Moscow Airport Bomber Converted By Russian Imam

From ABS-CBN News:

MOSCOW, Russia - The man who has emerged as the initial suspect over the suicide bombing at Moscow Domodedovo airport lived in south Russia and was converted to Islam by an ethnic Russian imam, a report said Friday.

Police reportedly honed in on Vitaly Razdobudko after connecting him with Islamist militant group Nogaisky Dzhamaat and a December 31 blast in Moscow where a would-be female suicide bomber accidentally blew herself up.

Investigators said Razdobudko has been missing from his apartment in the southern resort town of Pyatigorsk in the Stavropol region since last November along with his wife and a newborn baby.

Razdobudko, 32, converted from Christianity and adopted Islam when he was a student in the local technical university. He was formally converted by a local imam in Pyatigorsk, a Russian named Anton Stepanenko, the report said.

Stepanenko, whose Muslim name is Abdullah, was convicted of holding a man captive in 2006, and police found Wahhabist literature, audio and video materials, as well as a manual on explosives, in his home.

Although police connected Stepanenko and his followers with a number of attacks he received a suspended sentence and vanished from Pyatigorsk.

Razdobudko, who has already been branded "Russian Wahhabi" by the press, went missing two months after he was questioned about a blast in Pyatigorsk last August.

He was not the suicide bomber who set off the blast in Domodedovo on Monday, RIA Novosti reported Friday. A video camera "clearly shows that it is a different person," a police source told the agency. Instead it appears he is suspected of being a possible organiser, it added.

The attacker came to the arrival area about 15 minutes before the blast, apparently looking for someone in the crowd while holding his left hand in the pocket of his jacket, the report said.

The deadly blast on Monday afternoon killed 35 people in Russia's largest airport Domodedovo. It became a second such attack in Moscow in less than a year after two suicide bombers killed 40 in the capital's metro in March.

Brooklyn: Muslim Brotherhood Group Building Mosque In Defiance Of Stop-Work Orders

From Jihad Watch:

Islamic supremacist contempt for the law in Brooklyn. The Muslim American Society is the chief Muslim Brotherhood organization in the United States. The Muslim Brotherhood is dedicated in its own words, according to a captured internal document, to "eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within."

"A Mega-Mosque Grows on a Quiet Residential Brooklyn Street: Why There?," by Pamela Geller at Atlas Shrugs, January 27:

On a quiet, tree-lined residential street in Brooklyn, the Muslim Brotherhood front, MAS, is building a mega mosque, despite the fierce opposition from the neighborhood and in violation of zoning ordinances and stop work orders. Why there?

Voorhies Avenue is a beautiful little street in Sheepshead Bay. Small, pretty, well-cared for homes line the street. There are no stores, churches, synagogues or businesses there. So why would the Muslim Brotherhood want to build a beachhead there? There are no Muslims who live on the street and not many in the neighborhood. Why there?

MAS has ignored procedure, flouted the law and violated stop work orders. They respect the sharia (Islamic law), American rule of law? Not so much. Check out the video -- why are they yelling to stop filming? What else are they hiding from the neighbors? Thanks to Logan for the video.

The neighborhood coalition that opposes the mosque wants to keep the street residential and quiet. Hardly unreasonable. The idea of a giant mosque, out of all proportion to the other homes on the street, is offensive. The traffic, congestion, noise, call to prayer changes the landscape of this otherwise quiet street. Don't neighborhoods have a say on what can or cannot be built? Don't neighborhoods have a right to preserve the sanctity of their streets and their homes? The MAS Islamic supremacists have been consistently dishonest. Their obfuscation, misrepresentation of the project and morphing mosque design hardly instill confidence that they are being straight about anything. And more to the point, why there?

They are ignoring DOB inspectors, complaints by neighbors and a stop work order, and are furiously building the massive structure in violation of code and certain requirements....

Read it all. And Pamela has more here.

Would-Be Suicide Bomber Killed By Unexpected SMS From Mobile Carrier

From Wired.com:

An unexpected and unwanted text message from a wireless company prematurely exploded a would-be suicide bomber’s vest bomb in Russia New Year’s Eve, inadvertently thwarting a planned attack on revelers in Moscow, according to The Daily Telegraph.

The would-be suicide bomber was planning to detonate a suicide belt bomb near Red Square, a plan that was foiled when her wireless carrier sent her an SMS while she was still at a safe house, setting off the bomb and killing her. The message reportedly wished her a Happy New Years, according to the report, which sourced the info from security forces in Russia. Cell phones are often used as makeshift detonators by terrorist and insurgent groups.

If true, the SMS might be the only time that a wireless carrier’s SMS message has ever been useful.

The authorities suspect the female bomber was part of the same Jihadist group that is suspected of hitting Moscow’s airport on Monday with a suicide bomb attack that killed 35.

Hamas Calls For Allah To 'Kill All Jews'

From The Examiner:

An urgent appeal has been made to High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay and Director-General Geneva Sergei A. Ordzhonikidze to take notice to the Hamas call to kill all Jews made at a film-showing at University College, London, three days ago.

The hateful prayer reads, "Oh Allah, loosen your power and strength on the Jews. (Amen.) Please Allah, kill them all… And don’t leave any of them alive. (Amen.) Oh Allah, with your great power. Allah! We are asking you with your infinite power, dear Allah. Allah! Please dear Allah, take revenge for our martyrs’ blood. Allah! Please Allah, get rid of the Jews. Bring them down. They are not as powerful as you. Please Allah, make the earth shake and destroy the pillars of their civilisation. Please Allah, cast fear and terror into their hearts. Oh Allah disperse them so they become lost once again. Oh Allah, show us a sign. Oh Allah, surprise them in a way they don’t expect. Oh Allah, cast fear and terror into their hearts."

The film was shown at an event organized by the SOAS Palestine Society, leaving people shocked.

In a missive to the Pillay and Ordzhonikidze, David G. Littman, NGO representative of the World Union of Progressive Judaism at the United Nations in Geneva urged them, to speak out strongly today at the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust to condemn this growing ‘culture of hate, following in the footsteps of Nobel Peace Laureate Henri Dunant, who strongly condemned ‘Jew-hatred’ when founding the Red Cross in 1864."

Littman's appeal came on Holocaust Memorial Day, when millions of people all over the world remember the nazi genocide of Jews on Holocaust Memorial Day.

In Germany a site was opened at the Auschwitz overn builders to create awareness about the tragedy.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon speaking to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on January 25, 2011 admitted the falings of the U.N. body.

"Let us be frank. This body has come under criticism from various quarters," Ban continued. "For the human rights council to fulfill its mandate, it must [not] be seen as a place ruled by bias or special interests. It cannot be a place that targets some countries, yet ignores others. It cannot be a place where some members overlook the human rights violations of others so as to avoid scrutiny themselves."

Even today, Muslim children in many countries across the world, notably Pakistan, Iran and Saudi Arabia are taught Hitler was a hero as he killed Jews.

Turkey Has No Plans To Adopt Measures To Protect Christian Minorities

From ANSAmed:

(ANSAmed) - BRUSSELS, JANUARY 27 - Turkey wants to accede to the European Union, although it has turned down special measures to protect Christians. Ankara has agreed to the notion of an agreement over the return of illegal migrants who make it into Greece across its borders, tempted by the prospect of a future accession to the visa-free Schengen area. Nonetheless, a vote in the Council of Europe on a resolution condemning violence against Christians has met with a thumbs down from Turkish MEPs.

Today has been a difficult day for relations between Turkey and Europe. It all began with the announcement in Brussels of a deal between the European Commission and the Turkish government over the 're-admission' of migrants. Ankara accepted that it would take back those who had been expelled, irrespective of their nationality. According to Greek estimates 80% of illegal entries into the European Union pass through Turkey. Greece wants to erect a 12.5 km wall along the River Evros on its border.

In exchange the Turkish government is pushing for visa liberalisation. But while it is true that is a strategic partner for Europe's leaders when it comes to energy policy - taking as it does the gas pipelines of South Stream, it is also the case that Europe's governments are thinking in party political terms on the question of Turkey's application to join the European club, which has been stranded for five years. Starting with the government under Sarkozy, who received a message from President Gul via an interview in the Figaro today to the effect that for him ''the world does not stop at the European Union''.

Meanwhile, a straight 'No' arrived in the parliament of the Council of Europe in Strasburg on a report prepared by Italy's Luca Volonte' (UDC), calling for a condemnation of the violence suffered by Christians in the Middle East, which also observed how ''the disappearance of the Christian communities in the Near and Middle East would be catastrophic for Islam, as it would mark the triumph of fundamentalism''.

The eleven Turkish parliamentarians present had no hesitation in voting against the motion. Aslan Cabeci, a figure in the party of Premier Erdogan, justified their choice stating that the 'No' came in reference to interruptions to Christmas masses in two villages in northern Cyprus occupied by the Turks. ''You have put the massacres in Alexandria and in Baghdad on the same level'' Cabeci said, adding that he would vote for greater respect for the minorities in Turkey ''once France stops supporting despots in North Africa and when Italy stops cashing in on Libya''.

Picture of the Week: Child Is Victim In Islamic Terror Attack

From The Religion of Peace:

An injured boy lies bleeding in the aftermath of a Sunni suicide attack on a procession of Shiite pilgrims in Pakistan. In taking responsibility, the bombers stressed that the blast was necessary for the advancement of Islam, which they praised as the only religion that "guarantees human rights and stands for peace."

Feo Aladag fFocuses Her Camera On Honor Killings

From the Los Angeles Times:

Opening arguments began this month in Phoenix in the trial of Iraqi immigrant Faleh Hassan Almaleki, who's alleged to have crashed his Jeep into his 20-year-old daughter and her boyfriend's mother as they were walking across a parking lot, killing the young woman and injuring her companion. He reportedly told investigators that his actions were motivated by his belief that his daughter had become "too Westernized."

Though rarely documented in the U.S., the tradition of "honor killings" — putting a woman to death for having brought shame on her family — is not uncommon in Islamic countries. It is the subject of the new German film, "Die Fremde" ("When We Leave"), which centers on a German-born Turkish woman who leaves her abusive husband in Istanbul and returns to her family in Berlin, sparking a great deal of arguments over her fate.

Feo Aladag, the 39-year-old writer-director of "When We Leave," says she was inspired to write and direct her first feature after being asked to craft two public service announcements for Amnesty International's campaign to end violence against women.

A friend sent her information on honor killings, and the Austrian native best known as an actress and journalist in Germany continued to research the subject; around the same time, there was a rise in honor killings in Berlin, where the filmmaker lives. "There were [something] like five women being killed in a period of four months," she said. "There was one a couple of streets away from me."

She set "When We Leave" among the Turkish immigrant community in Berlin because Turks are the largest minority in Germany. Though there are families like the one depicted in the film that belong to a traditional tightknit community, "there are a lot of people who are bilingual who live totally integrated lives," Aladag said. "They want their daughters to have the same education as their sons."

Her husband, movie and TV director Zuli Aladag, an Islamic Turk who immigrated to Germany when he was 4, was worried when she told him about the project.

"He said, 'Oh, god, this is going to be so hard. Do you want to do this?'" Aladag recalled. "I said, 'I have to do it. I will always question why if I don't.' He is the biggest fan of the film."

She consulted with her father-in-law at various stages during the production. "Whenever there were specific questions, he was one of the experts with helping with the script," Aladag said. "When my demons came out at night, when I asked myself, 'Am I being just with every person I am portraying?' I sometimes called him up and talked to him. He thought it was important that I do this movie. They [assimilated Turkish immigrants] don't feel good about [honor killings] and how that reflects on the majority of society."

According to some estimates, 5,000 women are the victims of honor killings each year but Aladag points out that the United Nations "says that the real number is much higher. It is more like 100,000 women and this doesn't take into account chopped ears or noses. They are straight honor killings."

Pakistan has the highest rate of honor killings in the world, Aladag said. "I don't know the overall number, but there is one province where each year an average of 268 women are killed," she said. "The problem is that many women in many countries are not registered, so if they disappear…. and it stays within the family or it is covered up as a suicide [there's no way to track what actually happened]. Under [some Islamic laws] it is not a crime."

Senior Iranian Cleric Says Uprisings Herald Creation Of "Islamic Middle East"

From Jihad Watch:

I wrote here about how Islamic supremacists were trying to take advantage of events in Tunisia; popular uprisings in majority-Muslim countries will generally tend to work in favor of pro-Sharia forces, which (despite the universal assumption in the West that they constitute a Tiny Minority of Extremists™) enjoy broad popular support. Calls for democracy effectively amount to calls for Islamic rule.

"Shia cleric praises new 'Islamic Mideast,'" from the AhlulBayt News Agency, January 28 (thanks to Twostellas):

(AhlulBayt News Agency) - The leader of Tehran's interim Friday Prayers was referring to the recent historic revolution in Tunisia and massive protests in Egypt, Jordan, and Yemen.

"Incidents that are happening in the Middle East and the Arab world should not be regarded simply," he told worshippers on Friday.

"To those who do not see the realities I clarify that an Islamic Middle East is being created based on Islam, religion, and democracy with prevailing religious principals [sic]," Ayatollah Khatami said.

Egypt's largest opposition group the Muslim Brotherhood on Thursday called on the country's people to continue protests after the weekly Muslim prayer congregation of Friday.

Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Essam al-Arian warned that Egypt would "explode" if the government does not listen to the people.

Police clamped down on anti-government protesters in the Egyptian capital of Cairo on Friday.

The leader of Tehran's interim Friday Prayers said the recent uprisings in the Arab world have Islamic support as people came to the streets with the slogan of "God is the Greatest."

Ayatollah Khatami also praised the congregational prayers in Tunisia days after the revolution ousted former President Zine El Abidin Ben Ali from power.

A vast majority of Tunisia's population is Muslims and committed to Islamic values.

Jordanians Protest In Amman

From Reuters:

(Reuters) - Islamists, leftists and trade unionists gathered in central Amman Friday for the latest protest to demand political change and wider freedoms.

A crowd of at least 3,000 chanted: "We want change."

Banners and chants showed a wider range of grievances than the high food prices that fueled earlier protests, and included demands for free elections, the dismissal of Prime Minister Samir Rifai's government and a representative parliament.

The protest after Friday prayers was organized by the Islamic Action Front, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood which is the only effective opposition and biggest party, but included members of leftist parties and trade unions.

Jordan's protests, as in several Arab countries, have been inspired by the uprising that overthrew the Tunisian president.

"After Tunisia, Arab nations have found their way toward the path of political freedom and dignity," said Zaki Bani Rusheid, a leading Islamist politician.

Demonstrations have taken place across Jordan calling for reversal of free-market reforms which many blame for a widening gap between rich and poor.

Jordan is struggling with its worst economic downturn in decades. The government has announced measures to reduce the prices of essentials, create jobs and raise salaries of civil servants. Protesters say the moves do not go far enough.

KING CALLS FOR OPENNESS

King Abdullah told lawmakers Thursday the government must do more to ease the plight of Jordanians and urged a faster tempo of political reforms.

"Openness, frankness and discourse over all issues is the way to strengthen trust between people and government entities," the monarch was quoted as saying in a palace statement.

"Everything should be put in front of people. There is nothing to be afraid of," said the 49-year-old monarch, who has faced stiff resistance from a conservative establishment to reforms they fear will empower the Islamists.

He urged the 120-member assembly to amend an electoral law criticized as designed to underrepresent cities in favor of sparsely-populated tribal areas to ensure a pliant assembly.

Under the constitution, most powers rest with the king, who appoints the government, approves legislation and can dissolve parliament.

Mubarak Calls For Government's Resignation, Won't Resign Himself

This is an update on this story.

From Jihad Watch:

The Muslim Brotherhood, for all its muted presence in these demonstrations, is poised and ready to take advantage of the opportunity. "Mubarak calls for government's resignation," by Shaimaa Fayed and Yasmine Saleh for Reuters, January 28 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

CAIRO -- President Hosni Mubarak said on Saturday that Egypt needed dialogue not violence to end problems that led to days of protests and said he was sacking his government, speaking in an address on state television.

"I have asked the government to present its resignation today," Mubarak said, adding that he would move to appoint a new government on Saturday.

Protesters called for Mubarak, in power since 1981, to resign.

Mubarak sent troops and armoured cars into Egyptian cities on Friday in an attempt to quell street fighting and mass protests demanding an end to his 30-year rule....

Mr. Mubarak has built his power and international support by citing an Islamist threat to the country. But the Islamist opposition appear to have played little if any role in this week's protests....

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington was deeply concerned by violence used by the security forces against the protesters and she urged the government to restrain them.

Snatch squads of plain clothes security men dragged off suspected ringleaders. At the Fatah mosque in central Ramses Square in Cairo, several thousand people were penned in and teargassed.

Protesters often quickly dispersed and regrouped.

Some held banners saying: "Everyone against one" and chanted "Peaceful peaceful peaceful, no violence." Others threw shoes at and stamped on posters of Mr. Mubarak.

"Leave, leave, Mubarak, Mubarak, the plane awaits you," people chanted.

Prominent activist Mohamed ElBaradei, a Nobel Peace Laureate, was briefly penned in by police after he prayed at a mosque in the Giza area but he later took part in a peaceful march with supporters. Arabiya television said later police had "asked" him to stay home but this could not be confirmed.

In some parts of Cairo, protests were peaceful. Dozens of people prayed together on one road. In Giza, on the city outskirts, marchers shook hands with the police who let them pass peacefully....

Members of the Muslim Brotherhood opposition group, including at least 8 senior officials, were rounded up overnight. The government has accused the Brotherhood of planning to exploit the protests....

Moments Before He Beheaded His Wife, Moderate Muslim Leader Texted Her: "I Have Not Done Anything To Hurt You Since Sunday, Since I Saw My Mistake....

This is an update on this story.

From Jihad Watch

Now this vile human being is claiming that his petite wife abused him to the point that he was driven to behead her in, uh, self-defense. Honor Killing in Buffalo Update: "Final text messages between Hassan, wife," from the Buffalo News, January 26 (thanks to Block Ness):

Text message conversation between Muzzammil Hassan (M) and Aasiya Hassan (A) in the half-hour leading up to her death. [...]

One minute later, M to A: "Sorry for hurting you [symbols]."

Two minutes later, A to M: "I am sorry too."

5:34 p.m., M to A: "I have returned in all sincerity, honesty and humility."

Less than one minute later, M to A: "I cannot carry on without you and the family."

5:38 p.m., M to A: "I have not done anything to hurt you since Sunday, since I saw my mistake."

Few minutes later, M to A: "You are important to me and worth changing for."

5:42 p.m. (last message), M to A: "I am a good man, Aasiya. A good and decent man. Please don't punish me so hard. God like forgiveness."

5:55 p.m. -- Aasiya enters the Bridges TV studio and is killed.

Arab Countries Have Highest Unemployment Rate Of All Countries

Religious fundamentalism seems to go hand-in-hand with lack of development and rampant oppression.

From ANSAmed:

(ANSAmed) - DUBAI, JANUARY 26 - The Middle East is the region with the highest rate of unemployment in the world, confirmed the International Labour Organisation (ILO), which reports that unemployment in the region is 10.3% compared to 6.2% on average globally. The situation presented in "Global Employment Trends 2011" is even more dramatic when looking at the young segment of the population up to the age of 25, where the unemployment rate is estimated to be 40%. The data published by the UN agency raised a further alarm for a region that has already been observing popular insurrection and protests with cries for "more bread, more work" in recent weeks.

A situation that is undermining and disrupting decades of immobile balances of power. "It is quite clear that an unequal distribution of wealth and the absence of opportunities are an explosive combination for social disorders," commented the co-author of the report, Duncan Campbell, who did not indicate a positive immediate future for the MENA region. Economic growth in the entire area is forecast to be between 4.5% and 5.1% between 2010 and 2012, but it does not seem destined to translate into actual jobs. While the IMF already predicted a "strong recovery for the job markets in Europe and the United States," the Middle East still has to work on structural factors capable of changing their dynamics. The priority, both for oil-producing countries and those that do not have energy reserves, is to absorb an already high number of young people ready to enter onto the job market, a figure that continues to grow on a yearly basis. An urgent situation that even Queen Rania of Jordan had stressed in 2008, labelling it "a ticking time bomb". However, the challenge lies in the ability of the governments to create industrial and economic sectors that allow for this absorption and to devise an educational system capable of training new generations in line with market requests, explained Campell. An old problem in the economic-social debates in the region, which also includes the rich economies in the Gulf Region, is that they are not diversified enough and that they are too dependent on hydrocarbons and have schools that offer inadequate programmes when compared to the new needs in the labour market. In Saudi Arabia, the youth unemployment rate in 2009 was over 30%. Other areas that need to be assisted with large investments, according to ILO analysts, include SMEs and the private sector. In the initial days of the riots in Tunisia, during the summit at Sharm al Sheikh, the Arab countries earmarked 2 billion dollars to put an end to the problems of tens of millions of people, a figure and policy that analysts call insufficient and inadequate to favour the necessary growth and economic reforms.

Death Toll In Bomb Attacks Against Shiite Processions In Pakistan Rises To 14

From the Winnipeg Free Press:

LAHORE, Pakistan - Police say the death toll in a pair of bombings targeting marches by minority Shiite Muslims in Pakistan's two largest cities has risen to 14 people.

Police official Tanveer Ahmed said Wednesday that four people died in the southern port city of Karachi a day earlier when a bomb hidden in a motorcycle exploded as a policeman protecting Shiite marchers tried to move it.

Authorities originally said Tuesday evening's attack was carried out by a suicide bomber and two people were killed.

About an hour and a half before the Karachi attack, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives in the eastern city of Lahore as policemen protecting a Shiite procession tried to search him, killing 10 people and wounding dozens.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the Lahore attack.

Moscow Airport Bomb: Suicide Bombers Were Part Of Squad Trained In Pakistan

From The Telegraph (UK):

The two suicide bombers who carried out the Moscow attack were thought to be part of a suicide squad trained in Pakistan's al-Qaeda strongholds sent to the capital to target the city's transport system.

Russian security services warned in December that there were two attack teams primed to carry out attacks, sparking fears there could still be terrorists at large who were prepared to carry out another attack.

Intelligence sources said that one of the squads was likely to have established a base, at a house in Moscow, where the suicide belts to be used in attacks were assembled.

Russian security sources said yesterday that a male and female suicide bomber from the Black Widow brigades had carried out the bombing together. The attack had been closely supervised by three accomplices, who had watched from a distance and are now being sought by the authorities.

A Russian security official said the bomb that ripped through Moscow's Domodedovo airport was carried by a woman who mingled in the crowd at arrivals. She then either set the bomb off herself or someone else detonated it using a remote-control device.

"The explosion occurred the moment the presumed female suicide bomber opened her bag," the security source told the RIA Novosti news agency. "The terrorist was accompanied by a man. He was standing beside her and (the blast) tore off his head."

Intelligence services have been embarrassed by the revelation that informants had warned of an attack on an airport in the Russian capital just weeks before the incident. Security experts said the tip-off had revealed that a criminal gang based in the Moscow suburbs was assisting a Chechen bombing making squad and that a suicide cell was travelling from a training camp.

A newspaper close to Russia's FSB security service published what it claimed was a warning to Moscow police issued in December that said there was credible intelligence that a suicide squad made up of three women and one man from Chechnya was headed to Moscow.

The memo said the team had spent time in Pakistan and Iran and that one of the women had a relative with a flat in Moscow that might be used as a bomb making factory. Another group of five Islamist militants trained in Pakistan was also expected to cross into Russia soon, it added.

An al-Qaeda linked website said that the group Islamic Caucasus Emirate, led by the rebe Doku Umarov, was poised to claim it had staged the attack. It said that Russia's harsh military measures against independence activists in the Caucasus had provoked the attack. It said: "You disbelievers are the firewood of Hell. You will enter it."

The daily Kommersant newspaper said security service officials were alerted to the extent of the threat when a woman accidentally blew herself up on New Year's Eve in Moscow. It later emerged that her husband was in jail for being a member of an Islamist terror group and that she and a girlfriend had been sent to Moscow from the internal Muslim republic of Dagestan to commit an act of terror.

Russian media published a grisly picture of the male terrorist's severed head that was being circulated around police and security services in the troubled mostly Muslim North Caucasus region to see if anyone recognised him.

The region, which includes restive internal Russian republics such as Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan, is in the grip of a growing Islamist insurgency and has served as a launching pad in the past for a series of deadly strikes on civilian targets in Moscow and other cities.

An eyewitness said the woman had been dressed in black and had worn a veil, suggesting she may have been a 'Black Widow' suicide bomber from the North Caucasus region out to revenge the killing of her husband by Russian security forces.

Border Authorities Arrest Controversial Muslim Cleric East Of San Diego

From the Los Angeles Times:

U.S. border authorities have arrested a controversial Muslim cleric who was deported from Canada to Tunisia three years ago and was caught earlier this month trying to sneak into California inside the trunk of a BMW, according to court documents.

Said Jaziri, the former Imam of a Muslim congregation in Montreal, was hidden inside a car driven by a San Diego-area man who was pulled over by U.S. Border Patrol agents near an Indian casino east of San Diego. Jaziri allegedly paid a Tijuana-based smuggling group $5,000 to get him across the border near Tecate, saying he wanted to be taken to a “safe place anywhere in the U.S.”

The arrest marks the unexpected resurfacing of the 43-year-old cleric, whose protracted legal battle to avoid deportation drew headlines in Canada. A Tunisian immigrant, Jaziri was deported for failing to disclose a criminal conviction in France while applying for refugee status in the mid-1990s.

But Jaziri’s supporters said he was targeted for his fundamentalist views: Jaziri backed Sharia law for Canadian Muslims and led protests over the publication of the prophet Muhammad cartoons in a Danish newspaper in 2006.

Jaziri is being held as a material witness in the criminal case against the BMW’s driver, Kenneth Robert Lawler, who has been charged with immigrant smuggling. He is at the San Luis Detention Facility near Yuma, Ariz., according to his attorney, Wayne Charles Mayer. His bond has been set at $25,000.

In Quebec’s large Muslim community, Jaziri stood out for his outspoken views, and though his mosque was small, he drew outsized media attention for his strict interpretation of the Koran. Jaziri labeled homosexuality a sin and pushed for government subsidies to build a large mosque for Montreal’s growing Muslim population.

“His nickname in Quebec was the controversial imam,” said Lise Garon, a professor of communications at Laval University in Quebec City, adding that his case tapped into the anti-immigrant mood in the community. “I think he was deported because people hated his ideas.”

Jaziri opposed his deportation to Tunisia because of fears he would be tortured by the government. His case drew support from Muslim organizations and Amnesty International. It’s unclear what his treatment was like in Tunisia.

According to the court documents, a Mexican foot guide led Jaziri and a Mexican immigrant over the fence near Tecate and he trekked overnight through the rugged back country, to a road where drivers frequently pick up immigrants for smuggling runs into San Diego.

Border Patrol agents, alerted by fire fighters who saw the immigrants get in the trunk, pulled the car over near the Golden Acorn Casino, about 50 miles east of San Diego. He told agents that his journey to the border had been a long one. He took a flight from Africa to Europe, then to Central America and Chetumal, Mexico, on the Mexico-Belize border, where he took a bus to Tijuana.

Fatwa: "Whoever Insults One of These Four Things, Whether in Jest or Sincerity, Has Become an Infidel And Must Be Killed"

From Translating Jihad:

No, the four things are not the four Gospels, and the author of this fatwa is not a right-wing Evangelical minister. The four things, of course, are Allah, Muhammad, the Qur'an, and Islam, and this is yet another offering from the Religion of Peace and Tolerance (shocker!). The author of this fatwa, which comes from the Islamic Fatwa Council of Jerusalem, presided over by Shaykh Khalid Ghanayim, asserts that this is not only his opinion, but also the opinion of the Qur'an, the sunnah, and the consensus of Islamic scholars, and backs all of that up with references from each source. Stay tuned for more from me on this topic in the coming days, as I have quite a bit of material to translate in relation to this. (See the original Arabic here.)

Q: What is the ruling on one who insults the divine, the Prophet (peace be upon him), the Noble Qur'an, and Islam?

Date: 29 Nov 2009
Fatwa No: 349

In the name of Allah the most merciful,

Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the two worlds, and peace be upon our lord Muhammad, and on his family and companions.

Whoever insults one of these four things, whether in jest or sincerity, has become an infidel and must be killed. This is what is shown in the text of the book [i.e. the Qur'an], and the sunnah, and all scholars (are in agreement) with it.

1 - The book

The Most High said: "If they violate their oaths after pledging to keep their covenants, and attack your religion, you may fight the leaders of paganism - you are no longer bound by your covenant with them - that they may refrain" (Qur'an 9:12). The spot that witnesses to the infidelity of insulting them, or insulting one of them, is the saying of the Most High, "...and attack your religion..."

2 - The sunnah

Abu Dawud and al-Nasa'i, from Ibn-'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him), related that a blind man had a slave-mother [a slave who bore children for him] who used to abuse the Prophet (peace be upon him) and disparage him. He [i.e. the blind man] forbade her but she did not stop. He rebuked her but she did not give up her habit. One night she began to slander the Prophet (peace be upon him) and abuse him. So he [the blind man] took a dagger, placed it on her belly, pressed it, and killed her. When the morning came, the Prophet (peace be upon him) was informed about it.

He assembled the people and said: I adjure by Allah the man who has done this action and I adjure him by my right to him that he should stand up. Jumping over the necks of the people and trembling the man stood up.

He sat before the Prophet (peace be upon him) and said: Apostle of Allah! I am her master; she used to abuse you and disparage you. I forbade her, but she did not stop, and I rebuked her, but she did not abandon her habit. I have two sons like pearls from her, and she was my companion. Last night she began to abuse and disparage you. So I took a dagger, put it on her belly and pressed it till I killed her.

Thereupon the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: Oh be witness, no retaliation is payable for her blood. (Dagger: thin sword with a nape.)

3 - The consensus [of scholars]

Imam Ishaq ibn Rahuwiya, a prominent imam, said, "Muslims are unanimous (in agreement) that anyone who insults Allah, or insults the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), or attacks anything which Allah Almighty has sent down, or kills a prophet of Almighty Allah; that he is an infidel, and that this is based on everything that Allah has sent down."

Muhammad bin Sahnun said: "Scholars are in unanimous (agreement) that whoever insults and disparages the Prophet (peace be upon him) is an infidel. Continually upon him is the threat of the punishment of Allah. The ruling on him for the Muslim community is execution. Whoever doubts his infidelity and punishment is (himself) an infidel."

Al-Khattabi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "I don't know any Muslim who differs on the duty to kill him," [...]

Iraqi Dad's 'Spit' Defense In Ariz. 'Honor Slay'

This is an update on this story.

From the New York Post:

A fanatical Iraqi-born Muslim charged with killing his beautiful daughter because she wanted to live a normal American life whined yesterday that he ran her over by accident -- because he was concentrating on spitting at another woman.

Faleh Almaleki -- whose murder trial began in Phoenix -- sent his Jeep crashing into daughter Noor Almaleki, 20, on Oct. 20, 2009, in a parking lot after she left his abusive home to live with her boyfriend's family and refused an arranged marriage, officials said.

Prosecutors have called the woman's death an "honor killing," referring to a practice in some Islamic countries in which someone -- often a woman who is believed to have shamed the family -- is killed.

The unforgivable "shame" Noor brought on her father was a taste for fast food, texting her friends with the greeting "dude" and liking clothes from Forever 21, according to a report in Marie Claire magazine.

Almaleki's lawyer said his client was only trying to demonstrate his disgust with the woman standing next to Noor -- her boyfriend's mother -- and wound up hitting them both.

But a prosecutor said in opening remarks that Almaleki was so enraged by his daughter's Westernization that he "revved and raced" his car directly at his child.

"Noor wanted to live her life like those her own age, but the defendant would not allow it," said Laura Reckart.

After Almaleki moved in with her boyfriend's family, her father told the dad that if Noor didn't leave, "something bad was going to happen," a court document said.

The women were hit as they walked across the parking lot in Peoria.

Earlier, Noor had glimpsed her dad at the state office where she was helping translate forms for Amal Khalaf, her boyfriend's mom.

"Dude," Noor texted a friend, "my dad is here at the welfare office," the Broward-Palm Beach New Times said.

Noor was in a coma for two weeks before dying, while Khalaf survived.

Almaleki -- who fled to Mexico, then London, where he was arrested -- has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault and leaving the scene of an accident.

Thailand: Bomb Kills 9 Civilians

From Reuters:

(Reuters) - A roadside bomb killed nine civilians and wounded two in Thailand's southernmost province on Tuesday, police said, the deadliest attack in 19 months in the predominantly Muslim region bordering Malaysia.

The victims were all Buddhists who were travelling in a pickup truck to hunt wild pigs when the bomb exploded in Yala, one of three provinces beset by sporadic insurgent violence in a seven-year separatist rebellion.

It was the region's deadliest attack since gunmen opened fire with automatic weapons at a mosque during evening prayers on June 9, 2009, killing 11 people.

More than 4,300 people have been killed since 2004 as ethnic Malay Muslims fight for autonomy from Thailand's Buddhist majority in the rubber-rich region.

It was the second major attack in six days and will be a blow to the government and security forces, who say the level of violence has fallen significantly in recent months, citing tighter security and a spate of public relation campaigns.

Four soldiers were killed and five wounded last Wednesday when rebels armed with grenades and assault rifles stormed an army outpost in Narathiwat province. Media said at least 20 rifles were stolen.

Police said Tuesday's bomb was planted in the road and detonated remotely by a cellphone, destroying the truck. Roadside blasts are common in the region, but military and police patrols are usually the targets.

The violence is believed the work of ethnic Malay militants, although no group has made a credible claim of responsibility for the attacks.

The region was an independent Muslim sultanate until annexed by predominantly Buddhist Thailand a century ago.

About 80 percent of the people in the three southern provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat are Muslim.

Attacks are typically drive-by shootings, ambushes and roadside blasts although car bombings and beheadings have taken place in recent years, despite the presence of 40,000 troops.

Egypt: President's Son And Family 'Have Fled To The UK'

From Adnkronos:

Gamal Mubarak, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak's son who is widely tipped as his successor, has fled to London with his family, Arabic website Akhbar al-Arab said on Tuesday.

Cairo, 25 Jan. (AKI) - Gamal Mubarak, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak's son who is widely tipped as his successor, has fled to London with his family, Arabic website Akhbar al-Arab said on Tuesday. The report came as violent unrest broke out in Cairo and other Egyptian cities and hundreds of thousands of people reportedly took to the streets in a Tunisia-inspired day of revolt.

Officials did not immediately confirm the report that Gamal Mubarak has fled to the British capital with his wife and daughter aboard a private jet.

The jet with Mubarak, his family and 97 pieces of luggage on board left for London on Tuesday from an airport in western Cairo, according to the US-based Akhbar al-Arab.

Weeks of unrest in Tunisia eventually toppled president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali earlier this month. The anti-government protests in Egypt broke out after opposition groups waged an internet campaign inspired by the Tunisian uprising.

An anti-riot police officer was killed in clashes on Tuesday in central Cairo, Egyptian daily 'al-Wafd' reported. Egyptian security forces reported used tear gas, fire hoses, and clubs to disperse protesters in Tahrir Square, downtown Cairo.

Over 30,000 anti-government protesters had gathered. in Cairo's Maidan al-Tahrir square to take part in the 'day of anger', the spokesman for Egypt's '6 April' opposition movement, Mohammed Adel, told Adnkronos International (AKI) in an interview.

"Police used tear gas and water canon to break up our protest and they arrested 40 of us, but we don't have official figures on the numbers of arrests across Egypt," said Adel.

Supporters of the '6 April' movement, the opposition al-Ghad party, the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, the al-Wafd party and supporters of former UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohammed El Baradei took part in the protest.

The protesters want Egypt to end its 30-year state of emergency and pass a law preventing a president from serving more than two terms, and want the interior minister Habib al-Adly, to resign.

Al-Wafd daily said police arrested 600 people during Tuesday's protests in Cairo, Alexandria, Port Said, Tantan, al-Mahala, Asiut, al-Bahira and al-Quium.

Between 200,000 and 300,000 people took part in protests in these cities on Tuesday, according to the Rasad al-Ikhbari observatory, which is staffed by journalists and opposition activists.

Police set dogs on protesters in Port Said and charged protesters in Suez and al-Mahala, an unnamed activist from Rasad al-Ikhbari told AKI.

Protests are rare in Egypt, where Mubarak tolerates little dissent.

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday Washington believed the Egyptian government was stable and urged restraint on both sides.

Russia: Female Suicide Bomber Suspected In Airport Blast

From My Fox Houston:

The Moscow airport blast that killed 35 people and wounded more than 100 others may have involved a female suicide bomber from Russia's predominantly Muslim North Caucasus, Russian news agency RIA Novosti quoted a security source as saying Tuesday.

"The explosion occurred the moment the presumed female suicide bomber opened her bag," the state-run agency quoted the unnamed security official as saying.

"The terrorist was accompanied by a man. He was standing beside her and [the blast] tore off his head," it added.

Pope Benedict XVI joined world leaders in condemning the attack Tuesday, describing the suicide bombing as a "grave act of violence."

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev vowed to "liquidate" the militants behind the attack.

"Terrorism remains the main security threat to our state," Medvedev said after observing a moment of silence during which he could be seen choking back tears, AFP reported.

"We have to do everything to make sure that the bandits who committed this crime are identified, exposed and brought to court, and the nests of these bandits -- or whatever they may be called -- must be liquidated," Medvedev said in televised remarks.

The Russian premier had been scheduled to fly to Switzerland for this week's World Economic Forum in Davos but he postponed the trip.

Sources told RIA Novosti that the attack bore all the hallmarks of militants from the overwhelmingly Muslim Caucasus region who have been behind a string of attacks in the Russian capital over the last few years.

Earlier reports said one suicide bomber shouted, "I’ll kill you all," before the massive blast ripped through the packed arrivals hall at Moscow’s busiest airport.

Shocking CCTV footage of the deadly explosion at Domodedovo Airport at 4:32pm local time Monday has been handed over to investigators.

Law enforcement said the bomb had the equivalent power of 11 pounds of TNT and was packed with metal objects to maximize the potential damage. Many victims reportedly had metal fragments embedded in their bodies.

Among the dead was Ukrainian playwright Anna Mashutina, 29, who had arrived in the Russian capital on her way to collect a prize, officials and colleagues said Tuesday.

US President Barack Obama led global condemnation of the bombing, calling it "outrageous" and vowing to stand against those who use terror tactics.

"I strongly condemn this outrageous" act, Obama said, quoted by White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.

"Any assistance that the government of Russia needs or wants, we certainly stand ready to help," Gibbs added.

News agencies have reported two Britons were among those killed but the UK Foreign Office says there was only one. He has been named as Gordon Campbell Cousland.

No group has as yet claimed responsibility for Monday's attack but Russia is battling a Muslim insurgency in the North Caucasus, and previous terror attacks have targeted Moscow.

Two Green Wave Leaders Hanged In Iran

From Asia News:

Two political activists involved in the 2009 post-presidential election protest movement are hanged this morning. Iranian authorities have hanged 99 people in the past month, but the number of extrajudicial executions could be even higher.

Tehran (AsiaNews) – The Iranian regime continues to eliminate leading figures from the 2009 social protest movement, known as the “green wave”, causing few ripples across the world. The authorities confirmed that this morning two political activists, Jafar Kazemi and Mohammad Ali Hajaghaei, were hanged, the Tehran prosecutor's office announced. They had been arrested during the demonstrations against President Ahmadinejad’s re-election. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had urged Iranian authorities to show clemency but to no avail.

And so the crackdown against demonstrators continues. Ayatollah Vaez Tabasi, the custodian of Imam Reza shrine, renewed his attacks green wave leaders, calling them “seditious leaders who fight against Islam to promote ignorance and oppose Iran’s supreme leader”.

Speaking at a ceremony commemorating the shrine’s foundation, the ayatollah said “severe measures” should be taken against demonstrators.

With the latest hangings, the total number of executions has reached 99 in the past month.

Official sources show that Iranian courts sentenced to death alleged terrorists, drug traffickers and “seditious leaders” between 19 December and 24 January. On 22 December 2010 alone, 22 executions were carried—the single bloodiest day in the country’s modern history.

At the same time, fears are growing that extra-judicial executions are being carried out on an almost daily basis, unreported in official data.

Iranian judges “find it very difficult to sentence to death student protest leaders not involved in acts of violence,” a source tell AsiaNews. “For this reason, they rely on unscrupulous prison guards who kill defendants inside detention facilities.

"Honor Killing" Trial Begins In Phoenix

This is an update on this story.

From Seeing Red AZ:

Faleh Hassan Almaleki, 49, an Iraqi immigrant intentionally drove his vehicle into his 20-year-old daughter, Noor Almaleki and Amal Khalaf her boyfriend’s mother, as the two walked through a parking lot. After running them over, he backed up and ran over them again. Noor was in a coma for two weeks before she died.

This horrific, premeditated 2009 crime in which the Muslim father intentionally killed his own daughter and seriously injured another woman, was filed as a first degree murder case, but apparently not one worthy of the death penalty. FOX news reports opening arguments in the case are scheduled for today.

The father, claiming Noor had disgraced the family, had routinely harassed her for becoming “too Western,” too Americanized, warning her “something bad was going to happen.” It was reported that when she was 17 she refused to enter an arranged marriage in Iraq, enraging her father.

After running over the two women, Almaleki fled to London, where he was located and returned to Phoenix.

Although Almaleki admitted his role in the murder, he pled not guilty. The Arizona Republic reported that a plea deal was considered earlier this month. Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugged writes: Honor killing should be a capital crime. Islamic honor killing is on the rise in the West. These barbaric crimes should be stamped out, not sanctioned. They should be dealt with in the harshest terms. She posts a Gruesome Gallery here.

Instead unemployed trucker Faleh Hassan Almaleki faces life in prison if a jury finds him guilty of this vicious “honor killing“and hit and run of two. No death penalty was sought.

Why?

Incredibly, Almaleki’s public defender, Billy Little, asked the judge to take special precautions to ensure the prosecution wouldn’t wrongly seek the death penalty because Almaleki is a Muslim. Little requested that the court “provide some level of assurance that there is no appearance that a Christian is seeking to execute a Muslim for racial, political, religious or cultural beliefs.”

No American court should tolerate brutal and premeditated murder out of political, religious and cultural considerations. The message to Muslim girls who are threatened by honor killing is that American courts will offer them no refuge.

Grand Sheikh Of Al-Azhar Complains Of "Zionist Plot" To Defame Islam, Divide Arab World

From Jihad Watch:

Of course, of course. We should know by now that everything is a Zionist plot to defame Islam. "Political motives behind anti-Islam campaign - Egypt''s Al-Azhar," from KUNA, January 24 (thanks to JCB):

CAIRO, Jan 24 (KUNA) -- The Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar Dr. Ahmad Al-Tayyeb said Monday the defamation campaign targeting Islam in the West is politically motivated.

"The campaign spearheaded by western media moguls aims to promote unfair stereotypes about Islam in contradictions of the true Islamic values of tolerance and moderation being advocated by Al-Azhar," a statement issued by Al-Azhar Sheikhdom quoted him as saying.

This is the same al-Azhar that just cut ties with the Vatican because the Pope dared to call attention to and condemn attacks on Christians in the Middle East. If this sort of behavior, together with regular doses of conspiracy paranoia, constitutes the model for "tolerance" and "moderation," well, there's our problem.

Al-Tayyeb made the remarks during his meeting here with a delegation from the US Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).

"Muslims have a long history of friendly relations with non-Muslims over the last 14 centuries," he noted.

Dr. Al-Tayyeb decried "the malicious" western plans aiming to fragment the Arab world, citing as examples the situations in Iraq, Sudan and Lebanon as well as the Maghreb countries.

He also condemned strongly the purported plots to divide Egypt, "the world's oldest country with coherent society," into three Muslim, Christian and Noban [sic] states.

"There is a Zionist plot aiming to defragment [sic] the Arab world with a view to posing Israel as the sole dominant power in the Middle East," he stressed.

Acknowledging that there are "wise voices" in the west, the grand sheikh said these voices are "less loud and less influential" than the hostile ones.

Meanwhile, he briefed his guests on the educational system of Al-Azhar University as well as the efforts being made to modernize the prestigious institutions.

Boola Boola, Allahu akbar:

A group of students from Yale University are studying Arabic and Islamic sciences at Al-Azhar University for a full semester, he told his guests noting that it is a priority for his institution to strengthen national unity, strengthen the coherence of the social texture of Egypt and promote peace worldwide.

Reduced Jail Term For Jordan Man Who Killed Daughter

From the AFP:

AMMAN - A Jordanian was sentenced on Sunday to 10 years in prison for killing his daughter in 2007 over a love affair with a man she later married, a court official told AFP.

An initial sentence of 15 years passed on the 60-year-old father, who was not identified, was immediately cut by a third after the court found "mitigating circumstances," the official said.

The 25-year-old daughter, named by the official only as Hala and identified as a factory worker in Amman, was pregnant when her boyfriend asked her father for her hand in marriage, he said.

"The father agreed after the man gave him a cheque for $28,000. Following the marriage, the father kept pushing his daughter to abort the foetus, but she and her husband refused," the official said.

The father "became enraged, especially after her husband said he wanted to hold a wedding party," he added. "He went to their home when she was alone and shot her six times in the chest, head and stomach."

Murder is punishable by death in Jordan but in so-called "honour killings" courts can commute or reduce sentences, particularly if the victim's family or relatives ask for leniency.

Between 15 and 20 women are murdered in honour killings each year in the kingdom, despite government efforts to curb such crimes.

Also on Sunday, a 20-year-old man was sentenced to 10 years in jail for stabbing to death his divorced 22-year-old sister because "she frequently left her family's house without permission," the same official said.

And a 75-year-old man was sentenced to seven and a half years for shooting dead his married sister in 2009 "over an argument after he told her not to leave the house."

Life Sentence Likely For Guantanamo Detainee In NY

Ghailani targeted Americans and killed his countrymen instead. At least that is his defense. He also admitted that he "wanted to learn to fight so that he could kill Jews." Oh, well, that makes everything okay then?

From the Associated Press:

NEW YORK – After his capture in the 1998 bombing of a U.S. embassy in Tanzania, Ahmed Ghailani recalled welcoming news reports of the al-Qaida-sponsored terror attack — until it dawned on him his countrymen were killed.

"The target was Americans, not Tanzanians," Ghailani explained, according to a summary of a lengthy confession.

A jury would hear none of it when Ghailani went on trial more than a decade later.

With the confession barred from evidence, the trial last year resulted in Ghailani's conviction on just one count and an acquittal on 284 others in dual attacks in Tanzania and Kenya. But that's unlikely to stop a judge from giving him the same punishment at sentencing Tuesday as if he'd been convicted of everything: life in prison.

The potential for a paradoxical outcome in the closely watched test case points to the difficulties of applying civilian laws and rules of evidence in civil prosecutions of suspects picked up in other countries in the war on terror.

It also may dash hopes that the Ghailani case would clear the way for the trials of other Guantanamo detainees captured around the globe in the war on al-Qaida, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-professed mastermind of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

The confessions and the testimony of the government's main witness, a man who would say he sold explosives that were used in the bombs to Ghailani, were kept out of the trial because they were gathered by investigators whose priority was to stop further terrorism attacks rather than gather evidence for a criminal trial.

While a military tribunal might not allow evidence that was excluded from Ghailani's civilian trial either, its exclusion at a high-profile trial could make it harder for the government to argue that most detainees belong in a civilian court at a time when the issue has become politically charged.

President Barack Obama continues to say he wants to prosecute terrorists in both military commissions and criminal courts, but Congress has made that difficult. Lawmakers have prohibited the Pentagon from transferring detainees to the U.S., even to stand trial.

On the eve of trial, U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan excluded the testimony of the explosives salesman because he was discovered when Ghailani underwent harsh interrogation at an overseas CIA-run camp after his 2004 arrest in Pakistan.

Prosecutors decided not to use the confessions because Ghailani wasn't advised of his rights before he spoke to agents and did not have access to a lawyer.

The rulings opened the door for a mixed verdict. During deliberations, the jury had indicated it was divided, and Kaplan theorized the guilty verdict on only one count reflected a compromise with a juror who was holding out against conviction.

"Thus, if there was any injustice in the jury's verdict, the victims were the United States and those killed, injured and otherwise devastated by these barbaric acts of terror, not Ghailani," the judge wrote as he rejected a request by defense lawyers to toss out the lone charge that resulted in Ghailani's conviction.

The judge called the evidence persuasive, citing proof that Ghailani bought one of the bomb-laden trucks, purchased 15 gas cylinders used in the bomb, stored and concealed detonators and sheltered an al-Qaida fugitive prior to the attacks.
In court papers, prosecutors agreed. They also cited evidence against Ghailani, including that he delivered hundreds of pounds of TNT to an al-Qaida cell two months before the bombings along with bags of fertilizer.

Some of the best evidence the jury never saw may have been FBI recounts of interviews of Ghailani, including discussions in January and February 2007, months after he was brought to the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, from the CIA camp overseas.

In those, Ghailani's history is described back to his 1974 birth in Zanzibar, Tanzania, including that his best childhood friend went for military training in 1996 to Afghanistan and introduced him to friends who were involved in the militant Islamic movement.

The FBI said Ghailani told agents that Ghailani wanted to get military training because his childhood friend and others he had met "seemed like heroes, and he wanted to be like them."

The FBI said Ghailani also said he wanted to learn weapons, do jihad and "wanted to learn to fight so that he could kill Jews."
It was only after the embassy bombings, that Ghailani got to go through training in Afghanistan, according to the FBI interviews.

He later served as a bodyguard and cook for Osama bin Laden, though he did not have any private conversations with him and eventually got tired of the duties and asked to learn how to forge documents, the FBI said.

The FBI quoted him as saying he was being trained on making fraudulent documents when his trainer was making some of the fraudulent documents used by 19 men who hijacked planes on Sept. 11, 2001.

It also said he was in Karachi, Pakistan, at the time of the attacks and asked Khalid Sheik Mohammed who did it, only to be told he didn't know.

The FBI said Ghailani didn't believe Mohammed didn't know and "assumed it was a secret."

The questioning of the interviews was wide ranging at times, including when agents asked Ghailani if he knew any men who wore women's clothing when they traveled. He said he had worn a burqa at times when he traveled, the FBI said.

Muslims In Italy Tell Those Concerned Over Christianophobia: Convert To Islam!

From EnerPub:

"Islam is the true religion; convert to Islam!” was the demand issued by a Pakistani radical Islamic organization, led by Malik Shaib, to promoters of a demonstration to be held on January 26 in Rome. The demonstraters express concern over Christianophobia in Muslim-dominated countries and, in particular, the case of Aasi Bibi - a Pakistani Christian woman who was sentenced to death for blasphemy according to Islamic law.

The demonstration, known as “Italy for Asia Bibi: freedom, justice, human rights” has been promoted by a group of parliamentarians and Italian civil associations, including the multi-partisan Association of Parliamentary Friends of Pakistan, Association of Italy-Pakistan International Cooperation (Isiamed), Association of Pakistani Christians in Italy, Amnesty International – Italian Section, Community of Sant'Egidio, TV2000, Religions for Peace, and Padana Onlus.

The invitation, written in Urdu, Pakistan's radical organization and forwarded to the Organising Committee, which has now informed the agency Fides, shows how the international initiatives enjoy attention and are significant for the scenario of Pakistan.

The demonstration aims to reaffirm the urgency of respect for religious freedom, dignity and inalienable rights of all Pakistani citizens, of any religion; to launch a message of peace, closeness and solidarity to Asia Bibi, seeking her immediate release. It also calls for the abolition of the blasphemy law and the death penalty in Pakistan. The initiative involves more than 35 associations from the academic world, the Catholic world, from other religious communities such as Sikhs, Jews and Muslims, giving a visible sign of the extensive involvement of civil society in Italy.

The Association of Pakistani Christians in Italy wrote “We thank the promoters and supporters. We want to fight for the freedom of Asia Bibi and we intend to send a message to Pakistani President Ali Zardari. We trust in the Pakistani justice system that it will verify her innocence. We support the abolition of the blasphemy law (art 295b and 295c) because it is exploited for private vendettas and jealousies, which have nothing to do with insulting the Prophet or the Koran.”

Malaysian Shariah Victim: 'If you're going to cane me, then do it in public'

From The Independent:

Model's stand after conviction for drinking alcohol exposes brutality of Malaysian law

She says it was only the second time she had drunk alcohol in her life, and even then it was just a few of glasses of beer. But it was enough for a Muslim court in Malaysia to order Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, a part-time model and mother-of-two, to be caned. The corporal punishment case has divided the Asian nation and led human rights campaigners to urge the authorities to show restraint.

Now, in her first interview, Ms Kartika has urged the authorities to carry out the punishment in public. "I never cried when I was sentenced by the judge," she told Reuters at her father's house in a village 200 miles north of Kuala Lumpur. "I told myself, all right then, let's get on with it."

Ms Kartika, who would be the first woman to be caned in the Muslim-majority country, is actually a citizen of neighbouring Singapore, and does not even live in Malaysia. But last year she was caught drinking at a hotel in Kuantan in the eastern Malaysian state of Pahang during a police raid. Under Malaysian law, while it is legal for non-Muslims to drink alcohol, Muslims – even foreigners – may not.

Last month, a sharia court that operates in parallel with the country's normal judicial system and is available for trying so-called "religious crimes" ordered that she pay a 5,000 ringgit fine (£860) and be caned six times, after she pleaded guilty to drinking three glasses of beer.

Ms Kartika, who also works in a hospital, had the opportunity to appeal against the sentence but decided not to. Now both she and her father have raised the stakes by demanding that the punishment be done in public, in order to deter other Muslims who might be tempted to drink alcohol in the country. Whether this might constitute some sort of brinkmanship designed to call the bluff of the authorities is unclear. But the 32-year-old insisted that the 20-month ordeal had ruined her life and forced her to resign from her position with the hospital.

Since then she has only worked as a part-time model. "I only declared I was a model to protect my full-time job," she said. "I felt very humiliated because people used my status as a part-time model to publicise my case."

Her father, Shukarno Abdul Muttalib, has also suggested that the caning should take place in public. "As a Muslim, I agree with her punishment, but I don't agree that it should be done in jail, she is not a prisoner," he told Bloomberg News. "If the authorities want to use this as an example, then the caning should be done in public."

On Monday Ms Kartika is due to be taken to a prison in central Selangor state for seven days. At some point during that time, the punishment will be carried out. According to the regulations, she will be fully clothed at the time of caning and kneeling down. Officials have said she will be struck on the backside using a small thin cane and only with moderate force. They insist it is not intended to hurt her.

An unidentified "whipping officer" told local journalists: "Sharia whipping is more like caning naughty schoolboys. In sharia the punishment is not in the force of the whipping but to bring shame. The whipping implement is supposed to be soft and supple, so as to inflict the least pain."

But campaigners say that whether Ms Kartika suffers pain during the ordeal or not is beside the point. Amnesty International and other campaigners have urged the courts to drop the sentence, saying it was "cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and prohibited under international human rights law". Amnesty said that at least 34,923 migrants, mainly from South-east Asian countries, were caned in Malaysia between 2002 and 2008 for immigration offences. "They have been doing it with some gusto," Amnesty's Asia director, Sam Zarisi, commented. "Usually these sentences are carried out on migrants. This is the first time a woman will have been caned, and the first time someone will have been caned under sharia law. It's an unfortunate direction."

In Malaysia, opinions are divided about the punishment Ms Kartika faces. "Nobody should have to endure corporal punishment," said Ragunath Kesavan, president of the Malaysian Bar Council. He said a public caning would be unacceptable to many and would set an unwelcome precedent.

Six Killed In Wave of Baghdad Bombings

From The New York Times:

BAGHDAD — Shattering the relative calm that had prevailed in the capital for months, five car bombs exploded in different neighborhoods here on Sunday morning, killing at least 6 people and wounding 30. The military defused another three bombs.

Other parts of the country have recently been hit by large-scale attacks, mainly against security forces and religious pilgrims, but until Sunday Baghdad had been spared.

The attacks began shortly after 7 a.m., despite heightened security for the Shiite holiday of Arbaeen, which is often a time of sectarian violence.

The bombs struck Sunni neighborhoods as well as Shiite areas. Two appeared directed at security forces and one at Iranian pilgrims marching to observe Arbaeen, which commemorates the end of the 40-day mourning period for the death of Imam Hussein ibn Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. The targets of the other two bombs were unclear.

At least two of the cars used were taxis whose bombs were detonated when police officers were nearby, suggesting that they were set off remotely by people who were keeping watch.

The use of taxis “is a new technique,” said a bomb squad officer, noting that cabs draw less attention than private cars at checkpoints or when parked on the street. The officer spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters.

Before the attacks, Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, the deputy commanding general for operations of the American forces in Iraq, had credited Iraqi security forces for keeping Baghdad safe, saying that they had forced extremists to strike elsewhere.

Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, who began his second term in office last month, had made security a main plank of his campaign. But he has yet to appoint leaders for the ministries that oversee the police and military, a fact that one lawmaker blamed for the bombings. “Such attacks will continue as long as the security ministries are without leaders,” said Udai Awad, who is allied with the fiery cleric Moktada al-Sadr.

Shiite religious marches, which take place several times a year, also test the police and army’s effectiveness.

Violence in Iraq remains lower than in previous years, but in the last week devastating attacks have occurred in Tikrit and Baquba north of Baghdad and in Karbala to the south. The attacks followed large-scale arrests of terrorism suspects, and may have been intended as retaliation.

On Tuesday, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd of police recruits in Tikrit, killing at least 49 people and wounding 119. The next day, an ambulance loaded with an estimated 450 pounds of explosives detonated outside a police building in Baquba, killing at least 5 people and wounding 76.

On Thursday, three car bombs exploded nearly simultaneously on the roads to Karbala, where as many as 10 million Shiites are expected to gather to commemorate the death of Imam Hussein. The bombs killed at least 52 people and wounded three times as many.

Lt. Omer Ahmed of the Iraqi police said that the choice of targets in both Sunni and Shiite areas suggested that the bombings were the work of foreign militants who were trying to inflame sectarian tensions. “We need to change our strategic officers and plans,” he said. “We have been working according to what we were taught by Americans, not according to the real truth — that we are facing a kind of enemy who is playing on sectarian chords for the mass elimination of Iraqis without exceptions.” The main Sunni militant group, Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, and its affiliate, the Islamic State of Iraq, which are both homegrown insurgent groups that are believed to have some foreign leadership, have often carried out attacks aimed at provoking sectarian conflict.

On Saturday, security forces announced the arrest of a leader in the Sunni Awakening, the government-backed militia composed in part of former insurgents, for the attack against the Shiite pilgrims near Karbala. The Awakening’s leaders have long been frustrated that they were not being hired quickly enough by the security forces or other government agencies.

Members of the Awakening Council have often been targets of attacks.

Egypt Says Palestinian Group Behind Church Attack

This is an update on this story.

From English.xinhuanet.com:

CAIRO, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian Interior Minister Habib al- Adly said on Sunday that a Palestinian group linked to al-Qaida was behind the bombing of a church in Alexandria that killed more than 21 people on New Year's Eve.

In a televised address celebrating the National Police Day, Al-Adly named the group as the Army of Islam, a radical Islamic Palestinian terrorist group based in the Gaza Strip.

There are "conclusive evidence indicating the Gaza-based group was behind the planning and conducting of the attack that seized the lives of many Egyptians," the top security official said.

He added that the group had recruited Egyptians, but that could not conceal the role of this group in terrorist acts.

However, a source from the Army of Islam on Sunday denied Egypt 's accusation that it was behind the deadly church blast, saying that "the Army has no relation to the explosion."

The Egyptian ministry said an Egyptian man had been suspected of assisting the group in carrying out the attack.

Ahmad Ibrahim, born in 1984 in Alexandria, admitted during the police investigations that he had traveled many times to Gaza in 2008. He met many members from the Army of Islam group and admired their thoughts, Egypt's official MENA news agency quoted a security source as saying.

The same group asked him last year via the internet to locate important Christians and Jewish worshiping places in Egypt to conduct a terrorist operation, it said.

In October, he sent information about the possibility of attacking three worshiping places in Egypt, including the Saints Church and sent many photos of the church to the group. The Army of Islam group had asked him to provide their members with a place for accommodation and hire a car to facilitate their mission, but Ahmad suggested to conduct the attack traditionally by committing suicide.

Addressing the Police Day, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said he will not tolerate whoever tries to undermine the national unity and to drive a wedge between Muslims and Coptic Christians in Egypt.

Mubarak stressed he will "not be lenient with any sectarian strife from either side" and will firmly confront the perpetrators by the law.

The president vowed to confront, defeat terrorism and track down terrorists inside and outside the country.

The suicide bombing attack outside the al-Qiddissin (Saints) Church in Alexandria, which killed more than 21 and injured nearly one hundred, was the deadliest attack against Christians in Egypt in more than a decade, which triggered the fears of sectarian violence in the Muslim majority country.

The fatal church attack was followed by a train shooting on Jan. 11 by an Egyptian policeman, killing a Coptic Christian and injuring five others. The Egyptian Ministry of Interior reaffirmed on Saturday it was not a sectarian act.

The Army of Islam firstly appeared in 2006, when it joined Islamic Hamas movement in capturing an Israeli soldier near the Gaza Strip. A year later, Hamas took over Gaza by force and its ties with the Army of Islam sagged due to security, religious and ideological differences.

The group was behind the kidnapping of Alan Johnston, a BBC reporter in Gaza, in 2007.

Fall Of Secular Regime In Tunisia Paves Way For Islamic Parties

From Jihad Watch:

As I said here last week, while most of the mainstream media and Western governments were hailing the victory of democracy in Tunisia. "Fall of secular regime paves the way for Islamic parties," from Reuters, January 23 (thanks to C. Cantoni):

REUTERS - For years they were jailed or exiled. They were excluded from elections, banned from politics, and played no visible role in Tunisia's Jasmine Revolution. But in the brave new world of multi-party politics, moderate Islamists could attract more followers than their secular rivals like to admit.

And the downfall of Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali's police state may leave Tunisia open to infiltration by extremists from neighbouring Algeria, where war between authorities and Islamists has killed 200,000 people in the last two decades.

"The Islamist movement was the most oppressed of all the opposition movements under Ben Ali. Its followers are also much greater in number than those of the secular opposition," said Salah Jourchi, a Tunisian expert on Islamic movements.

'Its effect could be large'

Secularism has been strictly enforced in Tunisia since before its independence from France in 1956. Habib Bourguiba, the independence leader and long-time president, was a nationalist who considered Islam a threat to the state.

Indeed, in 1987, when Ben Ali pushed aside Bourguiba, he briefly released Islamists from jail and allowed them to run in the 1989 elections. The results surprised and worried Ben Ali.

Ennahda, or Renaissance, Tunisia's largest Islamist movement, officially won 17 percent of the vote, coming second to the ruling party.

Jourchi said there was widespread electoral fraud and the real figure could have been closer to 30-35 percent. That compared with a combined total of three percent for all the secular opposition parties that ran in the same elections.

Ben Ali reversed his policy, banned Ennahda, jailed its followers and cracked down harshly on anyone showing any tendency towards Islamism. Ennahda's leader Sheikh Rachid Ghannouchi was exiled to London the same year.

Ennahda's renaissance?

Ghannouchi, who declared his desire to return to Tunisia soon after Ben Ali's ouster, has yet to set a date.

But now that Tunisia's interim government has agreed an amnesty law that allows banned parties and frees political prisoners, Ghannouchi could return any day.

Husain Jazeery, an Ennahda spokesman exiled in Paris, said the movement would take part in parliamentary elections expected to be held in the next six months but would field no candidate for the presidency because "we do not want to rule the country".

"We are a party that does not want to rule but wants to take part alongside all the other groups and to do so responsibly," he said by telephone.

"Any exclusion of Ennahda would be a return to the old regime and that would be impossible in the current situation ... regardless of internal or external pressures."

Despite the state's crackdown on Ennahda, the movement is considered moderate and could draw widespread support....

Panel Says Israel Flotilla Raid Did Not Violate International Law

This is an update on this story.

From 1250 WTMA:

(JERUSALEM) – The commission that led an investigation into Israel’s naval blockade and subsequent raid of a ship carrying aid materials to Gaza said Israeli forces did not violate the law.

The Turkel Committee, comprised of four Israeli members and observers from Ireland and Canada, concluded that “the actions taken were found to be in legal pursuit to the rules of international law,” according to a report in The Jerusalem Post.

"The naval blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip – in view of the security circumstances and Israel's efforts to comply with its humanitarian obligations – was legal pursuant to the rules of international law. The actions carried out by Israel to enforce the naval blockade had the regrettable consequences of the loss of human life and physical injuries. Nonetheless, and despite the limited number of uses of force for which we could not reach a conclusion, the actions taken were found to be legal pursuant to the rules of international law,” the group wrote in its 300-page report.

Israeli forces intercepted six ships that were carrying humanitarian aid and other materials on May 31, 2010. Five of the ships did not resist, but one, the MV Mavi Marmara, proved to be the focus of the commission’s investigation. Nine passengers were killed in the incident as they fought against Israeli troops, and many others were injured.

"It is possible to determine that the IDF soldiers acted professionally and with great presence of mind in light of the extreme violence which they hadn't expected...This professionalism was evident in the fact that they continued to exchange their lethal weapons for the less lethal option and visa versa in order to give a response that was appropriate to the nature of the violence directed at them,” the Turkel Commission wrote.