Sunday, April 15, 2012
EUROPE NEWS: Interview with the former Muslims Maher al-Gohary (60) and his daughter Dina (17) who escaped from Egypt because of death penalty for conversion to Christianity. » | Weronika | Europe News | Sunday, April 15, 2012
HT: Baron Bodissey @ Gates of Vienna »
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: One of Britain's most important Muslim leaders is to be charged with war crimes, investigators and officials have told The Sunday Telegraph
Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin, director of Muslim spiritual care provision in the NHS, a trustee of the major British charity Muslim Aid and a central figure in setting up the Muslim Council of Britain, fiercely denies any involvement in a number of abductions and "disappearances" during Bangladesh's independence struggle in the 1970s.
He says the claims are "politically-motivated" and false.
However, Mohammad Abdul Hannan Khan, the chief investigator for the country's International Crimes Tribunal, said: "There is prima facie evidence of Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin being involved in a series of killings of intellectuals.
"We have made substantial progress in the case against him. There is no chance that he will not be indicted and prosecuted. We expect charges in June."
Mr Mueen-Uddin could face the death penalty if convicted. » | Andrew Gilligan, Dhaka | Sunday, April 15, 2012
"He says he has written a presentation that will take an hour, and he wants to read that," Odd Gron, from Advokat Lippestad, told the Daily Telegraph. "But the court have sent signals to us in a meeting that they won't allow that."
Breivik handed a copy of the presentation, which runs to more than 8,000-words, to his lawyers when he met them on Friday night. His trial opens in an Oslo courtroom today and is expected to last ten weeks.
To aid him in his preparation, Breivik has been supplied with a computer, a political dictionary and a paper copy of the manifesto he sent out on the day he launched his massacre.
On July 22 last year, Breivik first set off a car bomb outside government buildings in Oslo, killing eight people, before travelling to the small island of Utoya [Utøya] northwest of the capital where he spent more than an hour methodically shooting and killing another 69 people, mostly teenagers.
He has admitted the killings, but plans to argue that he should be acquitted as he committed the act in self[-]defence. » | Richard Orange in Oslo | Sunday, April 15, 2012
Saturday, April 14, 2012
THE GUARDIAN: Report highlights UK role in the growth of groups that inspired Norway's mass murderer
The international network of counter-jihadist groups that inspired Anders Behring Breivik is growing in reach and influence, according to a report released on the eve of the Norwegian's trial.
Far-right organisations are becoming more cohesive as they forge alliances throughout Europe and the US, says the study, with 190 groups now identified as promoting an Islamophobic agenda.
This week Breivik will appear on trial in Oslo after confessing to the murder of 77 people in Norway last July, killings that he justified as part of a "war" between the west and Islamists.
The report, by anti-racism group Hope Not Hate, states that since the 33-year-old's killing spree, the counter-jihad movement – a network of foundations, bloggers, political activists and street gangs – has continued to proliferate.
Campaigners cite the formation three months ago of the Stop Islamization of Nations (Sion) group, designed to promote an umbrella network of counter-jihad groups across Europe and the US, as evidence of a global evolution.
An inaugural Sion summit is planned in New York this year to coincide with the anniversary of 9/11. Speakers are set to include Paul Weston, chairman of the anti-Islamic British Freedom Party (BFP), which recently announced a pact with the English Defence League. In the manifesto that Breivik published online 90 minutes before his attacks, he cited blog postings by Weston which discussed a "European civil war" between the west and Islam.
Researchers at Hope Not Hate name the UK as one of Europe's most active countries in terms of counter-jihad extremism, with 22 anti-Islamic groups currently operating.
In Europe as a whole, 133 organisations were named in the report, including seven in Norway, and another 47 in the US, where a network of neo-conservative, evangelical and conservative organisations attempts to spread "negative perceptions of Islam, Muslim minorities and Islamic culture". » | Mark Townsend, home affairs editor | Saturday, April 14, 2012
Lord Carey says worshippers are being “vilified” by the state, treated as “bigots” and sacked simply for expressing their beliefs.
The attack is part of a direct appeal to the European Court of Human Rights before a landmark case on religious freedom.
In a written submission seen by The Daily Telegraph, the former leader of more than 70 million Anglicans warns that the outward expression of traditional conservative Christian values has effectively been “banned” in Britain under a new “secular conformity of belief and conduct”.
His comments represent one of the strongest attacks on the impartiality of Britain’s judiciary from a religious leader.
He says Christians will face a “religious bar” to employment if rulings against wearing crosses and expressing their beliefs are not reversed.
Lord Carey argues that in “case after case” British courts have failed to protect Christian values. He urges European judges to correct the balance. Read on and comment » | John Bingham, Religious Affairs Editor | Friday, April 13, 2012
My comment:
Why are Christians persecuted for wearing a crucifix/cross in this country, while Muslim women can wear the hijab with impunity? Each and every supermarket in this country now seems to have its token hijab–wearing Muslimah, but the practising Christian employees lose their jobs for showing their faith.
Considering that Christianity is supposed to be the established religion of this country, with the Queen as Supreme Governor of the Church of England, it seems rather strange and unfathomable to me. Why is Islam given a pass whilst Christianity is not? – © Mark
This comment also appears here.
Friday, April 13, 2012
Four men on trial over a suspected plot to murder staff of a Danish newspaper that first published controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed have pleaded not guilty.
The men appeared in court on Friday in the Danish capital Copenhagen. The prosecution named them as Sahbi Ben Mohamed Zalouti, Munir Awad and Omar Abdalla Aboelazm, all Swedish citizens of Tunisian, Lebanese and Moroccan origin respectively.
The fourth man, Mounir Ben Mohamed Dhahri, a Tunisian national living in Sweden who pleaded guilty to arms possession, faces charges of "attempted terrorism".
Prosecutors say the four were plotting to "kill a large number of people" at the Jyllands-Posten daily's offices in Copenhagen when they were arrested on December 29, 2010.
Jyllands-Posten published 12 cartoons in 2005 of the Prophet Mohammed that Muslims believed were insulting, sparking violent and sometimes deadly protests around the world. » | Sources: Agencies | Friday, April 13, 2012
The 33-year-old extremist has confessed to planting a bomb near government buildings in Oslo, and then driving to the island of Utoya where he systematically shot 69, mostly teenaged, victims.
But he has argued that his actions were "necessary" to prevent his country being overwhelmed by what he perceived as an imminent Islamic takeover.
"He is going to invoke self-defence," Geir Lippestad, his lawyer, confirmed in an interview with Norway's Dagbladet newspaper. "We of course understand that that will not succeed, but we are obliged to present his arguments." » | Richard Orange, Oslo | Friday, April 13, 2012
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)