UN Urged to Reject Bar on Defamation of Religion
REUTERS: GENEVA - Some 200 secular, religious and media groups from around the world on Wednesday urged the United Nations Human Rights Council to reject a call from Islamic countries for a global fight against "defamation of religion."

The groups, including some Muslim bodies, issued their appeal in a statement on the eve of a vote in the Council in Geneva on a resolution proposed by the 56-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

Such a resolution, the statement said, "may be used in certain countries to silence and intimidate human rights activists, religious dissenters and other independent voices," and to restrict freedom of religion and of speech.

The resolution, its critics say, would also restrict free speech and even academic study in open societies in the West and elsewhere. >>> By Robert Evans | Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Islamic States: Criminalize Defamation of Islam
THE JERUSALEM POST: The Islamic states circulated a new resolution at the current session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Wednesday that would criminalize defamation of Islam as a human rights violation and encourage the imposition of Shari'a.

According to the nonbinding governmental resolution, titled "Combating Defamation of Religions," anything deemed insulting to Islamic sensitivities would be banned as a "serious affront to human dignity" and a blatant violation of religious freedom.

The resolution would attempt to influence "local, national, regional and international levels" to incorporate such guarantees of this perceived freedom in their "legal and constitutional systems."

"It is a covert package coordinated by Pakistan against the West," said Leon Saltiel, director of communications at the Geneva-based human rights group UN Watch, on Thursday. "They think there is too much liberty and freedom of expression in the Western world, which therefore defames religion."

This resolution is part of the ongoing campaign of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, a powerful bloc of 56 states at the UN, which began to introduce annual resolutions in 1999 to ban the "defamation of Islam."

Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, said during an address to Radio Free Europe in December that "Islamic states pursued the diplomatic battle with a vengeance" because of the post-9/11 war on terror and the controversy ignited by the cartoon of their prophet published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in September 2005.

"The resolutions pose a major threat to the premises and principles of international human rights law and harm Muslims as much as non-Muslims. International law already protects victims of religious discrimination," for instance via the 1984 Declaration of Human Rights and the 1966 International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, declared Neuer.

The resolutions fail to address human rights violations of Muslim countries, notably Iran's persecution of Baha'is, Saudi Arabia's banning of all religious practice aside from Islam, and the persecution of Christian communities in Egypt, Pakistan and Iraq.

The latest resolution is "not really trying to protect individuals from harm," but rather attempting "to shield a set of beliefs from question or debate and to ban any discussion of Islam that may challenge state orthodoxies or offend Islamic sensibilities," Neuer said. >>> Maya Spitzer | Thursday, March 12, 2009

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – USA)
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Joseph Klein: Off the Table
FRONTPAGEMAG.COM: Islam was born as a religion spread through violence. There is a direct line from the prophet Muhammad to today’s Islamic terrorists, whose latest deadly attacks wreaked havoc in Mumbai, India. The ongoing effort in the United Nations and the politically correct media to disassociate Islam from terrorism is a sham.

Just days before the Mumbai attack, a United Nations Committee passed a resolution entitled “Combating Defamation of Religions”, which will be going to the General Assembly for approval in mid-December. It is one in a series of such resolutions pushed by the Organization of Islamic Conference. While ostensibly applying to all religions, it refers only to Islam by name. The text “expresses deep concern … that Islam is frequently and wrongly associated with human rights violations and terrorism.”

The New York Times’ lead news stories in the aftermath of the Mumbai massacre played right into the Organization of Islamic Conference’s campaign of obfuscation. It omitted the central fact that the terrorists who murdered more than 170 innocent people were fanatical Islamists. The Times referred to them simply in generic terms as “gunmen”, “attackers”, and “militants”.

The only hint of a Muslim connection to the terrorist acts reported in the New York Times’ lead article on November 28, 2008 was the recounting of a complaint from two of the attackers to local television stations about the treatment of Muslims in India and about hostilities in the disputed territory of Kashmir. The Times actually quoted one of these cold-hearted terrorists, who tried to play victim in justifying the carnage.

Islamic terrorists always have some kind of excuse for their wanton killings. Usually it starts with the Jews, whom the religious fanatics believe are responsible for every ill befalling Muslims everywhere and thus deserve to die. It was no surprise that a Jewish center in Mumbai was among the prime terrorist targets, with deadly consequences to a rabbi, his wife and other Jews.

Westerners also must be punished for keeping the Muslim people down, so the Islamists’ rationalization for murder goes. American and British citizens in particular were targeted at hotels and other locations in Mumbai where they were likely to congregate. However, the slaughter soon became indiscriminate. In fact, most of the dead appeared to be Indians and tourists of other nationalities caught in the midst of the terrorists’ mayhem. Indian commandos involved in an operation to end the siege described the terrorists as "showing no remorse, firing at anyone who moves". >>> By Joseph Klein | December 1, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – USA)
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Islamophobia Worse than Racial Prejudice
TODAY’S ZAMAN: The secretary-general of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Eklemeddin İhsanoğlu, has told a Danish newspaper that Western institutions which deal with Islamophobia agree that hatred against Islam and Muslims is worse than racial discrimination.

"Incitement to religious hatred is a new form of racism, and Western institutions dealing with Islamophobia are unanimous in saying that the phenomenon of Islamophobia is worse than racial discrimination," he stated in a recent written interview with the Danish Jyllands-Posten daily. İhsanoğlu stressed that discrimination is discrimination whether on religious or racial grounds. İhsanoğlu also clearly expressed that the OIC is neither against criticism of religion nor is it calling for a ban on any criticism of religion. >>> | October 30, 2008

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Organization of the Islamic Conference Tries to Rectify Image of Muslims. Sound Advice to the Oraganization: Quit Waging the Jihad!
TODAY’S ZAMAN: Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Secretary-General Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu has stated that a project called the Islamophobia Observatory has been launched in order to eliminate the worldwide waves of fear of Islam.

İhsanoğlu cited the commonsensical intellectual reaction of the Danish public following cartoons published in the country that were critical of Islam as one of the important successes of the project. "We presented a report on Islamophobia at the first summit we held with the CEOs and civil society organizations we are in touch with. It has sparked very positive reactions and spread across Europe in a short time. Publications have praised the initiative. We have seen both support of and opposition to the initiative, but [all in all] it has created very positive reactions," he said.

İhsanoğlu visited the Zaman Media Group on Thursday and briefed editors and columnists on OIC projects. Stating that the foremost target was to eradicate prejudice and fear of Islam, İhsanoğlu noted that there were groups in favor of the projects and also those disturbed by them. An OIC report on Islamophobia has seriously disconcerted Americans and Europeans, he said, adding: "The report has started to pay off. Let me give you an example: The cartoons published in Denmark and a short film, named 'Fitna' and released last month, if you look at the attitudes of the Danish prime minister, the media and civil society organizations, they are all very different from one another. So far, in these three-and-a-half years we have managed to get the UN General Assembly and Geneva make very important decisions. In the meantime the European group was left alone. We have gathered significant support from our own group in Asia, Africa and Latin America. A special rapporteur has been assigned [to track] the denigration and hatred campaigns against religions, and this person will write up reports on the issue." OIC Endeavoring to Rectify Muslim Image >>> | May 11, 2008

Hat tip: Jihad Watch

JIHAD WATCH:
Jordanian Muslim Cleric: Islam Will Rule the World, America Will Fall >>> Posted by Robert Spencer

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)

”Defame” Islam, Get Sued

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Hague “on Hot Bricks” over Fitna
PRESS TV (IRAN): The Hague holds talks with envoys from 30 Muslim states to discuss the imminent release of an anti-Islam film made by a Dutch politician.

Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen met with the ambassadors at the request of the Organization for the Islamic Conference (OIC) over the Web and possible television broadcast of the anti-Islam clip made by the maverick politician Geert Wilders.

The talks were held amidst vehement protests from Muslim nations, including Egypt, Iran and Pakistan which have threatened an economic boycott of the Netherlands if the short film is shown.

The latest of Wilders' provocative actions against Islam has escalated another worldwide outrage similar to the one following the publication of the Danish caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

The Dutch government, which tries to maintain its 'freedom of expression', has tried but failed to persuade Wilders not to broadcast the film. [Source: Hague on hot bricks over Wilders' clip >>>]

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)