Iran To Test-Fire Missiles, Escalating Strait Of Hormuz Tensions With US

From The Telegraph:

Iran will escalate tensions in the Persian Gulf on Saturday by test-firing a barrage of long-range missiles just days after it threatened to hold the world's economy to ransom by sealing the Strait of Hormuz, a vital energy waterway.

An Iranian war-boat fires a missile during the iranian navy military exercise on sea of Oman
A ten-day naval exercise will culminate in a grandiose display of the Iranian regime's ballistic arsenal. Senior navy officers boasted that ground-to-sea, surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles, some of which could theoretically be fitted with nuclear warheads, would be tested in the Gulf of Oman at the southern end of the Persian Gulf.

The manoeuvres have already included minelaying, a vital component were Iran to carry out its threat to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, through which a third of the world's tanker borne oil passes.

Iran's vice president, Mohammed Reza Rahimi, gave warning this week that "not a drop" of oil would be allowed to pass through the strait if Europe and the United States proceeded with a plan to punish Tehran for its nuclear activities by sanctioning its energy exports.

The threat prompted an angry response from Washington, which said any attempted blockade would "not be tolerated", raising fears that the United States could send warships to the region to protect international shipping.

Two US naval vessels entered the zone where Iran was holding its war games on Thursday, although military officials insisted that they were on a pre-planned, routine mission.

It remains unclear whether the Iranian navy would be capable of mounting a blockade, even though the strait is only 34 miles wide at its narrowest point. While it would send the cost of oil soaring, such a move would also do serious damage to Iran's energy-dependent economy.

With the situation fast deteriorating, the United States announced on Thursday night that it had completed a deal to sell Saudi Arabia 84 F-15SA fighter jets.

Although the aircraft will not be delivered until 2015, the sale will be seen as evidence of Washington's determination to shore up its Gulf allies, which are increasingly fretful about Iran's growing military swagger.

Kenyan Gay Men Become Sex Slaves In Arab Gulf

From Bikyamasr:

Being gay in the Middle East is taboo. Crackdowns in Arab countries against homosexuals is common and swift, with many countries employing the death penalty against convicted homosexuals.

Now, a new report published by Identity, a gay magazine in Kenya, reveals that gay Kenyan men are being trafficked into the Gulf as sex slaves for the wealthy.

The report alleges that gay and bisexual men are lured from university campuses – particularly from Kenyatta University – with promises of high-paying jobs and then transported to labor as sex workers for men in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

According to the magazine, due to Kenya’s soaring unemployment rate, the men are easily fooled into this trap.

The publication interviewed one Kenyan victim who was promised a job in Qatar but ended up suffering sexual abuse.

Qatar specifically, has no laws against human trafficking, which has made cracking down on the practice nearly impossible.

“Qatar is a transit and destination country for men and women subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor and, to a much lesser extent, forced prostitution,” the US State Department stated in a recent report.

“Men and women from Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Sudan, Thailand, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and China voluntarily travel to Qatar as laborers and domestic servants, but some subsequently face conditions indicative of involuntary servitude. These conditions include threats of serious physical or financial harm; job switching; the withholding of pay; charging workers for benefits for which the employer is responsible; restrictions on freedom of movement, including the confiscation of passports and travel documents and the withholding of exit permits; arbitrary detention; threats of legal action and deportation; false charges; and physical, mental, and sexual abuse.”

In the Emirates, while being openly gay is illegal, the community has blossomed in recent years. Mark, a gay Canadian man, told Bikyamasr.com that “the community has increased dramatically and people are more willing, and accepting, of the LGBT community here.”

But he said the report that Kenyan men are being used as sex slaves is “not surprising.”

“We have seen a lot of the elite and super wealthy want to be gay, but that would go against their traditions, so instead they often marry and then hire or do this kind of thing, to have their real desires met. It is a problem of society not opening up to the gay lifestyle and forcing it to the background,” he argued.

Nigeria: Gunmen Kill 2 In Restive NE; Death Toll Rises To 42 In Xmas Attacks Blamed On Radical Muslim Sect

From the Washington Post:

Gunmen killed two civilians in a northeast Nigeria town plagued by attacks from a radical Muslim sect, an official said Friday, as a hospital official said one more person died from Christmas attacks blamed on the sect, raising the toll to 42.

Military spokesman Lt. Col. Hassan Ifijeh Mohammed told The Associated Press that the attack occurred after Friday afternoon prayers in a market near a mosque in the city of Maiduguri. Mohammed said the gunmen wounded a third person.

He said authorities believe the incident could either be a robbery attempt or another attack by a feared radical sect known as Boko Haram which has carried out a series of attacks and assassinations in the area.

Also on Friday, a hospital official said one more person died of injuries after a Christmas Day blast that struck St. Theresa Catholic Church near Nigeria’s capital, bringing the death toll from Christmas attacks to 42.

The official, who asked not to be named because he is not permitted to speak to the press, said the victim died late Thursday after Sunday’s blast outside the church.

A spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency reported 37 deaths as of Thursday evening in the blast near Abuja.

Four more people were killed in other Christmas violence blamed on a radical Muslim sect that wants to impose Shariah law in Africa’s most populous nation.

The Boko Haram sect claimed responsibility for the coordinated Christmas Day attacks launched across Africa’s most populous nation.

Syrian Forces Fire 'Nail Bombs' As Masses Protest

From The Telegraph:

A wounded Syrian military service member is seen at the Abdul-Qader Shafta hospital during a government-organized media tour in Homs

Syrian forces were accused of firing nail bombs to disperse protesters as tens of thousands of people flooded streets to make their voices heard to Arab monitors.

Protesters called for the removal and prosecution of President Bashar al-Assad, whose autocratic regime has been blamed for the deaths of more than 5,000 people since pro-reform protests erupted in March.

Activists urged monitors, who started this week a mission to implement an Arab League peace plan, to protect civilians from the regime's wrath.

"We urge you to make a clear distinction between the assassin and the victim," activists of the Syrian Revolution 2011 said in a statement posted on their Facebook page.

"Our revolution which was launched nine months ago is peaceful," they said.

The death toll rose again Friday, with at least five civilians killed by gunfire as Syrian forces dispersed crowds of protesters around the country, while four people died in an ambush by government troops, a watchdog said.

Huge demonstrations rocked northwestern Idlib province and Douma, a Damascus suburb where protesters clashed with security forces who fired "nail bombs" to disperse them, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

At least 24 protesters were hurt when security forces fired "nail bombs to disperse tens of thousands of demonstrators in Douma," the watchdog said, adding that the protesters "hurled stones" in retaliation.

"An activist in the city told the Observatory that he was hurt by shrapnel from those bombs," the Britain-based group said in a statement received by AFP in Nicosia.

The reported use of nail bombs could not be independently verified.

In Douma, security forces also fired "stun grenades and tear gas" at protesters as 60,000-70,000 demonstrators headed to city hall, where Arab League observers visited the previous day.

It was the "biggest ever demonstration" in the restive suburb since March, it added.

Further north in Idlib province, which borders Turkey, more than 250,000 protesters took the streets in various locations, the Observatory reported.

In the southern province of Daraa, cradle of the pro-democracy protests, five civilians were shot dead when security forces opened fire on crowds of protesters.

Several people were shot and wounded in the Daraa town of Inkhil where, bracing for protests, authorities deployed security forces and posted snipers on high grounds from early in the morning, it said.

Protests also took place in Homs, which activists have dubbed the "martyr" city as hundreds have died there in a government crackdown on dissent over the past few months.

In the Damascus neighbourhood of Al-Kadam, security forces fired live rounds of ammunition at worshippers who emerged from midday prayers apparently to prevent them from joining the protests, said the Observatory.

Protests in Aleppo, Syria's second city in the north and economic hub, was "brutally" crushed by regime loyalists, it added.

Two civilians and two mutinous soldiers were also killed Friday in the Homs province town of Tal Kalakh in an ambush by regular army troops, said the watchdog.

Internet activists had urged Syrians to "march to the squares of freedom, bare-chested" on Friday, saying they were ready to confront the regime's "artillery and machinegun fire."

The Observatory's Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP activists are determined to make their voices heard to the monitors despite the bloody crackdown which activists say has killed more than 100 people since monitors arrived Monday.

"The Arab League's initiative is the only ray of light that we now see," said Abdel Rahman.

The mission has been tainted by some controversy, with some opposition members unhappy with the head of the observers General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi - a veteran Sudanese military intelligence officer.

Dabi this week ruffled feathers by saying Syrian authorities were so far cooperating with the mission and by describing his visit to Homs as "good."

For some, Dabi is a controversial figure because he served under Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes committed in Darfur region.

"The observers must remain in the cities they visit to protect civilians," said prominent human rights lawyer Haytham Maleh who is also a member of the main opposition Syrian National Council.

Speaking to Arab news channels, Maleh said the Arab League must increase the number of monitors to ensure they can verify Assad's regime is implementing all the terms of the plan to end the violence.

Around 66 monitors are currently in Syria but there are plans to deploy between 150 and 200 observers.

"The presence of the observers in Homs broke the barrier of fear," Abdel Rahman said in reference to some 70,000 demonstrators who flooded the streets of the central city Tuesday when the monitors kicked off their mission.

Western powers have urged Syrian to give them full access and Britain's minister for the Middle East and North Africa Alistair Burt echoed those concern on Thursday.

Damascus must "meet fully its obligations to the Arab League," including withdrawing security forces from cities, he said.

But Syria's key ally Russia - which has resisted Western efforts to push through the UN Security Council tough resolutions against Damascus - said Friday it was happy with the mission so far.

New York Muslim Leaders Try To Strongarm Bloomberg Into Dropping Anti-Terror Efforts By Boycotting His Interfaith Breakfast

From Jihad Watch:

Bloomberg insists that the NYPD's counter-terror actions were entirely legal. And do these Muslim leaders really think that a leader so completely in their power such as Bloomberg, errand boy for the Ground Zero Mosque, would circumvent the law to the slightest degree where they are concerned?

This is a naked attempt to intimidate the already compliant Bloomberg into dropping the last vestiges of anti-terror efforts in New York City.

"Muslims boycott Mayor Bloomberg's interfaith breakfast," from the BBC, December 30 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Islamic leaders in New York City have boycotted Mayor Michael Bloomberg's annual interfaith breakfast, in protest at reports of surveillance on Muslims.

They declined their invitations to the annual meeting in a letter outlining their concerns.

The Associated Press news agency first reported in August that the city police department had tried to infiltrate Muslim neighbourhoods and mosques.

Mr Bloomberg has insisted the city's counter-terrorism efforts are legal.

Fourteen Muslim leaders and a number of other community figures - including rabbis, a Roman Catholic nun and Protestant pastors - signed the letter boycotting the Friday breakfast, which is meant to celebrate the city's diversity.

Rabbi Michael Weisser, however, said beforehand that he would attend the breakfast after Muslim friends urged him to use the opportunity to raise their concerns with the mayor.

Rabbi Weisser told the Associated Press he had no problem with the police department following leads, but objected to any official targeting of Muslim organisations.

"From a Jewish perspective, it reminded me of things that were going on in the 1930s in Germany," Rabbi Weisser said.

Does Rabbi Weisser have any idea what was really going on in the 1930s in Germany? The "Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service" of April 7, 1933 barred Jews from civil service jobs. Are Muslims barred from civil service jobs in New York or anywhere in the U.S.? No. That same month, the Nazis restricted the number of Jewish students at German schools and universities. Are Muslims restricted in number at American schools and universities? They are not. Then in September 1935, the Nuremberg Laws stripped Jews of German citizenship and forbade marriage between Jews and Germans. Are Muslims able to become American citizens and marry American non-Muslims? Yes. In 1937 and 1938, Jewish doctors were forbidden to treat non-Jews, and Jewish lawyers disbarred. Are Muslims able to practice medicine and law in the U.S.? Yes, they are.

In short, Muslims are not, nor should they be, subject to restrictions that are remotely comparable to those that Jews suffered in Nazi Germany in the 1930s. Weisser's comparison is monstrous, both for its trivialization of the suffering of Jews in Nazi Germany, and for its libelous slur against the NYPD.

"We don't need that in America. We can't be painting a whole group of people with the same broad brush."....

Mr Bloomberg has previously won praise from the city's Muslim leaders for strongly defending proposals to build an Islamic prayer and cultural centre near the former World Trade Center site.

But reports that the NYPD collected information on people who were neither accused nor suspected of wrongdoing have led to a sense of betrayal among some in the community.

According to AP, undercover officers gathered information through chatting with shop owners and patrons and playing on cricket teams, as part of a surveillance programme designed by a CIA officer.

UK: Cases Of “Honor Violence” Doubles In Just Three Years, 3,600 Reported Incidents In 2010 Alone

From Weasel Zippers:

UK-style multiculturalism at its finest.

London, Dec 28 (ANI): The number of women from Britain’s ethnic communities stepping forward to report honour-related violence has more than doubled in three years, new figures have revealed.

Figures from the Metropolitan Police show that in the 12 months to April 2011 there were 443 incidents reported as cases of honour violence or forced marriage in London alone, more than double that in 2007–08.

A separate recent survey of all police forces, using Freedom of Information Act, revealed that there were nearly 3,600 reported cases nationwide in 2010, The Telegraph reports.

Campaigners warn that recorded cases may be just the “tip of the iceberg” with thousands of incidents going unreported each year because of fear of reprisal, family pressure or inconsistent police recording.

“The figures are woefully underestimated, we are dealing with the tip of the iceberg, we don’t know how many thousands are at risk because it is a hidden crime and there is no statutory duty to record it,” said Jasvinder Sanghera, the founder of the victim support group Karma Nirvana.

“This is an issue for British born subjects, we have really got to acknowledge that and move away from being ‘culturally sensitive’ and fear of being called racist, it’s an issue of child protection,” the paper quoted her, as saying.

France: Citizens Forced To Convert To Islam To Get Married

From Islam In Europe:

Via Atlantico (French, h/t Observatoire de l' islamisation):

French weekly VSD reports that French citizens who want to get married to foreign women from North Africa find themselves in a bizarre situation. According to French law, the latter need to provide a document from their embassy that they're free to marry. But the embassies only provide this document if the French spouse converts to Islam. This mean that, by proxy, the French authorities are imposing Muslim conversion on French citizens.

Malika Sorel, a member of the High Council of Integration, explained to the the Atlantico news-site that the French authorities have to verify that the foreigner wishing to marry is not already married. It is the Muslim countries who are forcing the French citizens to convert, not France. If the French authorities forgo the required legal documents, you'll have exposes about the increase in polygamous marriages.

Since foreigners have to comply with the laws in their countries, Sorel says that the only way to fight this is to denounce the requirements imposed by the foreign embassies.

Aisha Gaddafi Demands Investigation Into Her Father's Death

From The Telegraph:

A lawyer for Muammar Gaddafi's daughter Aisha has written to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to ask for an investigation into the killing of her father and brother.

The letter said that Gaddafi and his son Mutassim were "murdered in the most horrific fashion with their bodies thereafter displayed and grotesquely abused in complete defiance of Islamic law."

"The images of this savagery were broadcast throughout the world, causing my client severe emotional distress," said the letter from Nick Kaufman, the Israeli lawyer hired by the dictator's daughter.

"To date, neither Ms Gaddafi nor any member of her family has been informed, by your office, of the initiation of an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the brutal murders," the letter said.

Gaddafi and his Mutassim were captured in their home town of Sirte in October, two months after rebels seized the capital Tripoli and put Libya's longtime leader and his relatives to flight.

They were killed soon after their capture while in the custody of fighters loyal to the country's new leadership, in circumstances that have not been fully explained.

Gaddafi's daughter Aisha fled with other family members to neighboring Algeria in August.

The ICC, based in the Hague, earlier this year issued arrest warrants for the dictator, his son Saif al-Islam, and the former Libyan intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi, for crimes against humanity.

In the letter, Aisha Gaddafi's lawyer asked if the ICC prosecutor's office was investigating the killings of her father and brother, and if it was taking steps to make sure the Libyan authorities themselves were investigating the matter.

The letter also asked whether the ICC was looking into what reports said at the time was a NATO air strike on Gaddafi's convoy moments before he was captured.

Is your office investigating the attack allegedly carried out by NATO forces in order to determine whether individual criminal responsibility should be assigned for an unlawful military attack?" the letter asked.

Nigeria Lacks The Leadership To Quell Militant Threat Of Boko Haram

From Reuters via The National:

ABUJA // Nigeria lacks competent leaders to tackle its security problems, a former military ruler said yesterday, following Christmas Day bomb attacks on churches by Islamist militants that killed more than two dozen people.

Muhammadu Buhari, a northerner who lost the last presidential election in April to incumbent Goodluck Jonathan, said the government was slow to respond and had shown indifference to the bombings.

The Boko Haram Islamist sect, which aims to impose Sharia across Africa's most populous country, claimed responsibility for three church bombings, the second Christmas in a row it has caused destruction at Christian houses of worship.

Security forces also blamed the sect for two explosions in the north and fear is growing that Boko Haram is trying to ignite a sectarian civil war between Christians and Muslims who, for the most part, coexist in peace.

"How on earth would the Vatican and the British authorities speak before the Nigerian government on attacks within Nigeria that have led to the deaths of our citizens?" Mr Buhari said in a statement published by Punch newspaper. "This is clearly a failure of leadership at a time the government needs to assure the people of the capacity to guarantee the safety of lives and property."

He said the government needed to do more than spend more on security to deal with the problem.

Mr Jonathan, a Christian from the south who is struggling to contain the threat of Islamist militancy, called the attacks "unfortunate" but said Boko Haram would "not be (around) forever. It will end one day".

Pope Benedict yesterday condemned the attacks as an "absurd gesture" and prayed that "the hands of the violent be stopped".

The pope, speaking from his window overlooking St Peter's Square in Rome, said such violence brought only pain, destruction and death.

The attacks strike at historic internal religious and regional divides that have often threatened the country - dangerous divisions that included a brief but bloody civil war over the secession of Biafra in the eastern region.

The Christmas church bombings included one in the central city of Jos, a religious and ethnic region lying in the heart of the divide between the mercantile, largely Muslim pastoralist peoples of the north and the traditionally farming, largely Christians in the south.

Nigeria's 160 million people are split almost evenly between Christians and Muslims, who usually live side by side in peace, but their cohabitation in the "Middle Belt" has sometimes been a source of tensions over land and influence.

Jos in particular has seen many hundreds killed in periodic outbreaks of ethnic and sectarian violence.

The attacks on the churches on one of global Christianity's most important feast days appeared aimed at touching off this latent tinderbox, just as targeted sectarian attacks in Iraq have tried to provoke Sunni-Shiite strife.

In December last year, Boko Haram also claimed responsibility for Christmas Eve bombings around Jos and attacks on churches and clashes that resulted in more than 80 deaths.

The militant movement, whose name means "Western learning is sinful" in the northern Hausa language, is concentrated in Nigeria's more remote northern states. It became active in 2003, with an avowed aim to introduce Sharia across Nigeria.

The latest attacks will fuel the fears of Nigerian and western security experts who increasingly link Boko Haram to a wider violent militant Islamic jihadist threat from North Africa across the Sahara.

They could also invite more western counter-terrorism support for Nigeria and fellow governments in West Africa's oil-producing Gulf of Guinea region - a growing energy supplier to the US and other western powers seeking to temper their over-reliance on the Middle East.

The head of the US military's Africa Command, General Carter Ham, lists Boko Haram along with Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Somalia-based Al Shabab as groups violently hostile to US and western interests who have increasingly begun to cooperate among each other.

Nigeria's military sees even closer links with Al Qaeda.

Such analysis points to the increasing sophistication and organisation of the Boko Haram attacks, moving from disparate shootings and bombings to more coordinated headline-grabbing actions, seeking national and international effect.

The Christmas Day bombings are the group's most high-profile strikes since a suicide bombing - Nigeria's first - that hit UN headquarters in Abuja in August, killing at least 23 people.

But experts warn that tackling Boko Haram as a security problem alone will not address the underlying social, economic and political problems that underpin the group and its domestic support, and that a heavy-handed police and army response could simply exacerbate the threat being incubated in Nigeria's north.

Islamic Honor Killing In Texas: "Santa" Who Murdered Family On Christmas Morning Was Muslim Who Didn't Like His Daughter Dating A Non-Muslim

From Jihad Watch:

Aziz Yazdanpanah, a Muslim, didn't like his daughter's non-Muslim boyfriend and was exhibiting stalker behavior. “She couldn’t date at all until she was a certain age, but when he was going to let her date she couldn’t date anyone outside of their race or religion.”

Again and again we have seen honor killings in which fathers kill daughters who are dating non-Muslims or have supposedly besmirched the family honor by some sexual indiscretion. Lt. Todd Dearing says that motive isn't important -- which is generally only the case when Islam is involved.

"Neighbors horrified at news of family’s slayings in Grapevine," by Gloria Salinas and Scott Goldstein for the Dallas Morning News, December 26 (thanks to Steve):

GRAPEVINE — Aziz Yazdanpanah seemed to be losing control of his life in recent months — his wife left him, his house was in foreclosure, and his 19-year-old daughter was dating a young man he didn’t like.

Even so, the 58-year-old former real estate agent from Colleyville seemed to be holding it together. Neighbors say he would smile and wave as he drove through his middle-class neighborhood. Recently, he was seen raking leaves in his yard.

“He was very friendly, a very good neighbor,” said Carrie Stewart, who lives across the street. “He was out here often doing yard work and he even watched our house for us when we went to Colorado.”

A decent fellow indeed.

Yazdanpanah, a volunteer high school debate coach described as a doting father, is the focus of suspicion a day after a Christmas morning massacre in which a man dressed as Santa Claus killed six relatives and then committed suicide.

Grapevine police arrived at the Lincoln Vineyard Apartment Homes a few minutes before noon and discovered bodies sprawled among opened presents and wrapping paper. The victims were ages 15 to 58....

Citing public records and interviews with friends and neighbors, media reports Monday identified Yazdanpanah and others who had died: his estranged 55-year-old wife, Fatemeh Rahmati, their 19-year-old daughter, Nona Narges Yazdanpanah, and 15-year-old son, Ali Yazdanpanah.

Friends of the family said Fatemeh Rahmati’s 58-year-old sister, Zohreh Rahmaty, and her husband, Hossein Zarei, 59, and daughter Sahra Zarei, a 22-year-old pre-med student at the University of Texas at Arlington, also were killed.

Grapevine police Lt. Todd Dearing said investigators were working to piece together a timeline of the murders, but they may never know exactly what set off the gunman.

“Motive is not really the primary point right now,” Dearing said. “It’s more along the lines of what happened, how it transpired and making sure that who we believe to be the shooter is the shooter. Motive is what comes afterward for us if we can get it.”

He said a neighbor at the apartment complex saw the suspected shooter get out of his white sport utility vehicle dressed in a Santa outfit, including a full coat, pants, boots and belt. Based in part on that witness account, police believe the shootings occurred about the time a 911 call rang into the station at 11:34 a.m. Sunday.

The line was silent....

Grapevine police also searched the Colleyville home where Aziz Yazdanpanah had been living since he separated from his wife last spring. Public records show that the couple had filed for bankruptcy in 2010 and that the property was in foreclosure....

Yazdanpanah said he bought a gun after expressing concern that his daughter’s boyfriend was stalking him. He also insisted on picking up his daughter from her job at a phone kiosk inside Sam’s Club in Grapevine because of concerns about the alleged stalker.

The boyfriend has not been publicly identified.

Neighbors said the family was Muslim but had always hung Christmas lights on their home — except this year.

Terri Baum, who lives three homes down from Yazdanpanah, said she had seen him around the neighborhood in the last couple of weeks.

“They were pretty quiet, but kind, very kind,” Baum said. “They were sweet, good parents, and they loved their kids very much.”

Baum’s daughter, Allison, attended Colleyville Heritage High School with Nona, where the girls were part of an academic team focused on developing business leaders. They graduated together in May.

“Allison would take her to school from here, and then when they moved out she would pick her up from the apartments,” Baum said. “It’s unbelievable because of the people we knew them to be, and their children were good kids, very focused.”

Baum said she was horrified at the possibility the killings had been a murder-suicide.

“All I want to say is, it is so unbelievably shocking because they loved their kids,” Baum said.

Yes, loved them to death.

But a more ominous portrait emerged of Yazdanpanah in interviews with some of his daughter’s other classmates.

“She would come to school crying and telling us her dad was crazy,” said Lacie Reed, 18. “He wouldn’t let her wear certain things. He was always taking her phone away, checking her call history and checking her text messages.”

Friends said Nona’s father had installed cameras all around the home so he could watch the family’s comings and goings. Others said he nailed her bedroom window shut so she could not sneak out at night and see her boyfriend.

“She couldn’t date at all until she was a certain age, but when he was going to let her date she couldn’t date anyone outside of their race or religion,” Reed said.

Yiselle Alvarenga, 18, said Nona’s mother and brother seemed to come to her aid when her father punished her.

“He would take her phone away and her mother would give it back to her and her brother would let her use his phone,” Alvarenga said. “She was doing good. She was just excited that her life was going to start and she was going to have control of it.”...

Nigerian Man’s Hand Amputated For Theft

From The Saudi Gazette:

The right hand of Abdulsamad Ismail Abdullah Hawsawe, a Nigerian national, was amputated here Friday after he was found guilty of the theft of gold, a pistol and a mobile phone and taking part in the theft of a car.

The sentence was carried out as per Shariah law, a Ministry of Interior statement said. The ruling, passed and endorsed by the Criminal Court, Court of Cassation and Supreme Court, was forwarded to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques who endorsed it according to Islamic Shariah law, the statement said.

Egyptian Court Rules Against "Virginity Tests" On Female Protesters

From Jihad Watch:

The "virginity tests" are a sexual assault carried out by the state, designed to intimidate women into staying home. Authorities can then use the supposed "results" of the tests as one way of writing off those who do show up to protest as women of ill repute, and therefore as bad Muslims acting contrary to Sharia's principles, who have thus forfeited their right to protection.

The women victimized by this scheme could be charged with prostitution, or may have their reputations ruined and be set up for rejection by their family and friends, along with possible further violence.

An update on this story. "Egyptian court rules against virginity tests," by Mohamed Fadel Fahmy for CNN, December 27:

Cairo (CNN) -- An Egyptian administrative court issued an order Tuesday banning virginity tests for female detainees, months after several women alleged they were subjected to such examinations following a March protest in Cairo's Tahrir Square.

The ruling comes in the case of Samira Ibrahim, a 25-year-old marketing manager who took the country's military led-government to court in August, alleging she was among those subjected to the test after her arrest during the March 9 protest. She said she faced death threats after bringing the case.

"Justice has been served today," Ibrahim told CNN. "These tests are a crime and also do not comply with the constitution, which states equality between men and woman. I will not give up my rights as a woman or a human being."

But:

Aly Hassan, a judicial consultant affiliated with Ministry of Justice, said the order only affects the use of such tests in military prisons and on women in temporary detention.

"Those tests are not considered a crime or else the file would be in the Criminal Court," Hassan said. "It's the circumstances of the alleged test that may be in question here."

In March, the human rights group Amnesty International reported that Egyptian troops beat, shocked and strip-searched women arrested during the protest in Cairo and forced them to submit to virginity tests.

How many were abused in the custody of the army and police, and were then marked down as no longer being virgins? The treatment of Mona Eltahawy is not likely an isolated incident.

Egyptian authorities initially denied requiring virginity tests, but in May, a senior general who asked not to be identified acknowledged the practice.

The general said the tests were performed as a safeguard against the women accusing authorities of sexual assault, and he defended the tests.

Destroying reputations:

"The girls who were detained were not like your daughter or mine," the general told CNN at the time. "These were girls who had camped out in tents with male protesters in Tahrir Square, and we found in the tents Molotov cocktails and (drugs)."

But Ibrahim said her treatment clearly showed the tests were meant to "degrade the protesters."

Sexual assault by the state:

"The military tortured me, labeled me a prostitute and humiliated me by forcing on me a virginity test conducted by a male doctor where my body was fully exposed while military soldiers watched," she said....

Muslim Brotherhood: Hamas Is Our Role Model

From Y-Net:

Hamas PM Ismail Haniyeh meets with Brotherhood leader in Cairo, says ties between the two groups threaten 'Israeli entity'

Gaza's Hamas premier was in Egypt Monday on his first trip outside the blockaded territory since the Islamists overran it in 2007, saying his meeting with his Islamic ideological mentors threatens Israel.

Ismail Haniyeh [pictured] discussed Mideast politics with the leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, which has emerged as the biggest winner in the first parliamentary elections in post-uprising Egypt, capturing nearly half of the seats so far.

Hamas is considered an offshoot of the Brotherhood.

Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie met Haniyeh at the group's newly inaugurated headquarters in a Cairo suburb.

"The Brotherhood center has always embraced issues of liberation, foremost the Palestinian issue," Badie said, according to Egypt's state Middle East News Agency.

He added that Hamas has served as a role model to the Brotherhood in its reconciliation with the Fatah movement and in closing the recent prisoner swap deal with Israel.

The Brotherhood renounced violence in the 1970s, but it supports Hamas in its "resistance" against Israel.

Hamas is considered a terror group by Israel, the US and EU, killing hundreds of Israelis in attacks, including suicide bombings. The West insists that before it deals with Hamas, the group must renounce violence, recognize Israel and accept existing peace accords. Hamas has refused.

'Meeting threatens Israeli entity'

Haniyeh described Hamas as the "jihadi movement of the Brotherhood with a Palestinian face." He said his visit to the Brotherhood center would confuse and frighten Israel.

"Our presence with the Brotherhood threatens the Israeli entity," Haniyeh said according to MENA.

Israel has expressed concern that a new Egyptian government under Islamist influence might cancel Egypt's 1979 peace treaty with Israel.

Hamas took Gaza by force in a brief, bloody civil war in 2007, expelling forces of the rival Fatah, led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Israel and Egypt responded by blockading Gaza. Badie criticized the blockade during his meeting with Haniyeh, according to MENA.

Egypt has been heading efforts to reconcile the two rivals. They came to some agreements last week in talks in Cairo. Hamas was represented by its supreme leader, Khaled Mashaal, who is based in Damascus.

Haniyeh said during his visit to the Arab League that reconciliation with Fatah is a "strategic" matter that should not be hindered by American and Israeli objections. Israel has said the closer Fatah gets to Hamas, the further it moves from a peace deal.

Al Qaeda Front Group Claims Responsiblity For Wave Of Attacks In Baghdad Amid Rising Fears Of Iraq's Future

From the Daily Mail:

An Al Qaeda front group in Iraq has claimed responsibility for the wave of attacks that ripped through Baghdad on a single day last week, killing 69 people and raising new fears about the country's future.

A suicide car bomber and multiple roadside bombs hit the capital's mainly Shi'ite areas on December 22 in the first attacks there since U.S. troops withdrew from Iraq on December 18.

A further suicide bombing near the country's interior ministry yesterday which killed seven people has added to fears over the country's future.

Today's claim of responsibility made no mention of the U.S. withdrawal.

Instead, it focused its rage on the country's Shiite-dominated leadership, which Sunni insurgents have battled since it came to power as a result of the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.

'The series of special invasions (was) launched ... to support the weak Sunnis in the prisons of the apostates and to retaliate for the captives who were executed,' said the statement from the 'Islamic State of Iraq'.

According to the SITE Intelligence Group, a U.S.-based organisation that monitors jihadist web traffic, the claim of responsibility was posted late on Boxing Day on militant websites.

The group said the attacks were proof that they 'know where and when to strike and the mujahedeen will never stand with their hands tied while the pernicious Iranian project shows its ugly face'.

The remark was in reference to accusations by Sunni militants that Iraq's Shiite-dominated government has allied itself too closely with neighbouring Shiite power Iran, a bitter enemy of Iraq under the regime of Saddam Hussein.

Overall violence in Iraq has dropped since the peak of sectarian fighting in 2006-07 but bombings and killings still occur almost daily.

Al Qaeda in Iraq has been weakened by deaths of leaders but there are fears the group will try to regroup and strengthen its presence following the withdrawal of U.S. troops almost nine years after the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

The Baghdad military spokesman, Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, said Al Qaeda in Iraq - no longer focused on fighting U.S. forces - is hoping to take advantage of the current political tension to re-ignite sectarian warfare.

'It has become a clear scheme to draw Iraq into a sectarian war again,' he said. 'Al-Qaeda in Iraq played a major role in 2005 and 2006 in pushing the country into a civil war and they succeeded.'

Along with the security challenge, Iraq is facing an increase in political tension as Iraq's Shiite prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, is engaged in a showdown with the top Sunni political leader in the country.

Al-Maliki's government has issued an arrest warrant for Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi on charges that he ran hit squads against government officials.

Al-Hashemi has denied the charges and said they are politically motivated.

Carnage In Homs As Tanks Prowl Residential Areas

From The Telegraph:

Amateur video shot by anti-government Syrian activists seemed to show army tanks firing machine-guns and mortars into residential areas.

The video, posted on a social media website purportedly filmed in Homs show tanks firing facing on apartment blocks.

A third day of heavy gunfire in Syria's flashpoint city killed at least 20 people, the day before an Arab League monitoring mission is expected there, activists said.

The people of Homs are awaiting the arrival of the monitors, who are supposed to determine if President Assad is keeping his word by withdrawing the army from civilian areas.

President Assad's government said it is battling an insurgency by armed Islamist terrorists.

What began as peaceful protests nine months ago has become increasingly violent as army deserters and armed rebels begin to fight the crackdown and attack security forces.

Go here for video.

Iranian Woman Sentenced To Stoning Death For "Adultery" May Be Hanged Instead

Below are more details about this case.

From the National Post:

An Iranian woman sentenced to be stoned to death for adultery could be hanged instead, the students news agency ISNA reported.

A court sentenced Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani to be stoned in 2006 but the sentence was suspended last year after an international outcry. However, under a judicial review being carried out she still could be hanged.

“There is no rush … our Islamic experts are reviewing Ashtiani’s sentence to see whether we can carry out the execution of a person sentenced to stoning by hanging,” said Malek Ajdar Sharifi, head of judiciary in the East Azerbaijan province.

Ashtiani’s husband was murdered in 2005, after which an Iranian court convicted the mother of two of having an “illicit relationship” with two men. For this, she was given a stoning sentence in 2006.

Amnesty International says she received 99 lashes as her sentence but she was subsequently convicted of “adultery while being married,” which the human rights group says she denied.

Ashtiani, arrested in 2006, is already serving 10 years for being an accessory to her husband’s murder in a prison in the East Azerbaijan.

A local judiciary official said last year that the stoning of Ashtiani had been suspended due to “humanitarian reservations,” but did not rule out possibility of her execution.

“The sentence of Ashtiani will be carried out as soon as our experts announce their view,” the official said.

Under Islamic law in force in Iran since the 1979 revolution, adultery may be punished by death by stoning and crimes such as murder, rape, armed robbery, apostasy and drug trafficking are all punishable by hanging.

The European Union called Ashtiani’s stoning sentence “barbaric.” The Vatican pleaded for clemency and Brazil offered her asylum. The case further strained Tehran’s relations with the West, already at odds over Iran’s disputed nuclear program.

Two reporters for German newspaper Bild am Sonntag were detained in Iran in October last year when they were interviewing Ashtiani’s son without official permission, highlighting the sensitivity of the case. The two were released in February.

Iranian authorities dismiss allegations of rights abuses, saying they are following Islamic law.

Mohammad Javad Larijani, secretary-general of the Iranian High Council for Human Rights, argued in December that stoning should not be classified as a method of execution but rather a method of punishment which is actually more “lenient” because half of the people survive, the U.N. quoted him as saying.

Iran Seeks Death Penalty For American 'CIA Spy'

From The Telegraph:

An American man accused by Iran of being a CIA spy could face the death penalty, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Tuesday.

In a closed court hearing, the prosecution applied for capital punishment, the report said, because the suspect, identified as Amir Mirzaei Hekmati, "admitted that he received training in the United States and planned to imply that Iran was involved in terrorist activities in foreign countries" after returning to the U.S.

The prosecutor said Hekmati entered Iran's intelligence department three times.

The report said Hekmati repeated a confession broadcast on state TV on Dec 18.

Under the Iranian law spying can lead to death penalty only in military cases.

The Fars report said Hekmati's lawyer, who was identified only by his surname, Samadi, denied the charges. He said Iranian intelligence blocked Hekmati from infiltrating, and under the Iranian law, intention to infiltrate is not a crime.

The lawyer said Hekmati was deceived by the CIA. No date for the next court hearing was released.

Hekmati, 28, was born in Arizona. His family is of Iranian origin. His father, who lives in Michigan, said his son is not a CIA spy and was visiting his grandmothers in Iran when he was arrested.

Ali Hekmati said his son was a former Arabic translator in the US Marines who entered Iran about four months ago. At the time, he was working in Qatar as a contractor for a company "that served the Marines," his father said, without providing more specific details.

"My wife tried to talk him out of it," Ali Hekmati said of the visit to Iran. "The first two weeks went without incident. The third week in Tehran, some people visited him and took him away. Nobody heard from him in the next three months."

He later saw on a YouTube broadcast of an Iranian programme that said Amir was "locked up" and accused of "being a spy for the CIA."

"I have no idea what they are going to do with my son," he said. "I'm worried to death. I love my son. I'm very sorry he's in the predicament he's in." He said he's working with attorneys in Tehran to gain his son's release.

Iran charges that as a US Marine, he received special training and served at U.S. military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan before heading to Iran for his alleged intelligence mission.

Italian Oil Tanker Hijacked Off Oman's Coast

From Fox News:

An Italian oil tanker was hijacked close to the coast of Oman early Tuesday morning in an area where Somali pirates are known to operate, AFP reported.

The ship, which is owned by Marnavi, was reportedly carrying 18 people. The Italian navy was informed of the incident and the company has been in touch with the foreign ministry, the report said.

There were six Italians, five Ukrainians and seven Indians onboard when the ship came under attack in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

The ship was carrying a cargo of caustic soda to the Mediterranean.

On Dec. 21, another Italian oil tanker was freed after being in pirate captivity for more than 10 months after a ransom was paid, the report said.

Ransoms for tankers often reach into the millions of dollars. The long coastline of war-ravaged Somalia provides a perfect haven for pirate gangs preying on shipping off the East African coast.

Pakistani Christian On Death Row Cooks Own Meals For Fear Of Being Poisoned

From The Telegraph:

A Pakistani Christian on death row after being convicted of blasphemy has described how she has to cook her own meals for fear of being poisoned in her first interview since being condemned to hang.

The case of Asia Bibi has been taken up by Pakistan's small band of liberal reformers since it was reported by The Daily Telegraph in November last year.

But it has also exposed the power wielded by extremist clerics and the persecution faced by a tiny Christian minority.

In her first interview from behind bars, she described the miserable conditions in prison as she waits for the chance to appeal against her conviction.

"I am allowed to go out for only 30 minutes every day, and allowed to meet my family for one hour every Tuesday," she told Life for All, a Christian organisation.

"I am given raw material to cook for myself, since the administration fears I might be poisoned, as other Christians accused of blasphemy were poisoned or killed in the jail." She added that a prison guard had recently been suspended for trying to strangle her.

Human rights campaigners believe Pakistan's blasphemy laws are being abused to settle scores or persecute religious minorities.

Mrs Bibi – who uses a common Urdu honorific in place of her surname of Noreen – was arrested after a row with women as they worked in the fields of rural Punjab.

In court, she said she had been asked to fetch water.

Some of the other women – all Muslims – refused to drink the water as it had been brought by a Christian and was therefore "unclean", according to Mrs Bibi's evidence.

In the row that followed she was accused of defaming the Prophet Mohammed, which she denies.

That was enough for a death sentence, although Pakistan's president has imposed a moratorium on hangings since taking power in 2008.

This year, two of her high-profile supporters have been assassinated, including Salman Taseer, governor of Punjab, who was shot dead by one of his own bodyguards. The assassin has since been feted by religious leaders and many ordinary Pakistanis.

Mrs Bibi, who has five children, said she prayed for her freedom but knew it could come with a high price.

"I am hopeful that I will be released, although there is a bounty of about $8,000 offered by the Islamic clerics to anyone who will kill me. I have left everything on God, I will accept His will." Snipers have been deployed on church roofs in Lahore during Christmas to protect against attacks in a reminder of the threats faced by Christians.

Tennessee: Raid On Auto Dealership After Owner Accused Of Funneling Money To Hezbollah

From Jihad Watch:

This case is apparently connected to a larger investigation which found 30 auto businesses in the U.S. that laundered over $300 million in money to benefit Hizballah. Even in Tulsa. "Raid on Wilson auto dealership stuns landlord, neighbors," from The Tennessean, December 24:

A Wilson County car dealer accused of aiding Lebanon-based terrorist organization Hezbollah was born in that Middle Eastern country in 1969 and moved to Tennessee nine years ago, Davidson County court records show.

Khalil Aref Abdelkhalek’s landlord at Cedar Exports Auto Sales and neighboring businesspeople said they were shocked to hear that federal agents had raided the company — along with dozens of other dealerships across the country — as part of a civil money laundering and forfeiture lawsuit seeking nearly half a billion dollars from an alleged massive, international scheme to funnel money to Hezbollah.

Another "decent fellow":

“You could have knocked me over with a feather,” said Tony Moorby, owner of the Dealer Plaza complex where Cedar Exports and 13 other automotive dealers are located. “This chap has been great. He actually comes looking for us to pay his rent. He’s always been happy, courteous, smiling. He’s always been very gracious.

“But I’m sure the feds can’t do this kind of thing without all the consideration that’s due.”

Reached by telephone, Abdelkhalek, 42, referred comment to his lawyer, Nashville attorney Nader Baydoun, who did not return phone messages and emails seeking comment. In an interview with WSMV-TV, Abdelkhalek emphatically denied the government’s charges that he aided terrorists and suggested he may have unwittingly been caught up in the alleged scheme.

“As part of the scheme, funds were wired from Lebanon to the United States to buy used cars, which were then transported to West Africa,” states a news release announcing the civil charges brought last week by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. “Cash from the sale of the cars, along with proceeds of narcotics trafficking, were then funneled to Lebanon through (Hezbollah)-controlled money laundering channels.”...

Hundreds Of Residents Flee Nigerian Cities In Fear Of More Violence

From The Telegraph:

Hundreds of residents in two restive northern Nigerian cities have fled their homes, fearing more violence after a series of bombs swept the country, killing 40 people.

The scene of a bomb explosion at St. Theresa Catholic Church, just outside Nigeria's capital Abuja on Christmas Day
Damaturu, which was struck by two blasts on Sunday, killing three, has been at the centre of clashes between Islamists and authorities in recent days, and saw groups gathered at bus and taxi stations looking to leave.

Meanwhile in Potiskum, residents fled after arsonists set alight 30 Christian-owned shops as well as the home of a Christian leader, on Sunday night in what appeared to be the continuation of religious violence that peaked with the bombing of churches on Christmas Day.

"I can't stay here any longer," a man waiting at a bus stop in Potiskum told the Reuters news agency. "It's peaceful today, but it's no guarantee that in the next hours it will remain the same," the 31-year-old said. "People have been killed and it could be me next."

Police in Madalla, Jos and Damaturu – the three cities targeted in Sunday's bombings – ramped up their investigations on Monday.

Marilyn Ogar, a spokesman for the State Security Services would not confirm the number of arrests made in connection with the incidents, citing the sensitivity of the ongoing investigations. But she told the Daily Telegraph that police are "arresting as many people as possible" for questioning.

The Islamist group Boko Haram, which has ties to al-Qaeda and aims to impose sharia law across Africa's most populous country, claimed responsibility for the attacks. Nigeria's population is 167, with just over 50 per cent Muslim, and 48 per cent Christian.

It is the second Christmas in a row that it has targeted churches with deadly results, leading to fears that it could set off a new round of sectarian clashes.

"The attack on churches is to nationalise the crisis," said Shehu Sani, a rights activist based in Nigeria's north.

"It will instigate hitherto neutral people into the crisis. Christians may want to take revenge on Muslims and this is dangerous for the country."

Asked about the status of the police investigation into the Madalla bombing, the most severe of the attacks where at least 35 people were killed, police spokesman Richard Oguche said police had not made any arrests but added that the investigation confirmed that a car bomb caused the explosion in front of St. Theresa's church.

Meanwhile, Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency, or NEMA, focused on ensuring that the victims in Madalla, were receiving attention.

"Some of the dead bodies were just lying on the ground yesterday, because agencies were overstretched and there weren't enough vehicles," Yushau Shuaib, a NEMA spokesman said.

Mr Shuaib declined to comment on the emergency response to the bombings in Yobe state, of which Damaturu is the capital, where several police officers were reportedly killed, saying the situation in Boko Haram's home base was "too political."

Meanwhile the government faced accusations that it was too slow to respond to the bombings and had shown indifference.

Muhammadu Buhari, the military ruler of Nigeria from December 1983 to August 1985, who lost in his bid to become president last April to incumbent Goodluck Jonathan, said the country lacked competent enough leaders to tackle its security problems.

"How on earth would the Vatican and the British authorities speak before the Nigerian government on attacks within Nigeria that have led to the deaths of our citizens?" Mr Buhari said.

He called the response a "failure of leadership," saying the government should do more than simply spend money on security.

Mr Jonathan, a Christian, called the attacks "unfortunate", but said Boko Haram would "not be (around) forever. It will end one day," a response criticised by some as short-sighted.

John Onaiyekan, Archbishop of Abuja, issued a plea for something to be done to stop the escalating violence.

"It's a national tragedy. We are all unsecured. It's not only Catholic. Today it's us. Tomorrow we don't know who it will be," he said.

He called on Islamic leaders to take an active role in seeking to end the violence.

"Whether we like it or not, this particular crime has been claimed by Boko Haram, who claimed that they are Muslims," he said.

He added: "I expect my colleagues in the Islamic community not to just sit back. This thing is giving them a bad name.

"I don't even consider them Muslim fanatics since the Islamic community has told us they are not," he said. "Whatever they are, they are criminals. They are killing innocent people."

Arab Monitors Head To Syria As Crackdown Intensifies

From Fox News:

The Arab League forged ahead with plans to send teams of monitors into Syria Monday even though President Bashar Assad's regime has only intensified its crackdown in the week since agreeing to halt bloodshed, killing several hundred civilians according to activists.

At least 20 more deaths were reported on Monday from intense shelling by government forces in the center of the country, just hours before the monitoring teams were to arrive. Activists said at least 275 civilians have been killed by government forces in the past week and another 150 people died in clashes between army defectors and regime troops -- most of them defectors.

The stepped up crackdown, including what activists said was a "massacre" in one town where 110 people were mowed down in several hours last week, brought a new round of international condemnation of Syria.

Neighboring Turkey said the violence flew in the face of the Arab League deal that Syria signed and raises doubts about the regime's true intentions.

The Arab League plan agreed to by Assad requires the government to remove its security forces and heavy weapons from city streets, start talks with opposition leaders and allow human rights workers and journalists into the country. The monitors are supposed to ensure compliance, but so far there is no sign that Assad is implementing any of the terms, much less letting up on the brutal crackdown.

Members of the opposition say the regime's agreement to the Arab League plan is a farce.

"I very much doubt the Syrian regime will allow the observers to do their work," said prominent opposition figure Waleed al-Bunni from Cairo. "I expect them to try and hinder their movements by claiming that some areas are not safe, intimidating them or sending them to places other than the ones they should go to."

Syria's top opposition leader, doubtful that the Arab League alone can budge Assad, called Sunday for the League to bring the U.N. Security Council into the effort. The U.N. says more than 5,000 people have been killed since March in the political violence.

The opposition has warned that the government, which has been besieging the Baba Amr district in the city of Homs for days, was preparing a massive assault on the area. Activists said the forces shelled the area with mortars and sprayed heavy machine gun fire in the most intense assault since the siege began Friday.

The Baba Amr district has been a center for anti-government protests and army defections and has seen repeated crackdowns by the Syrian regime in recent months. The Syrian conflict is becoming increasingly militarized with growing clashes between army defectors and troops.

Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, described the attacks in Homs as a kind of "hysteria" as government forces desperately try to get the situation there under control ahead of the monitors' arrival.

"The observers are sitting in their hotel in Damascus while people are dying in Homs," he said.

The Observatory called on the monitors "to head immediately to Baba Amr to be witnesses to the crimes against humanity that are being perpetrated by the Syrian regime."

France expressed strong concerns about the continued deterioration of the situation in Homs and urged Syria's government to allow Arab League observers immediate access. French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said Syrian authorities should allow the observers access to the city "starting this afternoon."

Although Syria showed no sign of altering its course, the Arab League said it was going ahead and officials declined to comment on the continued crackdown. Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby said 70 Arab monitors will arrive in the evening to join an advance team. Elaraby told reporters after meeting with the observers in Cairo that the mission will begin its work Tuesday. Up to 500 monitors are to be eventually deployed.

Anwar Malek, a member of the monitoring mission, insisted they will have absolute freedom of movement in Syria, adding that the team will travel to flashpoint cities including Homs, Aleppo, Daraa, Idlib and Hama. He and other observers refused to disclose the exact travel itinerary, saying they preferred to maintain some secrecy to ensure the mission's success.

Assad stalled for weeks on agreeing to the Arab League plan and signed only after the League threatened to turn to the U.N. Security Council to help stop the violence.

The opposition believes the authoritarian leader is only trying to buy time and forestall more international sanctions and condemnation.

Amateur videos posted by activists on the Internet showed gruesome footage of at least four corpses lying in pools of blood in front of a house in Baba Amr, where they reportedly died from mortar shells that struck the neighborhood.

Men could be heard crying for help and women wailing in the video, which also showed several destroyed homes and cars.

A resident of a neighborhood next to Baba Amr said he heard "loud explosions" throughout the night and Monday morning.

"It doesn't stop," he told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, for fear of reprisals.

The Local Coordination Committees activist network also reported intense shelling "targeting homes and anyone who moves" in Baba Amr.

Egypt: Salafist Party Forms Constitutional Committee, Says Shariah's "Provisions," Not Just "Principles" Will Be Present In New Constitution

From Jihad Watch:

Not that a constitution which is said to be merely inspired by Sharia's supremacist and authoritarian principles would be good news. But the Salafists, that supposed Tiny Minority of Extremists that has gotten between a quarter and a third of the vote between the first two rounds of Egypt's elections, intend to make sure Sharia is not merely the basis of legislation, but features in its contents. Indeed, both Islamic parties' strength in numbers ensures that.

A democracy is only as good as the values that inform its participants. "Salafi party forms committee to influence constitution," by Hamdi Dabash Mohamed Abu Elenen for Al Masri Al Youm, December 26:

The Nour Party has formed a legal committee to prepare a new constitution for the country, said Emad Abdel Ghafour, president of the Salafi Nour Party.

“It would be based on previous constitutions and experiences so as to arrive at the best formula,” Abdel Ghafour said, adding that the draft would be presented to the public for discussion.

Party spokesman Yousry Hammad explained that the proposed constitution disposes of the presidential system. “We don’t want power to be in the hands of one person,” he said.

Hammad added that article two of the proposed constitution stipulates that the “provisions” and not the “principles” of Islamic Sharia law are the main sources of legislation. “We shall apply Sharia gradually so as not to cause distortions,” he said.

Applying it all at once might provoke resistance. But the journey of a thousand years' regression of human rights begins with a single step.

But the party has denounced the “Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice Authority” that some of its members have already formed, taking after the Saudi model. “This was an individual endeavor that the party is not responsible for,” said Abdel Ghafour.

The authority’s founders said, in their first statement on Facebook, that they are not working under the umbrella of the Nour Party.

Typical lack of transparency, with an odd twist:

“We assure you that we would not resort to force or violence, but rather to dialogue and advice in applying Sharia,” the statement said, adding that the founders would reveal their identities once they accumulated a sufficient number of members in their Facebook group.

Uganda: Pastor Attacked With Acid Recounts Ordeal

From New Vision:

Three days after a suspected acid attack on Pastor Umar Mulinde of Gospel Life Church, Police has arrested one person in connection with the incident.

Pastor Umar Mulinde on his hospital bed. Standing is his wife.PHOTO:Nicholas Kajoba
Addressing a press briefing on Monday, Police spokesperson, Asuman Mugenyi said one person had been arrested but declined to disclose the details. He confirmed that acid was used in the attack and said the police was carrying out investigations to establish the motive of the attackers.

Unknown people attacked Mulinde on Christmas Eve at about 9:00pm shortly after he returned from a church crusade. The attackers poured acid on him, leaving his face partly disfigured and his right eye is blinded.

His face, neck and arms are covered with deep black scars and his lips are swollen.

Narrating his ordeal to journalists at International Hospital, Kampala (IHK) , Mulinde said he was attacked by unidentified men whose target was to kill him.

“I was attacked by a man who claimed to be a Christian. He called out to me shouting, “pastor, pastor’ and as I turned to see who he was, he poured acid which burnt part of my face,” he said.

“As I turned away from the attacker, another man poured the liquid on my back and ran away shouting ‘Allah Akbar (God is great).”

Pastor Mulinde said he caught a glimpse of the attackers but could not disclose the details as this would jeopardise investigations. He blamed the attack to some people who are opposed to his conversion from the Islamic faith to Christianity.

“I have got threats for a very long time, but didn’t take them serious until now,” he said.

Mulinde was raised in a staunch Muslim family and his father served as the local Imam. He was a sheikh before getting converted to Christianity.

Mulinde said the attack occurred shortly after his church had concluded a seven-day crusade at in which over 300 people gave their lives to the Lord.

“We went back to our church to test the sound equipment and everything was perfect. We had organised a Christmas party for the converts when this happened,” he said. His followers rushed him to Mengo Hospital, where he was referred to IHK.

Efforts to get a comment from doctors about Mulinde’s condition were futile as hospital authorities blocked journalists from talking to them. A source told New Vision that doctors were trying hard to save his sight and contain the acid from spreading to other parts of his body.

Iran Ready To Move Ahead With Stoning Or Hanging Of Woman Convicted Of Adultery

From Jihad Watch:

The case of Sakineh Ashtiani was moved to a back burner after her death sentence drew intense international scrutiny and criticism, not unlike how Youcef Nadarkhani's case is dragging on more quietly after similar international condemnation of his death sentence for apostasy from Islam. In both cases, Iran tried to come up with other excuses to execute them and erode support for them.

The murder charge against Ashtiani, which was applied later, seems to be an afterthought below, and it appears to be the adultery charge on which authorities are moving ahead. An update on this story. "Iranian woman convicted of adultery to be executed by stoning or hanging, official says," by Ali Akbar Dareini for the Associated Press, December 25:

TEHRAN, Iran - Authorities in Iran said Sunday they are again moving ahead with plans to execute a woman sentenced to death by stoning on an adultery conviction in a case that sparked an international outcry, but are considering whether to carry out the punishment by hanging instead.

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani is already behind bars, serving a 10-year sentence on a separate conviction in the murder of her husband. Amid the international outrage her case generated, Iran in July 2010 suspended plans to carry out her death sentence on the adultery conviction.

On Sunday, a senior judiciary official said experts were studying whether the punishment of stoning could be changed to hanging.

"There is no haste. ... We are waiting to see whether we can carry out the execution of a person sentenced to stoning by hanging or not," said Malek Ajdar Sharifi, the head of justice department of East Azerbaijan province, where Ashtiani is jailed.

"As soon as the result (of the investigation) is obtained, we will carry out the sentence," he said, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.

The charge of a married woman having an illicit relationship requires a punishment of stoning, he said.

Muhammad participated in and endorsed stonings.

He said judiciary chief Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani ordered a halt to stoning in order to allow Islamic experts to investigate whether the punishment can be altered in Ashtiani's case.

Ashtiani was convicted of adultery in 2006 after the murder of her husband.

She was later convicted of being an accessory to her husband's murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Jews And Christians Are 'Infidels,' Reiterates Salafist Cleric

From Ahram Online:Prominent Salafist cleric Yasser Borhami [pictured] has reiterated his controversial stance on Jews and Christians, describing both as "infidels".

Borhami, one of several extremist Salafist sheikhs renowned for eccentric and bizarre statements, said he would not reverse his opinion to seek political gains.

“I hold on to my stance that Jews and Christians are infidels, but they do have rights that Allah has given them,” he stated during a press conference in Dakahliah, north east of Cairo.

Borhami, the deputy leader of the Salafist call (Al-Dawaa Al-Salafiyya), was instrumental in forming Al-Nour Party in 2011, commonly viewed today as Al-Daawa’s political arm.

The Nour Party has been thus far the second biggest winner in the ongoing parliamentary elections, behind the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP).

After the Nour Party’s initial triumph in the ballot, liberals and secularists started to voice fears over the Salafist impact on the political landscape, economy and social freedoms.

Al-Nour Party President Emad El-Din Abdel Gafour and spokesperson Nader Bakar tried to reassure critics through relatively moderate statements, unlike Borhami.

“We would never give up our thoughts for politics,” Borhami added.

Al-Nour’s parliamentary candidate Hazem Shoman is another Salafist sheikh who has made the headlines for his acid tongue and abrasive nature. He also spoke at the conference.

“Deviating from Islamic Sharia is the reason why Egypt was vanquished in 1967 [by Israel] and 2,700 women have committed suicide for being spinsters,” Shoman said.

Egypt's Christians Under Jihad Attack Seeking To Come To U.S.

From Jihad Watch:

In the U.S., Islamic spokesmen insist that the idea that non-Muslims must be offered conversion, subjugation or death (cf. Qur'an 9:29; Sahih Muslim 4294) is "Islamophobic" misunderstanding of Islam. Somehow Kirolos Andraws ran afoul of Islamophobic Misunderstanders of Islam in Egypt, where they appear to abound.

"Egypt's Embattled Christians Seek Room in America," by Lucette Lagnado in the Wall Street Journal, December 24 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Kirolos Andraws had every reason to be excited about the January uprising in his native Egypt, figuring democracy would bring hope for young people like him.

Then one day in February, says Mr. Andraws, a gang of thugs beat him and told him, "you deserve to die." His offense, he says: refusing to convert to Islam.

In late March, Mr. Andraws, a 23-year- old engineer, used a tourist visa to board an Egyptair flight for New York City. He let a room in a friend's apartment, hired an immigration lawyer and applied for asylum. He has survived mainly on wages ...

Coordinated Bomb Attacks Across Nigeria Kill At Least 40

From The Telegraph:

A series of bomb attacks by the Muslim radicals Boko Harem aimed at churches across Nigeria has killed at least 40 people.

Boko Haram, a group with ties to al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attacks, as they continued to escalate a campaign against moderate Muslims, Christians and Western influence.

Nicknamed the Nigerian Taliban, they have become of increasing concern to British intelligence and are responsible for at least 500 killings this year.

Britain, the Vatican and the White House condemned the attacks, which Nigerian security officials said were premeditated.

The first explosion struck at the St Theresa Catholic Church in Madalla, a satellite town about 25 miles from the capital, Abuja.

Rescue workers recovered at least 35 bodies from the church according to Father Christopher Barde, Assistant Catholic Priest of the church. Dozens more were injured.

The church was still packed when the explosion went off as members of the congregation poured out at the end of Christmas mass.

Eyewitness reports said the large church's front roof had collapsed in the blast which had also destroyed several houses and burned out five cars.

One witness, Nnana Nwachukwu, said the blast occurred on the road outside the church.

"Mass just ended and people were rushing out of the church and suddenly I heard a loud sound 'bam'. Cars were in flames and bodies littered everywhere," he added.

Timothy Onyekwere said: "We were in the church with my family when we heard the explosion. I just ran out. Now I don't even know where my children or my wife are. I don't know how many were killed but there were many dead."

Others reported that some fatally injured victims ran towards a priest saying "Father anoint me". A Vatican spokeman called the bombings "blind hatred".

Bashir Adigun, a local journalist who arrived at the shortly after explosion told the Daily Telegraph the attack appeared to be a car bomb and a vehicle was still burning when he arrived at the scene.

Thousands of angry youths set up burning road blocks on the highway from Abuja leading to Nigeria's largely Muslim north.

A second explosion struck in a business area of the city of Jos near the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Church and gunmen later opened fire on police guarding the area, killing one police officer.

Two bombs were also found in a nearby building and defused, according to Pam Ayuba a government spokesman.

The city of Jos is located on the dividing line between Nigeria's predominantly Christian south and Muslim north. Thousands have died in communal clashes there over the last decade. Jos was hit by bombings on Christmas Eve last year, which killed at least 32.

The northeastern city of Damaturu was also struck by two blasts, including a suicide car bombing, according to the local police commissioner, where three were killed. A further explosion targeted a church in the northeastern area of Gadaka, but no one was reported killed.

A Boko Haram spokesman, using the nom de guerre Abul-Qaqa, claimed responsibility for the attacks in an interview with the respected northern newspaper The Daily Trust.

William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, condemned the "cowardly attacks on families gathered in peace and prayer to celebrate a day which symbolises harmony and goodwill towards others."

Security sources have told the Daily Telegraph that Boko Haram has recently gained expertise from al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in North Africa and al-Shabaab in Somalia and has adopted an increasingly internationalist outlook.

The US Embassy in Abuja had issued a warning on Friday to be "particularly vigilant around churches and other places of worship, locations where large crowhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifds may gather, and areas frequented by expatriates and foreign travellers."

On August 26, the group launched its first known suicide attack against the UN building in Abuja, killing at least 23 people and wounding 76 wounded in an explosion which gutted the ground floor.

Boko Haram fighters had launched attacks in Damaturu in the days before Christmas, leading to the deaths of at least 61 people, according to the Nigerian government.

On Christmas Day two years ago Umar Farouq Abulmutallab, a former student at University College London who was the son of a Nigerian banker, tried to kill blow himself up using a bomb in his underpants on a trans-Atlantic flight to Detroit.

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Picture of the Week: Wave Of Deadly Bombings Rock Iraq

From Fox News:

Iraqi security forces gather the scene of a car bomb attack in Baghdad, Iraq. A wave of bombings ripped across Baghdad on Thursday morning killing and wounding hundreds of people, Iraqi officials said, in the worst violence Iraq has seen for months. The bloodbath comes just days after American forces left the country.

Sri Lanka: Muslim Father Beats Daughter To Death

From the Sri Lanka Internet Newspaper:

A Muslim extremist style killing has been reported from Sammanthurai of Ampara district of Sri Lanka's Eastern Province, police say.

According to the police, a Muslim father has allegedly beaten his underage daughter to death yesterday evening.

The 17-year-old daughter was killed by father allegedly for having a relationship with a person belonged to another religion.

The suspect has been arrested by police.

Samanthurai Police have commenced further investigations into the incident.

Pakistan Refuses Christmas Day Visits To Jailed Christians

From BosNewsLife:

A Christian mother of five sentenced to death on charges of "blasphemy" against Islam and over a dozen other Christians held in Pakistani jails spent Christmas Day without their families, after authorities refused requests to allow prison visits, well-informed Christians said.

Asia Bibi, 46, "is spending a third Christmas separated from her family as she awaits an appeal" against plans to execute her by hanging for “blasphemy”, Barnabas Fund, an advocacy group assisting her family, told BosNewsLife.

She is held in the high security District Jail Seikhupura, some 35 kilometers (22 miles) northwest of Lahore, the capital of Punjab province.

Bibi, a farm worker, was detained in June 2009 on charges of defiling the name of Islam's Prophet Mohammad during an argument with Muslim co-workers. She has denied wrongdoing.

"She is being kept in isolation for her own safety, and is able to see her children only twice a year because of the security risk to them."

MISTREATMENT REPORTED

Bibi herself has been recovering in her Pakistani jail after she was allegedly attacked and beaten unconscious by a Muslim prison officer in October, said the Pakistan Christian Congress (PCC) party earlier. Authorities pledged an investigation.

Later, a fellow believer held on blasphemy charges, Irfan Masih, was among others being attacked by Islamists on Tuesday, December 20, in a Kasur City jail, Christians said. He was reportedly seriously injured in the knife attack and was believed to be in a Lahore hospital on Christmas Day.

Despite security risks, Bibi's family "had an emotional reunion on December 13, carefully organized by a Christian couple who run the school that Asia’s daughters attend," Barnabas Fund explained.

"When the incarcerated mother saw her children, she naturally wanted to hug and kiss them but was not initially allowed any contact. The school director pleaded with the jail authorities and obtained permission for the family to meet in a separate room."

Barnabas Fund quoted the unidentified director as saying that Bibi "gave lots of hugs and kisses to the children" and that "it was a moment where the mother could shower her love upon her children."

"WONDERFUL MOMENT"

He described it as "a wonderful moment provided by the Lord Jesus Christ to the family of Asia Bibi."

The school director, whose name was not revealed apparently amid security concerns, reportedly said that "Asia started crying and praying to God for His mercy and freedom so that she could stay with her family with peace and love.”

Barnabas Fund told BosNewsLife in a statement that it had been able to meet with her husband and children and was providing the impoverished family with a monthly food parcel and money for "winter bedding, warm clothing and Christmas gifts for the children."

An appeal against her death sentence was filed at Lahore High Court, but trial observers say the case has been delayed and is unlikely to be heard soon because of Muslim hostility.

Two Pakistani politicians, Punjab Governor Salman Taseer and Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, have been assassinated by militants over their support for Asia Bibi and opposition to blasphemy legislation that condemned her. "Defiling the name of Muhammad" carries a mandatory death penalty in Pakistan, although
that is often turned into long prison sentences by authorities.

CHRISTIANS KILLED

Several Christians under blasphemy investigation are known to have been killed in and outside prisons by militants, or their supporters.

Pakistan's government is under international pressure to help release her, but the Special Adviser to the Pakistani Prime Minister for National Harmony, Paul Bhatti, asked for more time. "We can't concentrate all our powers [and] efforts only to release Asia Bibi because there are so many other people who are living
like her, if not worse," Bhatti told Vatican Radio.

"We have to introduce legislation that will protest all minorities, so they will not be victims of such kind of situation."

Critics say the blasphemy law has been used to persecute minority faiths, such as Christians, in Pakistan and is exploited by people with personal grudges.

Besides Bibi, "There are other more than a dozen Christian victims of blasphemy in different jails of Punjab province" who "will also be waiting for their families visit on Christmas Day but will never be able to meet them," said the PCC party, which claims to represent 20 million Pakistani Christians.

MORE "VICTIMS"

Among them "blasphemy victim" Khurram Masih who PCC said "was seen crying in the courthouse" Saturday December 24, 2011, to stand trial on charges of burning pages of the Koran, deemed a holy book by Muslims.

The alleged December 6 incident in Shahdara Town, about 1 kilometer (0.5 miles) from central central Lahore, Masih and rights investigators suggested. Masih reportedly said he was "beaten badly by police" following his detention, "to force" him "to confess the act of burning pages" of the Koran.

He also said he had not been able to eat in the last three says amid the alleged mistreatment.

The PCC said however that even "Outside the jails of Pakistan Christians" the situation of Christians was "like a jail". Pakistani security forces were seen providing additional security around main churches on Christmas eve, as believers prepared for Midnight Mass and other church services.

Christians comprise less than 5 percent of the country's 188 million people, who are mainly Muslims.