Saudi Arabian Charity In Pakistan Offers Education - Or Is It Extremism?

A Saudi Arabian charity sponsoring extremism... Who would have thought it possible?

From The Guardian:

International Islamic Relief Organisation funds a large orphanage in Islamabad but is accused of funding al-Qaida

The Faisal mosque in Islamabad is one of the most visual examples of Saudia Arabia's influence - and money - in Pakistan. Photograph: Mian Khursheed/ReutersThe imposing orphanage looms on the edge of Islamabad, housing 250 poor boys from across Pakistan who receive tuition, board and meals, and daily instruction in Saudi-style Islam.

A plaque over the doors identifies the generous benefactor: the International Islamic Relief Organisation, a government-sponsored charity from Saudi Arabia that the US accuses of spreading extremism and funding al-Qaida.

America may be widely despised in Pakistan – a new poll gives it 12% approval, but there is far greater tolerance for Pakistan's regional ally, Saudi Arabia, in all its controversial manifestations.

Saudi influence is pervasive, from the soaring minarets of Islamabad's Faisal mosque – the largest in Asia – to the corridors of power, where Saudi officials enjoy privileged access. In the past decade Riyadh has subsidised Pakistan's oil supply, offered gilded exile to the opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, and even attempted to solve its extremist woes.

When trouble erupted at the hardline Red Mosque in Islamabad in 2007, the Saudi ambassador was drafted in to broker peace.

But Saudi money and influence have attracted hostile scrutiny from western countries, particularly the US. Worries centre on a flood of charity donations, mainly earmarked for education, some of which finds their way into weapons and military training.

A senior western official in Islamabad said the main worry was Saudi funding for Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistani militant group responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Funding appeared to have stopped since the Mumbai attacks, he said, but the group continues to solicit private money from conservative Saudis under the guise of charitable donations.

The IIRO has also come under scrutiny. In 2009 the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, privately warned that US intelligence had discovered the IIRO and two other state-backed charities "continue to send money overseas and, at times, fund extremism overseas", according to diplomatic cables released through WikiLeaks.

Files from Guantánamo Bay published this year show at least six detainees had been employed by IIRO, which US officials described as a "tier one terrorist NGO".

The accusations are denied at the Islamabad orphanage. "Our only business is education", said one employee who declined to be named. "We educate young boys, send them back into society, where they perform well."

Saudi money has been flowing into Pakistan since the 1980s, when state and private donors funded an explosion of madrasas. Many come from the Ahle Hadith school of Islam, a strict version of the faith that is close to the Salafist faith taught in Saudi Arabia.

The amount or nature of donations is shrouded in secrecy, as most come through the undocumented hawala traders, although a western official estimated it at "tens of millions of dollars".

Saudi Arabia's defenders say they are being unfairly maligned as terrorists. "Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have had exemplary relations since the day our country was born," said Maulana Abdul Aziz Hanif, vice-president of the Ahle-Hadith community in Pakistan.

The faith was growing in popularity, Hanif added, with "thousands" of mosques across Pakistan – the Punjabi city of Gujranwala alone has 500. He denied ties with Lashkar-e-Taiba, which fights in the name of the faith. "We want nothing to do with them," he said.

Secular critics say Saudi money and influence have had a corrosive influence on Pakistani society, encouraging a tide of conservatism: more veiled women, Islamist televangelists, and public shows of piety than ever before.

"All this hardline Islam is traceable to Saudi Arabia," said Pervez Hoodbhoy, a physics professor and outspoken critic of what he terms "Saudisation".

He recently published a picture showing a group of female students at his university in the 1980s, all bare-headed. A picture taken recently shows a cluster of heavily veiled females.

Most Pakistanis are reluctant to criticise Saudi Arabia, home to Islam's holiest shrines.

And the WikiLeaks files also show the Saudis have stepped up cooperation with the US in flushing out militant financiers. Officials insist its charities are now strictly above board. The IIRO, for instance, played a prominent role in emergency relief for victims of last year's epic floods.

Still, some coincidences are striking. The Islamabad orphanage, set up in 2002, is not a madrasa – it follows the government curriculum. But its founding principal was Sultan Amir, a retired Pakistani intelligence officer known as the "father of the Taliban".

Amir quit the following year but continued to follow the students' progress. But last year he was kidnapped by the Pakistani Taliban after accompanying a British journalist into the tribal belt. A video of his execution surfaced early last January.

More Than 1,000 Hurt In Egyptian Protests

After Mubarak, the violence continues (along with the radicalism from fanatic Muslim groups vying for power in Egypt).

From Fox News:

In scenes reminiscent of the uprising that ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, thousands take to the streets and clash with police over demands that the country's military rulers speed up the prosecution of officers accused of killing protesters early this year.

Iran 'Carrying Out Secret Nuclear Missile Tests'

From The Telegraph:

The claim comes as the Iranian regime mounts a visible show of its military technology with 10 days of missile tests. One tested this week was capable of reaching Israel or the Gulf states.

Earlier this month, William Hague announced new sanctions against Iran
Mr Hague told the Commons that Iran "has been carrying out covert ballistic missile tests and rocket launches, including testing missiles capable of delivering a nuclear payload".

Those tests were in clear contravention of United Nations Security Council resolutions forbidding Iran from developing a military nuclear programme, he said. British officials said that the nuclear tests took place separately from the current, publicly declared tests.

Britain believes that since last October, Iranian forces have carried out three secret tests of missiles that could be used to carry nuclear material.

Britain has reported those tests to the United Nations, but has not previously made them public.

Iran has an active nuclear programme, which it insists is entirely for civilian energy use. But Western governments say that it is trying to develop enriched uranium, which would be required to construct a nuclear warhead.

Liam Fox, the Defence Secretary, has suggested that Iran could be in possession of a viable nuclear weapon as soon as next year, although most experts believe it could take longer. Mr Hague's claim will fuel speculation that Tehran is stepping up its nuclear weapons programme amid growing concern about the so-called "Arab Spring" which is challenging authoritarian regimes across the Middle East. So far, the Iranian regime has suppressed pro-democracy protests at home.

The International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA) last month raised "concern" about possible secret Iranian nuclear weapons development.

The IAEA said Iran was engaged in "high voltage firing and instrumentation for explosives testing over long distances".

Earlier this month, Mr Hague announced new sanctions against Iran and told MPs: "We will maintain and continue to increase pressure on Iran to negotiate an agreement on their nuclear programme."

A spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry said: "None of the missiles tested by Iran is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead."

The Foreign Office stood by Mr Hague's claims, accusing Tehran of "provocative acts, directly contrary to Iran's obligations" under UN Security Council resolutions. UNSCR 1929 specifically prohibited Iran from ballistic missile activity capable of delivering a nuclear weapon, said a Foreign Office spokesman.

Mr Hague also repeated allegations that Iran had been helping the Syrian regime suppress democratic protests against President Bashar al-Assad.

The Foreign Office claimed earlier this month that Tehran was providing riot control equipment and paramilitary training to the Syrian security forces.

Tehran "continues to connive in the suppression of legitimate protest in Syria", Mr Hague said.

Saudi Arabia has threatened to build nuclear weapons if it is established that Iran is close to developing them.

Prince Turki al-Faisal, a member of the ruling royal family and senior diplomat, warned that Iran developing nuclear weapon capability "would compel Saudi Arabia … to pursue policies which could lead to untold and possibly dramatic consequences".

Speaking at an unpublicised meeting at RAF Molesworth earlier this month, Prince Turki warned Iran was a "paper tiger with steel claws".

New York Synagogue Bomb Plotters Jailed

From BBC:

Three men convicted of plotting to set off bombs at a New York City synagogue and shoot down military planes have been sentenced to 25 years in prison.

James Cromitie, David Williams and Onta Williams were arrested in 2009 after planting what they thought were bombs at a Jewish temple.

Federal Judge Colleen McMahon said the men were motivated by hatred for Jews.

But their lawyers said they were duped by a paid FBI informant and never posed a threat.

The men were convicted in October of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction and other charges following testimony from FBI informant Shahed Hussain, who met Cromitie at a mosque north of New York City.

A fourth man, Laguerre Payen, was also convicted but his sentencing was postponed pending a psychiatric evaluation.

'Ticking time bombs'

Prosecutors said the men tried to detonate what they thought were explosives at a Jewish centre in the Riverdale section of the Bronx borough of New York, and plotted to fire missiles at New York Air National Guard planes at a base north of New York.

In surveillance video played at trial, the men were seen examining a shoulder-fired missile launcher in a warehouse.

Jurors also heard recordings of Cromitie, the alleged ringleader, ranting against Jews and saying he wanted to exact revenge against the US for military aggression in the Middle East.

Judge McMahon acknowledged the men never posed a legitimate threat, as they were under surveillance during most of the case and never possessed genuine explosives or weapons.

Lawyers for the men argued the federal government had manufactured the crime, saying the four defendants were motivated by small amounts of cash and meals the informant provided.

But prosecutors had called the men "ticking time bombs".

"This would have been a colossal terrorist attack and the fact that it was all fantasy really doesn't matter because in their minds, they thought it was real," Assistant US Attorney David Raskin said.

NATO Airstrike Kills Haqqani Militant Involved In Afghan Hotel Attack

From Fox News:

A NATO airstrike has killed a militant with the Al Qaeda-affiliated Haqqani network who is suspected of having aided the gunmen who attacked a hotel in Kabul earlier this week.

The U.S.-led coalition said Thursday that Ismail Jan and several Haqqani fighters were killed Wednesday in a precision airstrike in Gardez, the provincial capital of Paktia province.

The coalition says the Haqqani network, in conjunction with Taliban operatives, conducted the late-night attack on the Inter-Continental hotel that killed at least 11 civilians. Nine suicide attackers also died in the siege.

Separately, authorities say six civilians and two NATO service members have died in roadside bomb attacks Thursday in southern Afghanistan.

Jihad Preacher Who Got Into U.K. Despite Being Banned Now In Custody, Awaiting Deportation

This is related to this story.

From Jihad Watch:

This is an update on this story:

An update on this story. Obviously, an investigation is promised to be forthcoming. "Leading Palestinian activist arrested in London," by Alan Travis for the Guardian, June 29:

The home secretary, Theresa May, has ordered "a full investigation" after a leading Palestinian activist in Israel entered Britain despite a travel ban.

Sheikh Raed Salah, leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel, was detained at 11pm on Tuesday and taken to Paddington Green police station in west London.

May has said the UK Border Agency is taking steps to deport him. "We do not normally comment on individual cases but in this case I think it is important to do so. I can confirm he was excluded and that he managed to enter the UK. He has now been detained and the UK Border Agency is making arrangements to remove him. A full investigation is now taking place into how he was able to enter."

Salah's solicitor, Farooq Bajwa, said Salah had no knowledge of any ban and had made no attempt to conceal his identity when he entered Britain on Saturday. He had addressed a meeting in Leicester on Tuesday night and been due to attend a Palestine Solidarity Campaign meeting in the House of Commons on Wednesday evening attended by Labour MPs Jeremy Corbyn and Richard Burden.

It is understood that the Home Office accepts Salah was open about his identity when he arrived. The investigation is believed to be about how the exclusion order could have been made but not served on Salah before his arrival and how UKBA officials waved him through once he landed.

The decision to arrest Salah followed an appeal by the Conservative MP for Finchley and Golders Green, Mike Freer, to May in the Commons on Monday that Salah be banned from Britain because of his "history of virulent anti-semitism".

"I have been questioning the propriety of providing a platform to a speaker who reportedly peddles the conspiracy theories of Jewish involvement in the 9/11 plots," Freer said. "I am pleased he will not be speaking in parliament."...

Syrian Forces Waging Deadly Attacks In Area Near Turkish Border

From Fox News:

Syrian army forces spread through a restive mountainous area near the Turkish border on Thursday as the death toll from a two-day military siege rose to 11 people, according to activists and a witness.

The action by Syrian troops appeared to be aimed at preventing residents from fleeing to Turkey, where more than 10,000 Syrians have already taken shelter in refugee camps, activists say. The refugees have been a source of deep embarrassment to Damascus, one of the most tightly controlled regimes in the Middle East.

"They fear there will be sympathy for the people who are fleeing, and they are frightened that this will cause international pressure to mount on the regime," said Mustafa Osso, a prominent Syrian-based human rights activist.

Only five Syrians made it across the border Thursday, the lowest number in days, said Turkish officials. Over the past week, more than 10,000 Syrians rushed across, fleeing their army's violent crackdown against demonstrators.

Syrian activists say more than 1,400 people have been killed as President Bashar Assad tries to crush three months of nationwide protests. The regime disputes that death toll and says "armed thugs" and foreign conspirators are behind the unrest.

In Thursday's operations, Syrian forces were consolidating their hold on the Jabal al-Zawiya province after two days of heavy shelling in the area, particularly in the village of Rameh, said Osso. That assessment was repeated by Lebanon-based activist Omar Idibi and an eyewitness who spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing reprisals.

They said most people were killed Wednesday and early Thursday. Idibi said the death toll was likely to rise as people were pulled out of rubble from smashed homes in some areas.

Idibi said part of the fighting was prompted by Syrian forces trying to hunt down several dozen comrades who abandoned their arms. Some rebelled while in Rameh village, while others split away from the armed forces in earlier fighting this month in the nearby town of Jisr al-Shaghour.

"They haven't been able to flee to Turkey," Idibi said. "They are fleeing from the advance of the Syrian army," he said. Idibi said eyewitnesses told him that Syrian forces were trying to seal gaps in the border with Turkey to prevent people from escaping.

Idibi and the eyewitness said that in a pattern repeated across the area, a rush of tanks would flood villages under heavy fire. Some soldiers backed by tanks would stay on to check identification cards and patrol some areas, while the rest moved on to the next residential area.

"They are terrifying the people. It's a message: 'We are coming to you, be careful,"' the eyewitness said.

Italy: Moroccan Immigrant Murders Wife For Being 'Too Western'

From Adnkronos:

Padua, 28 June (AKI) - A Moroccan carpenter living in northern Italy is suspected of stabbing his wife to death because she wanted to leave him and begin a more liberated and western life with another man.

Police suspect 36-year old Zrhaida Hammadi of killing his 33-year-old wife Fatima Chabani at their apartment in the city of Padua near Venice by stabbing her repeatedly in the neck and shoulder, severing her jugular vein.

Neighbours telephoned the police after hearing blood-curdling screams from the apartment late Sunday, but the police said they found Chabani already dead and Hammadi awaiting their arrival, sitting motionless in a chair with his head bowed.

The couple were married in 2002 and had a six-year-old son. The family moved to Padua in January from the surrounding province in Italy's northeast. Members of the local Moroccan community described Hammadi as "a quiet, decent and hard-working" man.

The couple reportedly had frequent rows and police are probing Hammadi's' claims that his wife was seeing another man.

On Tuesday, a cultural mediator in Padua, 30-year-old Tunisian Muslim immigrant Maher Selmi sparked controversy by claiming that it was right to stone "adulteresses" to death.

Moroccan women's activist and member of Italy's parliament Souad Sbai deplored Chabani's "chilling" slaying and the remarks by Selmi, who is a graduate in Italian language and literature.

"This is the latest outrage against an innocent young woman whose only crime was her desire to live peacefully," said Sbai.

Sbai is a member of parliament for the ruling conservative People of Freedom party and president of the Association of Moroccan Women in Italy.

Her group made an unsuccessful application to form the civil plaintiff in the murder trial of three male relatives of a twenty-year-old Pakistani woman, Hina Saleem found buried in the garden of her family home with her throat slit and her head facing Mecca in August 2006.

Hina had 'dishonoured' the family by dressing in western clothes, working in a pizzeria in the northern town of Sarezzo and living with her Italian boyfriend and refusing and arranged marriage

In February, 2010, Italy's Supreme Court said Hina's father Mohammed Saleem must serve the entire 30-year prison sentence handed to him for her murder, ruling that he acted "out of a distorted, pathological sense of parental possession" rather than for religious and cultural reasons.

Hina Saleem's shocking murder is one of several "honour" crimes which have brought the issue of Muslim cultural integration in Italy into stark relief in recent years.

El Ketaoui Dafani a Moroccan immigrant cook is currently standing trial for the murder of Sanaa Dafani in northeastern Italy in September 2009 after he discovered she had a relationship with an older Italian man.

Italy's equal opportunities ministry, the Association of Moroccan Women in Italy, the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, and the Province of Pordenone and forming the plaintiff in that trial.

Vile Banned Militant Extremist Strolls Through Heathrow

From the Daily Mail:

Britain's powerlessness to control who has the right to be in this country was glaringly exposed last night by two extraordinary cases.

In the first, an anti-Semitic preacher of hate whom the Home Secretary had banned from entering Britain was able to stroll in through Heathrow.

Last night, Raed Salah was giving a lecture organised by Islamist radicals to a large crowd in Leicester, and today he was due to speak at Westminster at the invitation of Left-wing Labour MPs.

In the second, a bombshell ruling by European judges blocked the deportation of some 200 Somali criminals back to their homeland.

The Strasbourg court said the men, including drug dealers and serial burglars, might be persecuted in war-torn Somalia, and that they must be allowed to stay to protect their human rights.

So, irrespective of how heinous their crimes or the danger they present to the public, Britain has no power to expel them.

The ruling by the European Court of Human Rights stemmed from appeals against deportation by two asylum seekers convicted of a string of serious offences including burglary, making threats to kill and drug dealing.

But it will now also apply to 214 other similar cases which have been lodged with the court using Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Article 3, which protects against torture and inhuman or degrading treatment, is an 'absolute' right, meaning that it applies regardless of the offences committed.

The two men, who were both granted thousands in legal aid to fight their cases, will now be released from immigration detention centres and will be free to walk the streets.

They were jointly awarded more than £20,000 for costs and expenses.

Critics accused the Government of rolling over to the demands of the court, and branded the Human Rights Act a 'criminals' charter'.

Backbench Tory MP Douglas Carswell said: 'The pathetic truth is that we do not have control over our borders, and these cases quite clearly show that we do not control not only who comes in to the country but who we choose to remove.

UK Independence Party MEP Gerard Batten said: 'It is the absolute duty of the British Government to protect the lives and property of British citizens.

'If foreign nationals prey on people here they should be sent home to where they came from – no ifs, no buts.'

He added: 'For the European Court of Human Rights to give Britain orders is bad enough; knowing that the Government will roll over to their demands is worse.

'This decision confirms that the Human Rights Act is a criminals' charter.'

The case involves two Somalis whom ministers intended to return to the Somali capital, Mogadishu, because of their serial offending.

Abdisamad Adow Sufi, 24, entered the country illegally in 2003 using a fake passport. He claimed asylum on the grounds that he belonged to a minority clan persecuted by the Somali militia.

His claim was rejected by officials and an appeal tribunal said his account was 'not credible'.

Since then he has amassed a string of convictions for offences including burglary, fraud, making threats to kill, indecent exposure and theft.

The second Somali, drug addict Abdiaziz Ibrahim Elmi, 42, was granted asylum in 1988. Since then he has committed crimes including handling stolen goods, fraud, robbery, carrying a replica gun, perverting the course of justice, theft and dealing heroin and cocaine.

Attempts to deport him began in 2006 and his appeal was rejected by an immigration judge. A deportation order was stayed in 2007 pending the outcome of his Strasbourg case, and since then he has been convicted of possessing Class A drugs and charged with drug dealing.

The panel of seven judges ruled that because the level of violence in Mogadishu was so high there was a real risk of the men coming to harm.

In a unanimous judgment, the court also rejected the argument the men could leave the capital and return to safer parts of the country.

The judges said Sufi could not join his relatives because they lived in an area controlled by a strict Islamic group. If returned, he could face punishment according to their code – also a breach of his rights.

He would also be particularly vulnerable if forced to live in a refugee camp because of his 'psychiatric illness', the court said.

Elmi claimed he would be at risk of persecution if he moved to an area controlled by the same group, because he wore an earring, which might lead to them thinking he was gay.

If they found out he was a drug addict and thief he could face amputation, public flogging or execution, he said.

The court ruled he had no experience of living in a strict Islamic area because he has been in this country for so long and would therefore be at risk of harm.

The ruling said: 'The court reiterated that the prohibition of torture and of inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment was absolute, irrespective of the victims' conduct.

'Consequently, the applicants' behaviour, however undesirable or dangerous, could not be taken into account.'

Read it all here.

Egyptian Court Dismisses Muslim Case Against Christian Woman

From the Assyrian International News Agency:

The Egyptian administrative court of the State Council dismissed today the lawsuit filed by Muslim lawyers, demanding the disclosure of the whereabouts of Camilia Shehata, the wife of a Coptic priest, who was alleged to have converted to Islam and held against her will by the Coptic Church. In reaching its decision, the court said the Muslim lawyers failed to provide proof to support their claim of the detention of Camilia by the church.

Camilia's attorney, Dr. Naguib Gabriel, said "The only thing the Muslim lawyers delivered as proof for their claims were snippets of newspapers from the Internet."

The case lasted over four months, during which Dr. Gabriel submitted as proof unequivocal documents that Camilia was never detained by the church and she never converted to Islam as alleged. Among the documents was a power of attorney from Camilia for him to represent her at court. "This was issued by the public notary, by a Muslim employee and in which she wrote "Christian" beside her religious affiliation, while she could have easily written Muslim instead." said Gabriel. "If she was really detained by the church, she could have asked for help from the employee when she went to the notary," he added. Also, a certificate from Al-Azhar stating that she never converted to Islam was presented as evidence.

The prosecution also heard the testimony of Bishop Armiya, secretary to Pope Shenouda III, who denied the church had detained her. It also took the testimony of Anba Agapios, Bishop of Deir Mawass, Minya Governorate, who also refuted the charge.

Previously, the court had responded to the Muslim lawyers' demands regarding Camilia's conversion to Islam, saying the issue was the beliefs of people, but whether there was a detainment or not. Also, the Muslim lawyers had demanded Camelia appear in person before the court, which was refused by the court.

"Today's court ruling closes the curtain on one of the most famous and difficult cases in Egypt." said attorney Dr. Gabriel. "Muslims will not be allowed to demonstrate regarding this matter anymore, which they used as a pretext to create sectarian strife between Muslims and Christians."

The story of Camelia Shehata, which became a public issue for the last 11 months, started on July 19, 2010, when after a dispute with her husband, Father Tedaos Samaan, priest at St. Georges Church in Deir Mawas, she left home and went to Cairo to stay with relatives, without telling anyone of her whereabouts. "This was my biggest mistake," said Camilia in an interview with Al-Hayat Christian TV Channel from her hide-out with her husband and 2-year-old son.

Her husband, believing she was abducted by Muslims, like many other cases, came with some 3000 Copts from his congregation to protest her disappearance at St. Mark's Coptic Cathedral in Cairo (AINA 7-23-2010").

State Security found her a few days later and handed her over to her sister who lives in Cairo. She later reconciled with her husband and the family has lived in hiding ever since, as Muslim demonstrations started to take place, demanding the return of "their sister in Islam, Camelia."

Faked photos of Camilia in a Hijab appeared on the internet and over 20 demonstrations were staged by Muslim, accusing the church of abducting new converts (females) to Islam and holding them against their will in churches and monasteries, where they were tortured (AINA 9-18-2010).

Camilia appeared in a video clip from her hideout, taken under utmost security by the independent daily El-Youm7, in which she denied ever converting to Islam (video). The Muslims said it was not Camilia but was her double who appeared, and carried on with their demonstration, the last of which was on April 30, when they encircled the Coptic Cathedral and the Pope's residence vowing that "Camilia must return" (AINA 4-30-2011). Camelia appeared for a second time on May 7, in a one-hour interview on Al-Hayat TV, in which she denied all Muslim claims of ever having met any of them or having been to Al Azhar with them. On both occasions she confirmed her Christian faith.

Illegal Immigration: "We can no longer hold Europe's southeast flank"

From Jihad Watch:

Guarding the infidels: The border fence between Morocco and Ceuta (a Spanish city located inside Morocco)

Illegal immigration: "We can no longer hold Europe's southeast flank"
by Nicolai Sennels

The "Arab Spring" has unleashed an unprecedented wave of illegal immigrants heading for Europe. The fall or weakening of several dictators has resulted in loosened security, which allows people to flee the Islamic societies. Hundreds of thousands of Muslims have already entered the EU, and hundreds of thousands more are on their way.

In 2008, 80,000 illegal immigrants entered Greece. The Greek authorities cried out for help, saying that "the country can no longer handle the task of guarding the European Union’s southeast flank." As a result, immigrant gangs have ravaged the historic center of Athens, "wielding swords, axes and machetes." A new report published by Reuters tells us that illegal immigration is setting new records, as "Illegal immigration to Europe is now on track to surpass the peak hit in 2008. The IMO says about 42,000 migrants have already crossed into Italy and Malta alone, surpassing the 40,000 total for the two countries in all of 2008."

The EU's foremost job is to protect its citizens

The most important task above all others for the EU -- now and for the coming years -- will be to build and maintain an effective and well-guarded border fence at relevant stretches of the Union's outer border. At the same time, the EU countries must work together at building and running refugee camps in areas outside Europe. In those cases where illegal immigrants cannot be sent back to their country of origin, they will receive shelter, food and medical care there.

According to the UNHCR, the cost of having one person in a refugee camp somewhere in Africa, for example, is 50 dollars / 33 euros per year. The price for having a refugee in a country like Denmark is 50,000 dollars / 33,000 euros. In other words, for every single refugee who is allowed to stay in Denmark, we can protect and feed one thousand refugees in a camp in an area where they understand the language and feel home in the culture.

Nicolai Sennels is a psychologist and author who writes from Denmark.

More Than 2,000 Children 'Victims Of Sex Grooming'

From BBC:

Mohammed Liaqat (left) and Abid Saddique, 27: Convicted in grooming case

The first UK-wide study of street grooming of children has found more than 2,000 victims of systematic abuse.

The ethnicity of around half the offenders was not known but in the remainder a quarter of offenders were Asian and 38% were white.

The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop) warned against focusing on ethnicity over the issue.

Head of Ceop Peter Davies said many local agencies were failing to give victims the support they needed.

The six-month assessment of the scale of "street grooming" was launched after a high profile case saw a number of Asian men convicted of sexually abusing girls in Derby.

Ceop said it had evidence of 230 gangs, mostly young men, who were identifying and grooming children for systematic sexual abuse. Some groups were large enough to be considered organised crime enterprises that were supplying victims to be raped by paying clients.

"This is a horrific kind of crime," said Mr Davies. "It involves systematic, premeditated rape of children and needs to be understood in those stark terms. It needs to be brought out of the dark."

But Ceop's report said that the available evidence was patchy. The review identified 2,083 victims and 2,379 offenders since the start of 2008.

Investigators were only able to establish reliable information about half of the offenders, the majority of whom were aged between 18 and 24.

In almost a third of the remaining cases, agencies had insufficient information to draw any conclusions about ethnicity. Of those that remained, 38% were white and 26% were Asian. The report stressed that this data was poor because in nine out of 10 cases, the research could not detail the meaning of "Asian".

The report said that the majority of victims were white girls - although in a third of cases the ethnicity was not known.

Earlier this year, the former Home and Justice Secretary Jack Straw said that while offenders came from all backgrounds, there was a specific problem of young Pakistani men targeting white girls because they regarded them as "easy meat".

Peter Davies called for child protection agencies to do more to protect victims - and said that the UK needed more thorough and reliable research into what was going on.

"Focusing on the problem simply through the lens of ethnicity does not do it service," said Mr Davies.

He said that many victims were in vulnerable positions, such as in care or involved in petty criminality. That meant many were afraid to come forward because they did not expect to be believed or supported.

And Mr Davies said he was "shocked, surprised and disappointed" at the lack of action in many parts of the country.

Only 13 of 150 Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCBs), local partnerships involving police and social services, provided information to Ceop. Two-thirds of all LSCBs had failed to set up specialist sub-groups to combat street grooming, as set out in national guidance.

Mr Davies said: "They do not appear to have set up the basic processes that are expected in the national guidelines to tackle child sexual exploitation."

John Grounds from the NSPCC said: "This is an important piece of work. We would like to see better and more consistent data collection and improved training for professionals working in this field.

And Enver Solomon of The Children's Society, said: "For far too long child grooming has been a hidden issue, with dangerous perpetrators targeting vulnerable girls and boys in the shadows of our society.

"The Ceop assessment… highlights that children who run away are particularly vulnerable to exploitation, yet professionals are often unaware of this. Child grooming cannot be addressed without actively looking at the issue of children running away."

Mr Davies said that Ceop would conduct more research into the types of people found guilty and the motivations for their crime. Ministers are preparing a national action plan on grooming while the Children's Commissioner will launch her own inquiry into gangs and sexual abuse.

Netherlands: "One Dog Less" -- Young Muslims Jeer And Mock At Christian Funerals, Pound Hearse With Their Fists

Hat Tip: Jihad Watch

Prominent Egyptian Cleric: Islam "Prefers Immoral, Licentious Men"

From Weasel Zippers:

Sorry CAIR/lefties, you can’t accuse us of “Islamophobia” for quoting Muslim religious leaders own words.

Via Translating Jihad:

If there are two men, and one of them is stronger spiritually, while the other is stronger physically, (the latter) is more beneficial to that nation. In war, for example, the strong man offers his courage, even if he is immoral or licentious. The weak man (only) offers his impotence, even if he is faithful.

Listen to the response of Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him), for the Shaykh of Islam (i.e. Ibn Taymiyya) based his ruling on this fatwa from his Shaykh, the Shaykh for the Sunnis, Imam Ahmad. Imam Ahmad was asked about two men, who were leaders in a raid. One of them was a strong, immoral man. The other was a weak, righteous man. With which one would he go into battle? Imam Ahmad said: “As for the strong, immoral man, his strength benefits the Muslims, while his immorality only hurts himself. But as for the weak, righteous man, his righteousness only benefits himself, while his weakness hurts the Muslims.” Thus the Imam said he would go to battle with the strong, immoral man. I hope this answer is clear. The Prophet (peace be upon him), said the same thing in the two Sahihs (Muslim and al-Bukhari), “Allah will support this religion through an immoral man.”

U.S. Ambassador To Qatar: "Centrality of the Palestinian-Israeli issue" to Mideast a "myth," wants to see "Islamic renaissance"

From Jihad Watch:

He might rue the day he longed for such a renaissance. But Ambassador LeBaron has no doubt imbibed many prevailing historical myths -- tolerant Muslim Spain; tolerant Ottoman Empire; 1001 Muslim inventions; the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs is over land, and has nothing to do with Islam's antisemitism and jihad doctrine; jihad is an interior spiritual struggle, and more -- that have led him to this view. No one has told him, and he has never read, about the jihad imperative to wage war against and subjugate unbelievers, or about the fact that non-Muslims have never enjoyed and can never enjoy equality of rights with Muslims in an Islamic state. So absent all that, what's not to like about an Islamic renaissance?

"U.S. Ambassador Joseph LeBaron: 'The Arab Spring is the Start of a Long, Uncertain Path to Structural Change in the Middle East,'" from Arabic Knowledge@Wharton, June 28:

[...] Arabic Knowledge@Wharton: What myths about the Middle East has the Arab Spring dispelled?

LeBaron: I think that the biggest myth is the centrality of the Palestinian-Israeli issue to the region. What we saw, first in Tunisia and then elsewhere, was extraordinarily revealing: Arabs focused on Arab issues in Arab states without reference to the United States, or Israel, or foreign policy. The focus was not outward but inward, on governance, the relationship between government and its citizens, on domestic reform associated with government, social justice, human rights, and the freedom of expression. That was extraordinary.

For decades, the assumption both inside and outside the region has been that the key to peace and stability in the region was a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli issue. But what 2011 has showed us is there are other issues of structural importance to peace and security in the Middle East.

Of course, there's great interest in the Palestinian-Israeli issue throughout the region. But the region moves in response to things far beyond this single issue that so convulses the Levant. If you look at the region, from Morocco to the Gulf, you'll see that other important forces are at play. We cannot ignore those. [...]

Arabic Knowledge@Wharton: Most of the oil-rich Gulf nations are trying to reduce their economic dependence on natural resources. What's your sense of that transition and where you do see it going?

LeBaron: Let me give you a 30-year perspective. Since I first came to the Gulf in 1980, I have seen the Gulf states pursue a pattern of growth that is leading, whether consciously or unconsciously, towards a highly ambitious goal: a renaissance of Arab and Islamic thought in science and technology. It's extraordinary, actually. The amazing thing is that both the resources and, increasingly, the vision are there to accomplish this renaissance....

Afghanistan's Intercontinental Hotel Under Attack By Suicide Bombers

From Fox News:

The popular Intercontinental hotel in Kabul has come under a suicide bombing attack Tuesday, a U.S. official told Fox News. The attack is still ongoing.

Afghanistan news agency TOLOnews is reporting at least 10 people have been killed. That number has yet to be independently confirmed.

An Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman says initial reports indicate three or four suicide bombers and at least two gunmen attacked the hotel. Multiple explosions have been heard on the property.

Sediq Sediqqi said Tuesday that all the bombers either blew themselves up or were killed. Two gunmen continue to fire from the roof of the hotel, he said.

"There are foreign and Afghan guests staying at the hotel," Sediqqi said. "We have reports that they are safe in their rooms, but still there is shooting."

Azizullah, an Afghan police officer who uses only one name, told The Associated Press at the scene that at least one bomber entered the hotel Tuesday night and detonated a vest of explosives.

Afghan police were battling the assailants with machine-gun fire and rocket-propelled grenades as tracer rounds went up over the blacked out building. The police have secured the area around the hotel, which is one of Kabul's most heavily guarded.

Jawid, a guest at the hotel, says the attack occurred as many people were having dinner in the hotel restaurant. He says he heard gunfire throughout the several story building.

"I was running with my family," he said. "There was shooting. The restaurant was full with guests."

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack in a telephone call to The Associated Press.

Mujahid later issued a statement claiming that Taliban attackers killed guards at a gate and entered the hotel.

"One of our fighters called on a mobile phone and said: 'We have gotten onto all the hotel floors and the attack is going according to the plan. We have killed and wounded 50 foreign and local enemies. We are in the corridors of the hotel now taking guests out of their rooms -- mostly foreigners. We broke down the doors and took them out one by one."'

A State Department official told Fox News that all chiefs of mission personnel are accounted for in the country, including all U.S. citizens currently working for the embassy in Kabul. However there is no information yet on any Americans who might have been staying at the hotel.

Streets leading to the Intercontinental hotel, located about 9 miles from the Kabul Airport, are blocked.

The Inter-Continental -- known widely as the "Inter-Con" -- was once part of an international chain. But when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979, the hotel, was left to fend for itself.

The Inter-Continental, which opened in the late 1960s, was the nation's first international luxury hotel. It has at least 200 rooms.

It was used by Western journalists during the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, has been targeted before.

On Nov. 23, 2003, a rocket exploded nearby, shattering windows but causing no casualties.

Twenty-two rockets hit the Inter-Con between 1992 and 1996, when factional fighting convulsed Kabul under the government of Burhanuddin Rabbani. All the windows were broken, water mains were damaged and the outside structure pockmarked. Some, but not all, of the damage was repaired during Taliban rule.

Attacks in the Afghan capital have been relatively rare, although violence has increased since the May 2 killing of Usama bin Laden in a U.S. raid in Pakistan and the start of the Taliban's annual spring offensive.

On June 18, insurgents wearing Afghan army uniforms stormed a police station near the presidential palace and opened fire on officers, killing nine.

Late last month, a suicide bomber wearing an Afghan police uniform infiltrated the main Afghan military hospital, killing six medical students. A month before that, a suicide attacker in an army uniform sneaked past security at the Afghan Defense Ministry, killing three people.

Other hotels in the capital have also been targeted.

Islamists Attack Tunisia Cinema Over secular Film

From the Associated Press via Yahoo News:

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — A gang of ultraconservative Islamists have attacked a movie theater in downtown Tunis because it was showing a film about secularism.

Around 100 bearded men shouting "God is great" smashed the windows of Cinema Afrique, where the movie "Neither God nor master" by France-based Tunisian director Nadia Feni was playing on Sunday.

An AP reporter saw eight of them forcing their way inside and attacking filmgoers, including prominent directors, before being apprehended by police.

Tunisia's former regime ruthlessly cracked down on political Islam. Since its downfall in popular protests, however, Islamists have become more active.

Tensions Rise In Egypt Over Two Missing Christian Girls

From the Assyrian International News Agency:

Tension is escalating over the case of 14-year-old Nancy Magdy Fathy, and her 16-year old cousin Christine Ezzat Fathy, who have disappeared and allegedly converted to Islam. Many parties are being pulled into the row over their future, including Al Azhar, the Church, activists and lately Islamist organizations, which are threatening violence against the church.

The story of the missing girls became public after they disappeared while on their way to church on Sunday June 12. A the two day sit-in staged by Copts in front of the Minya Security Headquarters, demanding Nancy and Christine's return, focused attention on their story. Rumors in the media emerged as to their whereabouts, the identity of the perpetrators and whether the girls were actually traded to another Muslims gang.

Nearly two weeks after they disappeared, Nancy and Christine were found in Cairo wearing Burkas. They were incidentally stopped in the street by a police officer when he noticed that one of them had a cross tattooed on her wrist, as many Copts have. The girls told the policeman they converted to Islam and did not marry any Muslims sheikh as the newspapers said, but fearing the wrath of their parents, they sought shelter at the home of a Muslim man. He issued a report of the incident and let them go.

Nancy and Christine subsequently surrendered at a Cairo police station.

An investigation into their disappearance was launched, as their parents accused two Muslim brothers from a neighboring village of abducting them. They were also asked about the video clip which appeared on the Internet, taken in Tahrir Square, where Nancy and Christine allegedly converted to Islam.

According to the investigators, the Christian minors said they converted to Islam of their own free will, and refused to return to their families, and even applied for protection from them. The prosecution decided to put them in a state care home and provide protection for them, until the completion of the investigation. Authorities also wanted an Al-Azhar scholar to determine if they really believe in Islam.

This has angered their families, who said their girls are minors and should not be subjected to such procedures. Both families and the Egyptian Federation of Human Rights Organization protested on Saturday, June 25 in front of the office of the prosecutor general, and demanded for their children to be returned to them.

Al Azhar and the Fatwa (religious edict) Committee denied that the two Coptic teenagers had converted to Islam, because they are still minors and have not yet reached 18 years of age, as is required by law.

The families' lawyer, Dr Naguib.Gabriel, said the decision to deliver the girls to the state care home belonging to the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood is contrary to the law, because they are still minors, noting that Al-Azhar said that it does not recognize their conversion, and therefore the two girls should be returned to their families. Gabriel added that he had made a complaint to the Egyptian Public Prosecutor, on behalf of the families, as they oppose handing Nancy and Christine over to the care home. He explained that the decision taken by prosecution in this case confirms the hypothesis that they converted to Islam, despite that being contrary to the law and the Al-Azhar fatwa.

Dr. Gabriel said that there is a possibility the two girls were subjected to pressure in order to say they converted to Islam of their free will, or they fear the reaction of their families in case they return home, especially since they come from an ultra conservative Upper Egyptian society, where the disappearance of a girl for days is considered a scandal and a shame. He said he will obtain a pledge from their families to protect them, and not to harm them in any way upon their return.

The security director of Minya told Al-Ahram newspaper on June 17 the two girls are considered minors before the law and the authorities and therefore their conversion to Islam and their marriage is not recognized officially as they do not yet have the necessary ID card, which is issued from the age of 16. On this basis, anyone involved in the incident will be punished according to the law.

The two Muslim brothers accused by the fathers are in detention pending investigation. The family of the accused protested today, calling for their release because Nancy and Christine said they left home on their own accord and where not abducted.

The Egyptian daily newspaper ElYoum7 published a statement from the Islamist "Alliance for the support of New Muslim Women," in which the group threatened to carry out "extended protests" in all governorates in Egypt if Nancy and Christine are returned to the church. The Alliance emphasized in its statement the protests this time will escalate violently: "We will not retreat this time, until each captive is free and out of the monasteries in which they are held as prisoners." The statement also said "We say it openly, that we will not go back again to the era when newly converted Muslim women were delivered to the church, which wants to tempt them away from their religion, or forcibly detain them in reprisal for choosing freely their faith."

In the past the Alliance had staged over 20 demonstrations every Friday in support of Kamilia Shehata, the priest's wife whom they claim converted to Islam but was held captive by the church, despite of Al Azhar confirming that she never set foot there and her appearance twice in public to refute all their claims of her conversion (AINA 9-18-2010).

"The daily abduction and forced Islamization of Coptic minors, conducted by Muslims funded by Saudi Arabia, has escalated to new levels after the January 25th Revolution," said Coptic activist Mark Ebeid, "and has greatly enraged the Copts. Everyone is now fearing that they might not be able to stand it any longer with the continuous Islamists provocations."

UK: Man Accused Of Raising Funds For Terrorism

From BBC:

A man has been charged with raising funds for terrorism on three separate occasions last year.

Shabaaz Hussain, 27, from east London, is accused of providing money or property for terrorism purposes on 12 April, 6 July and 3 September 2010.

He is also accused of playing a part in preparing for acts of terrorism - not thought to be against the UK - between 1 January 2009 and 22 October 2010.

Mr Hussain will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Monday.

He is facing five charges under the Terrorism Act 2000 and 2006.

The fifth charge made against Mr Hussain is making funding arrangements for the purposes of terrorism between 1 January 2009 and 22 October last year.

Hamas-Linked CAIR "Know Your Rights" Workshop In Brooklyn Tells Muslims Not To Cooperate With Police

From Jihad Watch:

CAIR-California distributed this poster
The New York chapter of the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) presented a "'Know Your Rights' workshop" featuring Islamic supremacist lawyer Lamis Deek last Thursday in Brooklyn. Along with Hamas-linked CAIR, Brooklyn's Community Board 5 and Officer Marcus Johnson of the 75th Precinct were involved in the event -- and a SIOA operative was there. Our operative reports that Deek told the assembled Muslims not to offer the full, open and honest cooperation with police that Islamic supremacist groups in the U.S. always claim to give, but instead to repeat "Am I free to leave?" as the answer to every question and request.

[...] Deek didn't waste anytime in disrespecting Officer Johnson, who was just a few seats away from her. She went right into a tirade against the police and the FBI, complaining that Muslims were being targeted and entrapped. She was clearly trying to make the authority figures who risk their lives to prevent Islamic terrorism into the bad guys. She kept pointing out to the audience how scary it was to have the police knock at your door, as if it were a 9-point earthquake taking place! Office Johnson just said quietly, while listening intently. Deek's tone got so bad that it prompted a Community Board 5 representative, Manuel Burgos, to raise his hand in the middle of her speech. She tried to put him off until the Q & A, but he would not have it! He explained to her who he was and strongly said he "didn't like the tone" that was taking place. Burgos said that the Community Board and the local precinct work hand in hand together. Deek was silenced; she looked at her cronies next to her, who didn't know what to say either! In the end Burgos’s statement backfired, however, because Deek quickly softened her message by continually saying "with all due respect" to Officer Johnson when she spoke about the police. Meanwhile, during the speech, the Hamas-tied CAIR "police" went around taking pictures of the audience. A CAIR member went from corner to corner of the room taking pictures of the audience. I know he was a CAIR member because he had a badge on. Maybe they hoped we wouldn't notice.

The three main points the Deek-led conference made in regards to the police were the following:

1. If the police stop you, say nothing except "am I free to leave"?
2. If the police ask for your ID, say nothing except for "am I free to leave"?
3. Muslims are the victims. (How they love to play the victim card.)

Pamela Geller has the full report here.

Burka-Clad Taliban Kill 10 Police In Pakistan Siege

Not the first time a burka has been used to hide violent or criminal intentions. Won't be the last.

From DAWN:

PESHAWAR: At least 10 policemen were killed Saturday when Taliban militants in suicide vests, some of them clad in burqas, laid siege to a police station in northwest Pakistan, officials said.

“Police have taken the control of the police station and 10 of our policemen were martyred in the attack and six attackers were killed,” Mian Iftikhar Hussain, information minister of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, told AFP.

Militants armed with guns and hand grenades had attacked Kolachi police station near the border with South Waziristan tribal district and taken a group of policemen hostage. Hussain said the burqa-clad attackers had hoped to secure the release of other militants.

“The attackers had come prepared for days of siege and hostage-taking to secure the release of other militants,” Hussain told AFP.

“When our armoured car entered the police station two suicide bombers blew themselves up and a third suicide bomber was killed by a rocket,” Hussain said.

“Police have found the bodies of three militants and the heads of three suicide bombers,” Hussain said, adding that half of the police station building had been destroyed and 11 policemen wounded.

Regional police chief Imtiaz Shah told AFP there was one woman among the suicide bombers. Shah said the siege began when attackers dressed in burqas pulled out guns at the station’s main gate and killed policemen deployed there.

The militants then damaged the boundary wall with hand grenades, enabling more rebels to follow them into the building.

About 17 policemen were on duty at the time and were taken hostage by the militants once they ran out of ammunition, the police chief said.

As security forces were called to the scene and cordoned off the police station, two of the attackers detonated their suicide vests, while three others were shot dead by security forces, Shah said.

District police chief Mohammad Hussain Khan said it was likely the attackers had come from the nearby lawless tribal belt.

Television footage showed thick black smoke billowing from the roof of the fortress-like police station and security forces and police firing at militants.

Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan in a telephone call to AFP claimed responsibility, saying it was the latest in a series of attacks to avenge the killing of Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.

“We sent one male and one female suicide bomber to participate in the attack, because we want to liberate our people from the slavery of America,” Ehsan said.

Nearly 4,500 people have been killed across Pakistan in attacks blamed on Taliban and other extremist networks based in the tribal belt since government troops stormed a radical mosque in Islamabad in 2007.

Washington has called the semi-autonomous region the global headquarters of Al-Qaeda, where Taliban and other Al-Qaeda-linked networks need to be defeated if the 10-year war in Afghanistan is ever to end.

Suicide Bomber In Wheelchair Kills Two In Iraq

From DAWN:

BAGHDAD: A suicide bomber in a wheelchair attacked a police station north of Baghdad on Sunday, killing two people and wounding 17, nine of them policemen, officials said.

“A suicide bomber detonated his explosives vest at the entrance to a police station, killing two civilians and wounding 17 people, including nine policemen in Tarmiyah,” a town north of Baghdad, an interior ministry official said. A defence ministry official confirmed the report.

“The suicide bomber came up to the entrance in a wheelchair,” said Colonel Tawfiq Ahmed al-Jenabi, chief of the town’s police, who added he did not know if the attacker was genuinely handicapped.

Meanwhile, two people were wounded by an improvised bomb that exploded next to a convoy transporting Mohammed Ahmed al-Obaidi, mayor of the town of Al-Riyadh in the restive northern province of Kirkuk.

Obaidi, who escaped unhurt and spoke to AFP after the attack, lost a foot in a similar bombing in June last year.

Twenty-four people were killed on Thursday in three separate attacks in Baghdad, including 21 in a triple bombing at a crowded market, and an American contractor working for USAID whose convoy was hit by an improvised bomb.

International Judges Order Arrest Of Muammar Gaddafi

From Fox News:

International judges ordered the arrest Monday of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi for murdering civilians, as NATO warplanes pounded his Tripoli compound and world leaders stepped up calls for him to end his four-decade rule.

The International Criminal Court said Qaddafi, his son Seif al-Islam and his intelligence chief Abdullah al-Sanoussi are wanted for orchestrating the killing, injuring, arrest and imprisonment of hundreds of civilians during the first 12 days of an uprising to topple Qaddafi from power, and for trying to cover up the alleged crimes.

The warrants turn the three men into internationally wanted suspects, potentially complicating efforts to mediate an end to more than four months of intense fighting in the North African nation.

The warrants will be sent to Libya, where Qaddafi remained defiantly entrenched. But when the U.N. Security Council ordered the court to investigate the bloodshed in Libya, it also urged all nations and regional organizations to cooperate with the court.

Presiding judge Sanji Monageng of Botswana called Qaddafi the "undisputed leader of Libya" who had "absolute, ultimate and unquestioned control" over his country's military and security forces. She said there were "reasonable grounds to believe" that Qaddafi and his son are both responsible for the murder and persecution of civilians.

Libyan officials rejected the court's authority even before the decision was read in The Hague, accusing the court of unfairly targeting Africans while ignoring what they called crimes committed by NATO in Afghanistan, Iraq "and in Libya now."

"The ICC has no legitimacy whatsoever. We will deal with it. ... All of its activities are directed at African leaders," government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim told reporters Sunday.

In Brussels, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the court's decision highlighted the increasing isolation of the regime.

"It reinforces the reason for NATO's mission to protect the Libyan people from Qaddafi's forces," he said Monday, adding that the Libyan leader and his supporters need to realize that "time is rapidly running out for them."

NATO air forces have been conducting daily air strikes against military targets in Libya for the past 100 days. The bombing campaign, which doesn't appear to have significantly weakened Qaddafi's grip on power, has drawn increasing international criticism.

In Tripoli, two loud explosions shook the area near Qaddafi's compound Monday, setting off a chorus of emergency sirens.

Libyan officials said a NATO airstrike fired two missiles targeting Qaddafi's personal bus inside his Bab al-Aziziya compound. The bus was burned but no one was killed or injured, they said. Qaddafi is not believed to be staying at the compound.

A coalition including France, Britain and the United States began striking Qaddafi's forces under a United Nations resolution to protect civilians on March 19. NATO assumed control of the air campaign over Libya on March 31 and is joined by a number of Arab allies.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the warrants "demonstrate why Qaddafi has lost all legitimacy and why he should go immediately. His forces continue to attack Libyans without mercy and this must stop."

In Paris, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said "after 41 years of dictatorship, it is perhaps time to stop, for him to leave power."

The Foreign Ministry of Italy, Libya's former colonial ruler, said the arrest warrants confirmed that Qaddafi had "lost all legitimacy, political and moral" in both his own country and the international scene. "As such, he can have no role to play in Libya's future," it said.

Monageng said evidence presented by prosecutors showed that following popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, Qaddafi and his inner circle plotted a "state policy ... aimed at deterring and quelling by any means -- including by the use of lethal force -- the demonstrations by civilians against the regime."

Hundreds of civilians were killed, injured or arrested, she said.

Prosecutors at the court said the three suspects should be arrested quickly "to prevent them covering up ongoing crimes and committing new crimes."

"This is the only way to protect civilians in Libya," said the statement from the office of Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo.

In London on Monday, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao warned that military action alone won't resolve the crisis in Libya, and said his nation backed attempts to reach a political solution in the North African nation.

"Foreign troops may be able to win war in a place, but they can hardly win peace. Hard lessons have been learned from what has happened in the Middle East and Afghanistan," Wen told reporters at a press conference.

It's unclear how the warrant could restrict Qaddafi's travels within Africa, since many African states are not ICC signatories and others have declined to act on an ICC arrest warrant for another African leader, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. The Sudanese leader was on his way to China at Beijing's invitation when the warrant was announced for Qaddafi.

The African Union has said al-Bashir's arrest would dangerously imperil the fragile peace process in Sudan and had asked the U.N. to defer the warrant for one year. The AU's host country of Ethiopia is not an ICC member.

Qaddafi regularly attends AU summits. The AU will hold a summit later this week in Equatorial Guinea, which is not an ICC member.

TSA Forces 95-Year-Old, Wheelchair-Bound Leukemia Patient To Remove Adult Diaper For Search

From Jihad Watch:

The TSA: protecting us from 95-year-old wheelchair-bound leukemia sufferers. But hey -- at least they're not profiling Muslims, and that's all that matters!

"Elderly woman asked to remove adult diaper during TSA search," by Lauren Sage Reinlie for NWF Daily News, June 25 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

A woman has filed a complaint with federal authorities over how her elderly mother was treated at Northwest Florida Regional Airport last weekend.

Jean Weber of Destin filed a complaint with the Department of Homeland Security after her 95-year-old mother was detained and extensively searched last Saturday while trying to board a plane to fly to Michigan to be with family members during the final stages of her battle with leukemia.

Her mother, who was in a wheelchair, was asked to remove an adult diaper in order to complete a pat-down search.

“It’s something I couldn’t imagine happening on American soil,” Weber said Friday. “Here is my mother, 95 years old, 105 pounds, barely able to stand, and then this.”

Sari Koshetz, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration in Miami, said she could not comment on specific cases to protect the privacy of those involved.

“The TSA works with passengers to resolve any security alarms in a respectful and sensitive manner,” she said.

Weber’s mother entered the airport’s security checkpoint in a wheelchair because she was not stable enough to walk through, Weber said.

Wheelchairs trigger certain protocols, including pat-downs and possible swabbing for explosives, Koshetz said.

“During any part of the process, if there is an alarm, then we have to resolve that alarm,” she said.

Weber said she did not know whether her mother had triggered an alarm during the 45 minutes they were detained.

She said her mother was first pulled aside into a glass-partitioned area and patted down. Then she was taken to another room to protect her privacy during a more extensive search, Weber said.

Weber said she sat outside the room during the search.

She said security personnel then came out and told her they would need for her mother to remove her Depends diaper because it was soiled and was impeding their search.

Weber wheeled her mother into a bathroom, removed her diaper and returned. Her mother did not have another clean diaper with her, Weber said.

Weber said she wished there were less invasive search methods for an elderly person who is unable to walk through security gates.

“I don’t understand why they have to put them through that kind of procedure,” she said.

Koshetz said the procedures are the same for everyone to ensure national security.

“TSA cannot exempt any group from screening because we know from intelligence that there are terrorists out there that would then exploit that vulnerability,” she said....

How admirable: the lone sentinel, willing to take the heat to do what is necessary to protect us all. Except, of course, take into consideration in any way whatsoever the nature of the actual terrorist threat, the ideology behind it, and the likelihood that some groups are more likely to commit terrorist acts than others.

Weber said she plans to file additional complaints next week.

“I’m not one to make waves, but dadgummit, this is wrong. People need to know. Next time it could be you.”

That's fine. As long as it isn't Ibrahim Hooper or Ahmed Rehab or Nihad Awad or Reza Aslan, or Khalid Aldawsari, the would-be jihad mass murderer in Lubbock, Texas; or Muhammad Hussain, the would-be jihad bomber in Baltimore; or Mohamed Mohamud, the would-be jihad bomber in Portland; or Nidal Hasan, the Fort Hood jihad mass-murderer; or Faisal Shahzad, the would-be Times Square jihad mass-murderer; or Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, the Arkansas military recruiting station jihad murderer; or Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the would-be Christmas airplane jihad bomber; or any of their coreligionists who might want to launch a similar attack, then all is well.

Nigeria Boko Haram Islamists 'Bomb Maiduguri Drinkers'

From BBC:

A bomb attack in the north-eastern Nigerian town of Maiduguri has killed at least 25 people and wounded dozens, security sources say.

They say they believe the attack, which occurred in a beer garden, was carried out by the Islamist sect Boko Haram.

The group wants to establish an Islamic government in Nigeria.

It has carried out a number of bombings in north-eastern Nigeria, as well as an attack on police headquarters in the capital Abuja earlier this month.

Gunmen on two motorcycles attacked a packed beer garden late on Sunday, officials said.

"The attackers believed to be Boko Haram members threw bombs and fired indiscriminate gun shots on a packed tavern at Dala Kabompi neighbourhood, killing at least 25 people and seriously injuring around 30 others," an unnamed police officer told the AFP news agency.

Eyewitness Emmanuel Okon told AFP: "I just heard a loud bang followed by sporadic shootings and plumes of black smoke filled the area with people screaming and running in all directions."

The police have not officially said how many people died in the attack but correspondents say that if 25 people have been killed, it would be the most deadly attack yet carried out by Boko Haram.

The BBC's Bilkisu Babangida in Maiduguri says there is a mood of fear in the city, with many people staying indoors as they are afraid of being caught up in an attack.

Gunmen believed to be from Boko Haram also staged two attacks in the town of Gamboru-Ngala, in Borno state near the border with Chad, on Sunday:

* At least one person was killed after shots were fired at the funeral of a local politician, who had been killed by suspected Boko Haram fighters on Saturday, witnesses told the BBC
* An Islamic scholar was also shot dead

The group has killed dozens of people, mainly security officers and politicians, in Borno state over the past year.

Earlier this month, the group said it was behind the bombing of the national police headquarters in the capital, Abuja.

It has also said it carried out attacks on the inauguration of President Goodluck Jonathan in May.

The group's trademark has been the use of gunmen on motorbikes.

A Christian preacher, a Catholic church, Muslim clerics who have criticised Boko Haram, and last week, a nurse playing cards, have also been targeted.

Its leader Mohammed Yusuf and several hundred of his supporters were killed by security forces in Maiduguri in 2009 after the group attacked police stations.

Syrian Opposition Meet In Damascus In Government-Sanctioned Gathering

Having critics of Bashar Assad meet in on place. What could go wrong? Possibly make it even easier for the government to know who those vocal critics are?

From Fox News:

Nearly 200 critics of President Bashar Assad met Monday in the Syrian capital for the first time during the three-month uprising against his rule, in a government-sanctioned gathering some activists complained would be exploited to give legitimacy to the regime.

The session began with the Syrian national anthem, followed by a minute's silence in honor of Syrians who have been killed in the protests.

Participants, some of them prominent opposition figures long persecuted by the regime, said that though the meeting was approved by authorities, it wouldn't include government representatives.

"We are meeting today ... to put forward a vision about how to end tyranny and ensure a peaceful and secure transition to the hoped-for state: the state of freedom, democracy and equality," Louay Hussein, a prominent writer and one of the organizers, said in an opening speech. Assad's regime should "perish," he added.

But some opposition figures and activists, both inside Syria and abroad, dismissed the meeting of 190 critics as an opportunity for the government to convey a false impression it's allowing space for dissent, rather than cracking down.

The opposition says some 1,400 people have been killed -- most of them unarmed protesters -- during the government crackdown on months of street protests.

"This meeting will be exploited as a cover-up for the arrests, brutal killings and torture that is taking place on daily basis," said opposition figure Walid al-Bunni. He told The Associated Press he was not invited to the conference because authorities had "vetoed" some names.

"We would have been happier if the organizers of the conference were free to invite whomever they wanted. As it is, this is not an opposition conference," he told the AP from Damascus.

An activists' group, the Coordination Union of the Syrian Revolt, also denounced the conference, calling it a "cheap ploy" that the government wants to exploit.

But there were also some highly prominent participants, including lawyer Anwar al-Bunni and well-known writer Michel Kilo, both pro-democracy activists who spent years as political prisoners. Hussein said Syrian authorities were informed of the meeting and had not blocked it. There would be no government representation, he said.

The divisions highlighted the fractured nature of the Syrian opposition, which has long been silenced, imprisoned or exiled by the autocratic regime in Damascus. Opposition meetings so far have been held abroad by exiles living in the West or elsewhere in the Middle East and who don't have significant followings inside the country.

Those inside Syria say change must come from within, but the split over Monday's conference reflected tactical differences over approaches.

Rami Abdul-Rahman, the London-based director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the crossfire of accusations within the opposition should end.

"Today's meeting in Damascus is a consultative one. It is not a meeting with the Syrian regime," he said. "The aim is to find a way to make the transition to democracy, to stop the slide toward civil war."

As the meeting began, some 50 people gathered outside the downtown hotel where it was held, shouting pro-Assad slogans.

Whether the meeting might produce partners for President Assad's proposed "national dialogue" remains to be seen.

Organizer Hussein told AP there would be no dialogue with the state "before the halt of the military's crackdown." But others at the conference seemed more supportive of dialogue.

"No one wants to harm the country, we only want reforms. ... We support dialogue," said Georgette Attiya, a university professor attending the meeting.

In a nationally televised speech June 20, Assad said he was forming a committee to study constitutional amendments, including one that would open the way to political parties other than the ruling Baath Party. He said a package of reforms was expected no later than the end of the year.

Two days later, his foreign minister, Walid Moallem, called for regime opponents to enter into political talks. "Whoever wants to test our seriousness should come to the national dialogue to be a partner in shaping the future," he said.

But some prominent dissidents rejected the overtures, citing what they said was previous Assad talk of reform that produced no political change.

The regime disputes the opposition's death tolls, and says security forces have been the victims of "armed thugs" and foreign conspirators behind the unrest. Syria's military spokesman, Maj. Gen. Riad Haddad, said Sunday that 300 soldiers and 47 police officers have been killed.

The European Union and the U.S., condemning the bloody crackdown, have imposed economic sanctions on Assad and other members of the Damascus leadership.

The Assad regime was condemned as well on Monday in the northern Iraqi city of Sulaimaniyah, where some 200 Kurds and other members of the exiled Syrian opposition rallied to call for international military intervention in neighboring Syria, like the NATO intervention in Libya.

The Kurdish minority in Syria has long faced discrimination at the hands of the country's Arab leadership. Many Kurdish members of Syrian opposition groups live in the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq.

Woman Faces Death By Beheading In Saudi Arabia For Crime She 'Committed As A Child'

From the Daily Mail:

A young maid is facing death by beheading in Saudi Arabia for a crime she claims she did not commit.

Rizana Nafeek, who alleges she was a teenager at the time of the incident, was arrested in May 2005 on charges of murdering a four-month-old baby who was in her care.

The Sri-Lankan born maid denies murder and claims she desperately tried to save the child, who choked while she was looking after it.

The news comes just days after Indonesia announced it would ban women from travelling to the kingdom for domestic work after another maid was beheaded there.

Saudi Arabia has come under fire from human rights groups for the handling of Nafeek's case after it was revealed there had been a mix-up involving the year she was born in.

The authorities have her date of birth as 1982 however her birth certificate states she was born in 1988 - making her 17 at the time of the alleged incident.

If Saudi Arabia went ahead with the execution it would be in breach of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which it has ratified.

Human rights groups claim Nafeek had no legal representation before or during her trial.

Sri-Lankan born Nafeek's mother Rafeena said her daughter moved to the country so that she could send money home to help educate her three

Desperate for work she found a job as a domestic worker but was shocked when she was asked to look after a baby, Naif al-Quthaibi, because she believed she did not have the skills to care for him.

Just weeks into her employment tragedy struck and the infant choked while he was being fed.

Rafeena, who lives in a tiny village, has previously begged King Abdullah to pardon her daughter and asked him to allow her to return home.

According to the Sunday Express, earlier this week Indonesia banned its citizens from working in the oil-rich country after another maid was beheaded for murder.

Ruyati binti Sapub, 54, was executed after she confessed to killing her employer with a meat cleaver because of constant abuse.

The incident caused outrage and Saudi diplomats in Indonesia were forced to apologise for not informing them about the execution beforehand.

If Nafeek's execution goes ahead the now 23-year-old will dressed in a white robe and be marched into a packed town centre.

She will also be blindfolded, shackled and forced to kneel facing Mecca before she is prodded between the shoulders so her head is raised naturally.

Nafeek will then be executed, medieval style, with one sweep of a sharply-bladed sword.

Amnesty International has condemned the conviction and since revealed Nafeek was not allowed to produce her birth certificate which shows her true age during an appeal trial.

The charity's Middle East director Malcolm Smart said at the time: 'It would be outrageous if Rizana Nafeek were to be executed for this crime.

'It appears that she was herself a child at the time and there are real concerns about the fairness of her trial.'

Vicious Attack In Bangladesh Leaves UBC Student Blind; Husband Arrested

From the Globe and Mail:

A University of British Columbia student has been blinded after being savagely attacked while visiting her family in Bangladesh.

Rumana Monzur’s eyes were gouged and part of her nose was bitten off. Her husband, Hassan Syeed, was arrested 10 days later.

“He has made my world dark. I can’t see my daughter,” she told reporters in Dhaka, according to The Daily Star newspaper.

Ms. Monzur’s father, Monzur Hussain, said she is in hospital in the Bangladeshi capital awaiting plastic surgery to rebuild her nose with family members by her side.

It’s “a difficult time,” he told The Globe and Mail.

Ms. Monzur’s commitment to her studies is said to have been a factor in the attack, UBC president Stephen Toope said.

“This tragic occasion is a poignant marker of the need to work to protect the fundamental human right of all women to pursue education,” he said in a statement.

Bangladeshi media reports say Ms. Monzur’s husband also suspected her of having an affair with a fellow graduate student.

With her eyes swollen and nose bandaged, an emotional Ms. Monzur spoke to reporters from her hospital bed to describe what happened and defend herself. Much of the coverage in the Bangladeshi media has focused on her rebuttals of the allegations – as if infidelity would have justified the beating.

After the brutal June 5 attack, Ms. Monzur’s family took her to India to see if her eyesight could be saved. However, doctors at two hospitals concluded that no further treatment was possible.

Mr. Hussain said the family has sent her medical reports to hospitals in North America in the hope that doctors there might help restore her sight.

“If they are ready to give her medical treatment, we are ready to fly there,” he said.

Ms. Monzur, who is 33 and was taking a master’s degree in political science at UBC, is also an assistant professor in Dhaka University’s international-relations department. Her family stayed in Dhaka after she enrolled at UBC last fall.

In an open letter from Bangladeshi students and families in Vancouver, Ms. Monzur is described as a brilliant student, an excellent cook and a devout Muslim. She also missed her family terribly, her friends said, speaking to them often and using Skype to teach her five-year-old daughter how to draw flowers.

“It is such a pain to observe that Rumana only went back to her family to lose the most precious gift from The Almighty, her eyesight,” the statement says.

“We feel that it is our duty to take a very strong stance against any kind of accusation that may come on our dear friend Rumana. It is our ardent request not to put this unfortunate woman, a brilliant Bangladeshi scholar, on the guillotine of character assassination.”

Ms. Monzur’s colleagues are collecting donations and a rally is being organized for Sunday in Vancouver.