Spouses of Terror Suspects Can Claim Benefits, EU Court Rules

From the Times Online (UK):

Treasury restrictions on State handouts to the wives of terrorist suspects are illegal, European judges ruled today.

The decision may force the Government to change anti-terrorism rules following a legal case brought by three women whose husbands appear on a list of people said to have links with al-Qaeda, the Taleban and Osama bin Laden.

People on the list, drawn up by a UN sanctions committee, have their funds and other assets frozen, in a bid to cut off terrorist funding.

The EU enforces the measure via rules stating that no funds “shall be made available, directly or indirectly, to, or for the benefit of” people named on the list, unless authorised to cover “basic expenses”.

But the spouses of three suspects on the list went to court to challenge the Treasury’s decision to impose tough restrictions on access to social security payments worth several hundred pounds a week, including income support, child benefit and housing assistance.

Under the Treasury rules, such benefits must be paid into a bank account, and the spouse can draw only up to £10 in cash for each member of her household. All other payments from the account must be made by debit card.

The spouses, all living in the UK with their husbands and children, must also submit a monthly account to the Treasury detailing all spending, with receipts for any goods bought and copies of bank statements allowing Treasury officials to check that the purchases do not exceed “basic expenses.”

A UK legal challenge that the payments should not be subject to such conditions was thrown out by the High Court, but the European Court of Justice today declared:

“The freezing of funds of persons with suspected links to bin Laden, al-Qaeda or the Taleban does not apply to certain social security benefits paid to their spouses

“The regulation ordering funds to be frozen applies only to assets that can be used to support terrorist activities.”

The judges said the Treasury took the view that social security and assistance benefits such as income support, disability living allowance, child benefit, housing benefit and council tax benefit granted to the wives of people on the list was banned by the rules drawn up by the EU, “as those sums might be used to cover basic household expenses, such as buying food for communal meals.

“If so, they would be made indirectly available for the benefit of the husband whose name appeared on the list.”

But the Treasury did make exceptions for wives who could receive the benefits under certain conditions.

The judgment said: “The Court considers that the interpretation used by the Treasury, to the effect that by receiving State benefits the wives indirectly make funds available for the benefit of their husbands, is not based on any danger whatsoever that the funds in question may be diverted in order to support terrorist activities.”

The judges said no-one had argued that the wives involved handed over their state benefits to their husbands instead of using them for household expenses: “It is hard to imagine how those funds could be turned into means that could be used to support terrorist activities, for the benefits are fixed at a level intended to meet only the strictly vital needs of the persons concerned.

“The court concludes, therefore, that the benefit that a person included in the list might indirectly derive from the social allowances paid to his spouse does not compromise the objective pursued by the regulation.”

A Treasury spokesman said: “The Government notes the judgment regarding payment of benefits to the spouses of designated persons.

“The case will now be referred back to the UK’s Supreme Court to provide a final ruling. The Government will be considering its response to the European Court judgment.”

It is understood that today’s ruling affects fewer than a dozen people currently living in the UK.

Iranian Police to Arrest Women With Sun Tans

From the International Business Times:

Better hide those bronzed skin when visiting Tehran, Iran. At least if you are a woman.

On Thursday, Tehran police chief Brig. Gen. Hossien Sajedinia has warned that all women sporting a tan will be arrested and imprisoned because this violates the "spirit of Islamic law." Thus, any woman that looked like a "walking mannequin" will be punished.

He said that the Iranian public expects the police to act firmly and swiftly to any social misbehavior caused by women, and men, particularly those who defy the Islamic values. He cited some areas in northern Tehran where suntanned women and young girls look like walking mannequins.

"We are not going to tolerate this situation and will first warn those found in this manner and then arrest and imprison them," Sajedinia said.

The warning is the latest move by Iranian authorities that is showing a trend towards "radical" implementation of Islam. Recently, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned of an impending major earthquake.

Prior to Ahmadinejad's statement, senior Iranian cleric, Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi, claimed that revealing female clothing disturbed young men and also caused earthquakes.

"Many women who do not dress modestly ... lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which (consequently) increases earthquakes," Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi was quoted as saying by Iranian media.

But some analysts said that the new order for women to dress "immodestly" is part of a wider campaign by the government to quash the opposition movement.

According to Iranian law, women should dress according to Islamic values and requires them to wear headscarves and loose-fitting, figure-disguising cloaks. But many Iranian women have been liberally interpreting this rule due to lack of legal clarity and partly due to a growing desire for women to be in fashion.

Italy: Imam 'Arrested' in Milan After Terror Conviction

From Adnkronos:

Milan, 29 April (AKI) - A radical Muslim preacher was arrested in the northern city of Milan on Thursday, sources close to Milan's Muslim community told Adnkronos International (AKI). Italy's top appeals court on Wednesday jailed Egyptian-born Abu Imad on terrorism charges.

The imam, who previously led prayers at Milan's central mosque was taken to police headquarters and was to be transferred to the city's San Vittore prison, the sources told AKI.

Imad was the imam at Milan's Viale Jenner mosque until early 2009 but was not previously arrested. Under Italian law, suspects can remain at liberty until they have completed their appeal, if a judge does not consider they are likely to flee the country or tamper with any evidence against them.

Italy's highest appeals court, the Court of Cassation, on Wednesday upheld a previous prison sentence imposed on Imad by a Milan court in December 2007.

The court sentenced Imad to three years and eight months in prison for conspiracy to carry out a terrorist act.

Ten other people were also jailed for the same offence, receiving sentences that varied from two to 10 years, while four others were acquitted due to lack of evidence.

Milan prosecutors had asked for jail terms ranging from four years and six months to 15 years for all the defendants.

Imad and his co-defendants had allegedly set up a Salafite cell that was active in Milan and elsewhere in the northern Lombardy region.

The cell's mission is believed to have been recruiting suicide bombers, trafficking illegal immigrants and indoctrination.

The Viale Jenner mosque has been linked to Islamist terrorism several times but has so far managed to avoid closure, despite a July 2008 order from the government.

Kenyan Islamic Group Bans Football

From TVNZ:

A group of Islamic clerics in north eastern Kenya said it was cracking down on public broadcasts of football and films because it feared young Kenyan Muslims were shunning Islamic traditions.

The group based in the town of Mandera on the border with Somalia said it had also put pressure on local administrators to back their television bans in a football-mad nation eagerly awaiting the World Cup in South Africa.

"If we come to a place where movies or watching football goes on we simply take everything and destroy the disc and repay the owners. We have now succeeded in 10 places," Sheikh Daud Sheikh Mahmud, head of the group, said.

"We will not stop until we have destroyed totally all the cinemas showing movies and football in this area," he said by phone from Mandera.

Kenya said such bans could never be enforced legally.

"This is a secular country so our people have the freedom to do whatever they want within the law, which includes watching football," government spokesman Alfred Mutua said.

"On our side of the border is a nation of law and order where there is no legal restriction on showing football."

The region of Somalia that borders Kenya is largely controlled by the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group, a rebel militia which enforces a harsh version of Sharia law that includes banning school bells and music on radios.

The Kenyan group denied any link to al Shabaab.

Misleading places

Sheikh Daud Sheikh Mahmud said they were worried youths in the predominantly Muslim region were being distracted by television broadcasts in bars and cafes.

"We realised that our children were spending the whole night in those misleading places ... this is something against our Islamic religion and we are the leaders of the people," he said.

Many Kenyan Muslim leaders support a more moderate interpretation of Islam, although one said restrictions on television were possible if young Muslims were indeed spending too much time transfixed by light entertainment.

"Our religion isn't against football as it is also healthy exercise," Sheikh Nor Barud Gurhan, a Nairobi-based Muslim scholar, said.

"We could ban it if the people are busy only watching and playing football without doing the obligatory actions of Islam like praying," he said.

The northern Kenyan group pledged to step up its anti-football drive in Kenya as Africa waits to hosts its first World Cup in June, a point of great pride for many Kenyans.

Belgian Lawmakers Vote to Ban Full Islamic Veil in Public

Veils like the Burkas and Niqabs have no place in the West where men and women are equal. Full face veils cause Vitamin D deficiency, can be used as a costume and threaten the public's safety, and take away a woman's identity.

From France24:

Belgium's lower house of parliament has voted to ban the wearing of full Islamic veils such as the burqa in public, paving the way for Belgium to become the first country in Europe to enforce such a ban.

AFP - Belgian lawmakers voted overwhelmingly Thursday to ban the wearing of the Islamic burqa in public, paving the way for the first clampdown of its kind in Europe.

In the lower house of federal parliament, 136 deputies voted to ban nationwide clothes or veils that do not allow the wearer to be fully identified, including the full-face niqab and burqa.

There were two abstentions. No one voted against.

The upper house of parliament has two weeks to raise any objections to the decision.

The ban will be imposed in streets, public gardens and sports grounds or buildings "meant for public use or to provide services" to the public, according to the text of the bill.

Exceptions could be allowed for certain festivities like carnivals if municipal authorities decide to grant them.

People who ignore the new law could face a fine of 15-25 euros (20-34 dollars) and/or a jail sentence of up to seven days, unless they have police permission to wear the garments.

All governing parties and the opposition agreed on the move -- most on the basis that people cannot be recognised wearing the clothing.

"It's not about introducing any form of discrimination," Daniel Bacquelaine, head of the liberal MR party in the house told the lawmakers, but for cases when such clothing was "aimed at stopping people from being identified."

The ban comes amid controversy in the kingdom over the wearing of Muslim religious symbols in public places.

In June last year, a Belgian lawmaker of Turkish origin was sworn in at the Brussels regional parliament wearing an Islamic headscarf in a first for the country.

At the time opponents of the veil distributed flyers at the entry to the assembly building, but they did not disturb proceedings as 26-year-old Mahinur Ozdemir was triumphantly sworn in to applause and camera flashes.

Controversy has also raged elsewhere in Europe over the wearing of Muslim veils and other religious garments in state or public institutions.

Pakistan: Taliban Blow Up 3 More Schools

From Jihad Watch:

With apologies to Sam Cooke:

Don't know much about history;
Don't know much biology;
Don't know much about a science book;
Don't know much about the French I took;

But I do know that Allah hates you*;
And I know that if we blame the Jews,
What a halal world this would be.

*Sahih Bukhari 2.24.555: "Allah has hated you" for asking too many questions.

"Three schools blown up in Orakzai Agency," from Dawn, April 29:

PESHAWAR: Three schools were blown up by militants in the Mamozai area of upper Orakzai Agency on Thursday.

The attacks were the latest in a slew of militant violence. On Wednesday, suspected militants attacked a checkpoint in Beizot. Forces retaliated and killed five suspected militants and injured several others.

Five suspected militants were also arrested in Mishit-Mela and Ferozekhel.

It has been almost four weeks since the Orakzai operation was launched in the agency, in which troops claim to have killed over 400 militants so far.

Security forces also claim to have consolidated their positions in most parts of the lower Orakzai and now claim to be advancing towards the central part of the agency.

In the Khyber Agency at least five militants have been killed and 18 others have been arrested including two commanders of Lashkar-e-Islam in Bara Tehsil.

Virginia Driver Attacked By Hamas-Linked CAIR for Criticism of Islam, Branded "Racist"

Since when is criticism of religion racism?

The Hamas-linked CAIR is attempting to vilify a citizen who is engaging in his first amendment rights. The man's truck features a statement which says, "everything I ever needed to know about Islam I learned on 9/11." CAIR alleged that numbers featured on the car's license plate are a pro-Nazi code. The implication is that those who are opposed to Jihad are really Neo-Nazis. The numbers actually celebrate NASCAR drivers Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr., and now CAIR is beginning to look really stupid. The citizen, Douglas Story, also pointed out he has Jewish family members when he contacted the Washington Post to defend himself against the extremist CAIR organization's accusations.

From the Washington Post:

Douglas Story, a Chantilly dump truck driver for the Virginia Department of Transportation, says he wanted to grab people's attention when he paid $224.90 to have a mural of the burning World Trade Center detailed onto the tailgate of his Ford F-150 along with a sticker that reads: "Everything I ever needed to know about Islam I learned on 9/11."

Douglas Story, a Chantilly dump truck driver for the Virginia Department of Transportation, says he wanted to grab people's attention when he paid $224.90 to have a mural of the burning World Trade Center detailed onto the tailgate of his Ford F-150 along with a sticker that reads: "Everything I ever needed to know about Islam I learned on 9/11."

But he got more than he bargained for when a photo of his pickup went viral on the Web last week. Motorists and Muslim groups complained that his Virginia vanity license plate -- 14CV88 -- was really code for neo-Nazi, white supremacist sentiments. The state Department of Motor Vehicles voted last week to recall Story's plates and force him to buy new ones.

"There is absolutely no way I'd have anything to do with Hitler or Nazis," Story said Wednesday. He contacted The Washington Post after an article about his plate appeared last week; the state, citing privacy rules, had declined to release the identity of the plate's owner. "My sister-in-law and my niece are Jewish. I went to my niece's bat mitzvah when she turned 13 three years ago. Does that sound like something an anti-Semite would do?"

Story says the numbers 14 and 88 on his plate were not references to a white power slogan or "Heil Hitler," as the Council on American-Islamic Relations theorized, but an homage to his favorite NASCAR drivers: Tony Stewart, who drives car No. 14, and Dale Earnhardt Jr., who drives No. 88....

Pakistan Taliban Militants 'Reappear' in Swat Valley

From BBC:

Taliban militants have resumed targeted killings of local leaders in Pakistan's troubled Swat valley, officials have told the BBC.

Pakistan's army declared the Swat valley free of militants after carrying out an anti-Taliban operation in 2009.

A Pakistani army spokesman said three people had died in attacks over the last 10 days. Local journalists say that seven have died in 15 days.

The militants were effectively in control of the region from 2007.

In 2009, they started to expand their power across North West Frontier Province, prompting the army to launch its offensive.

Differing accounts

"There have been three incidents of targeted killings," Col Akhtar Abbas, head of the army public relations in Swat, told the BBC.

"But these incidents do not mean that the Taliban can return in any organised form to the Swat valley. The army is confident of this."

Some of those killed are members of a local peace committee, which is supported by the military.

Col Abbas said that the militants involved in the attacks "have been dealt with".

"We carried out an operation after a tip-off and killed the four of them," he said.

However, there are differing accounts of the incidents.

When the BBC visited the site of one encounter, several local people said at least one militant had escaped after a prolonged gun battle.

They say that fears remain about the level of security provided by the army.

"Things have not improved and business is not good," said a local restaurant owner known as Mr Khalid.

"We cannot even imagine that tourists will come here.

"How can things be better if there are still suicide bombings and people are being killed every few days?"

But despite these concerns, conditions have improved considerably in Swat since the military operation ended in July 2009.

Hotels and businesses are slowly starting to re-open.

But fear and uncertainty - heightened by the recent killings - still prevail.

Cairo Christian Prohibited From Changing Religious Affiliation on National ID Cards

From Bikya Masr:

CAIRO: On Tuesday, a Cairo court suspended a lawsuit filed by 27-year-old Mohamed Hegazy that he had hoped would give him the right to list “Christian” on his national identification cards. The court said that they could not rule on the case until the country’s Constitutional Court gave a ruling on the constitutionality of a 2009 case on Article 47 of the Civil Code, which is supposed to allow citizens the right to change their name and religion on ID material.

Hegazy’s situation is the most high-profile case of a Muslim man who converted to Christianity. He wants to have this officially documented to the government, but has run against a number of road blocks in his fight for freedom of religion.

His lawyers told local newspapers that the most likely scenario will mean years of litigation as the government continues to push the case aside in favor of “appeasing Islamists” in the country.

Under Article 47 of Egypt’s Civil Code, citizens are allowed to change their religion, however Article 2 states that Islam is the “religion of the state” and “principles of Islamic law represent the principle source of legislation.”

Under a strict viewing of Islamic Sharia law, conversion away from Islam can be punishable by death, although most scholars do not push for this penalty.

Hegazy has changed his name to Bishoy Armia Boules, said he converted to Christianity at 16-years-old and is the first Egyptian in modern times to publicly announce his conversion, which has led to a number of difficulties for the man.

Hegazy is not the only person publicly challenging the government over religious conversion. In 2008, Maher el-Gohary also filed a lawsuit to have his ID’s change to recognize him as a Christian.

“He can believe whatever he wants in his heart, but on paper he can’t convert,” the judge had told the administrative court during the 2008 legal battle.

Gohary, who has already changed his name to Peter, says that he converted to Christianity 34 years ago when he was attending the police academy in Cairo, but later dropped out of the academy because he was scared.

Judges often base their decisions on religious freedoms on Article II of the Egyptian constitution, which states that Islamic law is the source of national laws. The judge in the Hegazy case said that “according to Islamic law, Islam is the final and most complete religion and therefore Muslims already practice full freedom of religion cannot return to an older belief (Christianity or Judaism).”

After the initial hearing, on “The Truth,” a Dream television program the debate heated up between Gohary and his lawyer versus a Coptic lawyer and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. Host Wael Ibrashy, a leading editor in the country, called on Gohary to explain his actions and why he chose a time when sectarian tensions were rising.

“Christians have to be quiet because of their faith,” replied Gohary. “Police are at the door of the Cathedral and they won’t let me in, so that is a major reason behind my decision.”

But Mamdouh Nakhla, a leading Coptic lawyer, said last year he believed Gohary was simply attempting to gain notoriety and fame by going public.

“Christianity is all about faith. It is very person,” Nakhla began, “so I don’t know why he is doing this now unless he just wants fame and money and this timing is very bad for the country. If we take the example of Jesus, when we pray we don’t make it public, we go into our room and pray to God in a personal manner.”

Nakhla says that Gohary will have a difficult time proving he honestly and truthfully converted to Christianity. The lawyer said that Gohary must prove that he was baptized and that this is not an attempt to marry a Christian wife.

Gohary, who has been married twice previously, is engaged to a Christian woman. He claims that he left Egypt and traveled to Cyprus in the past, where he was baptized, although there is no documentation of that event.

The cases of Hegazy and Gohary have led to a public outcry in a predominantly Muslim nation. Many Egyptians feel these sort of publicizing of religious conversions are an attempt to attack Islam.

“What they do and especially now with all the tensions between Christians and Muslims across the country is wrong,” said Karim, a young Muslim in Cairo.

“They have a right to believe whatever they want, but to go public and try and get famous for their conversion is wrong and is probably not the best thing for a country struggling with our religious differences.”

Bangladeshi Who Forced Woman to Marry and Raped "Bride" Sentenced in UK

Why didn't the Muslim cleric who performed the marriage get jail time? A poor woman was forcibly married and raped. The cleric could have certainly done something since video shows that the woman was an unwilling bride.

From the Metro (UK):

The Bangladeshi lured his victim to a bedsit, where he got a Muslim cleric to conduct the ceremony before male guests.

A wedding video showing the bride sobbing in a corner during the 3am service was shown to the court.

The man later repeatedly forced himself on the already-married 21-year-old and held her captive for two days last June.

The woman escaped from the flat in South Woodford, east London, by jumping from an upstairs window as her attacker lunged at her with a kitchen knife.

She suffered injuries that have left her disabled. ‘The defendant made it very clear he was going to marry her whether she wanted to or not,’ said Richard Hearnden, prosecuting at Snaresbrook Crown Court, east London. ‘It wasn’t a legal marriage but it was an Islamic marriage.’

In a statement, the victim told the court her injuries were a ‘constant reminder’ of her ordeal and she was also frightened east London’s Bangladeshi population would shun her, adding: ‘In the Asian culture, I will be ostracised... because they will not understand the full facts.’

Judge Alan Pardoe said the attacker, 46, posed a ‘significant risk of serious harm’ to women.

He added he was surprised anyone calling themselves an imam would have conducted the ‘disgraceful’ wedding ceremony.

The defendant claimed his victim was a ‘willing bride’. He said the woman jumped from the window in a suicide bid after rowing with her family.

The attacker, who cannot be named, was convicted of false imprisonment, two counts of rape, causing grievous bodily harm and actual bodily harm. He received an indeterminate prison sentence and was ordered the to serve at least ten years before being considered for release.

He was also ordered to pay his victim £90,000 compensation, pay £25,000 costs and sign the sex offenders’ register for life.

Death Fatwa for Head of "Religious Police" Who Argued Against Segregation of Sexes in Public

From Asia News:

Ahmed al-Ghamdi says that the strict separation between the sexes that exists today did not exist at the time of Muhammad. Conservatives respond harshly: a fatwa says that he "must be killed." The official Saudi news agency reports his removal and a few hours later deletes the story. The issue also has economic implications.

The Saudi official news agency, SPA, had reported his dismissal only to delete all reports a few hours later, a fatwa says "he should be killed," the Grand Mufti has denied his authority to speak about Islamic law. He, Ahmed al Ghamdi (pictured), head of the religious police in Mecca, the first holy city of Islam, confirms his convictions: men and women can pray together and meet freely, even if only in public.

The episode has been strictly censored by Saudi Arabia, monitored by the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the official name of the muttawa, the religious police. Of which Ghamdi is a senior official.

The question of the possibility of men and women “mixing” - in public, never in private - has for weeks been at the centre of a debate between scholars and politicians. Thus, the Saudi newspaper The National, has devoted a long article to the story, recalling the words of the Justice Minister Muhammad al Issa who warned against confusing public promiscuity, which he believes is allowed by Islam, with meetings in private between men and women who are neither married nor related by kinship, which is prohibited.

The problem is not merely one of religious tradition, it also has economic implications. The ban has in fact heavy negative influences on women's employment and foreign investment since it requires gender division even in the offices of international companies.

So, since December, when Ghamdi first spoke out on the issue, the question has occupied newspapers and television programs. A debate which is due to the climate of moderate reforms that King Abdullah is introducing into the country in an attempt to modernize it.

But the reaction of conservatives has been very hard. If Ghamdhi argues that the division did not exist at the time of Mohammed his opposers cry of violations of Sharia and apostasy. Sheikh Abdulrahman Al Barrak has issued a fatwa which says that promiscuity "as supported by modernists" is prohibited because it allows "the sight of what is forbidden and prohibited conversations between men and women." Anyone who facilitates such promiscuity is an infidel", and if not retracted "should be killed". And finally, anyone who allows his daughter, sister or wife to work with men or to attend a mixed school is guilty of "a kind of prostitution".

On Sunday, the case seemed closed. The Commission's website published a statement from its Chairman Sheikh Abdulaziz al-Humain according to which Ghamdhi had been replaced. The statement was picked up and reported by SPA. Soon after, however, the agency wrote that the news was to be "deleted and not used".

PA Cleric: Allah Used Iceland Volcano to Punish 'Infidels'

From Israel National News:

A Palestinian Authority cleric informed his television congregants in Hamas terrorist-controlled Gaza that the active volcano in Iceland was Divinely ignited to punish “infidels and polytheists with fear and terror.”

The volcano, which spewed thick clouds of ash into the atmosphere, halting airline flights throughout Europe and elsewhere for nearly a week, was activated by Allah for a reason, according to the Hamas cleric.

The sermon was transcribed and translated by the PA media watchdog Palestinian Media Watch, which picked up the broadcast on Al-Aqsa (Hamas) TV on April 23. Citing chapters from Islam's holy book, the Quran, the Imam (cleric) said, “Praise Allah who says in His book: 'Their houses were empty and in ruins, because they did wrong' [Sura 17:52]...“We [Allah] never destroyed a city unless its people were unust.” [Sura 28:59]

“Oh Jihad fighters, people of Ribat (religious war) – We heard and we saw what happened at the beginning of this week in Europe... Some of Allah's brigades struck Europe with His force...this caused great loss of property and of life, only Allah knows their extent. A devastating volcanic eruption sent by Allah, paralyzed all movement, and a state of emergency was declared, and passenger flights were cancelled, and it struck the Infidels and polytheists with fear and terror...

The Imam added, “He who made the volcanic eruption in Europe is He who brought the flood in the times of Noah.”

The Hamas cleric also mocked the United States: “As Allah lives, dear brothers, America – with its numbers and its equipment, with its might and its scepter, with its planes and its missiles, with its war ships and with its destroyers – it has no more power against Allah than do spider webs against His power.”

Pakistani Students Want to Go to School Despite Terror Attacks

From IPS:

PESHAWAR, Apr 27, 2010 (IPS) - "I don’t feel any fear. My parents do. They instruct me almost every day to stay away from crowded places," said Afaq Ali, a Grade 1 student in this capital city of the militancy-wracked Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan.

Undeterred by an explosion at the Police Public School on Apr. 19, he said no one could stop him from going to school. "Militants must be ashamed of targeting children," Ali said. The militant attack killed one student and wounded 10 others.

Not too far from the Police Public School is the University Public School (UPS), where most of the students remain optimistic that the Taliban forces could still be defeated through education.

"When we get education, we can spread the light and do away with the widespread ignorance in our society," declared Kashif Shah, a Grade 3 student at UPS.

In 2001 the Taliban came to the Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) after they were forced to flee Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, by the U.S.- led forces. From there they began sneaking into the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – which until recently was known as the North-West Frontier Province – and started targeting schools and commercial establishments such as CD and music shops.

FATA lies between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the neighbouring country of Afghanistan.

In Swat alone – an administrative district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – the Taliban destroyed a total of 188 girls’ schools and 97 boys between 2007 and March 2009, displacing some 500,000 students.

"Female education is against Islam. They (women and girls) are required to sit at home and not venture out," Swat Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan, now in jail, told IPS in March 2009, when asked why girls’ schools were a prime target of his militant group.

"We are not bothered by the blasts. Our main aim is to get education at any cost. Our parents want us to get more education and become doctors," said Imran Ali, whose brother Jawad Ali also sustained injuries in the explosion at the Police Public School early last week just before its closure.

In January a suicide attack near a girls’ school at Lower Dir, one of the 24 districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, killed seven people.

Jamal Shah, a fifth grader in a government primary school in Lakaro in Mohmand Agency, recalled a similar incident in his school, which was blown up by alleged militants on Apr. 14.

"When we woke up, we received the bad news that our school had been blown up by militants," he said. "I went that same day to see my school," he said, notwithstanding his parents’ advice not to leave the house.

Now 500 students are holding classes amid the rubble of the devastated school, "because everyone wants education," 13-year-old Shah said. He expressed fears that he and his schoolmates would end up as laborers if they were uneducated.

His 50-year-old father, Anwar Shah, a mason, said, "My greatest desire is to provide better education for my child so he could live his life with ease."

"My only concern is the safety of my three children. I bring them to [and pick them up from] school every day," said Attaulh Khan, unmindful of the two- kilometre bicycle ride to and from the school.

Sardar Hussain Babak, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa education minister, has vowed to rebuild all the schools that have been destroyed by militants. "We will make every effort to educate the students," he said.

Such an undertaking is estimated to cost 220 million U.S. dollars.

During the past week, the Taliban insurgents have destroyed 16 schools in FATA, Babak said. "With less than 50 percent literacy rate for males and 37 percent for females, we have been urging the international community to help us in the rebuilding process," he added.

Police officer Safiullah Khan said authorities have beefed school security as a result of the spate of school bombings. "We keep close contact with school principals to avert any threat to the lives of the children," he told IPS.

He added that school administrators have deployed security guards in their buildings to keep an eye on suspicious-looking individuals coming in and out of the schools.

Still part of stepped up security measures in schools is sending students home in batches of two, at an interval of 15 minutes, said Bushra Ali of the University Model School (UMS). Otherwise, they tend to rush out of the school gate, he said.

Pervez Malik, who teaches at the Government Girls Primary School, said that the school was bombed on Mar. 13 by suspected terrorists. "The militants’ actions against innocent civilians have only served to deepen the students’ desire for education.

Twelve-year-old Gul Ghutai, a Grade 6 student at UMS who dreams of becoming a doctor "so she can serve her countrymen," said the Taliban have no right to kill. "Nobody except God has the authority to take human life," she said.

"We aren’t going to be browbeaten by their campaign against education and knowledge," said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain. "Our religion Islam tells us to seek education at any cost."

Nigeria: Senator Who Oversaw Introduction of Shariah in His State Takes Child Bride From Egypt

From Jihad Watch:

He's 49, she's 13. Of course, he's just following Muhammad's example, made sacrosanct per Qur'an 33:21.

It is quite clear whose law Yerima is following, which sets up a conflict of interest with his role in the governance of Nigeria as a whole, as the country still has a non-Sharia constitution to uphold.

"Investigation into Nigerian senator's 'child bride'," from BBC News, April 28:

Nigeria's Senate has ordered an investigation into reports that one of its members has married a 13-year-old Egyptian girl.

Ahmad Sani Yerima, 49, is alleged to have married her at the national mosque in Abuja several weeks ago.

Senators called for the investigation after receiving a petition by protesting women's groups, who believe Mr Sani has broken the law.

The senator has not spoken publicly about the reports of his marriage.

The BBC's Caroline Duffield, in Lagos, says Nigeria's human rights commission has already begun an investigation.

Mr Sani was the governor of Zamfara state, where he oversaw the introduction of Sharia law - for the first time in a northern state - in 1999.

Legal action

Our correspondent says reports of the marriage - appearing in newspapers - are creating a storm among human rights groups.

The female senators, lawyers and doctors who are protesting say that they fear for the child's health.

Speaking of her health, as she came from Egypt, chances are all too high that she has also already undergone female genital mutilation.

"What we are concerned with is that our minors, the girl child, should be allowed to mature, before going into marriage," Mma Wokocha, President of the Women's Medical Association and one of those behind the petition, told the BBC.

"This very evil act should not be seen to be perpetrated by one of our distinguished legislators ... that is what we are saying.''

The senator is reported to have paid a dowry of $100,000 (£66,000) to the child's parents - and to have brought the girl into Nigeria from Egypt.

The women's groups want Mr Sani to be taken to court, to face a fine and a jail sentence.

Our reporter says the whereabouts of the teenager are unknown - and it is not clear whether she has any parent or guardian with her.

Newspaper reports have also accused the senator of having previously married a 15-year-old girl in 2006.

The investigation is to be carried out by a Senate committee.

Maximum Security for Pilgrimage to Tunisian Synagogue

Almost all of Tunisia's Jews have had to flee their native lands because of Islamic fundamentalism. This pilgramage to the Ghriba Jewish prayer house will occur in May. The same location was attacked by Islamists in 2002. The Jewish prayer house has been there for more than 2,500 years.

From ANSAmed:

The Ghriba synagogue, in the village of Er Riadh on the island of Djerba (in Southern Tunisiàs Gulf of Gabes) will host a pilgrimage between April 30 and May 2 for at least 5,000 Jews coming mainly from North African countries. Celebrations in Africàs oldest Jewish place of worship (the synagogue was built over 2,500 years ago) will mark the 33rd day after the Jewish Easter. The opening ceremony for the celebrations will feature an address by Tunisiàs Chief Rabbi, Haim Bittan. Some commentators say that the presence at the ceremony of Tunisiàs Tourism Minister, Slim Tlatli, reinforces the climate of fraternity and friendship that exists among Tunisiàs various religious and social groups. Proof of this comes from the figure of Roger Bismuth, a Tunisian Jew, parliamentarian and founder of the group that bears his name, which specializes in the food, chemical, electrical and services industries. The build-up to the event, however, has not been entirely positive. On April 14, Maya Jribi, general secretary of the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) was reported by the Palestinian news agency Paltoday as having asked the government "to ban Israelis from coming to Djerba". Such stances aside, though, security measures have been stepped up significantly over the last few days. Nobody has forgotten the attack on the Synagogue on April 21 2002, which claimed 21 lives, mostly German tourists. Responsibility for the attack was claimed by Al-Qaeda.

Al Qaeda's Al-Zawahiri Appears on Facebook

From the Irish Sun:

Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden's top deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri had appeared on Facebook, but the social networking site later removed those pages.

Less than a fortnight after bin Laden came on Facebook, The Sun revealed Monday that al-Zawahiri, who has a 16.5 million-pound price on his head, also appeared on the site.

Facebook said: 'These pages have been removed.'

Two more pages linked to the Taliban were also removed.

Zawahiri's page had a photo of him with a semi-automatic rifle in the background and videos included a truck bombing in Afghanistan. It could be found through a Voice of Jihad site that included film clips calling for attacks on Britain and the US, the media report said.

We Refuse to Be Muslims By Force, Say Egyptian Christian Twin-Boys After Losing Court Case

From the Assyrian International News Agency:

On March 30 an administrative judicial court in Egypt dismissed a lawsuit filed by Mrs. Camilia Lutfi, mother of the Coptic Christian twins boys Mario and Andrew, against the Interior Minister, and the director of the Civil Status Department for refusing to re-instate the Christian religion on their birth certificates, and invalidate those which were forcefully changed to "Islam" in 2005 by their father Medhat Ramsis Labib, who had converted to Islam.

After his conversion, Andrew and Mario became Muslims in what is called "Islamization by dependence," by which children follow the religion of a converted parent (to Islam only) until they reach the age of puberty (fifteen), because Islam is "the best among all religions," according to Egyptian Court rulings.

The purpose of Lutfi's litigation was to restore back to her twins their identity as Christians, before reaching the age of 16 in June, when they will have their national ID cards issued. Camilia said that because of the developments in their case, her worst nightmares would materialize, in which they would have Islam as religious affiliation on their ID cards. "If they change to Christianity after that, they will be considered apostates," she told Freecopts advocacy. She expressed her surprise at the intransigence of the judiciary in dealing with the issue of her sons, especially after they have already reached the legal age of 15-years, when they can choose their own religion. "The boys have lived this tragedy for the last ten years, through no fault of their own."

ElYoum 7 Newspaper reported that 15-years-old Mario and Andrew were extremely disappointed with the court verdict, saying "faith is not by force, we want to remain Christians and we do not wish to become Muslims." Both boys are practicing Christians and were consecrated last year as deacons in their regular church in Alexandria.

The court explained in its verdict, which was issued on April 14, that Camilia Lutfi has not presented a verdict from a relevant court (it did not say which court) proving the change of her sons' religion from Islam to Christianity. "How come that when their father changed their religion from Christianity to Islam, he required no court verdict, and now that they want to revert back to Christianity, the court requires a verdict?" she told Freecopts.

Although the mother's lawyers presented to the court a portfolio containing 15 different certificates proving they are Christians, contradicting what was written on their birth certificates, the court said in its reasoning that it does not recognize the validity of a certificate issued by the Church as a document of change of religion from Islam to Christianity, as "churches by law are not competent to issue such certificates." The courts only accept certificates of religion change from Al-Azhar (the Muslim theology school in Cairo). Moreover the Court said that there is no law to force the Interior minister and the Civil Status Department chief to change the religion of the boys on their documents without a court ruling to this effect.

Camilia criticized the judiciary in Egypt for being biased, based on her personal experience. "I do not believe the recent verdict has been taken solely by the judges. I feel there is a higher authority which orders the judges to decide in a certain way, even if it goes against the documents in front of them," she told Freecopts.

Mario and Andrew were born on June 24, 1994 to Christian parents, sea captain Medhat Ramsis and tax inspector Camilia Lutfi, but in February 2000 their father converted to Islam to marry a Muslim woman. In 2005 Medhat changed their twin boys birth certificates to show that they are Muslims, born to a Muslim father and a Christian mother.

The case of Mario and Andrew caught the attention of the media in May 2007, after they challenged the Ministry of Education which forced them to sit in for the Islamic Religion exams at school, where students are obliged to pass in order to be promoted to a higher class. They refused to answer the questions. On his answer sheet Andrew wrote "I am Christian" and Mario wrote "My religion is Christianity." They failed the exam and had to re-take it, but again insisted on writing these single phrases. Due to public pressure, the Minister of Education exempted them from passing those exams until their case was finalized by the court. On national television they declared: "We do not want to be Muslims. We are born Christians, will remain and die as Christians."

After a five-year legal battle, Lutfi won a landmark victory in June 2009 when Egypt's Court of Cassation gave her the right to retain custody of Andrew and Mario. The Court also affirmed, for the first time, the right of a non-Muslim mother to retain custody of her child until the age of fifteen, as stipulated by Egypt's Personal Status Law, even when the child's father converts to Islam and the state automatically changes the child's religion as a result. Previously it was only until the age of seven, which is considered the age of "religious maturity" by the Hanafi school of Islamic jurisprudence (6-20-2009).

At a press conference held on Thursday April 22, Lutfi said that the refusal of the judiciary to establish the religion of her children as Christians is a blow to the principles of citizenship, and a "disregard" for Christianity and Christians. She called on President Mubarak to protect the freedom of religion by issuing laws "to tie down the hands of the judiciary in deciding on these issues without a legal basis." She also addressed a message to the President of the State Council saying that all judgments regarding conversion to Christianity take as a starting point that Islam is the State religion, and the State guarantees freedom of religion but ends up by "insulting Christianity and those wishing to convert to Christianity."

During the press conference, Camelia also called on the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar to issue a Fatwa (Islamic religious edict) to remind the authorities of the Quranic verse "Let there be no compulsion in religion."

Dr. Awad Shafik Awad, international attorney based in Switzerland and President of the Confederation of Coptic Human Rights Organizations in Europe, stated his intention to refer the case of Mario and Andrew to the international courts, after all stages of litigation in Egypt have been exhausted. He said that the recent court's refusal to prove the Christian faith of the twin boys was "unjust and has nothing to do with the law."

Coptic attorney Ramsis elNaggar stated that his law firm represents thousands of Christian children who were forced to become Muslims following the conversion to Islam of one of their parents, and tried in vain to revert back to Christianity.

In 2007 the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights issued a joint report with Human Rights Watch entitled 'Prohibited Identities: State Interference with Religious Freedom', regarding involuntary "conversions." It quoted 89 cases of Egyptians whose religious affiliation in official documents was changed by the state to Islam against their will -- and in some instances without their knowledge -- after their fathers converted to Islam. Moreover, the Interior Ministry has refused to change their religious affiliation to Christianity when they reached the age of fifteen, in violation of the law. The report highlighted the far-reaching consequences for the daily lives of those affected, including choosing a spouse, educating one's children, or conducting the most basic financial and other transactions (report).

Last month before the court dismissed their case, CBN News carried out an interview with Mario and Andrew, bringing their fight to retain their Christian identity and the fear of being considered as apostates and getting killed to the international public (video).

Renowned Coptic activist and writer Magdi Khalil calls for the non-application of Islamic Sharia law on Christian families in Egypt, saying that the case of Mario and Andrew represents the situation of the Copts under Sharia. The Egyptian Personal Status Law for Muslims and non-Muslims of mixed religions or denominations is based on the Sharia law according to the Hanafi school of Islamic jurisprudence,"which discriminates against fundamental human rights, and against women in general as lawyer Ms Safaa Zaki describes it," he said. Khalil warns about a wider application of the Second article of the Egyptian Constitution which stipulates that the principles of Islamic Sharia law are the main source of legislation. "If Sharia is applied to all the laws, this would be a real catastrophe to the secular state, for Muslims and Christians alike and a a bomb ready to explode," he said.

Kenyan Islamic Group Cracks Down on Soccer, Films

From the Washington Post:

A group of Islamic clerics in northeastern Kenya said on Monday it was cracking down on public broadcasts of soccer and films because it feared young Kenyan Muslims were shunning Islamic traditions.

The group based in the town of Mandera on the border with Somalia said it had also put pressure on local administrators to back their television bans in a soccer-mad nation eagerly awaiting the World Cup in South Africa.

"If we come to a place where movies or watching football goes on we simply take everything and destroy the disc and repay the owners. We have now succeeded in 10 places," Sheikh Daud Sheikh Mahmud, head of the group, told Reuters.

"We will not stop until we have destroyed totally all the cinemas showing movies and football in this area," he said by phone from Mandera.

Kenya said such bans could never be enforced legally.

"This is a secular country so our people have the freedom to do whatever they want within the law, which includes watching football," government spokesman Alfred Mutua told Reuters.

"On our side of the border is a nation of law and order where there is no legal restriction on showing football."

The region of Somalia that borders Kenya is largely controlled by the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group, a rebel militia which enforces a harsh version of sharia law that includes banning school bells and music on radios.

The Kenyan group denied any link to al Shabaab.

"MISLEADING PLACES"

Sheikh Daud Sheikh Mahmud said they were worried youths in the predominantly Muslim region were being distracted by television broadcasts in bars and cafes.

"We realized that our children were spending the whole night in those misleading places ... this is something against our Islamic religion and we are the leaders of the people," he said.

Many Kenyan Muslim leaders support a more moderate interpretation of Islam, although one said restrictions on television were possible if young Muslims were indeed spending too much time transfixed by light entertainment.

"Our religion isn't against football as it is also healthy exercise," Sheikh Nor Barud Gurhan, a Nairobi-based Muslim scholar, told Reuters.

"We could ban it if the people are busy only watching and playing football without doing the obligatory actions of Islam like praying," he said.

The northern Kenyan group pledged to step up its anti-soccer drive in Kenya as Africa waits to hosts its first World Cup in June, a point of great pride for many Kenyans.

Two Christian Journalists Hacked to Death in Nigeria

From The Province:

Two journalists working for a Christian magazine were hacked to death by a mob in a predominantly Muslim suburb in the flashpoint Nigerian city of Jos, a union official said Monday.

Nathan Dabak, deputy editor of the bimonthly Light Bearer and reporter Sunday Gyang Bwede, were pulled from a motorcycle and killed on Saturday evening as youths rioted in the aftermath of the death of a Muslim teen.

Jos, capital of the central Plateau state, was the epicentre of inter-religious violence that local rights groups say killed 1,500 people since the beginning of the year.

"They were macheted in an area that is predominantly Muslim and one can deduce that the killers were Muslim," said Katdapba Gobum, chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists in Plateau State.

Relatives of one of the men called his cellphone when he failed to turn up for an appointment. The phone was answered by a Hausa-speaking man who claimed to have killed the journalist. The motorcyclist who carried them was also killed.

Plateau state sits on a line between Nigeria's predominantly Muslim north and the mainly Christian south. Because of the recent violence in Plateau, journalists cannot freely move around the state to do their work, said Gobum.

CDU Chastens New Muslim Minister for Mooting School Crucifix Ban

Germany is a predominately Christian state. It has a Christian heritage. Muslim countries do not respect other religions. For example, how many churches and synagogues are there in Saudi Arabia? The answer is zero.

However there is a point we can make about public schools and religious symbols. This new Social Minister is making the point that both headscarves and crucifixes have no place in a public school. However, is a necklace worn around someone's neck the same as a headscarf which covers a student and can also be a hindrance in some classes?

From The Local (German):

Just one day before taking her post, Lower Saxony’s new Social Minister Aygül Özkan has apologised to her fellow Christian Democrats for starting a heated political debate by suggesting that crucifixes don’t belong in German public schools.

In an interview over the weekend the 38-year-old – who will be the country’s first Muslim state minister – said that public schools should be neutral places without religious symbols, including both crucifixes and Islamic headscarves.

The statements from the conservative Christian Democrat (CDU) member to Focus magazine sparked outrage within her own party.

On Monday morning Integration Commissioner Maria Böhmer rejected any suggestion of such a ban, saying crucifixes were part of the country’s national identity.

By afternoon Lower Saxony State Premier Christian Wulff, who appointed Özkan to his cabinet, declared the discussion was over.

After a “broad debate” in the CDU state parliamentary group, his new minister had accepted that crucifixes are “welcome and wanted” in the state’s schools, he said as a federal and state-level conference on integration began in Berlin.

“She backs this policy and the topic is finished for us,” he said, calling the situation a “misunderstanding.”

Meanwhile at the integration summit Özkan reportedly apologised for the interview, saying she gave it without adequate knowledge of the state party’s policies.

CDU parliamentary group leader David McAllister emphasised that state laws for religious symbols in schools would not be changed.

“In the eyes of the CDU the cross is a symbol of tolerance, also when applied to other religions,” he said. “The weekend’s irritations and misunderstandings have therefore been dispelled.”

A successful business woman, Özkan joined the CDU in 2004 and quickly rose through the regional ranks of the party to reach the Hamburg city council in 2008.

The debate over religious symbols in schools came as federal and state integration officials planned to gather in Oldenburg on Monday.

Sarah Palin on Islamaphobia Watch

People have the right to speak out against practices which are evil. That includes things condoned under shariah law. The Muslim Brotherhood is philosophically linked to Hamas and Al Qaeda. They believe in Muslim Caliphates in which everyone lives under Islamic law. The label of "Islamophobia" is a censorship tactic. It avoids talking about the issues and attempts to silence those who want to.

From Bikya Masr:

CAIRO: Egypt’s leading opposition group the Muslim Brotherhood lashed out at former America Vice-Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin over her defense of an American preacher’s claims that Islam is “a very evil, wicked, and violent religion, which must be fought.” The Christian leader, Franklin Graham was uninvited from a multi-faith prayer meeting at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, after US officials said his statements did not help to foster a sense of unity and tolerance.

Palin, also the former Alaska governor and now a conservative leader with the American Tea Party Movement, said on her Facebook page that “his comments in 2001 were aimed at those who are so radical that they would kill innocent people and subjugate women in the name of religion,” adding that “any opposition to Graham’s statements is not due to matters of respect and decency, but nothing less than extreme political correctness.”

The Brotherhood argued that “Islamophobia has become a topic of increasing sociological and political importance and its eistence is all too relevant.” They said the recent statements from Palin are proff that anti-Islamic sentiments remain “loud and clear.”

The Pentagon said that had the invitation remained, it would have been “offensive” to Muslims, “since they are a very large number of tax payers.” A statement from the Pentagon said that Graham’s opinion of Islam remains “very prejudiced” and said that it would have been “inappropriate” to have him attend a service based on inter-faith pluralism.

Palin, however, argued that Graham’s language is “appropriate.” In her statement, she said that the Pentagon’s decision to cancel the invitation shows that the government is not willing to talk about the issues in Islam.

The Brotherhood, and many Islamic leaders across the world, believe that the situation shows that “the phenomenon of Islamophobia is still omnipresent in the West.”

In the MB statement, the group pointed to a number of case studies conducted in the United States of the media. They said that these studies “have revealed that Muslim viewpoints were and still are underrepresented and that issues involving Muslims are usually depicted in a negative light.

“These portrayals include the depiction of Islam and Muslims as a threat to Western security and values and that hostility towards Islam and Muslims are closely linked to media portrayals of Islam as barbaric, irrational, primitive and sexist.”

However, they called on figures, such as Palin and other conservative leaders, to make an effort to change the way they perceived Islam and speak with their Muslim communities across the world. At the same time, they condemned the former governor’s argument that Graham’s comments were legitimate....

'South Park' and the Informal Fatwa

From the Wall Street Journal:

The veiled threats against the Comedy Central show's creators should be taken very seriously.

'South Park" is hilarious, right? Not any more.

Last week, Zachary Adam Chesser—a 20-year-old Muslim convert who now goes by the name Abu Talhah Al-Amrikee—posted a warning on the Web site RevolutionMuslim.com following the 200th episode of the show on Comedy Central. The episode, which trotted out many celebrities the show has previously satirized, also "featured" the Prophet Muhammad: He was heard once from within a U-Haul truck and a second time from inside a bear costume.

For this apparent blasphemy, Mr. Amrikee warned that co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone "will probably end up" like Theo van Gogh. Van Gogh, readers will remember, was the Dutch filmmaker who was brutally murdered in 2004 on the streets of Amsterdam. He was killed for producing "Submission," a film that criticized the subordinate role of women in Islam, with me.

There has been some debate about whether Mr. Stone and Mr. Parker should view the Web posting as a direct threat. Here's Mr. Amrikee's perspective: "It's not a threat, but it really is a likely outcome," he told Foxnews.com. "They're going to be basically on a list in the back of the minds of a large number of Muslims. It's just the reality." He's also published the home and office addresses of Messrs. Stone and Parker, as well as images of Van Gogh's body.

According to First Amendment experts, technically speaking this posting does not constitute a threat. And general opinion seems to be that even if this posting was intended as a threat, Mr. Amrikee and his ilk are merely fringe extremists who are disgruntled with U.S. foreign policy; their "outrage" merits little attention.

This raises the question: How much harm can an Islamist fringe group do in a free society? The answer is a lot.

Mohammed Bouyeri, a Dutch-Moroccan Muslim first thought to have been a minor character in radical circles, killed Theo van Gogh. Only during the investigation did it emerge that he was the ringleader of the Hofstad Group, a terrorist organization that was being monitored by the Dutch Secret Service.

The story was very similar in the case of the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. The cartoons, drawn by Kurt Westergaard, were published in September 2005 to little notice but exploded five months later into an international drama complete with riots and flag-burnings. The man behind this campaign of outrage was an Egyptian-born radical imam named Ahmed Abu-Laban.

Prior to this conflagration, Mr. Abu-Laban was seen as a marginal figure. Yet his campaign ended up costing Denmark businesses an estimated $170 million in the spring of 2006. And this doesn't include the cost of rebuilding destroyed property and protecting the cartoonists.

So how worried should the creators of "South Park" be about the "marginal figures" who now threaten them? Very. In essence, Mr. Amrikee's posting is an informal fatwa. Here's how it works:

There is a basic principle in Islamic scripture—unknown to most not-so-observant Muslims and most non-Muslims—called "commanding right and forbidding wrong." It obligates Muslim males to police behavior seen to be wrong and personally deal out the appropriate punishment as stated in scripture. In its mildest form, devout people give friendly advice to abstain from wrongdoing. Less mild is the practice whereby Afghan men feel empowered to beat women who are not veiled.

By publicizing the supposed sins of Messrs. Stone and Parker, Mr. Amrikee undoubtedly believes he is fulfilling his duty to command right and forbid wrong. His message is not just an opinion. It will appeal to like-minded individuals who, even though they are a minority, are a large and random enough group to carry out the divine punishment. The best illustration of this was demonstrated by the Somali man who broke into Mr. Westergaard's home in January carrying an axe and a knife.

Any Muslim, male or female, who knows about the "offense" may decide to perform the duty of killing those who insult the prophet. So what can be done to help Mr. Parker and Mr. Stone?

The first step is for them to consult with experts on how to stay safe. Even though living with protection, as I do now in Washington, D.C., curtails some of your freedom, it is better than risking the worst.

Much depends on how far the U.S. government is prepared to contribute to their protection. According to the Danish government, protecting Mr. Westergaard costs the taxpayers $3.9 million, excluding technical operating equipment. That's a tall order at a time of intense fiscal pressure.

One way of reducing the cost is to organize a solidarity campaign. The entertainment business, especially Hollywood, is one of the wealthiest and most powerful industries in the world. Following the example of Jon Stewart, who used the first segment of his April 22 show to defend "South Park," producers, actors, writers, musicians and other entertainers could lead such an effort.

Another idea is to do stories of Muhammad where his image is shown as much as possible. These stories do not have to be negative or insulting, they just need to spread the risk. The aim is to confront hypersensitive Muslims with more targets than they can possibly contend with.

Another important advantage of such a campaign is to accustom Muslims to the kind of treatment that the followers of other religions have long been used to. After the "South Park" episode in question there was no threatening response from Buddhists, Christians and Jews—to say nothing of Tom Cruise and Barbra Streisand fans—all of whom had far more reason to be offended than Muslims.

Islamists seek to replace the rule of law with that of commanding right and forbidding wrong. With over a billion and a half people calling Muhammad their moral guide, it is imperative that we examine the consequences of his guidance, starting with the notion that those who depict his image or criticize his teachings should be punished.

In "South Park," this tyrannical rule is cleverly needled when Tom Cruise asks the question: How come Muhammad is the only celebrity protected from ridicule? Now we know why.

Ms. Ali, a former member of the Dutch parliament, is the author of "Nomad: From Islam to America—A Personal Journey through the Clash of Civilizations," which will be published next month by Free Press.

'South Park' Jihad Patrol

This is an update on this story.

Mainstream Muslim groups have been silent about the death threats made against the cartoon creators.

From the New York Post:

It was no joking matter to the NYPD.

Even before Comedy Central's "South Park" aired its episode that purported to feature the Prophet Mohammed in a bear suit, security was tightened at the cable network's Midtown headquarters and satellite offices around Manhattan.

Tipped off by blogs that the episode would air, cops beefed up security to ward off any attacks on Comedy Central by aggrieved Islamic fanatics who believe any depictions of the prophet are punishable by death.

On Wednesday, Comedy Central aired a heavily censored version of the episode that showed it was actually Santa Claus -- not Mohammed -- in the bear suit.

So far, the only public threat came from a group of American converts to Islam who run the Web site Revolution Muslim.

"May Allah kill [creators] Matt Stone and Trey Parker and burn them in Hell for all eternity. They insult our prophets Mohammed, Jesus, and Moses," wrote Zachary "Abu Talhah al-Amrike" Cheeser.

Seyfo and Aghet: Commemorating the 1915 Assyrian, Armenian, Greek Genocide

From the Assyrian International News Agency:

All over the world, Assyrians, Armenians and Pontic Greeks are remembering the victims of the genocide perpetrated during World War One, where the Christian population of Asia minor was annihilated systematically by the so-called Young Turk government. While Assyrians call the genocide Seyfo (Sword), Armenians refer to the events as Aghet (Catastrophe).

In worldwide initiatives, Assyrians too work for the recognition of the genocide that Turkey still denies. Most recently, the Swedish Parliament recognized the genocide (AINA 3-12-2010), calling on Turkey to acknowledge it. Turkey as the legal and political successor state of the Ottoman Empire vehemently rejects calling the killing genocide according to the U.N. definition adopted in 1948, insisting that those killed were victims of war and uprising.

In a statement issued by White House on the 95th anniversary of the genocide, U.S. president Barack Obama marked the WWI era massacre by Turkish forces, calling it one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century, but avoided any mention of "genocide." He said: "On this solemn day of remembrance, we pause to recall that 95 years ago one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century began. In that dark moment of history, 1.5 million Armenians were massacred or marched to their death in the final days of the Ottoman Empire".

Triggered by an adopted resolution H. Res. 252 of the U.S. House of Representatives committee in March 2010 to call the 1915 killings a genocide in accordance to the U.N. definition, most media attention and political debates, like in previous years and decades, are doubtless on the Armenians. This is legitimate in view of the tireless efforts of the Armenian lobby working for the recognition of the Armenian genocide. Sadly, for decades the fact that Assyrian as well as other Christian groups fell victims has been unknown or ignored, even though the historical record on the Assyrian suffering in the same manner as the Armenians did is clear and documented by overwhelming evidence. They are proven by foreign office records of the United States, France, Great Britain, Russia, and of Turkey's World War I allies, Germany.

Such important evidence is for example included in the collection of Arnold Toynbee, "On the Treatment of Armenians and Assyrian Christians by the Turks, 1915-1916, in the Ottoman Empire and in North-West Persia." This became a part of the "British Blue Book" which was presented to the English public by the English State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Viscount James Bryce. However, the book appeared as The Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, London 1916, and failed to name the Assyrians in the title.

According the German historian Dr. Gabriele Yonan, of the 684 pages in this book, 104 pages refer to the massacres of Assyrians in Azerbaijan and Hakkari (Chapter IV). Chapter IV was left out in the French translation published in 1917. "It apparently seemed opportune at the time to restrict the documentation to the persecution of the Armenians, just as the title suggested," states Yonan in her book (Ein vergessener Holocaust: Die Vernichtung der christlichen Assyrer in der Türkei., Society for Endangered People, Göttingen, 1989). In a second edition which was published in 1972 in Beirut, Chapter IV was once again included, as in the English original edition. In 1989 these documents were published for the first time in German translation in Ein vergessener Holocaust.

In Early April the German state television broadcast a 90 minutes documentary dedicated to the Armenian Genocide (Aghet) and based on contributions of eyewitness, diplomats, missionaries and played by top actors. The documentary showed what motivated the murderers and why Germany, and other countries, remained silent. Despite the excellent research and quality of the documentary, non-Armenian victims were unfortunately not mentioned at all.

Until today, the Assyrian genocide remains in the shadow of the Armenian genocide, even though the Assyrians existence was similarly threatened and their population was decimated. Estimates are that 750,000 Assyrians of different denominations became victims of the planned killings.

Meanwhile, ample scholarly written material on the Assyrian genocide has appeared and in 2007 the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS), which has recognized the 1915 Armenian genocide, extended the recognition to also include the Assyrians and Pontic Greeks (AINA 12-15-2007).

Powerful Yemeni Cleric Vows a "Million" Signatures to Protest Draft Law Banning Child Brides

Rather than protecting children, clerics and mothers in Yemen do not want a law which bans child rape.

Muslim (8:3310) 'A'isha (Allah be pleased with her) reported: Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) married me when I was six years old, and I was admitted to his house when I was nine years old.

From CBS News:

(AP) SAN'A, Yemen (AP) - Yemen's most influential Islamic cleric vowed on Saturday to gather a "million" signatures to protest a draft law banning child brides, in an increasingly vocal showdown against the country's weak government which needs the support of powerful religious leaders to hold onto power.

The issue of child brides in Yemen has attracted broad international attention, most recently when a 13-year-old girl bled to death earlier this month after her 23-year-old husband allegedly tied her down and forced her to have sex with him.

The cleric, Sheik Adbul-Majid al-Zindani, said a ban on child brides "threatens our culture and society and spreads immorality." Al-Zindani is Yemen's most powerful Islamic scholar and believed by the U.S. to be a spiritual mentor of Osama Bin Laden.

Speaking at a conference at Iman University in the Yemeni capital San'a, al-Zindani called on the dozens of radical clerics and Islamic law students in the crowd to opposed the draft law.

"You have to gather a million signatures ... that supports the demands of clerics," said al-Zindani. "If the issue calls on us to gather a million protesters, we'll organize it," al-Zindani said.

Al-Zindani's calls against the ban have become increasingly strident ahead of an expected vote by Yemeni lawmakers next month on raising the marriage age to 17.

The practice of marrying young girls is widespread in Yemen, where a quarter of all females marry before they turn 15, according to a 2009 report by the country's Ministry of Social Affairs.

In the country's deeply tribal society, families prefer young brides because they are seen as more obedient and are expected to have more children. It is also difficult for poor families in impoverished Yemen to ignore bride-prices of hundreds of dollars.

A February 2009 law set the minimum age for marriage at 17, but it was repealed and sent back to parliament's constitutional committee for review after pressure from some lawmakers and clerics, led by al-Zindani, who called it un-Islamic.

In March, al-Zindani signed a religious decree that declared people who supported the ban on child brides to be apostates, a particularly severe charge in the deeply Muslim country.

Pressure from al-Zindani and other religious leaders have made the government reluctant to tackle the issue because they rely on their support to stay in power. A parliamentary committee was expected to make a final decision on the legislation this month, but that has now been delayed until May.

It is widely expected that the government will raise the marriage age to deflect international pressure, but will not enforce legislation. Impoverished Yemenis are widely expected to ignore the law.

'Boobquake' Today: Can Cleavage Cause Earthquakes?

This is an update on this story.

From ABC News:

To test an Iranian cleric's claim that immodestly dressed women are responsible for earthquakes, tens of thousands of women around the country plan to show off an extra bit of skin today.

It all started a week ago, when Purdue University senior Jennifer McCreight, 22, wrote a blog post about some "supernatural thinking" put forward by Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi, an Iranian prayer leader.

"Many women who do not dress modestly … lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which [consequently] increases earthquakes," he was quoted as saying during Friday prayers in Tehran.

Put off by the cleric's comment, the genetics major turned to her blog and declared that it was "Time for a Boobquake."

"On Monday, April 26th, I will wear my most cleavage-showing shirt," she wrote. "I encourage other female skeptics to join me and embrace the supposed supernatural power of their breasts. … With the power of our scandalous bodies combined, we should surely produce an earthquake."

Her boob-baring comments quickly took the Internet by storm.

Boobquake Facebook Page Attracts Tens of Thousands of Women

By the end of the week, more than 100,000 women had pledged their support on the event's Facebook page and the hashtag #boobquake was a trending term on Twitter.

"It was just one of those things that popped in my head," she said. "I never thought there'd be that much attention."

McCreight said that although "Boobquake" was intended was a joke, sometimes humorous responses to "hateful" comments can be valuable.

"When someone makes a statement that you can scientifically test, that immodest clothing causes earthquakes, then we should go ahead and test it," she said. "It's sort of tongue-in-cheek, but I think that light-hearted mockery is sometimes the best way to deal with things like this."

While most responses have been positive, she said that some people have criticized the event for "objectifying" women. But she said she's only asking women to wear clothing they already have in their closets on the same day.

Women of All Ages Pledge Solidarity to 'Boobquake' Cause

"I'm not forcing anyone to go outside their comfort zone," she said. "Just wear something that you consider immodest and that's up to the person." Although Lafayette, Indiana, where Purdue is located, will be the "epicenter" of the event, McCreight said, women all over the world have sent her messages of solidarity.

On the "Boobquake" Facebook page, women from Canada, the United Kingdom and South Africa have pledged support. And McCreight has even received e-mails from Iranian women cheering her on.

n the United States, women of all ages have seized on the opportunity to celebrate femininity.

"I feel women have been forced to "hide" our breasts and we live with them everyday, so why hide them?" 50-year-old Diana Riley Gasior told ABCNews.com. "I'm proud to be part of this fun day to celebrate women."

Kaila Cummins, 20, said she plans to go "pin up" with her outfit to challenge Sedighi's statement.

"Throughout history, women have had to deal with ignorant ideals conceived by men," she said. "I am proud to be a part of this movement to stand up and show that Sedighi's teachings are ludicrous."

Hamas Threatens Not to Release Kidnapped Jewish Soldier Unless All Hamas Radical Islamist Conditions Met

This comes after Israel's humanitarian gesture to aid the comatose daughter of a Hamas minister. The daughter, who is in her twenties, was brought to Israel to receive treatment. Israel aids the children of jihadists who aim to massacre Jewish people while Palestinians threaten violence and no peace. Are world governments paying attention?

Qur'an (47:4) - "So when you meet in battle those who disbelieve, then smite the necks until when you have overcome them, then make (them) prisoners,"

Bukhari (52:220) - Allah's Apostle said... 'I have been made victorious with terror'

From ANSAmed:

Hamas has warned Israel's "Zionist society" that the soldier Gilad Shalit, who since June 2006 has been in their hands, will never be freed if the Israeli government does not agree to all the conditions set down by the Islamic movement in power in the Gaza Strip. The warning came yesterday in a video produced for propaganda purposes in the very days in which Israel has carried out a humanitarian gesture by allowing the urgent transport to an Amman hospital of the daughter - who is in a coma - of the Interior Minister, Fathi Hamad, of the de facto Hamas government in Gaza, the sworn enemy of the Israeli state. In what clearly seems psychological warfare, Hamas has prepared a short animation film addressing "the Zionist society and not its elected leaders, who see nothing outside of their personal interests and who are therefore postponing the finalisation of an agreement - still possible - which would return Shalit to his family in exchange for Palestinians being held (in Israel)". Hamas also warned that is intends to imprison a large number of Israelis "so that the Zionist government will be forced to create a ministry for imprisoned Zionist soldiers." The footage shows Noam Shalit, the soldier's father, having aged twenty years, while he turns to this imaginary minister with a photo of his son in prison. "I am saddened," replied Noam Shalit, "that Hamas is using psychological warfare instead of negotiating a prisoner exchange." Shalit, warned Hamas, risks ending up the same as Ron Arad (pictured with daughter): the Israeli pilot who crashed in Lebanon in 1986 and was taken prisoner by a Shia militia, and of whose whereabouts nothing is known more than twenty years later. Hamas's move has come after the latest mediation by Germany at the beginning of the month to bring in an agreement between Israel and Hamas on a prisoner exchange. Israel seems willing to free about a thousand Palestinians in exchange for the soldier but refuses to release a few dozen prisoners - on whom Hamas insists - responsible for the killing of many Israelis. Meanwhile, on Saturday Israel briefly conceded a pause in the unyielding isolation it has put the Gaza Strip under in order to allow the daughter in a coma of one of its bitterest enemies to be transferred via helicopter to Amman after receiving emergency treatment in the Israeli hospital Soroka in Beersheva. The woman, the 21-year-old Ilham Hamad, daughter of Hamas Interior Minister Fathi Hamad, wife of one of the military heads of the Islamic movement and mother of three children, had fallen into a coma during nasal septum surgery in a Jordanian field camp in Gaza. Following urgent consultations involving the royal Jordanian family and the Israeli premier, Israel agree to the transfer and authorised the arrival of the Jordanian helicopter and emergency treatment in Soroka.