Rape Laws in Islamic Pakistan Make a Mockery out of Women [Video]

Zina and Hudood laws mean that women could be imprisoned for adultery after being raped - statutory rape or otherwise - as many as 75% or more women in Pakistan's prisons are there under these Islamic laws.

CIA outsourcing intel gathering and assassinations [Video]

Vanity Fair has reported that Blackwater employees worked as members of CIA assassination teams, both in the US and abroad. One of these groups reportedly carried out an attack in Germany. RT's Wayne Madsen reports on his findings.

Coptic Christians clash with Egyptian police after Mass shooting

To see what happened to the old Coptic man who sat in this car - whose son had some sort of fling with a Muslim girl - see video here.

The drive by shooting is the last in a string of events surrounding Muslim attacks on Christians in this area. They have been burning out their shops pharmacies - cars and properties. Sadly one Muslim policeman was killed in the Orthodox Christmas Mass shooting - and this may be the only reason the police act to find the culprits. Background here.

Thousands of Coptic Christians clashed with police in southern Egypt on Thursday during a funeral procession for seven people shot dead as they left a Christmas service hours earlier.

The protesters pelted cars with stones and set fire to ambulances in the town of Nag Hamadi, 40 miles from the ancient ruins of Luxor.

The riots were sparked by a drive-by shooting. Three men sprayed automatic gunfire into a crowd leaving a midnight Mass to mark the Coptic Christmas.

Egypt's interior ministry said the attack was thought to be retaliation for the rape of a 12-year-old Muslim girl by a Christian man in November in the same town. [There have been other reports that the girl was in her twenties - although it doesn't excuse the fact - the main issue here is that she was a undoubtedly a Muslim girl]

Tensions in the area have remained high ever since, in a country with one of the Middle East's largest Christian population – about 10 per cent of Egypt's 80 million people.

Bishop Kiroloss said he decided to end the traditional Christmas Eve service at St John's Church an hour early because of threats.

His parishioners had been abused in the street while he received a chilling text message warning, "It is your turn".
"For days, I had expected something to happen on Christmas Eve," he said.

Bishop Kiroloss left the church minutes before the attack.

"A driving car swerved near me, so I took the back door. By the time I shook hands with someone at the gate, I heard the mayhem, lots of machine gun shots," he added.

Six Christians and a security guard were killed.

Mahmoud Gohar, the head of provincial security, said police had identified the lead attacker, a known criminal.

He added that security had been strengthened in the town with checkpoints installed on roads throughout the area to ease fears of further attacks.

About 5000 people attended the funeral.

The country's Coptic population is descended from Egyptian converts in the first century AD. They still follow a calendar based on that of Ancient Egypt.

In recent years they have complained of increasing harassment.

They believe they are overlooked for government jobs and that police fail to investigate attacks against Christian property.

Last year the slaughter of thousands of pigs farmed by Copts in Cairo sparked protests by farmers who believed the cull was an attack on their freedoms – in a country where most people view pork as unclean – rather than an anti-swine flu or hygiene measure.

In November, hundreds of Muslim protesters torched Christian-owned shops in the town of Farshut, near Nagaa Hamadi, and attacked a police station where they believed the suspected rapist was being held.

Telegraph

After North Korea Muslim Nations Top List of World’s Worst Persecutors of Christians

Kuala Lumpur

After Iran Saudi Arabia top world's worst persecutors of Christians around the world. Both are leaders of Islamic Sunni and Shiite sects of Islam. Perhaps they have got it wrong and 'moderate' Muslims in the West have it right. But then besides Laos [along with DPRK are communists] - Muslim nations make up the other 10 worst offenders. To believe the Islamic spokespeople in the West we would literally have to live in a bubble - accepting only their tidbits of polished advise.

Open Doors 2009 World Watch List - Highlighted are Islamic nations

1. North Korea
2. Saudi Arabia
3. Iran
4. Afghanistan
5. Somalia
6. Maldives
7. Yemen
8. Laos
9. Eritrea
10. Uzbekistan
11. Bhutan
12. China
13. Pakistan
14. Turkmenistan
15. Comoros
16. Iraq
17. Qatar

18. Mauritania
19. Algeria
20. Chechnya
21. Egypt
22. India
23. Vietnam
24. Burma (Myanmar)
25. Libya
26. Nigeria (North)
27. Azerbaijan
28. Oman
29. Brunei
30. Sudan (North)
31. Zanzibar Islands
32. Kuwait
33. Cuba
34. Tajikistan

35. United Arab Emirates
36. Sri Lanka
37. Jordan
38. Djibouti
39. Turkey
40. Morocco
41. Indonesia
42. Palestinian Territories
43. Bangladesh
44. Belarus
45. Ethiopia
46. Syria
47. Tunisia
48. Bahrain
49. Kenya (North-East)
50. Kazakhstan

That's 76% of world's top 50 worst Christian persecutors!

North Korea is again the world's worst persecutor of Christians, according to a new ranking released today by religious liberty advocates Open Doors.

The communist nation has topped the missions organization's World Watch List for eight consecutive years because of its long history of targeting Christians for arrest, torture and murder. California-based Open Doors estimates that of the 200,000 North Koreans languishing in political prisons, 40,000 to 60,000 of them are Christians.

"It is certainly not a shock that North Korea is No. 1 on the list of countries where Christians face the worst persecution," said Open Doors USA President Carl Moeller. "There is no other country in the world where Christians are persecuted in such a horrible and systematic manner. Three generations of a family are often thrown into prison when one member is incarcerated."

Although Iran has repeatedly surfaced in Open Doors' Top 10, the nation rose from No. 3 to No. 2 on this year's list because of a recent wave of arrests of Christians that began in 2008 and grew stronger in 2009. The ministry estimates that at least 85 Christians were arrested last year, including two sisters who became the focus of an advocacy campaign by Open Doors and other Christian ministries.

"Iran jumping to No. 2 is noteworthy," Moeller said. "Iranian Muslim background believers Maryam Rustampoor and Marzieh Amirizadeh were arrested simply for being Christians and refusing to recant their faith in Jesus Christ. They were released almost two months ago, helped by an advocacy campaign by Open Doors and other Christian organizations. But these two brave women along with hundreds of other believers still remain at risk inside Iran."

Saudi Arabia remains at No. 3, though Open Doors said it received no reports of Christians being killed or physically harmed for their faith, and only one report of a Christian arrested was noted.

Somalia moved from No. 5, to the No. 4 spot after its Parliament in April voted unanimously to institute Islamic law. Open Doors leaders said the ministry also received reports of Christians being killed and arrested.

Rounding out the top 10 are Maldives, Afghanistan, Yemen, Mauritania, Laos and Uzbekistan, respectively. Yemen's position at No. 7 was unchanged over last year. But concern about Islamic fundamentalism in the nation has grown since U.S. officials discovered that al-Qaida leaders in Yemen planned a failed attempt to bomb a plane en route to Detroit on Christmas Day.

Open Doors reports that the Yemeni Constitution guarantees religious freedom but has declared Islam to be the state religion and Sharia law the source of its legislation. Although expatriates can practice religions other than Islam, Open Doors said Yemeni citizens who convert from Islam could face the death penalty.

Even with the limited religious liberty, nine expatriate Christian health workers were kidnapped by armed men last June. A few days later the bodies of three of them were found, and the fate of the remaining six remains unknown.

While most of the worst offenders in the World Watch List ranked in the Top 10 last year, there were notable exceptions. Mauritania moved up 10 positions from No. 18 last year to No. 8 this year. Open Doors attributed the jump to the assassination of Christian aid worker Christopher Leggett in June, the arrest and torture of 35 Mauritanian Christians in July and the arrest of a group of 150 of sub-Saharan Christians in August.

And though the situation for Christians is still severe there, Eritrea fell from No. 9 last year to No. 11 this year. Open Doors also recorded fewer incidents of Christian persecution in Algeria, India, Cuba, Jordan, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, which made the biggest improvement, dropping from No. 41 to No. 48.

The change in rankings is not necessarily a sign of improved religious liberty, however. "There was definitely an intensifying of persecution of Christians in quite a few countries this year, which I think outweighed the improvements in other countries," said Lindsay Vessey, advocacy director for Open Doors, pointing to the increased arrests and murders in Iran, Somalia and Mauritania.

"Those types of huge number of arrest and restrictions on religious freedom, I think, outweigh the rather small improvements in the countries we reported on, such as the improvements of India or Cuba," she added.

Despite the persecution, Vessey noted that churches continue to grow in the world's most restrictive nations.

"North Korea has been on the top of our World Watch List as the very worst persecutor of Christians for the past eight years in a row," Vessey said. "The situation there is very dark. There really is no religious freedom whatsoever. If people are caught, they are put in prison or executed. And we've been receiving reports very regularly the past several years and continuing on into this year that the church is very vibrant, the underground church, and it's growing."

"I think that's really encouraging," she added. "Just the testimony that even that when there is persecution, that's what God uses to grow His church."

Open Doors develops its World Watch List by sending its workers, church leaders and recognized experts in 70 countries a 53-question survey. The questionnaire examines such issues as the degree of legal restriction, state attitudes toward religious freedom, the liberty churches have to organize themselves, and incidents of anti-Christian violence.

Open Doors works in 46 of the 50 nations included in its World Watch List.

Chrarisma Mag

Islamic jihad to target Balkans next, Israeli foreign minister says

Islamic Jihad organisations that already had infiltrated countries in Africa and South America intended doing the same in the Balkans, through similar methods including huge transfers of funds and the establishment of cells, Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman said.

Lieberman was speaking after meeting visiting Macedonian prime minister Nikola Gruevski on January 5 2009.

Intelligence services had evidence that Islamic terrorist organisations were already recruiting in the Balkans, Lieberman said, according to Israeli media reports.

Islamic and Saudi charities were continuously transferring funds to Muslims of Bosnian and Albanian origin, the Jerusalem Post reported him as saying.

Part of the evidence for infiltration in Africa was that two recent attempted crimes, the bid to blow up an aircraft travelling from Amsterdam to Detroit, and an attempt to murder Danish caricaturist Kurt Westergaard, had involved people from Nigeria and Kenya, Lieberman said.

Citing Israeli intelligence sources, Lieberman said that Muslim militants planned to exploit tensions between Muslims and Christians in the Balkans. Bosnians and Albanians had been recruited for terrorist training camps in preparation for being sent home to foster an Islamic revolution, according to Lieberman.

The issue of militant Islamic fundamentalist activities in South Eastern Europe has been the subject of continuous study and debate by various intelligence services, scholars and investigative journalists for several years, especially after the conflict that ended with the 1995 Dayton Accord, and further after the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks.

Among the more recent episodes was the sentencing in September 2009 by a court in Serbia of four Muslim men who, the court found, had planned to carry out terrorist acts in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia. Found guilty of terrorism, illegal possession of weapons and links to foreign terrorist groups, the men were jailed for up to eight years each.

More recently, in December 2009 Ehsanul Islam Sadequee, one of two men jailed by a US court for filming landmarks to assist future terrorist attacks was found by US officials to have been in contact with Mirsad Bektasevic, a Balkan-born Swede convicted in 2007 of plotting to blow up a European target to make foreign troops withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Those who have portrayed Balkan countries as targeted for the propagation of Wahhabi, a militant variety of Sunni Islam, including authors such as Christopher Deliso and Shaul Shay. In a 2008 article, Deliso listed a long series of terrorist incidents either planned or carried out that involved people from various countries in South Eastern Europe, from Albania to Turkey.

Critics of such theses describe them as unduly alarmist and of failing to make distinctions among the diverse strands within Islam – even fundamentalist Islam – and that most Muslim communities in South Eastern Europe adhere to a mainstream, moderate form of the faith.

However, others have claimed that the problem is much more extensive. In 2008, Darko Trifunovic, of the faculty of security studies at the University of Belgrade, quoting sources including the US treasury department, alleged that Al-Qaeda was establishing a fully-operational terrorist financing and logistical network in the Balkans.

Like several others, Trifunovic said that it was common practice for money to be funnelled into the Balkans through front organisations operating as charity, humanitarian or educational institutions.

One aspect of the narrative that is debated arises from the Dayton Accord provision that Mujahedin foreign fighters who supported Bosnian Muslims in their conflict with Serbs and Croats should leave the region. Some authors allege that not all left, especially given that they had married locally and been given passports, while others say that "quietly" Bosnia had evicted all the fighters from the country.

In a number of countries in South Eastern Europe, money – often emanating from Saudi Arabia – has been provided to build mosques and Muslim schools. Muslim organisations and news services insist that this is conventional religious and educational work and that there is nothing sinister about it. However, some of the organisations involved in sending money have been listed by the US and others as terrorist organisations.

Reacting to Lieberman’s statement, Gruevski said that the warning was "not something new" and there had been several media reports about a year ago about such a threat.

"We should be prepared for all possibilities in this direction; services in all countries should be ready to stop such actions if they occur," Gruevski said, Macedonia’s A1 television reported.

Sofia Echo

Suicide Bomber Strikes at Police Officers in Caucasus

MOSCOW — A suicide car bomber killed six police officers in the capital of the Russian region of Dagestan on Wednesday. It was the deadliest such attack in months in a region where assassinations of police officers is a defining characteristic of the local militant Islamist movement.

The bombing came five days after the police said they had killed a local militant leader. Officials said that the toll could have been far higher: the driver was stopped at a checkpoint just outside a traffic police station where, according to Russian news agencies, officers were mustering for roll call in the yard.

The driver apparently realized he could not get past the checkpoint and instead detonated the bomb as a truck carrying police officers passed by, the RIA news agency quoted Vladimir Markin, a spokesman for the Investigative Committee of the Russian Prosecutor’s Office, as saying. About a dozen policemen were wounded.

A similar attack in August, in Ingushetia, another region of the restive, predominantly Muslim north Caucasus, killed 25 people in a police yard.

Other attempts were made Wednesday to carry out attacks in the Dagestani capital, Makhachkala: grenades were thrown onto the lawn of a local official, and a bomb was placed under a railroad track. But the railway bomb was defused before it exploded, and the grenades caused no injuries.

The attack on the police brought a swift response from Russia’s president, Dmitri A. Medvedev, who ordered the director of the Federal Security Service, Aleksandr Bortnikov, and the interior minister, Rashid G. Nurgaliyev, to investigate the attack and “take all the measures necessary” to improve security. Mr. Medvedev traveled to Dagestan in June after the region’s top police official was assassinated.

On New Year’s Day, the Dagestani police reported they had killed three militant leaders, including the militants’ “emir,” Umalat Magomedov, in a shootout. Among his belongings, authorities said, they found a ledger of militants’ finances from extorting local businesses and from donations from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Azerbaijan.

Violence had generally been in abeyance in the Caucasus for a few years, since the second Chechen war ended, but it has been surging back recently. On Wednesday, three policemen were wounded by a booby-trap explosive in Chechnya, and a bomb was found under a natural gas pipeline in Ingushetia.

But Dagestan, which normally tends to some level of internal conflict owing to its mix of mountain ethnic groups, has been in particular ferment lately.

Cases of seditious violence there have quadrupled in the past two years, according to a study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, which tracks publicly reported violence such as militant attacks, shootouts, bombings, abductions and assassinations, from about 10 per month in early 2008 to 40 last August.

Since Soviet times, Dagestan’s local government has observed a system of ethnic quotas that experts say is part of the problem today.

The police force is led and drawn principally from the dominant Avar group. The fundamentalist Sunni forms of Islam that spread from Saudi Arabia into the traditionally mixed Sunni and Sufi region after the breakup of the Soviet Union found adherents among other ethnicities.

The crackdown on Islamic extremism that began during the second Chechen war in 1999 worsened old animosities between the Avars and some of the two dozen or so ethnic groups living in the mountains.

Gulnara L. Rusanova, a member of the nongovernmental group Mothers of Dagestan, which aids family members of men arrested for religious extremism, characterized the violence in Dagestan as a cycle of police repression and subsequent revenge against the police.

“Dagestan,” she said, “is in a civil war.”

NY Times

Seven Egyptian Christians including 2 Priests Sentenced to Prison

Understanding Islam as it is practised in the Muslim world... as a Christian if you file a complaint to the police - against a Muslim - likely it is you who will face prison.

Egypt (AINA) -- Seven Coptic Christians, including two priests, were sentenced to prison for allegedly being involved in a brawl in connection with a dispute over the purchase of a property by the Coptic Orthodox Bishopric of Delga and Deir Mawas, 270 KM from Cairo. The Misdemeanor Court in Mallawi upheld a verdict passed by the First Instance Court in April, 2007. The Rev. Maximos Talat and Rev. Bolah Nassif - priest of St. George's Church were sentence to one week in prison and fined 200 Egyptian Pounds, "based on claims made by the 'aggressors' and without any legal basis," according to the their lawyer, Amgad Lamei.

In 2007 an adjacent property was legally acquired by the Bishopric from the Selim family. The dispute ensued after another neighbor, the Shaker family, said they have "right of first refusal" as they are cousins of the Selims, and subsequently occupied the property. The Bishopric obtained an eviction order from the Attorney General.

Attorney Amgad Lamei, who is also sentenced to prison, told Freecopts that during the execution of the eviction order on 4/15/2007, the Shaker family assaulted the party accompanying the two priests, in the presence of the police. "When I saw the brawl, I left the place with the priests and went to the police station to file a report about the incident," said Mr. Lamei. "We went at 14:00 to report the matter to the police, and found out at 17:00 that we had been accused." He expressed his surprise and disappointment at the verdict. He plans to take case to the Court of Cassation, but that will not stop the prison sentence.

There has been an escalation in the imprisonment of clergy. In October 2008 an Egyptian court sentenced Coptic priest Father Mettaos Wahba to five years hard labor. He was falsely accused of aiding a young Muslim woman in getting an ID card that had falsely indicated her religion as Christian, thus enabling her to marry a Christian man and flee Egypt.

By Mary Abdelmassih

Understanding Islam - 'topical' course offered by historic North Wales library

Interesting there are no courses for 'understanding' Christianity or other faiths for Muslims -- who are the ones seemingly having all the trouble! Watch out this is just the run up to opening an 'Islamic' reading room at the same library. This tells us one thing bombing pays! And the threat of bombing pays! No Hindu reading rooms in sight, Buddhism sounds interesting ~ I suppose you can find those books over the back ~ as they might offend!


Kicking off the courses and events planned for 2010 at St Deiniols Library in Hawarden, Flintshire, is a topical event, which seeks to break through the media hype and controversy surrounding the Islam.

“Understanding Islam” is a weekend course, delivered by Dr Chris Hewer, whose speciality is Christian-Muslim relations.

The course is an opportunity for anyone of any faith or level of understanding to learn more about Islam, ask questions and shape their own views.

Warden of St. Deiniol’s Library, Peter Francis, believes that it is important to run the course at the library, which was established by Prime Minister Gladstone in 1894.

“Gladstone, if he were alive today, would be active in promoting understanding between Islam and Christianity. As a person of faith and as a politician he would work to counter the ignorance and suspicion of each other’s faith traditions that is one of the contributory causes of so much national and international tension.”

Course leader, Dr Chris Hewer, has worked in Christian-Muslim relations based in Birmingham since 1986, and from 1999 – 2005 was adviser on interfaith relations to the Bishop of Birmingham. He now works in London as the St. Ethelburga Fellow in Christian-Muslim relations.

President of the Christian-Muslim Forum, Dr. Ataullah Siddiqui, who has endorsed the course, said “Dialogue between Christians and Muslims is not a matter of choice, it is an imperative. A place like St Deiniol’s can provide a regular meeting place for people and ideas, encouraging honest and open creative dialogue.”

The course is particularly pertinent to St. Deiniol’s Library as it is committed to promoting engagement with the Islamic community and plans to build an Islamic Reading Room in the near future. As Dr Siddiqui has said, “The perception of Islam today is increasingly shaped not only by means of information, but also through misinformation and disinformation. St Deiniol’s initiative is indeed welcome and timely.”

Understanding Islam starts on Friday 22nd January. The weekend can be attended on a residential or non-residential basis. Prices start at £140. For more information please contact St Deiniol’s Library on 01244 532350 or visit www.st-deiniols.org

Response Source

War on terror primarily a 'war against young Muslim men'

A bestselling author and terrorism expert disagrees with the premise of a newly released U.S. government study on homegrown terrorism that contends extremism is contrary to the true teachings of Islam.

Researchers at Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill produced the new study on homegrown terrorism in order to reveal more about the types of persons who might be "radicalized." The cases studied included Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, charged with the Fort Hood mass shooting last November, and the five young men from Virginia who were recently arrested in Pakistan, supposedly on their way to join the Taliban in Afghanistan. (See related article from Associated Press)

The study -- which was funded by the National Institute of Justice, the research arm of the U.S. Justice Department -- found that among the publicly known cases, the typical suspect is male, under age 30, and either U.S.-born, a naturalized citizen, or legal resident of the country.

Robert Spencer, director of Jihad Watch, reacts to the findings documented in the report "Anti-Terror Lessons of Muslim-Americans."

"It's pretty obvious that most terrorist suspects would be young Muslim men. It's something that I could have told you a long time ago," he shares.

According to Spencer, the findings cry out for profiling. "Obviously we're wasting our resources searching 80-year-old grandmothers from Ohio," he states. "We are in a war against young Muslim men primarily."

In addition, the terrorism expert says it is ridiculous that the report also urges authorities to increase their support for American-Muslim programs that reinforce the message that extremism is contrary to Islam. "Obviously the recommendation that American civil authorities should build Islamic schools and so on is just asking us to put a gun at our head," he laments. "It's ridiculous, because there is going to be no effective effort made to counter the jihad ideology in such schools."

Spencer warns that those who run those schools are usually sly enough to escape the notice of American authorities who are ignorant of Islam.

War on terror primarily a 'war against young Muslim men' (OneNewsNow.com)

Malaysian woman sends SOS to family over abuse by Saudi Arabian husband

Often Saudis marry the young women in places like Indonesia while on vacation - sleep with them and then return home without them. In the Islamic world Saudis are seen as higher people - so likely few would question their intentions. Those girls who are 'lucky' enough to have the marriage honored and taken back to live in Arabia often find that the ulterior reason for the marriage was that they be made into some kind of slave or servant. This sounds like one of those cases. The problem is that once in Arabia - women are for all intent and purposes the property of the man - of which he has absolute right over.


MIRI: A woman married to a Saudi Arabian has sent an SOS to her family in Ulu Baram, claiming she is being abused and ill-treated by her husband there.

Dorcas Imang appealed to her father Imang Ngau to highlight her plight to Malaysian and Saudi authorities and alert the Malaysian High Commission in Saudi Arabia and the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur.

Imang Ngau, in his late 60s and a farmer living in a longhouse in Ulu Baram, some 200km from here, has lodged a police report here over Dorcas’ situation.

According to sources, Dorcas alerted her elder sister, who is living in Sabah, via a hurriedly-made telephone call a few days ago saying she was suffering serious physical abuse at the hands of her husband.

She asked her sister to seek help from the authorities soon as she could not endure the abuse any more.

“In his report, the father said that his daughter claimed she was being locked up by her husband in their Saudi house and is being abused physically,” said a source.

The father told the police here that Dorcas, met the Saudi man when he visited Sarawak last year. They eventually got married and she moved with him to Saudi Arabia last year.

Miri OCPD Asst Comm Jamaluddin Ibrahim, when contacted, said he had not obtained a copy of the report.

Gunmen kill 7 at Egypt church after Christmas Mass near Luxor

Pope Shenouda III, the head of Egypt's Coptic Orthodox church, leads prayers at the Coptic Cathedral in Cairo, Egypt, early Thursday, Jan. 7, 2010.


CAIRO [AP] — Three men in a car sprayed automatic gunfire into a crowd of churchgoers in southern Egypt as they left a midnight Mass for Coptic Christmas, killing at least seven people in a drive-by shooting, the church bishop and security officials said.

Six Copts and one Muslim, a policeman, were killed, the source added. [+]

Egypt's Interior Ministry said the attack Wednesday just before midnight was suspected as retaliation for the November rape of a Muslim girl by a Christian man in the same town. The statement said witnesses have identified the lead attacker.

The attack took place in the town of Nag Hamadi in Qena province, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) from the famous ancient ruins of Luxor. A local security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, confirmed that seven were dead and three seriously wounded.

Bishop Kirollos of the Nag Hamadi Diocese told The Associated Press six male churchgoers and one security guard were killed. He said he had left St. John's church just minutes before the attack.

"A driving car swerved near me, so I took the back door. By the time I shook hands with someone at the gate, I heard the mayhem, lots of machine gun shots," he said in a telephone interview. He said he saw five bodies lying on the ground when he first looked at the site of the shooting, about 600 yards from where he was.

The bishop said he was concerned about violence on the eve of Coptic Christmas, which falls on Thursday, because of previous threats following the rape of the 12-year-old girl in November.

He got a message on his mobile phone saying: "It is your turn."

"I did nothing with it. My faithful were also receiving threats in the streets, some shouting at them: 'We will not let you have festivities,'" he said.

Because of the threats, he said he ended his Christmas Mass one hour early.

He said Muslim residents of Nag Hamadi and neighboring villages rioted for five days in November and torched and damaged Christian properties in the area after the rape.

"For days, I had expected something to happen on Christmas day," he said. The bishop said police have now asked him to stay at home for fear of further violence.

Qena is one of Egypt's poorest and most conservative areas.

Christians, mostly Coptic, account for about 10 percent of Egypt's predominantly Muslim population. As Islamic conservatism gains ground, Christians have increasingly complained about discrimination by the Muslim majority.

Clashes between Muslims and Christians are not uncommon in southern Egypt and in recent years have begun seeping into the capital. An Amnesty International report said sectarian attacks on the Coptic Christian community, comprising between 6 million and 8 million people in Egypt, increased in the year 2008. Sporadic clashes between Coptic Christians and Muslims left eight people dead.
Vendetta killing is also common among southern Egyptians, and is usually over land or family disputes.

The bishop said he had an idea of who the attackers were, calling them "Muslim radicals."

"It is all religious now. This is a religious war about how they can finish off the Christians in Egypt," he said.

Somali threats against Swedish Muhammed cartoon illustrator - days before Westergaard attack

Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who sparked outrage with caricatures of the Muslim prophet Muhammad as a dog, has received threats via telephone from Somalia.

Police in Helsingborg in southern Sweden are taking seriously the threats made against Vilks, which come just three days after Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard was subjected to an axe attack at his home in Denmark.

The first of two phone calls to Vilks came on Monday morning. A subsequent check by the Swedish artist revealed that the call originated in Somalia, where the Islamic militant group al-Shabaab has gained increasing influence in the war torn country.

Al-Shabaab is also believed to have ties to al-Qaeda.

In the last month, al-Shabaab supporters who reportedly used to live in Denmark have killed at least 22 people, including three ministers, in a suicide bomb attack carried out in the Somali capital of Mogadishu.

According to Vilks, the man who threatened him spoke Swedish.

“The man, who spoke accented Swedish, asked me if I knew about what happened in Denmark and to the artist Kurt Westergaard. I said I certainly did,” Vilks told the Helsingborgs Dagblad newspaper.

“The man then explained that they were out after more and that they would soon come for me. I told them they were welcome,” said Vilks.

According to Patrik Peter, a spokesman for Swedish security service Säpo, the incident is being investigated by local police.

“It may be that the police will ask for our help in which case we’ll obviously do what we can,” Peter told the TT news agency.

The Helsingborg police have refused to comment on the incident.

“I have no comment whatsoever on how our investigation of the threat is being carried out,” police spokesperson Göran Hassel told TT.

Westergaard was one of the Danish artists who drew cartoons of the Muslim prophet Muhammad for Denmark’s Jyllandsposten newspaper. Westergaard’s drawing portrayed Muhammad with a bomb in his turban.

Somali threats against Swedish illustrator - The Local

Westergaard goes into hiding again

Translation

Again, Kurt Westergaard forced to leave his home and live under constant protection. He does not know whether he can return to their townhouse.

Cartoonist Kurt Westergaard not yet know whether he can return to his small terraced house etplans in Viby Aarhus after the assassination last Friday.

- I hope my wife and I can go home again. But it must first be carefully discussed and analyzed by the Police Intelligence Service, he told Business Recorder.

74-year-old Kurt Westergaard lives again in hiding at a secret location and with permanent bodyguards.

He also rejects the criticism that has been argued that he failed his grandson by seeking refuge in his sikringsrum (bathroom) to alert the police when ax man rushed into the house last Friday.

- I know and feel that I acted correctly. Firstly, I am instructed that potential terrorists clearly goes after their goals, it will tell me in this case. It turned out to be true. I had gone into the room to get my grandson and had taken up the struggle with the armed man, I had lost. Instead I had been wounded or killed with a hatchet in front of my grandson, "says Kurt Westergaard.

He is glad that he did not act in panic, he told the newspaper.

BT.dk

Six newspapers reprint Muhammad cartoons

Translation

Westergaard's controversial Muhammad cartoons have been reprinted in six newspapers outside Denmark. Over 600 articles all over the world talks about Friday's assassination attempt.

Kurt Westergaard's controversial Muhammad cartoons were reprints of newspaper readers in Belgium, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Portugal and in Suriname. In total there are written over 600 articles all over the world on Friday's assassination attempt against the cartoonist, writes website Outside24.dk.

At least six newspapers have used the drawing again, and several major newspapers are national newspapers. The six newspapers are Portuguese Diario de Noticias, the two Belgian newspapers Het Nieuws and De Standaard Leaf, Slovak SME, Czech Dnes and Times of Suriname.

Read More: Attack man still in hospital Ninerva

Het Nieuws Leaf had a great article posted in their Sunday edition, and again Monday with the image of the Muslim prophet Mohammed with a bomb in his turban.

Also read: Westergaard drawing published in Norway

The Norwegian Nettavisen brought also drawing on its website, but took the artwork from shortly after it was published.

Previously reprints drawing aroused fierce resentment among Muslims across the world, writes Outside24.dk.

Assassination attempt against Kurt Westergaard has been mention of several major international newspapers and was among other things on the face of India The Hindu.

Gulf News from the United Arab Emirates signs - according Outside24.dk - in an editorial that Kurt Westergaard insulted Muslim prophet, but that it is best to forget him. Other Italian libero who writes in an editorial: How can we respect the Muslims, when they want to kill us, while the Dutch De Volkskrant writes in an editorial that Kurt Westergaard is a hero, and that the Danish authorities deserve respect and support for having stood firm.

BT.dk, Gates of Vienna

Sister of Somali Muhammed cartoon attacker claims 'the police made her brother do it' [Video]

Danish TV news report featuring the sister of the Somali accused of attempting to kill Kurt Westergaard. The woman maintains that the Danish PET (security police) coerced her brother into attacking the cartoonist in his home. GoV

Criminalizing Criticism of Islam: Protest for Wilders in Amsterdam - Details

For the crime of "insulting Islam", Geert Wilders (pictured right) will go on trial in Amsterdam this month, exactly one year after the inauguration of President Barack Hussein Obama.

As most readers know by now, Mr. Wilders is being prosecuted for making statements that are factually true, and for voicing opinions about Islam which are unremarkable by the standards of this blog, and which are based on the observable behavior of violent and intolerant Muslims all over the world.

The trial is a judicial farce, a shameless attempt to put an end to the political career of Geert Wilders. He is inconveniently popular with the voters of the Netherlands, so the elite governing class has decided to run him out of office by non-electoral means.

Our Flemish correspondent VH has translated a couple of articles about the upcoming trial. First, from the PVV website, news of a demonstration planned for the day the trial begins:

January 20: Demonstration for freedom of expression

Demonstrate against the political process used against Geert Wilders

January 20, 2010 will be a crucial day in the defense of our freedom. That day the political process against Geert Wilders will begin. Commissioned by the Amsterdam Court, the Public Ministry has summoned Geert Wilders. The indictment reads: Insulting Muslims as a group, inciting hatred and discrimination against Muslims because of their religion, and inciting hatred and discrimination against non-western immigrants and/or Moroccans because of their race. This even though the earlier prosecutor saw no cause in the evidence for the prosecution to proceed.

Are you also against the political process against Geert Wilders, and do you want to defend freedom of expression? Come to Amsterdam to demonstrate! On January 20 at 9:00 in the District Court in Amsterdam.

Geert Wilders: "On January 20 a political court case will begin. I am being persecuted for my political convictions. Freedom of expression is balancing on the edge of a cliff. If a politician can not criticize an ideology any longer, there is no end to it, that will mean the end of our freedom. But I will remain combative: I am convinced that I will be acquitted ".

Date and Location with Map,

Date:

Wednesday January 20 next, starting 09:00

Location:

Rechtbank Amsterdam [Amsterdam Court]
Parnassusweg 220 [map]
Amsterdam, the Netherlands


Directions from Amsterdam CS (train station):


• Take tram number 5 or metro number 51 to "Station Zuid/WTC" (South/World Trade Center).
• From Station Zuid/WTC:
• Follow the footpath (the WTC building is to your right hand side).
• Walk through the pedestrian/bicycle tunnel and then turn left
• Continue straight ahead and walk though the next pedestrian/bicycle tunnel
• You then are in front of the Court building

The Culture of Martyrdom - Lebanese Shiite Women and Babies Commemorate the Death of Imam Hussein and His Baby in the Battle of Karbala [Video]

Looks like these mothers are grooming their children for martyrdom ~ scary, troubling Islam!

Iran Arrests, Coerces Christians over Christmas Season

There is always time to harass Christians - in Iran !! Perhaps with all the protests going on - arresting a few converts from Islam - shows them they are still in control !!

Sadly this is truly sickening - and sadly western Muslims would go to any length not to notice that people are being forced to remain Muslim in Iran and all over the Islamic world - boasting that the numbers of Muslims are increasing - matters more!

ISTANBUL, January 6 (CDN) — A wave of arrests hit Iranian house churches during the Christmas season, leaving at least five Christian converts in detention across northern I ran, including the mother of an ailing 10-year-old girl.

Security officers with an arrest warrant from the Mashhad Revolutionary Court entered the home of Christian Hamideh Najafi in Mashhad on Dec. 16. After searching her home and confiscating personal belongings, including books and compact discs, police took her to an undisclosed location, according to Farsi Christian News Network (FCNN).

FCNN reported that on Dec. 30 the Mashhad Revolutionary Court sentenced Najafi to three months of house arrest and ordered that her daughter, who suffers from a kidney condition, be placed under foster care. Because of the seriousness of the girl’s illness, however, she was left in the custody of her parents – on the condition that they cease believing in Christ and stop speaking publicly of their faith, FCNN reported.

Najafi was denied access to a lawyer during this court hearing, according to FCNN.

During interrogation, officers told Najafi to return to Islam and to disclose names of Christian evangelists. FCNN reported that on some occasions the security officers summoned her husband, blindfolded him and threatened to beat him in front of his wife if she would not sign a confession that she was “mentally and psychologically unfit and disturbed.”

The Dec. 30 court hearing was quickly arranged after she was coerced into signing this confession, FCNN reported, and on those grounds her child was initially ordered to be taken from her. Najafi’s daughter suffers from a severe kidney and bladder condition.

There were no formal charges against Najafi, but she stands accused of contacting a foreign Christian television network, which court officials labeled as a “political” crime, according to FCNN.

Advocacy group Middle East Concern reported that sources believe authorities forced Najafi’s sister to file a complaint against her on these grounds.

The officers who came to arrest Najafi said that portraits of Jesus hanging on her wall would be enough to convict her in court, reported FCNN.

Arrests and Harassment
Compass has confirmed that authorities disrupted Christmas celebrations of two house groups in the Tehran area on Dec. 21 and Dec. 29, leaving four in prison. Other members attending the special services were also questioned.

In Shiraz, last week at least eight Christians arrested and released over a year ago were called in for questioning about their activities in the past year. They were all released after a few hours.

In Rasht, Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani is still in prison after being arrested on Oct. 13. Nadarkhani is married and has two children under the age of 10.

A source told Compass that another Christian identified as Shaheen, who had been in prison since July 31 when a special meeting of 24 Christians was raided in Fashan, north of Tehran, was released in November. He was the last of the six believers arrested at that meeting to be released.

Apart from arrests, Iranian Christians continue to endure discrimination. A source told Compass that one Christian was denied renewal of his truck driving license last week. When he asked why, authorities told him he was an enemy of the state.

The Christian had been arrested three years earlier because of his faith.

Washington DC Imam: Attempted Christmas Day Plane Bombing - the Work of US Government and the Mossad [Video]

DC Imam Abdul Alim Musa strings together a series of paranoid theories - while it seems his host on the Press TV [Iranian state controlled] are powerless to act less they offend the mad mamajama!!

Islamic hate cleric Anjem Choudary on £25k [$40K welfare] benefits - more than the UK soldiers who he calls Nazis

The honourable Anjem Choudary lines up like all other low income families to receive his handout from the UK government - while plotting its demise. His government funded revolt hopes to impose Islamic Sharia law - along with all its harsh punishments on the whole of UK society. His latest venture to protest UK troops killed in battle - has caused an uproar. He has even gone as far as publishing an open letter to families of deceased soldiers laying out why he wants to hold a march against their love ones - as well as offering personal advice - that they should all convert to Islam.

This is one of the reasons - accusing Europe of being Islamophobic or of hating Muslims is so ridiculous - if Mr Choundary wishes to he can import a second, third and even fourth wife from Pakistan - and the UK government will simply increase the funds to cover all of their living expenses, this includes houses paid for by the state for each wife and set of children. He should not be uncomfortable or feel discriminated against while he tries to take over the country!


HATE cleric Anjem Choudary nets £25,000 [$40,000] a year in benefits - £8,000 [$12,793] MORE than the take-home pay of soldiers fighting in Afghanistan, The Sun can reveal.

The Muslim extremist's handouts are not taxed, making his income equivalent to a £32,500 [$51,961] salary.

The revelation came amid mounting fury over bile-spouting Choudary's plan for a parade by Muslim hard-liners through repatriation town Wootton Bassett.

He has also likened British soldiers to Nazi stormtroopers.

State handout figures leaked to The Sun show Choudary, 42, gets £15,600 a year in housing benefit [rent paid] - to live in a £320,000 [$511,500] house in Leytonstone, East London.

The cleric is also given a £1,820 council tax allowance [local tax on each house - paid], £5,200 [$8,312] in income support [welfare] and £3,120 in child benefits [welfare for child care expenses]. That's a total of £25,740 [$41,152].

By contrast, a private fighting the Taliban in the Afghan badlands is paid a basic £16,680 - or £13,430 [$26,667 - or $21,471] after tax.

He also gets a £2,380 [$3,805] bonus for serving on the frontline and a £1,194 [$1,909] "separation allowance" for being away from home.

That makes total take-home earnings of £17,004 [$27,180]

The Sun

Town remembers slain teen Aqsa Parvez, who objected to wearing Islamic headscarf

Aqsa Parvez was slain by her father and brother in a typical honor killing - because they thought that she had become too western. She reportedly objected to pressure to wear the Islamic attire, such as the headscarf and long dress. What is common after an honor killing - which is supposed to rid the family of curses or impurity - is that there is meant to be no mention of the [offending] individual in the family again. This cleansing or discarding may even extend to the burial - as Aqsa was seeming dumped in an unmarked grave. When the numbered grave site was discovered - this caused a second outrage - the first being that her family thought they had to kill her for adopting western culture - and so an effort was made to at least create some sort of grave stone or memorial over the site - which was first rejected because - for this to go ahead they needed the family's permission. This effort was chiefly led by Pamela Gellar of the Atlas Shrugs Blog - it eventually came down it seems to a memorial in the form of a granite bench - by local council members to acknowledge that this girl was here - and to remind people in some way of who she was.

This article seems to be written in an in and out way as to not offend Muslims - who claim not to know what this whole thing is about -- in Pakistan at the beginning of 2009 the High Court in Karachi legalised honor killing, and across the Muslim world if it not entirely legal the practise is virtually legal - with offenders serving as little as 3-6 months for the crime. Oh, these Muslim women understand perfectly well what the fuss is about! Since Muslims largely ignore victims of honor killing - then here in the West we will claim them.


Town remembers slain teen Aqsa Parvez
But Muslim group says memorial's inscription may not reflect circumstances of death

PELHAM, ONT.–A memorial granite bench for a slain Mississauga teen juts out from knee-deep snow in a peace park behind the town hall in this bedroom community south of Welland.

Yet, none of the 17,000 residents of this Niagara Peninsula town ever knew the name of 16-year-old Aqsa Parvez before she was killed on Dec. 10, 2007. The schoolgirl had absolutely no connection to this area and neither did any of her friends.

But her death struck a nerve with a local fire chief and councillor in a community they say represents "small-town Canadian values." Now, from the Muslim community comes praise for the memorial but also some questions about the motives behind it.

The bench, dedicated on Sept. 18, carries the inscription: "Remembering new Canadians lost to the quest of integrating cultures – In Loving Memory of Aqsa Parvez – Remembered and Free."

Alia Hogben, executive director of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women, is happy that a town is remembering Parvez. "But I have some difficulty with what they are trying to say in the inscription. Maybe they are trying to raise questions but I'm not quite sure (the inscription) reflects her death."

Parvez's death remains tragic for a number of reasons, said Hogben. "It shows violence against women and girls in all cultures and it also shows the problems and difficulties that occur in recently arrived immigrant families."

Parvez's father, Muhammad, 59, and her youngest brother, Waqas, 29, are to face trial for first-degree murder in a year's time, on Jan. 10, 2011. All details revealed during last year's lengthy preliminary hearing remain under a publication ban.

Peel police said at the time of her death that her father called 911 and confessed to strangling his youngest daughter in their Mississauga home that morning. It became an international story when friends revealed there were family conflicts because she had rejected some of her Muslim values.



Regardless of the circumstances of Parvez's death, Scott McLeod, the fire chief for Fonthill, one of several communities that make up Pelham, and town Councillor Sharon Cook, were determined the student would not be forgotten.

"There seemed to be so much desperation to forget she had died," McLeod said recently.

He said he felt he had to do something after seeing a haunting photo of her burial site about a year ago. She had been dead for more than a year but her grave had only a numeric marker supplied by Meadowvale Cemetery in Brampton. While there was nothing to indicate she was buried in the cemetery's Islamic section, it is not uncommon for Muslim graves to be unmarked.

"That was the icing on the cake. ... It had nothing to do with whether she was a Muslim or not," McLeod said. "In my mind, it seemed she had just been forgotten."

About the same time, Pamela Geller, author of the controversial U.S.-based AtlasShrugs.com blog, got involved and was later joined by Robert Spencer of the Jihad Watch blog. Readers of Geller's blog, which has an anti-Muslim tone, contributed more than $5,000 for a gravestone with Parvez's name.

But cemetery officials would not allow them to erect it without the family's permission, which was never granted.

Another bid to have a memorial plaque and a tree planted at the University of Guelph Arboretum also fell by the wayside when university officials decided the memorial proposed by former Mississauga firefighter Norm Traversy might draw too much political attention.

McLeod said he was aware of Geller's blog and its reputation but insists there was no political motive or anti-Muslim sentiment behind his decision to find a way to remember the Mississauga teen.

He approached Cook and asked if there was anything town council could do. As a crisis intervention councillor, Cook deals with immigrants struggling with the Canadian way of life.

Cook submitted a motion to council calling for a bench and tree. It passed unanimously last March.

When she initially presented the motion, Cook was asked if she was afraid of what she was doing.

"Not at all," she said. "The memorial isn't against the Muslim faith. It's against the fact this young girl was murdered, allegedly for trying to integrate into Canadian culture."

McLeod said he did not get a single negative email. "We got so much support because I believe we in Pelham reflect small-town Canadian values. What we wanted to do and what we did do, didn't have anything to do with us wanting to make a political statement.

"We never took any of the money raised through the initial fundraising campaign organized by Geller," McLeod said, adding the memorial was funded by local donations.

About a month later, Parvez's family put an in-ground stone on her grave that reads, "In Loving Memory of Aqsa Parvez. Always loved, always remembered."

Cemetery officials said the family had finally decided it was time to put a stone on the grave.

The Star

The Coordination des Sans Papiers 75: Illegals in France [Photos]

In France, with Europe's largest population of immigrant Muslims, debate rages about what it means to be French.

Incredible pictures of life for a group of illegal mainly Muslim immigrants of African origin in France.

The French government estimates that there are 400,000 illegal immigrants inside its borders and that over the past 20 years they have deported half of that number, showing at best, this issue has benn drawn to a stalemate.

In the 18th arrondissement of Paris lies an austere compound of brick and steel which has been transformed into a safe haven, now home to an organization of more than 3,000 members: The Coordination des Sans Papiers 75.

Made up of 4 different collectives representing people from 5 continents, CSP75 manages to give one coherent voice to thousands of men and women striving to gain acceptance in France.

With no support from NGO's, and new labor laws making it increasingly difficult to find work, most of these men and women live off of 20-30 euros a month.

They have been living in this factory since July 17, 2009 with no heat or showers, and few beds.

Besides praying (99% of the collective is Muslim), there is little routine in the lives of the members except for the constant fear of being deported and the permanent desire to attain working papers.

A strict rule of law exists within the cooperative and is followed without exception. No alcohol is allowed inside, no one under the influence may enter, and after 1 a.m. the doors to the factory shut. There are security guards working around the clock, and everyone is responsible for cleaning their rooms, the collective bathrooms and the common areas.

Men and women cannot sleep in the same room, even if they're married, and children must go to school.

Each of the 4 collectives within the organization holds elections and nominate 30 members to the board of Delegates who then negotiate with the French government on behalf of their constituents.

With weekly peaceful protests, and one free daily meal distributed to its members, the cooperative has established itself as a legitimate movement that is reflecting the values of the society they hope to be a part of.

While the debate over national identity continues, the coordination hopes to remind the French and international community that they do exist, they are organized, and they want to work legally.

Immigrants to France have started to organize, not only to share survival skills but also to learn about their host culture and to develop a responsible profile in their new society.

These photographs are from a young photographer called Lee Hoagland, who has just completed an internship with the VII/Network Photo Agency.

Telegraph