Manchester: Muslim graves hit for third time

Manchester: Muslim graves hit for third time


Vandals have targeted Muslim graves at a south Manchester cemetery for the third time in two months.


More than 20 headstones at the Southern Cemetery on Barlow Moor Road were pushed over in what police are treating as a racially-motivated attack.


The offenders struck sometime between Friday afternoon and Monday morning, a police spokesman confirmed.


Det Ch Insp Steve Eckersley called it "mindless racist behaviour" that was being treated as a hate crime.


On 29 September, 26 Muslim headstones were vandalised and three days later 27 were targeted.


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Source: BBC (English)

Belgium: Anti-discrimination body opposes the headscarf in elementary school

Belgium: Anti-discrimination body opposes the headscarf in elementary school

The Center for Equal Opportunities and the Fight against Racism (CGKR) wants to take the edge of the headscarf debate.  Therefor the Center will from now speak about the 'external expression of convictions' instead of the 'external expression of religious, philosophical and political convictions'.  Furthermore the Center wants a ban on the external expression of convictions in elementary schools.

The question of wearing external expression of convictions is found mainly in three essential sectors, according to the Center: employments, public services and education.  CGKR is therefore launching a site (www.diversiteit.be/veruiterlijkingen) where it formulates recommendations for those three sectors.

The freedom to express one's convictions in a peaceful manner should be the starting point, says Jozef De Witter, director of CGKR.  "Naturally no single freedom, even a basic one, absolute. Evantuall limits should however be carefully justified.  A ban should, in other words, be an exception and not the general rule," according to De Witte.

In education the Center thinks that the current system has reached its limits.  De Witte says there should be a legal arrangement, but that they want a calm debate involving everybody concerned.  The individual freedom of the student should remain a fundamental principle, but it could be limited in order to deal with missionary zeal and in the name of security.

The Center wants a ban on external expression of convictions in elementary education.  As for secondary education, the communities should start a process to think it over.  Individual freedom should remain in higher education.

Source: HLN (Dutch)

Denmark: Antisemitism widespread among Muslim immigrants

Denmark: Antisemitism widespread among Muslim immigrants


Distrust and prejudice against Jews in Denmark doesn't thrive only in extremist groups.  Up to 75% of immigrants from five different countries and 20% of ethnic Danes have anti-Jewish attitudes.

The data comes from a new study which appears in the book "Danmark og de fremmede: Om mødet med den arabisk-muslimske verden" (Denmark and the stranger: on the meeting with the Arab-Muslim world), which will be published Friday.

The study is based on interviews with 1503 immigrants from five different groups: Turks, Pakistanis, Somalis, Palestinians and ex-Yugoslavians - as well as 300 ethnic Danes.

All were asked three questions, which deal with their attitudes towards various groups in society and not just to Jews.  But it's the Jews that the five groups are clearly most distrustful and prejudiced against.

65.8% of the five immigrant groups said that one "can't be careful enough in relation to Jews in Denmark."  75.2% don't want a family member to marry a Danish Jew.  And 31.9% think that 'there are too many Jews in Denmark'.

"The study shows that the anti-Jewish attitudes are certainly not unique to extremist circles.  The attitudes are far, far more widespread among the immigrants, then we usually think," says professor Peter Nannestad of the Institute for Political Science at Aarhus University, who made the study.

But ethnic Danes can't be said to be free of anti-Jewish attitudes.  For example, 18.2% of them think that one 'can't be careful enough in relation to Jews in Denmark', and 14.7% don't want to see a family member marry a Danish Jew.

Peter Nannestad says that the figures aren't surprising, but are roughly in line with what is seen in other studies.  He refers to an American study of antisemitism in Europe from 2006, which gave the same picture of Danish attitudes towards Jews.

Chief Rabbi Bent Lexner of the Mosaic Faith-society isn't surprised by the data.  He says that it's probably Danish naivety which makes people think it isn't so.  "Since the situation is so. It's not a coincidence that the government is working on an action plan on how to create better awareness of the Jewish community in Denmark in such groups."

The study shows, additionally, that anti-Jewish attitudes are strikingly more widespread among the immigrants who define themselves as Muslims than among Christian immigrants.

The spokesperson for the Muslim Joint Council, Zubair Butt Hussain, didn't want to comment on the study since he hasn't read it yet.  But racism - regardless of whether it's in the form of antisemitism, racism against Danish Muslims or other groups - is completely and totally unacceptable, he says.

Source: Kristeligt Dagblad (Danish)

Russia: Faith leaders call for calm as murdered priest is buried

Russia: Faith leaders call for calm as murdered priest is buried


Religious tensions rise after death of man who converted Muslims to Christianity



A murdered Russian Orthodox priest was laid to rest in Moscow yesterday, amid fears of rising religious tensions between Christians and Muslims in the country. Father Daniil Sysoyev was shot dead inside his own church last week, in a killing that many suspect was by Islamic radicals.


Father Sysoyev was a controversial figure, even within the Orthodox Church. He was an active missionary, attempting to convert Muslims to Orthodoxy, and authored a number of books, including one warning Russian women against marrying Muslim men. He also posted a series of online sermons on YouTube dissecting the Islamic faith and making several incendiary claims about the religion.


Late last Thursday night, after the evening service, an intruder burst into Father Sysoyev's small church, located in a drab Moscow suburb. The killer was wearing a surgical mask, brandishing a pistol, and demanded to know where Sysoyev was. When the priest emerged, he was shot twice, in the head and neck, and later died in hospital.


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In contravention of an unspoken agreement among the major Russian religions not to seek converts among each other's flocks, Father Sysoyev was an active missionary, seeking to proselytise Muslims in the Russian capital. He was known to trawl construction sites looking for migrants from the traditionally Muslim countries of Central Asia, chatting to the workers and suggesting that they convert to Christianity. The priest himself spoke of receiving multiple death threats for his views on Islam.


"You're going to laugh, but the Muslims have again threatened to kill me – the threat was by telephone this time," wrote the priest on his personal blog in early October. "It's already the 14th time. Before it scared me, but I'm already used to it now."


In addition to his missionary work, Father Sysoyev's also held uncompromising and widely publicised views about the Islamic faith. "Islam is an attempt to create a new world order based on the authority of God," said the priest, cloaked in black Orthodox robes, in one of his online videos. "In this sense, it's less like the Orthodox Church or any other kind of church, and more like projects such as National Socialism or the Communist Party."


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But the murder of Father Sysoyev threatens to bring underlying tensions to the fore. He is now seen by Orthodox Christians as a modern-day martyr, said Andrei Zolotov, an expert on the Russian Orthodox Church. "This is a very clear case of martyrdom. He was a saint living among us." While not everyone in the Church agreed with his views or methods, his murder will cause "a period of heightened tension," said Mr Zolotov.


Leading Muslim figures publicly condemned the killing and cautioned people against jumping to conclusions about who was to blame, but they are privately worried about the possibility of revenge attacks.


"He was an odious figure, who openly insulted Islam, the Koran, and our prophet," said a high-profile Muslim intellectual who did not want to be named, because of the sensitivity of the situation. Whether or not the murder was perpetrated by Islamic radicals, he said, there is now every chance of a backlash.


"I wouldn't be at all surprised if we see revenge attacks," he said. "The fact that the Patriarch himself led the funeral service is a sign from the authorities that these views are acceptable, and it's very ominous."


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Source: Independent (English)

Norway: Muslims need a state of their own, says Krekar

Norway: Muslims need a state of their own, says Krekar

Interestingly enough, in his book Krekar, who considers himself a true Muslim scholar, is very dismissive of Osama bin Laden and most other 'leaders' whom he thinks do not really know Islamic law. And yet, here he suggests Bin Laden as the next Caliph [ie, Mohammed's stand-in].

The entire interview is available on YouTube (in Arabic).


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In a new interview Mulla Krekar says that he wishes Osama bin Laden and other radical Islamist leaders will be heads of an Islamic super-state.

"The Muslims will become like the Jews in Europe, right until they establish a caliphate [ed: Islamic state]. Without a state we have no value," says mulla Krekar in a new interview with the al-Hiwar TV channel.

The interview was broadcast on the Arab satellite channel in October, and is accessible on YouTube. Neither the Norwegian nor the international press mentioned this interview earlier.

In the interview mulla Krekar speaks with the Islamist scholar Azzaz Tamimi. In the long interview conducted in the mulla's home in Grønland, Oslo, he also deals with the conditions for dialog with the West. In this context Krekar clarifies what he thinks of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda.

"When we have an Islamic state, lead by one like Osama Bin Ladne, with a foreign minister like Gulbuddin Hekmatyar or Ayman Al-Zawahiri, then we can speak with then [ed: the West], as equal parties," says Krekar.

Hekmatyar is the leader of the Taliban-allied party Hezb-e Islami in Afghanistan. Al-Zawahiri is bin Laden's deputy in the al-Qaeda terror network.

The interviewer Tamimi, who like Krekar has a background in the Islamist movement the Muslim Brotherhood, confronts the mulla saying his statement will make the Norwegians afraid.

"This, that you hope for an Islamic state led by Osama bin Laden, it makes the Norwegians scared?," asks Tamimi.

"Yes... even if it scares them - good!"

Krekar doesn't regret the interview with the Arab TV channel.

"What do I have to lose in this interview? I get attention from south and north regardless. This interview doesn't hurt me," Krekar said in commentary to VG Nett.

Q: Do you support Osama bin Laden?

A: I describe him as he is, I compare him. If I supported al-Qaeda, I would say it without fear," says Krekar and repeats that he has no connections with the terror network.

In the interview Krekar uses the word "Caliphate" to describe the state where he sees the al-Qaeda heads as leaders.

"The Caliphate is the final station for this movement. Jihadists think that all borders are illegitimate. With the exception of the Islamic emirate under the Taliban, no state today is legitimate in their eyes. The Jihadis are engaged in winning territorial control, doesn't matter where, and establishing emirate they think will expand and overlap each other and then grow together into an over-national unit," says terrorism expert Brynjar Lia of the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment.

"But they're less clear on what this will be and how it should look."

Q: Krekar says that when such a Caliphate is founded, it can be relevant to have dialog?

A: This is not so different from what Zawahiri and others have said. If the USA pulls back from the Islamic world and Israel stops to exist, the Jihadists can consider dialog. The West can continue to exits as long as they accept the Caliphate as a dominating power in the world. They have offered a ceasefire several time to the Americans and Europeans, but not to Israel and the Jews.

In the interview Krekar says that he won't rule out that in 20 years there can be an Islamic state led by Osama bin Laden, and suggest that Muslims should treat the est in the same way the West treats Muslims.

"Which of our enemies aren't like us? Why are we not proud of those who stand in the middle of the battle and frightens the world's biggest superpower?" asks Krekar rhetorically and points to the fact that Israeli and American leaders also boast of their own efforts in war.

In the interview he also claims that the Jihadist Islamist group Ansar al-Islam continues to fight against the Americans in Iraq and controls several areas there, though he admits that the resistance has weakened after the Americans allied with the Sunni Muslim tribe leaders in order to limit the uprising.

"Thank God," says Krekar to VG Nett about Ansar al-Islam's ongoing activities.

Q: Do you have any connection with them today?

A: "I have nothing to do with them," says Krekar and end the short telephone interview with VG Nett.

Source: VG (Norwegian)

Munich: Chinese gov't spying on Uighurs

Munich: Chinese gov't spying on Uighurs

China is not the only country keeping tabs on emigrants in Europe.


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On Tuesday morning, officers from Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office and the Bavarian police searched the homes of four Chinese nationals in the Munich area, SPIEGEL ONLINE has learned. They are under suspicion of being intelligence service agents for the Chinese government tasked with spying on Munich's large expatriate community of Uighurs, a Muslim ethnic minority in China that has been engaging in violent protests this year against perceived discrimination.


Several hundred Uighurs live in exile in Munich, and many of them are politically active. Munich has one of the world's largest exile communities of Uighurs and the World Uighur Congress is based there. The government in Beijing is interested in everything the Uighurs think, talk about or plan. The Uighurs are one of the "five poisons" the Communist government is fighting against with all the means at its disposal.


The Federal Prosecutor's Office has discovered that the Chinese government has been recruiting a number of informants to spy on Munich's Uighur community. Investigators believe that the suspected group of agents is controlled from within the Munich consulate by a consul who has been observed conducting conspirative meetings with the alleged agents. The consul himself has diplomatic immunity from prosecution in Germany but prosecutors are investigating four of his alleged informers.


The investigation presents yet another strain on the already tense relationship between China and Germany. The spying activities in Munich are closely coordinated with Beijing, with the consul reporting directly to the homeland. The Chinese government is following every step taken by the German government with interest.


The rigid countermeasures taken by German officials are new. Last year, the Federal Prosecutor's Office established a procedure whereby all evidence regarding suspected Chinese spying activities was collated, but until Tuesday, no searches or arrests had been carried out. Officials largely limited themselves to keeping a close eye on hostile behavior on the part of the Chinese government and on the extreme interest showed by consulate employees in Munich's community of Uighurs in exile.


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Source: Spiegel (English)

See also: Munich: Uighurs protest, Chinese embassy attacked

France: Youth claims riot police used racist violence

France: Youth claims riot police used racist violence


Police reacted with deliberate and overtly racist violence during celebrations in Paris after Algeria's footballing victory over Egypt last Wednesday, a French student of Moroccan descent has alleged.


In an account written on his Facebook page immediately after the events, and re-printed as the lead story in French daily Libération on Tuesday, 21-year-old Anyss Arbib claims he was assaulted for no reason, sprayed with mace and called a "dirty Arab".


Arbib, a fourth-year student at Paris's elite Sciences-Po (Political Sciences) university, went into central Paris from his home in the northern suburbs of Bondy to celebrate Algeria's victory with friends. When youths on the Champs Elysées started throwing bottles at riot police, Arbib and his group decided to leave.


"We stopped near the périphérique ring-road to wait for friends who, like us, did not want to get caught up in the violence on the Champs Elysées," Arbib writes on his Facebook page. "CRS riot police turned up, hitting anyone who was not in their cars with their truncheons.


"The logic in their actions was blatantly to create an atmosphere of terror and fear. The more of them that arrived at the scene, the more violent they became. I saw fathers beaten down in front of their children, youths beaten until they bled because they wanted to celebrate a football victory. I saw scenes that made me doubt the values of the Republic that we (French citizens) hold dear."


Arbib then claims one CRS officer shouted at him: "What are you looking at? Get the hell out of here."


He writes that when he asked why he was being spoken to impolitely, one of the officers sprayed him full in the face with mace gel.


"It was an assault by thugs - no, sorry, the CRS - who were acting with impunity," he continues. "I fell out of the car, I couldn't breathe."


When he recovered, he says another officer told him: "F*** off you dirty Arab. Today is a big party for you lot, and it's a big party for us too. We can beat you up just as much as we like."


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Source: France24 (English)

Russia: Imam fined for early calls to prayer

Russia: Imam fined for early calls to prayer


A court in central Russia has fined a mosque cleric who called for prayers too early in the morning, thus disturbing children in their sleep.


The 500 rouble fine (approx $17) was imposed by a district court in the town of Orsk in Orenburg Region in the Southern Urals. The case has been forwarded to court after the cleric refused to comply with the decision of an administrative commission that had issued the same decision.


The commission found out that the cleric, who worked as an imam in the city mosque, used a loudspeaker to call for prayers every day, from 05:30 in the morning until 23:00. Local residents repeatedly complained that the calls woke up their sleeping children.


After the sentence was pronounced the imam assured everyone that from now on he will only use the loudspeakers from 07:00 in the morning, as is allowed by Russian law.


Source: Russia Today (English)

Belgium: Mohamed most popular name in Brussels, Antwerp

Belgium: Mohamed most popular name in Brussels, Antwerp

For the sixth year in a row, Emma was the most popular name in Belgium last year. Among boys Noah is back as number one, and Mohamed is the most popular boy's name in the Brussels Region and the Antwerp province, according to new statistics by the Directorate-general Statistics and Economic information.

In Flanders, Emma and Noah were the most popular names. In Wallonia, Léa and Nathan and in the Brussels Region, Sarah and Mohamed. It appears that there's barely any corresponding matches between the Regions. Flanders and Wallonia have barely two names in common (Emma and Louise for girls, Noah and Lucas for boys). Flanders and the Brussels Region don't have any names in common in the top 10.

In the national list, Sarah (419) fell from #3 to #6. Léa (458) is now third, Louise (520) is second, far from the leader in first place: Emma (726). Among boys, Noah (740) again got to first place , followed by Nathan (695) and Lucas (654)

The provinces also have their own top-10 lists. In Limburg and West-Flanders Noah didn't get into the top ten most popular names. Mohamed is the most popular name in the Antwerp province, but doesn't get into the first forty in the other Flemish provinces. Among girls names, Emma gets into the top three in every province.

Top ten most popular names in the Brussels Region:
Boys: Mohamed (236), Adam (194), Rayan (95), Ayoub (77), Gabriel (73), Alexandre (62), Anas (59), Hamza (59), Nathan (58) and Amine (57)

Girls: Sarah (103), Lina (90), Aya (83), Sara (79), Yasmine (75), Imane (70), Rania (61), Ines (60), Nour (55) and Inès (54)


Top ten most popular names in the Antwerp province:
Boys: Mohamed (109), Noah (96), Seppe (96), Daan (95), Kobe (94), Robbe (91), Senne (85), Alexander (84), Lars (77) and Thomas (76)

Girls: Emma (109), Lore (105), Marie (103), Noor (95), Lotte (87), Julie (85), Amber (80), Elise (79), Louise (76) and Hanne (74)

Source: HLN, Statistics Belgium (Dutch)

See also:
* Antwerp: 40% of elementary school students are Muslim
* Brussels: Possible Muslim majority in 15-20 years
* Brussels: 56.5% immigrant population
* Belgium: 12% Muslims in French-speaking community

Brussels: Police get death threats following abuse charges

Brussels: Police get death threats following abuse charges

For more on the charges of police abuse and the riots: Brussels: Police abuse leads to riots in prison, suburbs


Agents from the Brussels-South zone have received death threats following a report about the rough treatment by colleagues in the Vorst prison and the subsequent riots in the Brussels suburb of Anderlecht, according to a report by Het Laatste Nieuws. In the case of one policeman the threats got so serious that he may only work in the office and have his weapon with his 24 hours a day.

"The rioters wanted two things according to sensitive information: to set fire to the Kuregem station, and to kill the neighborhood-inspector [local police agent] from Kuregem. Point 1 they can cross out. Now it's that colleague's turn," say concerned agents in the zone.

All hell broke loose a week ago with an explosive report by the supervisory committee about rough treatment by the police in the Vorst prison. Police agents supposedly beat and humiliated several inmates.

"That report is utter nonsense," say two police agents from the South zone who are now suspected of being involved in the severe acts of violence.

Since the report, and particularly since the riots in Anderlecht, the agents have received death threats. "In our zone it's war. We fear for our lives."

Source: HLN (Dutch)