Germany: Party plans Mohammed cartoons campaign

Germany: Party plans Mohammed cartoons campaign

('Freedom, not Islam')

Via the Local:

A far-right party on the campaign trial in Germany's most populous state is threatening to put caricatures of Mohammed outside mosques in a string of cities, prompting fears of violence.

The "Pro NRW" party in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia has already shown anti-Islamic caricatures in Essen and Gelsenkirchen, though the police prevented demonstrations taking place directly outside mosques.

(...)

Interior Minister in state Ralf Jäger condemned the campaign and expressed support for planned counter-demonstrations. "Pro NRW is committing spiritual arson," he told the paper.

"The party is consciously taking into account that Muslims will feel provoked and upset. The authorities will exhaust all legal avenues to prevent a xenophobic hate campaign."

(source)

Germany: "We will conquer Rome!"

Germany: "We will conquer Rome!"

Via KATH.NET, translated by Via Catholic Church Conservation:

A 26-year-old regularly preaches in a mosque in Solingen - Cologne City Superintendent: His theses are an "impertinence", Representatives of Muslim organizations distance themselves

Anti-Christian expressions of a radical Islamic preacher concern the Protestant Church Association of Cologne City. The 26-year-old Austrian Mohamed Mahmoud was released in September 2011 after a four-year prison sentence in a Vienna prison on charges of forming and promoting a terrorist organization . After a short stay in Berlin, he moved at the end of 2011 to Solingen, near Düsseldorf. Currently he is living in Erbach in Hessen(Odenwald).

Several television stations reported on his challenge to Christianity: "We will conquer Rome! And then Peter's Square, or whatever it's called, yes, that is [...]to be the site of the conversion and the area to implement Allah's laws in order to implement Allah's punishment, so that enough people will be able to witness the events!" The City superintendent of the Protestant Church Association of Cologne and region, Rolf Domning, called the remarks of the preacher's hate "impudence."

(source)

Catholic Church Conservation updates that Mohamed Mahmoud is to be deported from Germany.

Norway: Muslims question focus on Breivik's sanity

Norway: Muslims question focus on Breivik's sanity

Via AP:

Muslim leaders in Norway say they are concerned that the anti-Islamic ideology of Anders Behring Breivik, the far-right fanatic now on trial for killing 77 people, is being overshadowed by questions about his mental state.

Paris: 100 Muslims protest against religious extremism

Paris: 100 Muslims protest against religious extremism

UK: Imam caught on camera advocating female circumcision

UK: Imam caught on camera advocating female circumcision

Via the Daily Mail:

Mohammed Abdul, the Imam of a Bristol mosque, was filmed urging a follower to take women and girls abroad so they can be circumcised legally.

(...)

The footage was obtained by an undercover reporter working for the Sunday Times newspaper, who posed as a Muslim seeking advice.

Bosnia: Srebrenica Muslim refugees not given right to vote

Bosnia: Srebrenica Muslim refugees not given right to vote

The 'Mothers of Srebrenica' organization say that the city's Muslims will leave if the refugees won't be allowed to vote.

Athens: Immigrants squeak out living as scrap metal mongers

Athens: Immigrants squeak out living as scrap metal mongers

Germany: Neo-Nazi attacks on the rise in western Germany

Germany: Neo-Nazi attacks on the rise in western Germany

Via DW:

Scenes from near Nuremberg in Bavaria: Right-wing extremists threaten some young Kurds, shouting, "Get out you damned Turks!" Then several neo-Nazis attack the group, brutally beating up the migrants. One young man sustains severe injuries, falls into a coma and only barely survives.

On a different occasion some youths hold a vigil for the victims of right-wing extremism. They hold up banners saying "Fascism - never again." Suddenly they are bombarded with fireworks by a group of masked people. Later the youth center is daubed with swastikas and the threat: "We will get you all!"

(source)

France: 'I’m Arab, a Muslim, and I vote Marine Le Pen'

France: 'I’m Arab, a Muslim, and I vote Marine Le Pen'


Via France24:

If French Muslims are largely left-leaning in their voting preferences, there are exceptions. France24.com spoke to three French Muslims of Arab descent, all of whom vote for the far-right National Front party. Here are their testimonies.

Karima, policewoman: “Many of my colleagues of Arab descent vote far right, but don’t dare say so.”

A 33-year-old naturalised French citizen of Moroccan origin, Karima is a mother of three, married to a Frenchman. She arrived in France 15 years ago, and has a diploma in Computer Science from a French university. Now she works as a policewoman in Paris and declined to provide her last name.

Karima says she started becoming interested in the ideas of Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the extreme-right National Front party, in 2002. That was almost a decade before Le Pen handed over the party leadership to his youngest daughter, Marine, in 2011. These days, Karima says she regularly attends party meetings and votes for National Front candidates whenever she can.

“My vote is an expression of my rejection of certain Muslim Arabs [in France], whom I personally consider ‘thugs’. They’ve destroyed French society. At least in the old days, they lived in the same suburbs,” said Karima, referring to the largely immigrant, impoverished “banlieues” of major French metropolises. “But for the last several years, the mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoe, has done everything in his power to house them in nice neighbourhoods – like the 15th district, where I live.”

(source)

France: As Le Pen surges, angst deepens in suburbs

France: As Le Pen surges, angst deepens in suburbs

Interestingly enough, Reuters points out: "Of all the young people interviewed for this report, only one said he had voted in Sunday's election."

Via Reuters:

Jean-Pierre, 45, the French son of an Algerian soldier who fought on the French side during the Algerian war of independence, said Le Pen was right to demand tighter border controls because there were no jobs to give to new immigrants.

Italy: Immigrants say they are treated 'worse than animals'

Italy: Immigrants say they are treated 'worse than animals'

Via ANSA:

Immigrants held at a reception center in the southern Italian town of Bari said on Thursday that they were treated "worse than animals" by authorities at the structure.

The center for identification and expulsion, with a capacity of 119 people, is currently occupied by 196 foreigners awaiting deportation, the immigrants said.

(source)

France: Mosques accused of backing Hollande

France: Mosques accused of backing Hollande

Via the Local:

The rightwing UMP party has accused Socialists of courting the Muslim vote and alleges that mosques are calling for the faithful to vote for leftwing candidate Francois Hollande.

"I want to condemn the conniving and irresponsible attitude of the Socialist Party and its candidate after religious leaders belonging to a network of 700 mosques called on followers to vote for Francois Hollande," writes UMP lawmaker Eric Ciotti in a press release on Wednesday.

(...)

Muslim religious authorities in France however deny they have called on voters to support Hollande. In an interview with the newswire AFP, Abdallah Zekri, a leader of the French Council of Muslim Faith, says imams have called on followers to vote but have not given them instructions as to who they should vote for.

(source)

Russia: Chechen Leaders Slam Proposed Creation Of Shari'a Courts

Russia: Chechen Leaders Slam Proposed Creation Of Shari'a Courts

Meanwhile, Khasavov fled Russia after receiving death threats.

Via RFE/RL:

Chechen Republic head Ramzan Kadyrov and Chechen mufti Sultan-hadji Mirzayev have both harshly criticized the proposal by Chechen legal scholar Dagir Khasavov to establish Shari'a courts in Russia for the benefit of those Russian Muslims who do not want to “get bogged down in the Russian legal system,” which they do not trust.

Cambridge: Muslims question militant's speech

Cambridge: Muslims question militant's speech

Via Cambridge News (h/t DW):

Moderate Muslims are appalled that Dr Haitham al-Haddad, who is a judge on a Sharia law court in London, was allowed a platform at the Mawson Road prayer centre.

He spoke to students from Cambridge University’s Islamic Society in a packed room, and has previously told Muslims “to prepare themselves for jihad, all over the world”.

Belgium: Moroccan PM insults female minister, Moroccan-Belgian MPs want Belgian response

Belgium: Moroccan PM insults female minister, Moroccan-Belgian MPs want Belgian response

Via HLN:

Moroccan PM Abdelilah Benkirane recently met in Rabat with two Belgian ministers: Minister of Foreign Affairs Didier Reynders (MR) and Justice Minister Annemie Turtelboom (Open Vld).  However, during the meeting he barely paid attention to Turtleboom, and instead focused on her male colleague, Reynders.  Benkirane praised Reynders' French, and told him he 'didn't have to come with an interpreter'.  Turtleboom made it clear who she was, but Benkirane continued to ignore her.
 

Denmark: 3 men arrested on terror suspicion

Denmark: 3 men arrested on terror suspicion

Via AP:

Three men have been arrested in Copenhagen on suspicion of plotting a terror attack after police found them with automatic weapons and ammunition, Denmark's intelligence service said Friday.

(...)

PET described the men as a 22-year-old citizen of Jordan, a 23-year-old Turkish man living in Denmark and a 21-year-old Danish national who lives in Egypt.
(source)

Copenhagen: Churches shouldn't be turned into mosques since 'Islam is an enemy of Christianty'

Copenhagen: Churches shouldn't be turned into mosques since 'Islam is an enemy of Christianty'

Via JV:

Islam is an enemy of Christianity, says former Minister of Ecclesiastical Affairs, Birthe Rønn Hornbech (Liberals), and therefore Muslims shouldn't be taking over churches which have closed down.  16-17 churches in Copenhagen face closure.

The former minister spoke on the issue after Per Ramsdal, pastor of Brorson's Church in Nørrebro, suggested the churches can be used by Muslims, Buddhists or Hindus.

Norway: Anti-Islam sites dominated by elderly men

Norway: Anti-Islam sites dominated by elderly men


Via the Foreigner:

Men at home over 65, with little education and no children reportedly represent the average reader of anti-Islam websites.

Klassekampen writes it used Alexa to examine eight sites that allegedly inspired Anders Behring Breivik and his manifesto. It claims its investigations revealed readership groups to websites Gates of Vienna, Jihad Watch, The Brussels Journal, Islam Watch, Atlas Shrugged, Tundra Tabloid, Vladtepesblog and The Green Arrow showed a clear pattern.

Wales: Islamic teacher under fire for calling on Muslims to support fight for sharia law abroad

Wales: Islamic teacher under fire for calling on Muslims to support fight for sharia law abroad

Via Wales Onlines (h/t EuropeNews):

An Islamic teacher whose group was at the centre of an anti-terror raid on a Cardiff community hall has come under fire for calling on Welsh muslims to “physically” support the fight for sharia law abroad.

Abu Hajar, of Grangetown, Cardiff, is one of the leaders of the Islamic group Supporters of Tawheed, which on its website says its core belief is the “domination of the world by Islam”.

UK: PM launches campaign to target ‘aspirational’ ethnic minority voters

UK: PM launches campaign to target ‘aspirational’ ethnic minority voters

Via the Daily Mail:

The Prime Minister will today launch a major campaign to target ‘aspirational’ ethnic minority voters in the suburbs after warnings that he can’t win at the next election without them.

Tory Chairman Baroness Warsi has revealed the party aims to woo female and older Asian voters who share the party’s views but who have traditionally voted Labour.

She has told Conservative Cabinet ministers and MPs that they need to do more to win over non-white voters in key marginal constituencies.

They will be ordered to discuss core Tory values – hard work, good schools, the perils of welfare dependency – rather than ‘pandering’ to received Left-wing wisdom that Asian voters are only concerned with state handouts and foreign policy issues such as Afghanistan.

(source)

Italy: President, Interior Minister visit Rome's Mosque

Italy: President, Interior Minister visit Rome's Mosque

(photo)

Europe: Amnesty International Finds Bias Against Muslims

Europe: Amnesty International Finds Bias Against Muslims

Via RFE/RL:

A new report from Amnesty International has found that some European Muslims are regularly denied employment and educational opportunities because of widespread cultural and religious stereotypes that lead to discrimination against them.

The report, titled "Choice and Prejudice: Discrimination Against Muslims in Europe," examines the lives of Muslims in Switzerland, France, Belgium, Spain, and the Netherlands.

It found that individuals who wear specific forms of dress, like a head scarf, or other symbols associated with Islam, do worse with jobs and schooling because of prejudicial attitudes and legal impunity in these European states.

(source)

Sweden: 'Smarter' immigrants coming

Sweden: 'Smarter' immigrants coming


Via the Local:

Non-European immigrants are arriving in Sweden with increasingly higher levels of education, according to a new study, although fewer highly-educated immigrants are arriving from Europe and the Nordic countries.

While only 31 percent of immigrants who arrived in Sweden prior to 1991 had some form of post-secondary education, 44 percent of immigrants who moved to Sweden after 2002 have some form of higher education.

The figures come from a comprehensive survey of the level of education of people in Sweden carried out by Statistics Sweden (Statistiska centralbyrån – SCB). 

(source)

Germany: Salafists dominate Islam Conference agenda

Germany: Salafists dominate Islam Conference agenda

(video report)

France: Paris seeks to become Islamic finance hub in Europe

France: Paris seeks to become Islamic finance hub in Europe


Via Zawya:

A report prepared by KFH-Research stated that new global markets are seeking to join the main players in the Islamic financing industry and services, such as France. France is working relentlessly to make numerous legal and organizational reformations to facilitate the offering of Islamic financial services and products.

The report added that there is great potential for growth in the field of Islamic financial services in France, since France seeks to become a hub for Islamic banking in Europe. It noted that 1.5 million clients are willing to use Islamic banking tools and products, which equals USD 18.2 billion. In addition, French authorities have offered strong support to develop Islamic banking services, not to mention the high number of Muslims living there who seek Islamic banking services. However, the report mentioned that some legislations need to be amended.

(source)

Russia: Ethnic Russians to launch center for own protection

Russia: Ethnic Russians to launch center for own protection


Via RT:

The Congress of Russian Communities is preparing a legal center aimed at protecting ethnic Russians in their conflicts both with the law and with other ethnic communities in the country.

(...)

Turkey: Parliament Speaker Warns Against Racism In Europe

Turkey: Parliament Speaker Warns Against Racism In Europe

Via the Turkish Weekly:

Europe needs to ensure social and cultural integration to ward off “tendencies contradicting European values,” Turkish Parliamentary Speaker Cemil Çiçek said April 20.

“There is no place in today’s Europe for racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia and discrimination. It is a task for all of us to prevent further dissemination of such thoughts,” Çiçek told a Warsaw conference of EU parliament heads.

(source)

London: Don’t ban alcohol — we'll get blame, say Muslim students

London: Don’t ban alcohol — we'll get blame, say Muslim students

Via the London Evening Standard:

Muslim students at a university considering banning alcohol from parts of its campus have hit out at the plan — fearing they will be blamed for the move.

Students at London Metropolitan University said banning alcohol in the name of Muslims will cause tension on campus, divide the community, and could be exploited by far-Right groups such as the English Defence League.

Germany: Ministry caught in Muslim study leak lie

Germany: Ministry caught in Muslim study leak lie


Via the Local:

Germany’s Interior Minister was forced to admit on Friday that his ministry had leaked a controversial study on young Muslims in the country to populist Hans-Peter Friedrich and the tabloid newspaper both presented the study as showing that young Muslims were not integrating into German society – infuriating the authors who said their presentation was a gross distortion of what they actually said.

(source)

Iranian VP: European Leaders Fear Spread of Islam

Iranian VP: European Leaders Fear Spread of Islam


Via FNA:

The eye-catching growth in the number of mosques being built in Europe has made leaders of the European states deeply fearful of the rapid

spread of Islam and increasing conversion of their nations from Christianity, Iranian Vice-President Seyed Mohammad Reza Mir-Tajeddini said. 

"Leaders of the European countries feel deeply endangered by the growing desire and conversion of their people from Christianity to the religion of Islam and the increasing number of mosques in their countries," Mir-Tajeddini said on Sunday. 

(source)

Germany: 'Gender (in)equality not linked to Islam'

Germany: 'Gender (in)equality not linked to Islam'

Via DW:

Equality between Muslim men and women has little to do with religion, says Gönül Halat-Mec. DW's Klaudia Prevezanos spoke to the family lawyer and member of the of the annual German Islam Conference.

Deutsche Welle: What's the situation regarding equality between Muslim men and women in Germany?

Gönül Halat-Mec: You have to differentiate: It always depends on the social background of the people we're talking about. What we've worked out in the Islam conference is that many issues are not linked to religion or Islam, but are rather rooted in traditional patriarchal structures of society. And that depends on the social situation of the women – are they working, are they independent?

At the conference, we've realized that no matter how religious a woman or a couple is – equality is more a social problem that needs to be looked at separately from religion. Of course, we also have a situation in Islam where the role of women is more defined. That's partly because of failures to deal with these problems in the past, due to a lack of education on the matter.

(source)

Sweden: Six convicted in 'honour' beating with metal rods

Sweden: Six convicted in 'honour' beating with metal rods

For more on this story, see here.

Via the Local:

Six men in Hallsberg, central Sweden, have been convicted and sentenced to prison after the severe honour-related beating of a 19-year-old with metal rods at a gym.

(...)

According to the prosecutor, the men wanted to protect the daughter in their family after an alleged kidnapping attempt.

Morocco: Italian fashion company upsets Muslims with madrassa pictures

Morocco: Italian fashion company upsets Muslims with madrassa pictures

Italian fashion designer Fornarina got Muslims upset by their latest advertising shoot in Marrakesh.  Fornarina used an abandoned madrassa to advertise their new collection, with their scantily-clad model posing in front of various Koran quotes on the walls.  Saudi broadcaster Al Arabiya devoted considerable time to the incident, interviewing Moroccans at home and in Italy, who condemned the company.  Fornarina, who say they got all the necessary permits for the shoot from the Moroccan government, say they will remove the offending images. 

Helsinki: Internet police monitor online rape case discussion

Helsinki: Internet police monitor online rape case discussion

Via YLE:

Helsinki’s local internet police team is keeping a close eye on an online discussion concerning a rape case in which two teens with immigrant backgrounds were convicted.

The team says it has also been contacted regarding inappropriate comments in the virtual debate.

The heated online discussion was sparked by a judgment handed down in the Helsinki district last week, in which two teens of foreign background were convicted of the rape of a Helsinki school girl. The court judgment was also circulated online, and included the names of the convicted teens and their relatives. 

(source)

Greece: Police Beating Immigrant Caught on Tape

Greece: Police Beating Immigrant Caught on Tape

 

As seen in the video, unidentified policemen stopped an immigrant in the middle of the road, he raised his hands up high, and they attacked him, throwing him on the ground and beating him. The man is said to be Algerian. (source)

UK: Muslim gang jailed for kidnapping and raping two girls as part of their Eid celebrations

UK: Muslim gang jailed for kidnapping and raping two girls as part of their Eid celebrations

Via the Daily Mail:

A group of Muslim men who abducted and raped two teenage girls as part of their Eid celebrations laughed in court yesterday as they were jailed for a total of 38 years.

(...)

One defendant, Rashid, 20, was said to have claimed the girls had enjoyed the sex, which he said had taken place as they celebrated the Muslim festival of Eid.

‘It was Eid,’ he said. ‘We treated them as our guests. OK, so they gave us [sex] but we were buying them food and drink.

(source)

France: Muslims 'likely to vote for far left'

France: Muslims 'likely to vote for far left'

Via Al-Jazeera:

Al Jazeera's Yasmine Ryan spoke with M'hammed Henniche, head of the Union of Muslim Associations of Seine-Saint-Denis (UAM 93) [Fr], about how all the negative attention had affected Muslim voters in the run up to the first round of voting - to be held on Sunday, April 22.

(...)

YR: During her campaign, Marine Le Pen, the far-right National Front candidate, has used the term "Islamoleftism". Do you think the feeling that, as you say, so many Muslims seem likely to vote for the left lends some truth to her generalisation?

France: ‘Fed up’ Muslims mobilize to unseat Sarkozy

France: ‘Fed up’ Muslims mobilize to unseat Sarkozy

Via the Washington Times:

France’s Muslim community is mobilizing voters to reject President Nicolas Sarkozy in Sunday’s election to punish the conservative leader for his anti-immigrant and anti-Islam rhetoric.

“[French] Muslims can’t stand it anymore. They are fed up with these debates about national identity, halal meat, the veil or fundamentalism all over the place,” said Francoise Lorcerie, a sociologist with the Institute of Studies on the Arab and Muslim World near Marseille.

“The terms [Islam, immigration and fundamentalism] are being used interchangeably, without care, with people being targeted, denigrated and used for [votes].”

(source)

Bradford: Cousin marriage tradition becoming more entrenched

Bradford: Cousin marriage tradition becoming more entrenched

Via the BBC:

The tradition of marrying a cousin is becoming more entrenched among British-born Pakistanis living in Bradford than it was a generation ago, writes Winifred Robinson.

This has been the surprise finding of the Born in Bradford research project . It's a huge long-term study of 14,000 mothers and babies in the city, the largest ever undertaken in the UK. Half of the families in the project are Asian.

(source)

Helsinki: Hospitals don't facilitate Muslim burial

Helsinki: Hospitals don't facilitate Muslim burial

Via YLE:

Muslims in the capital region must forgo their traditions for death as some elements of the Muslim burial ceremony are not possible in hospitals.

According to Muslim custom, the body must be washed immediately prior to the funeral, and if not possible: on the night before.  The body is then wrapped in two clean pices of cloth and placed in a coffin.  There are currently no facilities for such a procedure in Helsinki hospitals, and so often the family washes the body at home.

Netherlands: Minister takes on discrimination in discos

Netherlands: Minister takes on discrimination in discos

Via RNW:

Integration Minister Gerd Leers is planning to tackle pubs, restaurants and discos which discriminate against people with a non-Dutch background.

He has told parliament that he intends to discuss with police and city councils what can be done to combat discrimination. He doesn’t rule out carrying out undercover operations and withdrawing licences. Mr Leers also wants something done about temping agencies that discriminate.

(source)

Germany: Merkel ally says Islam not part of Germany

Germany: Merkel ally says Islam not part of Germany

Via Reuters:

A leading conservative politician said on Thursday that Islam did not belong in Germany, fuelling tension at a conference on integrating Muslims that also debated a controversial Salafist campaign to hand out copies of the Koran across the country.

"Islam is not part of our tradition and identity in Germany and so does not belong in Germany," Volker Kauder, head of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives in parliament, told the Passauer Neue Presse.

(source)

Netherlands: Moroccan, Polish criminals speak each other's language

Netherlands: Moroccan, Polish criminals speak each other's language

Via De Telegraaf:

Acting police chief in the Haaglanden district, Paul van Musscher, says that Moroccan youth speak with their criminal colleagues in Polish and vice versa.

Van Musscher says this shows there's a melting pot in the neighborhoods and that they have close contacts with each other as they enter the criminal world.  "By speaking each other's language you create new trade relations.  This is truly a 'VOC mentality' of which Balkenende will probably not be proud."

Former Dutch PM Balkenende used the term 'VOC mentality' (Dutch East India Company) to encourage Dutch entrepreneurship.

Netherlands: More jihadist trips in 2011

Netherlands: More jihadist trips in 2011


Via RNW:

In 2011, more Dutch citizens travelled to conflict regions to take part in Islamist insurgencies than in previous years.

In its annual report, which was published on Thursday, the Dutch intelligence service AIVD writes that Dutch jihadists were also increasingly successful in linking up with senior members of international Islamist networks.

UK: Al Qaeda militants warn of terror attack if Abu Qatada is deported

UK: Al Qaeda militants warn of terror attack if Abu Qatada is deported

Via the Telegraph:

The Al Qaeda militants warned of a “disaster” for Britain if the Government attempts to send Qatada back to Jordan.

SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors online activity from terrorist groups, said al-Shabaab had issued a warning on militant forums.

"The British public is also forewarned that it will be the British government, as a result of its imprudence, that shall be liable for any disaster that befalls them, or their national interests," the statement said, according to SITE. 

(source)

Belgium: Terror suspect doesn't show up for trial, is in Syria fighting Assad

Belgium: Terror suspect doesn't show up for trial, is in Syria fighting Assad
Via VRT:

In Brussels, a trial has started against 7 radical Muslims. The defendants are facing terrorism charges. They are suspected of planning a terrorist attack in Brussels, and of recruiting new members for Al Qaeda on Belgian soil for the "holy war" in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to their lawyers, there is no proof that they actually had plans to carry out a terrorist attack.

(...)

One of the suspects is the son of sheik Bassam, a radical imam who was recently convicted in Italy, receiving 8 years' imprisonment. The suspect did not show up in Brussels today, he is said to be fighting the Assad regime in Syria.

(source)

Sheik Bassam is Bassam Ayachi.  Abdelrahman Ayachi's lawyer told the court: "My client is originally from Syria.  He's currently there and is committing terrorist acts against the regime of president Assad. (...) He's doing in Syria, with support of the UN, the same things for which he is being charged here in Brussels today.  In Iraq he fought against the Americans.  That's not allowed.  In Syria he's fighting against Assad and that's OK.  Whether someone is a terrorist or a hero now depends mainly on the geo-strategic interests of our country."

Updated: Abdelrahim was previously convicted for inciting hatred against Jews, but some of the charges were dropped on appeal.

Brussels: Mayor accuses journalists of Nazi propaganda after program on Islamism in his town

Brussels: Mayor accuses journalists of Nazi propaganda after program on Islamism in his town

The recent RTBF program on Islamism in Brussels continues to make waves.  See also:Brussels: Imam speaks against Women's Day, Jews.

Via Knack (h/t NRP):

Philippe Moureaux (Socialists), mayor of Molenbeek (Brussels), is upset at the journalists of the RTBF program "Questions à la Une".  Moureaux accuses them of racism and Islamophobia.

Italy: Deportees on Alitalia flight with taped mouths

Italy: Deportees on Alitalia flight with taped mouths

A photo of two Tunisian men being deported from Italy on an Alitalia flight, their mouths sealed with duct tape and their hands cuffed with plastic bands, was posted by Italian film director Francesco Sperandeo on Facebook Wednesday. (ANSA)

Birmingham: Police hunt man who ripped off Muslim woman's face veil in Solihull

Birmingham: Police hunt man who ripped off Muslim woman's face veil in Solihull
Via the Birmingham Mail:

DETECTIVES are hunting a man who grabbed a Muslim woman by the head and pulled off her face covering in a packed shopping centre.

The thug approached the 26-year-old from behind in Solihull’s Touchwood shopping centre on Saturday, March 3 at 2pm.

As she walked past the Disney Store he grabbed her head and ripped the veil from her face, throwing it on the floor before walking off. 

(source)

UK: 'Creeping Sharia' trend shows what Twitter thinks of the EDL

UK: 'Creeping Sharia' trend shows what Twitter thinks of the EDL

Via the Telegraph:

Tommy Robinson, the founder of the English Defence League, got more than he bargained for when he started the Twitter hashtage #creepingsharia, writes Matt Warman

The Luton-based politician, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, wrongly identified the Taj Mahal mausoleum as a mosque when it was used on the Twitter homepage on Sunday night. He tweeted “welcome to twitter homepage has a picture of a mosque. what a joke #creepingsharia”.

Although the original tweet was “favourited” a number of times and retweeted more than 50, the overwhelming reaction of the social network was to mock the idea. By Monday evening, #creepingsharia was still attracting widespread derision.
(source)

Scotland: Muslim leaders urge community not to vote for same sex marriage supporters

Scotland: Muslim leaders urge community not to vote for same sex marriage supporters

Vis STV:

Muslim religious leaders are urging people in their community not to vote for any candidate who supports same-sex marriage in the upcoming council election.

The Council of Glasgow Imams issued a "resolution opposing same-sex marriage" at the city's Central Mosque on Wednesday, which said the proposed legislation was an "attack" on their faith and fundamental beliefs.

(source)

Cyprus: Gov't accuses Turks of politicizing mosque arson

Cyprus: Gov't accuses Turks of politicizing mosque arson

UK: British group creates international halal certification program

UK: British group creates international halal certification program

Via AFP:

A group of scholars in the UK has created what they say is a halal certification program that has the potential to become the international standard for the global food industry and make life easier for the world’s 1.6 billion Muslim consumers.

The Halal Authority Board (HAB) in the UK has designed what they say is a “realistic and practical” certification scheme that regulates the production of halal products in accordance with Islamic law and modern food processing.
(source)

Denmark: Asylum seekers avoiding Denmark

Denmark: Asylum seekers avoiding Denmark

Via the Copenhagen Post:

According to the Danish Refugee Council (DRC), the drop in applications may be attributed to Denmark’s reputation as a difficult place to be granted asylum.

“There have not been any systematic studies examining why asylum seekers choose one country over another,” the DRC’s head of asylum, Eva Singer, told Politiken newspaper. “But one part of the explanation may be found in their understanding of which countries offer their best chance of gaining asylum.

We can see this with asylum seekers from Somalia, who for many years had their applications turned down in Denmark. The asylum seekers are often advised by traffickers who recommend which countries are best to travel to.”

(source)

Abdennour Bidar: Mohammed Merah, a monster created by Islam’s illness

Abdennour Bidar: Mohammed Merah, a monster created by Islam’s illness

Via AsiaNews:

A great French Muslim philosopher asks whether salafist violence - like that which killed the children of Jewish school in Toulouse – is not a symptom of something deeply wrong with the Muslim tradition. A religion that has closed in on itself. To renew Islam today, the challenge of modernity and humanism must be accepted. "Who will have that courage? Who will take this risk?". The analysis of Fr. Samir Khalil.

(source)

Cyprus: OIC welcomes Turkish Cypriot request to join

Cyprus: OIC welcomes Turkish Cypriot request to join

Via AFP (h/t DW)

The head of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference welcomed Saturday a request by the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) to open a permanent mission to the pan-Muslim body.

"The organisation welcomes this and is in contact with the host state (Saudi Arabia) to study and implement it," OIC chief Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, who is a Turkish national, told reporters after meeting Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu.

(source)

Paris: "I am Mohamed Merah and I am going to kill you"

Paris: "I am Mohamed Merah and I am going to kill you"

RFI reports as follows:

Police in Paris on Friday arrested a man who took out a pistol and threatened commuters on one of the capital’s busiest Metro lines, ligne 13. The 30-year-old unidentified man of Moroccan origin, was detained by police mid-morning between Metro stations Saint-Denis Basilique and Université.

Leicestershire: Councillor facing probe over message criticising Muslims

Leicestershire: Councillor facing probe over message criticising Muslims

Via the Leicester Mercury (h/t DW):

A Leicestershire county councillor is being investigated after distributing a leaflet which criticised Muslims.

Earlier this year, Graham Partner – who quit the BNP to sit as an independent – sent out a New Year message to voters in his Coalville division.

It featured part of an article from a national newspaper which said victimhood "comes easily" to followers of Islam.

(source)

EU: Islamic terrorists issue threat against Eurovision

EU: Islamic terrorists issue threat against Eurovision

Via Irish Independent (h/t Bivouac-ID)

TERRORISTS have threatened to target Jedward and other Eurovision participants at the annual music competition in May.

The Azeri terrorists, an Islamic group, have said they will target the participants of the Eurovision song contest in Azerbaijan as they are “European scum”. It has threatened the use of “knives and chemical weapons” at the contest.

The terror group said in a statement yesterday “Blood of the European scum must be shed by the will of Allah.”

(source)

UK: Lord Ahmed suspended after 'offering £10m bounty on Barack Obama and George Bush'

UK: Lord Ahmed suspended after 'offering £10m bounty on Barack Obama and George Bush'

Via the Telegraph:

A controversial British peer has been suspended from the Labour Party amid reports that he offered a £10 million bounty for the capture of President Barack Obama and his predecessor President George W Bush.

(...)

Lord Ahmed firmly denied offering a bounty, but said he had told the meeting that Mr Bush and former-Labour prime minister Tony Blair should be prosecuted for war crimes.

Speaking from Pakistan to the Press Association he challenged the Labour Party to provide evidence for the suspension.

He said: "They have suspended me? That's a surprise to me. I did not know.

"I never said those words. I did not offer a bounty. I said that there have been war crimes committed in Iraq and Afghanistan and those people who have got strong allegations against them - George W Bush and Tony Blair - have been involved in illegal wars and should be brought to justice.

"I do not think there's anything wrong with that. If the Labour Party want to suspend me I will deal with the Labour Party. They will have to give me some evidence."

(source)

UK : Taxi driver fired after refusing to drive passengers with alcohol

UK : Taxi driver fired after refusing to drive passengers with alcohol

Via the Daily Mail:

A Muslim cab driver has been fired after he threw out a family carrying an unopened bottle of wine because he said 'it's against my religion.'

(...)

The company's former chairman, Fazal Rahim, who has also driven for them for almost a quarter of a century, said the driver's attitude was unprofessional.

'I am a practising Muslim, like a lot of the drivers. This was not a decision based on race or religion, however, but about being a professional taxi driver,' Mr Rahim said.

'As taxi drivers, we cannot be moral policemen. If I picked a customer up from a pub, should I ask him if he has been drinking? Of course not.

(source)

Greece: Immigrant detention centers

Greece: Immigrant detention centers

Via DW:

As elections approach in Greece, politicians argue that immigrants are behind higher crime rates and public health problems. But rights groups say the campaign rhetoric is a cheap ploy to win votes.

The so-called Integration Law, proposed by Minister for Citizen Protection Michalis Chrisohoidis, raised a furor by calling for illegal immigrants to be held in former military bases until deportation.

(source)

Germany: Threats against journalists critical of Koran distribution project

Germany: Threats against journalists critical of Koran distribution project

Via Spiegel (h/t NRP):

And on Thursday, daily Die Welt reports that a video made a brief appearance on YouTube this week apparently targeting journalists that reported critically on the Koran distribution project. "We now have detailed information on the monkeys and pigs who published false reports about the (Frankfurt Salafist group) DawaFFM and many other brothers and sisters," the video, which has since been taken down, intoned, according to Die Welt.

"We possess a lot of information, for example, we know where you live, we know what football team you root for, we have your mobile phone numbers," it continues. The video names reporters from the dailies Frankfurter Rundschau and Tagesspiegel. Die Welt reports that the producer of the video has worked for Nagie in the past.

(source)

Morocco: Preacher calls Muslims to leave France

Morocco: Preacher calls Muslims to leave France

Via Telegraaf:

Omar al-Haddouchi, ideological leader of the Jihadist movement in Morocco, published a fatwa saying all Muslims should leave France for North Africa.

Al-Haddouchi says Muslims have no reason to stay in France, listing as reasons the burqa ban, the limits on the call to Friday prayers, and the stricter controls on Muslim radicals following the terror attack in Toulouse. He said non-Muslim countries where like a toilet, where you do your thing and then leave.

His 14-minute long video fatwa is currently circulating on Jihadi websites. Al-Haddouchi was sentenced to 30 years for his links to the attack in Casablanca, May 2003, but was pardoned last year by King Mohammed VI.

UK: Lord offers bounty for capture of Obama, Bush

UK: Lord offers bounty for capture of Obama, Bush

Poland: Poster apologizing for anti-Saudi sentiments

Poland: Poster apologizing for anti-Saudi sentiments

A poster in the town of Olsztyn, put up after anti-Arab posters were posted on the homes of Saudi students (see here and here)

Utrecht: Muslims censor sexy posters

Utrecht: Muslims censor sexy posters

Moscow: 10 students jailed for racist bomb attacks

Moscow: 10 students jailed for racist bomb attacks

Via AFP:

A Moscow court on Thursday sentenced 10 university students to up to 13 years in prison on "terrorism" charges for staging bombing attacks against security buildings and Muslim targets.

The students admitted in court to having been members of a gang called the Autonomous Military Terrorist Organisation that operated in the Russian capital in 2009 and 2010.

(source)

London: University considers stopping sale of 'immoral' alcohol on campus because it offends their Muslim students

London: University considers stopping sale of 'immoral' alcohol on campus because it offends their Muslim students

Via the Daily Mail:

A university is considering ending the sale of alcohol on campus due to concerns from Muslim students.

London Metropolitan University could take action because a ‘high percentage’ of its students thought drinking was ‘immoral’, according to its vice chancellor.

Professor Malcolm Gillies raised the prospect of an alcohol-free campus after gauging the changing values from the influx of new students.

(source)

Germany: Immigrants Flee Families to Find Themselves

Germany: Immigrants Flee Families to Find Themselves

Via Spiegel:

Germany in the 21st century, almost 60 years after the first guest workers arrived, is a country in which hundreds of female immigrants like Bahar live in hiding from their families. They have left everything behind: their home, their friends and their relatives. They refuse to abandon hope and allow themselves to be broken by the incompatibility of their own wishes with the expectations of their family and social environment. They don't want to conform to the traditional values of the regions where their families come from. Instead, they want to live like women in Western societies: free, independent and emancipated.

Kosovo: 'Islam-lite' Kosovars determined to stay secular

Kosovo: 'Islam-lite' Kosovars determined to stay secular

Via the Irish Times:

“We are nominal Muslims,” says Dren, a researcher at a Pristina- based NGO. “We don’t go to the mosque much; we drink alcohol and eat pork. That’s just the Kosovar way.”

However many within Kosovo’s secular-minded majority are uneasy over what appears to be a drift towards more conservative interpretations of Islam in some parts of the country.

“You see more women wearing hijab and more men wearing beards,” says Brikena Hoxha of the Kosovo Stability Initiative, a Pristina-based think tank. “This is new for us.”

The emergence of an increasingly vocal minority of devout Muslims has unsettled those who would prefer that the majority faith in Kosovo – which unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008 – remains “Islam-lite” as one Pristina resident puts it.

(source)

UK: How daytimers got young British Asians dancing

UK: How daytimers got young British Asians dancing

Via the Guardian:

It was the era of the nightclub, a time when dance music took hold in the UK. But the young British Asians who came of age during the 1980s and 1990s had, on the whole, conservative parents who disapproved of their children going to sweaty nightclubs, getting drunk and hooking up with the opposite sex.

Against this repressive backdrop, something new emerged that passed largely unnoticed by the mainstream: club events where thousands of young Asians would listen to music – bhangra mainly – performed by bands and later played by DJs. These events took place not at night but during the afternoon, when those kids were thought to be at college, school or the library. And so they were christened daytimers.

"They were a national phenomenon," says Rajinder Dudrah, author of Bhangra: Birmingham and Beyond. "In Nottingham, Bradford, London, Manchester, Birmingham and Luton, kids were getting on buses to go to a club where there would be 2,000 Asians dancing away. The trick was to arrive back spotless, as if nothing had happened, so you'd live to tell the tale."

(source)

Finland: Higher threshold for some family reunification

Finland: Higher threshold for some family reunification

Via YLE:

Regulations governing the reunification of some families may be tightened. A report by the Interior Ministry says it is possible that in future, people resident on the grounds of humanitarian protection may have to prove sufficient income to support their families before being joined by spouses and children.

(source)

Germany: Elderly Germans 'cause more trouble than Turks'

Germany: Elderly Germans 'cause more trouble than Turks'

Via the Local:

Germans are more annoyed by old people and teenagers in their area than their Turkish neighbours a new study shows – contradicting the image of communities consumed by ethnic strife.

When asked, “Which group of people are responsible for problems in your neighbourhood,” by a social research group, nearly a quarter of Germans pointed the finger at teenagers.

Sweden: Seven convicted in brutal gang rape case

Sweden: Seven convicted in brutal gang rape case

Via the Local:

Seven of the eight men charged with the aggravated rape of a woman at a housing facility for asylum seekers in Småland, southeastern Sweden, last year were convicted and sentenced to prison on Wednesday in the Eksjö District Court.

(...)

Prosecutors labelled the incident as a planned attack. All seven were therefore convicted of aggravated rape as they carried out the attack together.

Six of the convicted men are Afghan citizens and will be deported from Sweden and not allowed back for at least fifteen years after they have served their sentence.

(source)

Brussels: Imam speaks against Women's Day, Jews

Brussels: Imam speaks against Women's Day, Jews

Via Philosémitisme, La Capitale:

An imam in Anderlecht (Brussels) preached against women and Jews in his Friday sermon, as revealed by the RTBF current affairs program "Questions à la Une". The imam of the Al-Amal mosque was secretly filmed as he spoke in his sermon about International Women's Day.

The imam spoke out against the unthankful, coarse people who created Women's Day, which is not part of Muslim culture. "Only the ignorants celebrate this day, or political politicians who want to confuse the people of God's way. Fear God, follow the Sunnah (Muslim law) and avoid innovative cultures which are not part of Islam."

The imam then went on to speak of the Jewish roots of the day. "What they call Women's Day [...] it's the holiday of Purim, which is of Jewish origin and which dates back to 480 BC. A Jew, Clara Zetkin, revived this holiday in the 20th century. Listen, Muslim women, in celebrating this day, you imitate the Jewish women in behavior which is far from divine."

According to mosque administrator Azzouzi Hamidou, the sermon was not planned, and was delivered as a response to a question asked by a parishioner. The imam was reprimanded and will be fired if he continues.

Update: small fixes throughout

Moscow: Ethnic Azerbaijani found with slit throat

Moscow: Ethnic Azerbaijani found with slit throat

Via AFP:

The body of a Russian national of Azerbaijani origin has been found in Moscow with his throat slashed, his former employer said on Wednesday, blaming a gang of ultra-nationalists for his murder.

Metin Mekhtiyev, a 33-year-old Muscovite, was coming home from a grocery store on Tuesday when a group of assailants attacked him near his residential building in central Moscow.

"A group of five people including a young woman first beat him up and then slit his throat," said Maryam Nalobina, a representative of the Russian Islamic Cultural Centre, citing information from witnesses.

(source)

France: Cabinet OKs new anti-terrorism measures

France: Cabinet OKs new anti-terrorism measures

via AP:

France's conservative government unveiled new counterterrorism measures on Wednesday to punish those who visit extremist websites or travel to weapons-training camps abroad, in the wake of killings by an suspected Islamic extremist in southern France last month.

The measures now go to Parliament, where they may face resistance from the Socialists, who say France's legal arsenal against terrorism is already strong enough and that the proposal is a campaign ploy to boost President Nicolas Sarkozy's chances at a second term.

(source)

Denmark: Increase in pensioner repatriation

Denmark: Increase in pensioner repatriation

Via Kristeligt Dagblad:

According to the Danish Refugee Council, 613 refugees and immigrants voluntarily returned home in 2011, compared with 370 in 2010.

Two thirds ere pensioners, and the organization says it receives many request from New Danes who want to check out the possibility of retires in their homeland.

Paris: Arab nudes defy taboos in new exhibit

Paris: Arab nudes defy taboos in new exhibit

Flanders: Far-right party creates anti-immigrant website

Flanders: Far-right party creates anti-immigrant website

Via AFP:

A Flemish far-right party launched a website Tuesday inviting people to report crimes committed by illegal immigrants, mirroring a controversial initiative in the Netherlands.

The website created by Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest) allows people to file anonymous tip-offs of social security fraud, work on the black market and more serious crimes, a move anti-racism activists compared to Nazi tactics.

(source)

Netherlands: Handshake Muslim loses court case

Netherlands: Handshake Muslim loses court case

Via DutchNews:

Rotterdam council was right not to offer lawyer Mohammed Enait the job of client manager after he refused to shake hands with women, a court in The Hague said on Tuesday afternoon.

Enait had applied for the job at the social services department but said he would not shake hands with women on religious grounds. However, he would greet them in another respectful fashion, he said.

(source)

France: 'It's the ban that's restrictive, not the burqa'

France: 'It's the ban that's restrictive, not the burqa'

In the year since the veil ban was introduced in France, 299 women were fined for wearing the full veil.

Via DW:

In the Parisian suburbs, Mabrouka is experiencing that very sense of exclusion. But she does not conform to the stereotype of a downtrodden woman. Born in Lyon to Tunisian parents, she works part-time as a private tutor, and continues to visit her students in their nearby homes. She is highly educated, having studied Arabic and history at university, and she's also qualified to teach French as a foreign language.

EU: Abu Hamza can be extradited to US, human rights court rules

EU: Abu Hamza can be extradited to US, human rights court rules

Via the Guardian:

Abu Hamza, the radical cleric who became the face of violent extremism in Britain, can be extradited to the US to face terrorism charges, the European court of human rights has ruled.

The court in Strasbourg said the human rights of Hamza and four other men held in Britain – Babar Ahmad, Syed Tahla Ahsan, Adel Abdul Bary and Khaled Al-Fawwaz – would not be violated if sent to the US to stand trial. European judges decided they needed more information about the mental health of Haroon Aswat, an aide to Hamza, before reaching a decision on him.

(source)

Corsica/Berlin: Mosques attacked

Corsica/Berlin: Mosques attacked

Via AFP:

French police said Monday they were probing a "racist" arson attack on a Muslim prayer hall in Ajaccio, the capital of the Mediterranean island of Corsica.

Germany: A Koran in every household

Germany: A Koran in every household

Via Welt Online, Trouw:

Salafists in Germany launched a project aimed at distributing 25 million free Korans.

Project "Lies!" (Read!) was started in October 2011 by Ibrahim Abou Nagie, who says he wants a Koran in every German household. Other Salafist groups like DawaFFM from Frankfut and the Ibrahim Millatu movement from Solingen are also involved. So far the Salafists set up more than 100 stands in cities across North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony, Hesse and Hamburg.

Belgrade: Mufti comments on colleague's presidential bid

Belgrade: Mufti comments on colleague's presidential bid

Via B92:

Mufti of Belgrade Muhamed Jusufspahić says Mufti Muamer Zukorlić's decision to take part in the presidential election showed that ours is "a free country".

(...)

"Is it normal for someone who urges civil disobedience to be a presidential candidate? Will we have candidatures from bishops and rabbis next?," Jusufspahić stated, but noted that these were "issues of lesser importance that must be answered by the state, rather than by a mufti".

"To me, the essential issue is - who am I supposed to complain to over the abuse of faith and cloth? On the other hand, former Evangelical pastor Joachim Gauck recently became president in Germany, and Germany is not a poorly ordered country," said Jusufspahić.

(source)

France: Unite France don't divide it, controversial Muslim academic tells Sarkozy

France: Unite France don't divide it, controversial Muslim academic tells Sarkozy

Via RFI:

Swiss Islamic intellectual Tariq Ramadan laid into French President Nicolas Sarkozy in a speech to the annual meeting of a major Muslim organisation Saturday. His call to “unite France” and not “divide it” came after government ministers criticised the Union of Islamic Organisations of France’s (UOIF) invitation to him to speak.

(source)

UK: Horrific story of the British child bride

UK: Horrific story of the British child bride

Via the Daily Mail:

A successful businesswoman has told of her agony after being forced into an abusive marriage at the age of five - despite living in Britain.

Samina Shah, who is now in her 40s and too frightened to reveal her real name, spoke out after revelations that Britain's Forced Marriage Unit had handled the case of another five-year-old girl last year.

Mrs Shah said she believed she was being dressed for her fifth birthday party on the day of the Islamic ceremony which effectively ended her childhood.

(source)

Denmark: 'Secret judges' in terror case

Denmark: 'Secret judges' in terror case

Via the Local:

In a move that has drawn criticism from the lawyer of a Swedish suspect, Danish judicial authorities have moved to classify the names of judges and courts that have played a key role in a terrorism case due to go to trial this Friday.

Without informing the suspects in advance, the Danish justice system has classified the names of the judges and courts that gave permission to bug the phones of the three Swedish citizens and a Tunisian charged in the case, reports Jyllands-Posten, the newspaper at the centre of the case.

(source)

France: Gov't takes new look at radicalization in prisons

France: Gov't takes new look at radicalization in prisons

Via AP:

President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered a study on the evolving threat in prisons after last month's killings, and the justice minister called for greater intelligence gathering in prisons and more Muslim prison chaplains.

Tracking such "lone wolf" radicals presents prison authorities with a new challenge: detecting the Muslim inmate who is not just turning to religion but turning the corner to danger. Some worry that even tighter surveillance may carry the risk of a double-edged sword, stigmatizing a Muslim population already deprived of the means to properly practice their faith behind bars.

(source)

Greece: Most Greeks Support Clampdown on Illegal Immigration

Greece: Most Greeks Support Clampdown on Illegal Immigration

Via GreekReporter:

Ahead of May elections, more than six in 10 Greeks, or 61.7 percent, agree with recent government moves to clamp down on illegal immigration in the country, a poll showed.

A survey of 1,610 Greeks over the age of 18 by Kapa Research SA for To Vima newspaper published today found that 83.4 percent of interviewees believe illegal immigration is a major problem for Greece while 48.3 percent said that the main priority of any immigration policy should be to gradually remove all immigrants from the country, up from 19.5 percent in a similar poll in 2009.

(source)

Spain: Real Madrid removes cross from UAE partnership logo

Spain: Real Madrid removes cross from UAE partnership logo

left: Real Madrid logo, right: new logo of the Real Madrid
resort island in the United Arab Emirates

Serbia: Mufti to run in presidential race

Serbia: Mufti to run in presidential race

Via B92:

Islamic Community in Serbia Chief Mufti Muamer Zukorlić announced on Saturday that he will run in the upcoming presidential elections.

“My candidacy is based on conviction that the state and the society are on the verge of a precipice and I will offer an authentic salvation program which will be acceptable for all Serbian citizens,” he told a press conference in Novi Pazar.

(source)

UK: Scotland Yard's racism crisis deepens as vile abuse of Asian shop manager is revealed

UK: Scotland Yard's racism crisis deepens as vile abuse of Asian shop manager is revealed

Via the Daily Mail:

The racism crisis engulfing Scotland Yard took a dramatic turn last night as an officer was exposed for abusing an Asian takeaway manager.

In an appalling drunken outburst, PC Philip Juhasz, 31, told the Pakistani to ‘go back to your f****** country’. The disgraced officer faces the sack for gross misconduct after being convicted of a racially aggravated public order offence.

(source)

UK: Wearing a veil helps give Muslim women strength, says archbishop

UK: Wearing a veil helps give Muslim women strength, says archbishop

Via the Sunday Times:

THE Archbishop of Canterbury believes that British Muslim women can “help assert themselves” by wearing a veil.

Speaking at The Sunday Times Literary Festival in Oxford, Rowan Williams questioned the view that women hid behind veils and warned against “what we sometimes think of wrongly as stereotypes”.

(source)

Austria: Integration secretary plans home visit initiative

Austria: Integration secretary plans home visit initiative

Via the Austrian Times:

Social workers will visit badly integrated foreigners at home to help them learning German, People’s Party (ÖVP) Integration Secretary Sebastian Kurz announced yesterday (Tues).

Kurz said his office planned to expand a successful Viennese pilot project concept based on programmes in Switzerland and Australia to several other Austrian towns and cities in the coming months. The project has a budget of 300,000 Euros, according to Austria’s first state secretary for integration who was sworn in around one year ago.

(source)

Bosnia: Muslim villages dying out

Bosnia: Muslim villages dying out

Via SBS:

Refugee return to Muslim villages where vicious ethnic 'cleansing' occurred in the Bosnian Serb area of Zvornik was once hailed as a post-war success story but, twenty years on, life is petering out.

Many of the returnees have left again for lack of work and use their rebuilt houses as holiday homes, leaving only the elderly to sit out their old age on their native land.

(source)

UK: Two charged in Somalia terror probe

UK: Two charged in Somalia terror probe

Via UKPA:

Scotland Yard believes it has smashed a London gang allegedly trying to fund terror in Somalia.

Mohammed Shafiq Ali, who works for a security firm used by Transport for London, and his unemployed twin brother Mohammed Shabir Ali have appeared in court charged with terrorism offences.

Prosecutors say the 24-year-olds plotted to raise funds through a "Darwar" religious stall in the UK and assist their older brother to commit acts of terrorism in Somalia with the cash.

(source)

Germany: Islamist site threatens strike 'at heart of Berlin'

Germany: Islamist site threatens strike 'at heart of Berlin'

Via AFP:

A statement posted Wednesday on an Islamist website used by Al-Qaeda threatened a strike at the "heart of Berlin" unless Germany releases a jailed female militant.

"This is a special message to the old lady of Germany (Chancellor Angela) Merkel... you should learn from what happened in France," said the unsigned statement on one of the group's main sites.

"Immediately release Um Seif Al-Islam Al-Ansariya before another Mohammed Merah strikes at the heart of Berlin," it added, reference to the gunman who murdered seven people in Toulouse, France in March.

(source)

France: Muslim organizations plan march against religious radicalism

France: Muslim organizations plan march against religious radicalism

Via Le Figaro:

Several Muslim associations are calling for a national march April 15th in April to 'say no to religious radicalism'. Among the organizers: the Conference of Imams and the association of French Muslim war veterans.

The Muslim associations say they refuse equating the Muslims of France with the acts of terror committed in their name. They have the families of the victims of the crimes committed in Montauban and Toulouse in their thoughts and offer them support and solidarity. They invite all the French to unite around shared values and around a secular France, one and indivisible.

Belgium: Moroccan in jail for circumcising son

Belgium: Moroccan in jail for circumcising son

Via Volkskrant:

A 23 year old Moroccan was sentenced to jail for circumcising his two year old son. A court in Tongeren, next to Maastricht, sentenced the man to two years (one of which is conditional). He also has to pay 7500 euro compensation to his son and the baby's mother.

The man circumcised his son, since he couldn't accept that his son wouldn't be raised according to Moroccan values. The mother, a Flemish woman, withheld her pregnancy from him, because she didn't want the kid to be raised as a Muslim.

After the circumcision the boy was successfully treated in a hospital and there are no remaining injuries.

Geneva: 'Project Maghreb' helps deport North African repeat offenders

Geneva: 'Project Maghreb' helps deport North African repeat offenders

Via TdG:

The police in Geneva estimates that 300-400 illegal North Africans are responsible for more than 6000 crimes over the past four years. In theory, once they serve their sentence, they can be deported back, but in practice Geneva is dependent on readmission agreements signed with other countries. The offenders usually hide their true identity which makes for a long process of identifying them, and then deporting them (either willingly or not). Many offenders claim to come from Algeria, which does not accept forced deportations.

France: Gov't orders deportation of five Islamist radicals

France: Gov't orders deportation of five Islamist radicals

Via AFP:

France has expelled two Islamic radicals and is planning to deport three more as part of a crackdown announced after a gunman killed seven people, officials said Monday.

An Algerian radical and a Malian imam were sent back to their home countries on Monday, while a Saudi imam, a Turkish imam and a Tunisian radical were also subject to expulsion orders, the interior ministry said in a statement.

The statement said that the imams had made anti-Semitic statements in their sermons, called for Muslims to reject Western values, and said women should wear the full-face veil.

(source)

Bulgaria: Muslims recall communist repression

Bulgaria: Muslims recall communist repression

Via AP:

The forced renaming of Muslims began in 1973 in Kornitsa with its 1,800 ethnic Bulgarian Pomak Muslims and spread across the nation. Ethnic Turks, who form the other large group of Bulgarian Muslims, were equally harshly targeted in the assimilation campaign.

The communists tried to snuff out Muslim identity in other ways. Education in Turkish was first limited, then suppressed. Talking Turkish in public, wearing the veil and circumcising boys were forbidden.

The repression culminated in 1985 when 310,000 ethnic Turks were forced to change their names. Protests grew and in August 1989 -- as communism was crumbling across eastern Europe -- Bulgaria forced 360,000 ethnic Turks to cross into Turkey.

(source)

Gothenburg: Police fear anti-immigrant protests following attack

Gothenburg: Police fear anti-immigrant protests following attack

Via the Local:

The attack, which occurred in Kortedala Torg on March 18th, has left other residents embittered and calling for action, and police are concerned that talks of a demonstration against violence may boil over into an anti-immigrant protest.

"We see that racist websites blame foreigners in general after what happened. It makes me angry, and we need to monitor developments carefully," said the police's Bertil Claesson to Aftonbladet.

"Protests against violence are good, a sign of health, but we don't want it to become a protest out of hatred."

(source)

Several boys hanging around the square where the attack took place told Aftonbladet that everybody was affected by the incident. "It's not right what they did, if they did it. We've certainly noticed that prejudice against all of us immigrant increased after it."

Toulouse: Killer is 'one of us’

Toulouse: Killer is 'one of us’

Via Reuters:

In the neighbourhood where Mohamed Merah grew up, and was last seen joking with friends days after he had killed three French soldiers in a pair of shootings, the message to outsiders is clear: he was one of our own, no matter what he did.

Norway: Breivik inspired by secret British anti-Islamic network

Norway: Breivik inspired by secret British anti-Islamic network

Morocco: Danish Hizb ut-Tahrir member suspected of terrorism

Morocco: Danish Hizb ut-Tahrir member suspected of terrorism

Via Politiken:

Danish newspaper Politiken reports that Thami Najim (37), a Danish Moroccan, was arrested February 3rd in Morocco and suspected of terror activities. According to Moroccan papers, he served as head of an active cell fighting the state. He's also suspected of receiving foreign funds for terrorist activities.

Thami Najim is one of the top members of the Moroccan branch of the extremist Islamic party Hizb ut-Tahrir, and served as its webmaster and IT chief. Najim was born and raised in Denmark, and was very influential in the inner circle of the party's Danish branch. In 2007 he moved to Morocco with his family.

Najim and his family say he is not a terrorist. Najim says the 'foreign funds' are money transfers from his former Danish employers.

UK: Labour 'failed to connect with Asians in Bradford'

UK: Labour 'failed to connect with Asians in Bradford'

Via the BBC:

George Galloway's victory in Bradford West was partly due to Labour's failure to connect with the Asian community, the shadow home secretary has said.

Yvette Cooper said her party had not won over young Asians or Muslim women.

(source)

Netherlands: Dutch-Turkish boat to take part in Gay Pride

Netherlands: Dutch-Turkish boat to take part in Gay Pride

Via RNW:

A Turkish boat will take part in the 2012 Amsterdam Gay Pride boat parade known as Canal Pride.
This will the first time a Turkish boat takes part in Canal pride, which is scheduled to take place on 4 August.

(source)

Austria: Far-right party probed over ‘racist’ poster slammed by Morocco as ‘humiliating’ (update: FPÖ apologizes)

Austria: Far-right party probed over ‘racist’ poster slammed by Morocco as ‘humiliating’

(APA/ROBERT PARIGGER)