Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Germany: Thousands of PEGIDA Protesters Rally against Refugees in Dresden
David Cameron Insists UK Must Have Close Ties with Saudi Arabia
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| David Cameron receives the King Abdullah Decoration One from King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia in Jeddah. Cameron said: The reason we have the relationship is our own national security. |
David Cameron has been questioned repeatedly on the UK’s close relationship with Saudi Arabia by Channel 4 News.
Asked by Jon Snow whether he had interceded with the Saudis over the planned execution of the Shia activist Ali Mohammed al-Nimr, Cameron admitted he himself had not raised the issue directly but the foreign secretary and the embassy had.
He did however add: “I will look to see if there is an opportunity for me to raise it as well.”
The teenager was arrested after taking part in Arab Spring protests in 2012, and has been sentenced to death by beheading, followed by crucifixion.
In his first conference speech as Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn urged Cameron to personally intervene in the case, and the prime minister subsequently said his message to the Saudi authorities would be: “Don’t do it.”
Snow continued to press Cameron on the UK’s relationship with Saudi Arabia following the exposure of a secret deal, initiated by the UK, to ensure both states were elected to the UN human rights council.
Snow said: “This sounds a bit squalid for one of the most human rights abusing regimes on earth.”
Cameron responded that he “completely disagreed with them about their punishment routines, about the death penalty, about all those issues”. » | Nicola Slawson | Tuesday, October 6, 2015
British Grandfather Karl Andree Facing 350 Lashes in Saudi Arabia for Making Wine
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| Pensioner Karl Andree |
A British grandfather is facing a punishment of 350 lashes in Saudi Arabia for making home-made wine.
Karl Andree, a 74-year-old originally from south London, was arrested in August last year when police found bottles of wine in his car.
He has already served 12 months in Jeddah's brutal Briman Prison, which has a reputation for torture and inhuman conditions.
Mr Andree, who worked as an oil executive in the country, is now facing a public flogging of 350 lashes – a punishment his family fear could kill him as he is still weak from battles with cancer.
His three children Hugh, 46, Kirsten, 45, and Simon, 33, on Monday urged David Cameron to intervene before authorities carry out the sentence.
The urgency of their appeal is increased by the fact that Mr Andree's wife, Verity, has Alzheimer's and is dying. » | Barney Henderson | Tuesday, October 13, 2015
THE SUN: Brit, 74, faces 350 lashes: EXCLUSIVE: Grandad punished over booze » | Exclusive by Tom Newton Dunn, Political Editor | Monday, October 12, 2015
THE GUARDIAN: Son of Briton facing lashes accuses UK of putting Saudi business concerns first: Simon Andree says in interview that government’s primary responsibility should be to its citizens, as FCO insists it is actively seeking his father Karl’s release » | Damien Gayle | Tuesday, October 13, 2015
EDL Founder Tommy Robinson Addresses Pegida Anti-Islam Rally in Holland
When Tommy Robinson announced two years ago that he was quitting the English Defence League (EDL) and embracing multi-culturalism it was hailed as one of the more improbable volte faces in recent times.
Appearing alongside two former Islamist activists, the EDL founder declared his group to be “part of the problem” and said he would be working with the counter-extremist Quilliam Foundation to combat Islamism.
But this weekend Robinson seemed to have returned to his roots after he travelled to the Netherlands to address a rally of the anti-Islam movement Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident (Pegida) and declared that he was “proud” to have set up the EDL. The far-right figurehead appeared alongside the leaders of Pegida in the Dutch city of Utrecht to call for a day of protest across Europe. He described his former EDL colleagues as “brave and fearless”. Read on and comment » | Cahal Milmo, Chief Reporter |Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Dunkles Deutschland – Die Front der Fremdenfeinde
Police to Record Anti-Muslim Hate Crimes as a Separate Category - PM
Anti-Muslim hate crimes are to be recorded as a separate category for the first time by police in England and Wales, Prime Minister David Cameron has announced.
The move brings Islamophobia in line with anti-semitic attacks targeting Jews, which have been recorded separately for some time.
It was announced as the Home Office prepared to unveil new statistics which are expected to show a rise in numbers of hate crimes over the past year, continuing the trend seen in 2013/14, when offences involving religious hatred soared by 45% and race hate crime by 4% in the wake of the murder of soldier Lee Rigby.
Mr Cameron also announced he will provide new funding to boost security at religious buildings, as he hosted the first meeting of a new Community Engagement Forum at Downing Street. » | PA | Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Monday, October 12, 2015
Maryam Namazie – Nude Protest: A Challenge to Islam, the Veil, and Islamism
Maryam Namazie is an Iranian-born political activist, campaigner, journalist, and blogger. She is the spokesperson for Fitnah! Movement for Women’s Liberation, One Law for All (a campaign against Sharia Law in Britain), and the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain. She is the winner of countless awards for international activism and journalism. In 2011, she was the keynote speaker at the World Atheist Convention in Dublin.
Deutschland: Erneut Tausende bei fremdenfeindlicher Pegida-Kundgebung in Dresden
Der Pegida-Mitbegründer Lutz Bachmann wies in seiner Rede auf das einjährige Bestehen von Pegida in der kommenden Woche hin. Die Bundesregierung bezeichnete er als «unsere Berliner Diktatoren» und kritisierte deren Flüchtlingspolitik. Hier sei eine «Kehrtwende dringend erforderlich». Es müsse «unattraktiver werden, in Deutschland Asyl zu beantragen».
Einen Auftritt gab es auch für die ehemalige Hamburger Politikerin der Partei Alternative für Deutschland, Tatjana Festerling. Sie warf Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel vor, aus Deutschland ein «riesiges Dschungelcamp» gemacht zu haben. Den Zuzug von Flüchtlingen und Asylsuchenden bezeichnete sie als «Ansturm der Invasoren». » | SDA | Montag, 12. Oktober 2015
Muslims Praise Obama For Banning Non-Halal Meat In 122 Federal Prisons
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| Racks of pork ribs get smoked at the 2014 World Pork Expo in Des Moines, Iowa, in 2014. The Federal Bureau of Prisons last week removed pork products from the menu at 122 penitentiaries. |
The decision was based on a survey of prisoners’ food preferences that found most inmates don’t like the taste of the “other white meat,” prison officials said. But the nation’s pork producers are not buying that explanation and see it as an economic risk to the industry. » | Aaron Morrison | Monday, October 12, 2015
Why Are Kurds Joining Up With ISIS?
How Assad And The Kurds Are Teaming Up Against ISIS
RAW: Protesters Throw Petrol Bombs at Water Cannons, Clash with Police after Ankara Blasts
Six Arrested during Pegida Demo in Utrecht Face Charges
One of the 10 people remains in jail. Two have been released without charge and the investigation into two others is continuing, the department said in a statement.
The six will face a range of charges, including public disorder offences, resisting arrest, using violence against a horse and insulting behaviour. The arrests came after fighting broke out with members of a counter-demonstration, despite the efforts of police to keep them separate.
In addition, the department is looking into the speeches made during the rally, particularly that by Raffie Chohan, who is a visible and vocal anti-Islam campaigner, news agency ANP says. » | Monday, October 12, 2015
Germany's Asylum Policy Fuels 'Rise' in Far Right – Newsnight (BBC)
Türkische Gemeinde warnt vor Gewalt auch in Deutschland
Der Vorsitzende der Türkischen Gemeinde in Deutschland, Gökay Sofuoglu, hat nach dem verheerenden Bombenanschlag in Ankara vor gewaltsamen Auseinandersetzungen von Kurden und nationalistischen Türken auch in Deutschland gewarnt. "So wie die Stimmung jetzt gerade in der Türkei ist, befürchte ich eine weitere Eskalation auch hier", sagte er dem "Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger" (Montag). » | APA/dpa | Montag, 12. Oktober 2015
Donald Trump Face the Nation : Donald Trump Letting in Migrants Can Be the Next Trojan Horse
Australia: Learn from Ankara Blasts: Lib Senator
MR Wilders has been given a visa to enter Australia for the launch of an anti-Islam party, upsetting Muslim leaders who fear it will prompt more ill feeling against their community.
Senator Chris Back says Australia is a peace-loving nation and in a robust democracy people have a right to hear different views and to disagree with them vehemently. » | AAP | Sunday, October 11, 2015
THE AGE: Entering, stage right, the Geert Wilders political theatre of fear: Geert Wilders' particular brand of fear-mongering seems to attract believers on the fringe, but his message repels most people. | Duncan McDonnell | Monday, October 12, 2015
Trump nennt Merkels Flüchtlingspolitik "irrsinnig"
Der republikanische US-Präsidentschaftsbewerber Donald Trump hat die Flüchtlingspolitik von Kanzlerin Angela Merkel kritisiert. "In Deutschland wird es Aufstände geben", sagte Trump in der TV-Sendung "Face the Nation" des Senders CBS. Er habe Merkel immer für eine große politische Führungsfigur gehalten, sagte Trump. Was sie aber nun gemacht habe, sei irrsinnig - und er wiederholte: "Es war irrsinnig, so viele Menschen ins Land zu lassen." » | aar/AFP/dpa/AP | Montag, 12. Oktober 2015
The West Rightly Condemns Isis Vandalism of Ancient Sites – But Not When the Saudis Do It
Explosives pulverise historic sites in the Middle East, bulldozers erase ancient tombs and shrines, historic forts are torn down and Ottoman facades destroyed. The home of the favourite wife of the most revered man in an entire religion is even turned into a block of toilets. How can the world prevent this wicked desecration and extinction of a heritage that belongs to all mankind? I am, of course, referring to those iconoclastic Wahhabi-Salafist Muslim head-choppers … the Saudis!
And the world will do absolutely nothing. It will screech and rage and curse as the iconoclastic Wahhabi-Salafist Muslim head-choppers of Isis blow to bits the Roman ruins of Palmyra, but will never dare – and has never dreamed – of uttering a pussy-cat’s protest against Saudi Arabia’s wilful destruction of the ancient graves, homes, shrines and buildings of Islam’s Prophet Mohamed and his closest relatives and companions. Naturally, we could conclude that Roman remains are more valuable than the antiquities of Islam. But this would be about as racist a reaction as suggesting that the Roman empire was more important than the Islamic empire. » | Robert Fisk | Sunday, October 11, 2015
Ankara Bombing: Investigation into Turkey's Deadliest Terrorist Attack to Be 'Completely Focused' on Isis
The West’s key frontline ally in the battle against Isis has been plunged into a state of turmoil, engulfed by violence and recrimination after the most deadly terrorist attack in Turkey’s history.
Amid fears that the war in Syria and Iraq has crossed the border on to Turkish soil, the death toll from the blasts at a Kurdish peace march increased from 95 to 128, according to the pro-Kurdish HD party. Security sources said the investigation into the bombings would be “completely focused” on Isis. The attacks bore striking similarities to a suicide attack in Suruc in July this year that killed 33 pro-Kurdish activists. » | Zia Weise | Ankara | Sunday, October 11, 2015
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