Austria: Man Fined For Yodeling, Muslims Claimed Hurt Feelings

Will Muslims in Europe be fined for their prayers being too loud and offending secular folks (or people of a different religion, perhaps)?

From the Austrian Times:

An Austrian has been fined for yodelling while mowing his lawn, according to a report.

The Kronen Zeitung newspaper claims Helmut G. was told by a court in Graz, Styria, that his yodelling offended his next-door Muslim neighbours.

The men reportedly accused the 63-year-old of having tried to mock and imitate the call of the Muezzin. The daily paper writes the Austrian was fined 800 Euros after judges ruled he could have tried to offend them and ridicule their belief. The Muslims, whose nationalities were not revealed by the report, were right in the middle of a prayer when the Austrian started to yodel.

"It was not my intention to imitate or insult them. I simply started to yodel a few tunes because I was in such a good mood" the man told the newspaper today.

WikiLeaks Shows Broad Arab Support For Destroying Iranian Regime

From Occidental Soapbox:

The Sunni Arab states know the Iranian threat is real and indeed the mini Gulf-states would be the first victims, with a shadow falling darkly over the Persian Gulf well before Iran is at the stage of launching nuclear-tipped missiles at Israel.

This is an issue that unites the Jewish state closely with it's Sunni Arab neighbors. Obama should be promoting a united front against Iran part of his outreach to the Muslim world. Jews and Muslims working together!

From the Jerusalem Post:

'Saudis on Iran: Cut off the head of the snake'

According to a report of the more than 250,000 cables, that appeared on The Guardian’s website, Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah asked the US repeatedly to attack Iran and destroy its nuclear program, and in 2008 the monarchy’s envoy to Washington told US Gen. David Petraeus to “cut off the head of the snake.”

The Guardian noted that the Saudi king was recorded as having “frequently exhorted the US to attack Iran to put an end to its nuclear weapons program,” one cable stated.

And Saudi Arabia was not alone. According to the Guardian report, “officials in Jordan and Bahrain have openly called for Iran’s nuclear program to be stopped by any means, including military.”

'Taliban Mentor' Cleric Allowed To Speak At House Of Lords

From the TheJC.com:

A senior Muslim cleric who is known as the “Taliban’s ideological mentor” has been allowed to enter the UK and address the House of Lords.

Fazlur Rehman [pictured], the head of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party, came to the UK on Wednesday, at the invitation of the High Commission of Pakistan, and was due to address the House of Lords on Thursday.

Earlier this week, the chairman of human rights group Ansar Burney Trust International and Pakistan's former federal minister for human rights, Ansar Burney, asked Home Secretary Theresa May to block Maulana Rehman’s entry due to his “religious extremist ideological threat”.

Mr Burney said Maulana Rehman’s “unquestionable pro-Taliban ideologies and vowed support for the Taliban may potentially carry a great deal of threat to the British society.”

Think tank International Crises Group has claimed Muslim seminaries run by his party are used as Taliban recruitment centres and identified Maulana Rehman as the Taliban’s “ideological mentor”.

He added that if Maulana Rehman is not banned, he will seek judicial review to challenge the permission.

Earlier this year, Ms May banned controversial Muslim preacher Zakir Naik from entering the UK on the basis that his presence was not conducive to the public good.

A spokeswoman from the Home Office said they would not comment on individual cases.

A spokesman at London-based counter terrorism think tank, the Quilliam Foundation, said: “It is very worrying that Rehman has been able to get into the country. We call on the Government to have more scrutiny for individuals such as him.

“His party is well known for being antisemitic and pro-Taliban.”

Mohammed Abbasi, a spokesman for the Association of British Muslims, said: “Fazlur Rehman has been stirring up political fanaticism and anti-Western sentiment in Pakistan for years. The government must know full well that he is extremely likely to spread similar hatred and support for the Taliban during his stay in the UK.

"It is extraordinary that he should be welcomed here despite his track record of openly supporting the Taliban.

"Entrance to the United Kingdom is a privilege which should not be granted to extremists who promote hatred and stir up tension. Rather than rolling out the red carpet for them, where possible figures like Mullah Fazlur Rehman should face legal action.”

Islamists Criticize "Propagation Of Buddhism" In Jordan

From AmmonNews.com:

AMMONNEWS - The Islamic Action Front (IAF) on Sunday criticized the inauguration of the headquarters of "Jordanian -Thai Center for Contemplation and Self-development," noting that Thai media referred to the center as a "launching point for missionary work for Buddhism."

Director General of the Gendarmerie Department, Major General Tawfiq Tawalbeh, had inaugurated the center last Tuesday in a ceremony held in the Dead Sea and attended by Thai Ambassador in Amman, Isinthorn Sornvai, and a number of other ambassadors and representatives of civil society organizations.
Photo of the inauguration ceremony of the Jordanian-Thai Center for Contemplation and Self Development on Tuesday, November 24, 2010.
IAF Secretary General Hamzeh Mansour noted in a letter sent to Prime Minister Samir Rifai on Sunday that a Thai Television Network commented on the inauguration as "the first time Buddhism is propagated in Jordan publicly and officially, we believe Jordan is a suitable nation to spread Buddhism."

IAF criticized the official publicity of the inauguration, questioning in the letter "how Jordan, where the constitution corfirms Islam as the state religion, would allow the establishment of a center to propagate beliefs that contradict the religion of the state?"

The letter also questioned how Jordan became the first Arab nation that Thailand obtains such a permit to operate a center.

IAF called on the government to investigate the issue and "hold accountable anyone who transgresses on the official religion and identity of the state."

Connecticut Roller Rink Defends Policy on Headscarves After Muslim Woman Complains

Let's not forget the awful strangling accident that happened in the UK on Go-Karts. Maybe Ron-A-Roll wants to avoid death lawsuits by adhering to common sense rules.

Further, the woman quoted at the end incorrectly suggests that the Muslim women demanding to wear headscarves and interrupted a party over something they made a "racial thing." Let us point out that religion does not equate race. These individuals were making religious demands and expecting preferential treatment. It had nothing to do with their race. No one wears head-coverings, including hats, at this business as a rule. The Muslim women wanted the rules bent for them, as we've seen in other cases before, and threatened to sue (surprise!).

From Fox News

A roller skating rink in Connecticut is standing behind its decision
to ask a Muslim woman to remove her headscarf because it could present a danger to skaters if it fell off.

Marisol Rodriguez-Colon was set to attend her 4-year-old niece’s birthday party at Ron-A-Roll but apparently didn’t make it very far past the check-in counter before she was stopped by a rink employee, who offered her two options: remove her headscarf or wear a helmet over it.

Rodriguez-Colon said she felt “mortified” when an employee at a rink asked her to wear a helmet on top of her religious headscarf, or hijab.

But Jennifer Conde, the operations manager at the Ron-A-Roll, said the rink’s main priority is the safety of its patrons.

“We are not insensitive to people’s religion,” she said. “We just focus on safety.”

In a statement to FoxNews.com, Ron-A-Roll said it has a policy that prohibits headwear to be worn in the building. Safety helmets are offered to those that are unable to remove headwear for any reason, because they are secured with a chin strap.

Each roller rink has its own rules. In many cases, these rules are tailored to fit their unique clientele.

The Roller Skating Association, through a lawyer, said that the “recommendation from the RSA is to not infringe on the use of recognized religious headgear unless the use of the headgear would expose other patrons to a risk that would not be otherwise present.”

Ron-A-Roll has a history of inflexibility to its rules, even when they turn out to be public relation nightmares.

Back in January, a bald woman suffering from cancer left the rink when employees insisted that she wear a helmet over her head scarf. Friends of the woman created a Facebook page calling for the boycott of the rink.

Frank Schiazza, the owner of CN Skate Palace in Pennsylvania, said he has a "no hat" rule at his rink but never forced a Muslim woman to remove her scarf.

“They usually don’t fly off,” he said.

Ron-A-Roll’s meticulous attention to details, in this case, is troubling to Mongi Dhaouadi, the executive director of the Connecticut office for the Council on American-Islamic Relations

Dhaouadi said the rink has all but turned a deaf ear when he asked to talk about the matter.

“These were two women who were not allowed in because they wore this headscarf,” he said. “They had absolutely no intention to skate.”

The women told Dhaouadi that few people at the rink were wearing a helmet at the time.

“I’m hoping it’s a misunderstanding,” he said.

Janine Gallo, who organized the party, said she signed a contract that assured the club that the rules would be followed by her guests. The two women, according to Gallo, were not on the roster and created an unnecessary scene.

“They were shouting that they were going to sue,” said Gallo.

The worker told Gallo that all she needed to do was put a helmet over the headscarf.

“The kids were having a great time, but they had to make it a racial thing,” Gallo told FoxNews.com. “It really shouldn’t be.”

Saudi Arabian Career Women Not Wanted For Marriage

From The Muslim News (UK):

DAMMAM, (Arab News): With the springing up of more and more hospitals and health centers across the Kingdom, there has also been a huge demand for nursing staff, a field that is overwhelmingly dominated by foreigners. However, more and more young Saudi women are also becoming nurses, something that is leading to a new phenomenon.

“The number of young Saudi women joining nursing courses is on the rise. There are more than 5,000 Saudi female nurses in the Eastern Region alone. We have managed to achieve 50 percent Saudization in the government health sector,” said Sharifa Al-Zayed, director of the Nursing Department at the Health Affairs Directorate in the Eastern Region.

Many Saudi women have managed to succeed in this profession in spite of overwhelming opposition, especially from their family members, notably husbands, something that often affects how well they perform their jobs.

The main causes of this are husbands who do not want their wives to work shifts and attend to male patients. In fact, many Saudi nurses struggle to find husbands because of their professions. Even those Saudi males in the medical field refuse to marry nurses, Al-Watan newspaper reported.

Abrar is studying to become a nurse at Dammam University. “Our society looks at this profession in a negative way even though nursing is a lofty profession and has a strong humanitarian aspect to it,” she said, recounting how one of her classmates was turned down by a prospective husband after he came to know she was studying to become a nurse.

She added that another one of her classmates switched over to another course after two years because of her husband. “Another classmate had a similar bitter experience. Her husband told her to discontinue the course if her academic performance was found to be unsatisfactory,” she added.

Ramia, who is on the same course as Abrar, criticized the negative way with which young Saudi men view nursing graduates.

“Many doctors also refuse to marry nurses,” she said.

Nouf, another classmate, is finding it difficult to find a husband. “A young man had proposed to marry me. His mother then came to see me and it was then that she learned that I was a nursing student. The next day, she telephoned my family to break the engagement saying her son does not want to marry a nurse,” she said.

For Abrar the future is bright. Her fiancé wants her to work as a nurse. Her fiancé works at a hospital himself and has promised to help find her a job there.

Ahmad Aseeri, a marriage official in Abha, said nearly 90 percent of young men who visit him prefer working women to housewives. “However, about 60 percent of those who are marrying for the first time don’t want nurses. They cite several factors for this, such as unsociable working hours, gender mixing and stuff like that,” he said.

Salama Al-Atwi, a marriage official in Tabuk, said some young men who refuse to marry nurses fail to understand the important role they play in society. “Once a young man proposed to marry one of his relatives. He knew full well that she was a nursing student and that her elder sister worked as a nurse. After the marriage was fixed, the girl’s family insisted she be allowed to work as a nurse after she graduates, but he totally refused and the marriage was called off,” he said.

According to Al-Atwi, an overwhelming majority of young men in the age group between 20 and 30 do not want to marry nurses.

Dr. Ghazi Al-Shamri, head of the Family Solidarity Committee at the Eastern Region Governorate who is also supervisor of the family website Tusafeena (be honest with one another), said that even some doctors are hesitant to marry nurses.

“Most of the doctors working with the Ministry of Health do not want to marry women working in the same sector. There are several factors for this, including long hours, shift work and gender mixing. The high salaries that female doctors receive also sometimes leads to bitter disputes between couples,” he said, adding that he knows of several divorces in which the couples were both doctors.

“However, this cannot be generalized. There are several couples in which both husband and wife are doctors and they’re leading happily married lives,” he said, adding that the problems that female nurses face are not restricted to the Kingdom but also exist in other GCC states.

Al-Zayed said that some Saudi men do opt to marry nursing students or working nurses.

“But after getting married, these men mount pressure on them to obey their dictates. Such husbands direct them not to work shifts, prefer working in primary health care centers to hospitals, and avoid working with men,” she said, adding that this leads to many female nurses feeling stressed.

Al-Zayed, however, added that she has never heard of a nurse leaving her job because of her husband.

“However, I have seen several nursing students drop the subject when they get married,” she said.

She added that married nurses opt to work in primary health care centers to hospitals.

“There are only morning shifts in health centers. There are several instances in which nurses working at hospital try to get transferred to primary health centers. For this, they cite several excuses, going up to the extent that their family is on the verge of break up or divorce,” she said, recalling her long experience in the field.

Muslim Gang Members Jailed For Sex Trafficking

From the Daily Mail (UK):

At a pristine house on the ­outskirts of Derby, life is slowly getting back to some semblance of normality. The teenage girl living here is a college student who’s put photos of herself dancing and laughing with her friends on several social ­networking websites.

A few miles away, another teenager, only a ­little older at 18, won a prize last month for being an ‘inspirational’ student at her college. A third girl, a child of 14, has a loving mother who waves her off to a Derby school each morning from a terrace home with a manicured front garden and picket fence.

The three girls from decent families have, almost certainly, never met. Yet each has become caught up in what’s believed to be the biggest case of serial sex abuse ever uncovered in Britain. This week, nine men from Derby were jailed for a string of offences against these girls and 24 others whom they groomed for sex.

The gang — all but one of whom were Asian — roamed the streets in a BMW with blacked-out windows looking for girls. They plied them with vodka from bottles and plastic cups ­hidden under the seats, before raping or ­abusing them. They were not the only victims in Derby. Up to 100 girls may have been ensnared in this horror after being lured by the smartly-dressed gang into the car outside school gates, shops, ­coffee bars near the city’s railway station and a local park.

Over weeks and months, the girls were taken to houses in Derby and other towns before being raped by the gang and their friends, some of whom paid the men in cash.

In rundown flats with mattresses on the floor, the girls were locked into rooms and turned into sex slaves. If they protested or refused, they were threatened with being beaten with a ­hammer and even told they would be shot. The depraved sex acts were filmed on mobile phones and may have now been sold on through internet pornography sites.

As one of the girls, a 16-year old raped by the gang, said through tears this week: ‘They would take you out, buy you ice creams and a lovely, nice meal. There’s a part of you who thinks it’s really exciting: “I have met this lovely man.” You feel like they’re going to keep you safe. They then abuse every part of you.’

If this was a one-off, it would be deeply ­troubling indeed. The reality is, it’s not. Many schoolgirls — one just eight — living in towns and cities all over the north of England are ­falling prey to gangs who groom them to be sex slaves for themselves or other men.

The resulting court cases have marked ­similarities. A gang of five Asian men was jailed earlier this month for a total of 32 years for a string of sexual offences against girls aged between 12 and 16 in Rotherham, South ­Yorkshire. The judge, Peter Kelson QC, told the men they were ‘sexual predators’, adding: ‘You had what you regarded as your fun. Now you will take your punishment. All five of you were ­convicted of sexual activity with a child. The clue is in the title: a child.’

This case came just weeks after a privately-educated schoolgirl, forced into sex slavery at 14, bravely gave evidence in court against nine Asian men, who were jailed for her ‘­sustained sexual abuse’ over many months.

The girl was picked up by the gang while walking through Rochdale, Greater Manchester. They took her to a nightclub, gave her vodka, and then drove her to a private house where three men had sex with her. For 11 days, missing from home, she was passed around ‘like a piece of meat’ from man to man before finally managing to escape.

The experience of all these young girls has an uncomfortable element to it. It is a subject that in politically correct modern Britain is almost taboo — rarely spoken about by the police, the courts or even the ­agencies that counsel the girls afterwards.

The simple fact is that the ­perpetrators are almost all Asian and from the north of England — and their victims white.

This week, the BBC reported the Derby case repeatedly on radio with barely a mention of the fact all but one of the gang members were Asian, or the fact the vast majority of the victims — 22 of the 27 mentioned in court — were white girls.

In the city’s own newspaper, an eight-page investigation under the lurid headline in red capitals ­‘Monsters in our Midst’ showed ­pictures of all nine gang members and printed their names, but failed to use the word Asian once.

At this point, it should be said loud and clear that the vast majority of Asian men are decent, law-abiding citizens and that rapists come from all racial and social backgrounds.

But as Emma, a 21-year-old who eight years ago became a sex slave in another northern town and now counsels other victims, told the Mail recently: ‘The truth is, most men running the gangs in the north of England are Asians of Pakistani ­origin. But very few of the authorities will say this.’

Instead, it has been left to some outstandingly brave members of the Muslim community, former MP Ann Cryer (who was roundly criticised for speaking her mind when seven years ago she said Asian gangs were ­raping white girls) and a handful of the girl victims to highlight the reasons behind this deafening silence.

Mohammed Shafiq, director of the Lancashire-based Ramadhan Foundation, a charity working for peaceful harmony between different communities, has said: ‘I think the police are overcautious because they are afraid of being branded racist. These men are criminals and should be treated as criminals — whatever their race.’

In Derby this week, Shokat Lal, chairman of the city’s Pakistani Community Centre in the Normanton area — where many of the girls were taken to seedy flats and then sexually attacked by the gang – spoke out, too: ‘It is important that political correctness or fear of offending any particular group of people does not get in the way of protecting those who are vulnerable.

‘This is not an issue of race or ­religion, but about right and wrong, and people committing criminal acts. Vulnerable girls are being exploited for sex. We must stand together as one, people of all backgrounds, to denounce these vile acts.’

On the Derby doorstep of one of the girl victims, a relative told me: ‘Our child is beginning to get over it. She is hoping to go to university and enjoying life, even going down into the city ­centre to shop or to see friends.

‘We know what has happened and all about the men who are doing this. We only wish the whole world knew the truth and their own ­community might then step in and stop them.’

So why are such vile crimes taking place in so-called modern, civilised Britain?

One reason is the money that can be made. According to Scotland Yard, a gang can reap £300,000 a year from prostituting a young white girl. There is more money in selling a girl for sex than peddling drugs — especially if she is a virgin and free of sexual diseases.

And then there is a controversial, but relevant, cultural issue. Asian men of Pakistani heritage often believe white girls have low morals compared with Muslim girls. ‘They wear what they call “slags” clothing, showing much of their bodies and “deserve what they get”,’ an Asian social worker in the north of England has told me.

The girls are held in contempt by the gang members, who do not even call them by their own names. They refer to each one by the same generic term, either to the girls themselves or to their Asian friends on their mobile phones — the Urdu term ‘gori’, which means simply ‘white-skinned female’.

To add a further twist to this ­brutal cultural divide, the gangs hide their own names from the girls. They call themselves by unidentifiable nicknames, a simple trick which makes the police’s job of tracing the culprits more difficult. And, of course, the girls have no idea who they really are.

In the cases that have come to court in the north of England, whether in Rochdale, Rotherham or in Derby, the modus operandi is invariably the same.

A schoolgirl is out with her friends in the town centre, often on a ­Saturday afternoon or after class on her way home. She’s bored, so when a group of smiling men pull up in a flash car blaring rap music she takes notice. The men, smartly dressed, start their chat-up routine. They ask her to ‘chill’ with them. They say ‘come for a ride’ and tell her she’s pretty. They promise they will buy her a meal at any place she chooses.

Once in the car, they produce a plastic cup of vodka and give it to her in the back seat.

They hand her a cigarette or a spliff of cannabis, too. The girl is befuddled, but charmed. The gang plays a waiting game, telling her to meet them tomorrow at the same place.

She gives them her mobile phone number and they warn her she must not tell her parents about anything that has gone on.

The trap has been set. As Emma, the counsellor captured by a gang at 13 in Leeds, explained to me: ‘I thought I was having a great time. I was young and a virgin.
‘I had no idea the men were part of a gang when they drove up in a Bentley with personalised number plates.’

Not one word of her story would surprise the Derby schoolgirls who over the past year have given their accounts in a series of court cases which ended this week. The two 28-year-old gang leaders, Abid ­Saddique and Mohammed Liaqat, both married fathers, face years behind bars after being found guilty of sexual abuse over an 18-month period.

Despite barely uttering a sentence during police interviews, the pair told the court that their ­sexual encounters were ‘consensual’ or did not happen at all. They said they were living a secret life, hidden from wives in their arranged marriages and their families.

Abid Saddique told the court: ‘These are girls I did not respect and these are girls who are just ­partying and taking drugs and we had consensual sex.’

Mohammed Liaqat, who lived on benefits and with a wife recently arrived from Pakistan, said in ­evidence that he used nicknames to cover his tracks from police and to keep his double life from his family.

It was only a chance arrest in late 2008 that halted the Derby gang. Staffordshire police stopped a car in nearby Burton upon Trent which was carrying three men, including the two gang leaders, and two young girls. They were suspected of shoplifting.

The girls were taken back to Derby in a police car and told ­the horrified officers about what was going on. Meanwhile, a nurse from one of the city’s schools alerted police that a girl had come to her surgery saying she had been gang-raped.

It was the start of a huge undercover operation involving 100 detectives. Even now, police don’t believe that all the girls ensnared by ­Saddique, Liaqat and the rest of the gang have been found.

As Detective Superintendent Debbie Platt of Derbyshire Police said yesterday: ‘We were really shocked with the scale and extent of what we’d uncovered, but this is a very hidden crime.’

Algeria Tries Christians For Opening Place Of Worship

From Al Arabiya:

Algeria will put on trial four converts to Christianity from Sunday for "illegally opening a place of worship", one of their lawyers told AFP.

"The defendants, who are between 35 and 45 years old, have been charged with setting up a Protestant church in the region without authorization by authorities," said lawyer Mohamed Ben Belkacem.

The trial will be held in Larbaa Nath Irathen, east of Algiers.

One of the accused has also been charged with illegally accommodating a French pastor who had travelled to Algeria to make a speech before members of the Christian community.

The trial was originally scheduled to open on October 10 but put off after the court insisted it needed witnesses to give evidence.

Under a 2006 Algerian law Muslims or non-Muslims can only practice their religion after authorities agree to a place of worship.

Over the past months several trials have opened in the north African country where Islam is the state religion for violation of Islamic precepts, notably involving converts to Christianity.

A group of Muslims who were charged with breaking the daily fast during the holy month of Ramadan in August, were acquitted earlier this month.

In mid-October a youth was sentenced to two years in prison and a fine for failing to abide by the fast but the prosecutor later said the sentence was for breaking a window pane at a police station.

Two Christians who broke the fast were acquitted in early October.

Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia told parliament last month Algeria would "always guarantee" freedom of religion.

Muslim Girl Killed For Love Affair With Hindu

From Hindu Existence:

(Uttar Pradesh) || Nov 25, 2010 : A Muslim man has been arrested for killing his teenaged daughter who was in love with a Hindu youth from the same village, police said Thursday.

Mushtakeem, a resident of Mawaithakuran village, strangled his 18-year-old daughter Rehana Parveen after she insisted on marrying her lover Bhoora Prajapati, 21, police said.

Mushtakeem was arrested late Wednesday after Parveen’s body was recovered from their home. The village is in Moradabad district, some 300 km from Lucknow.

According to police, Prajapati and Parveen used to meet regularly in the fields on the outskirts of the village. But as Parveen had not been coming for the last few days, Prajapati approached police suspecting the girl could be in trouble.

Police raided Mushtakeem’s house and recovered his daughter’s body from a locked room.

“Preliminary investigations indicate it’s a case of honor killing. The father has confessed to the crime,” police inspector Ravi Kumar told reporters Thursday.

“The father told us he committed the crime as he thought his daughter’s marriage with the youth of a different community would bring a bad name to the family,” he added.

According to police, besides the father, the girl’s family members could also be involved in the crime.

As per source. now the family of Bhoora Prajapati expressed fear as the life threats were coming to them all around and Bhoora is now going to the village committee to get a protection for his family and himself. The local Panchayet (village adminstration) assured the protection for Prajapati family as the source confirmed.

In India Hindu girls are frequently fallen with love with various tricks by the Muslim boys and they are successful to marry a good numbers of Hindu girls in the Muslim prone areas of India. But they never allow the vice-versa.

In Kerala, numbers of cases are pending in various courts against love intrigue, elopement, abduction, blackmailing after affairs or forceful marriage with Hindu girls by the Muslim boys, which is now believed as an Islamic agenda of some fundamental organizations, now called as Love Jihad. These Jihadists keep keen vigil upon the Muslim girls as they must not get any chance to make a love affair with Hindu boys. Then the honor killings come alike.

Iran Court: ‘Pastor To Be Executed By Hanging’

From Worthy News:

TEHRAN, IRAN (Worthy News)-- A detained pastor of a major network of Christian house churches in Iran will be executed by hanging for "apostasy", or abandoning Islam, according to translated court documents seen by Worthy News Wednesday, November 24.

The 11th Chamber of The Assize Court of the province of Gilan said Iranian pastor Yousef Nadarkhani had proved his "apostasy" by "organizing evangelistic meetings and inviting others to Christianity, establishing a house church, baptizing people, expressing his faith to others and, denying Islamic values."

Nadarkhani is "an apostate [and] will be executed by being hung...Somehow his soul is taken from him," the court wrote.

The written verdict was "officially officially handed out" Tuesday, November 23, said a source of Nadarkhani's evangelical Church of Iran network speaking on condition of anonymity.

Lawyers Naser Sarbazi from Tehran and Abbas Salmanpour from Gilan's capital Rasht, who already learned about the verdict earlier this month, are appealing the sentence, Worthy News learned.

SUPREME COURT

Under Iranian law, once the written verdict is delivered, there will be 20 days to appeal to the Islamic Republic's Supreme Court.

The 33-year old Nadarkhani, who was detained in October last year, is currently held in a security prison in Lakan, Iran, just south of his hometown of Rasht.

He was arrested after protesting against the enforced reading of the Koran, viewed as a holy book by Muslims, to Christian children including his own. His wife Fatemeh Passandideh was released October 11 by a court in Gilan province, after she was detained on similar apostasy charges, Christians said.

In comments accompanying the death sentence, the court claimed Nadarkhani confirmed he converted to Christianity from Islam, despite possible execution. "Even in his last defense...when he was asked [by the prosecutor] 'from the age of puberty until the age of 19, what religion have you had?', he replied... 'Since I was born in a Muslim family I was Muslim until I converted to Christianity at the age of 19'."

Nadarkhani said the persecutor "induced" him "to believe whoever is born from Muslim parents and does not choose any religion after passing the puberty age, is a Muslim," the court acknowledged.

ISLAM DISPUTE

However adding to the "apostasy" were indications that he did not agree with all aspects of Islam, according to the verdict obtained by Worthy News. The court noticed that Nadarkhani believes in "the unity of God and the resurrection of the dead" but expressed concerns that in his view Mohammad "is the prophet of Muslims but not a messenger from God..."

Nadarkhani's defense team argued that their client confirmed that "Muhammad was a prophet of Islam" and that he did not commit a crime of apostasy because he was never a true Muslim.

The lawyers also pointed out that there is "no punishment specified in the Islamic judicial system of Iran and other penal laws" for these kind of cases and that their client "has not committed a crime to deserve a punishment."

The court disagreed. "It has been proven to the members of the jury that Mr. Yousef Nadarkhani, son of Biram, has been born from Muslim parents, choose Islam [but] abandoned it at the age 19. His actions according to the fatwas of all Shia theologians is considered as inherent apostasy from the sacred religion of Islam."

MORE EXECUTIONS

If confirmed, Nadarkhani would be the first Christian to be officially executed in Iran for religious reasons in 20 years. The last Iranian Christian convert from Islam executed by the Iranian government was Assemblies of God Pastor Hossein Soodmand in 1990.

However several other Christians, including at least six Protestant pastors, are known to have been assassinated by unknown killers in recent years.

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom has asked President Barack Obama Obama to seek the release of Nadarkhani, who is married with two young children.

Yet, citing from the Bible, Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani wrote to his fellow believers not to fear persecution in the strict Islamic nation, saying Jesus Christ gives him strength. "As we’ve heard He has said: "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you."

Despite reported persecution there are at least 100,000 believers in the nation, most of them former Muslims, according to Elam Ministries, a mission group of Iranian church leaders. Many of them worship in underground house churches, including those of the Church of Iran movement.

Al-Azhar Asks Coptic Church To Denounce Religious Discrimination Claims

From Al-Masry Al-Youm:

Al-Azhar attempted to persuade Egypt's Coptic Church on Thursday to rebuff a US report claiming that Christians in Egypt were discriminated against.

Pope Shenouda (left) shaking hands with Al-Azhar's new Grand Sheik (right)

The Coptic Church had--for the first time--welcomed an annual US report on religious freedoms, saying there was indeed discrimination against Christians in Egypt. The Church held the government responsible for the report's conclusions, since it had ignored previous criticisms.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry, for its part, rejected the report, saying that Washington had no right to assess religious freedoms in the country.

The Islamic Research Academy, which is affiliated with Al-Azhar, held a meeting on 6 December to discuss the report following consultations with church representatives.

Al-Azhar spokesman Ambassador Mohammad Rafaa al-Tahtawi said the objective of the meeting was to take a "patriotic stance" representing all citizens, both Muslim and Christian alike. He said Al-Azhar considered the report "unacceptable interference" in Egypt’s domestic affairs.

The US State Department's international religious freedoms report, released Wednesday, details alleged abuses of religious freedoms around the world. This year's report criticized “the practice of religious discrimination against Christians and Baha'is” in Egypt, pointing out that they did not enjoy equal representation in high-level government positions.

The report went on to claim that converts from Islam to Christianity were subject to numerous restrictions, the most noteworthy of which was the refusal of the authorities to issue them new national identity cards reflecting their conversion to Christianity.

Translated from the Arabic Edition.

Pakistan: Christian Woman To Serve 20 Years In Prison For Touching Quran

From the Pakistan Christian Post:

Lahore: November 25, 2010. A court in Pakistan has freed a Christian man who was wrongly jailed for 25 years for blasphemy after he allegedly defiled the Koran, the Muslim holy book, by touching it with unwashed hands.

Munir Masih, had consistently denied the allegations against him, arguing that they were false and made maliciously by a Muslim neighbour whose child had been involved in a quarrel with his 10-year-old son.

He has been freed on bail but his wife, Ruqqiya Bibbi,who was also given a 25-year sentence for the offence, is still in jail awaiting the outcome of her application for bail.

They are both appealing against sentence and conviction after Muhammad Nawaz, the man who accused them, admitted they were innocent and indicated that was willing to submit an affidavit to confirm this.

CLAAS (Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement), a London and Lahore-based group fighting for the rights of Christians persecuted in Pakistan, said the case demonstrated how the country’s severe blasphemy laws continue to be misused.

“We are very delighted by the success of this case and pray for Ruqqiya to be freed next week,” said CLAAS directors Nasir Saeed and Joseph Francis in a joint statement.

“But we are still concerned about the many other innocent victims of this law who are being jailed, and suffering immensely, because of their faith,” they said.

“CLAAS continues to campaign for the repeal of the blasphemy law and urge the government of Pakistan to amend the law,” they added.

“We are helping the victims but we appeal to all societies to offer their support and help in collaborating against this ongoing injustice against Pakistani Christians.”

Munir, a labourer, will be released on Saturday November 27 after a decision on Tuesday November 23 by Mr Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry at the High Court in Lahore to grant him bail with a surety bond of 100,000 rupees (£733).

His wife’s application will be heard at the High Court next week.

The pair had previously lived together at Karmawali Mustifabad Tehsil in the Kasur district of the country with their six children – Sonia, Amna, Ameer, Akash, Muqadass and Shabir.

Their ordeal began on 8 December 2008 when a Muslim boy slapped Muqadass, then aged five, across the face, prompting his elder brother, Ameer, 10, to defend his brother by striking the boy back.

That evening the boys’ parents turned up at the family’s home with their relatives and began abusing Ruqqiya.

Shortly afterwards the couple were accused by their neighbours of defiling the Koran and they were arrested. The offence carries a life sentence under the Pakistani Penal Code.

In January 2009 the pair were released on bail only to be reported by same neighbours the following February of insulting Muhammad, the founder of Islam, an offence which carries the death penalty under Section 295-C of the code.

During a bail application in May 2009 about 50 radical Muslim clerics tried to storm the courtroom while others promised to kill Ruqqiya and Munir whatever the outcome of their trial.

They were released from custody in October 2009 after CLAAS filed a third application for bail and went into hiding.

In February this year a jury in Kasur cleared them of defaming Muhammad but convicted them of the lesser offence. They were sentenced to life on March 2.

CLAAS filed their recent appeal for bail with the High Court, through its lawyers Tahir Gul Sadiq, Nasir Anjum and Tanvir Gill.

The organisation hopes that the family will be reunited for Christmas.

Report: Nearly 1,200 Women Killed In Pakistan In 2010

From the Times of India:

Of the 1,195 women murdered in Pakistan this year, 98 were killed after being raped, says a report by the country's first helpline for women and children.

The Madadgaar helpline released a report in Karachi Thursday on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, Geo News reported Friday.

The report was compiled from news reports published in the mainstream Pakistani media.

The increasing number of incidents of violence against women is a "blemish on the face of our society and seriously hamper the efforts for empowerment of women and gender equality in Pakistan", said Madadgaar's project coordinator and president of the Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid (LHRLA), Zia Ahmed Awan.

He said it was "sad" that reports of violence against women have come from all parts of the country. This should be a wake-up call for the government.

The report further said that 321 were raped and 194 gang raped in Pakistan in 2010. a total of 1,091 were tortured, 126 were burnt, 383 were kidnapped, 316 were tortured by police and 491 committed suicide.

A total of 4,870 cases of violence against women were registered by police, while the total number of cases reported since the year 2000 came up to 79,909.

Awan said over 2,400 cases were reported from Punjab, 1,070 from Sindh, 998 from Khyber-Pakhtunkhuwa and 313 from Balochistan. The number of cases were less in Khyber-Pakhtunkhuwa and Balochistan provinces because of a strong tribal culture and lack of access to the media.

The UN General Assembly has designated Nov 25 as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

India Marks Two Years Since The Mumbai Attacks

From the Agence France Presse:

MUMBAI — India was set Friday to mark the second anniversary of the militant attacks on Mumbai with memorial events and prayer meetings to honour the 166 victims killed during 60 hours of carnage.

Police and security forces who tackled the 10 Islamist gunmen were due to parade through the city, while mourners also planned to gather at the hotels, railway station, cafe and Jewish centre where the massacres took place.

The attackers arrived by sea on the evening of November 26, and authorities only regained full control of the city three days later.

Live television footage was shown around the world as commandos battled with the militants and terrified civilians tried to escape the bloodbath. About 300 people were injured.

Nine of the gunmen were killed and the sole survivor, Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, was condemned to death by a Mumbai court in May. He is challenging the sentence.

Both New Delhi and Washington blame the attacks on the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group.

Police officers were due to unveil a memorial to Constable Tukaram Ombale at Chowpatty beach in south Mumbai, where he lost his life as he tackled Kasab.

Earlier this month US President Barack Obama visited the city, and met the families of victims and survivors, as well as paying his respects at a memorial in the Taj Mahal Palace hotel, which was one of the militants' prime targets.

Obama and his delegation made a point of staying overnight at the hotel, the scene of a three-day siege, in what was seen as a highly symbolic gesture of solidarity.

The US president did not include a visit to Pakistan on his four-nation tour of Asia, despite it being a key US ally in the war against Islamist extremism.

India has accused Islamabad of not doing enough to bring the plotters behind the attacks to justice, and the incident still colours relations between the two nuclear-armed rivals, while Delhi remains wary of attacks from Pakistan-based Islamist militants.

Security was raised in Mumbai ahead of Friday, according to the Press Trust of India news agency.

"With (the) terror threat lingering over the city in the view of the second anniversary of 26/11, we have made elaborate security arrangements and Mumbai has been put on alert," senior city policeman Rajkumar Vhatkar said.

Separately, the Press Trust of India reported Thursday that India test-fired a medium-range version of its nuclear-capable Agni-I missile, which has a range of 700 kilometres (440 miles) off the coast of the state of Orissa.

Home Minister P. Chidambaram will attend a commemoration function in Mumbai, while other senior politicians will lay wreaths at a martyrs' memorial at a police club.

A multi-faith meeting will be held at the Gateway of India monument in the evening.

Somali Terrorists Who Held British Couple Have Family in UK, One "Pirate" Seeking Asylum

From the Daily Mail:

Two members of the Somali pirate gang that held Britons Paul and Rachel Chandler hostage for 388 days are believed to have family in the UK.
One of the pirate leaders says he plans to travel to the UK to join his wife and two children, who have claimed political asylum and live in London.

The extraordinary revelations come as intelligence and security officials in the UK and Kenya investigate links between Britain and Somali pirates after the couple were freed from the 13-month ordeal in return for a ransom.

A second pirate involved in the seizing of the Chandlers is suspected to have lived in Britain and to have family living in London. It is unclear whether his family has also claimed asylum and whether either family receives benefits.

Both men are said to have received a ‘cut’ of the estimated £625,000 ransom paid for the release of Mr Chandler, 60, and his 57-year-old wife.

Investigators say the revelations raise the possibility of pirates travelling to Britain and of part of the ransom money being transferred to family members in the UK.

Their warnings come just weeks after Home Secretary Theresa May highlighted the links between British extremists and Somalia, with some UK citizens travelling there to train alongside Al Qaeda-linked groups. Anti-terrorist investigators believe some have returned to Britain and they have been looking at associations between the UK and pirate gangs, who currently hold some 40 ships and 500 crew hostage.
The Chandlers, from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, were seized as they sailed their yacht in the Indian Ocean, near the Seychelles, on October 23, 2009, and held in the harsh Somali bushland by heavily armed pirates.

They are recovering with their family, who paid part of the ransom, and will be questioned about their time in captivity and specifically the role and identities of individual pirates.

The couple will be shown intelligence photographs – and those from videos taken during their time in the hands of the pirates – to see if any can be identified by name and the roles they played.

Satellite and other telephone calls, together with emails sent from Somalia by suspects to the UK are also being examined and it is understood the identities of several of the gang are known.

Immigration investigators are now involved in the inquiry into their British links and seeking to discover whether individuals have visited the UK or have families here. ‘It is possible that some of those involved in piracy have British or other European citizenship and that is a worrying area which we are exploring,’ one investigator said.

In satellite calls, the pirates have alluded to links with Britain and a man named as Hassan, 32 – said to be one of the ringleaders of the Chandler abduction – was quoted as saying he had a wife and family in the UK and was planning to join them.

He claimed his family had moved to London three years ago, applying for political asylum.

‘She is putting me under pressure to join her and the children, so I will come to the UK soon,’ he said in one telephone call.

‘I am not looking forward to the cold weather, though, and I am worried that women are more powerful in the UK – I don’t know how long I will stay.’

Hassan has also admitted to being involved in the hijacking of tankers and commercial ships which were boarded at gunpoint and released only after multi-million pound ransoms were paid.

A key figure in assisting the investigation is likely to be Dahir Abdullahi Kadiye, a 56-year-old former minicab driver from East London, who played a significant role in securing the couple’s release.

Mr Kadiye, a father of two, who came to Britain from Somalia in 1997 as a refugee and has UK citizenship, met with the pirates and their representatives for six months trying to broker a deal to free the Chandlers.

Mr Kadiye, who is beginning a security company and travels regularly between the UK and Somalia, said he became involved for ‘humanitarian reasons’ and was hailed as a hero on his return to Britain.

Sick Muslim Artist Unveils Picture Portraying 7/7 Bombers As Angels

From Un:Dhimmi:

Sickening and cynical: Mark Sincklers work appears to glorify the four Muslim fanatics who between them killed 52 people in London as angels

Very nicely timed to coincide with the 7/7 atrocity Coroner’s Inquest for maximum publicity, too (h/t to Undhimmi reader Ian):

A Muslim artist has sparked outrage with his depiction of the ripped-apart bus destroyed in the 7/7 terror attacks.

The artwork shows four angels flying above the bombed number 30 bus – the same number of Al Qaeda terrorists who took part in the atrocity which left 52 commuters dead and maimed hundreds more on London’s transport network.

Also seen are scores of ghostly souls shooting from the bus, which was travelling through Tavistock Square when it was devastated by suicide bomber Hasib Hussain.

The artwork shows four angels flying above the bombed number 30 bus – the same number of Al Qaeda terrorists who took part in the atrocity.

The artist has also used photo trickery to write the message ‘Outright terror… bold and brilliant’ on the side of the bus.

Sickeningly, the £3,500 artwork, called Age of Shiva, is on display just one mile from where the 13 innocent commuters were killed as they travelled on the bus through central London.

The blast happened just after 9.45am on July 7, 2005 at the junction of Woburn Square and Tavistock Place. The explosion ripped the roof off the top deck of the vehicle and completely wrecked the back of the bus. Witnesses reported seeing ‘half a bus flying through the air’.

The artist behind the controversial image: Mark Sinckler
The artist behind the 7/7 picture, Mark Sinckler (above), has claimed his intention was to ’shock’ but John Falding, whose partner Anat Rosenberg died in the Tavistock Square attack, said the artwork was ‘unnecessary’ and ‘upsetting’.

The first of the four bomb attacks that day started was around 8.50am on a Circle Line train travelling between Liverpool Street and Aldgate, the second explosion was on another Circle Line train which had just left Edgware Road on the way to Paddington and the third of the Tube attacks happened on a Piccadilly Line train travelling between King’s Cross St. Pancras and Russell Square.

As well as the 52 deaths from the bombings, more than 700 people were injured in the attacks, which were carried out by Hassib, Mohammed Sidique Khan, Shehzad Tanweer and Jermain Lindsay.

The artist behind the offensive black and white print, ex-Tube graffitist Mark Sinckler, 40, has said: ‘I want to shock.’

What really happened: 18-year-old Muslim terrorist Hasib Hussain blew himself up on a double-decker bus in Tavistock Square, Central London on 7th July 2007. The explosion killed 13 commuters, plus Hussain.

John Falding, whose partner Anat Rosenberg died in the Tavistock Square attack, said the artwork was ‘unnecessary’ and ‘upsetting’ to see.

The bombed number 30 double-decker bus in Tavistock Square, which was destroyed by a terrorist, killing 13 people on board The timing couldn’t be worse for the artwork, which has gone on show during the long-awaited inquests into the attacks. Since October 11, the Royal Courts of Justice have heard harrowing evidence from survivors and victims’ families.

The picture is part of an exhibition organised by Pictures on Walls, who market the work of Bristol-based graffiti artist Banksy.

Although we believe in free speech here at Un:dhimmi (and that includes the freedom to offend) we couldn’t help but wonder whether this cynical cash-in merchant might have shown some respect and released his crappy montage after the Coroner’s Enquiry?

The victims’ families are currently having their tortured memories of the day that their loved ones were ripped from them replayed in the High Court in London, as the inquest sifts through every gory detail and particle of evidence in the course of its unenviable work.

Did it not enter his stupid head (or those of his ‘representatives’), to show a little class – and wait a while?

Of course it did. And they chose to go ahead anyway, because publicity=cash – and, let’s face it, he’s not going to be selling much on the basis of his talent if this tawdry photoshop paste job is anything to go by.

The work is being displayed ar the 'Marks & Stencils' Gallery in Soho, London - less than a mile from where the terrorist atrocity was committed.

Finally, If you’d like to let the artist and his representatives know your views on this work, here are their contact details:

Gallery:
Marks & Stencils
1 Berwick Street
London W1F 0DR

Organisers:
Website
Email: info@picturesonwalls.com

[Sources: Daily Mail, Sky News and our own research]

Muslims Protest Help From Jewish Doctors, Claim It Is Against Islam To Associate With Jews

From Savage Infidel:

The Islamic Foundation of the Maldives has called on the government to break off all diplomatic ties with Israel, a day after Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) announced that a team of seven Israeli doctors is due to arrive in the country to treat patients at the government hospital for a week.

The Foundation requested the government terminate all ties with Israel saying ”we do not want any sort of assistance from Jews.”

President of the Islamic Foundation Ibrahim Fauzy said that the organisation did not support accepting “any sort of assistance from Israel as long as they are in the lands of Palestine. We should fear that we might have to face the wrath of God.”

Fauzy explained that the Islamic Foundation does not recognise Israel as a state as “they have stolen the lands of Palestine by power and force,” adding that “it also against our religion to have relationships with Jews.”

In November last year, Foreign Minister Dr Ahmed Shaheed narrowly survived [1] a no-confidence motion for his role in deciding to normalise relations with the Jewish state.

Dr Shaheed told Minivan News today that the “government does not have diplomatic relations with Israel” and has not signed any agreements to that effect.

He added that he was not aware of the visiting Israeli team as “doctors don’t come through the Foreign Ministry.”

Fauzy also claimed to have information that Israel was attempting to influence the education policy of the government, which has come under fire from religious NGOs for plans to make Islam an optional subject in A’ Levels and change four secondary schools in Male’ to single-sex schools.

”There will be cunning plans of them behind the scenes, they will not wish any good for Muslims, inside their heart,” Fauzy alleged.

In a press release yesterday, IGMH invited interested patients to register at their customer relations counter between November 28 and December 2 for appointments with the visiting Israeli doctors.

Somalia: Teenage 'Elopers' Publicly Flogged In Central Province

From Adnkronos:

Mogadishu, 23 Nov (AKI) - Islamist militiamen on Tuesday in central Somalia publicly flogged two teenagers who tried to elope together, Radio Shabelle reported. Tribal elders sentenced the teenagers to 12 lashes each. The pair, whose ages were not stated, had tried to marry secretly without their parents' consent, Radio Shabelle said.

The youngsters were flogged on their backs in the central square in the village of Jalalaqsi in Hiran province, according to Radio Shabelle.

In October, Islamist militants shot dead two adolescents accused of spying for the transitional government in Mogadishu, the radio station said.

The Al-Qaeda affiliated Islamist Al-Shabab controls much of southern Somalia. Al-Shabab appears to have consolidated its position as the most powerful insurgent group by driving its main rival, Hizbul Islam, out of the southern port city of Kismayo in October 2009.

Since then they have openly declared their alliance with Al-Qaeda and have been steadily moving their forces northwards towards Mogadishu, the Somali capital.

Somalia has been without an effective central government since 1991.

UK: Hate Preacher Anjem Choudary Tells Muslims To Boycott Prince William And Kate Middleton's Wedding

He notes that Muslims should not "participate in the Christian and Jew celebrations."

From the Daily Star (UK):

HATE preacher Anjem Choudary last night urged a Muslim uprising against the royal wedding.

The hardliner is demanding a boycott of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s big day.

He said it would be against Islam for Muslims to celebrate the nuptials.
And he urged followers to snub the nation’s partying and instead spend the day “making the call to Islam”.

The fanatic’s Islam4UK hate group was banned by the Government earlier this year under anti-terror laws.

Choudary, 43, said: “We ask people not to participate in the Christian and Jew celebrations.

“It will be just another normal day to us.”

Tory MP Philip Davies branded him an “idiot”.

He said: “This chap’s agenda isn’t about good relations.

“Most Muslims are far more sensible and will celebrate the wedding.

“Choudary just wants to cause trouble and has exposed himself as a nasty piece of work.”

Egypt: Muslims Set Crucifixes On Fire, Throw Stones At Christians

From Adnkronos:

Egypt's Coptic Pope Shenuda III on Wednesday deplored the violent clashes with security forces in Cairo's Giza district when thousands of minority Christians marched to demand permission from the government to build a church.

Cairo, 24 Nov. (AKI) - Shenuda III was quoted by pan-Arab daily al-Quds al-Arabi as saying he wanted to "forcibly resist action of this kind."

He said he wanted to "work to restore calm and prevent further acts of violence in the city."

A group of Muslims reportedly gathered in the area of Giza where some 3,000 Coptic Christians were reported to have protested outside the office of the local governor.

The Muslims reportedly set several crucifixes alight and threw stones at the Copts.

Egypt's interior ministry said over 100 people were arrested over the violence in which one protester was killed and dozens of people were injured as police fired tear gas and the Copts threw stones and petrol bombs.

The Copts said they had permission to build the church in Giza but officials said they did not have the proper permit.

Protests on this scale are rare from Egypt's Christians, who make up about 10 percent of the country's 85 million population.

There has been friction in the past between the majority Muslims and Christians, who complain they do not have the same freedom to build places of worship.

Toronto Man Sentenced To 4 Years For Attempting To Kill Many Family Members

From Vlad Tepes:

If memory serves, I know of Canadians who have received more time for doing less with their cars but by accident. Meanwhile this man attempted to wipe out several people.

Iraq: 'Christians Being Targeted By Plots Hatched Abroad'

From Adnkronos:

Iraq's Christians are being targeted by plots hatched outside Iraq and Al-Qaeda is infiltrating the country thanks to neighbouring states, according to the head of the Baghdad governorate's human rights commission.

Baghdad, 23 Nov. (AKI) - Iraq's Christians are being targeted by plots hatched outside Iraq and Al-Qaeda is infiltrating the country thanks to neighbouring states, according to the head of the Baghdad governorate's human rights commission. Shanain Gaeed al-Makassees was speaking to Adnkronos International (AKI) after a series of recent attacks against Christians in the Iraqi capital, including that on a church which killed 58 people including two priests.

"Unfortunately, our Christian brothers have lately been the victims of plots organised abroad and executed by Al-Qaeda terrorists," said al-Makassees.

He was in Rome for meetings with the Italian Senate upper house of parliament's human rights commission, and human rights bodies in the surrounding Lazio region and province of Rome.

The initative was organised by the non-governmental organisation 'A bridge for human rights in Iraq and for the protection of prisoners and torture victims'

Al-Makassees said a member of Iraq's police force had recently told the human rights commission there were countries bordering Iraq which fund Al-Qaeda and which help its terrorists enter the country.

"Many" of the terrorists who carried out the 31 October attack against the Baghdad's Christian cathedral were foreign miiltants, and victims had included security forces deployed to defend the Christian worshippers, as well as Christians attending church, he noted.

"We citizens of Baghdad, are used to living in peace and harmony with Iraqi Christians, because we have always done so," he said.

Egypt Refuses To Permit Construction Of Church, Christian Protester Killed

From the Agence-France Presse:

One demonstrator was killed and dozens injured on Wednesday as Christian protesters clashed with Egyptian police over the refusal of permission for a new church, a security official said.

The clashes came amid mounting sectarian tensions in the Arab world's most populous nation after Muslims set fire to homes owned by the family of a Christian man rumoured to have flirted with a Muslim girl in the south.

A security official told AFP that a young male demonstrator was killed during the protests over the church and that a senior police officer was among the injured.

A crowd of around 150 people had clashed sporadically with police through the morning in the Talibiya district of the capital Cairo, with demonstrators throwing stones and Molotov cocktails, and the police responding with tear gas.

Several police and 12 soldiers were injured in the clashes as well as around 15 demonstrators.

Some of the protesters were led away with blood on their faces, after police hurled rocks at them from a bridge, the security official said, adding that more than 20 people were arrested.

He identified the dead man as Makarios Jad Shukr, 19. Witnesses said he was shot at around 6:30 am (0430 GMT) as demonstrators tried to approach the proposed site of the new church.

"People here feel very discriminated against. We can't build the church -- why are they stopping us?" asked Samih Rashid.

"Every street has a mosque, every church has a mosque next to it," he complained.

More than 20 young Muslim men shouting anti-Coptic slogans threw rocks at the demonstrators under a bridge on the ringroad where some of the police fired tear gas at the Copts.

"This is the way the government starts sectarian strife," said one of the demonstrators, who were heard chanting: "With our blood and with our souls we will sacrifice our lives for you, oh Cross."

They were protesting against the government's decision not to allow the Copts to turn a community centre that they were building into a church, with witnesses saying construction workers had been arrested on their way to the site.

Copts account for between six and 10 percent of Egypt's 80 million population and complain of systematic discrimination and marginalisation.

Non-Muslims are required to obtain a presidential decree to construct new religious buildings and must satisfy numerous conditions before permission is granted, in contrast to the ease with which mosques can be built.

The clashes took place just days before Egypt is to go to the polls for a parliamentary election, which is expected to return the ruling National Democratic Party to power.

Muslim Leaders Out For Blood, Tell Pakistani Leaders Not To Issue Pardon For "Blashphemy" Charge

From CatholicCulture.org:

Muslim religious leaders in Pakistan are urging President Asif Ali Zardari not to pardon Asia Bibi, the 45-year-old Christian mother of five whose death sentence on blasphemy charges has provoked an international outcry. Shahbaz Bhatti, the nation’s minister for minorities, has found that Bibi was wrongfully convicted, and Punjab Governor Salman Taseer has told CNN that the president will pardon her.

“I mean, he’s a liberal, modern-minded president, and he’s not going to see a poor woman like this targeted and executed,” said Taseer. “It’s just not going to happen.”

Bibi told Taseer, who visited her on November 20, that her accusers had raped her.

Islamist leaders are reportedly planning protests throughout the nation if Bibi is pardoned, and one Islamist organization has announced a November 24 protest against Taseer for his support of Bibi. Attorneys in the district where Bibi is jailed are boycotting the courts to protest a possible pardon, and opponents of the release have gathered outside the jail. Islamic fundamentalist groups are threatening to kill her if she is freed, the Fides news agency reports.

Bibi, a resident of Ittanwali in the eastern province of Punjab, was working at a local farm when the Muslim women with whom she was working called her an infidel and urged her to convert to Islam. Bibi refused, saying that Christianity was the only true religion.

“The Muslim men working in nearby fields also gathered and attacked Asia Bibi on which she fled to village in her home,” the Pakistan Christian Post reported. “The angry Muslims followed her and took her out of home and started beating her. They tortured her children also, but meanwhile someone informed police.”

Police then arrested Bibi on blasphemy charges. Following a lengthy trial, she was sentenced to death.

Bhatti, a Christian, said that Pakistan may amend its controversial anti-blasphemy law but will not repeal it-- prompting the leader of the Pakistan Christian Congress to call for his resignation.

Iran: Female Athlete To Receive Reward For Gold Medal 'Only If Married'

From Spero News:

Iranian athlete Khadijeh Azadpour, who won a gold medal at the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, says that officials told her she would only be given the apartment she was promised as a reward for winning a gold medal if she got married.

Azadpour, 22, who won the gold medal in Sanshou 60kg Wushu (a Chinese martial art) at the Asian Games on November 17, told the website "Tebyan" that the authorities had not kept their promise.

"Before I left, they promised to give me a house if I won a gold medal. They said, 'After you return, you will get the keys to the apartment at the airport,'" she said.

"But unfortunately it didn't happen and after following up they said that the conditions had changed and only if you get married will the reward be yours."

She said the decision would damage her morale and the morale of other athletes, adding that such incidents could also make her lose her motivation to compete in other sporting events.

Azadpour said she worked hard to win the gold medal. She said she trained for nine months, day and night. She also said that the Iranian authorities should treat female and male athletes equally.

"In my view there is no difference between my gold medal and the gold medals won by the men, [the authorities] should look at athletes the same way."

The Sanshou champion said that if female athletes had access to the same sports facilities as men, they might be even more successful than their male colleagues.


RFE/RL's Radio Farda sports reporter Mehdi Rostampour writes that there was "discrimination" between men and women athletes even before the games.

"Iran's sports organization gave male athletes who were being sent to Guangzhou 10 million toumans while female athletes received only 900,000 toumans," he notes.

India: Muslims File Complaint Over Comedy Show Joke

From the Times Of India:

MUMBAI: An alleged twisting of a Quranic verse by a participant has landed a channel's comedy show in a major row.

A section of Muslims have filed a complaint with the J J Marg police station, objecting to a dialogue in Sony Entertainment Television's weekly programme, Comedy Circus Ka Jadoo.

Community members have also threatened an agitation if the channel refuses to apologise for the alleged "insult" to the Quranic verse.

In the episode aired on November 20, participant Bharti Singh allegedly twisted the words used in the kalima "La illaha illallah." The complete kalima is: "Lal illaha illallah, Mohammdur Rasul Allah (God is one and Mohammed is His Prophet).

However, Singh allegedly added a different word after La illaha, which Muslims believe is an insult to the holy verse. "The actor showed complete insensitivity while uttering the Quranic verse, which is the very declaration of a person's belief as a Muslim. The channel must apologise for it and ensure that such lapses are not repeated in future," said Gulzar Azmi of Jamiatul Ulema-e-Hind (JUH), an organisation of religious leaders.

He added that JUH member Abdus Samad Ansari filed the police complaint on Tuesday. Later, a delegation from Raza Academy met minority affairs minister Arif Naseem Khan, who then spoke to police commissioner Sanjeev Dayal.

"This is a serious lapse on the part of the television channel. The police commissioner has promised action," Khan said.

When contacted, Dayal told TOI: "I am aware of the Muslims' objection and we are enquiring into it."

However, a Sony Entertainment Television spokesperson said she was not aware of any such development.

"I am not aware of any such complaint. We will look into it and get back," said the spokesperson who didn't want to be identified.

Indonesia: Cleric Gets Only 4 Years For Raping Child Bride

From the Jakarta Globe:

An Indonesian court sentenced a wealthy Muslim cleric to four years in prison on Wednesday for having sex with a 12-year-old girl he took as his unofficial wife.

Pujiono Cahyo Widiyanto, 45, from the Central Java city of Semarang, sparked nationwide controversy over his decision to wed Lutfiana Ulfa in August, 2008.

"The defendant has been proven to have had a sexual relationship with an underage girl, Lutfiana Ulfa. We sentence him to four years in prison," judge Hari Mulyanto said.

Lutfiana screamed hysterically when she heard the sentence read out in court.

"We'll appeal against the decision," Widiyanto's lawyer OC Kaligis said.

Widiyanto — also known as Sheikh Puji — said the girl had reached puberty when he married her in an unofficial religious ceremony, and claimed his actions were acceptable under Islam.

The age of consent in Indonesia is 16 for married females and 18 for males.

Indonesian law has harsh penalties for pedophilia, but unregistered marriages between older men and under-age girls are common in rural areas.

Oklahoma City Judge Extends Ban On Prohibition Of Sharia Law

This is an update on this story.

From Jihad Watch:

As U.S. District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange does the bidding of Hamas-linked CAIR, does she really know anything about what Sharia is or how it contradicts the U.S. Constitution in numerous important particulars? "Oklahoma City judge extends ban on prohibition of Sharia Law," from NewsOK, November 22 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

An Oklahoma City federal judge today extended a temporary ban on implementation of a constitutional amendment that prohibits state courts from considering international or Islamic law.

U.S. District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange said she will rule Monday after weighing the issues.

Seventy percent of Oklahoma voters approved the measure in the Nov. 2 election, but Muneer Awad, who is Muslim and executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Oklahoma, filed a lawsuit.

Awad said the amendment demonizes his faith.

No mention, of course, of CAIR's Hamas links, its status as an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas funding case, the jihad terror convictions of several of its former officials, etc.

And as for the amendment demonizing Islam, Pamela Geller says it best: "No, Awad, Sharia demonizes the faith. Sharia demonizes and brutalizes women and children and Jews and Christians and Hindus and Sikhs and other living things."

American-Born Muslim Accused Of Trying To Join Taliban Likely To Plead Guilty

From silive.com:

A former Staten Islander accused of trying to join the Taliban may plead guilty to charges he lied to federal authorities about his alleged plan, according to a published report.

The attorney for Abdel Hameed Shehadeh, 21, formerly of Annadale and Prince's Bay, revealed the plea negotiations today during an appearance in Brooklyn federal court, the New York Daily News is reporting.

Abdel Hameed Shehadeh, 21, at Brooklyn Federal court, for brief court appearance earlier this month. (Christine Cornell)
Shehadeh was ordered held without bail on Nov. 2.

A criminal complaint unsealed last month said the FBI and the New York Police Department had been investigating Shehadeh "and several other individuals in connection with a plot to travel overseas and wage violent jihad against the United States and other coalition military forces."

The complaint alleged that Shehadeh, who was born in the United States and attended Tottenville High School, initially caught the attention of U.S. authorities by buying a one-way ticket to Pakistan in June 2008. Once he arrived there, Pakistani officials wouldn't allow him into the country and he returned to New York.

In October 2006, the complaint said, Shehadeh went to Times Square to try to join the Army. It said when a recruiter asked him if he'd traveled overseas, he lied and said he'd only been to Israel.

Later that month, Shehadeh tried to fly from Newark to Jordan, where he again was denied entry. Once he returned to the United States on a flight to Detroit,
counterterrorism investigators confronted him about what they say were radical writings and videos he posted on the Internet.

The complaint said that under questioning, he admitted that one of his websites was "designed to mirror and reformat the teachings of radical U.S.-born Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki" and "that in the past, he agreed with and sympathized with al-Qaida's violent jihad against the West."

The complaint said Shehadeh insisted he tried to go to Pakistan for religious, not military, training.

But witnesses who knew him told investigators that he instructed them that it was the duty of Muslims to fight jihad – and that signing up in Times Square was the best way to achieve his goal.

Shehadeh "informed (one witness) that he hoped to be deployed to Iraq," the complaint said. "At the time he was applying to join the military, Shehadeh told (the witness), when he arrived in Iraq, he intended to commit 'treason' and fight United States soldiers."

The complaint said Shehadeh traveled to Hawaii in April 2009. There, he bought an airline ticket to Dubai in June, but was intercepted by FBI agents who told him he was on a "no fly" list. In subsequent interviews, he allegedly admitted he had hoped to join the Taliban and receive "guerrilla warfare" and "bomb-making" training, the complaint said.

Jihadist Stabs Police Officers Over Desire To Live Under Islamic Law

From Interfax:

A local resident burst into a police station in the town of Oktyabrsky in the Russian Republic of Bashkortostan and stabbed two police officers with a knife.

"Late on November 18, an unknown man shouting "Allah Akbar" broke into Oktyabrsky's police station and stabbed Police Senior Lieutenant Vilmir Minnikhanov, born in 1980, who was guarding the entrance to the building, with a knife. The policeman sustained stab wounds to the neck, the chest and the left forearm," a spokesman for Bashkortostan's Interior Ministry told Interfax on Friday.

The attacker tried to flee, but he was stopped by other officers in the yard of the police station, after which he slightly injured one more policeman, the spokesman said.

The police officers then managed to seize the knife from the man.

Minnikhanov was taken to a hospital.

Investigators do not rule out that the crime could have been motivated by religion because a note saying "Oktyabrsky and the whole of the world must be ruled by Allah's law" was confiscated from the attacker.

Measures will also be taken to determine whether the man is sane or insane, the spokesman said.

A criminal case has already been opened based on attempted murder charges.

"The detained man has already admitted to deliberately planning to kill any police officer because, as he said, they [police] do not allow people to live under Sharia law," Bashkortostan Deputy Interior Minister Ruslan Sharafutdinov told Interfax.

The attacker does not suffer from any psychiatric disorders, but he has regularly been undergoing neurosurgical treatment, Sharafutdinov said.

Numerous religious books confiscated from the man's apartment will be examined by specialists to determine whether or not they contain any extremist ideas, the minister said.

The man was involved with religious extremist cell members active in Oktyabrsky and the Askino and Alsheyevsky districts who were neutralized in mid-2010, he said.

"We view the attack on the police station as a kind of revenge for law enforcement services' effective fight against extremism in the republic," Sharafutdinov said.