Mein Kampf a Hit in Bangladesh, Given as Present for Eid al-Adha

Hitler's infamous drivel is a hit in many Muslim-dominated countries. Perhaps people should ask why this is so.

From BBC:

Booksellers touting their wares amid the heavy traffic in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, have discovered an unusual best-seller.

Adolf Hitler's autobiography manifesto Mein Kampf is selling as well as Dan Brown's latest novel, The Lost Symbol.

The street vendors in Dhaka are found at every major road junction and intersection.

Most of the sellers are young boys and many compete with beggars to attract the attention of motorists.

Last week, Mein Kampf did unusually well because many bought the book to give it away as an Eid present.

'All the rage'

Mabul, 15, is among many boys who risk the chaos of Dhaka's roads to earn a living selling pirated copies of popular paperbacks.

Among his offerings are The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama, the 9/11 Commission Report - Omissions and Distortions by David Ray Griffin, The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy and copies of Mein Kampf (volumes one and two).

"For some reason Hitler's book is all the rage among educated people - on a typical day I can sell as many as five or six," Mabul told the BBC.

Hitler is not as popular as Dan Brown or Amartya Sen among Dhaka's motorists and their passengers, but there is a constant demand for his book.

"I think it's because many people have seen Hitler in films and want to know more about him."

Mabul earns up to 1,000 taka ($8) a day in his job, usually working eight hours a day for six days a week.

He says that the best time to sell books is when traffic is at its heaviest, in the morning and evening rush hours.

When it is gridlocked, some people appear to buy his books because they are bored and there is nothing else to do....

3 Aid Workers Kidnapped in Mauritania

From the Canadian Press:

NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania — Three Spanish volunteer aid workers were kidnapped by gunmen while delivering supplies to impoverished villages in Mauritania, and Spain's interior minister said Monday he suspected al-Qaida-linked Islamists.

Two men and a woman were kidnapped in the West African country, according to Julia Tabernejo, a spokeswoman for Barcelona-based aid group Barcelona Accion Solidaria. The three were in a 4-wheel drive vehicle at the very back end of a convoy when the attack happened Sunday.

"I think the others heard shooting, and when they stopped, the car was empty," she said. "Those three were no longer in it."

She identified the aid workers as Albert Vilalta, Roque Pascual and Alicia Gamez. The two men are businessmen and are about 50 years old. She said Gamez is a civil servant in the court system.

A Spanish foreign ministry official said the aid workers were abducted Sunday while travelling in a convoy of 13 vehicles. The kidnapping occurred after two of the vehicles became separated from the convoy for unknown reasons, according to the official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with ministry rules.

A ministry statement said Mauritanian forces are now accompanying the rest of the convoy at Spain's request.

Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba told reporters on Monday that he feared the kidnapping was the work of extremists.

"All signs are that it is a kidnapping," he said in Brussels as he entered a meeting with European Union officials. "If that is the case, as I fear it is, everything suggests it is a kidnapping by AQMI, which is al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa. It would not be the first kidnapping it has carried out in that area of European or American aid workers."

Mauritania, once known as a predominantly moderate Muslim nation on Africa's western coast, has been rocked by attacks by the North African al-Qaida group.

The Islamist group operates mainly in Algeria but is suspected of crossing the country's porous desert borders to spread violence in the rest of northwestern Africa.

In June, American Christopher Leggett, 39, was fatally shot in the Mauritanian capital, not far from a school that he helped run. The North African al-Qaida group claimed responsibility, saying they killed the Tennessee native because he allegedly was trying to convert Muslims to Christianity.

In 2007, gunmen in Mauritania killed four French tourists that were picnicking on the side of a highway. In 2008, the world famous Dakar Rally auto race was cancelled after organizer's received threats of a possible attack.

Elsewhere in West Africa, the group also has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of two U.N. staffers in December, and the kidnapping of four European tourists a month later. One of the four Europeans, a Briton, was killed by his captors. The U.N. staffers and the other tourists were released.

The Spanish aid workers were attacked while delivering supplies to villages along a 240-mile (400-kilometre) road that links the capital, Nouakchott, to Nouadhibou to the north, a Mauritanian police official said. He asked that his name not be used because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

"The Spaniards were inside their car travelling in the humanitarian convoy which had gone to distribute humanitarian aid to the poorest of the poor of Nouadhibou when the unknown gunmen started shooting at them before kidnapping them," said the official, a top police officer in the capital.

Mufti Tajuddin Advises Russian Muslims to Marry Korean, Chinese Women

The sentiment expressed by this mufti is not isolated. Many Islamists believe that it is their duty to take non-Muslim brides, thereby making these women Muslim, and have as many offspring as possible. This allows them to conquer. The mufti also argues that it is beneficial to take more than one wife.

From Interfax:

Ufa, November 30, Interfax - Talgat Tajuddin, the head of Central Muslim Board of Russia offered the way of the Far East counteraction by Chineses.

"Chineses will soon captivate all Siberia... I would direct one million of Tatars, one million of Bashkirs to the Far East and would marry them to Chinese and Korean women," Mufti told in an interview published by Bashkirian issue of Komsomolskaya Pravda daily.

According to him, the first wife of Tatars and Bashkirs, for example, must be a woman of their nation.

"And after that we would secure our country and eastern frontiers at the same time. This is the natural problem decision. And though we speak about it as for fun, it’s still necessary to solve a demographic problem. Therefore - marry, multiply and replenish," Tajuddin appealed.

He has also expressed approvingly idea of polygamy.

"I have no right to concern it negatively. Neither on Sharia, nor under the law. The more children, the better state," mufti has declared, reminded that ancient Prophets Abraham and Solomon were polygamists, and Prophet Mohammed also had some wives.

"Therefore it’s allowed for every Moslem to have up to four wives. But he should be capable to support all of them," Tajuddin underlined.

Sharia Law to Stop HIV

What Islamists who advocate for shariah law fail to realize is that HIV is not a disease exclusive to homosexuals and prostitutes. Plenty of married, monogamous couples have been diagnosed with the terrible illness.

From Straits Time:

JAKARTA - Several hundred hardline Muslim protestors staged rallies in Indonesia on Sunday to urge the government to prevent the spread of HIV by implementing Islamic law.

Ahead of World Aids Day on December 1, members of the Hizbut Tahrir group took to the streets in several cities including Jakarta, Solo, Yogyakarta and Makassar.

'We urge everybody to support the application of sharia in an Islamic caliphate so that, God willing, all of us will be free from the HIV/Aids threat,' Hizbut spokeswoman Febrianti Abassuni said in a statement.

In the capital, more than 200 female demonstrators urged the government to close down brothels and ban condoms, which they said encouraged 'free sex and unhealthy behaviour'.

One banner read: 'Prostitutes, drug users and homosexuals are the agents of immorality.'

Around 270,000 Indonesians are estimated to be infected with HIV, and Aids has claimed about 8,700 lives in the Muslim-majority nation of 228 million people, according to the Unaids agency.

Iranian Atheist at Risk for Death Penalty

From ANSAmed:

ANKARA, NOVEMBER 30 - Turkish authorities will be announcing their decision in the coming days over whether or not to repatriate an Iranian citizen who - having escaped from her country after publicly declaring she was an atheist - could be sentenced to death for apostasy if sent back. Negar Azizmoradi, Iranian leader of the controversial International Raelian Movement, was arrested just over a week ago in Istanbul on her arrival in the city with an "irregular" passport, and since then has been held in a refugee centre in the Turkish metropolis. Raelians are part of a sect founded in 1974 by the former sports journalist Claude Vorilhon, 63, as known as Rael. His followers believe that human beings were created on Earth by extraterrestrials with biogenetical engineering, and therefore consider themselves to be atheist and support human cloning, which they believe to be the key to eternal life. Appeals to help the thirty-something Iranian woman have been launched by both the Raelian movement and Iranian refugee groups abroad. In them, Turkish authorities have been asked to release the woman - who reportedly has caught a lung infection in jail - and allow her to go to a European country.

New Law Saves 86 Victims From Forced Marriages

From the Independent:

But experts warn that the impetus behind the new legislation and police training on 'honour' killings is in danger of slowing

The girl was 12 when she was "married" to her 16-year-old cousin. Her "husband" then raped her, with the approval of her father, his brother and sister-in-law. It sounds like a horror story from the past in some remote part of the developing world. It happened last year, in London.

Last week in north London, a court convicted the now 17-year-old boy of rape and the Albanian girl's father, uncle and aunt of causing or inciting underage sexual activity. The court heard that the schoolgirl's father, aged 29, had staged the illegal marriage ceremony in front of his older brother, 54, and sister-in-law, 54. Police were called in after the girl's mother found out what her husband and his family had done to her child.

The case is perhaps the most horrific in the 12 months since the Forced Marriage and Civil Protection Act came into force. Judges have issued 86 forced marriage protection orders in the past year to prevent illegal marriages such as the one suffered by the girl, and helped annul marriages when the ceremony had already taken place.

Earlier this year a teenager with learning disabilities was placed on an indefinite protection order after she revealed to teachers at her special school that her parents had forced her to marry a cousin in Pakistan. Police and social services worked with the girl, who had limited capacity to make decisions, and the visa application of her "husband" was blocked.

She wanted to stay with her parents, so the order required the seizure of her passport. It prohibits anyone in her family from harassing or threatening her – a breach could lead to two years in prison. While experts believe progress has been made over the past year or so, hundreds, if not thousands, of forced marriages will have taken place without the courts' knowledge.

Forced marriage and rape are symptoms of honour-based violence (HBV). Murder in the name of "honour" is the ultimate violent crime perpetuated by relatives or members of a community in order to protect or revenge "dishonourable" behaviour. Home Office figures suggest there are around 12 honour killings in the UK every year; thousands of women are killed for the same reason across the world.

The risks involved in HBV are complex so it is essential the authorities are able to look beyond the smokescreens families will put up, according to Shahien Taj, from the women's charity, the Henna Foundation. Getting things wrong, especially at the point when a victim first comes forward, can have tragic consequences.

The murder of Geeta Aulakh, 28, a mother of two, in London last week, will be investigated by police as a potential honour killing after it emerged that her right hand – which bore the kara bracelet worn by Sikhs to remind them to strive for an "honourable" life – was hacked off by a "bladed object".

Ms Taj, fearing "honour" reprisals against the 12-year-old Albanian girl and her mother, has urged police and social services to urgently complete a HBV risk assessment to protect them from their extended family or community. Her convicted relatives have been bailed until sentencing next month.

HBV, forced marriage and female genital mutilation will all be highlighted in the police national intelligence database to be rolled out next year. And the National Policing Improvement Authority is working closely with Nikki Hubbard – the police officer who has spearheaded many of the improvements in this area – to develop a mandatory training package. But experts fear that the imminent departure to new posts of Ms Hubbard and the equally committed Commander Steve Allen could see progress stutter as many forces still rely heavily on their advice when dealing with individual cases.

Anne-Marie Hutchinson, a partner at the law firm Dawson Cornwell, said: "The police and social services have become more aware and alert, and we've had some great successes over the first year, but there are still times when they don't understand who the girl could be at risk from."

Hamas Bans Women Dancers, Scooter Riders in Gaza Push

From Bloomberg:

(Bloomberg) -- The Islamic Hamas movement banned girls last month from riding behind men on motor scooters and forbade women from dancing at the opening of a folk museum. Girls in some public schools must wear headscarves and cloaks.

Signs of Hamas’s creeping Islamization are everywhere in Gaza, the Mediterranean coastal enclave that Hamas has run by itself since 2007. Gaza is already politically divided from the West Bank, the Palestinian territory administered by the secular Fatah movement.

“Ruling by itself, Hamas can stamp its ideas on everyone,” said Mkhaimar Abusada, a political science professor at Gaza’s al-Azhar University. “Islamizing society has always been part of Hamas strategy.”

Hamas-Fatah infighting has diverted Palestinians from their quest for statehood and from presenting a united front at proposed U.S.-brokered peace talks with Israel. With no Palestinian elections on the horizon -- a vote scheduled for January was canceled -- Hamas has free rein to rule in Gaza.

Hamas swept Palestinian legislative balloting in 2006 and took over the Gaza Strip a year later when its gunmen routed forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who still governs the West Bank. Syria and Iran back Hamas, while the U.S., its Middle East allies and the European Union support Abbas’s rule.

Caftans in Court

Some of the efforts are meeting resistance. When Supreme Court Justice Abdel Raouf Al-Halabi ordered women lawyers on July 26 to wear headscarves and caftans in court, attorneys contacted satellite television stations including Al-Arabiya to protest. On Sept. 6, Hamas’s Justice Ministry rescinded the directive.

Hamas officials say they have no plans to impose Islamic law. “What you are seeing are incidents, not policy,” said Younis al-Astal, a Hamas legislator. “We want Islamic law to be the standard, but we believe in persuasion.”

In an Oct. 13 speech, Abbas said Hamas was establishing an “emirate of darkness” in Gaza. Abbas’s Fatah movement has long viewed itself as a secular nationalist movement open to Muslims and Christians.

At the immigration office at Gaza’s border with Israel, a sign warns that alcoholic beverages, forbidden under Islam, will be poured out “in front of the owner.”

The government’s Islamic Endowment Ministry has deployed Virtue Committee members to preach at public places to warn of the dangers of immodest dress, card playing and dating.

Dancing Ban

The opening of the Palestinian Heritage Museum on Oct.7 was meant to include a rendition of the dabke, a line dance performed by girls and boys. Except that no girls were allowed.

Black-shirted men from Hamas carrying AK-47s appeared at the gates of the museum, on Gaza’s waterfront, said Jamal Salem, the curator. They said girls shouldn’t dance because it wasn’t religiously proper. Nor could they share the stage for the inaugural speeches, said Salem.

“They are trying to take Palestinian culture and make it all their own,” Salem said. “They say our traditions are against the law. Their law.”

In August, headmasters of several schools ordered girls to don white head scarves and black cloaks called jilbabs. They sent several girls in jeans home, according to Gaza press reports. The Education Ministry later said the orders were unauthorized acts of individual school officials.

No Defiance

“The episodes had an effect anyway,” said Eyad Sarraj, a psychiatrist and human rights campaigner. “What parent wants to be seen to defy Islamic rules?”

Abusada, the Gaza political science professor, said Hamas only retreats from overt Islamization for fear of “provoking” such secular-ruled Arab countries as Egypt, with which it competes for support with Abbas.

“At the same time, Hamas is under pressure from some of its own members as well as even more radical groups to implant a purist version of Islam,” he said.

Hamas is also wary of openly pressing for rule by religious edict because it undermines the group’s claim to legitimacy under Palestinian civil law, which set guidelines for the 2006 legislative vote, said Subhia Juma, a lawyer at the Independent Commission for Human Rights in Gaza.

“Hamas backs off when it looks like they are governing under Islamic law and people complain,” she said.

Israel, the U.S. and the EU say Hamas is a terrorist organization.

Swimming in Pants

In June, black-clad constables approached journalist Asmaa al-Ghoul, 27, and friends on a north Gaza beach, al-Ghoul said. Her offense: swimming in trousers and a blouse, not robes.

Male companions, including her brother, tried to defend her. Al-Ghoul said she phoned the government spokesman, who called off the police.

Hamas police spokesman Rafik Abu Hani said the crackdowns were abnormalities.

“Even here, we don’t make everyone wear Islamic-style beards,” he said, pointing to a clean-shaven aide.

Everyone backs alcohol prohibition, Abu Hani said, and the motorcycle restriction is a safety issue.

Al-Astal, the Hamas legislator, said it wasn’t a coincidence that youth were the principal targets of the push.

“We are working on young people, the next generation, to be more correctly Islamic,” he said. The older generation “is lost.”

And as for motorcycles: “A girl has to hold onto a boy’s waist to ride in the back. Things can happen. You know what I mean,” he said.

Terror Attack Foiled as Troops Chase Away Man Carrying Bomb

From the J-Post:

An IDF bomb squad detonated a 15-kilogram explosive seized during a search conducted along the Egyptian border on Thursday.

Late Wednesday night, IDF troops on a routine patrol of the border area spotted a suspicious figure carrying a bag containing what was later discovered to be a 15-kilogram bomb.

The soldiers ordered him to stop and fired several shots in the air. However, the man fled the scene back into Egypt, dropping the bag in his haste.

IDF sources said it was possible that the suspected terrorist was from the Gaza Strip and had crossed into the Sinai Peninsula with the intention of then crossing into Israel to carry out an attack.

The military has been following attempts to carry out attacks through the 'U-route', where Gazan terrorists travel to Egypt, then turn back upon reaching Sinai and infiltrate Israel via the more penetrable Israel-Egypt border.

Channel 10 quoted security officials as assessing the device was either meant to be used in Eilat, Israel's southernmost city, or in another major Israeli city to which the suspect would have been driven, in order to perpetrate a multiple-casualty attack.

OC Southern Command Maj. Gen. Yoav Galant praised the soldiers' alertness and quick response.

Iran Warned Over Nuclear 'Dead End' by UN's El Baradei

From BBC:

Investigations into Iran's nuclear programme will reach a "dead end" unless Tehran starts to co-operate, the UN nuclear chief has warned.

Mohamed El Baradei told governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that there had been no movement on issues that needed to be clarified.

He said he was "disappointed" with Iran's rejection of a deal that would see its uranium processed overseas.

He spoke ahead of an IAEA vote on a resolution critical of Iran.

In September Iran was revealed to have a second uranium enrichment facility, deepening Western fears about the nature of its nuclear ambitions.

Iran says its nuclear programme is for peaceful energy purposes, but the US and other nations say its is seeking nuclear weapons.

'Outstanding issues'

Addressing IAEA governors in Vienna, Mr El Baradei said his inspectors had made no progress on areas which needed to be clarified in order to verify the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear programme.

"It is now well over a year since the agency was last able to engage Iran in discussions about these outstanding issues," he said.

"We have effectively reached a dead end, unless Iran engages fully with us."

Tehran's late declaration of a second nuclear fuel enrichment facility had, he said, reduced "confidence in the absence of other nuclear facilities under construction in Iran which have not been declared".

And he called Iran's failure to agree to a US-backed plan under which its low-enriched uranium would be shipped overseas for processing into fuel disappointing.

The plan is seen as a way for Iran to get the fuel it needs, while giving guarantees to the West that it will not be used for nuclear weapons.

The BBC's John Leyne says that after years of taking a conciliatory tone, Mr El Baradei appears to have lost patience with the Iranians.

The IAEA chief, who steps down next month, spoke ahead of the vote on a resolution calling on Iran to halt construction of the recently-declared enrichment plant.

According to Reuters news agency, it also calls on Iran to comply with Security Council resolutions demanding a halt to uranium enrichment activity and allow IAEA inspectors access to its facilities.

If approved, it would be the first IAEA action against Iran in almost four years. The vote is expected either later in the day or on Friday.

Riyadh: Man to be Decapitated for Witchcraft

From Asia News:

In a recent report, Human Rights Watch calls for the sentence to be overturned. Each year, dozens of people are convicted in the desert kingdom for acts against Sharia.

Riyadh (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Saudi Arabia should overturn a death sentence imposed on a Lebanese national convicted of practicing witchcraft during a visit to the conservative kingdom, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report. The international human rights group also complained about the increasing use of charges of 'witchcraft,' crimes that are vaguely defined and arbitrarily used, to arbitrarily arrest and detain people across the kingdom.

The report highlights ongoing complaints over the Saudi justice system, which, whilst based on Islamic law, leaves a wide leeway to individual judges and can often result in dramatically inconsistent sentences.

Ali Sibat, a Lebanese psychic who made predictions on a satellite TV channel from his home in Beirut, was arrested by religious police in the holy city of Madinah during a pilgrimage in May 2008 and then sentenced to death by decapitation on 9 November this year.

“He was the most popular psychic on the channel,” said May al-Khansa, Sibat’s lawyer. “The number of callers, including from all over the Gulf, spiked in number when he appeared,” she added. “He was told if he confessed to witchcraft, he will be released and allowed to return to Lebanon.”

Sibat’s case is not unique. Dozens of people are arrested each year on charges like witchcraft, recourse to supernatural beings, black magic and fortune telling. These practices are considered polytheistic and severely punished according to Sharia rules.

HRW’s report also mentioned the case of Mustafa Ibrahim, an Egyptian pharmacist who was executed on 2 November 2007 for sorcery, which he allegedly used to break up a married couple.

In October 2006, a criminal court in the city of Jiddah convicted Eritrean national Muhammad Burhan for being a "charlatan," based on a leather-bound personal phone booklet containing writing in Eritrea's Tigrinya alphabet, and sentenced him to 20 months in prison and 300 lashes. He was eventually deported after serving more than double the time in prison.

Mosul: Christian Buildings Attacked, Church of Saint Ephrem Levelled

From Asia News:

At present, there is no information about casualties. Attackers carried out their action in broad daylight without any opposition. The methods used are like those used in the attack against the Bishop’s Palace in 2004. Christian sources say the “attack was like a Mafia warning”, a message to Christians “to leave the city.” The faithful are left with anger, disappointment and fear.

Mosul (AsiaNews) – Explosive devices were detonated this morning at two Christian sites in Mosul, the Church of Saint Ephrem and the Mother House of the Dominican Sisters of Saint Catherine. At present, there are no reports about casualties but the church was entirely destroyed. The convent also suffered damages but it is not known how much. Christian sources in Mosul told AsiaNews that the “attack was like a Mafia warning”, a message to Christians “to get out of the city.”

At around 10 am, a commando of about ten gunmen stormed the Church of Saint Ephrem in the al-Jadida neighbourhood, in a new section of the city. Attackers told everyone inside to leave and then calmly proceeded to place explosives around the building. When they were set off the whole structure was levelled. The same thing happened to the Bishop’s Palace in December 2004.

According to early reports, no one among the faithful was hurt in the blast.

After the first operation, the attackers moved to the Mother House of the Dominican Sisters of Saint Catherine, where a second explosion was heard around 10.30 am. For the moment, there are no details about the damages inflicted on the building or any casualties among the nuns.

Sources in Mosul told AsiaNews that the attacks were the work “of a group of about ten people who acted calmly.”

The area is under the control of Sunni Arabs and had not seen any major act of violence until now.

“We received threats and episodes of intimidation but nothing major,” a Christian source said.

This morning’s attacks resemble “the series of attacks that hit Mosul’s Christian community in the past.”

Local sources suggest that Kurds might be involved in the action in order to get Christians out of the area and into the “Nineveh Plain.”

“There is a lot of fear among the people because those who carried out the attack acted unimpeded and without opposition,” the anonymous source said.

In fact, it is more than just fear. A sense of “anger and disillusionment against the local and national governments is growing. It is the latest attack and latest disillusionment for Christians who feel abandoned.”

U.S. Islamists Congratulate Fort Hood Murderer, Urge Muslim Soldiers to Follow His Example

From the Jawa Report:

A U.S. based jihadi forum has issued a statement calling Nidal Hasan a hero and urged Muslims in the U.S. Army to follow his lead and attack their fellow soldiers:

We hope other “Muslims” in the US army repent from their apostasy and take [Nidal Hasan] as a role model, instilling fear in the enemies of Allah and taking them by surprise wherever they may be

The statement also condemns Muslims in the West for speaking out against the attack.

Well, I can't exactly call this shocking. The forum is overtly supportive of al Qaeda, so why not support the man who murdered so many at Fort Hood in the name of Allah?

The Ansar al-Mujahideen forum is hosted in Brussels, but the English side of the forum is run out of the US. It is internet based, which means that its editorial staff is decentralized, but we do know that North Carolina's Samir Khan helps run it. His blog is now hosted by them, he uses it to distribute his internet magazine, and his clique of friends and al Qaeda fellow travelers congregate there....

Read more at Jawa Report.

3 Arrested in Uzbek Theater Director's Stabbing Over Quran

From Taiwan News:

An Uzbek official says three men have been arrested for the 2007 killing of a theater director.

Marat Zakhidov of the government-run Human Rights Protection Committee said Wednesday that the suspects had told police they stabbed Mark Weil for his "misinterpretation" of the Muslim holy book in "Imitations of the Quran," which he directed.

Weil, whose productions caused controversy in the tightly controlled, mostly Muslim ex-Soviet state, based the play on Quranic verses and poems by the Russian writer Alexander Pushkin.

In 1979, Weil founded the Soviet Union's first independent theater, which gained popularity for staging uncensored productions.

Zakhidov did not say when the suspects were arrest. He said a fourth suspect had escaped.

Navy SEALs Face Assault Charges for Capturing Most-Wanted Terrorist

A vicious terrorist apparently got punched and blames the Navy SEALs who captured him. This is, of course, more important to the U.S. government than the fact this barbarian burned and lynched contractor workers in Iraq. The following story is absolutely disgusting if these military personnel are indeed being treated like this.

From Fox News:

Navy SEALs have secretly captured one of the most wanted terrorists in Iraq — the alleged mastermind of the murder and mutilation of four Blackwater USA security guards in Fallujah in 2004. And three of the SEALs who captured him are now facing criminal charges, sources told FoxNews.com.

The three, all members of the Navy's elite commando unit, have refused non-judicial punishment — called an admiral's mast — and have requested a trial by court-martial.

Ahmed Hashim Abed, whom the military code-named "Objective Amber," told investigators he was punched by his captors — and he had the bloody lip to prove it.

Now, instead of being lauded for bringing to justice a high-value target, three of the SEAL commandos, all enlisted, face assault charges and have retained lawyers.

Matthew McCabe, a Special Operations Petty Officer Second Class (SO-2), is facing three charges: dereliction of performance of duty for willfully failing to safeguard a detainee, making a false official statement, and assault.

Petty Officer Jonathan Keefe, SO-2, is facing charges of dereliction of performance of duty and making a false official statement.

Petty Officer Julio Huertas, SO-1, faces those same charges and an additional charge of impediment of an investigation.

Neal Puckett, an attorney representing McCabe, told Fox News the SEALs are being charged for allegedly giving the detainee a “punch in the gut.”

“I don’t know how they’re going to bring this detainee to the United States and give us our constitutional right to confrontation in the courtroom,” Puckett said. “But again, we have terrorists getting their constitutional rights in New York City, but I suspect that they’re going to deny these SEALs their right to confrontation in a military courtroom in Virginia.”

The three SEALs will be arraigned separately on Dec. 7. Another three SEALs — two officers and an enlisted sailor — have been identified by investigators as witnesses but have not been charged.

FoxNews.com obtained the official handwritten statement from one of the three witnesses given on Sept. 3, hours after Abed was captured and still being held at the SEAL base at Camp Baharia. He was later taken to a cell in the U.S.-operated Green Zone in Baghdad.

The SEAL told investigators he had showered after the mission, gone to the kitchen and then decided to look in on the detainee.

"I gave the detainee a glance over and then left," the SEAL wrote. "I did not notice anything wrong with the detainee and he appeared in good health."

Lt. Col. Holly Silkman, spokeswoman for the special operations component of U.S. Central Command, confirmed Tuesday to FoxNews.com that three SEALs have been charged in connection with the capture of a detainee. She said their court martial is scheduled for January.

United States Central Command declined to discuss the detainee, but a legal source told FoxNews.com that the detainee was turned over to Iraqi authorities, to whom he made the abuse complaints. He was then returned to American custody. The SEAL leader reported the charge up the chain of command, and an investigation ensued.

The source said intelligence briefings provided to the SEALs stated that "Objective Amber" planned the 2004 Fallujah ambush, and "they had been tracking this guy for some time."

The Fallujah atrocity came to symbolize the brutality of the enemy in Iraq and the degree to which a homegrown insurgency was extending its grip over Iraq.

The four Blackwater agents were transporting supplies for a catering company when they were ambushed and killed by gunfire and grenades. Insurgents burned the bodies and dragged them through the city. They hanged two of the bodies on a bridge over the Euphrates River for the world press to photograph.

Intelligence sources identified Abed as the ringleader, but he had evaded capture until September.

The military is sensitive to charges of detainee abuse highlighted in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. The Navy charged four SEALs with abuse in 2004 in connection with detainee treatment.

Saudi Arabia: Obama's Grandmother in Mecca for 'Hajj' Ceremony

From Adnkronos:

ANKARA, NOVEMBER 24 - Forty-two percent of women in Turkey become targets of physical or sexual violence, a staggering statistic which along with others will be the focus of events held on the occasion of tomorrow's International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. As Today's Zaman reports quoting data by the Directorate general on status of women, one of every four married women who are targets of violence is injured to the point of requiring medical attention. One of every three women who face violence from a husband or boyfriend attempts suicide. One in every five women, married and single, face violence from their relatives or peeple at school or the workplace. In recent years, some changes to the country's human rights laws have been made as Turkey inches along it its bid to join the European Union, but for many women who for various reasons end up in custody or behind bars, the situation is desperate. In the past 12 years, 74 women have been raped while in custody, and with allegations that have not yet been proved, this number climbs to over 300. In the past year only 15 women have complained of sexual abuse while in custody. There have been positive developments in recent years regarding this topic with sexual abuse gaining legal status as a crime, the range of the laws on rape being expanded and the sentencing deductions for "honor" killings and killings as part of tribal feuds abolished.

42% of Turkish Women Victims of Sexual Violence

From ANSAmed:

ANKARA, NOVEMBER 24 - Forty-two percent of women in Turkey become targets of physical or sexual violence, a staggering statistic which along with others will be the focus of events held on the occasion of tomorrow's International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. As Today's Zaman reports quoting data by the Directorate general on status of women, one of every four married women who are targets of violence is injured to the point of requiring medical attention. One of every three women who face violence from a husband or boyfriend attempts suicide. One in every five women, married and single, face violence from their relatives or peeple at school or the workplace. In recent years, some changes to the country's human rights laws have been made as Turkey inches along it its bid to join the European Union, but for many women who for various reasons end up in custody or behind bars, the situation is desperate. In the past 12 years, 74 women have been raped while in custody, and with allegations that have not yet been proved, this number climbs to over 300. In the past year only 15 women have complained of sexual abuse while in custody. There have been positive developments in recent years regarding this topic with sexual abuse gaining legal status as a crime, the range of the laws on rape being expanded and the sentencing deductions for "honor" killings and killings as part of tribal feuds abolished.

Iran Shuts Newspaper for Baha’i Photo

From the Khajeel Times:

TEHRAN - A popular conservative newspaper critical of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been closed down for carrying a photograph of a temple of the banned Baha’i faith, media reported on Tuesday.

At the same time, the publishers of another daily, Khabar, linked to a conservative rival of Ahmadinejad, have decided to stop publication due to unspecified pressure, the Etemad newspaper said.

Etemad quoted deputy Culture Minister Mohammad Ali Ramin as saying both newspapers had violated media laws and had received warnings from the Islamic Republic’s press supervisory board.

Government opponents may see such action by the authorities as an attempt to muzzle criticism of the hardline president after his disputed re-election in June, which plunged Iran into months of political turmoil.

Earlier in November, the press supervisory body banned the publication of a leading business daily, Sarmayeh, which has been critical of the government’s economic policies.

Hamshahri, which belongs to the Tehran municipality and is Iran’s highest-circulation newspaper, was closed down after it carried a front-page advertisement for tourism travel to India showing a Baha’i temple of worship, media said.

Iran’s Shi’ite Muslim religious establishment considers Baha’i an heretical offshoot of Islam.

Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, a pragmatic conservative, is seen as a political rival of Ahmadinejad. Khabar is seen as close to parliament speaker Ali Larijani, another conservative rival of the president.

Exiled Baha’i leaders allege that hundreds of followers of their faith have been jailed and executed in Iran in the past three decades. The government denies it has detained or executed people for their religion.

The Baha’is revere the 19th-century founder of their faith, Baha’ullah, as the latest in a line of prophets who include Mohammad, Moses, Zoraster, Buddha, Krishna and Jesus.

They espouse world peace, and their holiest places and world centre are in what is now Israel, Iran’s arch enemy.

Violence Against Women: Lebanon; 90% Victims of Abuse

From ANSAmed:

BEIRUT, NOVEMBER 25 - At least 90% of women in Lebanon are, or have been in the past, victim of physical or psychological abuse. This statement was made on the occasion of the tenth international day for the elimination of violence against women, by the Lebanese Council to Resist Violence Against Women (LCRVAW). "Only very few of these crimes are reported, because in Lebanon it is considered normal that a woman is beaten by her husband or a relative; therefore judges and policemen often underestimate the problem" said to ANSA Raghida Ghamlush, head of the LCRVAW office in Beirut. Despite the election of a woman as finance minister, "the situation in Lebanon" Ghamlush continued "is not good: the crime of domestic violence is not provided for in the penal code". For the Lebanese law, cases of maltreatment and abuse are part of family law, and are therefore handled directly by the confessional communities. "Only if injuries are reported by a doctor" the NGO leader said, "they can take legal action, but the chances of success are slim". Even worse, according to Dalal Chehade, head of the Lebanese NGO Najdeh, is the situation of women in the Lebanese refugee camps. "They are discriminated twice as much because they are refugees and because they are women", he told ANSA. Considered foreigners by the Lebanese Sate, "in case of abuse, before reporting their aggressor they must turn to the peoplés committee that handles these reports with the Lebanese authorities. This obstacle is sufficiently high for most crimes to remain unpunished", he concluded.

Threat of Jihad Infiltration Did Not Factor Into U.S. Army's Screening Process

From the World Tribune:

The U.S. Army, fearing political repercussions, refused to consider the prospect of infiltration by Al Qaida supporters.

A former senior army official told Congress that the military service drafted guidelines on a range of scenarios, including racism. But the army, despite the recruitment of thousands of Muslims, many of them converts, failed to examine prospects of infiltration by Al Qaida and other Islamists.

"Clearly we don't have specific guidelines in dealing with jihadist extremists," [Ret.] Gen. John Keane, former army vice chief of staff, told the Senate Homeland Security Committee.

In testimony on Nov. 19, Keane acknowledged that the army refused to draft guidelines on how to deal with Islamist recruits who preached war against the West. He said this failure, fostered by the fear of political and legal repercussions, enabled a Muslim officer to plan an attack in Fort Hood, Texas, the largest army base in the world, in which 13 people were killed.

"There is no doubt in my mind that was operating here," Keane, who retired in 2003, said.

Hours after Keane's testimony, the Defense Department said it would launch an investigation into Al Qaida influence in the military. Officials acknowledged that the military had failed to track Islamist recruitment or even determine the number of Muslims in the armed forces.

"The shootings at Fort Hood raise a number of troubling questions that demand complete but prompt answers," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said. "It is prudent to determine immediately whether there are internal weaknesses or procedural shortcomings in the department that could make us vulnerable in the future."

The Senate committee was told by former military commanders and officials of a reluctance to investigate the alleged shooter at Fort Hood, Maj. Nidal Hassan. They said without clear military policy any investigation of Hassan or other Al Qaida supporters in the military could have been regarded as discrimination of Muslims.

"You take some of this burden away from people by having those guidelines," Keane said.

President Barack Obama has warned against identifying Hassan as an Islamist.

On Nov. 17, Democratic leaders met with the National Security Council and agreed to delay any congressional
response to the Fort Hood shooting.

But Lieberman, an independent senator from Connecticut, said his investigation of the Hassan shooting would continue. He said this would not interfere with the current FBI probe.

At the hearing, Hassan was said to have given a presentation at Walter Reed Hospital on Islam. He was quoted as saying that the Koran demanded the establishment of Islamic rule by force.

Later, the FBI was reported to have found evidence that Hassan was in contact with an Al Qaida-aligned cleric in Yemen to finance attacks against the United States. In one e-mail, Hassan was said to have asked for $10,000 for an undisclosed operation.

"There are some who are reluctant to call it terrorism, but there is significant evidence that is," Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Sen. Carl Levin said. "I'm not at all uneasy saying it sure looks like that."

Muslim Anti-Christian Riots Spread in Upper Egypt

From the Assyrian International News Agency:

Upper Egypt (AINA) -- On Monday November 23, 2009 Muslim rioters looted and burned Coptic Christian businesses in the village of Abou Shousha, which lies 25 KM from Farshoot. The terrorized Coptic inhabitants of Abou Shusha have stayed indoors, their shops are closed and their children are being kept away from school. They fear a repeat in their village of the Muslim violence which engulfed the town of Farshoot less than 36 hours earlier (AINA 11-22-2009).

The Middle East Christian Association (MECA) reported that at least three large Coptic stores and a pharmacy were looted and burnt in Abou Shusha and that the fire brigade arrived one hour late, although their headquarters is only 8 KM away from the village. "They gave the pretext of being busy in Farshoot, which is untrue, as Farshoot had a quiet night," said Wagih Yacoub of MECA. "Coptic and Muslim neighbors tried to put the fire out." A video posted by Free Copts shows the Abou Shusha fires.

Bishop Kirrillos of Nag Hamady Diocese said that a mob from the neighboring village of Abu Tesht torched the businesses in Abou Shusha. MECA reported that three girls were assaulted in the street by having bricks hurled at them. No serious injuries were reported.

On November 22, in a joint communiqué from fourteen Egyptian human rights organizations and lawyers called on President Mubarak to immediately intervene to save the Copts from the wrath of the mob and the subversive leaders behind them, who are seeking to sow discord and divisions among the Egyptians in the name of religion and "to hold accountable all involved in the incitement or attacks on the peaceful Copts in Farshoot."

The signatories to the statement asked President Mubarak to take the necessary measures to hold accountable the security force officials, who played the "role of spectator in the looting, arson and attacks on Coptic property in Farshoot."

The communiqué strongly condemned the deportation and evacuation of the Copts in Farshoot from their homes and villages by the security forces, in violation of the provisions of the Egyptian Constitution which stipulates in Article 50 and 51 of the Code "No citizen may be prohibited from residing or be forced to reside in a specific area except in the circumstances set out in the law.

The NGOs' statement stressed the right of the Coptic victims for compensation for the material losses and psychological damage, and strongly condemned the burning and insulting of the symbols of Christianity by the Muslims fanatics, and demanded everyone involved to be charged with the crime of "contempt of a heavenly religion."

It is estimated that over 80% of Coptic businesses have been destroyed in the 48 hours of violence in Farshoot. A video prepared by Free Copts advocacy shows Muslim mobs chanting Allah Akbar (God is Great) while looting and burning Coptic businesses and shops

The Egyptian Union for Human Rights (EUHRO) advised that it is preparing a file with all the financial losses and damages to Coptic-owned businesses and property in Farshoot in preparation for filing a civil and a criminal case against the Egyptian Prime Minister, the Governor of Qena and the perpetrators.

"They want the Copts to be poor and are therefore destroying the Coptic economy in these areas," explains Wagih Yacoub.

Bishop Kirollos again condemned the grave violations against Christians and their property, affirming his belief that the attacks were preplanned. "Students of Al-Azhar Institute in Farshoot, were incited by their Dean who sent them out on a rampage against the Copts. They were joined by a great number of locals," he said.

Imam Preaches to "Kill Gays" at City University in the UK

From Harry's Place:

“The Vice Chancellor of City University London, Julius Weinberg, should resign. He is refusing to take any action after the Islamic Society hosted a fundamentalist preacher, Abu Usamah, who advocates the murder of gay people and of Muslims who give up their faith,” said human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell.

Abu Usamah was recorded on Channel Four’s television documentary, Undercover Mosque, as saying: “Do you practice homosexuality with men? Take that homosexual man and throw him off the mountain.” On Muslims who leave the faith he said: “If the Imam wants to crucify him, he should crucify him. The person is put up on the wood and he’s left there to bleed to death for three days.”

Abu Usamah was also filmed deriding women as “deficient”, inferior to men and intellectually “incomplete.”

Another speaker given a platform at the same City University event on 4 November, Murthadah Khan, was also caught on the Undercover Mosque documentary calling Jews and Christians “enemies” and “filthy”.

“It is utterly disgraceful that the student’s union has defended the hosting of these two hate preachers, and that the Vice Chancellor has not responded to complaints from students. These responses violate the equal opportunities policies of the university and the student’s union,” added Mr Tatchell.

“They would never tolerate a white surpemacist who used racist abuse and advocated the murder of black people. Why the double standards?

“The Vice Chancellor seems unwilling to uphold the university’s equal opportunities policy. He has failed to defend Muslim, Jewish, Christian, gay and women students and staff against this vile hatred. Having neglected to ensure that the university is a safe, welcoming place to work and study, Julius Weinberg should stand down,” said Mr Tatchell

Islamic Extremists Execute Young Convert in Somalia

From Compass Direct News:

Christian accused of trying to convert Muslim teenager found shot on Mogadishu street.

NAIROBI, Kenya, November 23 (CDN) — Islamic extremists controlling part of the Somali capital of Mogadishu this month executed a young Christian they accused of trying to convert a 15-year-old Muslim to Christianity.

Members of the Islamic extremist group al Shabaab had taken 23-year-old Mumin Abdikarim Yusuf into custody on Oct. 28 after the 15-year-old boy reported him to the militants, an area source told Compass. Yusuf’s body was found on Nov. 14 on an empty residential street in Mogadishu, with sources saying the convert from Islam was shot to death, probably some hours before dawn.

“Our brother Yusuf has been murdered,” the source told Compass. “His body was dumped in Yaqshid district of Mogadishu, and his body is said to be on an empty residential street.”

Al Shabaab, said to have links with al Qaeda terrorists, controls parts of Mogadishu and much of southern parts of Somalia, as well as other areas of the nation.

Their accusations against Yusuf had led the extremist group to raid Yusuf’s home in Holwadag district, Mogadishu, sources said. After searching his home, militia didn’t find anything relating to Christianity but still took him into custody.

Before Yusuf was executed by two shots to the head, reports filtered in to the Compass source that he had been badly beaten and his fingers broken as the Islamists tried to extract incriminating evidence against him and information about other Christians. The source later learned that Yusuf’s body showed signs of torture; all of his front teeth were gone, and some of his fingers were broken, he said.

“We don’t know the time he was murdered, but his freshly killed body was dumped in Yaqshid district at around 4:30 in the morning of Nov. 14, and due to the will of the family we have buried the body at around 3 p.m. on Nov. 14,” the source said.

The clandestine Christians could not safely identify themselves to Yusuf’s Muslim family, but they were able to indirectly assist the parents in burying him with dignity, the source said.

It is not known whether under torture Yusuf revealed information about area members of the hidden church, but underground church leaders have been relocating local Christians who knew him, the source said.

“We still don’t know if the Shabaab did find any new evidence from Yusuf,” he said.

Yusuf’s Muslim parents did not know that their son was a Christian, and they had insisted to the al Shabaab militants that he was still a Muslim, the source said. The extremists accused the family of not reporting that their son had converted to Christianity, and they ordered his mother and father to appear before an al Shabaab court.

Although the Compass source could not confirm whether the parents heeded the command, he said they most likely did as it is not uncommon for the militants to behead those who defy their orders.

“I cannot confirm if they appeared before the Islamist court, but that is highly possible,” he said. “Who can dare defy them?”

The extremists have demonstrated they have no qualms about killing those they perceive to be sympathetic to any “foreign” religion, the source said. He added that the Islamic extremists did not execute Yusuf quickly only because they had no evidence against him except the testimony of the teenage boy.

“In Islam, to execute someone you need to have evidence of three witnesses, and they didn’t have it,” he said. “Al Shabaab is known to do whatever they like, and they don’t even follow the rules of their religion they claim adherence to.”

The discovery of Yusuf’s body brought an end to a strenuous attempt by his family to secure his release, but they are now living in fear since al Shabaab has accused them of concealing their son’s new faith.

The source said Yusuf’s death was typical of the Islamic extremist group, which often pumps bullets into their victims before dumping their bodies in public places to serve as a warning to those who dare to resist its orders.

Since the ouster of dictator Siad Barre in 1991, Somalia has been without a strong central government and has been at the mercy of vicious clan-based militants. Some, such as al Shabaab, are seeking to establish a strict version of sharia (Islamic law) as they fight to oust the Transitional Federal Government of President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed that is backed by the Africa Union and Western nations.

FBI Releases 2008 Hate Crime Statistics

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States has released their annual hate-crime statistics. As in previous years, a bulk of hate-crimes in the U.S. have targeted Blacks, Jews (who are smaller in number than other religious groups in the U.S.) and homosexuals. 105 incidents targeted Muslims, which is significantly less in number than attacks on Whites (716 incidents), Hispanics (516 incidents), Homosexual (1237 incidents in total), Jewish (1,013 incidents) and Black (2,876 incidents) groups.

Here are some details, courtesy of REAL Courage:

– “An analysis of the 7,780 single-bias incidents revealed that 51.3 percent were motivated by a racial bias”
– Anti-Black Racial Hate 2,876, Anti-Jewish Hate 1,013, Anti-Homosexual 1,200, Anti-Hispanic 561
– Anti-Islam Incidents – 105

From the FBI:

Bias motivation	Incidents	Offenses	Victims1	Known offenders2
Total	7,783	9,168	9,691	6,927
Single-Bias Incidents	7,780	9,160	9,683	6,921
Race:	3,992	4,704	4,934	3,723
Anti-White	716	812	829	811
Anti-Black	2,876	3,413	3,596	2,596
Anti-American Indian/Alaskan Native	54	59	63	61
Anti-Asian/Pacific Islander	137	162	170	140
Anti-Multiple Races, Group	209	258	276	115
Religion:	1,519	1,606	1,732	632
Anti-Jewish	1,013	1,055	1,145	353
Anti-Catholic	75	75	89	35
Anti-Protestant	56	60	62	34
Anti-Islamic	105	123	130	85
Anti-Other Religion	191	212	222	90
Anti-Multiple Religions, Group	65	67	70	33
Anti-Atheism/Agnosticism/etc.	14	14	14	2
Sexual Orientation:	1,297	1,617	1,706	1,460
Anti-Male Homosexual	776	948	981	921
Anti-Female Homosexual	154	194	198	156
Anti-Homosexual	307	415	466	336
Anti-Heterosexual	33	33	34	25
Anti-Bisexual	27	27	27	22
Ethnicity/National Origin:	894	1,148	1,226	1,034
Anti-Hispanic	561	735	792	711
Anti-Other Ethnicity/National Origin	333	413	434	323
Disability:	78	85	85	72
Anti-Physical	22	28	28	26
Anti-Mental	56	57	57	46
Multiple-Bias Incidents3	3	8	8	6

• ¹ The term victim may refer to a person, business, institution, or society as a whole.
• ² The term known offender does not imply that the identity of the suspect is known, but only that an attribute of the suspect has been identified, which distinguishes him/her from an unknown offender.
• ³ In a multiple-bias incident, two conditions must be met: (a) more than one offense type must occur in the incident and (b) at least two offense types must be motivated by different biases.

Terrorism That's Personal

The following is painful and sad to see. However, it must be seen. This is from All Eyes (Tampa Bay):

Saira Liaqat, 26, poses for the camera as she holds a portrait of herself before being burned, at her home in Lahore, Pakistan, Wednesday, July 9, 2008. When she was fifteen, Saira was married to a relative who would later attack her with acid after insistently demanding her to live with him, although the families had agreed she wouldn't join him until she finished school. Saira has undergone plastic surgery 9 times to try to recover from her scars.

All Eyes notes the following:

We typically think of terrorism as a political act.

But sometimes it’s very personal. It wasn’t a government or a guerrilla insurgency that threw acid on this woman’s face in Pakistan. It was a young man whom she had rejected for marriage. As the United States ponders what to do in Afghanistan — and for that matter, in Pakistan — it is wise to understand both the political and the personal, that the very ignorance and illiteracy and misogyny that create the climate for these acid attacks can and does bleed over into the political realm. Nicholas Kristof, the New York Times op-ed columnist who traveled to Pakistan last year to write about acid attacks, put it this way in an essay at the time: “I’ve been investigating such acid attacks, which are commonly used to terrorize and subjugate women and girls in a swath of Asia from Afghanistan through Cambodia (men are almost never attacked with acid). Because women usually don’t matter in this part of the world, their attackers are rarely prosecuted and acid sales are usually not controlled. It’s a kind of terrorism that becomes accepted as part of the background noise in the region....

Read it all and see the rest of the images here. Viewer discretion is advised.

Freedom for Imprisoned Christian 'Apostates'

Two women who were imprisoned in Iran's Evin Prison because they are Christians have finally been released. The women were jailed for a total of 259 days.

From World Net Daily:

After millions of prayers and numerous petitions from around the world, two Iranian women jailed for no other reason than being Christian were released from a Tehran prison today.

Maryam Rustampoor, 27, and Marzieh Amirizadeh, 30, were imprisoned for 259 days – since March 5. They were repeatedly told to recant their faith and that they would be executed as "apostates," solely because they are Christians.

But now Open Doors USA has confirmed the women have been released from the notorious Evin prison with no bail, a rarity for Christians released from prison in Iran.

"I am glad to let you know that Maryam and Marzieh are now set free without bail and they are currently at home," an Open Doors field worker announced.

Read it all here.

Suspicious Note and Package at Fort Benning

From WRBL News 3 (Georgia, USA):

Fort Benning investigators are launching an investigation into a suspicious note and package found last week on post.

News 3 spoke to a post representative Sunday night, they say the note and box were found Thursday morning outside a motor pool belonging to the 197th.

Officials could not release any more information, but the Army Times is reporting the box was full of twenty hollow point shells and the note threatened a re-enactment of the massacre at Fort Hood. Fort Benning Public Affairs Officer Elsie Jackson says the safety of soldiers and their families is always a priority and the appropriate safety measures are already in place.

Jackson could not say if investigators have any suspects, or detail what the note said....

Alavi Foundation Financed Radical Professors, May Have Funneled Money to Iranian Spies

From JTA:

(JTA) -- A Manhattan-based Islamic charity is funding anti-Israel, pro-Iran professors at Columbia and Rutgers universities, the New York Post reported.

The Alavi Foundation has aggressively given away hundreds of thousands of dollars to Columbia and Rutgers for Middle Eastern and Persian studies programs that employ professors sympathetic to the Iranian dictatorship, the newspaper reported Monday.

"We found evidence that the government of Iran really controlled everything about the foundation," Adam Kaufmann, investigations chief at the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, told the Post.

Federal agents also believe the foundation funnels money to Iran-supported Islamic schools in the United States and to a syndicate of Iranian spies based in Europe, according to the newspaper. U.S. agents have begun seizing as much as $650 million in assets from the foundation, according to the report.

The foundation donated $100,000 to Columbia after the school agreed to host Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Post reported, based on 2007 tax filings.

The foundation would not comment on the Post's report.

Read more about the recent scandal involving the Alavi Foundation here.

UAE Police Crack Down on Youths with 'Indecent' Haircuts

From Monsters and Critics:

Police in the United Arab Emirates cracked down on youngsters at shopping malls who violated so-called 'decency laws,' media reported Saturday.

Scores of youngsters were detained by police in the Ras Al Khaimah emirate for sporting 'unusual hair cuts' and clothing that showed parts of their bodies immodestly, the Gulf News reported.

Some of the teenagers were given haircuts by the police, in an effort to enforce the conservative code of the Gulf country.

Parents were summoned to sign pledges that they would educate their children in a 'decent manner.' The families were reported to have been pleased with the police for helping them discipline the wayward children.

13-Year-Old Child Forced to Plant Bomb, Dies

From Gulf Daily News:

KABUL: A 13-year-old Afghan forced by militants to plant a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan was killed when it exploded, the interior ministry said yesterday.

He was placing the improvised explosive device on a road in the Zahri district of southern Kandahar province, where Taliban influence is concentrated.

In other operations, Afghan and foreign troops killed 23 Taliban militants a day after President Hamid Karzai pledged to take responsibility for security in his new five-year term.

Eleven died in Zahri district in Kandahar and eight in the Sanzari area of the district. In eastern Kunar province, four militants were killed when Nato soldiers returned fire. There were no casualties among the troops.

In Kabul, a rocket attack near the luxury Serena Hotel injured four people, including two Afghan security personnel and two women. There was no damage to the hotel, owned by the Aga Khan.

It is Kabul's only five-star hotel and has been heavily-fortified following attacks three weeks ago, forcing more than 100 people to rush into an underground bunker.

In January 2008, Taliban gunmen stormed the hotel, which is near the presidential palace, killing six people including a Norwegian journalist.

Meanwhile, 80 Taliban militants laid down their weapons at the police headquarters in the eastern city of Herat, and joined the police force, accepting a government amnesty aimed at ending the insurgency.

"Negotiations have been going on with their commander Mula Solaiman as we have been trying to absorb him into the government," an official said.

The former border guard commander changed sides a number of times.

So far 8,340 Taliban have accepted the amnesty.

Currently only Kabul is controlled and secured by Afghans, while more than 100,000 troops from the US and Nato countries are fighting the Taliban in an intensifying insurgency.

The independent website eicasualties.org puts the death toll for foreign troops so far this year at 477, compared to 295 for all of 2008.

Nato yesterday took command of the training of the Afghan army and police to consolidate efforts on building an effective security force, a vital precondition for the withdrawal of foreign troops.

The existing US training mission, CSTC-A, until now responsible for most of the training, will merge with the new Nato Training Mission-Afghanistan, under a single command.

Deputy Commander of the new Nato mission Major General Michael Ward hoped the move would encourage more Nato training personnel to be sent to Afghanistan, helping to speed the expansion of local forces.

Cartoonist Jailed, Given Hard Labor Over Satire Comic

From the Gulf Times:

A court in southwestern Bangladesh yesterday found a cartoonist guilty of “hurting the religious feelings of the Muslim community” and sentenced him to two months of hard labour.

Arifur Rahman, 25, was tried in absence over the drawing, which sparked street clashes and riots in the capital Dhaka when it appeared in a satirical magazine two years ago.

Rahman, who was arrested but later bailed, said that he was unaware of the trial.

The cartoon appeared in Bengali newspaper Prothom Alo’s weekly and now defunct magazine Alpin.

“He has been given a two-month, hard labour jail sentence and a 500-taka ($7.40) fine,” said magistrate Kaisarul Islam, who presided over the case in the city of Jessore.

“I am not on the run and have not been told about the case,” Rahman said in Dhaka. “I will speak to my lawyers.”

Muslim Leader in Malta Supports Shariah Law

Thanks to Islam in Europe for the following story.

From the Times of Malta:

Imam Mohamed El Sadi, the Muslim leader in Malta, believes chopping off the hands of thieves is a "deserving punishment".

Mr El Sadi made the statement during Monday's television programme Bondiplus, where he defended Sharia law, a judicial system used in some Islamic states and which can involve severe corporal punishments.

Contacted yesterday, Mr El Sadi stood by his comments and added the world was incurring the "wrath of God" through its permissiveness and destruction of spiritual and moral values, namely through the acceptance of "same-sex marriages, homosexuality, adultery and abortion".

Under Sharia law, such things are considered crimes that may even be punishable by death. When asked if the he agreed with such punishments he said: "Yes, of course. I agree with everything Islamic."

The TV show discussed whether crucifixes should be banned from classrooms. When presenter Lou Bondì asked Mr El Sadi if Muslims could be more tolerant and "light-hearted" in their reactions to parody and criticism, Mr El Sadi said Europe's permissive values were not necessarily ideal.

"Are same-sex marriages a value? What is this value? If in the future the majority of people want the right for men to marry cats, dogs or horses, will we make a law to fulfil these wishes," Mr El Sadi asked.

Mr Bondì then asked whether religion should dictate the laws of the country, through, say, Sharia law.

"What is wrong with Sharia law? If someone steals, he is taking from the country or the poor, so why is it wrong to cut off his hand?" the Imam replied.

Mr El Sadi said the punishment should terrify thieves and criminals, "not the good people".

When speaking to The Times about his remarks, the Imam said: "Why don't you concentrate on what is common rather than pick on what is controversial?"

He said he was not proposing this system for Europe because it would be undemocratic. But it was also undemocratic for Muslim countries not to use it because most Muslims wanted it.

The system was practised in Saudi Arabia for centuries and yielded results but many Muslim-majority countries believed in secularism and did not employ such practice, he said.

He conceded there were different kinds of Muslims who thought of Sharia differently. "But whoever denies this is not a Muslim," he said, adding the law of God was perfect.

He said there were many safeguards to ensure Sharia law was applied justly, through a court system that depended on having several witnesses. "This does not apply to thieves who are poor or hungry. This is for people who have everything and want more; people who are greedy... The point is to frighten criminals."

Fr Renè Camilleri, who was also a guest on the programme, said he was "shocked" by the Imam's comments.

"I tried to insist violence is unacceptable. The concept is horrific to me. It is equivalent to the death penalty. I know it is what Sharia law dictates but, coming from him, such a moderate and tolerant person, I was shocked," he said, adding he never considered the Imam to be a fundamentalist.

Reacting to the television debate, anthropologist Ranier Fsadni warned against "misunderstanding" the comments and said such views were probably not shared by all Muslims in Europe.

He said many migrated because they did not like the society they lived in, while a large number of others came from countries that did not believe Sharia was prescribed by the Quran or meant to be taken literally without taking the culture of the time into context.

"Just as a priest does not necessarily represent all his community, the Imam does not necessarily represent all Muslims in Malta. Then, again, he is respected and appreciated as a pastoral leader."

Mr Fsadni said the Imam was simply being "intellectually honest" and defending his belief and was not proposing the system for Malta. He was also honest about his views of democracy and the rule of the majority.

A video clip with the Imam's comment can be viewed on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2e2gtOO029U .

Five Pakistani Soldiers Arrested Because of Ties to Terror Group

From the Hindustan Times:

Some serving and ex-military officers are among five people arrested in Pakistan in connection with the LeT plot to carry out a major terror attack in India using American national David Coleman Headley, a media report said today.

"Pakistani authorities had arrested as many as five other people in connection with the (Lashkar-e-Toiba) plot in recent weeks, including some former or current Pakistani military officials," the New York Times reported.

The paper quoted an official, who has been briefed on the investigation, as saying that those arrested remain in custody, but it was unclear what role they played in the expanding plot.

Headley, 49, and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, 48, who were arrested last month by FBI are accused of plotting terror attacks on behest of LeT against India and a Danish newspaper.

"The arrests of Headley and Rana have widened into a global terrorism inquiry that has led to arrests in Pakistan and implicated a former Pakistani military officer as a co-conspirator," the paper quoted officials as saying.

The American intelligence officials believe that some Pakistani military and intelligence officials even encourage terrorists to attack what they see as Pakistan's enemies, including targets in India, it said.

Headley and Rana were accused in the FBI complaints of reporting to Ilyas Kashmiri, a former Pakistani military officer who has become a militant commander associated with both al-Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Toiba.

Russian Priest Who Preached to Converts from Islam Murdered in Moscow

From the New York Times:

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A masked gunman entered a church and murdered a Russian Orthodox priest who had received death threats for converting Muslims to Christianity and criticizing Islam, prosecutors and church officials said Friday.

The killing could threaten delicate relations between the powerful majority Russian Orthodox Church, which has close ties to the Kremlin, and the country's growing Muslim minority of about 20 million.

The gunman approached priest Daniil Sysoyev, 34, in St Thomas Church in southern Moscow Thursday night, checked his name and then opened fire with a pistol, a spokesman for the investigating committee of the Prosecutor-General's office said.

"The main theory is that religious motives are behind the crime," spokesman Anatoly Bagmet said.

Sysoyev died on the way to hospital. His choirmaster was injured in the attack, Bagmet said, and is in hospital under armed guard.

Sysoyev was from Tatarstan, a predominantly Muslim region of Russia on the Volga river. He was threatened after preaching to Muslims and Christians from other denominations.

"I have received 10 threats via e-mail that I shall have my head cut off (if I do not stop preaching to Muslims)," Sysoyev stated on a television program in February 2008, according to Interfax. "As I see it, it is a sin not to preach to Muslims."

Russia is home to Europe's largest Muslim community and Islam is the country's second-biggest faith, something which Sysoyev criticized.

"Islam is far from being a religion in the way we understand it," he said in one of his video lectures posted on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJNPSyh4zFk&feature=related).

"Islam can be rather compared with projects like National Socialism or the Communist party seeking to create God's kingdom on Earth using humanly instruments," he added.

He also wrote books including "An Orthodox Response to Islam" and "Marrying a Muslim," in which he advised Russian women against taking a Muslim partner.

Russia has seen a religious revival after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the dominant Orthodox Church has become an important political force. Its leader, Patriarch Kirill, is frequently seen in public with Russian and foreign leaders.

But Orthodox bishops have complained that rival Christian denominations are seeking to make converts on its territory and Islam is spreading fast among a sprawling community of migrants from predominantly Muslim republics of the former Soviet Union.

The Russian Patriarch's press service refused to comment on the murder but some of Sysoyev's Orthodox colleagues referred to Muslim attacks on him prior to the killing.

"Father Daniil ... has been periodically receiving e-mails which said he will be treated as 'infidel' if he did not stop polemics with Muslims," Kiril Frolov, the head of the Orthodox Experts Association, told Interfax news agency.

Russia's Chief Mufti Ravil Gainuddin expressed his condolences to the Orthodox Church and to Sysoyev's family. He cautioned against assigning blame prematurely or speculating about the motives for the killing.

"We want to say that we oppose any expressions of terrorism and extremism," he told reporters. "Islam denounces terror and the murder of an imam, an orthodox priest, is an awful sin..."

Sysoyev also preached against small religious groupings such as Seventh-day Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses, viewed as "totalitarian sects" by the Orthodox Church.

Sheikh Al-Qaradhawi Explains His Objections to Muslim-Christian Interfaith Dialogue

Al-Qaradhawi complains that no pope has apologized for the crusades. However, no Muslim leader has apologized for the Prophet Muhammad's brutal raping, pillaging and murders of non-Muslims during the rise of Islam. Al-Qaradhawi hasn't denounced terrorism committed in the name of Islam either. Of course, the sheikh used this opportunity to defame Jews which is very typical of him.

From MEMRI:

Following are excerpts from a sermon by leading Sunni cleric Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi, who heads the International Union for Muslim Scholars (IUMS). The sermon aired on Qatar TV on October 30, 2009.

To view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/2267.htm.

To view the MEMRI TV page on Sheikh Al-Qaradhawi, visit http://www.memritv.org/subject/en/589.htm .

"No Pope Has Ever Apologized to the Muslims for What Happened To Them in the Crusader Wars"

Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi: "We halted this Islamic-Christian dialogue. We were preparing for the third summit, when the new pope came into office and delivered his famous speech, affronting Islam, the Prophet of Islam, the Koran, the Islamic nation, and the history of Islam, without justification and without any preliminaries. He alleged that the Prophet Muhammad did not make any contribution other than spreading Islam by the sword. This is an utter lie.

"Therefore, we, in the International Union of Muslim Scholars, demanded, on more than one occasion, that he apologize, in one way or another, or else we would halt the dialogue with the Vatican. Indeed, I'm sad to say, the man did not utter a word of apology. Even if some Muslims tried to say it's enough if he says I-don't-know-what... He did not say anything straightforwardly.

"The Vatican apologized to the Jews, who said that Christ was a liar, that he was the son of a prostitute, that his mother was not a virgin, and that he was fathered by Joseph the carpenter. They absolved the Jews, who organized and took part in his killing. They exonerated the Jews of the spilling of the blood of Christ.

"No pope has ever apologized to the Muslims for what happened to them in the Crusader wars, which were hostile wars. They came to our countries from Europe, and did what they did in the nine Crusades. Therefore, we have halted our dialogue with these people, with the Vatican."

"We Recognize Christianity... But These [Christians] Do Not Recognize Us"

"Let me tell you, with regard to the Christians, in general, there is a problem, which I raised at the third conference, held in Doha, as well as at the interfaith dialogue conference in Mecca, convened by the Saudi monarch a year and a half ago.

"I said: Brothers, the problem is that [although] we recognize Christianity, and we recognize Christ, his holy book, and his religion... A Muslim's faith is not complete unless he believes in this, because it is incumbent upon him to believe in every book that was sent down and in every prophet who was sent [by God]. 'And what was given to Moses and Jesus and other prophets from their Lord - we make no distinction between any of them, and to Him do we submit.'

"But these [Christians] do not recognize us. [They say]: “Muhammad was a liar. The Koran is a fabrication. They created the Koran and attributed it to Allah.'

"These things have practical implications. We were at a conference in Cairo, called The Christians of the Middle East. I wanted to say, in the closing statement: 'The people of the divine religions agreed...' But [the Christians] said: 'Stop!' I asked: 'What is it?' They said: 'We do not recognize Islam as a divine religion. It is not a divine religion.' They agreed to say all kinds of things, but not that Islam is a divine religion. I wanted to include another sentence, about 'Godly values.' They said: 'No, we do not recognize Islamic values as being Godly. They are human values, brought by a guy who claimed to be a prophet.' I exploded and said: 'So what are we convening for? If you do not recognize our religion and our values as divine, what are we meeting for? Go away.' And I left the meeting."

I Cannot Find "One Practical Thing That These Conferences Have Achieved for the Benefit of the Islamic Nation"

"Brother, there is a problem with our dialogue with these people, who look at our Prophet, our Koran, and our nation this way, while we flock to them, and do not achieve a thing. Give me one practical thing that these conferences have achieved for the benefit of the Islamic nation. I cannot find a thing."