Women Against Shariah

Indonesia's Islamic Vigilantes 'Turning To Terrorism'

2012-01-26T17:48:00.000-08:00

From the AFP via the Times Online (Sri Lanka):

JAKARTA, Jan 26, 2012 (AFP) - Tolerance of Islamic vigilantism is helping to breed a new generation of terrorists in Indonesia, the International Crisis Group warned in a report Thursday.

The report criticised the government and police for lax law enforcement against hardliners, who often claim responsibility for violent anti-vice and sectarian attacks but regularly evade punishment.

“Indonesia: From Vigilantism to Terrorism in Cirebon” described how a group of poor uneducated men in the western Javanese town went from using sticks and stones in morality raids to using bombs and guns.

“What we saw in Cirebon was a a group of about 10 people who started out on a path to terrorism by participating in anti-vice campaigns,” ICG analyst Sidney Jones told AFP.

“By using violence in these campaigns, they clearly violated the law but weren't punished.” The group went from carrying out anti-vice attacks on TV stations and convenience stores selling alcohol to orchestrating suicide attacks on a police mosque and a church on Java island.

The attacks last year killed only the bombers themselves, but injured scores of others with nails, nuts and bolts spraying from homemade explosives.

“The government's saving grace is that the groups that have embarked on this path are poorly trained with very low capacity, but it won't always stay that way. One of these groups will get lucky and have a greater impact,” Jones said.

The radicalisation of the Cirebon group was fuelled by weekly sermons where spiritual leaders encouraged the bloodshed of Islam's enemies, which have come to include the Indonesian government and police, the report said.

The threat of vigilantes turning to terrorism follows an effective decade-long crackdown on the country's most notorious networks, such as the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah, it added.

Indonesia's police anti-terror unit, Detachment 88, has in recent years killed some of its most-wanted militants, including Noordin Top, believed to have played a role in every major terrorist attack in the country's recent history.

The unit also killed Dulmatin, who had a hand in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.

Saudi Cleric: No Praying For Allah To Have Mercy On Steve Jobs' Soul

2012-01-26T17:44:00.000-08:00

From Jihad Watch:

If there's an app for that, it is surely haram. This item was broadcast in October, but is currently highlighted at MEMRI's home page. "Saudi Cleric Sa'd Bin Al-Shathari: It Is Forbidden to Pray to Allah to Place Steve Jobs in Paradise," from MEMRI, October 8, 2011:
Interviewer: There is a great deal of interest in the death of Steve Jobs, the founder and owner of Apple and its former CEO. I'd like you to comment on two matters. First, is it permissible to be sad over the death of an infidel? Second, is it permissible to ask for Allah's mercy for an infidel? There was a lot of debate on Twitter and Facebook about this.

Sa'd Bin Al-Shathari: With regard to being sad, it is not something within one's volition. One does not decide to become sad, and therefore, there is no ruling about it in Islamic law.

[…]

As for asking for Allah's mercy [upon an infidel], if a person prays for Allah to alleviate the torments of someone close to him, or for Him to ignore some of his sins – that's permissible too. But to pray for Allah to have mercy upon him or place him in Paradise – that is forbidden....

Egyptian Sheikh: Driving A Chevy Is Haram

2012-01-26T17:41:00.000-08:00

From Now Blog (Lebanon):

"And I think to myself, what a wonderful world..."

A Salafi sheikh in Egypt has reportedly issued a fatwa that buying [or driving] a Chevrolet vehicle is haram because the American brand’s logo looks like the Christian cross.

In the video below, prominent Egyptian TV presenter Amr Adeeb takes the sheikh’s joke-of-a-fatwa to task, saying, “We’ve reached a really strange place with this.”

“The car’s been around [for a century] and only now did you notice there’s a cross on the car?”

Adeeb also notes that the car is not used or presented as a form of religious iconography: “Do we hold mass for it? Do we pray for it?” And his guest chimes in with a comment about the self-centered nature of the fatwa itself: “As if the people who came up with the logo were thinking that we want to put this special logo on the car just to piss us [Muslims] off?”

The TV presenter concludes, “With all of the problems in Egypt, you’re concerned about the cross?... We’re calling for unity [in the country] and then you come up with [fatwas] like this?”

By the way, there’s actually a few theories going around about the symbolism behind the Chevrolet logo. One common story is that General Motors co-founder William C. Durant copied the design off some wallpaper he saw in a Parisian Hotel. But historian Ken Kaufmann says the logo is actually based on iconography used by the Southern Compressed Coal Company ad for its “Coalettes” logo.

Either way, it’s usually referred to as a bowtie emblem, of which there are many examples in various corporate logos.

Knowledge is power, people. And I’m too annoyed to comment further.

Canadian Honor Killing Trial: Shafia Trial Resumes After Bomb Scare Prompts Delay

2012-01-26T17:38:00.000-08:00

From Sympatico.ca:

The Shafia family murder trial in Kingston, Ont. resumed Thursday afternoon with increased security after a bomb scare delayed proceedings earlier in the day.

Justice Robert Maranger told the jury to "expect the unexpected," which was greeted by laughs as they filed back in.

Spectators slowly made their way back into the courtroom for the trial after police implemented tight security procedures.

Maranger told the jury that the Crown would finish its closing arguments Thursday, and he would give his final instructions to the jury Friday.

Earlier Thursday, journalists and spectators who had lined up hours before court was scheduled to begin were suddenly told by police they had to leave.

Police would only say there was a "security concern," but a source told The Canadian Press that a bomb threat prompted the evacuation.

"I can neither confirm nor deny in regards to specifically a bomb, but we are just stating at this point in time it is a security concern," Const. Steve Koopman told The Canadian Press. "As you can see we're taking it extremely seriously."

Mohammad Shafia, 58, his wife Tooba Yahya, 42, and their son Hamed, 21, have each pleaded not guilty to four counts of first-degree murder.

They were evacuated from the courthouse Thursday in a police prisoner vehicle.

Koopman couldn't say if the security threat was directly related to the Shafia trial.

The trio is accused of killing teenage Shafia daughters Zainab, 19, Sahar, 17, and Geeti, 13, as well as Shafia's first wife in his polygamous marriage.

The Crown began its final arguments on Wednesday and was expected to wrap up later today.

Three defence lawyers presented their final arguments Tuesday and Wednesday.

The bodies of the four were found in June 2009 in a car at the bottom of a canal in Kingston.

The Montreal family had stopped in Kingston on their way back from a trip to Niagara Falls, Ont.

The Crown has alleged that the girls were murdered by their father, his wife and their brother, and that the killing was then made to look like an accident after the fact.

The Crown's argument is built on the premise that the girls broke the family's moral code and dishonoured their family by wearing clothing that was not conservative and having secret boyfriends.

The defence, however, calls the argument preposterous and said the deaths were the result of a tragic accident.

'Strict Muslim' Raped Four Women At Knifepoint To 'Punish Them For Being On The Streets At Night'

2012-01-26T17:30:00.000-08:00

From the Daily Mail:

A Muslim man who raped women to 'teach them a lesson' for being on the streets at night was jailed indefinitely today because of the danger he poses to women.

Sunny Islam [pictured], 23, who comes from a strict Muslim family, dragged his terrified victims - including a 15-year-old - from the street at knifepoint, bound and assaulted them during a two-month reign of terror.

Police fear that Islam may have attacked many more.

Three of the assaults took place close to his home in Barking, east London, while a fourth occurred in nearby Forest Gate.

Judge Patricia Lees, sentencing him to a minimum of 11 years, said: 'The harm you have done to your victims is incalculable.

'The nature and extent of these offences drives me to the conclusion that you represent an extreme and continuing danger to women, particularly those out at night.'

He was traced through the number plate of his girlfriend's car after he kidnapped and raped the 15-year-old in September 2010.

He grabbed her from behind as she walked home with a friend and bundled her into the car at knifepoint before driving to a secluded spot where he raped her twice despite her claiming she was only 11 years old.

Judge Lees said: 'You told her you were going to "teach her a lesson", and similar things were said to the other women.

'Those words are a chilling indictment of your very troubling attitude towards all of these victims.

'You seem to observe women out at night as not deserving respect or protection.

'I have no doubt that you were out that night looking for a victim, as you were on each of these occasions.'

The teen, who feared she would be murdered, was in court and smiled as her attacker was jailed.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, she said: 'No one will ever understand the flashbacks - they are so real. At night, I lay in my bed and it is like I am there.

'It is like a screen in my mind forcing me to relive that night again and again.

'People will say time will heal, but I think time has helped me accept the truth - that I will never escape what has happened to me.'

After his arrest, Islam's DNA was linked with three other attacks near his home in Barking, prosecutor Sara Lawson told Woolwich Crown Court....

Read it all here.

Muslim Brotherhood Vows To Shun Israeli Officials

2012-01-26T17:29:00.000-08:00

From Al Masry Al Youm:

The Muslim Brotherhood will not speak or meet with Israeli officials and its stance on Israel is not up for discussion, group spokesperson Mahmoud Ghezlan told London-based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper.

“It’s illogical to have dialogue, any dialogue, in light of the Israeli practices against the Arab peoples,” the paper quoted him as saying in an article published Wednesday.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Yigal Palmor told Israeli radio that Israel has not ruled out talks.

“We will be happy to hold dialogues with whoever wants to have dialogue with us,” Palmor said.

The Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party controls 47 percent of the seats in the newly formed People’s Assembly, but the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces is still running the executive branch of Egypt’s government.

Some fear that Islamists will push for ending the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.

Western officials met with several Muslim Brotherhood and Islamist leaders after People’s Assembly elections.

Ghezlan said the group had not received a similar invitation from the Israeli Embassy in Cairo, but that any such request would be rejected.

FBI Arrests Suburban Denver Man Indicted On Charges Of Supporting Terrorist Organization

2012-01-25T12:05:00.000-08:00

From the Washington Post:

AURORA, Colo. — The FBI arrested a refugee from Uzbekistan at Chicago’s O’Hare airport on charges that he planned to travel overseas to fight for a terrorist group and give up his life if necessary, an official said Monday.

However, there was no evidence that suspect Jamshid Muhtorov was plotting attacks inside the United States, authorities said.

Muhtorov, 35, of Aurora, Colo., was arrested Saturday by members of the FBI’s Denver and Chicago Joint Terrorism Task Forces.

Muhtorov, who goes by several other names, was indicted on charges of providing and attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. Prosecutors allege he planned to fight for the Islamic Jihad Union, which has been blamed for suicide attacks in Uzbekistan and claimed responsibility for numerous attacks against coalition forces in Afghanistan.

An FBI affidavit said the group also carried out simultaneous suicide bombings of the U.S. and Israeli embassies and a prosecutor’s office in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Muhtorov was arrested without incident before he could board a flight to Istanbul, Turkey, said Dean Boyd, a spokesman for the U.S. Justice Department in Washington.

Muhtorov made a brief court appearance Monday morning in Chicago and waived his rights to further hearings in the northern Illinois district. Judge Morton Denlow then ordered Muhtorov to be transferred to Denver but it wasn’t immediately clear how soon that would happen.

No one answered the door Monday at an apartment where the FBI said Muhtorov lived.

Investigators obtained a search warrant for Muhtorov’s apartment for a laptop computer, a Blackberry cellphone, and permission to search two email accounts they said were used by Muhtorov, according to the indictment.

The FBI said Muhtorov communicated with a contact with the terror organization by email using code words, asking to be invited to the “wedding.” He also told the contact that he was “ready for any task, even with the risk of dying,” the FBI said.

In April, Muhtorov emailed the contact that an associate had sent money for a “wedding gift” and expressed willingness to help with the wedding, the FBI affidavit said. In a May email, Muhtorov said he planned to travel to Istanbul and would bring a “wedding gift,” the affidavit said.

The affidavit said the FBI intercepted phone calls last summer between Muhtorov and his wife in which they argued about travel plans to Kyrgyzstan or Turkey.

In a July phone call, Muhtorov told a young daughter he would never see her again, but “if she was a good Muslim girl, he will see her in heaven,” the FBI said.

Neighbors said Muhtorov worked as a truck driver and lived with three children and a woman. They often cooked on a barbecue grill, and two of the children — a girl about 6 years old and a boy about 4 — sometimes played outside.

Cody Bank said a white, unmarked 18-wheeler truck was often parked outside the building. He said he saw Muhtorov and his family out barbecuing once a week, but he didn’t talk to him.

Susan Benjamin, who lives nearby, said she sometimes saw a man and the two young children who lived in the apartment going for rides around the neighborhood in the cab of the truck.

Kevin Inman, whose apartment is in the same building as Muhtorov’s, said people he assumed were in law enforcement were in and out of Muhtorov’s apartment much of the day on Saturday.

If convicted, Muhtorov could face a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison, and up to a $250,000 fine.

It wasn’t the first terrorism case with ties to the Denver suburb of Aurora.

Najibullah Zazi, a Denver airport shuttle driver who pleaded guilty to planning to bomb the New York City subway, also was from Aurora.

Zazi, an Afghan immigrant, bought beauty supplies in Aurora to make peroxide-based bombs. He tried to mix explosives in a hotel room in the city then drove to New York to carry out an attack just before the 2009 anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

After becoming suspicious that he was being watched by law enforcement, he abandoned the plan and returned to Colorado.

Prosecutors allege Zazi and two associates went to Afghanistan in 2008 to join the Taliban and fight U.S. soldiers. They instead were recruited by al-Qaida operatives, who gave them weapons training in their Pakistan camp and asked them to become suicide bombers, authorities say.

Zazi’s father, Mohammed Zazi, also of Aurora, was convicted in July of destroying evidence and lying to investigators to cover up his son’s plot.

Syria Rejects Peace Effort From Region

2012-01-25T12:04:00.000-08:00

From The New York Times:

Saying that “half the universe” was conspiring against his country, the Syrian foreign minister forcefully rejected a regional attempt to broker an end to the 10-month conflict here on Tuesday and suggested that there would be no end to the government’s use of force to put down the uprising.

Speaking to reporters in Damascus, the foreign minister, Walid al-Moallem, said armed groups had stepped up attacks on the security services and civilians, and promised that the government would deal with the groups “firmly.”

Activists reported a sharp escalation of violence in the last two days, saying at least 17 people were killed in one neighborhood alone in troubled Homs, the city that has become a focal point for concerns about Syria’s slide into civil war.

The Local Coordination Committees, an opposition group, said that across the country, at least 68 people had been killed.

The growing tensions came as regional and Western countries searched for ways to implement an Arab League proposal that called on President Bashar al-Assad to yield power, an ambitious plan that reflected frustrations at every other effort to stem the killings.

The Arab League is pressing for the United Nations Security Council to endorse its new plan, which also calls on the government to start a dialogue with its opponents that would lead to the formation of a unity government.

At the United Nations on Tuesday, key Western members and their Arab allies drafted a new Security Council resolution that endorses the Arab League action, senior diplomats said. But putting it into play hinged on a briefing from Nabil al-Araby, the Arab League secretary general, which might happen by video this Friday or could be delayed until he can show up in person on Feb. 8, they said. Such a resolution would have to win the approval of Russia, a close ally of Syria that, along with China, vetoed a resolution condemning Syria in October.

The impasse has thwarted the council for months, and animosity was vividly on display in the chamber on Tuesday. Without naming Russia, ambassadors of the United States, Britain and France all strongly criticized it for continuing to deliver arms to the government in Damascus.

Mark Lyall Grant, the British ambassador, said London was concerned about the delivery of weapons to either side in Syria, but he singled out an interview by the Russian envoy — without naming him or his country — in which he said arms shipments had no effect on the situation.

“We fundamentally disagree,” Mr. Lyall Grant said. “It is glaringly obvious that transferring weapons into a volatile and violent situation is irresponsible and will only fuel the bloodshed.”

The Russian ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, accused the Western nations — also without naming them — of seeking to use antigovernment demonstrators to bring to power here a government closer to their interests.

In Damascus, Mr. Moallem chided the Arab states for efforts to win United Nations approval.

Despite his condemnation of meddling in this country’s internal affairs, Syria on Tuesday approved a one-month extension of an Arab League monitoring mission, which has been criticized for failing to curb the violence. Echoing the frustration, six Persian Gulf countries announced that they were pulling their citizens from the observer mission, saying the killing was continuing.

Pakistan: Islamic Militants Are Likely Responsible For Kidnappings Of Health Workers

2012-01-25T12:02:00.000-08:00

Thank you Pakistani police for clearing that one up... we thought it was the Quakers who did it.

From the AFP:

Pakistan police on Tuesday accused Islamist militants over the kidnapping of a German aid worker and his Italian colleague, snatched at gunpoint five days ago.

The two aid workers were dragged from the home they rented in Pakistan's central shrine city of Multan late Thursday, bringing to six the number of Westerners kidnapped in Pakistan since July.

"The kidnappers have made no contact so far," Azhar Akram, the head of the police investigation team told AFP from Multan.

Masked gunmen snatched the two aid workers, but left behind a guard and a Western woman also staying at the house.

"It could be a simple case of kidnapping for ransom, an extremist group may be involved or may be linked to some personal issue," he added.

The German and Italian had been working for a year to help rehabilitate villagers affected by devastating floods in 2010.

Another member of the police team confirmed that suspicion was falling on Islamist extremists.

"The gunmen are believed to have taken them to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province or some tribal town" in the lawless region on Afghan border," he told AFP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

On Sunday, a Kenyan aid worker also went missing with his Pakistani driver. Police fear the pair have also been kidnapped.

Earlier this month, gunmen kidnapped a British man working for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Pakistan's insurgency-hit southwestern province of Baluchistan.

Last August, an American development director, Warren Weinstein, 70, was snatched from his home in Lahore and in July a Swiss couple were kidnapped while driving through Baluchistan.

The Taliban claim to have the Swiss. Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri claims to be holding Weinstein, but the terror group has released no proof.

Islamic Movement Of Uzbekistan Boasts Of Pious Muslims, Qur'an Memorizers Among Its Jihad Terror "Martyrs"

2012-01-25T12:01:00.000-08:00

From Jihad Watch:

How did all these madrassa students and memorizers of the Qur'an misunderstand Islam so spectacularly as to think that jihad had something to do with a hot war against infidels?

"An Uzbek struggle in name only," by J Z Adams for Asia Times, January 25:

The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) in November released on its website, alfurqon.com, a list of its "martyrs" of 2011. The most striking aspect of the list, with its biographies and profile photographs written in the Cyrillic alphabet of the Uzbek language, is that only four of the 87 martyrs were from Uzbekistan.
The list shows how the IMU has evolved from being a group focused on overthrowing the "apostate" regime of Islam Karimov in Uzbekistan in the late 1990s and early 2000s into the global jihadi movement that it is now. Neither the biographies nor the preface to the list focus on Uzbekistan, and while 64 martyrs come from Afghanistan, 10 were from Tajikistan, six from Kyrgyzstan, with one each from Tatarstan (Russia), Germany and Pakistan.

Since the IMU left its bases in northern Afghanistan and took refuge with the Taliban in South Waziristan, Pakistan, after the US invasion of Afghanistan in October 2011, the composition of IMU fighters has become so "indigenized" in Afghanistan-Pakistan that the IMU is "Uzbek" in name only.

The IMU's priorities are now one and the same with the Taliban. As shown by the biographies, the IMU is focused on expelling the US from Afghanistan and fighting the Pakistani and Afghan armies.

Only after the US and its allies are defeated in Afghanistan can the IMU return to its bases in northern Afghanistan and fulfill the goals of its leader from 2002 to 2009, Tohir Yuldashev, who envisioned the IMU overthrowing the Karimov regime in Uzbekistan and other Central Asian governments in order to establish an Islamic State in all of "Turkistan"....

The following are some excerpts from the list of martyrs about the IMU's focus on fighting international forces; its continued respect for Yuldashev despite the group's current Afghanistan-oriented strategy; the use of madrassas (seminaries) for recruitment; the challenges of pulling jihadis from their families; the role of revenge against the US in motivating IMU fighters; and the IMU's pride for multi-ethnicism within its ranks....

Qori Mirojiddin "Muoz" (Baghlan, Afghanistan): He was studying the Koran in the madrassas in Khoja District of Takhor Province. When the battle against the hypocrites and the apostates flourished in his region, he considered it a shame not to help his Muslim brothers. He immediately joined the mujahideen. When the hypocritical Afghan army troops became stronger, and the region was taken over by a pro-American government, together with mujahideen Mirojiddin moved to Baghlan province. His sacrifice was destined to be in the Burka district of Baghlan province. May Allah bless this martyr friend of ours.

Ammor (Afghanistan, Saripul): Ammor comes from the Arab population living in Afghanistan. Although he was born in Saripul, he received his education in a madrassa located in Kunduz. This is where he became interested in jihad. He took part in jihad activities and received military training at an IMU base. After completing his training he was sent to Saripul where soon after he was killed in a fight against infidels. His death had a huge impact on his relatives and friends and many of them decided to join the jihad. During the next fights they succeeded in destroying an American "Chinook" helicopter.

Qori Bashir "Mus'ab" (Afghanistan, Baghlan): Qori Bashir was born in 1987 in Burka. During his childhood years he went through an orphan's school lifestyle. In 2004, at the age 17 he was accepted to "dorul huffoz" (a madrassa meaning "Abode of Recitation"). He started learning Sharia. Despite his weak physical state and proneness to illness he joined the jihad movement. Few months afterwards he sacrificed himself to Allah.

Shoh Masud "Talha" (Afghanistan, Baghlan): Shoh Masud also comes from Burka. He was a regular student at a madrassa. With his love and dedication to jihad he joined the Movement. However due to his young age he was not accepted for a while. At the end he achieved his goal. He joined the Movement, participated in jihad, and became a martyr.

Mullo Fayzulloh "Muttaqiy" (Afghanistan, Baghan): Mullo Fayzullo from Burka was famous for his name "Muttaqiy" and spent most of his life in madrassas. It was a short time before he was about to finish the required studies and start wearing a white turban, but it did not happen .... He sacrificed himself in the name of the war against Islam's enemies.

Qori Abdul Hamid(Uzbekistan, Mingbulak): Abdul Hamid also was raised in our madrassa. At 17 he became a Koran hofiz [reciter]. Before that he learned to use weapons and took part in jihad because in our Movement young men start when they are 15-16 years old ...

Shamsur Rahmon "Yusuf" (Afghanistan, Tahor): Shamsur Rahmon was born in Tahor. He joined the Movement in the winter. As usually happens, his parents tried to convince him to go back home, however they did not succeed. Soon after he gave his soul to Allah....

Najmon "Muhojir sohib" (Afghanistan, Baghlan): Najmon comes from Kunduz province's Khanabad area. His father was a well-educated person and during the invasion by the Soviets he served as a doctor. He also was a mentor to Najmon. He had a family and children ... However, he had a strong desire to serve Islam and Muslims. This led to his decision to join the Movement. He regularly supplied the movement with weapons. His hotel (guesthouse) was always full of jihad fellows. At 30 he sacrificed himself to the Allah, Inshallah....

Turkish Film Highlights Gay Honor Killing

2012-01-25T11:59:00.000-08:00

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

Shortly after telling his parents he was gay, Ahmet Yildiz was gunned down inside his car by his father in Istanbul. It was Turkey's first officially recognized gay "honor killing."

An award-winning film partly inspired by Yildiz's story, which opened in dozens of cinemas across Turkey last week, is putting the spotlight on gays in a Muslim country that is seeking European Union membership but remains influenced by conservative and religious values.

The film "Zenne Dancer" — or male belly dancer — is not the nation's first gay-themed movie but is the first to explore the little-known phenomenon of men killed by family members for being gay. So-called honor killings in Turkey usually target women accused of disgracing the family.

"Our main aim was to convey Ahmet's story, but by doing so we also wanted to expose the pressure the (gay and lesbian community) faces from their family, the society and the state," said Mehmet Binay, who co-directed and produced the film with his partner, Caner Alper.

"Zenne Dancer" won four awards at Turkey's coveted Antalya Golden Orange film festival this year, including best First Film and Best Cinematography. Erkan Avci, who plays Yildiz's character, won Best Supporting Actor. The movie was also recently chosen a Best Film by an association of Turkish film critics.

Yildiz, a physics student at Istanbul's Marmara University, was shot dead on July 15, 2008 after he went out for an ice cream break while studying at home for his final exams.

An arrest warrant has been issued for his father, Yahya Yildiz, who has been charged in absentia for the murder. The father, who has been on the run for three years, is believed to be in hiding in northern Iraq.

Yildiz, who was a close friend of Binay and Alper, came from the conservative, mostly-Kurdish Sanliurfa province, where homosexuality is taboo and where officials have been struggling to stem the practice of honor killings of women. Women there have been killed for flirting or having a boyfriend without the family's consent.

Gay honor killings are believed to be common in Turkey's conservative heartland. But Yildiz's murder was the first in Turkey to be reported by authorities as a gay honor killing.

Binay said Yildiz's family suspected his homosexuality but believed he could be treated by imams and were pressuring him to return to Sanliurfa.

"He was killed shortly after he told them he would not be cured, would not return and that he was considering leaving for Germany where he might marry (his boyfriend)," he said.

In "Zenne Dancer," Yildiz's life is intertwined with the stories of two other male characters — a flamboyant Zenne dancer named Can and a bisexual German photographer, Daniel.

A stranger to Turkey's conservative traditions, Daniel encourages Yildiz to come out to his parents, insisting honesty was the best way to deal with his family.

"You don't understand," Yildiz responds in one scene: "Honesty would kill me."

Binay said he and Alper were filming a documentary on male belly dancers when Yildiz was killed. Shocked by the murder, they put the documentary on hold and decided to create a feature film that blends the story of the Zenne dancers with Yildiz's tragedy.

Turkish attitudes toward gay and lesbians are more relaxed compared to the 1980s and 1990s when police routinely raided gay bars, detained transvestites and banned gay festivals. Gay sex is not considered a crime in the country, and some bars and clubs in major cities openly cater to gays.

But a majority of gays still choose to hide their lifestyle in a country where liberal views have yet to make inroads in rural areas and many urban settings.

Last year, a former government minister described homosexuality as a biological disorder that needs to be treated, while municipalities have some leeway to introduce laws safeguarding "morality," which gay activists view as a potential threat to their freedom.

Some gays openly acknowledge their sexual orientation, including poet Murathan Mungan and the late singer Zeki Muren. Zenne dancing itself harks back to the Ottoman Empire, a time when there was a degree of tolerance toward gay sex among some sectors of the elite.

Hebun LGTB, a gay and lesbian group based in the conservative city Diyarbakir that neighbors Sanliurfa, described the film as an opportunity to break ingrained attitudes toward gays in traditional areas.

"There was a piece of us in each of the characters," said a group member, Arif, who declined to give his surname because his family does not know about his sexual orientation. "I am in the same situation as Ahmet Yildiz: If I was honest, I would be killed by my family."

"If out of all the people who watch it, just 10 are able to change their attitudes, then the filmmakers should be happy," he said.

Despite one article in a pro-Islamic newspaper that branded "Zenne Dancer" a "film for perverts," Binay says he and Alper have not received any threats or hate mail, and that some 35,000 people have seen the movie in its first week.

Gulsah Simsek, a 23-year old student, watched "Zenne Dancer" in Ankara.

"Some of the swearing and some of the scenes shocked me," she said. "But there must be so many people like (Yildiz) and it's good that the pain they suffer is being told."

Binay and Alper have been same-sex partners for 14 years and openly came out as a couple during one of the film's early screenings. They regularly attend showings where they hold discussions on attitudes toward homosexuality.

The film is showing in 50 cinemas in 16 out of Turkey's 81 provinces, including conservative Diyarbakir.

"The (positive) response we got in Istanbul wasn't much different to the response we got in Diyarbakir," Binay said. "We are encouraged by the attitudes in (traditional) regions."

Danish Police: Immigrant Criminals Target Danes To Make Them Move Out Of The (Muslim) Area

2012-01-24T18:07:00.000-08:00

From Jihad Watch:

Muslims' right to rob non-Muslims has been established since their prophet (always "their", not "the") attracted fighters by allowing booty and rape when attacking non-Muslims. An anonymous Danish police officer now says that "immigrant" criminals are targeting non-Muslims because they want them to leave the area. I guess the non-Muslims could avoid such attacks if they paid jizya to the local mosque.
Here is an account of Muhammed's copy cats at work, translated from B.T., January 23rd 2012. Vollsmose is one of the biggest Muslim ghettos in Denmark, located in Odense on the Island of Funen. "Police officer: They want the Danes out of the area. Danes targeted in burglaries in Vollsmose":

If your last name is 'Hansen' or 'Nielsen,' and do you live in the Odense district of Vollsmose, your risk of becoming the victim of a burglary is significantly higher than if you had had a more foreign-sounding surname.
A burglary campaign against ethnic Danes has spread in the troubled district in the recent months.

- There is a kind of racism out there, where we find that more and more Danes are chased out of the area. It happens as a result of a big increase in burglaries. There have been approximately 150 burglaries the last four months. What is striking is that nine out of ten burglaries are now directed against ethnic Danes, a cop at Funen Police headquarters explains. The cop does not want us to publish his name for fear of losing his job. His name is known by the editors. The officer believes that someone is trying to cleanse the area from the remaining Danes.

- Several of the young offenders have directly said that they want Vollsmose for themselves. Last year a Danish family reported several incidents, with the result that the family's apartment was vandalized every week until the family finally gave up and moved out of the area. Additionally, many of these burglaries resemble actual vandalism, which make it look like some kind of revenge.

The officer criticizes the way the authorities are handling the problem. He believes that they are trying to cover up the development simply because it is controversial.

- Everyone knows it ... Why they put a lid on it I do not know, but I guess it is because it is politically controversial. ...

The local police deputy in Vollsmose, Bjarne Puggaard, confirms that there is a dramatic increase in the number of burglaries in the area. He does not want to confirm whether it is especially ethnic Danes who are victims of the many burglaries.

Shortly after the interview with the local police, bt.dk, however, receives a phone call from the Funen chief of police. After a little reflection, the police now suddenly wish to confirm that the burglaries are mainly targeted at Danes. ...

- I have no idea why they look at the name of the mailbox before they commit burglary.

Top Official Says Hamas Will Never Renounce Jihad

2012-01-24T17:53:00.004-08:00

Hardly surprising. They've been saying the same thing for years. Good luck with that peace compromise, Israel.

From the AFP:

Senior Hamas official Mahmud Zahar (AFP/File, Mahmud Hams)GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories — Senior Hamas official Mahmud Zahar said on Monday that the Palestinian Islamist movement will never give up its armed struggled against Israel.

The statement comes as Gaza Strip officials openly attacked the movement's leader-in-exile Khaled Meshaal, who has decided not to run again this summer for the leadership of Hamas, for prioritising "peaceful resistance."

"We are fighting for our dignity and rights. Jihad is our path, our life, our pride and we will not renounce it no matter the sacrifices," said Zahar, quoted on the website of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's armed wing.

Hamas will "never give up its armed struggle against the Zionist enemy," he said during a speech in Zeitun, a neighbourhood in east Gaza, in honour of the "martyrs" of Israel's December 2008-January 2009 Cast Lead operation against the enclave.

Damascus-based Meshaal, who survived a 1997 Israeli assassination bid, has confirmed he wants to quit after eight years in the post, the Islamist movement that has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007 said on Saturday.

"Political bureau chief Khaled Meshaal has notified Hamas's consultative council that he does not wish to be a candidate for the movement's future leadership," a statement said.

The political bureau is Hamas's principal decision-making body and its members are elected by secret ballot by the much larger consultative council.

The next elections are expected to be held in July or August, Hamas sources have said.

Among the leading candidates to replace Meshaal are his number two, Mussa Abu Marzuq, who also lives in exile, the leader of the Hamas government in Gaza, Ismail Haniya, and Mahmud Zahar, another prominent Hamas figure in Gaza.

Why The US President Should Speak Out Against Religious Persecution

2012-01-24T17:53:00.002-08:00

From Jihad Watch:

Yesterday on Christian Solidarity International (via RaymondIbrahim.com), I discussed the many reasons why a president of the United States -- I don't name any, specifically, lest I be accused of great naivety -- should speak up on behalf of the religious minorities being persecuted, cleansed, or merely oppressed under Islam. [Note: If, while reading the following article, you wish to tell the current president to stand up for religious minorities in the Islamic Middle East, sign CSI's petition]:
On January 24, during his State of the Union Address, the president of the United States has a chance to expose the plight of religious minorities living in Muslim majority nations. Doing so would not merely shed light on one of the most ignored humanitarian crises of the 21st century; it would help alleviate it.
Why should the president speak up on the oppression of religious minorities? For starters, because it is the right thing to do, and reflects American values and principles.

He should speak up because religious cleansing is currently underway in nations like Nigeria, where Boko Haram—"Western Education is Forbidden"—and other Islamic groups have declared jihad on the Christian minorities of the north, killing and displacing thousands, burning and bombing hundreds of churches, most notoriously this last Christmas, where over forty people were killed while celebrating Christmas mass. Likewise, since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, about half of Iraq's one million Christians have been forced by targeted violence to flee their homeland, the most notorious incident, again, being a church attack, where some 60 worshippers were killed.

He should speak up because churches are constantly being attacked, burned, or forced into closure, not just in Nigeria and Iraq, but in Afghanistan, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia (click on country-links for the most recent examples). In Egypt alone, after several churches were burned, thousands of Christian Copts gathered to demonstrate—only to be slaughtered by the military, including by being run-over by armored vehicles.

He should speak up because Muslim converts to Christianity are regularly ostracized, beat, killed, or imprisoned—recent examples coming from Algeria, Eritrea, Kashmir, Kenya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, and even Western nations. Iran's Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani, whose plight actually made it to the mainstream media, is but one of many people imprisoned and tortured for simply following their conscience and converting to Christianity. Uganda offers a typical example: there, a Muslim father locked his 14-year-old daughter for several months without food or water, simply because she embraced Christianity. She weighed 44 pounds when rescued.

He should speak up because Christian girls are being abducted, raped, and forced to convert to Islam—recent examples coming from Egypt, India, Pakistan, and Sudan. In Pakistan alone, "a 12 year-old Christian [was] gang raped for eight months, forcibly converted and then 'married' to her Muslim attacker." Now that she has escaped, instead of seeing justice done, "the Christian family is in hiding from the rapists and the police." Earlier in Pakistan, a 2-year-old Christian girl was savagely raped and damaged for life because her father refused to convert to Islam...
Read it all.

Afghan Soldier Kills French Troops Over Video Showing Marines Urinating On Taliban Terrorists

2012-01-24T17:53:00.001-08:00

Urinating on the Taliban prompts holy, religious indignation from those who are supposed to be against the Taliban... (Note: that indignation includes murdering guys there to save them from religious fanatics.)

From The Sydney Morning Herald:

AN AFGHAN soldier who shot dead four French troops says he did it because of a recent video showing US marines urinating on the bodies of Taliban insurgents, security sources say.

The attack on the unarmed soldiers came on Friday at a base in eastern Afghanistan and left 15 other French troops wounded, eight seriously.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy reacted angrily, threatening to pull his forces out of Afghanistan ahead of the 2014 deadline for all US-led coalition combat troops, and dispatched Defence Minister Gerard Longuet to Kabul.

That started a round of claim and counter-claim over who was responsible for the attack, with Mr Longuet saying he was told the killer was a Taliban infiltrator in the ranks of the Afghan army. The Taliban, usually quick to claim coalition deaths, said they were still investigating and suggested some of the many attacks by Afghan soldiers on their foreign counterparts were prompted by anger towards the ''invading enemy''.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, in a statement after a meeting with Mr Longuet, failed to echo his accusation against the Taliban and also played down the idea of Afghan resentment of foreign troops.

''The attack against French forces by an Afghan army soldier does not represent the anger of Afghan people, but it is just an isolated and individual action,'' he said.

The story emerging from the interrogation of the soldier arrested for the killings - named as 21-year-old Abdul Mansour - would support Mr Karzai's interpretation.

Picture of the Week: What Does Shariah Look Like?

2012-01-24T17:53:00.000-08:00

From The Religion of Peace:

Islamic terrorists are fighting for it.

Americans are called "Islamophobes" for trying to ban it.

CAIR says it's nothing to fear (for those who behave, anyway).

So, what does Sharia really look like?

Here's a before pic.
You can click here for the after (WARNING: it's quite graphic).

Iran To Continue Nuke Program Despite New Sanctions

2012-01-23T23:53:00.001-08:00

From NBC World News:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Updated at 12:30 p.m. ET: Hours after the European Union imposes an oil embargo and sanctions on Iran's central bank, France, Britain and Germany say they are willing to negotiate with Iran if it is ready to talk seriously about its nuclear program.

"We call on Iran's leadership immediately to suspend its sensitive nuclear activities and abide fully by its international obligations," the European countries say in a joint statement. "Until Iran comes to the table, we will be united behind strong measures to undermine the regime's ability to fund its nuclear program."

In response, the offices of Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issues the following statement, according to NBC News:

"We welcome today's decision by the European Union to ban imports of Iranian crude oil and petroleum products, freeze the assets of the Iranian central bank, and take additional action against Iran's energy, financial, and transport sectors."

Updated at 12 p.m. ET: Iran says a European Union decision Monday to impose new sanctions over its nuclear program is "psychological warfare," Reuters reports.
"... Imposing economic sanctions is illogical and unfair but will not stop our nation from obtaining its rights," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast is quoted as saying by state television, referring to Iran's nuclear energy ambitions.
Updated at 11 a.m. ET: Russia's Foreign Ministry says the European Union was wrong to impose an oil embargo on Iran over its controversial nuclear program, The Associated Press reports.
"It's apparent that in this case there is open pressure and diktat, aimed at 'punishing' Iran for uncooperative behavior. This is a deeply mistaken policy, as we have told our European partners more than once. Under pressure of this sort, Iran will not make any concessions or any corrections to its policies," the ministry says.
Updated at 9:45 a.m. ET: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised a European Union decision to place sanctions on Iranian oil exports, Reuters reports. "I think this is a step in the right direction," Netanyahu said at a meeting of his Likud faction in parliament. "For now, it is impossible to know what the result of these sanctions will be. Heavy and swift pressure is needed on Iran and the sanctions must be evaluated according to their results."

Netanyahu also said that despite world pressure so far "Iran is continuing undeterred to develop nuclear weapons," Reuters adds.
Updated at 8:30 a.m. ET: A member of Iran's influential Assembly of Experts, former intelligence minister Ali Fallahian, says Tehran should respond to an EU decision to impose sanctions on Iran -- some of which come into force in July -- by stopping oil sales to the bloc immediately. This would deny the Europeans time to arrange alternative supplies and damaging their economies with higher oil prices.
"The best way is to stop exporting oil ourselves before the end of this six months and before the implementation of the plan," the semi-official Fars news agency quoted him as saying, Reuters reports. He also reiterated that Iran could close the Strait of Hormuz, through which a third of all oil tanker traffic passes to importers around the world.

Published at 7:45 a.m. ET: The European Union on Monday adopted an oil embargo against Iran over its nuclear program, a day after U.S., British and French warships sailed into the Persian Gulf.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague on Monday called the measure part of "an unprecedented set of sanctions."
"I think this shows the resolve of the European Union on this issue," he said.
Diplomats say the measures, adopted by the EU's 27 foreign ministers, include an immediate embargo on new contracts for crude oil and petroleum products while existing ones are allowed to run until July.
Tehran denies claims that its nuclear program is aimed at developing weapons, saying it is for peaceful purposes.
In a report that examined how Iran might respond to an EU oil embargo, Professor Paul Stevens, a visiting professor at University College London (Australia) and research fellow at U.K. think tank Chatham House, said it was "extremely unlikely" that Iran would not retaliate.
'Lockerbie-type response' feared
Stevens said that if Iran seriously threatened the transit of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route for world supplies, this would "rapidly degenerate into a shooting war" between Iran and the U.S., supported by its allies.
He expressed doubts Iran would try to do this, saying it was a "very powerful card that Iran is unlikely to play early in the game."
However, Stevens said Iran had other retaliation options, warning that there "could even be a Lockerbie-type response prompted by elements from within Iran," referring to the bombing ofPan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which led to 270 deaths. That attack was blamed on Moammar Gadhafi's Libyan regime.
He also said Iran could try to push oil prices upward by creating further instability in Iraq, hitting that country's oil exports; make "serious trouble" for NATO in Afghanistan; and also put "huge pressure" on other Gulf oil exporters and "at worst" threaten oil facilities."
Stevens said the Abqaiq processing facility in Saudi Arabia was "well within Iranian missile range."
On Sunday, the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and its battle group sailed through the Strait of Hormuz, despite previous threats from Iran to attack the aircraft carrier Stennis if it returned to the Gulf.

Nigeria: Muslim Terrorists Destroy Christian Orphanage

2012-01-23T23:53:00.000-08:00

From Jihad Watch:

But Nigerian officials assure us that the end of Boko Haram is near, only weeks after admitting that the jihad group had friends and supporters in high levels of the Nigerian government. Sounds as if the claims that the jihadis' end is near are just face-saving.

"Troops swoop on Boko Haram, claim end of sect is near," from The Guardian (Nigeria), January 24 (thanks to Clark):

SECURITY agents operating under the aegis of the Joint Task Force (JTF) on Operation Restore Order (ORO) in Maiduguri have killed four persons suspected to be members of the fundamentalist Islamic sect Boko Haram.
But the uncovering of vehicles laden with Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) cast a shadow over this victory.

The vehicles with the IEDs said to be owned by members of Boko Haram were uncovered in Kano where about 200 people were killed by the sect last Friday.

It was learnt that two vehicles, Honda and Camry cars, were discovered to have contained the explosive devices at Gorondutse and Sheka parts of the metropolis.

Though there is no official reaction to the discovery, it is believed that the explosives may have been abandoned by Boko Haram members.

To ensure the return of peace to the state, Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and the Emir of Kano, Ado Bayero, yesterday led hundreds of Muslim faithful in a special prayer session.

However, commercial banks that initially opened had to shut down at about 10.00 a.m. when false news filtered into town that the state government had declared yesterday a work-free day.

Armed soldiers and plain clothes security personnel patrolled strategic points within the metropolis and stern-looking security operatives barred residents from gaining access to any of the police formations within the metropolis.

Suspected Boko Haram members took their terrorism to Minna, Niger State as they set ablaze a Christian missionary home, Bethany Home, and destroyed property worth millions of naira.

Although no life was lost in the attack, occupants of the home, mostly orphans and the less-privileged were rendered homeless as a result of the attack.

The Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Oluseyi Petinrin yesterday assured that Boko Haram might soon run out of suicide bombers.

Oh, that's a relief!

Israel: Arab Girl Kept Prisoner In Bathroom By Father

2012-01-23T23:48:00.000-08:00

An absolutely terrifying account of torture at the hands of a misogynistic, cruel family.

From Y-Net:

Young woman locked up by her father in bathroom for nine years tells Qalqilya welfare department of horrors of imprisonment, reveals family knew she was being held and did nothing

The young woman who was locked up in the bathroom of her father's home in Qalqilya for over nine years is facing years of rehabilitation but the city's welfare department was encouraged on Sunday by her mental strength and will to live.

"We sat with her and were surprised by her strong personality," the head of the Qalqilya welfare department Azat Maluach said. He noted that when the police arrived to rescue her, the first thing she asked for was a sweet as she claimed that throughout the years she was held captive she hadn't been given anything sweet to eat.

The shocking story was exposed over the weekend. According to suspicions, the woman's father kept her prisoner since she was 11-years-old. Her father locked her up in the bathroom for most of the day citing a "family dispute" as the reason behind her prolonged imprisonment.

According to reports, at first, the father, an Israeli Arab admitted to the charges but later on, in court, he denied them. The story reminded many of the case of Josef Fritzl in Austria, who held his daughter prisoner for 24 years, raped her and had children with her.

Maluach said that when the police officers arrived at the house to rescue the woman, she could not believe her eyes.

"She told us that she had not seen the light of day for nine years. In the house there were two bathrooms, and she was held in one of them, where she also ate. She would wash her own clothes in the bathroom and her only contact with the outside world was the radio her father left her," said Maluach.

The young woman, now 20, said her father did not hit her.

The young woman told investigators that her father used to take her out of the bathroom every night from 1 am to 4 am to clean the house. "During that whole time that she was held prisoner she never saw a doctor, even when she was sick she received no medical care. She said her father hinted that she could commit suicide if she wanted to.

"The moment we released her she started crying and asked to see her mother. We called her and she arrived immediately to hug her daughter and calm her down."

Family knew of imprisonment

The woman's parents divorced several years ago and it would seem that the father prevented the mother from seeing her daughter. After the two broke up the father remarried and at that point imprisoned his daughter.

According to Maluach the father's 'new' family was all aware of the fact that the daughter was imprisoned and yet no one reported anything to the authorities.

Maluach added that the woman said: "When I was released I was reminded of the release of the (Palestinian) prisoners and I feel I'm one of them."

The Palestinian police have handed over the father to the Shai District Police department and on Saturday night the Rishon L'Zion Magistrate's Court extended his remand by five days.

Hamas Lawmakers Arrested At Red Cross In Jerusalem

2012-01-23T23:43:00.000-08:00

From the Associated Press via Yahoo News:

Two lawmakers from the militant Palestinian party Hamas were arrested after hiding for over a year inside a Red Cross compound in Jerusalem, an Israeli police spokesman said Monday.

The spokesman, Micky Rosenfeld, said the men were wanted for "Hamas activities." He would not elaborate.

Red Cross officials confirmed the men had been holed up inside. In a statement, the Red Cross said that Khaled Abu Arfa and Mohammed Totah sought refuge in the compound on July 1, 2010, to escape Israeli arrest.

Israel, the U.S., EU and Israel list Hamas as a terror group due to its suicide bombings and other attacks aimed at civilians that have killed hundreds of Israelis.

Israel bans Hamas from operating in Jerusalem. Last week Israel arrested the Hamas speaker of the Palestinian parliament.

Rosenfeld said the Hamas men were arrested when they ventured outside the Red Cross compound Monday.

Shortly after the arrests, a group of Palestinians forced their way into the Red Cross compound, Red Cross spokeswoman Cecilia Goin said. "They acted violently against Red Cross staff and then left," Goin said. Nobody was seriously hurt, she said.

Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri confirmed they were hiding at the Red Cross for a year and a half. "This is a Zionist crime," he said. "Their abduction is a violation of their rights."

Hamas lawmakers have taken refuge at the Red Cross compound before. Last September Israeli police arrested another Hamas lawmaker who had been hiding at the facility for a year.

The men were Hamas lawmakers in the Palestinian parliament, which has not functioned since Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007 from the Palestinian Fatah Party of President Mahmoud Abbas.

They were among four Hamas officials Israel arrested in 2006 after an Israeli soldier was abducted by Gaza militants allied to the militant Islamic group.

After spending time in jail, they were ordered to leave Jerusalem but hid at the Red Cross instead to avoid expulsion.

"Hamas forcing itself on the Red Cross is not new," Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said. "It raises serious questions about the abuse by Hamas of Red Cross neutrality and about the impotence of the Red Cross to counter such abuse."

In July last year, Israel sought clarifications from the Red Cross following a demonstration outside the organization's Gaza headquarters for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, including many involved in deadly attacks. Israel charged that the Red Cross helped organize the event and said such activities compromise its neutrality.

Man Suspected Of Islamic Terror Activities In UK Tells Cops: "I’m going to cut your head off and machine gun the lot of you"

2012-01-23T23:33:00.000-08:00

From Jihad Watch:

Will the Islamophobia never end?

"Man in Cardiff counter-terror raid told police he would 'cut your head off and machine gun the lot of you', court told," by Ian Caleb for Walesonline, January 22 (thanks to Twostellas):

A MAN arrested in a police counter-terrorism operation told an officer he would “cut your head off and machine gun the lot of you”, a court has heard.
Mohammed Abdin, 21, will be sentenced in Cardiff Crown Court next month after admitting throwing furniture and threatening officers when they stormed a meeting in Canton Community Centre, Cardiff, on Thursday.

See also: Anti-terror police raid ‘extremist’ meeting in community hall

But despite the sting being prompted by concerns the group were associated with outlawed organisation Muslims Against Crusades, Abdin’s solicitor Derek Gooden argued that a peaceful community group had been wrongfully broken up because of unsubstantiated fears.

Mani Ranauta, prosecuting, told Cardiff magistrates’ court yesterday how Abdin, of Clare Road, Grangetown, Cardiff, already had a four-month suspended sentence for affray he had committed during a protest about 9/11 last year.

“At Canton Community Centre on Thursday, January 19, at 8.10pm, officers arrived with the intent to issue a dispersal order to the group, fearing there was going to be a breach of the peace,” she said.

“When they entered, they were immediately met with hostility.

“Out of the 25 in attendance, 12 were aggressive individuals, with tables and chairs being upturned and thrown in the direction of officers.

“The defendant lunged at the officers several times, in an attempt to grab the camera they were filming with.

“Attempts were made to calm the group down, but the defendant continued, shouting “I’m going to cut your head off and machine gun the lot of you” and specifically pointing at officers saying “I’ve seen your face.”

The court heard that when cautioned, Abdin told an officer: “F*** off you white ****.”

In response, Derek Gooden, defending, said the “flowery words” Abdin had used were prompted by what they believed to be an unwarranted police invasion.

Adding that emotions had clearly been running high as a result of the intrusion, Mr Gooden said: “A number of individuals gathered at a community centre to discuss their religion. There is nothing to suggest there is a link to terrorism, as the local press has indicated.

“Those 25 individuals mentioned included women and children and this was nothing more than a meeting of Muslims to discuss the Qur’an.

“Jewish people were welcome, Catholic people were welcome, Protestant people were welcome, because all they are doing is discussing the Qur’an.”

Referring to the previous count of affray, Mr Gooden said Abdin and a number of individuals were lawfully demonstrating and airing their views, when a larger group of people from the English Defence Front had begun to make their presence felt.

Abdin had then used force to prevent a colleague from being hurt, he said.

“Mr Abdin has not been charged with being part of an extremist organisation. He wasn’t a part of the group for the previous incident, he was merely protesting with them, and there is nothing to suggest otherwise,” he said.

“This was no more than a lawful assembly in a community centre. I hope we are not living in a day where it is unlawful to discuss religion or politics, however distasteful we find the discussion, and have the fear of that being broken up.”

No, we're just living in a day where it is unlawful to threaten to behead police officers.

Muslims In Egypt Burn Christian Homes And Shops, Attack Church

2012-01-20T23:55:00.004-08:00

From the Assyrian International News Agency:

A Muslim mob attacked Copts today in the Upper Egyptian village of Rahmaniya-Kebly, Nag Hammadi, Qena province, destroying and torching their homes, straw huts and shops, while chanting Allahu Akbar. No one was reported killed or injured (video). According to reports, security forces were present but did not intervene and the fire brigade arrived 90 minutes late.

An eye-witness said that a straw hut belonging to a Copt was torched to clear the area for a mosque. There are more than 300 mosques in the village and one church.

According to Coptic residents, the reason behind the violence was the parliamentary elections. The Salafists wanted to prevent Copts, who number more than 50% of the inhabitants (20,000), from voting because they intended to vote for two moderate Muslims and not the Salafi candidates. "No Copt from Rahmaniya-Kebly was able to vote today, so the Salafists will win the elections," said a witness. Copts were forcefully prevented from voting.

US-based WAY TV, which covered live today's Rahmaniya attacks, called commander Osama, head of security at Rahmaniya, who said "everything was OK" -- despite live pictures on TV of the burning homes. Joseph Nasralla of WAY TV spoke to security and made them aware that the videos of the fires were being broadcast in the U.S. and Middle East, which caused the immediate dispatch of security vehicles. By late evening the violence had stopped.

In another incident today, a large number of Salafis and members of the Muslim Brotherhood entered the Abu Makka church, in Bahteem, Shubra-el-Khayma, Qaliubia province, and informed the congregation that the church has no licence and no one should pray in it. One Muslim said the 1300 square meter church would be suitable for a mosque and a hospital.

Bishop Marcus of Shubra el Khayma was scheduled to inaugurate the incomplete church and celebrate the Epiphany mass in the evening. According to Coptic witnesses the Bishop cancelled the festivities, which angered the congregation, who were not informed of the reason. A witness said the Muslim promised to be back tomorrow.

Suspect Arrested Over Islamist Threat Video

2012-01-20T23:55:00.003-08:00

From The Local (Norway):

A 21-year-old man will face a remand hearing on Friday following his arrest on suspicion of having posted a hateful video to the internet calling on Allah to destroy members of the Norwegian government and royal family.

The suspect will appear in front of Skien district court in south-eastern Norway at 1pm on Friday.

The man, a Norwegian citizen with a Central American family background, was arrested at his home in the town at 11pm on Wednesday by officers from the Telemark police service and the domestic police intelligence agency, PTS.

He faces preliminary charges of threatening state officials and incitement to terrorism.

The suspect’s lawyer, John Christian Elden, said his client admitted to being behind the video but did not believe it contained any threats.

“He was not previously known to police, and he doesn't think he has done anything illegal, even though he admits that he’s the one who posted the video,” said Elden.

A link to the video was posted in the early hours of Tuesday morning in a Facebook group with 1,600 members called ‘Demonstrasjon: Norske soldater ut av Afghanistan’ [Demonstration: Norwegian soldiers out of Afghanistan]. The group’s aim is to gather protesters for a rally outside the Oslo parliament on Friday.

The number of group members has dropped to below 1,300 since the video appeared there.

In the video, images of Crown Prince Haakon, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre are accompanied by a song in Arabic that contains the words: “Oh Allah, destroy them, and let it be painful”.

The clip, which is just over four minutes long, also features pictures of Norwegian soldiers and injured children. It ends with the sound of an explosion and a picture of a Norwegian vehicle in flames.

Ireland May Be The First EU State To Sell Islamic Bonds

2012-01-20T23:55:00.002-08:00

From Jihad Watch:

Ireland, of course, has been in financial trouble, and appears willing to chase after the "next big thing" at the expense of principles to see some income. In all likelihood, Sharia finance will eventually bubble and burst like every other wave of irrational exuberance in the financial sector, and economies that pursued it will be left to deal with the mess left behind. That includes an unpredictable range of potential consequences resulting from having given Sharia a foot in the door. "Ireland may be first EU state to sell Islamic bond," for Elffie Chew for the Irish Examiner, January 20:

IRELAND plans to become the first European nation to sell sovereign sukuk — Islam-approved financial certificates — as its equal tax treatment for Islamic-finance products attracts investors. The Government has agreements with more than 60 countries to avoid double taxation on Islamic transactions, Micheál Smith, the south-east Asia director of IDA Ireland, said.
Islamic finance assets around the world may rise about 16% to €1,240 billion this year, Raj Mohamad, managing director at Five Pillars, a consulting firm based in Singapore, told Bloomberg Television yesterday.

While plans to sell sukuk by Britain, France and Luxembourg have stalled, Mr Smith said Ireland will push ahead with a sale.

"Ireland will be going back to the bond market and a sukuk is an option when conditions are right. We also hope to form more working groups with Muslim countries such as Malaysia to build up a critical mass of expertise as the objective is for Dublin to become a centre of excellence for Islamic finance."

Ireland introduced tax legislation for products that comply with Islam’s ban on interest in 2010, Mr Smith, who is based in Singapore, said.

The Central Bank has a Shariah team overseeing its Islamic funds, which total about €390m under management.

The Irish Stock Exchange listed its first sukuk in 2005 and Ireland is a popular choice for sales because the nation offers a "relatively inexpensive" and timely listing process, he said.

The Government last sold bonds in September 2010, the year it had a deficit that was the highest as a percentage of gross domestic product in the developed world. The Department of Finance estimates the ratio dropped to 10.1% of GDP in 2011 from 31% the previous year.

CIMB Group Holdings, the world’s biggest sukuk arranger, said this week that it got approval to set up the first Shariah-compliant equity funds from Malaysia in Ireland.

Ireland’s bid to become an Islamic finance hub received a boost in October when Goldman Sachs Group got approval from the nation’s central bank to list its $2bn (€1.55bn) sukuk programme. The planned sale has attracted criticism among Islamic scholars, with some saying the proceeds may not be used according to Shariah law.

CIMB-Principal Islamic Asset Management, based in Kuala Lumpur, chose Ireland for its Islamic equity funds because there’s no double taxation and no withholding tax on interest payments, Jim McCaughan, chief executive of US-based venture partner Principal Global Investors, said on Monday.

An initial investment of $20m (€15.5m) will be put into three funds that will open for subscription next month, he said.

"We expect interest from Europe, Malaysia and more importantly the Persian Gulf and other Muslim countries," Mr McCaughan said. "People are getting wealthier and want to diversify their funds."

Global sales of sukuk, which pay asset returns instead of interest, total €4.7bn this year, compared with €500m in the same period in 2011, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Offerings reached a record $36.3bn last year, surpassing the $31bn raised in 2007.

The difference between the average yield for sukuk and the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, narrowed two basis points to 299 basis points yesterday, according to the HSBC/Nasdaq Dubai US Dollar Sukuk Index.

The average yield has climbed nine basis points, or 0.09% point, this year to 4.08%.

Shariah-compliant bonds have dropped 0.1% in 2012, according to the HSBC/Nasdaq index, while debt in developing markets declined 0.2%, JPMorgan Chase & Co’s EMBI Global Composite Index shows.

The Bloomberg Malaysian Sukuk Ex-MYR Index of foreign currency Islamic debt sold by companies in Malaysia rose 0.5% this year to 104.919 yesterday. The gauge increased 5.9% in 2011.

Britain cancelled what would have been the first sukuk sale by a Western government last February, saying the debt didn’t offer value for money. Luxembourg ruled out a plan to sell Islamic bonds in 2011 because the government saw no need to raise additional funding. France has legislation in place to facilitate a sale and has yet to proceed with an issue.

Ireland has a Muslim population of 30,000, according to a Department of Finance document covering the nation’s Islamic industry issued in March 2010. Roman Catholics make up 87% of Ireland’s population.

The Islamic Cultural Centre for Ireland and the Immigrant Council of Ireland have all called for more Shariah-compliant initiatives, the report said.

"There’s been no objection to Islamic products being sold in Ireland," said Mr Smith, who is also a director in charge of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations at the IDA.

The European debt crisis provides an opportunity for Islamic finance to grow given it is rooted in ethics and religion, according to Nik Norzrul Thani, the chairman of Malaysian law firm Zaid Ibrahim & Co.

"What Ireland is doing is a step in the right direction," Nik Norzrul said in an interview in Kuala Lumpur.
"Ireland’s ambition to be a Shariah-compliant hub is a recognition that Islamic finance isn’t only for Muslims."

France Deplores 'Assassination' Of Troops As It Threatens To Pull Out Of Afghanistan

2012-01-20T23:55:00.001-08:00

From The Telegraph:

Alain Juppé, France's foreign minister, said the unarmed soldiers had been victims of an "assassination," and President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered an immediate review of security for troops training Afghan soldiers.

The killings during a training exercise at the Gwan military base in Kapisa province followed a similar attack last month when an Afghan soldier shot and killed two members of the French Foreign Legion.

Friday's attack wounded a further 15 and brought the total French death toll in the Afghan campaign to 82. The Afghan attacker was captured alive.

Scores of Nato troops have been shot dead in recent years by their Afghan partners raising fears of widespread Taliban infiltration and underlining the tense relations on the ground between the allies.

Gérard Longuet, defence minister, and the army's chief of staff are due in Afghanistan to investigate recruitment policy in the Afghan army, Mr Sarkozy said.

"If we are not satisfied with the level of security, we will draw the consequences," he said. "I will go so far as to order an early withdrawal of our troops. We are there as friends of the Afghan people. We cannot accept that an Afghan soldier fires on French troops."

France currently has 3,600 troops in Afghanistan, many of them involved in training Afghan recruits. France has the fifth biggest contingent of troops in the international coalition, behind America, Britain, Germany and Italy.

Around 1,000 are due to leave by the end of the year as part of a phased withdrawal due for completion by the end of 2013.

Britain currently has 9,500 troops in Afghanistan.

Mr Sarkozy is under domestic pressure to bring national troops home as he faces a tough re-election battle in April and May.

"Today there is clearly a new truth. It is not the first time that an Afghan soldier ... has assassinated French soldiers," Mr Juppé said.

He called it a question of "responsibility to adapt our timetable for withdrawal by taking into account these new circumstances."

François Heisbourg, senior defence adviser at the Foundation for Strategic Research in Paris, said the Afghan government was unable to guarantees safety for the French and an early withdrawal was now likely.

He said: "Fundamentally what Sarkozy pointed out is that the business model is not working.

"Are we are going to dutifully wait until 2014 getting our guys shot up in the sports fields of the Afghan national barracks or are we going to get out earlier?"

A classified study for the United States military completed last year said the spate of attacks by Afghan soldiers was a "rapidly growing systemic threat" which could undermine the war effort.

Building and training the Afghan forces so they can take the lead in securing the country is the core of Nato strategy and the forces train and patrol side-by-side.

However the report, called A Crisis of Trust and Cultural Incompatibility, found each side deeply distrusted the other.

American soldiers characterised their Afghan comrades as drug addicted, lazy, thieving and incompetent, while Afghans saw the Americans as arrogant, bullying and violent.

A report released this week into the killing of nine Americans at Kabul airbase last year heard the Afghan Colonel who opened fire resented the presence of foreign troops and told others he "wanted to kill Americans" even though he had no apparent links with the Taliban.

Mr Sarkozy's chief Socialist rival and current front-runner, François Hollande, said in a statement that he would aim to pull out French forces by the end of this year if he becomes president.

Mr Juppé dismissed suggestions Mr Sarkozy's threat of an early withdrawal was tinged with electoralism.

Given the current tragedy, he said, "considerations about whether it counts in an electoral campaign have not even crossed our mind".

Libyan Islamists Rally To Demand Sharia-Based Law

2012-01-20T23:55:00.000-08:00

From Reuters via the Jerusalem Post:

TRIPOLI - Hundreds of Libyan Islamists rallied on Friday to demand that Muslim sharia law inspire legislation in what organizers called a response to the emergence of secular political parties after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi's dictatorship last year.

Assembled by Islamist political and religious groups, mostly young and bearded men holding up copies of the Koran demonstrated in squares in the capital Tripoli, the eastern city of Benghazi and in Sabha in the southern desert.

In Tripoli's Algeria Square, Islamists burned copies of the Green Book, Gaddafi's eccentric handbook on politics, economics and everyday life, to underline that the Koran should be the country's main source of legislation.

By contrast, a group of secularists who have staged a sit-in in the square for more than a month chanted: "We want a civil state."

The Islamist demonstrators encompassed members of the conservative Muslim Brotherhood and harder-line Salafis, who both back strict versions of Islam, and relative moderates who prefer a civil state simply inspired by sharia.

The protests offered a glimpse into Libya's political future in which Islamist and secularist parties are expected to vie for seats in a national assembly scheduled to be elected in June to draft a constitution for the North African country.

Experts believe the Muslim Brotherhood is the most organized political force and could emerge as the leading political player in Libya after Gaddafi, who harshly suppressed Islamists during his 42 years in autocratic power.

Western powers are coming to accept that the advent of democracy in the Arab world means bringing Islamists to power. They have become the biggest election winners in Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco over the past few months.

The chairman of Libya's ruling National Transitional Council (NTC), Mustafa Abdul Jalil, promised in October to uphold Islamic law. "We as a Muslim nation have taken Islamic sharia as the source of legislation, therefore any law that contradicts the principles of Islam is legally nullified," he said.

The deputy central bank governor said last month a law regulating Islamic banking would be issued in the first quarter of 2012, but stressed that both conventional and Islamic banks would be allowed to operate in Libya.

Islamists in Algeria Square held up placards demanding a financial system respecting Islam's ban on interest and calling for a constitution derived from sharia's legal and moral codes.

"We want to run our life according to Islamic principles, be it the economy, politics or our relations with other countries," said Abdul Basit Ghuwaila, a preacher at a Tripoli mosque. "Most people think Islam is just about harsh penalties."

Ghuwaila, 49, said sharia should not govern all Libyan law, but insisted that legislation should not contradict it.

Nour al-Zintani, a participant in the month-long sit-in for a secular state, said the majority of Libyans wanted Islam to be a part of their life but not a strict interpretation of it.

"We all want sharia," she said, standing next to her teenage daughter, both of them wearing a Muslim headscarf, "but not the one they're talking about, the one that rejects women. We want a moderate Islam that gives women their rights."

Egypt: Female Former Member Of Muslim Brotherhood Tells All

2012-01-20T23:50:00.000-08:00

From Jihad Watch:

Surprise! It's a self-serving, dysfunctional organization. "In memoir, ex-Muslim Sister paints an unflattering picture," by Noha El Hennawy for Al Masry Al Youm, January 16 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

As the Muslim Brotherhood strives to project the image of a moderate and democratic political organization, a book featuring the angry account of a former member has hit the market.
"The Memoirs of a Former Sister: My Story with the Muslim Brotherhood" is the testimony of Intissar Abdel Moneim, an Alexandria-based novelist and author. With a compelling style and sharp language, the book takes the reader on a journey exploring the internal politics of the 83-year-old organization, placing special emphasis on discrimination against female members.

Throughout her work, Abdel Moneim decries the sisters’ internalization of oppression as women are socialized in a way that compels them to accept male dominance within the organization — and the household.

Early in the book, Abdel Moneim condemns what could be interpreted as the Brotherhood’s exploitation of the permissibility of polygamy in Islam.

“One of the areas where the Brothers have exploited the idea of blind obedience and submission is polygamy,” she writes, adding that a brother would take second and third wives for no valid reason. “When the [first] wife complains, a session is held for her where other sisters would remind her of the importance of obedience, patience and submission to God’s will and to [the husband]’s will,” she writes.

To understand the roots of the subjugation of women, Abdel Moneim unpacks the writings of Hassan al-Banna, the group’s late founder. Here, the author summons her courage and puts forth a vehement critique of the group’s canonized leader, who is rarely questioned, even by the most vocal ex-brothers.

Banna's teachings sought to limit women to "catering to their husbands' desires and to reproduction," Abdel Moneim writes.

The book dismisses Banna's dictum that there is no need to invest heavily in girls' education and that women should be trained only to serve as housewives and mothers. Abdel Moneim feels that this sentiment is contradictory to true Islam.
“It is true that Islam says that a woman’s primary role is to raise children, but it does not say that this is her only role and that she should not do anything beyond it. Neither the Koran nor the Sunna [Prophet Mohamed’s sayings and deeds] nor the sayings of the prophet’s companions and successors barred her from learning any sciences. The matter has been left for her to decide, according to her needs and circumstances," writes Abdel Moneim.

Unfortunately, the situation does not need explicit statement in the Qur'an or Sunna for a critical mass of other parameters to make it the logical conclusion of certain attitudes and behaviors. For example, the obsession with control of women (Qur'an 4:34), and the paranoia in Muslim societies about purity and honor work against women's independence.

She goes on to criticize Banna's insistence that men and women should be separated. With a scathingly sarcastic tone, the author argues that Banna’s view portrays humans as if they are mere animals who have little control over their impulses.
“You cannot by any logic perceive all people as mere female and male sex organs that roam the streets looking for the moment of intercourse like cats," the book reads. Abdel Moneim attributes Banna’s rigid outlook to his rural background.

This outlook still shapes the group’s perception of women’s roles within the organization and in the society at large. It justifies why the Muslim Sisters' division cannot operate independently from the Brothers, why no woman is admitted into the group's highest bodies, namely the Shura Council and the Guidance Bureau, and why the group will not acknowledge a woman's right to rule, according to the book. [...]

... the author bashes the Brotherhood’s internal dynamics, arguing that it is based on nepotism rather than merit. To substantiate her claim, she refers to her personal experience recounting that she was not easily admitted into the group because she was not the daughter, the sister or the wife of one of the Muslim Brotherhood's heroic or wealthy figures. For both men and women, such family ties are required to facilitate one’s upward mobility within the organization, according to Abdel Moneim.

Meanwhile, the author coins the phrase “the Muslim Brotherhood’s classism” to describe the full submission of rank-and-file members to their leaders. She borrows the analogy put forward by a former Muslim Brotherhood leader who drew parallels between the organization and an electricity-providing company that needs lots of workers (rank-and-file members) and few engineers.

“It is illogical for a worker to bypass his master or demand that his position be improved even if he proves himself,” Abdel Moneim writes. “Otherwise, he will be violating the group’s charter and instilling divisions. This is probably the Muslim Brotherhood’s interpretation of George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm.’” [...]
Yet the book has not failed to cause a stir. Earlier this month, the Muslim Brotherhood rushed to sue the privately owned Al-Fagr newspaper for running a sensational review of the book that accused the organization of abusing women sexually and politically....

Top Nigerian Cop Suspended Over Suspected Islamic Sect Member Escape

2012-01-18T21:05:00.001-08:00

From the AFP:

People gather around burnt cars near St Theresa Catholic Church after a bomb blast in the Madala Zuba district of Nigeria's capital Abuja on December 25, 2011 Nigerian authorities on Tuesday suspended a top police officer for alleged negligence in the escape of a suspected member of the Islamist Boko Haram sect arrested over a deadly Christmas bomb attack. (AFP Photo/Sunday Aghaeze)
Nigerian authorities on Tuesday suspended a top police officer for alleged negligence in the escape of a suspected member of the Islamist Boko Haram sect arrested over a deadly Christmas bomb attack.

The principal suspect, Kabiru Sokoto, who was arrested on Saturday, was handed over to a police commissioner for further investigation. He was then ordered to be taken to Abaji, near Abuja, for further investigation, police said in a statement.

"In the course of undertaking this important procedure, the policemen on escorts with the suspect were attacked by the suspected sect gang members and in the process the suspect was freed," it said.

"The police view this development as a serious negligence on the part of the commissioner of police and have since queried and suspended him from duty," it added.

The identity of the senior police officer was not disclosed.

He and members of his team will be prosecuted if a criminal case is established against them, it also said.

At least 44 people, mostly worshippers, were killed during the attack on Saint Theresa's Roman Catholic Church in Madalla, outside Abuja, on Christmas Day.

Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The sect has been blamed for scores of attacks in Nigeria, including an August suicide bombing of UN headquarters in Abuja that killed at least 25, but the Christmas bombs at churches sparked fears of reprisals from Christians.

Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, is roughly divided between a mainly Muslim north and predominately Christian south.

Christian leaders have warned that they will have to defend themselves if authorities do not address the spiralling violence.

U.S.: Al Qaeda Magazine Got Into Guantanamo Cell

2012-01-18T21:03:00.000-08:00

The the Washington Post:

In late December, Woods issued a new directive requiring legal mail to undergo a security review to ensure prisoners were not receiving prohibited materials, such as top-secret information or objects that might be fashioned into weapons.

The December order from Woods created a “privilege review team” independent of the prison staff that would include attorneys, law enforcement and intelligence experts who would examine legal communications between lawyers and their clients. The goal of the order, prison officials said, was to ensure safety and security on the base while preserving attorney-client privilege by having a group not under the prison’s command perform the mail review.

Wood testified on Tuesday that the privilege team is made up of contractors hired by the Pentagon’s intelligence directorate.

Al-Nashiri’s mail has not yet been examined by the team. Marine Col. Jeffrey Colwell, the chief defense counsel for the Guantanamo Bay tribunals, instructed attorneys not to follow Woods‘ order. Colwell said last week that the rule does not adequately protect attorney-client privilege and violates codes of professional conduct.

But Woods testified that his order doesn’t allow team members to read mail. Their role, he said, is to perform a “plain sight review” of correspondence between attorneys and their clients to ensure the documents are marked with the proper stamps to ensure it is actually privileged information. If the material is not marked properly or there are obvious signs of a security risk or contraband, the mail is forwarded to higher authorities for review.

Al-Nashiri’s attorneys peppered Woods with questions about how team members could do their jobs without actually reading the information. The order creates situations in which the privilege team has no choice but to dig deeper into a document to understand what is in it, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Stephen Reyes said. Reyes also asked Woods why translators were needed on the team if no reading was required.

Woods deflected many of Reyes‘ questions by saying that he does not have control over the privilege team contract. He also testified that he does not know who monitors the day-to-day activities of the team. “They do not work for me,” he said.

On Wednesday, Pohl directed the prosecution and defense to provide him with their proposals for reviewing mail in the Al-Nashiri case. A decision from Pohl is not expected for at least two weeks, however.

The Associated Press and other news organizations viewed the proceedings at Guantanamo Bay on a closed circuit telecast shown in a small theater at Fort Meade, a military base located between Washington and Baltimore.

Al-Nashiri has attended the proceedings on both days, but could be seen only intermittently due to the angle of the camera in the courtroom at Guantanamo. He wore a white prison uniform and sat next to his defense team. Defense officials said Al-Nashiri was not shackled during his hearing.

Hamas, Islamic Jihad Discuss Merger

2012-01-18T20:58:00.000-08:00

From Jihad Watch:

This ought to complicate Hamas' attempts to reconcile with Fatah, though, as this report notes, it could also conceivably result in an even more virulent jihadist conglomerate with which Israel would be expected to negotiate. "Hamas, Islamic Jihad debate joining forces," from Agence France-Presse, January 18:

Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the two main Palestinian Islamist movements, are holding talks about merging their two factions, sources from both movements said Tuesday.

They could call it Even More Islamic Jihad.

At a meeting with top officials from Islamic Jihad, Gaza's Hamas-affiliated prime minister, Ismail Haniya, called for "opening a serious dialogue to achieve the merger of the two movements," his office said in a statement.

Islamic Jihad confirmed that talks to merge the two factions were already underway.

"An in-depth dialogue has actually begun, both internally and externally, with the aim of uniting," Islamic Jihad spokesman Daud Shihab told AFP, referring to the group's leadership which, like Hamas, is based in both Gaza and Damascus.

All previous attempts to merge the two Islamist movements had ended in failure, Shihab noted.

He indicated that the current talks were taking place "at the highest level" among the leaders of both factions in Gaza and Damascus, as well as among Islamist prisoners currently being held in Israeli jails.

Uniting the two movements would be "in the interest of both the Palestinian cause and the future of the Palestinian liberation movement, particularly in light of the Arab Spring," Shihab said.

The latest statements represent the first time for Hamas and Jihad to speak publicly about merging.

The two factions have long held opposing views on government, with Jihad boycotting the last Palestinian elections in 2006 that were swept by Hamas.

The initiative to explore a merger comes as Hamas and its Fatah rival, which dominates the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, struggle to implement a reconciliation deal signed in April 2011 that has made little progress on the ground.

There are also moves to reform the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), which is internationally recognised as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, to allow Hamas and Islamic Jihad to join it.

It also comes in the wake of a series of electoral successes for Islamist parties in Egypt and Tunisia following the political upheavals brought on by the Arab Spring.

In Libya, A Fundamentalist War Against Moderate Islam Takes Shape

2012-01-18T20:56:00.000-08:00

From TIME:

The Libyan revolution has not been kind to Mahmud al-Arabi. Last March, forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi ransacked his grocery store in Zuwara after he fled to Tunisia, stealing about $6,000 worth of supplies. When he returned in September, facing mounting debts, al-Arabi turned to selling beer and liquor — an illegal enterprise in a country where alcohol has been banned for four decades. His new business drew the attention of Islamist rebels who helped to overthrow Gaddafi. After they threatened the store's landlord, they blew up Arabi's shop. Out of money and out of work, Arabi spends his days in his trailer home lamenting the turn his country has taken. Says he, "I got nothing but suffering from this revolution."

Throughout this country, Libyans are discovering that their hard fought battle to win freedoms is at risk. Puritanical Muslims known as Salafis are applying a rigid form of Islam in more and more communities. They have clamped down on the sale of alcohol and demolished the tombs of saints where many local people worship. The small town of Zuwara near the Tunisian border, dominated by a heterodox Muslim sect despised by the Salafis, is quickly becoming the battlefield for competing visions of Libya's future.

Arabi's trailer sits on the outskirts of the town, surrounded by crushed Heineken beer cans. Inside, bowls strewn around the floor capture the rain drops that leak through the porous ceiling. "I prefer selling alcohol to begging," he says, explaining how he lost his entire savings during the revolution. After Gaddafi loyalists took the town, he was a wanted man for supporting the anti-regime fighters and had to be smuggled to Tunisia at a cost of 3,500 dinars. "I lost everything in my store and had no money. So I decided to sell alcohol."

He shows off a room with 3,000 small cans of Heineken beer and a dozen liquor bottles. "Business was very good," he boasts. "I had more than a hundred customers a day who bought Absolut [Vodka], J&B and [Johnny Walker] Red Label." But when the Salafis came knocking, Arabi knew his days as an alcohol vendor were numbered. "They said this was a Muslim village where alcohol is forbidden," he relates. "I didn't want any trouble with them and agreed to stop selling alcohol at the store. But the Salafis weren't satisfied with that and destroyed it."

It is not only Arabi who has faced the Salafis' wrath. The estimated 200-to-400 members of the local Salafi movement have demolished shrines belonging to adherents of the Ibadi sect, long considered heretics by orthodox Sunni Muslims. In the town's cemetery, large blocks of stone surround what was once a mausoleum. The large conical shaped structure that once adorned it now lies collapsed in the debris. Salafists are intolerant of other strands of Islam and have physically attacked Muslim minorities in other parts of the Arab world such as Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Many Muslims frequent the shrines of saints, believing they have powers of intercession with the divine. Salafis, however, believe these are pagan rites that must be obliterated from Islam. "The situation has gotten much worse lately," says Ibadi Sheikh Walid Darder. "We may have not had political rights under Gaddafi, but we did not live in fear of going to the mosque."

Throughout Libya, Gaddafi's fall has emboldened Salafis, who were persecuted and imprisoned under the now deceased leader. They have increased their public presence, taken over mosques, and even hoisted the flag of al-Qaeda over the courthouse in Benghazi where the revolution began eleven months ago. In the capital of Tripoli, Salafis have destroyed more than six shrines. In one incident, dozens swarmed mausoleums belonging to two Muslim mystics and dug up their bodies so that worshippers could no longer visit their tombs. They also burned the relics around the shrines.

Arabi however is not concerned with the destruction of obscure tombs he does not frequent. "I just want my life back," he pleads. "I fought in the mountains here against Gaddafi. My payback is blowing up my shop," he says, turning to dump a bowl full of rainwater on the soggy field outside his trailer.

U.K.: Muslim Women Receive Death Threats For Trying To Rescue Others From Violent Situations

2012-01-18T20:53:00.000-08:00

From Jihad Watch:

"Somewhat unsurprisingly the threats perpetrated by extremist Muslims cover an array of appalling crimes including obscene sexual offences ... [the women] are frequently accused of 'destroying Islam' or “corrupting our women'."

Qur'an 4:34 makes violence against disobedient women lawful. Whatever other rationalizations one trots out, at the end of the day, Allah says you can hit (yes, hit) your wife. Here, again, is the allegation that any change to improve the lot of women will only serve to corrupt, create prostitutes, and so on.

The home is a microcosm of society. If one believes there can only be either tyranny and fear, or licentiousness, it is not the building block of a free and democratic society. "The New Muslim suffragettes of the United Kingdom," by Charlotte Rachael Proudman for the Independent, January 18 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

An increasing number of Muslim women activists are receiving death threats, fatwas and even hate-mail from extremist male and female Muslims. Their crime: Rescuing fellow Muslim women from violent and life threatening situations.
With heightened media sensitivity surrounding forced marriage, honour based violence and domestic violence we are all too aware of the suffering experienced by vulnerable and marginalised Muslim women. But we know little about the Muslim women activists who risk their lives to fight for the rights of oppressed Muslim women. These women are the New Muslim Suffragettes (NMS) of The United Kingdom.

As wives and mothers themselves, they stand alone in their communities and apart from other prominent Muslim organisations, in offering sanctuary and support for vulnerable and marginalised women. The NMS provide refuge, advocacy and access to the British legal and welfare system for women whose daily lives consist of beatings, imprisonment, torture and even marital rape, as well as the mental health ramifications that unfold over time.

In fact there has been an exponential growth in Muslim women activists in the form of charitable women rights organisations. These organisations have emerged post 9/11 as a response to misogynist and extremist views which are contaminating the Muslim community. Like the suffragette movement in the late 19th and early 20th century, Muslim women activists are collectively gaining momentum in fighting for women’s rights in oppressive and patriarchal contexts. But facing fierce patriarchal resistance - akin to that experienced by the early Suffragettes – sympathy for the NMS does not always convert to action.

In seeking justice for Muslim women whose human rights have been eroded through hyper-conservative interpretations of Islam, the NMS turn to British Law. But in affording marginalised Muslim women their rights the NMS are perceived by extremist Muslims as “feminists”, a term loaded in the Muslim world with connotations of modernity, resistance and westernisation, and perhaps more importantly a term which challenges the patriarchal underpinning of Islam dictated by extremist Muslims.

So they face a backlash in the form of persecution, intimidation and death threats. Fearing for their lives the NMS are forced into hiding and prevented from undertaking the very work they set out to achieve – to highlight and prevent the gross abuse of human rights many Muslim women suffer. Instead the NMS risk becoming the vulnerable and marginalised Muslim women that they originally set out to help and support. It’s time for the public to be aware of the plight of the NMS in the United Kingdom. This is their story.

My mobile phone rang, I could hear heavy breathing and a deep male voice – “I know where you live, I’m going to find you, and then I’m going to chop your legs off for taking my daughter away from me”. This NMS received this threat along with a threat to bomb her car after she rescued a young woman from forced marriage and domestic violence. Fearing for her life, this NMS must check her car for bombs each day and cannot leave her home without a panic alarm.

For the NMS, life has become intolerable. Sara Khan, from the counter-extremist and gender equality consultancy Inspire and Shereen Williams from the Henna Foundation spoke about the persecution perpetrated against them and work colleagues often directed at family members. According to Diana Nammi founder of the Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation (IKWRO), the main motive behind the death threats is an extremist belief that the work of the NMS is shaming and dishonouring the Muslim community, particularly in cases where women are supported by the NMS in seeking legal redress for the wrongs inflicted upon them often by their own family members.
Somewhat unsurprisingly the threats perpetrated by extremist Muslims cover an array of appalling crimes including obscene sexual offences, which have become an increasing problem in the blogosphere and according to Shaista Gohir (MBE) the NMS are frequently accused of “destroying Islam” or “corrupting our women” and like the Suffragettes over a century ago – they are accused of being “mad”. While these accusations may appear banal and mundane to secular ears, they are devastating to women activists of faith who are accused of being apostates. In this case, these accusations lead to threats of Shaista Gohir’s throat being slashed...

Somalia: Jihadists Kill Head Of Food Distribution Charity, Hold Up Red Cross Food Aid Convoys

2012-01-17T23:55:00.000-08:00

From Jihad Watch:

Jihad causes poverty, sometimes deliberately: for a totalitarian regime, controlling who eats and who does not eat is a morbidly effective means of controlling a population. "Somali rebels kill local aid worker," by Abdi Sheikh and Feisal Omar for Reuters, January 13 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali Islamist militants have killed the head of a food distribution charity in central Somalia, a pro-government militia said on Friday, the latest blow to the relief effort in the famine-hit country.

"The rebels killed Abdikarim Hashi Kediye, the head of Towfiq ... and his driver yesterday afternoon between Dusamareb and Guriel," Sheikh Abdullahi Sheikh Abu Yusuf, the spokesman of the Ahlu Sunna militia group told Reuters on Friday.

He said the rebels had used a rocket propelled grenade.

Towfiq's coordinator Abdullahi Mohamud Yaardi vowed to continue the group's humanitarian work in Somalia's Galgadud region, but the attack underscored the perilous conditions aid workers face in the anarchic country.

On Thursday, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) suspended food distribution to more than 1.1 million people in southern and central Somalia after the insurgents held up convoys carrying emergency food relief.

The ICRC said on Friday it expected explanations from local authorities linked to al Shabaab about why its food consignment for hungry Somalis has been stuck for four weeks in Jowhar near Mogadishu for quality control.

"The longer we wait, of course, the food won't get any better," Benjamin Wahren, deputy ICRC head of operations for East Africa who is in charge of Somalia, told a news briefing in Geneva.

The ICRC's food supplies, intended for 240,000 people, have been offloaded from its 140 trucks into warehouses, he added.

Residents said al Shabaab wanted only Islamic agencies to provide aid in the areas it controls....

And yet they also murdered the aid coordinator from Towfiq.

Gunmen Kill Journalist In Pakistan Mosque

2012-01-17T23:46:00.000-08:00

From The Independent (UK):

Police say gunmen have killed a local television journalist in a mosque in northwest Pakistan.

Mukarram Khan Atif worked for Dunya TV, and according to his profile on LinkedIn, contributed stories to US government funded Voice of America.

Police said the 40-year-old was killed Tuesday near the city of Peshawar.

A colleague said Atif had received threats from militants in the Mohmand tribal region and moved away from there several months ago.

The colleague didn't give his name for security reasons.

Last year, seven journalists were killed in Pakistan, making it the deadliest country for journalists for the second year in a row.

Iran To Return Downed U.S. Drone To Obama: A Miniature, Pink Plastic Replica

2012-01-17T23:35:00.000-08:00

From Jihad Watch:

Taunting the weak. "U.S. drone that crashed in Iran goes miniature," by Thomas Erdbrink for the Washington Post, January 17 (thanks to Benedict):

TEHRAN — For the American government, the crash of the RQ-170 drone in Iran was an embarrassment. For the Iranian government, it was a propaganda victory.
And for at least one company, according to state radio, it could be a windfall.

An Iranian firm, seeking to capitalize on the frenzy that followed the crash of the drone — and American calls to have it returned — is now producing miniaturized toy versions of the craft. Most of the toys, which come in several colors and are made of Iranian plastic, have already been snapped up by Iranian government organizations, according to the group that manufactures them.

At least one model — a pink one — has been reserved for President Obama.

“He said he wanted it back, and we will send him one,” said Reza Kioumarsi, the head of cultural production at the Ayeh Art group....

Iran Moral Police Crack Down On Barbie Dolls

2012-01-17T23:30:00.000-08:00

From the Washington Post:

Iran’s morality police are cracking down on the sale of Barbie dolls, Reuters reported Tuesday. Over the past three weeks, the police have visited a number of shops in Tehran and demanded the dolls be removed.

The ban on Barbie, first instituted in 1996 for the doll’s “destructive cultural and social consequences,” has since been flouted by many shopkeepers who don’t agree with the ban. But the morality police say Barbie must now be removed to protect the public from the erosion of Islamic values by Western culture.

Present in schools, universities, factories, state and private institutions, and on the streets, the morality police have a mandate to “promote virtue and prevent vice.” They effectively act as “the regime’s eyes and ears,” according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies. And when they aren’t cracking down on Barbie, they have quite a few other duties, according to Radio Free Europe. These include:

Enforcing the wearing of the hijab; arresting women for violating the dress code; prohibiting male-female fraternization; monitoring citizens’ activities; confiscating satellite dishes and “obscene” material; intelligence gathering; and even harassing government critics and intellectuals.

According to reports, the morality police have also found it in their mandate to arrest youths for pistol water fights, stop kindergartners from dancing and crack down on women who show their ankles.

In November, 70 fashion designers were rounded up and more than 400 shops were closed by morality police for selling “improper” dresses, The Post’s Thomas Erdbrink reported. The week before, the same police had cracked down on women skiing without a male guardian. They also enforce the rule that plastic mannequins in shopwindows are not allowed to have heads.

But compared to Saudi Arabia's morality police, Iran’s forces are considered soft. In 2002, Saudi value-enforcers prevented men from saving girls from a burning school building because the girls were not wearing correct Islamic dress. Dozens died in the fire.

Erdbrink reports that the mandate of the morality police is growing ever larger, as hard-liners try to get rid of reforms enacted under then-President Mohammad Khatami.

Syrian Official Defects, Says Regime Will Fight At All Costs

2012-01-17T15:44:00.000-08:00

From CNN:

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will fight at all costs to crush the revolt seeking his ouster, a member of the Syrian Parliament who defected to Egypt said Tuesday.

"There is an open budget allocated to the crackdown on the popular uprising and revolution," said Imad Ghalioun, who was a member of Parliament from the embattled city of Homs before he escaped to Egypt.

"There is no budget for the country but only money to serve the regime's security forces and its 'ghost hit men,'" he said, making a reference to snipers.

The uprising, which is seeking al-Assad's resignation, reforms and democratic elections, is in its tenth month. It has prompted a bloody government crackdown that has claimed at least 5,000 lives since in began in March, according to the United Nations. Opposition groups put the toll at more than 6,000.

At least 28 people were killed across Syria Tuesday, including four soldiers who defected and two women, according to the opposition Local Coordination Committees. The majority of the deaths were in the restive city of Homs, where 17 were killed, according to the group. Eight others were killed when a bomb destroyed a bus in Idlib. The group said government security forces planted the device. In addition, one person each died in a Damascus suburb, Daraa, and Hama.

The ongoing violence has sparked calls by Qatar's ruler to send Arab troops into Syria, a move the al-Assad regime warned against Tuesday.

Citing an official source in the Foreign Ministry, the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency said the government would "confront any attempt to undermine Syria's sovereignty."

Al-Assad, who has characterized the anti-government protesters as "armed gangs," has said his security forces are battling terrorists intent on targeting civilians and fomenting unrest.

But much of the international community holds al-Assad's regime responsible for killing dissidents.

"I say again to President Assad of Syria: Stop the violence. Stop killing your people," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said over the weekend. "The path of repression is a dead end."

Although a number of journalists have been allowed into the country in recent days to travel with Arab League monitors on a fact-finding mission, CNN cannot verify many accounts of what is happening in Syria because the government restricts the activity of journalists.

But Ghalioun, the highest-ranking Syrian official to defect, said the reports of bloodshed by pro-government forces are true. He said Homs is a "ghost town full of horror."

"The humanitarian situation is dangerous ... no basic services, food supplies, or equipped hospitals. Residents cannot move from (one) neighborhood to the other because of snipers that kill people."

Ghalioun said opposition forces need weapons and the enforcement of a no-fly zone by Western powers to take down al-Assad's regime.

"I tell them to go back to your humanitarian values," Ghalioun said. "Build on democracy. And I ask them to help us stop the killing and reach our own true democracy."

Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood Picks New Parliament Speaker

2012-01-17T15:32:00.000-08:00

The murderers of Egyptian leader Anwar Sadat, a man who made peace with his neighbors, are now controlling much more of Egyptian politics.

From CNN:

Chairman of the Freedom and Justice Party, Mohamed Morsi, talks during a press conference on January 16, 2012

Egypt's top political parties have agreed to nominate a member of the Muslim Brotherhood as the nation's next parliament speaker, the first time in decades that an Islamist would hold that post.

The Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party won more than 40% of the seats in recent elections and is expected to lead the country's first parliament chosen since the ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak.

The FJP-led alliance nominated its secretary-general, Mohamed al-Katatni, as parliament speaker.

Al-Katatni, described as a moderate on the Brotherhood's website, was detained by Mubarak's state security forces together with FJP leaders Essam El-Erian and Mohamed Morsi, the chairman of the FJP.

The parliament, which will be seated later this month, must appoint a 100-member panel to write a new Egyptian constitution. Presidential elections are set for June.

Liberals fear that electoral gains for Islamists will steer Egypt down a rigid path away from democracy.

Morsi tried to reassure Egyptians that the new constitution "will be drafted without exemption of any stakeholders or exclusion of any parties, forces or currents."

"We continue the march of the peaceful revolution, the Egyptian revolution of January 25, which has achieved some of its objectives and as yet continues to achieve remaining ones," he said. "There is no doubt that the parliamentary election results were expressive of all Egyptians and their free will, the new parliament, too."

The agreement, signed Monday by six leading political parties, also allows the hardline Al Nour party and the liberal Al Wafd party to nominate two deputy speakers.

But Al Wafd was not present at the meeting and did not sign the agreement.

"We were not informed of about the meeting and will announce our decision after our board meeting on Thursday," Bahaa Abu Shaka, Al Wafd's deputy chief, told CNN.

The new parliament convenes a year after popular revolts erupted, eventually leading to Mubarak's downfall.

The longtime dictator is on trial on charges of corruption and ordering the deaths of hundreds of protesters.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has led Egypt's government since Mubarak's fall. It has said it will hand over power to a new government once one is in place.

But the transition has not been quick or transparent enough for some Egyptians. A series of protests in Cairo last month resulted in violent and sometimes deadly clashes between demonstrators and soldiers.

Gen. Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, who heads the Supreme Council, is expected to address the new parliament, according to the Morals Affairs Military Department.

Growing Use Of Shariah By UK Muslims

2012-01-16T23:45:00.000-08:00

From the BBC:

The use of Sharia, or Islamic religious law, is growing in Britain, with thousands of Muslims using it to settle disputes each year, but women's groups and some others are objecting.

''You must speak the truth, sister. Because Allah is listening to your every word, you can lie to us but not to Him.''

The bearded sheikh is instructing his first client of the day to explain why she is unhappy in her marriage.

Sitting behind a small desk in the back room of a converted terrace house, Sheikh Haitham al-Haddad is a representative of the Islamic Sharia Council, the largest Sharia body in the UK, based in Leyton, east London.

The woman has come to the council for an Islamic divorce because her husband refuses to grant her one.

''I'm not happy. He's never at home and I've seen messages from other women on his phone. He doesn't even give money to help support the kids,'' the woman tells the sheikh.

It is easier for a Muslim man to end a marriage in Islam, but a wife must persuade the judges to grant her a dissolution if her husband is opposed to divorce.

The case is typical of those case dealt with by Sharia councils, as thousands of Muslims are turning to them to help resolve family, financial and commercial problems in accordance with Sharia principles.

Growing demand

An estimated 85 Sharia councils could be operating in Britain, according to a 2009 report by the think tank Civitas.

Several bodies like the Islamic Sharia Council have seen a large increase in their cases in the past five years.

''Our cases have easily more than tripled over the past three to five years," says Sheikh al-Haddad.

Sharia has been operating in the UK, managed by locally-appointed councils, in parallel to the British legal system since 1982.

But the informal councils have no legal powers and they cannot impose any penalties.

They deal with civil cases alone, but many Muslims are choosing to voluntarily accept rulings made by the scholars.

Omar Hannan, 28, from Solihull, turned to Sharia instead of the British courts after an ownership dispute broke out between the British Muslim partners at his industrial cleaning company.

''It fulfilled my Islamic spiritual principles which was the main reason I went to a Muslim tribunal.

''But it was also very quick. We resolved it in three to four months,'' he said.

''It only cost a couple of hundred pounds, and you can imagine how much it would have cost through the English legal system,'' he added.

As a demand for Sharia thrives, a number of British law firms are starting to tap into the booming market.

Muslim Lawyer Aina Khan has launched one of the first Sharia departments at her London-based law firm.

She offers clients advice that is in keeping with both English and Islamic law.

''I am surprised that the majority of people that I am dealing with are under the age of 50. They are British Muslims who want to satisfy their British identity as well as their Muslim one.

''So I give them solutions to their problems that satisfy both legal systems all under one place.''

'Discrimination'

Despite the growing demand for Sharia law in Britain, there is also increasing opposition by some groups who argue that the practice discriminates against women.

The Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organisation (IKWRO) is campaigning to bring an end to the practice.

''We have spoken to many women and all of them tell us the same story; Sharia law is not providing them with the justice they seek. The councils are dominated by men, who are making judgements in favour of men,'' said Diana Nammi.

Concerns such as these have led crossbench peer Baroness Cox to introduce a bill before the House of Lords, aimed at introducing regulation of Sharia organisations in the UK.

The bill has received its first reading and is expected to get a second reading later this year.

But for groups like IKWRO the bill does not go far enough.

''We think there shouldn't be any religious law practising in Britain - all Sharia bodies should be banned. That is the only way we can ensure equality of justice for all women," argues Diana Nammi.

But while a demand for Sharia continues in Britain, Sheikh Haitham al-Haddad says the practice cannot be banned.

''We are not forcing people to walk through our doors. They are voluntarily coming to us,'' he said.

''If you ban us, then British Muslims will find somewhere else to go.

''Many will go to Muslim countries abroad, where there will be no way to protect them.''

''On average, every month we can deal with anything from 200 to 300 cases. A few years ago it was just a small fraction of that.

''Muslims are becoming more aligned with their faith and more aware of what we are offering them,'' he explained.

The principles of Sharia govern all aspects of a Muslim's life. It is derived from a combination of sources including the Koran, the Hadith, which is based on the example of the prophet Muhammad, and fatwas, which are rulings of Islamic scholars.

Switzerland: Pakistani Father Murders Daughter With Axe Over 'Honor'

2012-01-16T23:43:00.000-08:00

From The Local (Switzerland):

A Swiss prosecutor has described as a "veritable slaughter" the vicious axe murder of a 16-year-old girl by her 53-year-old Pakistani father, who believed his daughter had tarnished her family's honour.

The charge sheet presented by prosecutor Ulrich Krättli suggests he will call for the accused to be given life in prison, the maximum sentence under Swiss law, when the high-profile case goes to trial on March 14th.

On May 10th 2010, 16-year-old Swera was picked up at a Zurich police station by both her parents. She had been held there by police after she was arrested for a minor theft.

Once back at their apartment in Höngg, on the outskirts of the city, a heated argument broke out between father and daughter, newspaper Tages Anzeiger reports.

The girl said she wanted to leave home permanently and started to pack her things. She then went down to the basement of the building to get a pair of shoes. While she was gone, her father allegedly retrieved an axe from the balcony and hid it in the bedroom he shared with his wife.

Once she was back in the apartment, the girl went into her parents' bedroom to pick up some of her belongings. When she bent down to get some things from the wardrobe, her father hit her with the axe on the back of the head, the prosecutor says. The man struck his daughter 19 times with the axe: 12 times with the blade and seven with the blunt end.

The teenager not die instantly, but lay on the ground in agonising pain for several minutes until her life finally slipped away.

The father left the axe between her legs, pointing to the feet, a gesture Krättli does not want to interpret, but that usually has sexual connotations and expresses the motives behind the murder, newspaper Tages Anzeiger reports.

After washing his hands, he left the apartment and called his wife to say he had killed his daughter. Fifteen minutes later, he called the police, who arrested him shortly after near his apartment.

In an interview with newspaper Blick, Swera's boyfriend explained that the girl's parents had strongly disapproved of her relationship with him, primarily because he was a Christian. The boy said she was desperate to get away from her parents and had already sought help from a local youth shelter.

According to the prosecutor, the defendant killed his daughter because she had violated his archaic values and had brought shame on the family. Krättli says the Pakistani man had planned the killing “in cold blood”.

The 53-year-old man has remained in custody since the girl's death. He will be tried in March not just for the brutal killing of his daughter, but also for allegedly trying to kill her three weeks earlier.

On April 20th, the pair had argued after the girl's father suspected she had been smoking marijuana.

Seizing his chance while she was in the bathroom, he pushed her into the bathtub, turned on the tap and threw a hairdryer into the water.

He wanted to electrocute her, the prosecutor alleges, but his attempt failed because of an in-built security system in the appliance to prevent electric shocks upon contact with water. On that occasion, the 16-year-old girl managed to get away before running to a friend’s home in her wet clothes.

Egypt: Muslim Child Preacher Lovingly Recalls Genocidal Antisemitic Hadith

2012-01-16T23:25:00.000-08:00

From Jihad Watch:

Quoting this hadith in the U.S. will swiftly get you charges of "Islamophobia" and "misunderstanding Islam," although I know of no Muslim attempt to explain away the obvious genocidal import of Muhammad's prophecy. Non-Muslims are just denounced if they notice. But in the Islamic world, this genocidal prophecy is taken very seriously: "Egyptian Child Preacher Muhammad Osama Recounts Antisemitic Hadith: Jews Hide Behind the Gharqad Tree When Muslims Come to Kill Them on Judgment Day," from MEMRI, January 14 (thanks to Wimpy):

Following are excerpts from a sermon delivered by Egyptian child preacher Muhammad Osama, which aired on Al-Rahma TV on January 14, 2012.
Muhammad Osama: Through the worship [of Allah], we shall gain victory over our enemies, strengthen our religion, and defeat the Jews. The Messenger of Allah said: "Judgment Day will not come before the Muslims fight the Jews, and the Muslims will kill the Jews, and the Jews will hide behind the trees and the stones, and then the trees and the stones will say: Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the gharqad tree will not speak because it is one of the trees of the Jews."

Thai Police Find Large Cache Of Bomb-Making Materials

2012-01-16T23:18:00.000-08:00

From the BBC:

Police in Thailand say they have found a large supply of materials for making bombs, following the detention of a suspect with alleged links to Hezbollah.

The suspect led police to a building containing more than 300 boxes of fertiliser and ammonium nitrate.

The raid follows the terror alert issued by the US and Israel warning citizens to avoid tourist sites.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said that the situation was under control.

The suspect, who was detained last week, is said to be a Lebanese man with a Swedish passport.

Police say the man has links to Hezbollah, a Lebanon-based Shia Islamist movement backed by Syria and Iran that the US considers to be a terrorist organisation.

A second suspect is also believed to have left Thailand.

A police spokesman told local media that the chemicals were going to be shipped out of Thailand for use in an unspecified third country.

The US embassy still has not lifted the warning it issued on Friday stating that Americans should "exercise caution when visiting public areas where large groups of Western tourists gather".

Vatican Spokesman: "Among the most serious concerns, the increase in Islamic extremism merits special attention"

2012-01-16T23:03:00.000-08:00

From Jihad Watch:

Note the top-ten list for countries persecuting Christians. It's probably "Islamophobic" to notice a pattern there. "Vatican spokesman laments religious persecution, cites ‘Islamic extremism’," from Catholic Culture, January 16:

The director of the Holy See Press Office has used his weekly message to draw attention to the plight of persecuted Christians.

“The recent annual report of the international evangelical non-governmental organization Open Doors on the persecution of Christians in the world contains a world index of persecution according to which the first ten places are occupied by the following countries in descending order: North Korea, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Iran, Maldives, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Iraq and Pakistan,” notes Father Federico Lombardi.

“Among the most serious concerns, the increase in Islamic extremism merits special attention,” he continued. “Persons and organizations dedicated to extremist Islamic ideology perpetrate terrible acts of violence in many places throughout the world: the Boko Haram sect in Nigeria is but one example. Then there is the climate of insecurity that unfortunately in some countries accompanies the so-called “Arab spring”--a climate that drives many Christians to flee and even to emigrate.”

Christian martyrs don't explode:

“Such sufferings are a part of the Christian journey,” Father Lombardi concluded. “Nor ought we be amazed. Jesus said so in the Sermon on the Mount: ‘Blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,’ is the last of the Beatitudes; its promise is reward in heaven.”

Boko Haram: Nigerian Islamist Leader Defends Attacks

2012-01-12T17:58:00.000-08:00

From BBC:

The leader of Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamist militants has defended recent attacks on Christians, saying they are revenge for killings of Muslims.

In his first video message, posted on YouTube, Abubakar Shekau referred to attacks on Muslims in recent years in several parts of northern Nigeria.

Boko Haram militants attacked several churches on Christmas Day, killing dozens of worshippers.

This has led to some reprisals in the mainly Christian south.

Mosques in two states have been attacked.

Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation with 160 million people, is divided between a largely Muslim north and a south where most people are Christians and some animists.

Thousands of people have fled their homes following the recent attacks, leading some people, including Nigeria's president and the leader of the country's main Christian organisation, to make comparisons with the 1967-70 civil war when the south-east tried to secede.

'Religious cleansing'

In the latest attack, four people have been shot dead by attackers on motorbikes while they filled up their car with petrol in the north-eastern Yobe state, the local police chief has told the BBC.

Police chief Lawal Tanko did not release the identities of those killed, or the attackers.

The AFP news agency quotes local residents as saying those killed were southerners. Shootings from motorbikes are a Boko Haram trademark.

Yobe state is one of those areas where President Goodluck Jonathan has recently declared a state of emergency but the police chief said he had not yet received the details.

In the 15-minute video, Mr Shekau, wearing a red and white turban, a bullet-proof vest and sitting in front of two Kalashnikov rifles, said he was responding to recent statements from Nigeria's President Jonathan and the leader of the country's main Christian organisation, the Christian Association of Nigeria.

He warned President Jonathan that Nigeria's security forces would not be able to defeat the group.

Mr Jonathan, a Christian, declared a state of emergency in some northern states last month - but the attacks have continued.

On Tuesday night, gunmen opened fire on a bar in Yobe, killing eight people, including several police officers.

The president recently said that he suspected some officials, politicians and members of the security forces sympathised with Boko Haram.

Defending the latest spate of violence, Mr Shekau referred to the killing of Muslims in places like Jos, Kaduna, Zangon Kataf, Tafawa Balewa in recent years.

Some of these places have seen bitter communal clashes but correspondents say they are often based on long-standing disputes over resources such as land, or are whipped up by politicians, rather than being based on religious differences.

"We are also at war with Christians because the whole world knows what they did to us," Mr Shekau said in the video, speaking in Hausa - the most common language in northern Nigeria.

"They killed our fellows and even ate their flesh in Jos," he said, referring to reports last year of isolated cases of Christian youths burning and eating their rivals in Plateau state, where more than 1,000 people have been killed in a series of clashes over the past two years.

Christian Association of Nigeria head Ayo Oritsejafor said on Saturday that his members would protect themselves against the attacks, which he said suggested "systematic ethnic and religious cleansing".

On Tuesday, he told the BBC World Service there should be dialogue with Muslim leaders to halt the violence.

Mr Shekau said the group could only hold talks with the government in accordance with the teachings of Islam.

He said the group's primary targets remained the security forces, who he said had summarily executed their former leader Mohammed Yusuf after he was arrested in 2009.

"Everyone has seen how we were treated, people have seen what has happened between us and armed security agents and their accomplices who give them information about us," Mr Shekau said.

After a lull, in 2010 the group started to stage drive-by shootings on government targets in its base in the north-eastern city of Maiduguri.

Last year, it carried out suicide bombings on high-profile targets such as the headquarters of the UN and the police in the capital, Abuja.

The group, known locally as Boko Haram meaning "Western education is forbidden", wants to establish Sharia law in Nigeria.

Indonesia Police Target Girls For Wearing Shorts

2012-01-12T17:56:00.000-08:00

From the Jakarta Globe:

Tangerang Police are defending their actions after a photograph emerged of officers reprimanding what appear to be underaged girls for wearing shorts.

Spokesman Comr. Haru Manurun initially told the Jakarta Globe on Thursday that the picture from state news agency Antara simply showed female officers searching — and photographing — two teenage girls for weapons prior to a football match in the city on the outskirts of Jakarta.

“Basically we wanted to inspect everyone before they entered the stadium, to make sure that they didn’t bring any sharp or hard objects to disturb the match,” he said, “We checked everybody, including little children.”

Questioned further about the photo, which Antara said show the officers “scolding” the girls for “for wearing shorts,” Haru admitted Tangerang Police had told inappropriately dressed girls and women to not wear shorts to “avoid pornography.”

“We asked the policewomen to suggest and encourage [the girls] not to wear shorts because we wanted to avoid unwanted things,” Haru said.

“When we saw women in shorts, we scolded them because, perhaps, it is unfavorable in the eyes of the public and does not conform to public [standards of decency].”

He said it was strongly suggested that the females did not wear similar clothing to the next football match.

Asked about the apparent age of the girls, Haru said it was of no consequence.

“Ages doesn’t matter, but appropriate clothes do matter.”

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood Wants Military Immunity For Generals, Activists Cry Foul

2012-01-12T17:49:00.000-08:00

From BikyaMasr:

CAIRO: In a move that has left many of the country’s activists angered, Egypt’s top political force the Muslim Brotherhood has said it was looking into a deal that would grant the ruling military junta immunity for alleged crimes committed against protesters since they took charge of the country in February last year.

The move would ensure the military relinquish power and enable the transition to a newly elected legislative body, but activists who have faced the end of the military’s guns, are not convinced and have called it a means for the Brotherhood to assert more power.

“What about the dozens of people who have been murdered by the military and the police under the military’s orders?” asked activist and protester Mahmoud Gama’a, who told Bikyamasr.com that the Brotherhood will face a backlash from protesters if they attempt to go forward with the idea.

“We will not stand by and not have justice for what the military has done to Egyptian people. It is unacceptable that any political force thinks they can let the blood of martyrs not get justice,” he added.

The goal of the Brotherhood is to create compromise within the country as their political arm, The Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) leads all voting with nearly 40 percent, ahead of a final vote count for the third and final round of parliamentary elections, which ended on Wednesday.

Despite the idea being floated this week by top Brotherhood officials, activists say it will not stop their campaign to have the top generals tried for what they have regularly dubbed “crimes against humanity.”

The military has been directly responsible for the killing of scores of citizens, attacking a peaceful Coptic Christian march on October 9, which killed at least 27 people.

Then, in November, the military police attacked another peaceful sit-in in Tahrir Square, which led to 6 days of street battles in central Cairo, leaving at least 70 people dead, medical sources told Bikyamasr.com.

And more recently, in mid-December, military police again attacked a peaceful sit-in at the country’s Cabinet building, reportedly torturing and beating a protester and then burning the makeshift tents that had been erected. For three days, the military used live ammunition and rocks against protesters, leaving at least 17 people dead.

“This is not justice if they get immunity. It is a ploy by the Brotherhood to force people to forget what the military has done to us,” said female activist Mona Radwan, who told Bikyamasr.com that she would not rest until the military pays for their actions.

“Women were forced into virginity tests, were stripped in public and beaten and killed, so why is this happening. I feel we have returned to pre-Mubarak times,” she said.

But the Brotherhood said it would only move forward on the proposed deal if the families of those killed since February agreed, at least giving those who paid the ultimate sacrifice some semblance of an option.

Naked Images Of Pharoahs Are Heresy, Says Salafist Leader

2012-01-12T17:44:00.000-08:00

From Ahram Online:

Images of naked Pharaohs on Egypt’s temples are tantamount to heresy, prominent Salafist Abdel Moneim El-Shahat said on Wednesday.

El-Shahat, who failed to win an independent seat for the Nour Party in recent parliamentary elections, had previously called Egypt’s Pharaonic heritage “rotten.”

Speaking to Moataz El-Demerdash on El-Hayat 2 Channel on Wednesday evening, El-Shahat also reiterated his controversial comments about Egypt’s renowned novelist Naguib Mahfouz, stressing that his novel Awlad Harretna (Children of the Alley), one of the books that earned him a Nobel prize in 1988, violated the principles of Islam.

El-Shahat had previously said that Mahfouz’s novel had “symbols that promote atheism” and accused him of “inciting promiscuity, prostitution and atheism” in his books.

However, El-Shahat said he did not mean to personally attack the deceased writer and urged readers to read Mahfouz’s novels to know that he is correct. He also sharply criticised Egyptian novelist and activist Alaa El-Aswany, author of The Yacoubian Building and Chicago.

“Those who attack me should read Naguib Mahfouz’s novels,” El-Shahat told El-Demerdash. “And I challenge Alaa El-Aswany to read his novel The Yacoubian Building on live TV.”

Speaking about women, El-Shahat spoke about his dream for all Egyptian women to wear the niqab (full veil) and claimed Salafists are not the enemies of women.

Standing By A Tyrant: British Wife Of Syria's President Assad Takes Her Children To Cheer On Dictator Daddy

2012-01-12T17:31:00.000-08:00

From the Daily Mail:

The British-born wife of Syrian President Bashar Assad made an extremely rare public appearance with her embattled husband, as he told a rally he would fight the 'conspiracy' against his rule.

Asma Assad, a graduate of King's College, London, and a former investment banker, attended with their children Zein, nine and Karim, seven.

Once said to have been seen as an advocate of reform in her husband's regime, there had been rumours she had fled the country as her husband grappled with opponents in a brutal crackdown which has brought widespread condemnation.

Dressed casually, despite a reported love of Laboutin shoes and Chanel, she heard her husband tell a pro-regime rally in the capital that the 'conspiracy' against his country will fail.

Dressed more casually than usual in a jacket but no tie, the president told the cheering crowd that he wanted to draw strength from them.

Security guards surrounded him as supporters waved his portrait and raised Syrian flags.

'It is important that we maintain our faith in the future,' said Assad, 46, who has made very few public appearances since the uprising against his regime began 10 months ago.

'I have that faith in the future and we will undoubtedly triumph over this conspiracy.'

Assad, who inherited power from his father in 2000, has blamed the revolt on foreign-backed terrorists and conspirators.
On Tuesday, he gave his first speech since June and said he would strike back at those who threaten his regime with an 'iron hand.'

In both appearances, Assad appeared determined to show strength and confidence as the conflict in Syria is entering a new and heightened phase, with army defectors and some members of the opposition increasingly turning weapons on government targets.

Opponents say Assad is dangerously out of touch.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said Syria had stepped up killings of opponents since Arab monitors arrived in the country in late December to assess whether the government is abiding by its agreement to an Arab League plan to end the military crackdown on dissent.

On Tuesday, diplomats quoted U.N. political chief B. Lynn Pascoe as saying about 400 people have been killed in the last three weeks alone, on top of an earlier U.N. estimate of more than 5,000 dead since March.

Rice said that rate was even higher than before the monitors arrived and a clear indication the Syrian government was stepping up the violence.

Also Wednesday, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported fresh violence in Syria.

The group said soldiers and army defectors were fighting Wednesday in central Hama province. There was no immediate word on casualties.

The group also said regime forces fired on students demonstrating in Daraya in Damascus province.

The Arab League mission came under fresh scrutiny Wednesday after a former monitor said he quit in disgust because the regime was committing 'war crimes' against its own people.

'The mission was a farce and the observers have been fooled,' Anwer Malek told Al-Jazeera in an interviewed broadcast late Tuesday.

'The regime orchestrated it and fabricated most of what we saw to stop the Arab League from taking action against the regime,' Malek said, still wearing the orange vest used by monitors.

According to Al-Jazeera's transcript of the interview, Malek said the regime is committing 'a series of crimes against its people.'

'The regime didn't meet any of our requests, in fact they were trying to deceive us and steer us away from what was really happening toward insignificant things,' he said in the interview...

Read the full report here.

Al-Shabaab Propaganda Video Declares Jihad Against Kenya

2012-01-11T06:05:00.001-08:00

From the Daily Nation:

Kenya navy officers take 24hr patrol within the Somali waters at Ras Kamboni, monitoring any activities of al-Shabaab. Photo/Laban Walloga.
Al-Shabaab has released a propaganda video declaring war against Kenya.

The video was released by Sheikh Ahmed Iman Ali, the self-proclaimed de facto leader of Kenyan Al-Shabaab fighters in Somalia.

Sheikh Ali in the video recording entitled: If they seek your help in religion, it is your duty to help them, says war or Jihad should now be waged in Kenya in response to the military operation in Somalia.

“Kenya has declared war against Somalia and Jihad should now be waged inside Kenya which is legally a war zone,” Sheikh Ali says in the video. Read (Al-Shabaab forcing youth to join army).

The video which was initially posted on YouTube but has since been withdrawn can still be viewed on other social media networks.

He says the war Kenya is fighting in Somalia is not against Al-Qaeda, Al-Shabaab or terrorists but the terms are being used to camouflage the truth.

The report of the UN Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group indicates that Sheikh Ali, a former chairman of Muslim Youth Centre in Pumwani, Nairobi, was central in the recruitment of non-Somalis in Nairobi to join Al- Shabaab fighters in Somalia.

The report says Al-Shabaab “has extensive funding, recruiting and training networks within Kenya” and has “established connections with jihadist groups across the continent.”

The UN investigation that focused on the youth centre claims that the organisation was involved in the recruitment of Al-Shabaab operatives. Officials of MYC have since distanced themselves from Sheikh Ali and the recruitment of Kenyans to join Al-Shabaab.

“Officially, the MYC Constitution defines the group as a ‘community based-organisation’ that aims to provide youth with religious counselling ... In practice, members of the group openly engage in recruiting for Al-Shabaab in Kenya,” the report claims.

“Ahmed Iman’s success in recruiting fighters and mobilising funds for the cause, appear to have earned him steady ascendancy within Al-Shabaab. The Monitoring Group believes that he now intends to conduct large-scale attacks in Kenya.

US: Court Rules Shariah Ban Unconstitutional

2012-01-11T06:05:00.000-08:00

From Jihad Watch:

This ruling has come because of Leftist judges who don't know anything about Sharia and have swallowed the smooth deceptions of Islamic supremacist groups like Hamas-linked CAIR, but it can also be attributed to the fact that the laws themselves have not been focused properly. Americans want to outlaw the elements of Sharia that interfere with Constitutionally protected freedoms, not Islam as an individual religious practice, but in response, Islamic supremacists claim that Muslim religious freedom will be infringed upon.

The point has to be made that these anti-Sharia measures are aimed at political Islam, an authoritarian ideology at variance with the Constitution in numerous particulars -- notably, in its denial of the freedom of speech, the freedom of conscience, and the equality of rights of women and non-Muslims. But unfortunately, even many of the proponents of these measures are unable to make this case effectively.

"Court Upholds Ruling Blocking Oklahoma Sharia and International Law Ban," from the ACLU, January 10 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

DENVER, CO – A federal appeals court today unanimously upheld a ruling that blocked implementation of a discriminatory and unnecessary Oklahoma state constitutional amendment that would have prohibited state courts from considering what is broadly described as Islamic “Sharia law” and “international law.”
The court concluded that by singling out Islam for unfavorable treatment in state courts, the law likely violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The court rejected the state’s argument that the constitutional amendment was necessary to protect against improper application of Sharia law, explaining:

“Appellants do not identify any actual problem the challenged amendment seeks to solve. Indeed, they admitted . . . that they did not know of even a single instance where an Oklahoma court had applied Sharia law or used the legal precepts of other nations or cultures, let alone that such applications or uses had resulted in concrete problems in Oklahoma.”

The American Civil Liberties Union and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) challenged the amendment on behalf of Muneer Awad, executive director of CAIR’s Oklahoma chapter.

“As the court recognized, this amendment did nothing more than target one faith for official condemnation,” said Daniel Mach, director of the ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief. “Even the state admits that there has never been any problem with Oklahoma courts wrongly applying religious law. The so-called ‘Save Our State Amendment’ was a solution in search of a problem, and a blatantly discriminatory solution at that.”

“No one in Oklahoma deserves to be treated like a second-class citizen,” said Ryan Kiesel, executive director of the ACLU of Oklahoma. “This proposed amendment was an affront to the Constitution and everything it stands for.”...

EU Ministers Plan Iran Oil Embargo, IAEA Team To Visit

2012-01-11T06:04:00.000-08:00

From Reuters:

Europe and Japan moved ahead Tuesday in planning for punitive cuts in oil imports from Iran, where a senior official dismissed Western anger at news Tehran is enriching uranium deep underground as cover for ulterior motives.

A day after Iran confirmed the start of enrichment at a mountain bunker near the holy city of Qom - and sentenced an American to death for spying - the European Union brought forward a ministerial meeting that is likely to match new U.S. measures to hamper Iran's oil exports.

Russia expressed "regret and concern" at news that Iran had begun enrichment operations at the Fordow bunker and criticised Tehran for ignoring the international community's demands for a response to its concerns.

An official at the IAEA, the UN nuclear watchdog, said inspectors were expected to visit Iran soon to discuss their worries about possible military aspects to its nuclear program.

Japan took precautions in case it joins an international embargo on buying Iranian crude by asking Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to help it make up any shortfall.

Anxiety about the Iranian nuclear program helped push up oil prices, and Brent February crude rose 92 cents to $113.37 a barrel by 12:48 p.m. EST (5:48 p.m. British time).

Iran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency was scathing about reactions to Monday's news, confirmed by the IAEA, that the Fordow site was enriching uranium - something Western powers say is aimed at developing nuclear arms, rather than the civilian uses that Iran asserts.

Noting that Fordow had been monitored by the IAEA for two years, Ali Asghar Soltanieh told Iran's ISNA news agency that Western reaction had "political purposes." The clerical leadership in Tehran, under pressure from sanctions that are disrupting the economy ahead of a parliamentary election, often accuses Western powers of seeking to overthrow it.

In Brussels, the European Union said it brought forward by a week, to January 23, a meeting at which foreign ministers from the bloc, which rivals China as Iran's biggest customer for crude, are expected to confirm an embargo on oil purchases.

The 27 EU governments are still debating how quickly some of their ailing and oil-dependent economies can afford to drop a key supplier and find alternatives.

The change is officially to avoid a clash with an EU summit on January 30, but bringing the ministers' meeting forward could speed a decision on when to impose the ban, following U.S. President Barack Obama's New Year's Eve move to stop payments to Iran for oil.

The Islamic Republic's decision to carry out enrichment work deep underground at Fordow could make it much harder for U.S. or Israeli forces to carry out veiled threats to use force against Iranian nuclear facilities. That in turn could narrow a time window for diplomacy to avert any attack.

The U.S. State Department Monday called uranium enrichment at Fordow a "further escalation" of Iran's "ongoing violations" of U.N. resolutions.

France called for measures of "unprecedented scale and severity" against Tehran. Germany and Britain also condemned it. Others, including Greece and Italy, which are bigger customers for Iranian oil, are seeking delays before cutting off imports.

DEATH SENTENCE

The death sentence Monday for Amir Mirza Hekmati, 28, an Arizona-born former U.S. military translator with dual Iranian-U.S. nationality, further riled Washington, which denies he is a spy and has demanded his immediate release since his arrest.

The two moves come at a time when new U.S. sanctions imposed over Iran's nuclear program are causing real economic pain.

The rial has lost 20 percent of its value against the dollar in the past week alone, raising the cost of living for Iran's 74 million people. As they scrambled to buy dollars to protect savings, some said mobile phone text messages were being blocked where they included discussion of "dollars" or "currency." Officials denied any state censorship.

Tehran has responded to the sanctions moves with threats to international shipping that have frightened oil markets. A parliamentary election in two months is widening Iran's internal political divisions, though the widely diverse opposition to the clerical leadership is also divided, both in Iran and in exile.

LEADERS JOKE

Presidents Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela mocked U.S. disapproval and joked about having an atom bomb.

"Despite those arrogant people who do not wish us to be together, we will unite forever," the Iranian leader told Chavez during a visit to Caracas.

On New Year's Eve, U.S. President Barack Obama signed into law by far the toughest financial sanctions yet against Iran, which if fully implemented could make it impossible for most countries to pay for Iranian oil.

Nuclear talks between Iran and the five permanent U.N. Security Council members plus Germany collapsed a year ago. Efforts to restart them have foundered over Iran's refusal to negotiate over its right to enrich uranium.

The United States and Israel say they are leaving the military option on the table in case it becomes the only way to prevent Iran from making a nuclear weapon.

Hekmati's family says he was arrested last August while visiting grandparents in Iran. The United States urged Iran to "release him without delay." His execution could still be blocked by Iran's highest court, which must confirm all death sentences.

Iran disclosed to the IAEA in 2009 that it was building the facility beneath a mountain at Fordow - but only after learning that it had been detected by Western intelligence.

After years in which economic sanctions had little effect, the latest measures against Tehran are causing real pain.

Iran has remained defiant. In a televised speech Monday, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said: "Sanctions imposed on Iran by our enemies will not have any impact on our nation. The Iranian nation believes in its rulers."

Norway: 'Immigrants Behind Most Rapes In Stavanger'

2012-01-11T06:02:00.000-08:00

From The Local:

An overwhelming majority of men convicted of rape in Stavanger in the last three years come from first and second-generation immigrant communities, a review of the city’s court rulings has shown.

In all, 18 rape judgments were handed down from 2009 to 2011 in the south-western city, according to a review carried out by state broadcaster NRK.

The cases involved 22 men, two of whom were cleared of rape charges.

Of the 20 men found guilty of rape, half were of African origin, five had Asian backgrounds, one had Polish roots and three were ethnic Norwegians, said NRK, which did not disclose the ethnicity of one of the men.

Police investigator Kristian Johansen said he was surprised by the figures, as men with immigrant backgrounds were not overrepresented to the same extent in cases reported to the police.

“When we look at the total number of reports we process, the cases involve a higher number of ethnic Norwegians. It surprises me that so few ethnic Norwegians have been convicted,” he said.

By contrast, Stavanger district court judge Helge Bjørnestad said he was not surprised by the figures.

“I don’t think this is an arbitrary grouping. Unfortunately, it tallies with what we’ve seen,” he said.

Bjørnestad added that it was important for the figures to be out in the open if there was to be a meaningful discussion on how best to prevent further rapes. .

“A perpetrator analysis can be absolutely decisive in many contexts. By pointing this out and discussing it, it becomes possible to use effective remedies. When choosing the remedy, you need to know who the perpetrator is,” said Bjørnestad.

Commenting on the skewed ethnic distribution of culprits, the judge said this could be partially explained by cultural differences.

“There’s clearly an explanation that’s tied to views about women, respect, and integrity. But that’s hardly the entire explanation,” he said.

Norway has recently been seeking to fight back a rising tide of rapes, with the number of reported rapes by strangers spiralling to record levels last year.

UK: Muslim Jailed For Holding Ex-Wife Prisoner On The Toilet After Blasting Her Western Knickers As Satan

2012-01-11T06:01:00.000-08:00

From the Daily Mail:

Khalique Miah held Zahanara Begum in the bathroom for more than an hour
He then cut off her hair after criticising the highlights
Khalique Miah was jailed for 18 months at Snaresbrook Crown Court for the attack on his ex-wife

A devout Muslim held his ex-wife prisoner on the toilet for an hour and physically assaulted her as punishment for wearing Western clothes.

Khalique Miah has been jailed for 18 months for the attack on Zahanara Begum.

She was on the loo when her former husband burst in dressed in black, wielding a hammer and referring to her underwear as 'Satan'.

Miah, 35, covered her mouth with a gloved hand to stop her screaming, punched her in the chest and stomach then climbed on top of her, holding her in place, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard.

He started haranguing her about her plucked eyebrows, shaved legs and highlighted hair, telling her she should not wear Western clothes and calling her knickers 'Satan'.

The couple’s three-year-old daughter woke up and started crying, but Miah refused to let Mrs Begum go and comfort her.

After an hour she begged for her freedom and he relented, telling her to get in the bath.

He then took her into the living room, where the father-of-two said her hair would have to go.

She agreed, not realising what he meant until he went into the kitchen, fetched a pair of scissors and started snipping it off into a carrier bag.

By this point it was nearly 3am, but Mrs Begum decided to wake the couple’s children in the hope their presence would stop Miah hurting her.

The defendant pocketed his ex-wife’s mobile phone, cut her landline and refused to let her leave the flat until 10am the next day, when she persuaded him she wanted to give the marriage another go.

He agreed to phone her family and when they arrived at the address in Whitechapel, East London, Mrs Begum asked them to call the police.

Miah admitted false imprisonment and assault causing actual bodily harm.

Passing sentence, Judge Simon Wilkinson said the victim had been through a 'terrifying ordeal' at the hands of her former husband.

He said: 'At 11pm, you arrived at her address unannounced and uninvited. You were dressed in black and carrying a hammer in the waistband of your trousers.

'You surprised her when she was sitting on the WC in her bathroom. She could not have been more vulnerable.

'You put your gloved hand over her mouth to stifle her screams then punched her and slapped her to the chest area.

'When you finally allowed her off the toilet seat you cut off her hair with a pair of scissors. You also cut her landline and took her mobile phone. Such conduct cannot and will not be tolerated.'

Miah, who works at Tesco in Bow, East London, has no previous convictions and had been on the supermarket’s fast-track management programme.

He was married to Mrs Begum for eight years and they had two children, now aged three and seven.

Mathew Dance, defending, said: 'He has indicated genuine remorse. He says he has learned his lesson.

'He wants to put all this behind him and get on with his life.'

Miah, of Whitechapel, pleaded guilty to false imprisonment and assault causing actual bodily harm.

Mickey Mouse Cartoons A Crime In The New Egypt

2012-01-11T06:00:00.000-08:00

From the Global Post:

Naguib Sawiris will face trial for tweeting a cartoon of Mickey and Minnie Mouse in Islamic dress. He is charged with "contempt of religion." (GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP/Getty Images)

Tweeting a Mickey Mouse cartoon is now a crime in Egypt.

Coptic Christian billionaire, Naguib Sawiris, will face trial for tweeting a cartoon of Mickey and Minnie Mouse in Islamic dress, Reuters reported today.

The liberal politician and media mogul is charged with "contempt for religion" by a Cairo prosecutor for posting the cartoon that outraged Egyptian Islamists last summer.

Sawiris deleted the tweet -- which included the comment: "Mickey and Minnie after", in reference to Islamist popularity in post-revolution Egypt -- and apologized for posting it.

Muslim-Christian tensions have risen since a popular uprising ousted decades-long dictator, Hosni Mubarak, last February. Sawiris' political party, the Free Egyptians Party, garnered between 10-15 percent of the vote in the country's recent parliamentary votes.

Pro-democracy activists rose up last year to fight for rights like free speech.

In October, over two dozen people taking part in a protest for Christian rights were killed when army soldiers and plainclothes thugs cracked down on the demonstration. Some of the protestors were crushed to death by army vehicles.

Saudi Arabia: Filipina Nurse Held For Meeting Man At Mall

2012-01-11T00:04:00.000-08:00

From Emirates 24/7:

Saudi Arabia’s feared religious police arrested a Filipina nurse for having what they described as an illegitimate meeting with an Arab man at a shopping mall in the conservative Gulf kingdom.

Members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice rushed towards the couple at a café in the western Red Sea port of Jeddah after suspecting they were lovers.

“When he saw them, the man fled…the Commission members arrested the Filipina nurse, who told them the man is her boy friend and that she met him there to say good bye before returning to her home country.”

In its report, Kabar Arabic language daily said the Commission members detained the nurse and mounted a manhunt for her lover.

Egypt’s Women Find Power Still Hinges On Men

2012-01-10T21:02:00.000-08:00

From the New York Times:

At first Samira Ibrahim [pictured] was afraid to tell her father that Egyptian soldiers had detained her in Tahrir Square in Cairo, stripped off her clothes, and watched as she was forcibly subjected to a “virginity test.”

But when her father, a religious conservative, saw electric prod marks on her body, they revived memories of his own detention and torture under President Hosni Mubarak’s government. “History is repeating itself,” he told her, and together they vowed to file a court case against the military rulers, to claim “my rights,” as Ms. Ibrahim later recalled.

That case has proved successful so far. For the first time last month, an administrative court challenged the authority of the military council and banned such “tests.” Ms. Ibrahim will ask a military court on Sunday to hold the officers accountable.

But nearly a year after Mr. Mubarak’s ouster, Ms. Ibrahim’s story in many ways illustrates the paradoxical position of women in the new Egypt. Emboldened by the revolution to claim a new voice in public life, many are finding that they are still dependent on the protection of men, and that their greatest power is not as direct actors but as symbols of the military government’s repression. It is not a place where Egyptian feminists had hoped women would be, back in the heady days of the revolution, when they played an active role, side by side with men, to bring down a dictator.

“Changing the patriarchal culture is not so easy,” said Mozn Hassan, 32, executive director of the seven-year-old group Nazra for Feminist Studies.

Female demonstrators have suffered sexual assaults at the hands of Egyptian soldiers protected by military courts. Human rights groups say they have documented the cases of at least 100 women who were sexually assaulted by soldiers or the security police during the time of military rule — including Ms. Ibrahim’s experience in March and the anonymous woman recorded on video last month as she was beaten and stripped, exposing a blue bra, by soldiers clearing Tahrir Square after fresh protests. The vast majority of cases have come during the three-month crackdown on demonstrations that has taken more than 80 lives since the beginning of October.

Even when women have pushed back, as they did late last month in a historic march by thousands through downtown Cairo — many carrying pictures of the “blue bra girl” — they have done so only with the protection of men. Men encircled the marchers and at times those male guardians seemed to direct the crowd or lead its chants; many chants led by women called for more “gallantry” from Egyptian men.

Famous mainly as silent victims, women like the “blue bra girl” risk becoming mascots of the male-dominated uprising, said Ms. Hassan, one of several Egyptian feminists who said they were thrilled by the size of the march — but winced at its dependence on men.

“If you are calling for men to protect you, that is bad, because then they define you and they stick to the traditional roles,” Ms. Hassan said. (Even among feminist groups, there were few all-women organizations in Egypt, and of the 13 founders of Ms. Hassan’s organization, 6 were men.)

At the same time, the revolution has opened the door for the ascendance of conservative Islamist parties, including religious extremists who want to roll back some of the rights women do have. The mainstream Muslim Brotherhood is poised to win nearly half of the seats in Parliament, when voting is completed this week, while the more extreme Salafis are on track to win more than 20 percent.

While Brotherhood leaders talk of encouraging traditional roles but respecting women’s career choices, many Salafis oppose allowing women to play leadership roles and favor regulating issues like women’s dress to impose Islamic standards of modesty. “We have major concerns because what they are proposing is very oppressive,” said Ghada Shabandar, a veteran human rights activist.

Even now, however, women have almost no leadership roles in the various activists groups that formed out of the original protests that ousted Mr. Mubarak and so far women have fewer than 10 of the roughly 500 seats in Parliament. The electoral debates have featured scant mention of women’s issues — from the pervasiveness of genital cutting to legally sanctioned employment discrimination, despite official statistics showing that a third of Egyptian households depend on female earners.

“We have no feminist movement now,” said Hala Mustafa, editor of Democracy, a state-run journal.

Feminists say that for decades Egyptian security forces have kidnapped or sexually abused women as a way to pressure the men in their families. In a celebrated case from 2005, a journalist, Nawal Ali, sought to press charges against the government-aligned thugs who had beaten and stripped her in an attack. It is not all bleak, though. Some argue that the revolution is helping to revitalize the dormant women’s movement, if only by opening up politics so Ms. Ibrahim could have her day in court or thousands could march for the woman stripped to her bra.

“That is the difference the Egyptian revolution has made,” Ms. Shabandar said. “The wall of fear is gone, and now when we march for the ‘blue bra girl,’ we march for Nawal Ali.”

A few younger feminists, though, say that philosophy keeps women in the back seat. “That is the same thing women were told after the revolution,” said Masa Amir, 24, recalling when the military council picked an all-male panel of jurists to draft a temporary constitution. But the result was a document implying that the president could only be a man — perhaps because no one at the table raised the issue.

But the stigma attached to victims of sexual abuse continues to force many to remain silent.

Six other women were subjected to “virginity tests” by the soldiers that night in March when Ms. Ibrahim was assaulted. The humiliation was so great, Ms. Ibrahim said, that she initially hoped to die. “I kept telling myself, ‘People get heart attacks, why don’t I get a heart attack and just die like them?’ ”

Her mother’s advice was to keep silent, if she ever hoped to marry, or even lead a dignified life in their village in rural Upper Egypt, Ms. Ibrahim said in an interview.

When she did speak out, Egyptian new media shunned her, she said, and only the international news media would cover her story. She received telephone calls at all hours threatening rape or death. But with the support of her father — an Islamist activist who was detained and tortured two decades ago — she persevered, and next week will go back to military court in an attempt to hold the perpetrators accountable as well.

When she saw the video of the “blue bra girl” being beaten, it redoubled her resolve. “I felt I had to avenge her,” she said.

Ugandan Pastor Treated At Israeli Hospital After Jihad Attack

2012-01-10T21:01:00.001-08:00

From JTA:

An evangelical pastor from Uganda who recently began preaching support for Israel, is being treated in an Israeli hospital after an acid attack.

Pastor Umar Mulinde, 38, arrived in Israel on Jan. 5 for emergency medical treatment at Tel Aviv's Sheba Medical Center following an acid attack that severely burned his face and torso and damaged his right eye.

The attackers shouted “Allah Akbar” (God is great) after pouring acid on Mulinde on Dec. 24 in Kampala. Mulinde converted to Christianity after spending much of his life as a Muslim.

After determining that he needed more advanced treatment for his injuries than the hospital in Kampala could provide, Mulinde contacted JerusalemOnlineU.com Executive Director Andrea Gottlieb of Philadelphia for financial and logistical help.

Mulinde had learned about Israel through JerusalemOnlineU.com, an online portal for Jewish distance learning. He then taught the courses at his Gospel Life Church International and to neighboring ministers, and organized a 5,000-person teach-in about Israel at a local stadium.

Coalition Demands Hillsborough Schools Cut Off 'Hamas Entity'

2012-01-10T21:00:00.000-08:00

From Sunshine State News:

Alleging that campus visits by a Muslim activist are "tantamount to advocating overturning the Constitution in favor of Sharia Law," a conservative coalition on Monday demanded that the Hillsborough County School District "sever all connections" to the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

A letter signed by Conservative Theological University president Gene Youngblood and 14 others representing conservative educational and religious groups also "respectfully requested":
A vetting process be implemented to ensure Islamic groups have no connections or affiliations to Muslim Brotherhood entities.
A list of all schools and classes which CAIR or other Islamic groups have been allowed to speak to in the Hillsborough School District.
Equal time with each of the classes "to give a factual presentation by experts of our choice to speak on similar topics."
All school board members, faculty and superintendent attend a briefing on "Islamic Indoctrination in America's Public Schools" conducted by coalition "experts."
"Factual supplements be prepared and implemented in conjunction with our experts and textbook teams."
The coalition, under the heading of "United Conservative Groups," was responding to news reports of CAIR Florida director Hassan Shibly [pictured above] speaking to world history classes at Steinbrenner High School in Tampa last fall.

Referring to CAIR as a "Hamas entity," the coalition charged that the council is "working to subvert American law, loyalty to America, American values and our American heritage, and they have no place in our public schools."

See full statement here.
Steve Hegarty, spokesman for the Hillsborough County schools, said district officials would review the coalition's letter "and respond to the portions that require a response."

Hegarty added, "I think it's important to point out the context of Mr. Shibly's visit. He visited as a representative of a major world religion. We have also had speakers representing other faiths including Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity and Judaism."

Shibly said it was "insane" to characterize CAIR as a "federally designated Hamas entity."

Noting that the FBI and the U.S. attorney's office had apprised him of pending charges against a suspected Islamist terrorist in Tampa on Monday morning, Shibly said CAIR respects the rule of law.

"We wouldn't have been called by the FBI otherwise," he said.

As he told Sunshine State News last month, "If Muslims were as bad as these people say we are, we'd all be at Guantanamo."

Al Qaeda In Yemen Targets More American Recruits

2012-01-10T20:56:00.000-08:00

From Fox News:

Anwar Al-Awlaki may have been killed in a drone strike last fall, but the American cleric's legacy is still a draw for potential American jihadist recruits, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security are warning.

A new FBI/Homeland Security intelligence bulletin, first obtained by Fox News, says al Qaeda in Yemen, also known as al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, is determined to cultivate new American recruits and suggests a new memorial video, released in late December after the American cleric's death in a CIA-led strike, may prompt his followers to act.

Prepared for federal, state and local law enforcement, analysts write that the new tribute video "encourages Western-based Muslims to commit violence," adding that the "video could inspire violent extremists in the West to conduct attacks."

Awlaki, who appears in the video released Dec. 20, speaks in English from beyond the grave, stating that "jihad against America is binding.”

While the bulletin states, "We have no indication that the timing of the video's release or any content ... is related to specific, ongoing plotting against the homeland," federal law enforcement and military are urged "to remain vigilant for signs of terrorist plotting and to report suspicious activities."

The warning was revealed as two new cases, one in Florida, the other in Maryland, underscore the threat of digital jihad. According to a criminal complaint released on Monday, 25-year-old Sami Osmakac was accused of attempting to use car bombs to target two Florida nightclubs, a sheriff's office.

Like Awlaki, Osmakac used the web to spread his alleged ideology of hate. Even after his arrest over the weekend, Osmakac's Youtube videos were still online. In one 12-minute tape, provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute, he rambles on about Allah, circumcision and Marxism.

In the second case, 24-year-old Maryland native Craig Baxam, a former member of the Army, made his first court appearance Monday after being accused of traveling to Somalia to join the al Qaeda affiliate, al-Shabaab. According to a criminal complaint, Baxam was radicalized on the Internet without any direct contact with a foreign terrorist organization. He allegedly read a piece about the day of judgment on an Islamist website.

As part of its ongoing investigation of the cleric, the Fox News specials unit has learned that federal investigators are focusing on a member of AQAP identified in the video as Abu Yazeed.

Yazeed is believed to be an American citizen who may have known Awlaki in the United States before traveling to Yemen to join the al Qaeda affiliate. A law enforcement source told Fox News that the appearance of Yazeed in such a high profile video was more evidence AQAP was drawing new American recruits despite al-Awlaki's death Sept. 30, 2011.

The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Peter King, told Fox News that it is one thing to kill the cleric and quite another to kill his ideas.

"Al-Awlaki -- even though he is dead -- his impact is going to continue probably more than anyone in the Islamic terrorist world. He was able to connect with Americans and his tapes, his words, his impact is going to live on. We have to keep that in mind. Al-Awlaki is dead but unfortunately his hate lives on," said King, R-N.Y.

In May, the House Homeland Security launched an official investigation into the cleric and his possible role in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. King told Fox News in a phone interview that the FBI has not provided a single document -- over an eight month period -- to his investigators.

"We're in the situation where the FBI indicates that al-Awlaki was not really part of 9/11 but at the same time, (the FBI) does not make available to us all of the information we need. They still talk about ongoing investigations," King said. "On the one hand trying to downplay the significance of al-Awlaki as far as pre 9/11 but at the same time denying us access to information that we believe is necessary to really close this out -- to find out what the true impact and the true significance of al-Awlaki was in the events leading up to 9/11."

A spokesman for the FBI told Fox News that the bureau had briefed committee staff and a briefing was being scheduled with King.

UK: Muslim Men 'Handed Out Anti-Gay Leaflets' Featuring Nooses

2012-01-10T20:52:00.000-08:00

From The Telegraph and Argus:

A group of Muslim men handed out to the public a leaflet that called for homosexuals to be "punished" and given the death sentence, a court has heard.

The five men gave out the pamphlet, called The Death Penalty?, which showed an image of a mannequin hanging from a noose, said buggery was a great sin leading to hell, that it used to be punished by hanging and that people practising and allowing homosexuality would suffer, the court was told.

Ihjaz Ali, 42, Mehboob Hussain, 45, Umar Javed, 38, Razwan Javed, 27, and Kabir Ahmed, 28, are alleged to have handed out the document outside and near the Jamia Mosque in Rosehill Street, Derby, in July 2010, as well as putting it through people's letterboxes in the local neighbourhood.

All five men are accused of stirring up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation in the first prosecution of its kind since legislation came into force in March 2010.

Opening the prosecution's case at Derby Crown Court, where the five men are on trial after denying all charges, prosecutor Bobbie Cheema said the case was an example of a hate crime.

She told the jury of seven men and five women: "The essence of this case will come down to this - an allegation of a hate crime, that these five defendants were part of a small group of men who distributed horrible, threatening literature, with quotations from religious sources and with pictures on them, which were designed to stir up hatred and hostility against homosexual people."

Miss Cheema showed the jury a series of three leaflets the men handed out, which included The Death Penalty? leaflet, and told them they would hear from witnesses who received them.

The two other leaflets were made and used as part of the campaign to publicise a counter-protest in response to the Gay Pride parade due to be held in Derby on July 10, 2010, she said.

She added: "The leaflets you will see are not educational or simply informative, they are, we suggest, threatening, offensive, frightening and nasty."

The trial continues.

Above Picture: Kabir Ahmed, 28, arrives at Derby Crown Court where he and four others deny stirring up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation

Iran, West Approaching 'Turning Point' In 2012, Officials Warn

2012-01-10T20:40:00.000-08:00

From Fox News:

Sept. 26, 2009: This satellite image provided by GeoEye shows a facility inside a mountain outside of Qom, Iran.

War games. Threats to close a key oil passageway and block a U.S. aircraft carrier from returning to the Persian Gulf. An American sentenced to death in Tehran, accused of spying. And now a breakthrough in Iran's nuclear program.

The developments portend what officials see as a momentous year ahead in the standoff between Iran and the West, as Iranian leaders appear to grow bolder despite a new round of international sanctions which, by most accounts, is taking a toll.

"There won't be taking an eye off the ball," Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations at the Defense Department told reporters on Tuesday. Greenert spoke after the second rescue in less than a week of Iranians in trouble in Gulf waters. "If you ask me what keeps me awake at night, it is the Strait of Hormuz and the business that is going on in the Arabian Gulf."

U.S. lawmakers and other officials say western nations, which already have been putting the screws to the regime in Tehran, must take additional steps in order to persuade the country not to go down the nuclear weapons path.

In a letter to the European Union released Tuesday, a group of bipartisan senators described 2012 as a "turning point in the confrontation between Iran and the international community." They urged the organization to impose an oil embargo on Iran and follow the U.S. lead by sanctioning Iran's Central Bank.

"We believe that both (steps) are absolutely necessary if we are to prevent the Iranian regime from acquiring nuclear weapons and thereby foreclose either a regional war or a cascade of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East," reads the letter signed by Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn.; Mark Kirk, R-Ill.; Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and five others.

In New York, state senators on Monday passed legislation already approved by the state Assembly to prohibit state and local governments from doing business with companies that have more than $20 million in ties to Iran's energy sector.

"The Senate's swift action shows how important it is that we stand together to condemn tyrannical governments like Iran which sponsor terrorism, have attempted to acquire nuclear weapons and threaten U.S. allies like Israel, as Iran has repeatedly done," Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos said on the Senate floor.

The move, which mirrors actions by Florida and California, comes after state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli announced $86 billion of the nearly $150 billion state pension fund has been divested from companies involved in Iran and Sudan.

The array of actions and latest warnings -- particularly on the Republican presidential campaign trail -- highlight the West's effort to make tough choices on Iran, within a quickly narrowing window.

The latest alarm bell came Monday when the United Nations' nuclear agency confirmed that Iran had started to enrich uranium at its underground Fordo site. The level of enrichment being pursued is said to be 20 percent, far more than the 3.5 percent-level material being produced at Iran's central enrichment site.

The State Department described the development as very bad news.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a statement Tuesday that the enrichment activity "demonstrates the Iranian regime's blatant disregard for its responsibilities."

She called on Iran to stop enriching uranium and return to international talks on its nuclear program, adding that the circumstances surrounding the Fordo site are "especially troubling."

"There is no plausible justification for this production. Such enrichment brings Iran a significant step closer to having the capability to produce weapons-grade highly enriched uranium," she said.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland also said a day earlier that, "When you enrich to 20 percent, there is no possible reason for that if you're talking about a peaceful program."

John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador the United Nations under the Bush administration, said that if there is a strike, Israel is the most likely candidate to carry it out. But he said Israel risks a "nuclear response" in the event the country waits too long to launch one.

"Every day that goes by means that the military option gets less and less likely," Bolton told Fox News.

Reflecting the views of the senators who wrote to the European Union, Bolton said a nuclear Iran would trigger a nuclear race in the volatile Middle East among Iran's powerful neighbors.

"I think it's a very dangerous period. I think Iran is drawing close to the point where it will have a nuclear weapons capability," Bolton said.

On Tuesday, White House spokesman Jay Carney said the U.S. is consulting with countries like India and China on ways to keep the pressure up -- after both nations committed to stronger partnerships with Iran's oil sector.

In the meantime, Carney said, "We have effectively isolated Iran to a degree that has never before been the case. And the impact of the sanctions and the efforts that we've implemented is profound.

He added that while the military option isn't off the table, the U.S. is focused on "diplomatic, economic and other non-military actions that we can take to bring about the results that we and many, many countries around the world -- our international partners and allies -- are demanding."

Israel has not betrayed its plans, though the country's military chief of staff Benny Gantz said Tuesday that 2012 "will be a critical year" on the Iranian nuclear front, according to The Jerusalem Post.

The Institute for National Security Studies, an Israeli think tank, also claimed that Israel could still attack Iran even after an Iranian nuclear test.

"The Israeli military option is likely to be a significant lever," the group said in a report on a simulation it conducted regarding the possible responses to such a test.

The United States has not publicly signaled a shift away from the international sanctions route. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, speaking Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation," said that while no option is off the table, the "responsible" path is "to keep putting diplomatic and economic pressure on them," so they don't pursue a nuclear weapon. He said it's important for the international community, "including Israel," to work together.

Panetta, who said last month that Iran could develop a weapon in 2012, claimed Sunday that Iran is not currently trying to develop one.

"But we know that they're trying to develop a nuclear capability. And that's what concerns us," he said. "And our red line to Iran is do not develop a nuclear weapon. That's a red line for us."

Panetta said "they're going to get stopped" if they pursue a weapon.

Other U.S. lawmakers have pressed the Obama administration to do more. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement Monday that she is "deeply troubled by the sense of complacency that seems to describe the administration's view of Iran as undecided about whether to pursue nuclear weapons."

She said an Iran with "nuclear breakout capability" should be treated like an Iran with a nuclear weapon, and noted that Iran is making inroads into Latin America to directly threaten U.S. security.

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said in a statement to FoxNews.com that "it seems apparent that Iran is seeking a nuclear weapon in the face of international condemnation and sanctions."

"While we may not yet be at risk of nuclear retaliation from Iran, the longer we wait to act, the harder it would be to destroy an Iranian nuclear arms program while keeping civilian casualties and environmental damage to a minimum," King said.

King late last year called -- to no avail -- for the United Nations to expel Iran's diplomatic officials from the U.N. mission in New York. That was after Iranian officials were tied to an alleged plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the U.S.

The Republican presidential candidates meanwhile have increasingly warned about the dangers of a nuclear Iran on the campaign trail. Anti-war Rep. Ron Paul, though, has likened the rhetoric to that which poured out of Washington before the 2003 Iraq invasion.

Picture of the Week: Militant Islam In The New Year

2012-01-09T00:04:00.000-08:00

From The Religion of Peace:

The first week of the new year was a big one for the Religion of Peace. In Yemen, fundamentalists set fire to a hotel selling alcohol, killing two guests who had to jump from a balcony. Al-Qaeda massacred 26 Syrians. Sunni bombers in Iraq sent nearly 100 Shia pilgrims to Allah over two days. And hardliners in Nigeria shot and hacked about 30 Christians to death in a series of attacks while shouting praises to Allah. (On top of all that, they even murdered Santa Claus)

Al-Qaeda-Linked Terrorists Targeting Christians, Turning Nigeria Into Cauldron Of Religious Strife

2012-01-09T00:03:00.000-08:00

By Peter Goodspeed for the National Post:

Preaching a theology of chaos and intolerance, the al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group Boko Haram is threatening to plunge Nigeria into a civil war.

After murdering 504 people last year in church and mosque bombings, drive-by shootings, bank robberies and assaults on police stations and army barracks, the radical Islamists are rapidly becoming known as Africa’s Taliban.

The increasingly sophisticated and deadly attacks include a Christmas bombing campaign of Christian churches that killed 65 people in northern Nigeria and a suicide car-bomb attack on the United Nations’ headquarters in Nigeria’s capital Abuja, that killed 25 people in August.

Thursday, gunmen stormed a church in Gombe, killing six people. On Friday, armed men shot and killed 17 Christians at a house in the northeastern town of Mubi as they mourned the death of a friend the previous evening.

Then late Friday, gunmen killed at least eight people when they opened fire on worshippers at the Christian Apostolic church in downtown Yola, the capital of Adamawa.

Boko Haram has suddenly emerged as one of Africa’s most virulent terrorist threats.

In November, a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee on homeland security identified the group as a threat to African stability and U.S. security.

Its members are being trained by al-Qaeda in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM, al-Qaeda’s North African affiliate) and have ties to Somalia’s Al-Shabab, the committee concluded.

“The sophistication of its tactics, use of the Internet and its recent attack on the UN headquarters in Abuja all point to a dangerously evolving organization,” it said.

With AQIM operating in Nigeria’s neighbours — Mauritania, Mali, Niger and Algeria — it would only be “natural” for the group to gravitate toward Nigeria, said Paul Lubeck, an expert on the region at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

“They are global jihadists,” he said. “It is automatic that you would look to the largest Muslim state in Africa to expand.”

Before his death last May, Osama bin Laden identified Nigeria, with its sharp Christian-Muslim divide, as a key arena for global sectarian warfare.

Libya’s civil war, which has flooded North Africa with weapons, has also left Nigeria vulnerable.

Boko Haram — Hausa for “Western education is sinful” — was founded in 2002. Members prefer to use its full name, Jama’atul Alhul Sunnah Lidda’wati wal jihad (People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad), and have typically demanded the creation of an Islamic state and the implementation of sharia law throughout Nigeria.

Its first leader was Mohammed Yusuf, an imam who claimed education “spoils the belief in one God,” and the group focused on attacking government institutions in Nigeria’s northern provinces and challenging the secularism enshrined in Nigeria’s post-colonial constitution.

Centred on the Muslim-dominated north, the poorest region, Boko Haram draws on a vast pool of unschooled, unskilled and unemployed young people who are disenchanted with their country’s poverty, regional disparities and reputation for corruption.

“The emergence of Boko Haram signifies the maturation of long-festering extremist impulses that run deep in the social reality of Northern Nigeria,” wrote Chris Ngwodo, a Nigerian analyst.

“But the group itself is an effect and not a cause; it is a symptom of decades of failed government and elite delinquency finally ripening into social chaos.”

Operating from Maiduguri, capital of Borno state in northeastern Nigeria, near the border with Chad, Cameroon and Niger, Boko Haram preached a doctrine of withdrawal and saw Nigeria as an illegitimate, non-Islamic state.

Under Mr. Yusuf, its traditional targets were police stations, army barracks, banks, churches, schools and beer halls. It carried out targeted assassinations of religious leaders and politicians who disagreed with it and regularly waged civil disobedience campaigns.

In 2009, when Boko Haram refused to follow a new motorcycle helmet law, members clashed with police. The conflict rapidly escalated into an armed uprising that resulted in the deaths of more than 800 people, including the extra-judicial killing of Mr. Yusuf, who was captured and filmed being stripped by police, before later being found shot dead, allegedly after trying to escape.

Weakened by the police crackdown, with most of its leaders in exile, Boko Haram lay dormant for nearly a year until it exploded back on the scene in December 2010 with bombings of churches.

The terrorist resurgence — which included last August’s attack on the UN, a twin bombing of Nigeria Police headquarters in Abuja and a prison break in Bauchi that freed more than 700 inmates — demonstrated a new level of coordination and expertise with explosives and marked a major turning point in Boko Haram’s philosophy.

“They’ve changed to focus on a more familiar jihadi world view that wants change in the country and sees itself as part of a global struggle,” said Greg Barton, director of the Center for Islam & the Modern World at Australia’s Monash University.

“They’ve made links with Al-Shabab in Somalia and with [AQIM] in Algeria. So they’ve broadened their list of aims. It means it’s almost impossible to negotiate with them.”

General Carter Ham, head of the U.S.’s Africa Command, says there are signs Boko Haram and AQIM have tried to establish a “loose partnership” with Al-Shabab and are coordinating and synchronizing their efforts.

In November, Abdelkader Messahel, Algeria’s deputy foreign minister, said Boko Haram has become an al-Qaeda offshoot.

“We have no doubts that coordination exists between Boko Haram and al-Qaeda,” he said. “The way both groups operate and intelligence reports show that there is co-operation.”

Still, little of real substance is known about the current version of Boko Haram. The sect’s leader is believed to be Abubakar bin Muhammad Shekau, a former deputy of Mr. Yusuf, but there are rumours it has split into at least three different organizations.

In July, a group calling itself the Yusufiya Islamic Movement began distributing pamphlets in northern Nigeria that criticized Boko Haram for carrying out a false holy war and being infiltrated by “people with evil motives.”

Jean Herskovits, a history professor at State University of New York’s Purchase College, said “there is no proof that a well-organized, ideologically coherent terrorist group called Boko Haram even exists today.”

“Evidence suggests instead, that while the original core of the group remains active, criminal gangs have adopted the name Boko Haram to claim responsibility for attacks when it suits them,” she said.

After the Christmas bombings of churches in Borno, a self-proclaimed spokesman for Boko Haram, who identifies himself as Abul Qaqa, gave all Christians in northern Nigeria three days to leave the region or face more attacks.

Goodluck Jonathan, the Nigerian President, has declared a state of emergency in portions of four northern states and sent two army brigades to the region to fight Boko Haram.

“They started as a harmless group [and] have now grown cancerous,” he said. “Nigeria, being the body, they want to kill it.”

The United States has begun training Nigerian troops in counter-terrorism techniques, while France and Britain are offering military support and intelligence sharing.

Still, Africa’s most populous state and biggest oil producer remains mired in the disappointment and despair that originally gave rise to Boko Haram 10 years ago.

While declaring a state of emergency in the north, Mr. Jonathan’s government also triggered violent national protests over the New Year with a decision to eliminate a 38-year-old fuel subsidy that was costing the government US$7.5-billion a year.

The immediate result was a 150% hike in gasoline prices and angry calls by Nigeria’s two major labour unions for a nationwide strike starting Monday.

Seventy per cent of Nigerians live on less than $2 a day and are unwilling or unable to pay nearly $1 a litre for gas.

Long tormented by division and disunity, with 350 ethnic groups speaking 250 languages, Nigeria is rapidly becoming a cauldron of religious and ethnic strife on a continent that has just begun to experience the full impact of Islamist radicalism.

Libya Welcomes Sudan's Bashir, Wanted By International Criminal Court For Genocide

2012-01-09T00:02:00.001-08:00

From Jihad Watch:

Many reports from the time of the fall of Gadhafi's regime described terrible brutality by Libya's revolutionaries against black Africans, as Bashir has heaped abuse on Darfur and the now-independent South Sudan. The great irony is that Bashir, who considers himself an Arab, would be described as a black man in any town in the West. Life imitates art, as Bashir could be described as the Arab world's answer to Dave Chapelle's blind black Klansman. That both regimes are indifferent to non-"Arab" causes would not be surprising.

In any case, once again, Muslim countries are protecting and supporting Bashir, as the OIC and Arab League have done in the past, and utterly ignoring the charges against him. The reality on the ground does not line up with vaunted egalitarianism of Islam that is so heavily emphasized in dawah sales pitches. "Sudan's Bashir criticises Kadhafi in Libya trip," by Jay Deshmukh for Agence France-Presse, January 7:

Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, wanted internationally for genocide and war crimes, said on Saturday in Tripoli that slain dictator Moamer Kadhafi caused great suffering among the Sudanese people.

His arrival in Tripoli marked Bashir's first Libya visit since Kadhafi was ousted, but the trip faced strong criticism from New York-based Human Rights Group, which said that hosting such an "international fugitive" sent troubling signals about the commitment of Libya's new rulers to human rights.

Wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of genocide and war crimes in Sudan's war-torn Darfur region, Bashir said that after Libya, Kadhafi inflicted the most damage in Sudan, the official WAL news agency reported.

"We all suffered from the old regime... We (the Sudanese) were the second to have suffered the most, after the Libyan people," Bashir told WAL.

Upon arrival in Tripoli, the Sudanese leader was met by Libya's Mustafa Abdel Jalil, the head of the National Transitional Council (NTC), and members of the interim government, an AFP photographer reported.

Bashir, who claims that Sudan provided weapons to help oust Kadhafi, said the visit felt "like it was the first time," adding that he came to underline Sudan's support for the Libyan people and the country's new government that took charge after Kadhafi's four-decade dictatorship fell. [...]

But Richard Dicker, international justice director at Human Rights Watch, strongly criticised his visit to Libya.

"Omar al-Bashir is an international fugitive from an arrest warrant for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes," Dicker told AFP by telephone from New York.

"Many governments have refused him entry into their countries. His arrival in Tripoli sends a disturbing signal about NTC's commitment to human rights and the rule of law."...

Iranian Cleric Calls Facebook 'Un-Islamic'

2012-01-09T00:02:00.000-08:00

From DPA via Haaretz:

17 million Iranians have a Facebook account, despite heavy restrictions and filtering imposed by the government.

An Iranian ayatollah has said that the social networking service Facebook was un-Islamic and being a member of it a sin, the ISNA news agency reported Saturday.

In Iran, it is common for senior clerics to be asked about their stance on certain social issues and whether these issues are compatible with Islamic norms.

Their answers are regarded as a form of decree.

ISNA on Saturday broadcast coverage of the response of Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi-Golpaygani, a senior cleric, to the question about Facebook and Iranian membership in the social networking service.

"Basically, going to any website which propagates immoralities and could weaken the religious belief is un-Islamic and not allowed, and membership in it is therefore haram (a sin)," the ayatollah replied.

"Only the use of websites propagating religious criteria and not leading to any kind of ethical immoralities is of no problem," he added.

According to official figures released last October, 17 million Iranians have a Facebook account, despite heavy restrictions and filtering imposed by the government.

Due to the popularity of Facebook with younger generations, observers believe that the number of real Iranian Facebook users could be much higher than 17 million.

Iran has a population of 70 million, of which than 60 per cent is under the age of 30.

Over 5 million websites are reportedly blocked in Iran, but Iranians use proxy software and virtual private networks (VPN) to access them.

Iranian officials have, for over three decades, been waging what they call a "battle against the invasion of Western culture."

This has led to blockades of "immoral" internet sites and banned Western music and movies. However, pirated versions of those are easily available on the black market.

The country recently established a cyberpolice unit to better police the internet and even plans to introduce its own national internet, though this has been postponed several times.

Pakistan: Death Threats For Asia Bibi's Lawyer And Human Rights Activists

2012-01-09T00:01:00.001-08:00

From Asia News:

Her lawyer has completed the request for appeal, but no specific details are provided in order to preserve their safety. Islamic extremist groups and leaders ready to target those fighting for her release. From Masihi Foundation thanks for the words of Pope Benedict XVI, a source of encouragement.

Asia Bibi's lawyer and activists of the Masihi Foundation (MF), fighting for the freedom of the 45 year old Christian mother of five children, condemned to death for blasphemy, have received death threats. In recent days the legal team has prepared the application for appeal to be presented to the court, but specific details are not provided to safeguard the safety of the woman - in solitary confinement in Sheikpura prison (Punjab) - and the team committed to obtain her release. For some time now, in fact, a leading Islamic extremist group has put a bounty on Asia Bibi which also affects those taking her defence. Last year, the Governor of Punjab Salman Taseer and Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti Catholics were murdered precisely because they have demanded the release of Christian women and called for a revision of the infamous "Black Law".

The activists of the Mf of Lahore are asking "all people of good will," Christians and Muslims alike, to defend Asia Bibi because she is "innocent". They also point out that since 1986, when the rules on blasphemy were promulgated, the largest number of victims have been registered within the Muslim majority. Lawyers explain that the Asia Bibi case is a "misinterpretation" of the law and clarify that there are no positions "against" the community or faithful, but only the desire to save the lives of "innocent" people and respect ultimate good, human life. We respect Islam, they add, the Prophet Muhammad and all religions and "we hope that the case turns into a 'bridge' and a not a 'barrier' between Christians and Muslims."

S.K. Chaudry, Asia Bibi's lawyer, confirmed that the team of lawyers has prepared the application for appeal to the High Court, but also adds that "the primary objective" is the "protection" of the woman and her family. He also adds that he harbours "confidence" in Pakistan's legal system and that her innocence will be proven.

The leaders of the Masihi Foundation want to thank those working on the case, with dedication and commitment. A special thought, they add, should be addressed to Pope Benedict XVI who prays for the "human dignity and basic rights of each individual." The pope's words, they conclude, are a source of encouragement and an invitation to "full respect" for human dignity.

Pro-Hamas Group In Gaza: "Praise be to you, our Lord. You have made our killing of the Jews an act of worship, through which we come closer to you."

2012-01-09T00:01:00.000-08:00

From Jihad Watch:

It's not news that the Palestinian jihadist propaganda machine has said some disturbing things over the years, but the language here all but reminds one of things associated with a "black mass." They've actually outdone themselves in antisemitic, genocidal creepiness here.

This item is from a rally some time ago, but the pitch of the rhetoric is too insane to allow to pass without comment. "Islamic Militants in Gaza: Allah's Teachings Are the Fire with Which 'We Harvest the Skulls of the Jews"; "We Move Closer to Allah through Blood, Body Parts, and Martyrs'," from MEMRI, recorded November 3:

Following are excerpts from statements made at a rally of the Palestinian Al-Ahrar movement in Gaza, a pro-Hamas group that split from Fatah, which aired on Al-Aqsa TV on November 3, 2011:

Rally organizer: Praise be to you, our Lord. You have made our killing of the Jews an act of worship, through which we come closer to you.

[…]

Allah's prayers upon you, our beloved Prophet [Muhammad]. You have made your teachings into constitutions for us – the light with which we dissipate the darkness of the occupation, and the fire with which we harvest the skulls of the Jews.

Allah's prayers?

[…]

Yes, our beloved brothers, even though the entire world moves closer to Allah through fasting, through hunger, and through tears, we are a people that moves closer to Allah through blood, through body parts, and through martyrs.

[…]

Oh sons of Palestine, oh sons of the Gaza Strip, oh mujahideen – wage Jihad, wreak destruction, blow up and harvest the heads of the Zionists. Words are useless by now. The lie of peace is gone. Only weapons are of any use – the path of [recently killed] Yousuf and Ali, the path of martyrdom and Jihad. Only our wounds talk on our behalf. We speak nothing but the language of struggle, of Jihad, or rockets, of bombs, of cannons and of martyrdom-seekers. This is the language in which we talk and negotiate with the Zionist enemy.

[…]

We say to the Zionists: Like a bad seed, we shall uproot you from our land, so that it can blossom in the light of the everlasting sun of our Jihad, and of our invincible religion. Jerusalem is not yours – get out of it! Haifa is not yours – get out of it! Tel Aviv is not yours – get out of it! Oh Zionists, get out before we expel you. these are the words of the mujahideen.

Report: Iran Begins Uranium Enrichment At New Underground Site

2012-01-08T14:08:00.000-08:00

From the AP via Fox News:

Iran has begun uranium enrichment at a new underground site well protected from possible airstrikes, a leading hardline newspaper reported Sunday.

The announcement came as another newspaper quoted a senior commander in the country's powerful Revolutionary Guard as saying that Tehran's leadership has decided to order the closure of the strategic Strait of Hormuz if the country's oil exports are blocked.

Iran is under U.N. sanctions for refusing to stop uranium enrichment -- which can produce both nuclear fuel and fissile warhead material -- and other suspected activities that the international community fears could be used to make atomic arms.

Tehran says it only seeks reactors for energy and research, and refuses to halt its uranium enrichment activities.

Kayhan daily, which is close to Iran's ruling clerics, said Tehran has begun injecting uranium gas into sophisticated centrifuges at the Fordo facility near the holy city of Qom.

"Kayhan received reports yesterday that show Iran has begun uranium enrichment at the Fordo facility amid heightened foreign enemy threats," the paper said in a front-page report. Kayhan's manager is a representative of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

But Iran's nuclear chief Fereidoun Abbasi said late Saturday that his country will "soon" begin enrichment at Fordo. It was impossible to immediately reconcile the two reports.

Iran has a major uranium enrichment facility in Natanz in central Iran where nearly 8,000 centrifuges are operating. Tehran began enrichment at Natanz in April 2006.

The Fordo centrifuges however are reportedly more efficient, and the site better shielded from aerial attack.

Meanwhile, Khorasan daily quoted Revolutionary Guard deputy commander Ali Ashraf Nouri as saying that a strategic decision to close the Strait of Hormuz, should Iran's exports be blocked, has been made by Iran's top authorities.

"The supreme authorities ... have insisted that if enemies block the export of our oil, we won't allow a drop of oil to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. This is the strategy of the Islamic Republic in countering such threats," Nouri was quoted by Khorasan daily as saying.

One-sixth of the world's oil flows to market through the Strait of Hormuz, at the mouth of the Persian Gulf.

Iranian politicians have issued similar threats in the past, but this is the strongest statement yet by a top commander in the country's security establishment indicating that a closure of the strait is official policy.

The U.S. has recently enacted new sanctions targeting Iran's central bank and its ability to sell petroleum abroad, as part of its re[s]ponse to Tehran's nuclear program.

Saudis Thrilled Over Hacking Of Over 400,000 Israeli Credit Card Accounts

2012-01-08T14:06:00.000-08:00

As Jihad Watch points out... "It's allowed when it concerns Jews."

From Jihad Watch:

Glee over the plundering of those whom the Qur'an terms the worst enemies of the Muslims (5:82). Those who objected were a tiny minority. And note that the Saudis who were fulminating about the Jews being "the filthiest people on earth" were reflecting what they learned in their study of Islam, and in the jihadist propaganda that demonizes Israel.

"Saudis laud credit card hacking scheme," by Roi Kais for Ynet News, January 3:

Saudi web surfers expressed glee Tuesday over the credit card scheme which exposed the account details of tens of thousands of Israelis. "If I were a hacker I would wish for 800,000 credit cards to be leaked, not just 400,000," one Saudi talkbacker wrote. "It's allowed when it concerns Jews," others said.
On Monday, it was reported that Saudi hackers claimed to have leaked credit card and personal information of over 400,000 Israelis. The hackers called the cyber attack a "gift to the world for the new year," which they hoped "would hurt the Zionist pocket." The file was removed shortly after being posted.

Saudi Arabia's official news agency, a mouthpiece for the country's rulers, did not report the affair but it was covered extensively by Saudi websites. Many electronic newspapers made the affair their leading story.

One website recorded over 10,000 hits for the story, which was also featured heavily on Facebook. The responses were mostly hostile towards Jews and Israel.

"Well done naughty boy…the Jews are the most despicable people…Hitler was right in what he said," one talkbacker wrote. "The Jews are the filthiest people on earth and the lowest among mankind. They deserve to be killed," another remarked.

There were exceptions however and some talkbacks maintained that theft was forbidden according toIslam [sic]. "This is a distortion of Islam which does not command to hurt the people of the book (the Jews) as long as they don’t hurt us. True, they are Zionists and our biggest enemies but we must not damage their property," one talkbacker wrote....

Nigeria: Islamic Sect Kills 15, Christians Vow Defense

2012-01-08T14:04:00.000-08:00

From the Associated Press via Yahoo News:

A radical Muslim sect attacked a church worship service in Nigeria's northeast during assaults that killed at least 15 people, authorities said Saturday, as Christians vowed to defend themselves from the group's widening sectarian fight against the country's government.

The attacks by the sect known as Boko Haram came after it promised to kill Christians living in Nigeria's largely Muslim north, exploiting long-standing religious and ethnic tensions in the nation of more than 160 million people. The pledge by the leader of an umbrella organization called the Christian Association of Nigeria now raises the possibility of retaliatory violence.

In the last few days alone, Boko Haram has killed at least 44 people, despite the oil-rich nation's president declaring a state of emergency in regions hit by the sect.

Speaking Saturday to journalists, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, president of the Christian Association of Nigeria, vowed the group's members would adequately protect themselves from the sect. He declined to offer specifics, raising concerns about retaliation.

"We have decided to work out means to defend ourselves against these senseless killings," Oritsejafor said.

He later added: "We cannot sit back and watch people being slaughtered like animals every day, going to the church, shooting people, killing them. This is unacceptable."

In Yola, the capital of Adamawa state, gunmen covered their faces with black cloth when they attacked Apostolic Church on Friday night, local police commissioner Ade Shinaba said. Shinaba said at least eight worshippers died in that attack.

At a nearby beauty salon, at least three others were killed in a similar attack.

"Three gunmen with their faces covered with black cloth burst into my salon and started shooting at customers, chanting, 'God is great, God is great,'" said Stephen Tizhe, 35.

Responding to the violence, Adamawa state Gov. Murtala Nyako ordered a 24-hour curfew throughout the rural state. The violence comes ahead of a planned gubernatorial election later this month.

In the town of Potiskum in Yobe state, gunmen set two banks ablaze with gasoline bombs, starting a gunfight with police that lasted three hours Friday, local police commissioner Tanko Lawan said. At least two people were killed in the fight, he said.

On Saturday, sect gunmen also shot and killed two Christian students who attend the University of Maiduguri in nearby Borno state, local police commissioner Simeon Midenda said.

No arrests have been made in any of the attacks, authorities said.

The attacks came after gunmen claimed by Boko Haram attacked a town hall earlier Friday in Mubi, Adamawa state, killing at least 20 people who had gathered for a meeting of the Christian Igbo ethnic group. On Thursday night, the sect also attacked a church in Gombe state, killing at least eight people.

Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the local Hausa language, is responsible for at least 510 killings last year alone, according to an Associated Press count. It has targeted churches in the past in its campaign to implement strict Shariah law across Nigeria.

The group claimed responsibility for attacks that killed at least 42 people in Christmas Day strikes that included the bombing of a Catholic church near Abuja. The group also claimed an August suicide car bombing that targeted the U.N. headquarters in the capital, killing 25 people and wounding more than 100.

Nigeria's central government has been slow to respond to the sect. On Dec. 31, President Goodluck Jonathan declared regions of Borno, Niger, Plateau and Yobe states to be under a state of emergency, meaning authorities can make arrests without proof and conduct searches without warrants. He also ordered international borders near Borno and Yobe state to be closed.

However, the areas where the recent church and town hall attacks happened are not in the areas marked by the president.

Boko Haram promised to begin attacking Christians in Nigeria's north several days before the recent violence. The new killings have sparked fears among Christians living in the north about the group and caused some to flee. There also has been at least one report of retaliatory violence against Muslims living in Nigeria's mostly Christian south in recent days as well.

Egypt: Islamic Parties Claim 62% In Latest Round Of Voting

2012-01-08T14:02:00.000-08:00

From Jihad Watch:

Civil rights and liberties? Women's rights? Freedom of conscience and speech? The rights of non-Muslims and ex-Muslims? Transparency, accountability, and limitations on power in government? The eradication of female genital mutilation? Where all of these and other issues are concerned, a democracy is only as good as the values that inform its participants. "Egypt Islamists claim 62% in latest voting," from Agence France Presse, January 7:

Egypt's two main Islamist parties claimed on Saturday to have together taken 62.2 percent of the vote in the final stage of a general election, maintaining their lead in the overall contest.

The Freedom and Justice Party of the powerful Muslim Brotherhood said on its website that it had garnered 35.2 percent of the party list vote in the polling in the final nine governorates on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Al-Nur party of the even more conservative Salafists, said it received 27 percent.

The two parties chalked up 65 percent in the first two phases of Egypt's first general election since the February ouster of president Hosni Mubarak.

The elections for the lower house of parliament have divided up the country geographically.

The last stage included the unstable Sinai region, which lies along the border with Israel and the Gaza Strip and includes the country's popular Red Sea tourist resorts.

Under the complex electoral system adopted after Mubarak's ouster, second-round run-offs still have to be held later this month where necessary for the one third of seats that are decided in first-past-the-post constituencies.

From January 29, two-stage elections will then be held for the upper house.

Once the new parliament has been sworn in, a commmission will be appointed to draft a new constitution before presidential elections are held by the end of June.

Egypt’s Christians Celebrate Christmas Amid Efforts To Calm Fears Of Rising Power Of Islamists

2012-01-08T13:40:00.000-08:00

From the AP via the Washington Post:

Egypt’s Christians on Saturday celebrated their first Christmas since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak, amid tight security and a display of national unity to allay fears of the growing power of Islamists.

The Coptic Orthodox celebration follows an escalation in violence against the minority, an estimated 10 percent of Egypt’s 85 million people, over the past year.

Many Christians blamed a series of street clashes, assaults on churches, and other attacks on radical Islamists who have become increasingly bold after Mubarak’s downfall.

Celebrations of Orthodox Christmas began with a late night Friday Mass at Cairo’s main cathedral, which was attended by prominent figures from across Egypt’s political spectrum. They included leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group whose associated political party has won nearly half the seats in parliament.

Members of the ruling military council that took power after Mubarak’s Feb. 11 ouster also attended, including chief of staff Lt. Gen. Sami Anan, as well as the visiting top U.S. diplomat for the Middle East, Jeffrey Feltman.

Coptic Pope Shenouda III commended their presence and appealed for national unity for “the sake of Egypt.”

“For the first time in the history of the cathedral, it is packed with all types of Islamist leaders in Egypt,” the 88-year-old pope said. “They all agree ... on the stability of this country and in loving it, and working for it and to work with the Copts as one hand for the sake of Egypt.”

A series of attacks on churches earlier this year sent thousands of Coptic protesters into the streets, complaining that no culprits were brought to justice. In a dramatic turn, the latest of these protests in October was violently quelled by the country’s military rulers, leaving 27 people dead and sparking further outrage.

Some expressed dismay that the church should welcome military leaders, even though justice has yet to be meted out against those responsible for the killing of Coptic protesters.

During the Mass at the cathedral, the presence of top military officers angered some in the congregation, who briefly chanted “Down with military rule” before being silenced by others.

The political gains of Islamist groups who have dominated the first post-Mubarak parliamentary elections have also made many nervous.

Some Christians are also taking advantage of the more open political atmosphere to assertively push demands for equal status with Muslims.

Copts have long complained of discrimination by the state and prejudice from the Muslim majority. Christians are rarely appointed to top security and government posts, and their beliefs are often savaged by radical Muslim clerics.

Absent from the Christmas celebrations were leaders of the more radical Salafi Al-Nour party, the second largest vote-winner in the parliamentary elections. Many fear it will seek to push its ultraconservative interpretation of Islam.

Party spokesman Youssri Hamad said Islamic teachings contradict the Christian celebration of Jesus’ birth, and that while his party respects Christian beliefs, its members cannot attend Christmas ceremonies or send Christmas greetings.

“This is not a party matter. This is an order from God,” he said. He said his party did offer volunteers to protect the churches during the celebrations.

The Brotherhood leaders left the cathedral before Mass began.

Heavy security had ringed churches around Egypt, with police and army troops manning streets leading to the churches. Volunteers from youth groups had also offered to provide security.

An attack on a church in Alexandria a year ago on New Year’s Eve left 21 people dead and shook the community. The culprits for the attack are still not known, further fueling the outrage of Copts.

The show of national unity at the Mass follows efforts since the October protest deaths by both Egyptian political parties and the church leadership to calm religious tensions.

But many Christians are left cold by military officers and opposition politicians who may be eager to be photographed next to a cleric, but unwilling to address Coptic grievances.

At the Cathedral, the pope made no mention of the uprising, only referring to the “tough transition” Egypt was going through. But at an evangelical church near Tahrir square, the epicenter of protests against both Mubarak and the military, activists and protesters attended a service on Friday in which the pastor commemorated the “sorrow and the sacrifice” of Egypt’s revolutionaries.

A prominent activist, Ahmed Harara, who lost the sight in both his eyes during the uprising against Mubarak and in protests against the military was given a standing ovation. Feltman also attended the service.

In the southern province of Assiut, security officials said six masked assailants kidnapped three Coptic Christians early Saturday as they celebrated Christmas in a friend’s house in a small village of Kambuha.

The officials did not believe the abductions were religiously driven, and the abductors asked for a hefty ransom of $250,000. The three men are from well-off families.

Security forces later freed the three men after storming the house where they were held, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Syria: Explosion Targets Police Bus In Damascus

2012-01-06T23:57:00.001-08:00

From the AP via Fox News:

An explosion ripped through a busy intersection in the Syrian capital Friday, hitting a bus carrying police and killing up to 25 people in what Syrian authorities said was the second suicide attack in as many weeks.

The bus was left riddled with shrapnel, blood splattered on its seats and pooled on the asphalt of the street after the blast, which came exactly two weeks after twin bombings targeting intelligence agencies in the capital killed 44 people. The bombings mark a dramatic escalation of bloodshed as Arab League observers tour the country to investigate President Bashar Assad's bloody crackdown on a 10-month-old popular revolt.

Interior Minister Mohammed Shaar said a suicide bomber "detonated himself with the aim of killing the largest number of people."

Syrian television showed residents and paramedics carrying human remains, holding them up for the camera. The explosion damaged a nearby police station, shattering its glass, and left blood and flesh in the streets, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene. Police cordoned off the area with yellow police tape.

Syria's state media, SANA, said the initial death toll is 25 people. The figure includes 10 people confirmed dead and the remains of an estimated 15 others, whose bodies had yet to be identified. SANA said many of the dead are civilians.

In a sign of just how polarized Syria has become, the opposition has questioned the government's allegations that terrorists are behind the attacks -- suggesting the regime itself could have been behind the violence to try to erode support for the uprising and show the observer team that it is a victim in the country's upheaval.

The government has long contended that the turmoil in Syria this year is not an uprising but the work of terrorists and foreign-backed armed gangs.

The opposition has produced no evidence backing its accusations, and no one but Syrian authorities have access to investigate the blasts. A spokesman for the Syrian National Council opposition umbrella group called for an independent probe.

"It is a continuation of the regime's dirty game as it tries to divert attention from massive protests," Omar Idilbi said. "We call upon for an independent international committee to investigate these crimes that we believe that the regime planned and carried out."

Also Friday, SANA said terrorists blew up a pipeline that carries diesel from the central province of Homs to nearby Hama. There have been several pipeline blasts in recent months, but it is unclear who is behind them.

The Arab League observers started work Dec. 27 on a mission to monitor Syria's compliance with a League-drafted peace deal. Under the deal, Assad's regime is supposed to pull its military off the streets of cities and stop its crackdown on the protesters calling for the president's ouster.

Despite the observers' presence, violence has spiked, with Syrian activists saying up to 400 people have been killed since Dec. 21. The U.N. says the overall toll since the revolt began is more than 5,000.

Arab League Deputy Secretary-General Ahmed bin Helli condemned the attack, saying that "when there are explosions of this nature, this is a dangerous development."

"This is our fear now, that the situation slips out of control, and that the country heads toward threats to peace or sectarian strife or civil war," he told The Associated Press in Cairo, where the League is based.

Friday's blast went off at an intersection in the central Damascus neighborhood of Midan on Friday, the start of the weekend in Syria and much of the Arab world. Midan is one of several Damascus neighborhoods that has seen frequent anti-Assad protests on Fridays since the uprising began in March.

"I heard the explosion at about 11:15 and came running here. I found bodies on the ground including one of a man who was carrying two boxes of yogurt," Midan resident Anis Hassan Tinawi, 55, told The Associated Press.

The bus, which was carrying policemen at the time, appeared to be the target of the bomber, said a Syrian official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak publicly to the media.

The official also said that a smaller bomb exploded Friday in the Damascus suburb of Tal, killing a girl. Security experts dismantled another bomb in the same area, he said.

Compared to many parts of the country which have been convulsed by the 10-month old uprising, Damascus has been relatively quiet under the tight control of ruthless security agencies loyal to Assad.

But violence in the capital has been on the rise over the last two months. On Dec. 23, according to the Syrian authorities, two car bombers blew themselves up outside the heavily guarded compounds of the country's intelligence agencies, killing at least 44 people and wounding 166.

If the official account is correct, they would be the first suicide bombings during the uprising. State-run TV said the Al Qaeda terrorist network was possibly to blame for previous attack, and blamed "terrorists" for the latest one, without giving specifics.

Adding to the bloodshed in recent months, dissident soldiers who broke from the military to side with peaceful protesters have launched attacks on government sites, raising fears of civil war.

Air force Col. Riad al-Asaad, leader of the main armed group fighting the regime, denied responsibility for Friday's bus bombing in an interview with pan-Arab Al-Jazeera TV.

He said his organization, the Free Syrian Army, "doesn't have the experience to carry out such explosions" and said the regime "is the plotter for this attack." He spoke from Turkey, where the group is based.

Gunmen Kill Six At Nigerian Church

2012-01-06T23:57:00.000-08:00

From the AFP via Yahoo News:

Gunmen have opened fire on worshippers as their eyes were closed in prayer at a Nigerian church, killing six in the latest of a series of attacks on churches in Africa's most populous nation.

The attack on the outskirts of the northeastern city of Gombe comes after an ultimatum issued Sunday by a purported spokesman for Islamist group Boko Haram for Christians to leave the country's mainly Muslim north within three days.

There was however no claim of responsibility for the attack on Thursday night at the Deeper Life Christian Ministry Church. Police said an investigation was ongoing and declined to say whether Boko Haram was suspected.

Church pastor John Jauro said confusion broke out when the gunmen opened fire and that his wife was among the dead. The number of attackers was not clear.

"It was around 7:30 pm," Jauro said. "I was leading the congregation in prayers. Our eyes were closed when some gunmen stormed the church and opened fire on the congregation.

"Six people were killed in the attack and 10 others were wounded."

Gombe police spokesman Ahmed Mohammed confirmed the attack and death toll, but said the gunmen had fled by the time authorities arrived at the church.

A hospital source said four of the victims were dead on arrival while the other two died later. The injured sustained serious gunshot wounds, the source said.

The attack comes amid intensifying concerns over the potential for renewed sectarian clashes in Nigeria, whose 160 million population is roughly divided between a mainly Muslim north and predominantly Christian south.

While Boko Haram has been blamed for increasingly deadly attacks for months, including an August suicide bombing of UN headquarters in Abuja that killed 25, the violence has taken on a different dimension with recent church attacks.

A wave of Christmas bombings that killed 49 people, most of them outside of a Catholic church as services were ending, led to intense fear and outrage in Africa's largest oil producer.

There have been fears of reprisals from Christians, and Christian leaders have warned they will defend themselves if attacks against them continue.

"If care is not taken, it will reach a stage when security of lives and property cannot be guaranteed," Saidu Dogo, the head of the northern chapter for Nigeria's main Christian organisation, CAN, told AFP on Friday.

"Then Christians will be forced to defend themselves against attacks. We are not calling on Christians to initiate attacks or revenge, but we are calling on them to be on the alert and protect themselves, their family and their household against attack."

President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency on December 31 in parts of four states hard hit by violence blamed on Boko Haram, but there has been no halt to the attacks. Gombe is outside the areas included in the state of emergency.

On Wednesday night, bomb blasts hit two northeastern cities that are included in the emergency declaration.

No casualties were reported after the bomb attacks in Maiduguri and Damaturu, claimed by the same purported spokesman for Boko Haram who issued the ultimatum to Christians.

One of the bombs in Maiduguri, Boko Haram's stronghold, destroyed a house near a customs barracks, according to a customs source and resident. The Damaturu blast occurred at an open-air pub.

Two civilians were shot dead on the outskirts of Damaturu in a separate incident, a hospital source said.

In the first attack since the state of emergency was declared, but just outside the areas covered by the decree, gunmen attacked a police station in the northern Jigawa state Tuesday, killing a teenage girl and wounding an officer.

Boko Haram is a shadowy group believed to have a number of factions with differing aims, including those with political links and a hard-core Islamist faction.

It launched an uprising in 2009 put down by a brutal military assault which left some 800 people dead.

Since the group re-emerged in 2010, it has been blamed for increasingly sophisticated and deadly attacks, including suicide bombings, and its structure and aims have become far less clear.

Speculation has ranged from whether the group is seeking to foment religious conflict to if elements of it have been co-opted for political aims.

Bangladesh: Teacher Arrested For Having A Copy Of A Book By Taslima Nasrin

2012-01-06T23:51:00.000-08:00

From Asia News:

Police found a copy of Lajja (Shame), in the school library. The famous novel banned since 1993 for "blasphemy". Forced to flee death threats since 1994, the author comments: "This arrest proves that Bangladesh is not a democracy but a totalitarian regime."

The principal of a technical school in the district of Pirojpur (southern Bangladesh) was arrested for possession of a copy of Lajja (Shame), the famous novel by writer Taslima Nasrin. The book has been banned in Bangladesh since 1993 because it is considered blasphemous against Islam the state religion. The teacher, Yunus Ali, faces up to three years in prison.

The police took him out of the KC Technical and Business Management College after finding a copy of the book in the school library. Ali defended himself against accusations claiming to be the victim of a conspiracy. The inspector Abdul Malek said: "Lajja is a banned book. Nevertheless, the principal kept it in the library. He must answer for this crime. "

In Lajja, Taslima Nasrin, 49, tells the life of a Hindu family persecuted by Muslims. The author had to flee the country in 1994 after receiving death threats from Islamic fundamentalists. Since then, she has lived between India and Europe, without being able to return to Bangladesh. Her family is Muslim, but today she proclaims herself to be atheist.

Contacted by AsiaNews, Nasrin said: "The arrest of this teacher is a sign that Bangladesh is not in reality a democracy but a totalitarian regime. Since 1990, Islamic fundamentalists have silenced my freedom of expression and tried to kill me, forced me to flee my country and leave my family. "

Now, she concluded, "someone is in danger because of my book, and risks his freedom. But Lajja is not a novel of blasphemy: it is just the defense of a persecuted religious [Hindu] minority, one that is constantly harassed by the Muslim majority. I wish the best for this man and for those who are every day deprived of their freedom of expression."

Islamist Leader Turabi: Sudan Will Soon See Revolution

2012-01-06T23:49:00.000-08:00

From Reuters via Yahoo News:

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi said Sudan would soon see an "Arab Spring" popular uprising because President Omar Hassan al-Bashir was unable to overcome an economic crisis and end insurgencies in Darfur and border regions.

Bashir is under increasing pressure after his country lost much of its oil production to newly-independent South Sudan. The loss of oil revenues is fuelling inflation as food and other imports have become more expensive, hitting hard Sudanese who have suffered years of conflict and U.S. sanctions.

"I expect the Sudanese people to stage a revolution and I think this will happen very soon," said Turabi, who heads the opposition Popular Congress Party.

"I hope it will be a peaceful revolution so we can get a real multi-party parliamentary system," he told reporters.

He said only the overthrow of the government would end Sudan's problems because Bashir was unable to overcome the economic crisis and end insurgencies in Darfur and two border states.

Sudan has seen some small protests in Khartoum and the underdeveloped east that have become more frequent as inflation has risen, hitting 18.1 percent in December.

One of the most prominent Sudanese politicians, Turabi was the spiritual leader behind the Islamist government when Bashir seized power in 1989 but the two men later fell out.

The security services this week closed down the al-Rai al-Shaab newspaper owned by Turabi's party, saying it had violated professional standards.

Turabi said he expected authorities to arrest him again because of his call for "regime change". He has been in and out of prison since his split from Bashir's party in 1999/2000.

Popular uprisings toppled leaders in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya last year. More than 5,000 people have been killed in Syria, according to the United Nations, in a crackdown against anti-government protests which began in March.

Government officials say Sudan is different from Arab countries witnessing mass protests and the government is capable of overcoming the crisis by diversifying the economy away from oil.

Sudan lost two-thirds of its oil production, the main source of state revenues, when South Sudan broke away in July under a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war.

But tensions remain between the two countries over unresolved issues such as border violence and the sharing of oil revenues and other assets.

Washington placed sanctions on Sudan in 1993, listing Khartoum as a state sponsor of terrorism for hosting militants including Osama bin Laden who was an ally of Turabi. It added a trade embargo in 1997.

Taliban Wants U.S. To Release Prisoners To Qatar; Karzai Wants Them In Afghanistan

2012-01-06T23:47:00.000-08:00

From Jihad Watch:

The Taliban wants them sent to Qatar so they are not detained in Afghanistan. Of course, they'll all just take up shuffleboard wherever they're released. No security issues there.

The U.S. has "agreed in principle" to release high-ranking Taliban prisoners from Guantánamo Bay in what has appeared so far to be an exchange of concrete American actions for pledges from the Taliban. "Taliban 'want US prisoners sent to Qatar'," by Joris Fioriti for Agence France-Presse, January 6:

Afghanistan's Taliban insurgents have demanded in negotiations with the US that prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay be transferred to Qatar, an Afghan government spokesman said Friday.

But President Hamid Karzai's government objects strongly to the move and wants the prisoners sent directly to Afghanistan, presidential spokesman Aimal Faizi told AFP.

The Taliban announced this week that they planned to set up a political office in Qatar, a move seen as a precursor to peace talks with Washington.

At the same time, the hardline Islamists demanded the release of prisoners from the US military detention centre at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba -- but the statement did not specify where they should be sent.

Karzai was told by the US about the demand that they should go to Qatar shortly before the Bonn conference on Afghanistan in December, Faizi said.

"Several meetings had taken place between the Americans and the Taliban. It was something discussed between the two sides.

"But that day, when the Americans talked to Karzai, it was the first time that they talked about the transfer of the prisoners to Qatar."

Faizi said his government was in favour of a release of Guantanamo prisoners, "but we don't want them to go directly to Qatar -- our government is strongly against it".

Karzai's government is concerned about being sidelined in the negotiations towards possible peace between the Taliban and the US, and Faizi stressed that it wanted "an Afghan-led transition".

"You can't send them directly to Qatar because it would be a breach of our sovereignty, of the Afghan laws or of the constitution. Afghanistan is an independent nation, you know.

"You can't do anything you want with our citizens without informing the Afghan government. The prisoners should be sent to the Afghan government first.

"We agreed on the opening of an office for the Taliban in Qatar, but never on the transfer of the prisoners to that country." [...]

Afghan analyst and former Taliban official Waheed Mujhda said that if released Taliban prisoners were repatriated to Kabul they risked being detained by the government, which is why the movement was pressing for them to be sent to Qatar....

Egypt: Priority-Impaired Islamic Parties Ready To Do Battle Against Bikinis

2012-01-05T23:37:00.004-08:00

From Jihad Watch:

Tourism is already tanking. People will stay home and watch a DVD about Egypt if they fear harassment and abuse if they visit, even if they have no intention of hitting the beaches or bars. They'll hit the beach somewhere that hasn't been known inflict virginity tests on female detainees.

Like Key West. Dar al-Margarita, if you will. "Battle over bikinis looms for Egyptian tourism," from Agence France-Presse, January 5:

On a barren hill in Sharm el-Sheikh, not far from the famous beach resorts with their bikini-clad patrons, Islamist activist Ahmed Saber ponders the fate of revealing swimwear if his party comes to power.

The swimsuit has been at the centre of a growing debate over the Islamists' plans for tourism, one of Egypt's key currency earners.

Speaking at a voting station, Saber seeks to present a liberal outline of his party's position on the bikini. "You're free to do as you please as long as you don't harm me," he says.

The Sharm el-Sheikh tour guide then goes on to explain that: "Some sights might harm me. For example, women wearing bikinis on the street. There are special places for bikinis".

After decades of repression by a secular police state, the Muslim Brotherhood grouping finds itself fending off questions about its plans for beach resort mainstays like bikinis and alcohol - considered unIslamic by some.

With ultra-conservatives poised to play a big role in parliament during an economic crisis, the Islamists' thoughts on what tourists may wear or drink are being scrutinised amid fears they will harm the country's vital tourism industry.

The Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, poised to win the most votes in the country's first election since president Hosni Mubarak's February overthrow, has promised it would not hurt tourism.

But some of its candidates have exacerbated the fears with pledges to ban alcohol or bikinis on beaches, forcing their leaders to backtrack.

Essam al-Erian, the party's vice president, said the FJP would no longer comment on bikinis. "It's a ridiculous question. Tourism can't be considered in terms of bikinis or such matters," he said.

The party's candidate in Sharm el-Sheikh, Ahmed Qassim, also appeared wearied by the topic. He said he has repeatedly assured voters the Islamists would encourage tourism.

"We are with tourism, and we are not against personal freedoms," he said.

But along the beaches, hotel workers said they were worried, particularly about ultra-conservative Salafis who won more than 20 per cent of the votes in the election's first two rounds.

"People are very worried," said Ahmed, while approaching sun bathing guests to offer them massages at the hotel....

Explosions In Shiite Areas Of Baghdad Kill 72

2012-01-05T23:37:00.003-08:00

From the AP via Fox News:

BAGHDAD -- A wave of bombings targeting Shiites in Iraq killed 72 people on Thursday, deepening sectarian tensions that exploded just after the last American troops left the country in mid-December.

The coordinated attacks targeting Shiites bore the hallmarks of Sunni insurgents linked to Al Qaeda, although there was no immediate claim of responsibility.

The bombings began early in the morning when explosions struck two Shiite neighborhoods in

Baghdad, killing at least 27 people. A few hours later, a suicide attack hit Shiite pilgrims heading to the holy Shiite city of Karbala, killing 45, said provincial official Quosay al-Abadi. The explosions took place near Nasiriyah, about 200 miles southeast of Baghdad. Hospital officials confirmed the causalities.

The blasts occurred in the run-up to Arbaeen, a Shiite holy day which marks the end of 40 days of mourning that follow the anniversary of the death of Imam Hussein, a revered Shiite figure.

During this time, Shiite pilgrims from across Iraq make their way to Karbala, south of Baghdad.

Baghdad military spokesman Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi said the aim of the attacks is "to create turmoil among the Iraqi people." He said it was too early to say who was behind the bombings.

The new violence will only exacerbate the country's political crisis pitting politicians from the Shiite majority who dominate the government against the Sunni minority, which reigned supreme under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein.

Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government issued an arrest warrant for the country's top Sunni politician last month. The Sunni official, Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, is holed up in Iraq's semiautonomous Kurdish region in the north -- effectively out of reach of state security forces.

Fears have already been running high that the sectarian tensions could re-ignite Shiite-Sunni warfare that just a few years ago pushed Iraq to the brink of civil war.

The attacks began in Baghdad with the explosion of a bomb attached to a motorcycle near a bus stop where day laborers gather to look for work in the Shiite Sadr City neighborhood. One of those who witnessed the attack said it filled the area with thick black smoke.

"People have real fears that the cycle of violence might be revived in this country," said Tariq Annad, a 52-year-old government employee who lives nearby.

That attack was followed by the explosion of a roadside bomb. Police found a third bomb nearby and defused it.

The two Sadr City blasts killed 12 people, according to police and medical officials.

Less than two hours later, two explosions rocked the Shiite neighborhood of Kazimiyah in the north of the capital, killing 15 people.

Officials said the Kazimiyah blasts occurred almost simultaneously, with at least one caused by a car bomb. Simultaneous explosions are a tactic frequently used by the Sunni insurgents against Shiites.

Hospital officials confirmed the causalities from the four blasts, which included more than 60 wounded.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

The attacks were the deadliest in Baghdad since Dec. 22, when a series of blasts killed 69 people in mostly Shiite neighborhoods. An Al Qaeda front group in Iraq claimed responsibility for those attacks.

The last U.S. soldiers left Iraq on Dec. 18, ending a nearly nine-year war. Iraqi leaders feared a resurgence of Sunni and Shiite militants and an increase in violence following the departure of U.S. troops, a fear that is coming to be realized.

On Wednesday, attacks targeted the homes of police officers and a member of a government-allied militia. Those attacks, in the cities of Baqouba and Abu Ghraib outside Baghdad, killed four people, including two children, officials said.

Iraqi politicians remain deadlocked in a festering political crisis that threatens to re-ignite simmering sectarian tensions in the country.

Al-Maliki's main political rival, the Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc, is boycotting parliament sessions and Cabinet meetings to protest what they say are efforts by the government to consolidate power and marginalize them.

Iran Ramps Up Warning To US Over Strait Of Hormuz

2012-01-05T23:37:00.002-08:00

From The Telegraph:

Iran on Wednesday renewed its warning to America against keeping a US navy presence in the oil-rich Gulf, underlining a threat that Washington has dismissed as a sign of "weakness" from Tehran.

"Iran will do anything to preserve the security of the Strait of Hormuz" at the entrance to the Gulf, Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi said, according to the website of Iran's state television.

"The presence of forces from beyond the (Gulf) region has no result but turbulence. We have said the presence of forces from beyond the region in the Persian Gulf is not needed and is harmful," he was quoted as saying.

The comments echoed a warning issued on Tuesday by Iran's military that it would unleash its "full force" if a US aircraft carrier is redeployed to the Gulf.

"We don't have the intention of repeating our warning, and we warn only once," Brigadier General Ataollah Salehi, Iran's armed forces chief, said as he told Washington to keep its aircraft carrier out of the Gulf.

The White House on Tuesday had brushed off the warning, saying it "reflects the fact that Iran is in a position of weakness" as it struggles under international sanctions.

The US Defence Department said it would not alter its deployment of warships to the Gulf.

But on Wednesday, Salehi reinforced his warning, and called 10 days of Iranian navy war games just held near the Strait of Hormuz a "message" to the United States.

"The forces from beyond the region have received the appropriate message from these manoeuvres," he said, according to the official IRNA news agency.

"Those who have come as enemies should be afraid of our manoeuvres," he said.

The exercises climaxed on Monday with the Iranian navy test-firing three types of missiles designed to sink warships.

The head of Iran's parliamentary national security and foreign policy commission, Aladdin Brujerdi, was also quoted by the Fars news agency as saying the US description of Iran being weak "is a completely illogical stance."

He added: "The US talks about sanctioning our oil but they should know that if Iran's oil exports from the Persian Gulf are sanctioned, then no one will have the right to export oil through the Strait of Hormuz."

The developments have helped send the prices of oil soaring, though they pulled back a little on Wednesday.

Brent North Sea crude contracts in London were selling for $111.58 per barrel. New York trading of West Texas Intermediate crude was at $102.30 per barrel.

"The situation with Iran remains worrisome," said Nick Trevethan, a senior commodities strategist at ANZ Research in Asia.

"The consequences of any military action in the Middle East will be enormous. A spike in crude prices will kill off any recovery in the US," he added.

Iran's war games were meant to show the Islamic republic could close the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 per cent of the world's oil flows, if it is attacked or its oil exports are curbed by sanctions.

Last week, a US aircraft carrier, the USS John C Stennis, passed through the strait and eastward, through the Gulf of Oman and a zone being used by the Iranian navy for its drill.

Iranian military officials said that, if the carrier tried to return through the Strait of Hormuz to the Gulf, it would be attacked.

The US carrier would face the "full force" of Iran's navy, a navy spokesman, Commodore Mahmoud Mousavi, told Iran's Arabic television service Al-Alam on Tuesday.

The US Defence Department said in a statement it would continue the rotation of its 11 aircraft carriers to the Gulf to support military operations in the region.

"Our transits of the Strait of Hormuz continue to be in compliance with international law, which guarantees our vessels the right of transit passage," it said.

The Pentagon also underlined its pledge to keep the Strait of Hormuz open, saying "we are committed to protecting maritime freedoms that are the basis for global prosperity; this is one of the main reasons our military forces operate in the region."

The increasingly tense situation in the Gulf was taking place as Iran struggled with turmoil on its domestic currency market.

Foreign exchange shops on Wednesday were shuttered as traders refused to comply with a central bank order putting an artificially low cap on the value of the dollar against the Iranian rial, which has come under intense pressure in recent days.

Iranian authorities were trying to shore up their currency after it slid 12 per cent on Monday to a record low against the dollar days after the United States enacted new sanctions hitting Iran's central bank.

Iran, however, insisted the volatility of the rial is not the result of sanctions.

It "definitely has nothing to with sanctions," foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said on Tuesday.

The United States and other Western nations have imposed sanctions on Iran's economy over Tehran's controversial nuclear programme, which they believe is being used to develop atomic weapons.

Iran has repeatedly denied that allegation, saying the programme is purely for energy and medical uses.