
A city ordinance reads that the distance requirement is void if the restaurant receives a state license for liquor by the drink. The state does not have a distance requirement.
"They're entitled to their opinion, and I am in compliance with the codes and laws of the state of Tennessee and Knox County so I don't know what else to do," Hill says.
He plans to hire 50 employees and open his doors in early April. By that time, he hopes to have a liquor license in hand.
The beer board deferred approval for a permit for The Hill Tuesday night as it has several times.
Beer Board Chairman Steve Hall says the board isn't going to make a decision about giving the owner a beer permit until the state approves or denies the liquor license.
The board will meet again on April 21 and likely take up the issue.
2 more in net for Gzb honour killing
HAZIABAD: The police on Wednesday arrested two more persons in connection with the honour killing case, in which a 16-year-old girl was burnt
alive in Bhojpur's Teori village on Monday.
According to the police, Zalis and Munshaad were arrested from a hideout near the village. "They have confirmed the claims of other accused Asim and Arif that Imrana's father had asked them to straighten his daughter as one Irfan used to visit her frequently. The four accused had also scuffled with Irfan and some others on the day of incident. We will book them under the Gangster Act, the National Security Act, murder and other charges, ''said Akhil Kumar, Ghaziabad police chief.
As reported earlier, four men on Monday afternoon forced their way into Imrana's house and beat her up. They then set her on fire. Imrana had made a dying statement before a magistrate and named the four accused.
alive in Bhojpur's Teori village on Monday.
According to the police, Zalis and Munshaad were arrested from a hideout near the village. "They have confirmed the claims of other accused Asim and Arif that Imrana's father had asked them to straighten his daughter as one Irfan used to visit her frequently. The four accused had also scuffled with Irfan and some others on the day of incident. We will book them under the Gangster Act, the National Security Act, murder and other charges, ''said Akhil Kumar, Ghaziabad police chief.
As reported earlier, four men on Monday afternoon forced their way into Imrana's house and beat her up. They then set her on fire. Imrana had made a dying statement before a magistrate and named the four accused.
Somali Islamic court sets 100 female camels as price of aid worker's murder
MOGADISHU: An Islamic court in southern Somalia on Tuesday sentenced a man found guilty of murdering a UN aid worker to paying the victim's family 100 female camels in compensation.The defendant, a member of an armed organization, pleaded guilty to the murder of senior World Food Program official Ibrahim Hussein Duale.
"After a five-day trial, the court finally announced its verdict today ... He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to pay 100 female camels," a relative of the victim, told AFP.
The trial took place in the town of Bardhubo, in the Gedo region, which is under the control of the hardline Islamist group Al-Shabaab and its allies.
The Islamist administration in the area has opened courts applying a version of Sharia, or Islamic law, over the past year.
In the UN aid worker's murder case, the judges deliberated and gave the victim's family the option to choose the death penalty for the accused or receive compensation.
Abdullahi Hussein, a local elder who was part of a committee involved in the case and suggesting an adequate sentence, said the 100 female camels were worth around $45,000.
"Each she-camel is worth 10 million Somalia shillings, so 100 of them works out at around $45,000," he said.
Gaza: Inquiry Into Prisoner’s Death
Hamas said it was investigating the death of a prisoner after a Palestinian human rights group said he was tortured during interrogation. The group, the Independent Commission for Human Rights, said the inmate, Jamil Assaf, was the second prisoner to die in a Hamas jail in Gaza this month. The group said one of its researchers had seen marks on Mr. Assaf’s hands and legs indicating that he had been tortured in jail. Mr. Assaf was detained by the police on March 9 and died in Gaza’s main hospital on Tuesday. Islam Shahwan, a police spokesman in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, said the police were investigating Mr. Assaf’s death.
Muslim Saffron owners admit food hygiene and obstruction charges
By Paddy McGuffinThe owners of a restaurant which caused nearly 90 people to fall ill with a rare form of food poisoning had deliberately tried to obstruct an investigation into the outbreak, a court heard today.
Abdul Ghafoor, of Fagley Road, Fagley, and Mohammed Ayub, of Westlands Grove, Allerton, pleaded guilty to 13 counts of breaching food hygiene laws and an additional six counts of obstructing Bradford Council’s inquiry into the now defunct Saffron restaurant in Ilkley.
The charges related to serious breaches of food hygiene rules which led to an outbreak of a rare parasitic infection in late 2007.
Traces of the Giardia Lamblia parasite, usually associated with the Middle East and which causes gastro-intestinal illness, nausea and stomach cramps, were found in 87 people who had become ill after eating at the restaurant.
Magistrates decided they had insufficient powers to sentence Ghafoor and Ayub and committed them to be sentenced at Bradford Crown Court on May 8.
After the case, Bradford Council’s environmental health manager, Angela Brindle, said: “It has been a very difficult case to investigate as the Giardia parasite is not normally associated with food-borne outbreaks of this nature and, in fact, we believe it is the first Giardia outbreak associated with a food business in this country.
“Looking into this case was made even more difficult by one of the proprietors not disclosing themselves as a bona fide owner of the restaurant until nine months into the investigation.
“This is why we also brought a case of obstruction against Ghafoor and Ayub as they caused considerable delay to the investigation.
“The restaurant staff were totally ill-prepared for the job.
“They had no food hygiene training and no experience of running a food business safely.
“Staff did not know how to wash their hands properly and even carried on working when they had diarrhoea.
“The key message we want to send out to other food businesses following this case is that staff must be trained and supervised to ensure they are carrying out hygiene practices correctly and food handlers must not work while suffering from sickness and diarrhoea.”
Islamic states protest “Islamophobia,” “defamation of religions” in talks on racism
At the Human Rights Council today, states undertook a discussion on racism and follow-up to the 2001 Durban anti-racism Declaration. All delegations that spoke condemned contemporary forms of racism and expressed commitment to a successful outcome of the Durban Review Conference, also known as “Durban II.”
India, Slovakia, Turkey, and Morocco explicitly endorsed the latest Durban II draft outcome document, saying it is a good basis for a fruitful conference.
Algeria stated its regret that the draft “has not been able to include all the provisions.” The latest version drops explicit mention of the “defamation of religions” concept and criticism of Israel—two aspects that were important to Islamic states, but rendered the former draft untenable for most Western states.
Yemen on behalf of the Arab Group, Kuwait, Iran, and Libya discussed what they felt are unacceptable incidents of “defamation of religions.” This may indicate that they will push for re-insertion of the topic during the final round of negotiations on the Durban II declaration.
Iran lashed out at the West, noting incidents of “Islamophobia” and the “intellectual legitimization of racism, which is encouraged by certain policies.”
Libya, which serves as chair of Durban II, said that the “people of the world are eagerly” awaiting the conference’s results. It went on to make an implicit dig at Israel, saying that, today “the life of one soldier is considered to be more valuable than that of a thousand civilians.”
India, Slovakia, Turkey, and Morocco explicitly endorsed the latest Durban II draft outcome document, saying it is a good basis for a fruitful conference.
Algeria stated its regret that the draft “has not been able to include all the provisions.” The latest version drops explicit mention of the “defamation of religions” concept and criticism of Israel—two aspects that were important to Islamic states, but rendered the former draft untenable for most Western states.
Yemen on behalf of the Arab Group, Kuwait, Iran, and Libya discussed what they felt are unacceptable incidents of “defamation of religions.” This may indicate that they will push for re-insertion of the topic during the final round of negotiations on the Durban II declaration.
Iran lashed out at the West, noting incidents of “Islamophobia” and the “intellectual legitimization of racism, which is encouraged by certain policies.”
Libya, which serves as chair of Durban II, said that the “people of the world are eagerly” awaiting the conference’s results. It went on to make an implicit dig at Israel, saying that, today “the life of one soldier is considered to be more valuable than that of a thousand civilians.”
Afghan bomber accidentally blows up militants
A would-be suicide bomber accidentally blew himself up, killing six other militants as he was bidding them farewell to leave for his intended target, the Interior Ministry said.
"The terrorist was on his way to his destination and saying good-bye to his associates and then his suicide vest exploded," a statement from the ministry said.
Taliban-led attacks in Afghanistan have escalated in the past year with suicide and roadside bombings insurgents' weapons of choice.
The incident happened in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan where mainly British troops are struggling against a growing Taliban-led insurgency.
In a separate incident in Helmand, nine policemen were killed when Taliban insurgents attacked a police post in Nari Sarraj district, the Interior Ministry said.
Elsewhere, four Taliban insurgents were killed and seven policemen and two civilians wounded during a battle just outside Ghazni city, about 200 kilometres south-west of the capital Kabul, a spokesman for the provincial governor said.
On Friday, Washington is set to unveil a review of its strategy in Afghanistan, which is expected to emphasise the need to expand Afghan security forces and strengthen the country's heavily aid-dependent economy.
"The terrorist was on his way to his destination and saying good-bye to his associates and then his suicide vest exploded," a statement from the ministry said.
Taliban-led attacks in Afghanistan have escalated in the past year with suicide and roadside bombings insurgents' weapons of choice.
The incident happened in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan where mainly British troops are struggling against a growing Taliban-led insurgency.
In a separate incident in Helmand, nine policemen were killed when Taliban insurgents attacked a police post in Nari Sarraj district, the Interior Ministry said.
Elsewhere, four Taliban insurgents were killed and seven policemen and two civilians wounded during a battle just outside Ghazni city, about 200 kilometres south-west of the capital Kabul, a spokesman for the provincial governor said.
On Friday, Washington is set to unveil a review of its strategy in Afghanistan, which is expected to emphasise the need to expand Afghan security forces and strengthen the country's heavily aid-dependent economy.
Bosnia-Herzegovina: Church moved off former mosque
Church leaders are spending 100,000 GBP moving a chapel half a mile - so it doesn't offend Muslims.
The Orthodox church was built on the site of a derelict mosque in Divic, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and is being taken away to improve relations with local Muslim worshippers.
Builders will spend a week driving the church to its new location on a massive low loader truck.
India: Four men beat and set on fire 16 year-old Muslim girl for having relationship with boy
According to this account, "The victim had screamed for help for about 20 minutes before neighbours arrived only to find her still smoldering."
"Villagers burn girl alive in 'honour killing,"' from News.scotsman.com, March 24 (thanks to Jeffrey Imm):
A TEENAGE[R] was burned to death at her home in India in an "honour killing" by neighbours.
Four residents of her village in Ghaziabad, north India, allegedly set the 16-year-old Muslim girl alight after they suspected her of having a relationship with a boy.Police claim residents kept a vigil on her house as they noticed the boy visited her frequently when her father was away. The four men then beat her, doused her with kerosene and set her on fire.
District police chief Akhil Kumar said: "The four men came to the girl's house and demanded to know why the young man frequently visited her. The girl's younger sister, who felt the visitors were getting violent, ran out of the house.
"Meanwhile, the accused beat up the girl and then set her on fire with kerosene oil."
She gave a dying statement to the police saying the accused beat her and set her on fire.
Vijay Singh, station officer at Bhojpur police station in Ghaziabad, said: "The girl has succumbed to her injuries. We have been looking for the four men accused in this case. One of them has been caught and charged with murder."
Jailed for 10 years, the Muslim pilot who paused to pray before taking emergency action in plane crash that killed 16
A Muslim pilot and co-pilot who paused to pray before taking emergency measures as they ditched a passenger plane in the sea, killing 16 people, has been sentenced to 10 years in jail.Pilot Chafik Gharby and co-pilot Ali Kebaier were convicted of taking inadequate emergency measures by an Italian court.
The 2005 crash at sea off Sicily left survivors swimming for their lives, some clinging to a piece of the fuselage that remained floating after the ATR turbo-prop aircraft splintered upon impact.
There were 34 holidaymakers and five crew on board the plane when it went down.
A fuel-gauge malfunction was partly to blame, with technicians putting the wrong type of gauge on the plane before it took off.
It meant the pilot and crew believed they had more fuel than they actually did. The plane's engines cut out simultaneously when the fuel ran out.
However prosecutors also said the pilot succumbed to panic, praying out loud instead of following emergency procedures.
They claimed he then opted to crash-land the plane instead trying to reach a nearby airport.
'This was an unprecedented sentence but we have always maintained that it was an unprecedented incident,' observed Niky Persico, a lawyer for one of the victims.
'Never before in the history of aviation disasters has there been such a chain of events and counter events,' he added.
Another five employees of Tuninter, a subsidiary of Tunisair, were sentenced to between eight and nine years in jail by the court, in a verdict handed down yesterday.
The seven accused, who were not in court, will not spend time in jail until the appeals process has been exhausted.
Morocco Announces End to Gay Tolerance
Morocco announces the end of tolerance with regard to homosexuality, is the title of the full page article in today's El Pais, referring to the initiative which the Ministry for the interior in Morocco is using to 'confront all actions which go against religious and moral values, within the framework of the law''. An article with the headline in red on the front page of magazine Al Michaal triggered the reaction by the government in Rabat; in it a gay Moroccan couple tell the story of their wedding, reciting a prayer which comes before the reading from the Koran. The formula is very common in Morocco, between heterosexual couples as well, but it does not mean that the union is legal.
In a message quoted by El Pais, the Ministry for the interior registered "voices in the media which are trying to make a case for ignoble behaviour which is a provocation to national public opinion and which are against the moral values and teachings of our society". The government will carry act against these people "within the framework of current laws". Homosexuality is punishable in Morocco from six months to three years imprisonment, even though courts do not usually pass sentences for this kind of crime.
Nevertheless arrests of gays are commonly made as a 'deterrent''. El Pais notes that "while several publications are indulgent towards Moroccan gays, the main body of the press is asking for a strong hand against perverts". Spain's ambassador in Rabat, Luis Planas, recently became involved in the controversy, when he was photographed with the secretary of Colegas, a Spanish association which defends the rights of gays and lesbians, and with Bargachi, the coordinator of Kifkif (from equal to equal), an association which supports gays in Morocco.
In a message quoted by El Pais, the Ministry for the interior registered "voices in the media which are trying to make a case for ignoble behaviour which is a provocation to national public opinion and which are against the moral values and teachings of our society". The government will carry act against these people "within the framework of current laws". Homosexuality is punishable in Morocco from six months to three years imprisonment, even though courts do not usually pass sentences for this kind of crime.
Nevertheless arrests of gays are commonly made as a 'deterrent''. El Pais notes that "while several publications are indulgent towards Moroccan gays, the main body of the press is asking for a strong hand against perverts". Spain's ambassador in Rabat, Luis Planas, recently became involved in the controversy, when he was photographed with the secretary of Colegas, a Spanish association which defends the rights of gays and lesbians, and with Bargachi, the coordinator of Kifkif (from equal to equal), an association which supports gays in Morocco.
Taliban warn against cellular service in Waziristan
DERA ISMAIL KHAN: The Taliban on Tuesday warned the government to stop expanding its mobile telephone network in Waziristan, claiming it would be used to spy on them.
They circulated a pamphlet in Wana, the main town of South Waziristan, telling authorities to stop the network expansion and ordering vendors to stop selling SIM cards, residents and officials said. “A Jewish, Zionist-backed company is setting up the mobile phone network in Waziristan, which would be used to spy on Taliban activities and for drone attacks,” said the pamphlet.
“This network is equipped with a global positioning system (GPS) and can give the location of a person even if his mobile phone is switched off,” it said. “In Iraq and Afghanistan such a system has been used to launch attacks against mujahideen,” the leaflet added. “The government and those selling SIMs will be treated as criminals by us,” it warned.
A local administration official confirmed that a leaflet had been circulated in Wana.
Source: Daily Times
They circulated a pamphlet in Wana, the main town of South Waziristan, telling authorities to stop the network expansion and ordering vendors to stop selling SIM cards, residents and officials said. “A Jewish, Zionist-backed company is setting up the mobile phone network in Waziristan, which would be used to spy on Taliban activities and for drone attacks,” said the pamphlet.
“This network is equipped with a global positioning system (GPS) and can give the location of a person even if his mobile phone is switched off,” it said. “In Iraq and Afghanistan such a system has been used to launch attacks against mujahideen,” the leaflet added. “The government and those selling SIMs will be treated as criminals by us,” it warned.
A local administration official confirmed that a leaflet had been circulated in Wana.
Source: Daily Times
Twice-cleared British 'bomb plotter' sought after police raid 'orphanage' they claim is Islamic terror training camp
By Fay SchlesingerA British chemistry graduate who was twice cleared of plotting terrorist attacks is being searched for by Bangladeshi security forces who claim that an orphange he founded was being used as a training camp and arms factory for Islamic militants.
Dr Faisal Mostafa ran a charity providing humanitarian aid to children and families in Bangladesh and Pakistan, even though he was twice cleared of involvement in alleged bomb-making factories and terror attacks in Britain.
Bangladeshi security forces allege that an orphanage run by Mostafa's Stockport-based charity Green Crescent was being used to train Jihadist extremists 'in line with Bin Laden'.
It has emerged that the father-of-three was also given a suspended sentence for trying to board a plane with a pistol in his suitcase last year.
The Charity Commission said tonight it was investigating the allegations, which it said it was taking very seriously.
On Monday Bangladeshi security forces raided the orphanage and attached Muslim school on the remote island of Bhola in South Bangladesh.
They discovered explosives to make 'several hundred' grenades, as well as ammunition, remote control devices and radical Islamic books.
A teacher and three caretakers have been arrested but Mostafa, who is in his mid-40s, is being searched for in Bangladesh.
Lt Col Munir Haque, an officer involved in the operation by the Rapid Action Battalion, said: 'We found small arms – about nine or 10 in total – plus equipment to make small arms, about 3,000 rounds of ammunition, two walkie-talkies, two remote control devices and four sets of army uniforms.
'We also found enough explosives and other equipment to make several hundred grenades. We found some ordinary Islamic books, but others that are in line with extremists like Bin Laden.'
He said that there were about 11 children between the ages of 7 and 8 at the compound at the time of the raid, but no other adults.
K M Mamunur Rashid, another officer involved in the raid, said: 'It is a big madrassa and we have so far gathered that this whole compound is being used for militant training,' he said.
He added that the charity had plans to build two more madrassas, viewed by the authorities as recruiting grounds for militant groups.
Mostafa, who has a PhD in chemistry from Manchester Polytechnic, was cleared of conspiracy to cause explosions with intent to endanger life at Birmingham Crown Court in 2002.
He was working as a teacher at a Birmingham mosque when MI5 agents swooped on a flat where they discovered bin liners containing chemicals, electronic devices and gloves with traces of HMTD, a high explosive.
Mostafa denied involvement with any terror organisation and told the jury that chemicals and explosive materials were intended to make fireworks.
His co-accused, Moinul Abedin, was jailed for 20 years after being found guilty of planning to cause explosions around the UK.
In 1996, Mostafa had been cleared at Manchester Crown Court of involvement in a terrorist bomb plot campaign with two other students after explosives were found at his home.
But he was found guilty of illegally possessing a firearm, sentenced to four years in prison and banned for life from possessing a firearm.
In July last year he was caught trying to board a plane to Bangladesh with a gas-powered pistol and bullet parts in his luggage.
He was arrested at Manchester Airport by security officials and claimed the gun was a gift for his brother, as part of a hunting and fishing trip with his wife and three children.
The charge carried a maximum sentence of five years' imprisonment but Mostafa was sentenced to 56 days in prison, suspended for two years, and 100 hours' community service.
According to its website, the Green Crescent charity was set up by students in 1998, with the motto, 'Individuals with vision are capable of changing society in a positive way'.
Last year it had an income of £63,000 for 'long-term educational and health projects'.
The Charity Commission, which awarded Green Crescent charity status in 2004, last night came under fire from partner organisations in shock about Dr Mostafa's record.
Saeed Mahmood, of the Stockport-based charity Human Appeal International, said: 'Faisal comes in every few months about mainland projects in Bangladesh. We only work with organisations that are registered with the Charity Commission so we had no idea about these allegations.
'I'm taken aback. The Charity Commission should have told us if they knew and if they didn't know, why not?'
A spokesman from counter-terrorism think-tank the Quilliam Foundation added: 'If the Green Crescent charity has indeed been involved in militant activity, this will reflect very poorly on the Charity Commission, particularly given that Mostafa, the head of the charity, had previously been put on trial twice for terrorist offences.
'Ineffectiveness by the Charity Commission in identifying and tackling extremist charities leads to the British taxpayer directly subsiding militancy and extremism.'
Andrew Hind, Chief Executive of the Charity Commission said: 'We are working with relevant law enforcement and other agencies to investigate the allegation that terrorist activity is connected with the charity. The matter is of serious concern to us, and we are taking this action given the gravity of the matter, the public interest and the need to protect charity work and funds.
'We intend, as is normal procedure, to publish a statement of the results of the inquiry setting out our findings once the inquiry is completed.'
New York Police Muslim Chaplain's Darker Side
NYPD Muslim Chaplain Khalid Latif has received lavish praise from the press, and even from a part of the US government. However, closer examination raises some disturbing questions.The Christian Science Monitor's March 19, 2009 article "When NYPD wears a Muslim topi," comes close to sanctifying Latif. The Imam, as the CSM describes him, is seeking to "to help develop a particularly American form of Islam - one fully integrated into the social fabric of the United States." The thoughtful Latif wonders, "And now it's like, how do you mesh together this seeming dichotomy of Islam and the West?" and then looks at himself, bearded in a police uniform and concludes, "that's not a dichotomy, it's a reality."
Going even further, on September 18, 2008 the State Department's America.gov, part of the Department's Public Diplomacy thrust, had headlined, "Imam Khalid Latif Builds Communities of Faith and Diversity," which presents a Latif "deeply committed to interfaith dialogue and community service as integral parts of what it means to be Muslim in a modern, multicultural world." The State Department subsequently reprinted the article in what it described as "the richly illustrated book Being Muslim in America."
A more pertinent question concerns his commitment to free speech. Latif is also Chaplain of the Islamic Center of New York University. In
March 2006, an NYU student group organized a panel discussion about the controversial Danish Muhammad cartoons and intended to display the cartoons themselves. Latif was a key figure in the resulting protests. He urged students and others to send e-mails to NYU's administration to protest the display, writing: As Latif wrote in the email:
"The student group is planning on displaying the cartoons at the event and we have been meeting with the university and its administration to ensure that they will not." [Emphasis added]
Latif shared a letter he sent to NYU President Johan Sexton, a message which can only be described as threatening. He wrote:
(T)he potential of what might happen after they (the cartoons) are shown is something else that should be considered and not taken lightly.
(T)he repercussions that would take place outside of the university setting are potentially huge. All over the world Muslims have been coming together over this issue and in New York they would not hesitate in doing the same thing…. NYU has facilities all over the world and Muslims also live all over the world. At that point in time no one will be thinking about the objectivist club that is an OSA organization made up of ten or twenty students. Rather, at that time all people will be thinking about is New York University and the decision it made…" [Emphasis added]
The event took place, without the cartoons shown.
The Islamic Center held a teach-in which senior NYU officials attended, and the student group caved in and decided not to display the cartoons. In his thank letter to President Sexton (attached), Latif wrote, presumably with a straight face, "You helped to teach them (NYU Muslim student) the importance of being proactive, rather then reactive."
So Latif helped quash an open debate and free exchange of ideas, even those which some might find offensive, on a university campus – the one place where such exchanges are supposed to be embraced. One wonders just how "fully integrated into the social fabric of the United States" is Latif?
The Guardian: Shoddy Journalism?
Browsing the Israeli press can provide a broader and more informed picture of events in Israel than the narrower and sometimes slanted international media coverage. Indeed, Israel's press is hardly monolithic with a variety of competing political narratives and a penchant for self-criticism, so much so that many of the most negative stories appearing in the international press are first broken by the Israeli newspapers. Unfortunately, Israeli journalists, like their Western counterparts, also have their own biases and journalistic lapses. Such is the case of a recent Ha'aretz story alleging "war crimes" and serious ethical failures on the part of the IDF in Gaza. Predictably, many international media outlets, including the New York Times, The Guardian, The Independent, Australian, and Globe & Mail to name but a few, repeated the allegations without bothering to do any rudimentary checks.
Separately from Ha'aretz but only a few days later, The Guardian published its own claims of evidence of alleged Israeli "war crimes" (repeated in Australia's The Age). Online videos and accompanying articles accused Israeli forces of using human shields, deliberately firing on Palestinian medical staff and indiscriminate killing of Palestinian civilians with unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as claims that Israel had used a variety of weapons in "illegal ways." (See section below for more on The Guardian.)
Both Ha'aretz and The Guardian are guilty of shoddy journalism. But the international press is hardly any better. Instead of checking the facts on such a highly contentious issue, publications simply repeated the allegations. Had they done a modicum of research, they would have uncovered numerous flaws. Melanie Phillips, for example, examines Ha'aretz's pieces:
There are precisely two charges of gratuitous killing of Palestinian civilians under allegedly explicit orders to do so. One is what even Ha'aretz made clear was an accidental killing, when two women misunderstood the evacuation route the Israeli soldiers had given them and walked into a sniper's gunsights as a result. Moreover, the soldier who said this has subsequently admitted he didn’t see this incident - he wasn’t even in Gaza at the time - and had merely reported rumour and hearsay.
The second charge is based on a supposedly real incident in which, when an elderly woman came close to an IDF unit, an officer ordered that they shoot her because she was approaching the line and might have been a suicide bomber. The soldier relating this story did not say whether or not the woman in this story actually was shot. Indeed, since he says 'from the description of what happened' it would appear this was merely hearsay once again.
Writing in The Jerusalem Post, Herb Keinon points out:
It is important to note that none of the testimony was about what the soldiers did themselves, but rather of what they heard or saw other soldiers do. It is also important that what was reported seems to fall within the realm of aberrations by individuals during war against a cruel enemy hiding behind civilians, not a systematic loss by the army of its moral compass.
The second piece of context is Dani Zamir, the head of the program, who had the soldiers' words transcribed and published. A story in Haaretz on Thursday said that in 1990 Zamir, then a parachute company commander in the reserves, was tried and sentenced to prison for refusing to guard a ceremony where "right-wingers" brought Torah scrolls to Joseph's tomb in Nablus.
The allegations were rebutted by other IDF soldiers interviewed by YNet News:
A Paratroopers Brigade soldier who also participated in the war called the claims "nonsense". Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said, "It is true that in war morality can be interpreted in many different ways, and there are always a few idiots who act inappropriately, but most of the soldiers represented Israel honorably and with a high degree of morality.
"For instance, on three separate occasions my company commander checked soldiers' bags for stolen goods. Those who stole the smallest things, like candy, were severely punished," he said.
"We were forbidden from sleeping in Palestinians' beds even when we had no alternate accommodations, and we didn’t touch any of their food even after we hadn't had enough to eat for two days."
Numerous other similar testimonies from IDF soldiers were published, not only by YNet, but also in other Israeli newspapers and even personal blogs of soldiers themselves. Yet these were ignored by the agenda-driven reporting of both Ha'aretz and The Guardian.
The Guardian: Judge and the Juror
Melanie Phillips has produced a thorough and devastating debunking of The Guardian's stories, videos, commentary and editorial. She points out:
- The allegations are presented as facts even though they are unsupported by any evidence whatsoever.
- The proven unreliability of Palestinian "eyewitnesses".
- The lack of any verifiable information or any mention of the measures taken by the IDF to avoid civilian casualties while Hamas actively used human shields.
Phillips takes apart the three videos, including one in which we are told as a fact that three young brothers were used by the IDF as human shields. She notes:
Most ludicrously of all, the video shows what it solemnly states is an Israeli army magazine found in one of the destroyed houses showing a picture of one of the brothers bound and blindfolded before he said he was stripped to his underpants and used as a human shield.
Rub your eyes. Operation Cast Lead lasted from December 27 to January 18. Are we supposed to believe that the Israelis managed to publish during that time a magazine with a picture of a boy they had captured during that same operation? And then left it lying around in the rubble - miraculously without so much as a tear in its pages -- for him conveniently to find it?
As further evidence that The Guardian chose activism over journalism, The Jerusalem Post reports that in a letter The Guardian sent out to blog and Web site owners, calling for them to support its work, the paper said the Gaza film clips were meant to "add weight to calls this week for a full inquiry into the events surrounding Operation Cast Lead, which was aimed at Hamas, but which left over 1,400 Palestinians dead - around 300 known to be children." Guardian Films then asked the bloggers to link to their "Gaza War Crimes" page.
The appeal, sent by Mustafa Khalili, who is one of those credited by The Guardian for the Gaza content, was inadvertently received by the ZioNation blog, which blew the whistle on The Guardian's partisan political activism.
The Guardian is carrying out a blatant and systematic campaign of demonization against Israel that goes well beyond journalistic norms. JPost blogger Edwin Bennatan even points out how the paper has apparently been selective in its willingness to publish responses from supporters of Israel criticizing what they say is The Guardian's extreme lack of balance and proportion. Bennatan publishes a very eloquent response to The Guardian that was removed from the paper's Comment is Free blog site.
Saudi Arabia: Women fight to stop gym closures
Not only is walking in public restricted for Saudi women; now they can't go to all female gyms for a bit of exercise. "Saudi Arabia: Women fight to stop gym closures," from Adnkronos, March 24:
Dubai, 23 March (AKI) - A group of young Saudi women have begun a campaign to protest against a government decision to close all the country's female gyms that are not linked to a hospital or health body. According to Arab TV network Al-Arabiya, the women have adopted the slogan, 'Let them get fat', while complaining about the high cost of sports centres linked to official health organisations.Odd that: she lives in Saudi Arabia and is actually wondering why there is a double-standard between men and women? Perhaps she is being rhetorical.They have also appealed to the minister and to the secretary in the municipality of the coastal city of Jeddah to review their decision.
The young women are particularly concerned since they do not have the means to go to 'official' gyms and believe this government decree will be bad for their health.
That view was endorsed by Maha, who enrolled at a gym six months ago and lost 21 kilogrammes. While she said she has several pieces of gym equipment at home, she prefers to go to a gym where she gains support and encouragement.Another woman, Umm Abd al-Aziz said practising sport is a way of a "moment of relief" and going to a fitness club is the only way to release the tension accumulated at home.
"Where can we go now that the gyms are closing?" the woman asked.
Sara Abd al-Aziz asked why men are permitted to practise sport in gyms that do not depend on a health authority, while women cannot, although they have the same needs.
She said women actually have more need for sport than men since they experience different phases of their lives, such as pregnancy and birth, and also suffer from many pressures without finding any relief.In response to the protests, the deputy-director of Jeddah's public relations office, Ahmad al-Ghamidi, said the provincial secretary has the right to close female gyms which lack the appropriate licenses, and said a regulatory body is currently carrying out inspections to make sure they follow the rules.
In Taliban-controlled Swat Valley no more NGOs or polio vaccination for children
by Qaiser Felix
The enforcement of Sharia has led to the closing down of NGO offices, the end of polio vaccination for children and left hundreds of lawyers out of a job. Extremist groups plan to demand the implementation of Islamic in every district of the province. Civil society groups and human rights activists are sounding the alarm.
Islamabad (AsiaNews) – Since Sharia came into effect on 16 February lawyers have lost their job, NGOs have not been allowed to operate, polio vaccination has been banned, Taliban in custody have been released, and demands that Islamic law be implemented in the other districts of the province have made. The agreement signed by the government of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Tahrik-e-Nifaz Shariat Muhammadi (TNSM) movement in a bid to end years of war and violence is bearing fruit. Under Sharia civil liberties and personal freedoms are being curtailed and what was once a famous destination for national and international tourism is being progressively “talibanised”.
On Sunday 14 more Taliban terrorists were released from jail, taking the total number freed so far to 48. At the same time TNSM chief Sufi Muhammad’s ban on district courts and lawyers’ presence in Qazi courts (Islamic courts) in Swat has left around 500 lawyers unemployed since Sharia only allows people filing cases and the accused to appear before the new “Islamic courts”.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on Sunday also ordered all non-governmental organisations to immediately leave Swat. For the Islamist organisation “NGO is another name for ‘vulgarity and obscenity’,” because they hire women who work with men, in the field and in offices. “That is totally unislamic and unacceptable,” TTP spokesman Muslim Khan said.
The Taliban have decreed that there shall be no polio vaccination because “it causes infertility” and because the vaccine was imported, Khan said.
In Lower Dir, one of the NWFP’s 24 districts, Islamic fundamentalists have shut down a family planning centre, warning that it would be blown up if it was reopened it.
In the province religious parties and extremist movements are now demanding the application of Sharia in the other districts as well as the tribal areas along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Civil society groups and human rights activists have condemned the Swat Valley’s talibanisation, pointing out that some areas have become no-go areas where militants are enforcing the most rigid and fundamentalist interpretation of Islamic law.
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) Punjab Vice-Chairman Dr Mehdi Hasan warned that the militants will stop at nothing to achieve their purpose, that they will eliminate anything and anyone trying to stop them. He urged the government to look into the matter and take control of the situation.
Women’s Action Forum (WAF) Convener Nighat Saeed Khan said that militants in the Malakand Division have used Western technical equipment—cellular phones, rockets and vehicles—even though they termed each one of them as “unislamic.”
She noted that the Taliban are creating their “own areas”, where they are likely to train terrorists, and will move to other districts if not stopped immediately.
The enforcement of Sharia has led to the closing down of NGO offices, the end of polio vaccination for children and left hundreds of lawyers out of a job. Extremist groups plan to demand the implementation of Islamic in every district of the province. Civil society groups and human rights activists are sounding the alarm.
Islamabad (AsiaNews) – Since Sharia came into effect on 16 February lawyers have lost their job, NGOs have not been allowed to operate, polio vaccination has been banned, Taliban in custody have been released, and demands that Islamic law be implemented in the other districts of the province have made. The agreement signed by the government of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Tahrik-e-Nifaz Shariat Muhammadi (TNSM) movement in a bid to end years of war and violence is bearing fruit. Under Sharia civil liberties and personal freedoms are being curtailed and what was once a famous destination for national and international tourism is being progressively “talibanised”.On Sunday 14 more Taliban terrorists were released from jail, taking the total number freed so far to 48. At the same time TNSM chief Sufi Muhammad’s ban on district courts and lawyers’ presence in Qazi courts (Islamic courts) in Swat has left around 500 lawyers unemployed since Sharia only allows people filing cases and the accused to appear before the new “Islamic courts”.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on Sunday also ordered all non-governmental organisations to immediately leave Swat. For the Islamist organisation “NGO is another name for ‘vulgarity and obscenity’,” because they hire women who work with men, in the field and in offices. “That is totally unislamic and unacceptable,” TTP spokesman Muslim Khan said.
The Taliban have decreed that there shall be no polio vaccination because “it causes infertility” and because the vaccine was imported, Khan said.
In Lower Dir, one of the NWFP’s 24 districts, Islamic fundamentalists have shut down a family planning centre, warning that it would be blown up if it was reopened it.
In the province religious parties and extremist movements are now demanding the application of Sharia in the other districts as well as the tribal areas along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Civil society groups and human rights activists have condemned the Swat Valley’s talibanisation, pointing out that some areas have become no-go areas where militants are enforcing the most rigid and fundamentalist interpretation of Islamic law.
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) Punjab Vice-Chairman Dr Mehdi Hasan warned that the militants will stop at nothing to achieve their purpose, that they will eliminate anything and anyone trying to stop them. He urged the government to look into the matter and take control of the situation.
Women’s Action Forum (WAF) Convener Nighat Saeed Khan said that militants in the Malakand Division have used Western technical equipment—cellular phones, rockets and vehicles—even though they termed each one of them as “unislamic.”
She noted that the Taliban are creating their “own areas”, where they are likely to train terrorists, and will move to other districts if not stopped immediately.
Muslims in Israel try to murder American student
The Jerusalem District Attorney's Office has filed an indictment against three Israeli Arabs accused of attempting to murder an American student at the Hebrew University in February. A fourth man involved in the attack will be charged separately.
According to the charge sheet released Tuesday, Ahmed Ouda, 28, Fathi Zeytun, 18, and Rabiya Jit, 21, all residents of the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, along with Osama a-Razak, 19, pounced on the student while he walked through nearby Jerusalem Forest on his way to the campus dorms.
The student, who has been studying in Israel for 11 months, told police his attackers tried to slash his throat several times while beating him. The four managed to deeply cut the victim's right cheek before fleeing the scene.
The student, left alone and bleeding, carried on through the forest for 40 minutes by foot until he reached Dung Gate, where he called for help. He was evacuated to Sha'are Tzedek Hospital for treatment.
According to the charge sheet released Tuesday, Ahmed Ouda, 28, Fathi Zeytun, 18, and Rabiya Jit, 21, all residents of the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, along with Osama a-Razak, 19, pounced on the student while he walked through nearby Jerusalem Forest on his way to the campus dorms.The student, who has been studying in Israel for 11 months, told police his attackers tried to slash his throat several times while beating him. The four managed to deeply cut the victim's right cheek before fleeing the scene.
The student, left alone and bleeding, carried on through the forest for 40 minutes by foot until he reached Dung Gate, where he called for help. He was evacuated to Sha'are Tzedek Hospital for treatment.
Gaza Terrorists Renew Rocket Attacks on Israel
Terrorists in Hamas-ruled Gaza broke several days of quiet on Tuesday afternoon and attacked the Ashkelon Coastal area with a Kassam rocket, putting southern Israel back on alert. No one was injured and no damage was reported.The explosion was the first since last week, when Islamic Jihad terrorists said that Hamas’s security forces arrested its members for launching rockets. Israel holds Hamas responsible for all attacks against Israel from the Gaza region, which it forcibly took over nearly two years ago in a militia war with the rival Fatah faction.
Hamas has been interested in maintaining quiet to prevent negative public relations during negotiations for freeing kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for the Olmert government's freeing hundreds of terrorists, including several murderers serving multiple life sentences in prison.
Hamas also is negotiating a long-term ceasefire with Israel through Egyptian mediators. Previous agreements have broken down within hours.
The last ceasefire was declared unilaterally by Israel, and then by Hamas, at the conclusion of Operation Cast Lead in mid-January. Israel conditioned the truce on a halt to arms smuggling but said the IDF could withdraw from Gaza because rocket attacks had all but ended.
More than 150 rockets and mortar shells have been fired on Israel, as far north as Ashkelon, since the unilateral truce began.
Operation Cast Lead was carried out after Hamas and allied terrorists continued to break a June 2008 ceasefire, escalating attacks with deadly explosions as far north as Yavneh, halfway between Gaza and Tel Aviv, and as far east as Be'er Sheva.
Israel retaliated to each rocket attack with target strikes on smuggling tunnels and terrorists until the most recent rocket attack last week, when the IDF did not respond. Nor has Israel retaliated for Tuesday afternoon’s strike.
Philippines: Bomb Blast Misses Passenger Bus
COTABATO, PHILIPPINES: A roadside bomb went off about 10 seconds after a passenger bus passed by early Tuesday (24 March) in the southern Philippines, the latest attack believed staged by an extortion gang led by former Muslim rebels, police said.
Cotabato city police chief Willy Dangane said no one was hurt when the homemade bomb, fashioned from a mortar shell and placed in a cardboard box on the side of the road near a rice field, was triggered by a cell phone just after the bus went by with about 40 people on board.
A bomb hurled into the bus company's terminal in Cotabato early Sunday (22 March) damaged two buses but caused no injuries. Another explosion late Sunday in nearby Kidapawan city wounded nine people and damaged a pedestrian overpass.
A day earlier, unknown gunmen fired at another bus owned by the same company but injured no one, Dangane said.
He said "in all likelihood" the al-Khobar gang was responsible, but investigators also were looking at business rivalries involving operators of mini-buses, which charge higher fares than regular buses.
Kidapawan Mayor Rodolfo Gantuangco said al-Khobar also was likely responsible for late Sunday's explosion in his city. He said the group recently tried to extort 250,000 pesos ($5,200) from the city government.
Al-Khobar has been known to carry out bombings when extortion or ransom payments are not made. The group has been blamed for several deadly bombings of buses and business establishments since 2007. One of its leaders, a former Muslim guerrilla, was recently captured.
Lt. Col. Jonathan Ponce, spokesman for the army's 6th Infantry Division which operates in the area, said the military will deploy plainclothes soldiers on buses and in terminals to prevent future attacks. (AP)
Cotabato city police chief Willy Dangane said no one was hurt when the homemade bomb, fashioned from a mortar shell and placed in a cardboard box on the side of the road near a rice field, was triggered by a cell phone just after the bus went by with about 40 people on board.
A bomb hurled into the bus company's terminal in Cotabato early Sunday (22 March) damaged two buses but caused no injuries. Another explosion late Sunday in nearby Kidapawan city wounded nine people and damaged a pedestrian overpass.
A day earlier, unknown gunmen fired at another bus owned by the same company but injured no one, Dangane said.
He said "in all likelihood" the al-Khobar gang was responsible, but investigators also were looking at business rivalries involving operators of mini-buses, which charge higher fares than regular buses.
Kidapawan Mayor Rodolfo Gantuangco said al-Khobar also was likely responsible for late Sunday's explosion in his city. He said the group recently tried to extort 250,000 pesos ($5,200) from the city government.
Al-Khobar has been known to carry out bombings when extortion or ransom payments are not made. The group has been blamed for several deadly bombings of buses and business establishments since 2007. One of its leaders, a former Muslim guerrilla, was recently captured.
Lt. Col. Jonathan Ponce, spokesman for the army's 6th Infantry Division which operates in the area, said the military will deploy plainclothes soldiers on buses and in terminals to prevent future attacks. (AP)
Air Force Boasts 99 Percent Accuracy in 'Cast Lead' Strikes
(IsraelNN.com) The Israel Air Force achieved near-perfect accuracy in its attacks on targets in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead, a post-war IAF analysis has found. Formal IAF statistics show that fully 99 percent of the fire carried out by the IAF hit its targets accurately, the IDF website reported Monday.For the first time ever in a large-scale IDF operation, there was not a single instance of ‘friendly fire’ by the IAF against ground troops. This degree of accuracy was achieved despite the fact that more than 2000 warheads were fired within range of ground troops and dense urban population.
Several IDF soldiers were killed in 'friendly fire' accidents by ground forces.
Eighty percent of the bombs and missiles that the IAF used in the operation are of types considered accurate, which meaningfully reduce collateral damage and danger to civilians. This is more than twice the proportion of such munitions in the Second Lebanon War. In that war, only 36 percent of the ordnance dropped by the IAF was defined as accurate.
The IAF is also pleased with what it says was its success in decreasing the rocket fire and shelling of Israel during the operation, by destroying rocket launch pods and weapons stores. Terrorists fired a total of 650 rockets and mortar shells at Israel during the operation – a much smaller number than pre-war estimates had predicted.
Another factor making Cast Lead unique was the tight cooperation between the IAF and ground forces during the operation. This was especially true as regards unmanned aircraft (UAVs). Every regiment had its own UAVs readily available at all times, and these accompanied its movements at altitudes that were often lower than those of a combat helicopter.
The UAVs assisted in obtaining intelligence, directing ground forces and directing attack aircraft to targets that had been identified by the ground forces. UAV sorties made up a significant proportion of the IAF’s flight hours during the operation.
Laina Farhat-Holzman: British are gutless supporters of multicultural tolerance
Hat Tip: GramFanBaroness Warsi has warned that politicians have failed to tackle the problem of polygamy because of ‘cultural sensitivity’
Recently in my part of California, an immigrant fieldworker, Marcelino de Jesus Martinez, sold his teenage daughter to a man in marriage in exchange for $16,000, 100 cases of beer, 100 cases of meat, and a case of Gatorade. He went to the police to get his daughter back when the “husband” did not pay up. He thought he had done nothing wrong; people did this in his home village. The public and legal response was immediate and unsympathetic. In the U.S., we do not let “multiculturalism” trump American law and values. But this is not true everywhere.
England, from whom we derived our religious and political values, concepts of liberty, justice, and equality under the law, has lost its way. Today’s England is a multicultural mess, whose basic values are being challenged by its largest immigrant community, migrants from the Muslim world mainly Somalia, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The challenges are coming from polygamists who not only want the British justice system to permit them to practice, but also expect it to pay welfare to them, their many wives, and hordes of children. The British courts have become gutless supporters of multicultural tolerance — which is finally stirring up public wrath.
How is this done?
- A man seeks sanctuary or immigration rights. He brings a wife and then divorces her a sham divorce so that he can bring a younger wife or wives from his native land. There are thousands of these cases.
- The wives generally speak no English, are not permitted out of the house, and have nowhere to turn when the polygamy begins. Add to this the threat of beatings or “honor killing” if a wife goes public and “shames” the family.
- Men claim that Islam permits them to have up to four wives, provided they are treated equally. For some, this means separate apartments for each wife and her children, of course paid for by state welfare money.
- When the issue goes to court, surplus wives being faced with deportation, the men claim that they are only doing what their religion permits and that British law should respect that. Some judges appear weak-kneed enough to buy this.
- Other government departments apparently collude in this too. This from the Daily Mail, Sue Reed, Feb. 24: “A recent review by four Government departments — the Treasury, the Work and Pensions Department, the Inland Revenue and the Home Office — has concluded that 1,000 men in the United Kingdom are now polygamists, although some say the figure is higher.”
- What is more, the review found, a Muslim man can claim state support of more than 10,000 pounds a year to keep his wives, if the wedding took place in one of those countries where polygamy is commonplace, such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Saudi Arabia and across huge tracts of Africa.
- At a time of financial crunch, note what a polygamist can get from the state: more generous housing benefits and bigger council houses to reflect the large size of his family. He is also able to claim 1,000 a year in child benefit for each of his growing brood.
- The “growing brood” should also alarm the British, who at this rate would find themselves well outnumbered. Is this desirable? The Taxpayers’ Alliance, a lobby group, has complained: “Polygamy is not officially condoned here, so why should British taxpayers have to pay for extra benefits for men to have two, three or four wives?’ ”
- One National Health Service nurse said this was now commonplace. He knew of a Bangladeshi-born male patient with two wives and 13 children aged between 3 months and 15 years.
- Finally, let’s hear from a British intellectual. A leading Muslim academic at Cambridge University has claimed that men are biologically designed to desire more than one woman and that, therefore, polygamy should be legalized.
Biologically designed, eh? Perhaps wife battery is biologically designed too. How about murder? Who gave him an academic degree?
Laina Farhat-Holzman is a historian, lecturer, and author. Contact her at Lfarhat102@aol.com or Lfarhat102@aol.com or globalthink.net.
Pakistan: "Unidentified men" blow up a(nother) school for girls
More on the Taliban's jihad against girl-schools. "Girls’ school blown up in Mardan," from the Daily Times, March 23:
MARDAN: Unidentified men blew up a girls’ school in Mardan on Sunday. According to police sources, the men planted explosives near Government Girls High School Hattian, located near the residence of NWFP senior minister Rahim Dad Khan. The sources said the blast caused panic among the residents. However, no casualties were reported.
Mumbai Gunman Laughs at Terror Charges in Court
A gunman involved in the deadly Mumbai terror attacks erupted into laughter Monday when asked by a court if he understood the charges against him, the Times of London reported.Twenty-one-year old Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab was one of ten terrorists who killed 170 people last November in India's financial capital. The Pakistani national, who faces death by hanging if convicted of murder, was the only gunman to be caught alive.
"Kasab was smiling throughout the hearing and said that he was from Pakistan,” special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam reportedly told the Times of London.
“He laughed when the judge asked him if he understood everything in the charge sheet," Nikam said, according to the newspaper.
Muslim woman drives impaired, claims Islamophobia for being pulled over
By Nathan GonzalezThe bumper sticker on Lisa Gopalan's car reads "Islam means peace."
But the Muslim woman and former schoolteacher believes her religion gained her the unwanted attention of Gilbert police, who arrested her for DUI when she failed a field sobriety test.
"I was so humiliated," said Gopalan, who along with her husband was recently laid off. "I do feel I was racially profiled to an extent. The whole thing was so upsetting. I'm no criminal."
While the Chandler resident awaits a possible misdemeanor charge of DUI for being impaired to the slightest degree, police opened an investigation into her claims that she was racially profiled.
"The Gilbert Police Department doesn't make traffic stops or contact based on racial descriptors," said Sgt. Mark Marino, a police spokesman.
The incident began Feb. 15 as Gopalan was headed to a Target store. When she approached Cholla Street eastbound on Warner Road, an officer noticed Gopalan's car swerve into a bicycle lane, a police report states.
Gopalan recalled pulling a calculator from her purse, when "I felt the car swerve."
The arresting officer stated the car swerved a second time before coming to an abrupt, "haphazard" stop at Gilbert and Warner roads.
Fearing anti-Islamic treatment, Gopalan said she removed her headscarf, or hijab. She was then asked to step outside of the car and then attempted to explain that she wasn't under the influence of alcohol, she said.
The officer began a field sobriety test, which Gopalan performed poorly on. A short time later, a second officer arrived with a portable breathalyzer, which registered the woman's BAC at 0.00.
"In my religion we don't drink. That's just something we don't do," she said.
When police attempted to arrest Gopalan, she pulled her wrists away from officers, the report said.
En route to jail, Gopalan admitted to taking Wellbutrin XL, an antidepressant and pain reliever she has used for about three years.
"I've never experienced any problems from (the medication) before," Gopalan said.
When booked at jail, Gopalan said she was offended as guards checked her arms and fingers for signs she injected drugs.
The check is standard procedure for anyone booked on a suspicion of drug use, Marino said. "She was processed just as any other DUI suspect," he said.
Once released, Gopalan and her husband were faced with a $203 impound fee for her car.
The following day, Gopalan contacted Mayor Steve Berman and Police Chief Tim Dorn, which triggered an internal investigation.
Marino said the department does not disclose information pertaining to ongoing internal investigations.
Also awaiting the outcome of the investigation is the Arizona chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR-AZ.
Executive Director Ahmed Daniels said the group is monitoring the internal investigation.
"Our primary goal is to make sure the civil rights of the Islamic community are adhered to," Daniels said.
"We want to see where the police department is taking it," he said. "What concerns me is Lisa's case may be the tip of the proverbial iceberg."
As that investigation continues, Marino warned motorists that prescription drugs can affect one's ability to drive.
"Influence is influence," Marino said. "Many drugs impact people significantly. If you're impaired, your ability to drive the car is also impacted."
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