Lipstick Revolution: Iran's Women Are Taking on the Mullahs
THE INDEPENDENT: It started with a switch from hijabs to Hermès headscarves. Now, after 30 years of Sharia law, the fight for women’s rights is gathering pace. Katherine Butler meets the Iranian rally drivers, bloggers and film-makers demanding change

Photo courtesy of The Independent
Zohreh Vatankhah slides into the driving seat of her BMW X3, flicks a switch to some pulsating Persian pop and we're soon zipping along the narrow lanes near her home in northern Tehran, almost in the foothills of the snow-capped Alborz mountains. Most Iranians behave in traffic as if they are in charge of dodgems, not potentially lethal vehicles: the traffic is heart-stoppingly dangerous, but with this woman I can relax. A professional racing driver, she's used to competing, and winning, at speeds of up to 180mph.

She's glamorous, too, wearing high-heeled boots over her jeans (a controversial look in the eyes of the Iranian morality police) and a Rolex on her wrist. When she's not confounding stereotypes of Iranian women by beating men on the rally circuits, she's climbing mountains (she recently conquered Mount Damavand, the highest peak in the Middle East), or, here, in the axis of evil, sworn enemy of the United States, watching US (banned but tolerated) satellite TV channels; 24 is one of her favourite shows.

"I LOVE Barack Obama," she says, "and Michelle, she's so stylish and so smart."

At 31, Vatankhah was born a year before Iran's Islamic revolution. In February 1978, Tehran had nightclubs and dancing and girls-about-town who dressed as fashionably as their counterparts in Europe. A year later, the Shah had fled from his Peacock Throne; Iran was reborn as an Islamic Republic and women, many of whom supported the overthrow, were waking up to find their lives drastically changed. Not only obliged to cover up from head to toe, and banned from singing or performing in public to conform with Ayatollah Khomeini's narrow interpretation of Sharia law, they were also, as Shirin Ebadi, Nobel prize winner and Iran's first woman judge, found to her cost, sidelined from senior jobs. Women, "too emotional", were no longer employed as judges.

The woman in the driving seat next to me looks anything but downtrodden. Yet, the tension between modernity and tradition that weighs heavily on women's lives in Iran is never far away. At one point she leans over to say: "Please, your scarf," when the bothersome piece of cloth on my head slips down.

But then something happens that could be a metaphor for the revolution that may be quietly taking place in contemporary Iran. Our drive stalls when an irate male motorist, assuming she's trying to enter a one-way road, hogs the intersection and waves at her to go back. Vatankhah doesn't budge – she knows she's in the right. She holds her ground, presses on, but when he passes he shouts an obscenity. She rolls down her window calmly and tells him whatever the Farsi equivalent is of shut up and get a life.

Iranian women, and not just the sporting queens or Nobel prize winners, are standing up to the mullahs. And some of them are experiencing a frightening political backlash. >>> | Thursday, February 26, 2009

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Free Speech Advocates Launch Campaign for ‘International First Amendment’
Photo of Geert Wilders at Heathrow courtesy of CNS NEWS
CNSNEWS.COM: Troubled by attacks on free expression by groups wanting to shield Islam from criticism or scrutiny, free speech advocates are preparing to unveil a campaign for an “international First Amendment.”

The initiative will be launched by the International Free Press Society (IFPS) at an event in Washington, D.C., on Friday. Attending will be Geert Wilders, the Dutch lawmaker whose views on Islam have stoked controversy worldwide.

The event will incorporate a screening of Wilders’ short documentary, Fitna, which features passages from the Koran along with footage of terror attacks and jihadists extolling violence while quoting from Islam’s revered text.

The film has been viewed by millions online, but recent attempts to show it at the European Parliament ran into difficulties, and Wilders was refused entry into Britain earlier this month to attend a screening at the House of Lords. The British government said he “would threaten community security and therefore public security.”

A closed screening for U.S. lawmakers has been arranged at the Capitol building on Thursday, hosted by Republican Senator Jon Kyl.

Recent years have seen an escalating drive by Islamic countries, working through the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), to counter what they regard as blasphemy – anything calling into question the assertion that Islam is a peaceful and tolerant religion.

Seeking to make it more difficult for people to challenge or criticize Islam, the OIC is promoting resolutions at the U.N. against “religious defamation,” based in part on the argument that anti-Islamic sentiment is a “contemporary form of racism.”

In a number of Islamic countries, blasphemy laws are enforced, often targeting Muslims who convert to another faith and are considered apostates under Islamic law (shari’a), but also anyone who questions Islamic teaching or practices associated with Islam.

In non-Muslim countries, especially in the West, “hate speech” regulations are sometimes used to similar effect, and Wilders himself is due to stand trial in the Netherlands soon on charges of “inciting hatred and discrimination.” >>> By Patrick Goodenough, International Editor | Thursday, February 26, 2009

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Fanatics Are on Rise and Labour Let It Happen
Cartoon courtesy of The Sun
THE SUN: BRITAIN recently disgraced itself by banning democratically elected Dutch MP Geert Wilders from entering the country.

His planned “crime” was to screen a short documentary at a private viewing in the House of Lords.

It’s worth raising today after the £2,500 hand-out to sinister Jordanian Abu Qatada and the imminent arrival of Ethiopian terror suspect Binyam Mohamed.

Wilders’ film links horrific acts of terror with verses from the Koran recorded in taped rants by terrorists before their slaughter of the innocents.

I haven’t seen the film because it has been blocked* on the internet.

But neither had Labour MP Keith Vaz when he went on TV to justify the veto.

Vaz said he didn’t need to. Nor did he need any precedent for such draconian censorship. Every decision should be considered on its “merits” — by people like himself, of course.

Our cringing surrender to this authoritarian, book-burning mentality was ordered by mealy-mouthed Home Secretary Jacqui Smith under pressure from Labour peer Lord Ahmed.

Lord Ahmed, who warned of mob demos, is the Pakistani-born Labour donor who once ignored protests and invited rabid anti-Semite Israel Shamir into the Lords.

Some extreme interpretations of the Koran teach that Jews and homosexuals are fit only for extermination — which is why Hitler was so popular in parts of the Arab world.

Wilders’ visit would have gone unnoticed but for Jackboot Jacqui, whose Government has prostrated itself to accommodate Islam’s nastier fringes.

She famously tried to detoxify events like 7/7 by describing them as “anti-Islamic activities” — as if the killers were shooting THEMSELVES in the foot!

Labour’s refusal to act against extremism allowed such vile religious perverts as Abu “Hookie” Hamza to flourish.

It gave oxygen to rabble-rousing imams who brainwashed thousands of young British-born Muslims, not least the 7/7 murderers.

It turned a blind eye to migrants who refuse to assimilate and instead colonise whole suburbs and cities where welfare has become a way of life.

It encouraged multi-culturalism which, far from spreading tolerance, has entrenched primitive tribal customs, including forced marriages and honour killings.

As a result, our security services are at breaking point keeping tabs on an army of shadowy troublemakers who flit back and forth to Pakistan — many to be trained in OUR mass murder.

Of course, Islam extremism is rife in all EU countries.

In Geert Wilders’ Holland, the penalty for criticising Islam is death — as filmmaker Theo van Gogh shockingly learned. >>> By Trevor Kavanagh | Monday, February 23, 2009

Hat tip: Winds of Jihad >>>

*You can view Fitna here:

VIDDLER: Fitna



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Schicksal der russischen Zarenfamilie geklärt
Foto von der Zarenfamilie Rußlands dank dem Tages Anzeiger
TAGES ANZEIGER: Lange Zeit war unklar, ob einzelne der fünf Kinder von Nikolaus II. und seiner Frau Alexandra das Massaker in Jekaterinburg am Ural überlebt haben könnten. >>> sam/ap | Donnerstag, 26. Februar 2009

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Treasury Starts Legal Steps to 'Claw Back' Sir Fred Goodwin Pension Pot
TIMES ONLINE: Sir Fred Goodwin may be forced to give up some of his massive £650,000 pension if he refuses pleas to "do the decent thing" and surrender it voluntarily.

Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, today denied a suggestion from Sir Fred's successor at the Royal Bank of Scotland that the Government had known about the deal to top up the banker's pension pot when he left the ailing bank last year.

He also revealed that he had instructed a Treasury minister, Lord Myners, to contact Sir Fred and ask him voluntarily to give up some of his pension.

“I think people will find it very difficult to understand how you can get paid £650,000 a year for the rest of your life when just look at the state that RBS is in at the moment,” Mr Darling told BBC Radio 4. “You cannot justify these excesses, especially when you’ve got such a failure of this magnitude.” >>> Philip Webster, Political Editor, and Philippe Naughton | Thursday, February 26, 2009

BBC: RBS Reports Record Corporate Loss

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has announced the largest annual loss in UK corporate history.

RBS, which had to be bailed out by the government last year, said that its 2008 loss totalled £24.1bn ($34.2bn).

It also said it would put £325bn of toxic assets into a scheme that offers insurance for any further losses.

RBS is under fire over the pension of former boss Sir Fred Goodwin and the chancellor said the government had asked him to forego some of it.

Speaking at a news conference, RBS chief executive Stephen Hester said the bank was "under no illusions" about the scale of the losses.

He added that it was important "to think about the past, to know what went wrong, to disclose it and to address those issues". >>> | Thursday, February 26, 2009

Watch BBC video: Gordon Brown has said 'nobody can support very extensive pension arangements' at this time. >>>

Watch BBC video: Liberal Democrat treasury spokesman Vince Cable has launched a scathing attack on the government's scheme to insure banks against big losses. >>>

Watch BBC video: Chancellor Alistair Darling has spoken about the huge pension awarded to former Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) boss Sir Fred Goodwin.

RBS has come under fire, after it emerged Sir Fred, who retired at 50, is drawing a £650,000 a year pension.

Speaking in the Commons, Mr Darling said the government had no part in negotiating the agreement otherwise it would not have been approved. >>>

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Nicolas Sarkozy's Ex-wife Cecilia to Move to US to Campaign against Domestic Violence
THE TELEGRAPH: French President Nicolas Sarkozy's ex-wife Cecilia Attias is moving to the US to campaign against domestic violence.

Photo of Cécilia Attias, ex-wife of Nicolas Sarkozy, courtesy of Gala.fr
Mrs Attias, who once complained to police about "brutal exchanges" with Mr Sarkozy before he was president, has set up a foundation with her new husband Richard Attias to promote women's rights.

But she revealed that she will not expect to see much of Mr Attias as he will continue to work largely in Dubai.

The couple lived together in New York when Cecilia, 51, was briefly separated from Mr Sarkozy before they finally divorced.

Mrs Attias told Gala magazine that she was leaving Dubai, where Mr Attias runs a successful public relations agency, because she wanted to "give everything" to her foundation.

She also said that her young son with Mr Sarkozy, Louis, 11, had always "dreamed of living" in New York, where "he has his friends".

Referring to her third husband, Cecilia said: "Richard will continue to work in Dubai, in the United States and elsewhere, but his little family will be based in New York."

At the time of her police complaint the glamorous former model was conducting an on-off affaire with the multi-millionaire businessman she finally married last March.

Mrs Attias plans to work an independent lobbyist, devoting herself to the newly formed Cecilia Attias Foundation for Woman.

Setting out its aims, the foundation's publicity reads: "In 2009, the cause chosen by Cecilia Attias is the fight against domestic violence, a terrible plague that is unfortunately increasing rapidly." >>> By Peter Allen in Paris | Thursday, February 26, 2009

GALA.fr: Cécilia Attias – Je quitte Dubaï avec mon fils: Elle s'installe à New York, son mari poursuit ses activités à Dubaï

Cécilia Attias surprend encore. La voilà qui abandonne Dubaï pour New York. L'épouse de Richard Attias souhaite s'investir totalement dans sa fondation et permettre à son fils de vivre dans cette ville américaine qu'il aime tant...

Richard ne l'accompagnera pas. Cécilia Attias a décidé de quitter Dubaï pour la Grosse Pomme avec son fils Louis. Des rumeurs évoquent une crise de couple, Cécilia Attias nous précise simplement que "Richard continuera à travailler à Dubaï, aux Etats Unis et ailleurs comme toujours; mais sa petite famille sera basée à New York."

Selon d'autres, il s'agirait plutôt d'une crise économique. Soulignant un problème financier, Richard Attias patron d'une société d'événementiels aurait perdu des marchés suite à la fragilité de l'économie à Dubaï. Selon Cécilia Attias encore, "les difficultés financières ne touchent à mon sens que ceux qui colportent de mauvaises rumeurs sur les autres. Personnellement nous, nous allons plutôt très bien..." >>> Valérie Domain | Mardi 24 Février 2009

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Staatliche Kontrolle: Obama will die Finanzmärkte weltweit regulieren
WELT ONLINE: Die Finanzmärkte müssen sich ändern, und zwar schnell und drastisch: US-Präsident Barack Obama forderte bei einem Treffen mit Wirtschaftsexperten des US-Kongresses eine stärkere Regulierung der Märkte. Bis zum G-20-Gipfel am 2. April in London soll ein Regelwerk ausgearbeitet werden.

Scheinbar will Obama gar alles regulieren. Sicherlich wird er alles ganz anders machen als Reagan und Thatcher, die an die Macht gekommen waren, um die Leute zu befreien und die Wirtschaft durch Deregulierung einen Stoß vorwärts zu geben. Die Amerikaner sollten übers Wasser blicken, um zu sehen was Sozialismus mit sich bringt! Dann werden sie sehen können, was ihnen bevorsteht, und sie werden auch sehen können, was für Mist sie gebaut haben, in dem sie dieser Unerfahrene an die Macht gebracht haben! – ©Mark Foto dank der Welt

US-Präsident Barack Obama dringt auf eine zügige Reform der Finanzmarkt-Regularien. „Wir können die Märkte des 21. Jahrhunderts nicht mit den Bestimmungen aus dem 20. Jahrhundert aufrecht erhalten“, sagte er im Anschluss an ein Treffen mit Finanzminister Timothy Geithner und Wirtschaftsexperten des US-Kongresses.

Die aktuelle Finanzkrise sei nicht unvermeidbar gewesen, sagte Obama. Die gesetzlichen Regeln für den Banken- und Finanzsektor seien nicht den Änderungen der Branche angepasst worden.

Der US-Präsident kündigte strenge staatliche Aufsicht für Unternehmen an, deren Geschäfte die Sicherheit des Marktes beeinträchtigten. >>> Quelle: AFP | Donnerstag, 26. Februar 2009

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Militarisierung: Moskau rüstet aus Angst vor Krisen-Protesten auf
WELT ONLINE: Die Russen sind zunehmend unzufrieden mit ihrer politischen Spitze. In Zeiten der Finanzkrise schwindet das Vertrauen in Wladimir Putin und Dmitri Medwedjew. In dem Maße, wie sich die Krise in Russland verschärft, wächst die Nervosität in der Führung – und mündet in eine Militarisierung.

Foto von einer Militärparade in Rußland dank der Welt
Das russische Macht-Tandem muss in diesen Tagen Popularitätsverluste hinnehmen, die es bislang so nicht gegeben hat.

Der jüngsten Umfrage zufolge sank die Rate derer, die Präsident Dmitri Medwedjew vertrauen, innerhalb einer Woche von 55 auf 50 Prozent. Die Zustimmung für Premierminister Wladimir Putin ging um drei Prozent auf 66 Prozent zurück, seine Partei Geeintes Russland würden gegenwärtig noch 51 Prozent der Russen wählen. So niedrig war die Zustimmung das letzte Mal vor über zwei Jahren. >>> Von Manfred Quiring | Donnerstag, 26. Februar 2009

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Obama veut lancer le chantier de l'assurance-maladie
LE FIGARO: Les tentatives de réformes ont maintes fois échoué. Obama propose de donner le choix à la population entre couverture publique et assurance privée.

Barack Obama veut que le Congrès adopte une réforme du système d'assurance-maladie dès cette année. «La réforme de la santé ne peut pas attendre et elle n'attendra pas encore un an», a-t-il martelé mardi soir sous les applaudissements des deux Chambres du Congrès.

L'objectif est très ambitieux car la réforme sera coûteuse : Obama prévoit la création d'un fonds de réserve de 634 milliards de dollars sur dix ans, a-t-il annoncé mercredi. Or, les finances fédérales sont gravement mises à mal par la récession et le plan massif de relance juste voté.

La semaine prochaine, à l'occasion d'un «sommet sur la santé», le président des États-Unis va réunir à la Maison-Blanche des experts du secteur privé et les élus les plus impliqués dans ce débat. Max Baucus, sénateur démocrate du Montana, un modéré qui pré­side la commission des finances, ainsi que Ted Kennedy, sénateur démocrate du Massachusetts, devraient jouer un rôle clé dans l'élaboration, d'ici à l'été, d'une proposition de loi. C'est en effet au Sénat, plus qu'à la Chambre, que le travail législatif délicat de compromis doit se faire.

Aucune loi ne peut être adoptée au Sénat sans que la majorité démocrate ne rallie à sa cause une poignée de voix républicaines. Les républicains partagent certains objectifs de leurs collègues démocrates. Ils veulent ainsi soulager les petites entreprises et les travailleurs indépendants du coût exorbitant des primes d'assurance privées. Ils souhaitent en outre promouvoir la concurrence entre assureurs privés. Entreprises asphyxiées >>> Pierre-Yves Dugua | Jeudi 26 Février 2009

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Ahmadinejad Urges Muslim Unity against Enemy
PRESS TV: Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called on Islamic countries across the world to build a united barrier against the 'enemy plots'.

"Unity and cooperation between Muslim states will thwart the enemy plot to sow discord between Muslims and spread hegemony over them," President Ahmadinejad said in a meeting with President of Djibouti Ismail Omar Guelleh on Tuesday.

President Ahmadinejad added that the tyranny of superpowers is at the root of regional conflicts, urging close relations among Muslim countries in face of foreign efforts to break their spirit of solidarity.

Ismail Omar Guelleh, for his part, hailed Iran's huge leap forward in scientific achievements and called the country 'self-sufficient' in modern technology. >>> SF/AR/DT | Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Hat tip: Jihad Watch >>>

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New Dark Age Alert! University of Maryland International Report: Muslims Say Yes to Shari’ah Law and Islamic Supremacy
Read the report here >>> | Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Hat tip: Jihad Watch >>>
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New Dark Age Alert! Polygamy UK: This Special Mail Investigation Reveals How Thousands of Men Are Milking the Benefits System to Support Several Wives
MAIL Online: He cut a smart figure in his grey suit and crisply ironed shirt. The 6ft tall Somalian bowed to the judge, calling him 'Sir', before begging for his wife, Fatima, and their teenage son to be allowed to stay in Britain.

Fatima, with a black khimar veil covering her hair and shoulders, sat quietly next to her husband.

In her late 30s and wearing open sandals, she lowered her dark eyes as the details of the unconventional life she and her husband, Abdi, led in the West London suburb of Shepherd's Bush unfolded at a busy immigration court.

The judge listened in silence. Perhaps he knew from past experience what was coming next. Abdi went on to reveal that Fatima was not his only wife.

Indeed, he was a self-confessed bigamist who had a second, much younger wife and a 13-year-old daughter by her. They both lived nearby.

'I visit them regularly,' said Abdi, 51, who arrived in Britain in the 1990s and works in an old people's home. 'I have done nothing wrong. In Somalia, it is normal to have two wives - even three or four. Fatima is still my wife and she should not be deported.'

He was unable to produce wedding certificates or valid official documents to prove where, or when, he had married both women, therefore raising questions over the validity of the unions, under either Somali or British law.

Yet his story, unravelling at an ordinary weekday hearing at Taylor House, an asylum appeals' centre in North London, is just one example of the growing phenomenon of multiple marriage in Britain.

Officially, such unions are punishable by up to seven years in prison. They were first declared illegal in England and Wales in 1604, when the Parliament of James I took action to restrain 'evil persons' marrying more than one wife. Parliament ruled that anyone found guilty of the crime would be sentenced to death.

In the four centuries since, bigamy (having two wives) and polygamy (more than two) has been frowned on by the state, the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church.

Yet it is clear that officialdom is turning a blind eye to such marriages.

A recent review by four Government departments - the Treasury, the Work and Pensions Department, the Inland Revenue and the Home Office - has concluded that 1,000 men in the United Kingdom are now polygamists, although some say the figure is higher.

What is more, the review found, a Muslim man can claim state support of more than £10,000 a year to keep his wives, if the wedding took place in one of those countries where polygamy is commonplace, such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Saudi Arabia and across huge tracts of Africa.

For example, a man can receive &£92.80 a week in income support for wife number one, and a further £33.65p for each of his subsequent spouses.

Therefore, if he has four wives - the maximum permitted under Islamic teachings - he can claim nearly £800 a month from the British taxpayer.

Controversially, a polygamist is also entitled to more generous housing benefits and bigger council houses to reflect the large size of his family. He is also able to claim £1,000 a year in child benefit for each of his growing brood.

The Government insists that polygamy has declined in Britain since the 1988 Immigration Act, which made it harder for men to bring second, third or fourth wives to the UK.

However, it's little wonder that critics claim our generosity simply encourages more Muslim men to keep several spouses.

Supporters of polygamy claim the Koran states unequivocally that a Muslim man can marry up to four women so long as he treats them equally.

But the Taxpayers' Alliance, a lobby group, has complained: 'Polygamy is not officially condoned here, so why should British taxpayers have to pay for extra benefits for men to have two, three or four wives?' >>> Sue Reid | Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Hat tip: Jihad Watch >>>

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Sponsoring Geert
CAPITAL J | JTA: Daniel Pipes doesn't agree with Dutch politician Geert Wilders' view that the Koran should be banned. But he does believe Wilders should be able to publicly present that view. That's why the Middle East Forum's Legal Project is helping Wilders raise money for his legal defense and sponsored his appearance Wednesday evening at Ahavath Torah Congregation in a Boston suburb.



“I don't need to agree with him to see the importance of him making his arguments,” said Pipes, the director of MEF, about Wilders, who heads the Party for Freedom in the Netherlands and serves in the country's Parliament. Earlier this month, Wilder was not allowed to enter the United Kingdom due to his criticism of Islam, which included comparing it to Nazism, and last month a Dutch court ruled he could be prosecuted for hate speech.



Pipes said Wilders is an important figure who is part of the discussion about confronting and fighting radical Islam. “If our collective voice is impeded from speaking” or “shut down,” said Pipes, then “the way is paved for radical Islam to move ahead.” 


Pipes said he felt hate speech laws, which have also been used to prosecute Holocaust deniers in Europe, are a bad idea.



“I believe in the First Amendment,” he said. Read on & comment >>> Eric Fingerhut | Wednesday, February 25, 2009

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Indien: Hindus entledigen sich der religiösen Konkurrenz
WELT ONLINE: Christen werden in Indien seit Monaten blutig verfolgt. Ihre Kirchen angezündet, die Gottesdienste gewaltsam gestört. In einigen Regionen herrscht eine Pogrom-Stimmung, die mit polizeilichen oder militärischen Mitteln kaum mehr einzudämmen ist. Einer der Gründe ist die Fürsorge der Christen um die "Unberührbaren". >>> Von Till-R Stoldt || Dienstag, 24. Februar 2009

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What Will Jackboot Jacqui Do Now?
Photo of Ibrahim Moussawi courtesy of the Mail Online
MAIL Online: Jacqui Smith was tonight warned against exercising 'double standards' as an Islamic extremist prepared to travel to the UK.

Ibrahim Moussawi, a known hardliner with links to Hezbollah, has been invited to speak at a London university.

But the Home Secretary is under pressure to refuse an entry visa to Moussawi, who has allegedly described Jews as 'a lesion on the forehead of history'.

Earlier this month, she banned the far-Right Dutch MP Geert Wilders from coming to Britain to show his film about Islam as it would threaten 'community harmony'.

But the Conservatives warned that to ban those who threaten community harmony, while letting in those who glorify terrorism or are part of terrorist groups, would send out the 'wrong message'.

There must be 'no double standards on extremists', warned Tory security spokesman Baroness Neville-Jones.

Moussawi, who has already made at least two trips to the UK, has been invited to speak on political Islam at the School of Oriental and African Studies next month.

Editor for the newspaper of Lebanon-based terrorist organisation Hezbollah, he is a former political editor of the Iranian-backed group's TV station, which is banned in many countries including France, Spain and the U.S, as its output is seen as anti-Semitic.

Despite his background he has twice been allowed to speak publicly in Britain by the Home Office, once in December 2007 and again in February 2008. Will Labour Allow THIS Muslim Hardliner with Links to Hezbollah into Britain? >>> By James Slack | Wednesday, February 25, 2009

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Islamists Gain Ground in Sarajevo
SPIEGELONLINE INTERANATIONAL: Radical Muslim imams and nationalist politicians from all camps are threatening Sarajevo's multicultural legacy. With the help of Arab benefactors, the deeply devout are acquiring new recruits. In the "Jerusalem of the Balkans," Islamists are on the rise.

The obliteration of Israel is heralded in a torrent of words. "Zionist terrorists," the imam thunders from the glass-enclosed pulpit at the end of the mosque. "Animals in human form" have transformed the Gaza Strip into a "concentration camp," and this marks "the beginning of the end" for the Jewish pseudo-state.

Over 4,000 faithful are listening to the religious service in the King Fahd Mosque, named after the late Saudi Arabian monarch King Fahd Bin Abd al-Asis Al Saud. The women sit separately, screened off in the left wing of the building. It is the day of the Khutbah, the great Friday sermon, and the city where the imam has predicted Israel's demise lies some 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles) northwest of Gaza.

It is a city in the heart of Europe: Sarajevo. >>> By Walter Mayr in Sarajevo | Wednesday, February 25, 2009

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Holocaust geleugnet: Horst Mahler muss sechs Jahre ins Gefängnis
STERN: Der Rechtsextremist Horst Mahler muss wegen Volksverhetzung für sechs Jahre ins Gefängnis. Das entschied das Landgericht München. Die Staatsanwaltschaft hatte Mahler vorgeworfen, in einem Internet-Video und auf CD den Holocaust geleugnet und zu Hass und Gewalt gegen Juden aufgestachelt zu haben.

Der Rechtsextremist Horst Mahler ist am Mittwoch in München wegen Volksverhetzung zu sechs Jahren Haft verurteilt worden. Vor dem Landgericht München II musste sich der 70 Jahre alte frühere RAF-Anwalt wegen antisemitischer Hetzreden und der Verbreitung eines Buches des rechtskräftig verurteilten Holocaust-Leugners Germar Rudolf verantworten. Noch im Gerichtssaal wurde er verhaftet und vor den Augen seiner Anhänger abgeführt, die den Prozess im Publikum verfolgt hatten. >>> DPA/AP | Mittwoch, 25. Februar 2009

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Hitler Salutes, Nazi Songs and Dreams of a New Reich
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Uwe Luthardt was a senior member of the right-extremist NPD. But he quit after three months. In an interview, he describes the NPD as a deeply radical party where Hitler salutes and financial irregularities are common -- and which is bent on restoring the German Reich. >>> | Mittwoch, 25, Februar 2009

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Speech Lifts Obama But Stocks Fall Yet Again
TIMES ONLINE: The voters loved it. The pundits gushed. Even the pollsters were impressed.

But economic reality soon intruded to burst the bubble around Barack Obama's address to Congress last night in which he promised America that it would emerge "stronger than before" from the economic slump.

Wall Street stocks plunged again at the opening bell this morning, the Dow Jones Industrial Average losing almost 2 per cent in value as investors ignored Mr Obama's soaring rhetoric and lamented a lack of detail in his economic recover plans. Official data showing an unexpected drop in the number of home sales did nothing to reassure them. >>> Philippe Naughton, and Tim Reid in Washington | Wednesday, February 25, 2009

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US Criticizes Iran in Annual Human Rights Report
IRAN VISUAL NEWS CORPS: Washington—The United States today criticized Iran for what it said was a worsening human rights record, accusing Tehran of “severely” restricting civil liberties, freedom of religion and workers rights.

In its annual examination of human rights in more than 190 countries during 2008, the State Department also noted a crackdown on freedom of speech and of the press in the Islamic Republic.

“The government’s poor human rights record worsened, and it continued to commit numerous serious abuses,” the report stated. “The government severely limited citizens’ right to change their government peacefully through free and fair elections. The government executed numerous persons for criminal convictions as juveniles and after unfair trials.”

According to the report, violence and discrimination against women, ethnic and religious minorities, and homosexuals continued to remain problems in Iran, as did human trafficking and incitement to anti-Semitism.

In addition to holding political prisoners and cracking down on supporters of women’s right, the Iranian government “severely restricted civil liberties, including freedoms of speech, expression, assembly, association.”

The report also noted numerous credible reports of prisoners being tortured or exposed to other cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment.

“There were numerous reports of arbitrary and false arrests during the year,” the report said, highlighting the arrests of seven members of the Baha’i national leadership body in March and May, as well as the detention of brothers Arash and Kamiar Alaei, two renowned AIDS researchers.

The State Department said Iranian authorities arrested, tried and even executed individuals “on questionable criminal charges, including drug trafficking, when their actual ‘offenses’ were political.”

“The government charged members of religious minorities with crimes, such as ‘confronting the regime’ and apostasy, and conducted trials in these cases in the same manner as it would treat threats to national security,” the report stated.

The U.S. also condemned Iran for what it called “officially sanctioned discrimination” against all religious minorities, particularly in employment, education and housing. >>> ©Iran VNC 2009 | Wednesday, February 25, 2009

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