Al Qaeda's Leaders In Yemen Move House to Somalia

Likely no Somalian pirate is stupid enough to hijack a boat carrying Al Qaeda across the treacherous Gulf of Aden ~ so we can assume if Al Qaeda wanted to go to Somali then the could go. There is definitely a bigger picture here. If this is true, a picture of a wider war is emerging. Al Qaeda of North African has offered to support Muslim extremists in Northern Nigeria. And the Somalian Islamists are claiming their members join to be a part of a war ~ with the world for Islam and that they have officially joined with Al Qaeda. Across the Sahara there is relative lawlessness. How long before these running battles are with southern Europe?


Leaders of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) have left Yemen for Somalia, according to Somali officials quoted by Reuters and Yemeni media reports. Somali officials said at least 12 AQAP leaders arrived in Somalia from Yemen in the last two weeks.

"We don't have evidence that this is happening, but it's not beyond the pale," says Kamran Bokhari, regional director ME and South Asia for the global intelligence company STRATFOR. He notes that it's in the interest of the Somali government to say that the AQAP leaders have come to Somalia, as it could translate into more help from the U.S. in the fight against militant groups in the country. It's also in the interest of the Yemeni government, since it would mean its recent efforts against jihadist groups were successful.

But Bokhari believes the reports could be credible, especially given the nature of the group.

"AQAP is now behaving not like a regional jihadi force, but like an international jihadi force, like al Qaeda prime," he says.

Bokhari points out that they are planning attacks beyond the region, including the training of the Umar al Faruq Abd al Mutalib, the Nigerian behind the failed suicide bombing of the Northwest Airways plane last December. Moving to Somalia would therefore not be solely for safety reasons but also to expand their operations.

AQAP had relocated once before from Saudi Arabia to Yemen for strategic reasons. Yemen has stepped up its efforts against al Qaeda in the country after the December 25th failed attack in the U.S.

According to the recent reports, the AQAP members left through the port of Al Mukala and ordered their cells in Yemen to suspend all operations and communications between them until the end of June.

The reports come a few days after the Somali Islamist group Hizbul Islam invited al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to Somalia.

They also come amid reports that the U.S. has approved putting the radical American Yemeni cleric Anwar al Awlaki on a hit list. Al Awlaki resides in Yemen. He is believed to have had ties with both Abdulmutallab, the failed Northwestern Airline suicide bomber, and Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist who is accused of killing 13 people at Fort Hood last November.

Bokhari says Yemen's geographical position puts it at the crossroads of four jihadists camps, namely Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Afghanistan/Pakistan. "There's a lot of traffic in this area which is a problem for the President (Ali Abdullah Saleh). His country is open to infiltration from all these four different camps."

CBS News

'Allah Akbar' and 'Death to Russians' Graffiti Appear in Moscow Metro

“Allah Akbar!” and “Death to Russians!” inscriptions appeared on the walls of the vestibule of the Planernaya station of the Moscow metro on April 3.

A woman called the police and said that she saw several young men spray-painting the inscriptions on the walls of the station. The four men looked like natives of the Caucasus, the woman said.

The men wrote the above-mentioned words quickly and drove away on a silvery car. The police said that it would be difficult to find the perpetrators since there are no surveillance cameras in the vestibule of the station.

--

In the meantime, a resident of Dagestan has claimed that he recognizes one of the women who carried out the terrorist attacks on the Moscow metro as his daughter Mariam Sharipova, RIA Novosti reports.

Rasul Magomedov said that a friend sent him a photo published on the Internet of the suicide bomber, allegedly responsible for the attack at Lubyanka metro station, with the words "she was on the metro."

"My wife and I recognized our daughter immediately," Magomedov said, adding that he and his wife had not known where their daughter was for several days.

"Last time my wife saw our daughter, she was wearing the same red headscarf as in the photo."

Mariam was born in 1982 in Balakhan, a village in the Untsukul region of Dagestan. Her parents were both teachers at a local school. She studied math and psychology and graduated with distinction in 2005, before returning to Balakhan to teach computer science at the local school.

"We still can't believe it. We can't even work out what she was doing in Moscow," said Magomedov.

"She was devout, but she never expressed any radical opinions. She always lived at home; we always knew what she was up to."

Moscow suicide bomber's father in no haste to condemn his daughter and believes her act is Allah's affair

A sickening read!

Moscow, April 7, Interfax – Father of female "Shahid or martyr" Mariam Sharipova from Dagestan village Balkhani who blew herself up at the Lubyanka metro station in Moscow left with "no comments" the question if he condemns his daughter's act and if she is pleasing for the Allah.

"If she went there by herself and I'm sure she went there by herself as she is not a brainless animal, then it's her and Allah's personal affair. They only know why she has done it and what she wanted," Rasul Magomedov told Moskovsky Komsomolets.

According to her father, she was "a clever, responsible girl. She did everything in life herself," she entered Dagestan State University herself and at the same time got the second university degree in psychology.

As to what he can say to relatives of those killed, Magomedov said, "What can I say… I regret, I sympathize. But everyone has his own destiny. Authorities always speak of modernization and successes from TV screens and don't mention our problems in the Caucasus, no one speaks about oppression of Muslims and misrule we have here!"

Coup in Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan population 5,431,747 is Muslim 75%, Russian Orthodox 20%, other 5% [+], once a part of the Soviet Union, gained independence in 1991 and is now a secular state. The unrest appears to have more to do with dissatisfaction with government policy and corruption.

Kyrgyz President Flees Capital, Opposition Claims Power

WATCH: Deadly clashes between thousands of antigovernment protesters and security forces have left at least 40 people dead and 400 wounded. (Warning: Some graphic images, video: Reuters)

BISHKEK (RFE/RL) -- Opposition leaders in Kyrgyzystan claim to have ousted the government and driven President Kurmanbek Bakiev from the capital following clashes between protesters and the police that left at least 40 people dead.

Members of the opposition say Bakiev, who had not been seen or heard from since antigovernment protests began on April 6 in the northwest of the country, has flown to Osh. Opposition leaders say Prime Minister Daniyar Usenov has handed in his resignation.

Kyrgyz opposition leader Temir Sariev said a new government was being formed, headed by former Foreign Minister Roza Otunbaeva. Opposition figure Bolot Sherniazov has also been reportedly named interim interior minister.

The dramatic developments came after a day of chaos and clashes in the capital, which saw protesters battle security forces outside the presidential palace. After a crowd took control of the state television building, opposition leader Omurbek Tekebaev went on state television to demand that the government step down.

Calls For Restraint

The latest official death toll of 40 comes from the country's Health Ministry, which also said 400 people have been wounded. That figure was contradicted by opposition activist Toktoim Umetalieva, who said at least 100 people died after police fired live ammunition at a crowd.

In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said the United States was monitoring developments and expressed its support for the "the Kyrgyz Republic and people of Kyrgyzstan." He said the United States had not received confirmation that the opposition had seized power.

EU foreign-affairs chief Catherine Ashton and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin also voiced concern about the violence, and both called for restraint.

The chaos follows weeks of tension between the opposition and the government led by Bakiev, who opponents says has cracked down on independent media and fostered corruption.

Bakiev came to power after the People's, or "Tulip" Revolution in March 2005 that ousted longtime President Askar Akaev, who many accused of consolidating power for himself and helping friends and family members get government posts.

In the capital today, RFE/RL correspondents reported seeing demonstrators seize the country's parliament building and entering the Prosecutor-General's Office, where they burned files and set fire to the building.

Protesters also attacked the National Security Committee's headquarters but didn't gain entry.

Protests Spread Across The Country

In the northwestern city of Talas today -- scene of the April 6 unrest -- RFE/RL's correspondent reported seeing Interior Minister Moldomusa Kongantiev and Governor Beishen Bolotbekov being beaten up outside the local police station by protesters who also seized that building. Reports that he had died of his injuries were dismissed as untrue.

Kongantiev had gone to Talas after thousands of protesters seized the government building there overnight.

Protesters seized the building on April 6, briefly holding the governor hostage before police and commandos retook the building in the evening. The protesters returned later and reoccupied the building after reportedly attacking some of the policemen. The authorities said some 80 policemen were injured, some by protesters throwing stones.

In the northeastern city of Naryn a crowd reportedly numbering more than 1,000 people seized the provincial administration building there today. Other demonstrations were reported in the northern town of Tokmok, where protesters surrounded the local police administration.

Kazakhstan, the current chair of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, expressed concern about the unrest and called for "calm and restraint on all sides." Kazakh Foreign Minister Kanat Saudabaev said he had spoken on the phone with his Kyrgyz counterpart Kadyrbek Sarbaev.

Neighboring Uzbekistan reportedly increased security along its borders with Kyrgyzstan.

Kyrgyzstan's border control service said it had closed its border with Kazakhstan late on April 7 at the request of the Kazakh authorities.

Russia, which has a military base at Kant airport outside Bishkek, expressed concern about the ongoing tension in Kyrgyzstan. Moscow called on the Kyrgyz government not to use force against protesters to avoid bloodshed. The Interfax news agency quoted sources in Kant as saying Russian forces remained inside the base and that they had been put on a state of higher alert.

The international pressure group Human Rights Watch earlier called on the Kyrgyz government to allow peaceful opposition protests to take place today, and to refrain from force to break up gatherings.

Pic HuffPost

Iran denies backing Afghan militants

Afghan job seekers queue for a work visa outside the Iranian embassy in Kabul


TEHRAN, April 6 (UPI) -- Washington should look for better ways to conduct itself in Afghanistan than pointing fingers at Iran, the Iranian Embassy in Kabul said.

Tehran through its embassy in Kabul denied accusations by U.S. officials that Iran was involved in supplying weapons to militants in Afghanistan.

Tehran lamented the "recurring allegations" presented by U.S. military officials, which the embassy said was an attempt to justify its defeat in Afghanistan.

The embassy said Washington needs to "find more logical ways to fight terrorism rather than accusing others" of supplying weapons to Afghan militants, Iran's state-funded broadcaster Press TV reports.

"Iran always supports the nation and the government of Afghanistan," the embassy statement added.

U.S. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters in Afghanistan that he was struck by the "significant shipment" of Iranian weapons into Kandahar province in southeastern Afghanistan, CNN reported.

Pentagon officials said there was information to suggest that Iranian-made weapons were streaming into Afghanistan.

Washington has made similar accusations regarding Iranian activity in Iraq. Tehran denies the charges.

PVV: Wilders gets figures: Immigration cost six billion euros

Talk of immigration cost in the Netherlands is a hot button issue. Here is what happened when a Dutch scientist published the results of his research into the costs of the immigrant from the mass immigration policy the Dutch [as well as many other EU countries] have had in place for years:

Dutch 'too PC' about cost of immigration: Dutch scientists turn a blind eye to the costs of immigration. That is the conclusion reached by Dutch researcher Jan van de Beek in his Ph.D thesis. Not everyone is pleased with Jan's findings.

"Are you a right-wing extremist?" Jan van de Beek was asked after one of his presentations. His research, which was conducted at the University of Amsterdam, apparently touched a raw nerve. A number of times he even found people calling him a Nazi or a fascist.

He goes on to say:

However, I think there is a connection between the insistence on denying certain facts by the Dutch elites and the success of the Freedom Party today. Research into the economic effects of migration could serve to reduce political tension in the Netherlands."

Although these new figures are a result of independent research after Wilders' PVV party's request for the figures in the Dutch parliament had been denied. In fact the Dutch scientist who also published data - mentioned above ~ was struck but the absence of statistical data on the subject of immigrant costs. And one of his aims was to change this.

Wilder states:

"So many foreigners come in every year alone under the context of family reunification. The actual amount will be so much higher."

And here lies the problem. The Islamic way of life, as it is practised in the Muslim world is unsustainable here in Europe. One of the foremost aims of the Islamic family is to marry off the children. This usually involves a trip back to the old country, to an often underdeveloped village to select a spouse from within the extended family remaining there. This person then obtains papers to come to Europe. Often the new immigrant doesn't know the language, their level of education is elementary at best, if they are literate at all, and next they are going to go through a long period of culture shock. Because the streets that are paved with gold are actually free. There is no Islamic law.

There are two problems, firstly if a Dutch Muslim girl who has been educated in the Dutch system ~ is pegged off with an illiterate [low level of education] relative, then as a man under the Islamic custom he has to be in control of the household. This is working against the Dutch efforts ~ not only to integrate Muslims ~ but to make sure everyone sets off to start their lives with a basic Dutch education ~ a high school diploma. But more than not the new immigrant will have an education level more in line with that of Morocco. Where a lot of village schools don't have teachers. Ensuring that the head of a significant portion of immigrant households in Holland could very well be an illiterate or a person with an elementary education.

Then there is also the problem with the young Dutch Muslim males pegged with illiterate women ~ some 60% of Moroccan women are illiterate [as well as a significant number who originate from the Turkish countryside] and then they are brought in as mothers to children of an advanced Dutch society. These women don't understand a thing about modern society. They act to do as they are told. And this is not good enough for a free and advanced society.

The problem the Dutch and many other countries around Europe face is that Muslim wish to continue living as they did before they came to Europe. They want to be in Europe and Morocco too. Along with this subsidized life ~ what has woken many Europeans up ~ is the calls for Shari'a. Where not only can you bring your relatives from overseas generation after generations ~ via arranged marriages ~ Muslims now want Shari'a.

A clear statement that everyone in the entire country should live under Shari'a as they do ~ back in the old country. But sometimes not so ~ in Austria more than 50% of Turkish immigrants feel that Austria should be brought under Islamic law ~ when it is not allowed in Turkey.

The backlash that has resulted ~ says ~ what are we getting here and how much is the laxed immigration policies costing us? In Denmark they counted the cost of their immigration from the Muslim world and back in 2002 put a stop to this arranged marriages between that country and the Muslim immigrant home countries. The immigration through marriages was costing the Danish taxpayer 1.3 billion EUR per year back in the 1990's. They found that the Muslim population was increasing exponentially ~ and it was being done almost entirely through the fetching marriages.


IHT: 2003 On fetching marriages

...these young women, whom [Hege] Storhaug calls "living visas in a new form of human commerce."

Many European officials have long assumed that such problems would be gradually resolved through intermarriage, integration and the consequent fading away of Muslim ghettos. But intermarriage and integration are not happening as expected - and the consequences of this failure are grievous

...results of a study of immigrant-group marriage patterns in Norway that is probably the most comprehensive statistical analysis of its kind in Europe. The study shows that members of most of Norway's non-Western immigrant groups are, in overwhelming numbers, not just marrying within their own ethnic groups but are marrying spouses - often their own cousins - from their countries of origin.


Norway: Human Rights Service figures for henteekteskap or "fetching marriages" - in which one spouse is "fetched" from the other's ancestral country - are staggering. From 1996 to 2001, 82 percent of the men marrying the Norwegian granddaughters of Moroccan immigrants were themselves Moroccans; another 14 percent were of Moroccan origin [from Norway*]. For Norwegian granddaughters of Pakistani immigrants, the corresponding rates were 76 percent and 22 percent. In that five-year period, only three granddaughters of Moroccan immigrants married ethnic Norwegians; only one granddaughter of a Pakistani immigrant did so.

Here is what one Norwegian Somali immigrant say about members of the Somali community there:

• Somalis don't want to integrate in fear of losing their religion and culture.
• Somalis despise and fear Norwegians, who are seen as untrustworthy infidels and whores.
• Violence is common everyday. The father hit the mother, and the mother hit the children.
• Somalis "divorce" on paper only to gain public economical support for single mothers.
• Somali organisations work against integration internally, but presents itself to work for integration externally.
• Somalis aren't interested in their children, but give birth to many to gain the most possible social security payments.
• Many support female genital cutting, even though they say otherwise externally.

Wilders and a growing number of people are asking what are we doing and how much is this costing us in terms of not only money but freedoms lost :: Calling people racist, fascist and whatnot is not going to hold back this tide for long. It could even be considered fascist to keep the same immigration policy going against the people's will.

The Left's argument is don't look at the numbers ~ these are people. But the numbers are real. The fact that the average Dutch citizen is productive ~ means that these immigrants want to migrate. How many of them are fighting to get into a poorer neighboring African / Middle Eastern country. And the reason their countries of origin are poor is because on average each citizen has a low productivity level. If this immigration and this reluctance to integrate continues ~ it will not be a matter of being racist or not racist ~ there simply won't be the money to support this outlandish immigration scheme. The Netherlands would be broke.


THE HAGUE - The influx of non-western immigrants annually cost society between six and ten billion ($8bn - $13.34bn). These migrants, on balance cost the taxpayer several thousand per person.

This follows from the preliminary results of a scientific research agency of NYFER commissioned by the PVV.

This is a conservative estimate based on 20,000 non-Western immigrants. "So many foreigners come in every year alone under the context of family reunification. The actual amount will be so much higher," said PVV leader Geert Wilders.

Stop Immigration

The party sees this as a confirmation of the desire of a stop immigration from non-western countries, especially now be cut.

"Scientific research shows that we could save billions if we stop or restrict immigration," said Wilders. He hired the renowned institute himself after the then Labour Minister Van der Laan (Integration) was reluctant to pass of immigration cost details.

Wilders: "This should top the political agenda. Instead of the government arresting people, they should stop the immigration. This does not hurt people, you don't need to send anyone away."

Non-western immigrants cost society more than the average Dutch citizen, because this group has more income support [welfare], above average, often relying on AWBZ [Exceptional Medical Expenses Act] and greater cost factor in crime and law enforcement.

Against the high cost is that non-westerner received less in student grants and make less use of state funded childcare.

Wilders had received much criticism when he announced the investigation. "Immigrants, Western and non-Western, are members of our society. Their presence can not be reduced to a simple addition and subtraction using indicators of the euro," said Minister Van der Laan.

De Telegraaf

An immigrant costs the taxpayers a few hundred thousand on balance, the party says. NYFER himself finds it annoying that the data have come out. The institute says are too busy with the investigation and believes that Wilders has made a rough estimate. Last year the government wanted PVV know what the costs and benefits of immigrants.

Then Minister Van der Laan said that he does not intend to separately calculate what constitutes an ethnic minority or cost.

Radio Netherlands

Netherlands: Iranian dissidents occupy Hague embassy

The Hague, 7 April (AKI) - A dozen Iranian dissidents climbed onto the roof of the Iranian Embassy in the Netherlands on Tuesday and pulled down the country's flag. According to the Persian language radio station, Radiozamaneh, in Amsterdam, a dozen young dissidents secretly entered the embassy compound in The Hague, shouting slogans "death to the dictator" and "long live freedom".

After pulling down the Iranian flag, the dissidents reportedly substituted an alternative flag with the image of Neda Aqa Soltan, the young woman who was killed during anti-government protests in Tehran last year.

"Iran belongs to all Iranians and it is not right for the future of the country to be decided by dictators and religious leaders," one of the protesters who escaped arrest told Radiozamaneh.

"We young Iranians are calling for all political prisoners to be released from prison, an end to all torture and the abolition of the death penalty."

Iranian dissidents have been very active in Holland and have conducted many anti-government protests in front of the Iranian Embassy since the disputed re-election of president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last June.

Hundreds of people including journalists, academics and dissidents have been arrested during street protests since the election (photo).

Al-Qaida says Hezbollah protecting Israel by not attacking

An Israeli soldier stands behind a mobile artillery battery firing into southern Lebanon minutes before a U.N. drafted cease-fire went into effect, August 14, 2006.


JERUSALEM, April 6 (UPI) -- A leading figure in the al-Qaida terrorist group said Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah is tacitly protecting Israelis by not attacking.

Salah al-Karawi, a leading al-Qaida operative, told a militant Web forum that Hezbollah and the Lebanese military have acted as "bodyguards" for Israel, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports.

"They don't allow us to act, but they don't strike Israel themselves," he said. Haaretz describes the operative as a document forger who is tasked with establishing al-Qaida cells across the world.

He went on to say that al-Qaida fighters would launch their own attacks against Israel from Lebanese soil in order to liberate the Palestinians from Israeli "occupation."

"Our organization must confront the traitors in Lebanon -- Hezbollah, the Lebanese army, (U.N. peacekeepers) -- and all those who protect southern Lebanon for Israel's sake," he added.

Hezbollah and Israel fought a bruising 34-day war in 2006. A U.N.-backed cease-fire agreement reminds Israel of its obligation to respect Lebanese sovereignty while calling on Hezbollah to disarm.

Hezbollah in 2009 won assurances from Lebanese lawmakers that it could keep its weapons in face of a persistent Israeli threat. Israel, for its part, is accused of launching daily military flights over Lebanese territory.

U.S. Approves Targeted Killing of American-Yemeni Cleric Anwar al-Awlaki

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has taken the extraordinary step of authorizing the targeted killing of an American citizen, the radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who is believed to have shifted from encouraging attacks on the United States to directly participating in them, intelligence and counterterrorism officials said Tuesday.

Mr. Awlaki, who was born in New Mexico and spent years in the United States as an imam, is in hiding in Yemen. He has been the focus of intense scrutiny since he was linked to Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people at Fort Hood, Tex., in November, and then to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man charged with trying to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on Dec. 25.

American counterterrorism officials say Mr. Awlaki is an operative of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the affiliate of the terror network in Yemen and Saudi Arabia. They say they believe that he has become a recruiter for the terrorist network, feeding prospects into plots aimed at the United States and at Americans abroad, the officials said.

It is extremely rare, if not unprecedented, for an American to be approved for targeted killing, officials said. A former senior legal official in the administration of George W. Bush said he did not know of any American who was approved for targeted killing under the former president.

But the director of national intelligence, Dennis C. Blair, told a House hearing in February that such a step was possible. “We take direct actions against terrorists in the intelligence community,” he said. “If we think that direct action will involve killing an American, we get specific permission to do that.” He did not name Mr. Awlaki as a target.

The step taken against Mr. Awlaki, which occurred earlier this year, is a vivid illustration of his rise to prominence in the constellation of terrorist leaders. But his popularity as a cleric, whose lectures on Islamic scripture have a large following among English-speaking Muslims, means any action against him could rebound against the United States in the larger ideological campaign against Al Qaeda.

The possibility that Mr. Awlaki might be added to the target list was reported by The Los Angeles Times in January, and Reuters reported on Tuesday that he was approved for capture or killing.

“The danger Awlaki poses to this country is no longer confined to words,” said an American official, who like other current and former officials interviewed for this article spoke of the classified counterterrorism measures on the condition of anonymity. “He’s gotten involved in plots.”

The official added: “The United States works, exactly as the American people expect, to overcome threats to their security, and this individual — through his own actions — has become one. Awlaki knows what he’s done, and he knows he won’t be met with handshakes and flowers. None of this should surprise anyone.”

As a general principle, international law permits the use of lethal force against individuals and groups that pose an imminent threat to a country, and officials said that was the standard used in adding names to the list of targets. In addition, Congress approved the use of military force against Al Qaeda after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. People on the target list are considered to be military enemies of the United States and therefore not subject to the ban on political assassination first approved by President Gerald R. Ford.

Both the C.I.A. and the military maintain lists of terrorists linked to Al Qaeda and its affiliates who are approved for capture or killing, former officials said. But because Mr. Awlaki is an American, his inclusion on those lists had to be approved by the National Security Council, the officials said.

At a panel discussion in Washington on Tuesday, Representative Jane Harman, Democrat of California and chairwoman of a House subcommittee on homeland security, called Mr. Awlaki “probably the person, the terrorist, who would be terrorist No. 1 in terms of threat against us.”

NY Times

Mumbai gunmen 'secretly buried in January', India says

Five of the nine militants killed in the recent attacks in Mumbai


The bodies of nine gunmen killed in the 2008 attacks on Mumbai have been secretly buried, Indian officials say.

Maharashtra state home minister RR Patil gave no location or date, saying only the burials had been in January.

The men remained unburied for more than a year after Indian Muslims opposed giving them space in their graveyards.

Nobody claimed the bodies. India said the men came from Pakistan but it denied they were its nationals and refused to take their bodies back.

Later, Pakistan admitted the attacks had been partly planned on its soil. The gunmen killed 166 people and the attacks damaged relations between the two countries.

A man alleged to have been the tenth attacker is currently on trial in Mumbai, along with two Indians accused of being accomplices.

The judge is expected to deliver his verdict in the trial of Mohammed Ajmal Amir Qasab early next month.

'Kept secret'

Mr Patil stunned legislators in Mumbai on Tuesday when he made his announcement, the Times of India reports.

TEN NAMED GUNMEN

Nasir, alias Abu Umar (above, Nariman House)
Abu Ali (Taj Palace)
Soheb (Taj Palace)
Fahad Ullah (Oberoi)
Mohammed Ajmal Amir Qasab (survived)
Bada Abdul Rehaman (Taj Palace)
Abdul Rehaman Chota (Oberoi)
Ismal Khan (CST station)
Babar Imaran (Nariman House)
Nazir, alias Abu Omer (Taj Palace)

"I did not see any need to keep preserving the bodies for a longer time. So, we took the decision to bury the bodies," he told the state legislative council.

"The matter was deliberately kept a secret from the media and other people. Now the only question that remains is of the lone surviving terrorist, Ajmal Qasab."

The question of what to do with the dead militants arose soon after the attacks.

Pakistan flatly refused to take them despite India's argument that they should go back to the country from which they originated.

Indian Muslims then said they would not allow the bodies of the militants to be buried in their cemeteries because they had gone against the teachings of Islam and killed innocent civilians.

After post-mortem examinations the bodies were taken to a hospital morgue in Mumbai. Police said they had been embalmed and were well preserved.

In November last year Ibrahim Tai, president of the Muslim Council Trust in India, said if the bodies had to be buried, it should be at "an unknown location".

"We know Indian authorities are stuck as the bodies have not been claimed by Pakistan. If they are buried without leaving any trace, then it is fine with us," he said.

"We believe that their actions should not be praised or recognised by anyone. If they set up tombs then tourists will visit and people will talk about it. We don't want that to happen."

BBC NEWS

Indonesian Christians turn to administrative courts to obtain permits to build churches

Good Friday surprise ~ chase a congregation from a church in session.

Jakarta (AsiaNews) – Increasingly, Christian communities are turning to Indonesia’s administrative courts to see their right to build churches upheld. However, Christians continue to be the target of attacks. Last Friday, a mob disrupted Good Friday celebrations, forcing some 600 worshipers to flee the St John the Baptist Catholic Church in Parung, Bogor Regency (district), West Java.

Under Indonesian law, a permit (Izin Mendirikan Bangunan in Indonesian) is required for building a church or any other type of construction; however, there are additional requirements when it comes to Christian places of worship, namely 60 signatures from residents living near the planned church and the approval of the local inter-faith dialogue group.

Even when all this is done, Christians are often faced with Islamic extremists who, moved by religious fanaticism, try to put pressure local authorities to withdraw the permit. Under such circumstances, administrative courts (Pengadilan Tata Usaha Negara in Indonesian) become the tribunal of last resort and are often able to obtain “peace agreement” that allow construction to start or resume.

The latest case involves the St Mary Church in Bandung Regency (West Java). The local administrative court overturned a decision by Purwakarta Mayor Dedy Mulyadi who had stopped the construction of the Catholic church under pressure from Muslim extremists. The court ruled that the permit had been issued in accordance with the law, and authorised the start of construction. Mgr Johannes Pujasumarta Pr, bishop of Bandung, welcomed the decision with joy. Speaking to AsiaNews, he said the ruling “was the fruit of our non-stop prayers.”

Another case involves Protestants in Cinere (West Java). The administrative court upheld the rights of the local Christian Protestant Batak Synod Church (HKBP), which won its legal battle against Depok Mayor Nur Mahmudi Ismail.

The two rulings made in the past few months have raised hopes among the members of the Filadelfia HKBP in Bekasi Regency after they filed a complaint against Bekasi’s mayor over a disputed permit.

The administrative court will have to decide again on the merit the case. Following protests by thousands of Muslims, who view the construction of a church as an “insult”, local municipal authorities rejected the demand by the Filadelfia HKBP community to build a church. This has deprived thousands of worshippers of the opportunity to attend Mass.

Meanwhile, Muslims extremists disrupted Holy Week services. On Good Friday, a mob of Muslim fanatics, stirred by the local Ulema Forum, interrupted the Mass at the St John the Baptist Catholic Church in Parung, Bogor Regency (West Java). The 600 or so worshippers attending the event were forced to flee the building for the relative security of a nearby restaurant.

Threats by extremists had begun the night before, during Holy Thursday services. In this case, the dispute was also over a building permit. During their protest, Muslims shouted slogans like “No permits, no masses.”

Anonymous sources told AsiaNews that Bogor authorities have had the permit application for some time but have not yet approved it under pressure from Muslim extremist groups.

Iranian Authorities Release Assyrian Pastor Accused of “Converting Muslims” on Bail

Those charlatans over there in Iran!

Maybe someone ~ like a prominent Islamic cleric ~ could also issue a fatwa against the persecution of Christians and other religious minorities in the Islamic world. One of the promises of Shari'a is supremacy ~ but where Muslims are exalted look for others to be suppressed.


ISTANBUL, April 5 (CDN) — An Assyrian pastor the Iranian government accused of “converting Muslims” has been released from prison on bail and is awaiting trial.

The Rev. Wilson Issavi, 65, was released from Dastgard prison in Isfahan last week. Conflicting reports indicated Issavi was released sometime between Sunday (March 28) and Tuesday morning (March 30).

On Feb. 2, State Security Investigations (SSI) agents arrested Issavi shortly after he finished a house meeting at a friend’s home in Isfahan. Along with the accusation of “converting Muslims,” the pastor is charged with not co-operating with police, presumably for continuing to hold such house meetings after police sealed the Evangelical Church of Kermanshah and ordered him not to reopen it.

After his arrest, Issavi was held at an unmarked prison facility in Isfahan and apparently tortured, according to a Christian woman who fled Iran and knows Issavi and his family. The Christian woman, who requested anonymity for security reasons, said Issavi’s wife, Medline Nazanin, visited the pastor at the unmarked facility. Nazanin said it was obvious Issavi had been tortured, the Christian told Compass.

Issavi’s confinement cells were so filthy he contracted a life-threatening infection, Nazanin told the Christian woman.

“They took him to the hospital and then returned him back to the prison,” the woman said.

Friends of Issavi added that he is still dealing with the lingering effects of the infection.

During Issavi’s imprisonment, authorities threatened to execute him, sources close to the case said. The joy of Issavi’s family at his release was tinged with fear as they waited in agony for the possibility of him being killed by Islamic extremists, as is common in Iran when Christians are detained for religious reasons and then released.

“Sometimes they release you just to kill you,” the Christian source said.

Issavi has not been informed of his trial date.

Issavi’s friend said that low-key ethnic Christians, such as the Assyrians, are largely unbothered for long periods of time. Active Christians are treated differently.

“When you start evangelizing, then you are in real trouble,” she said.

Iranian authorities have set up a video camera outside Issavi’s church to monitor anyone going in or out of the building, according to the pastor’s friend.

Issavi was one of a few Christians in leadership positions arrested in Isfahan in February during what some Middle Eastern experts described as a crackdown on area church leadership.

Isfahan, a city of more than 1.5 million people located 208 miles (335 kilometers) south of Tehran, has been the site of other anti-Christian persecution. In an incident in July 2008, two Christians died as a result of injuries received from police who were breaking up a house meeting.

On Feb. 28, Isfahan resident Hamid Shafiee and his wife Reyhaneh Aghajary, both converts from Islam and house church leaders, were arrested at their home.

Police handcuffed, beat and pepper-sprayed Aghajary and then took her to prison. Her husband Shafiee, who was away from the house when police arrived, was arrested an hour later when he returned to the house. Approximately 20 police officers raided the home, seizing Bibles, CDs, photographs, computers, telephones, personal items and other literature.

The couple is still being held. Other details about their detainment are unknown.

Three Christians Released
Elsewhere, three Christians arrested on Dec. 24, 2009 have been released, according to Farsi Christian News Network (FCNN).

Maryam Jalili, Mitra Zahmati, and Farzan Matin were initially arrested along with 12 other Christians at a home in Varamin. Eventually they were transferred to Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison, though the other 12 prisoners were conditionally released on Jan. 4.

Jalili, Zahmati and Matin were freed on March 17, though terms of their release were unclear. Jalili is married and has two children.

Iran has a longstanding history of religious repression. Shia Islam is the official state religion and is ensconced as such in Iran’s constitution. Every year since 1999, the U.S. Secretary of State has designated Iran as a “Country of Particular Concern” for its persecution of Christians and other religious minorities.

According to the 2009 International Religious Freedom Report issued by the U.S. Department of State, persecution of Christians and other religious minorities in Iran continued to get significantly worse.

“Christians, particularly evangelicals, continued to be subject to harassment and close surveillance,” the report states. “The government vigilantly enforced its prohibition on proselytizing by closely monitoring the activities of evangelical Christians, discouraging Muslims from entering church premises, closing churches, and arresting Christian converts.”

Islamic Scholar: 'There Is No Jihad Against Noncombatants'

Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri is a leading Islamic scholar and educator.

This is the Islamic scholar who issued the 600 page fatwa against jihad. But there are some gaping holes in his theory ~ which is essentially a call for law and order and respect for authority. What stands out is the 'no jihad against noncombatants' part ~ Maj. Nidal Hasan got around this when he took out the lives of 13 fellow US servicemen and women or combatants. The question then is when is jihad allowed?

There just feels like there is something the cleric is not saying ~ so here is something from a former post:

SHARIA VS [US] CONSTITUTION

Sharia Law
It is obligatory to obey the commands and interdictions of the caliph or his representative in everything that is lawful, even if he is unjust . . because the purpose of his authority is Islamic unity, which could not be realized if obeying him were not obligatory. (o25.5) The caliph or his representative have the duty of undertaking jihad if their territory borders on enemy lands, of dividing the spoils of battle, and of remitting a fifth for “deserving recipients.” (o25.9(8)) Jihad is obligatory for everyone when the enemy has surrounded the Muslims. (o9.3) It is permissible in jihad to cut down the enemy’s trees and destroy their dwellings. (o9.1)

Okay, the Muslim is meant to take commands from the Caliph, whether he is a crackpot dictator or not. In this examination of Shari'a law it states that he can issue the command for jihad. But there is only one problem ~ there is no Caliph.

Sharia Law
A caliph must be a Muslim, a non-slave, a male, of the Quraysh tribe, etc. (o25.0)
The Caliph appoints a group to select his successor among themselves. There is no a term of office. However, the caliphate of someone who seizes power is considered valid, even though his act of usurpation is disobedience, in view of the danger from anarchy and strife that would otherwise ensue. (o25.4(3))

It goes on the Caliph must be a male of the 'Quraysh tribe,' or Muhammad's family and controllers of the Kaaba in Mecca for 700 years before Islam. BUT if someone wants to come up and take the Caliphate from this guy the victor is considered the legitimate leader. Which directly contradicts the good cleric's claim:

Neither the Koran nor the Sunnah, I mean the tradition of the Holy Prophet, nor the classical authorities, none of them say that any group of individuals or any party or any organization has the right to declare jihad or take up arms and fight against the government or challenge the writ of the government.

Even governments with Muslim rulers who are not practicing Islam in totality, or enforcing Islam in totality -- even then they are not allowed to take up arms against them or to fight against them.

Admittedly these jihadists are out of control, he sites the reason for his fatwa:

...and the terrorists started slaughtering some of those who didn't agree with their ideology and even took dead bodies out of their graves and started hanging them from the trees.

I saw many ulema [Islamic clerics] and scholars who were supposed to criticize or condemn these acts of terror, [but] instead of condemning them absolutely and strongly, they were silent.

As one former terrorist put it there are at least 40 references to jihad in the Koran ~ and we know that 97% of references to jihad in all Islam's holy books relating to holy war, only 3% to soul searching. And of course all these jihadist references stem from Muhammad the first jihadist ~ hardly a wave of the fatwa wand ~ however good intentioned ~ will get rid of this.


Ever since the influential Muslim scholar Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri last month issued a 600-page fatwa, or religious ruling, condemning terror, he has been at the center of international discussions about Islam, Al-Qaeda, and the morality of suicide bombings. Qadri, a Pakistani, is the founding leader of Minhaj ul Qur'an International, a worldwide organization which promotes education in the Islamic sciences. RFE/RL Turkmen Service correspondent Muhammad Tahir speaks with him about why he issued the fatwa and what impact it has had.

RFE/RL: What led you to release the fatwa last month, and why did you choose this particular moment?

Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri: The basic reason for issuing this fatwa at this moment was that a wave of terrorism and violence had become very strong during the past two years, and the terrorists started slaughtering some of those who didn't agree with their ideology and even took dead bodies out of their graves and started hanging them from the trees. And violence and their suicide bombings became very, very frequent, on an everyday basis.

And unfortunately, I saw many ulema [Islamic clerics] and scholars who were supposed to criticize or condemn these acts of terror, [but] instead of condemning them absolutely and strongly, they were silent.

This violence and this terrorism has created a problem for the whole world, right from east to west, and a bad name is coming to Islam. And the new Muslim generation is being brainwashed and it is getting confused about Islamic ideologies. And relations between East and West, I mean the Muslim world and the western, non-Muslim world, are being badly affected, and this will be a terrible thing for future generations and for the peaceful atmosphere of the world.

That is why I took the decision to issue this fatwa, a comprehensive jurisprudential document, to clarify the situation and to explain the stance of Islam toward acts of terror.

RFE/RL: There has been some favorable response already to this fatwa, with the Afghan presidency, for example, showing interest in translating it into local languages. What do you expect to happen with this document?

Qadri: I have seen a very big response, an unexpectedly high response from both sides, I mean, from the Muslim world and the western, non-Muslim world. Indiscriminately, this fatwa has been highly appreciated, highly received, by the media particularly, and it has reached every part and corner of the world. And you see the influence and effect of the fatwa in [the fact] that rather more than half a million websites are discussing this fatwa.

I think this is something unprecedented, half a million websites for and against, and all those people, the extremists, who are discussing the fatwa in their forums and websites -- up until today none of them have been able to refute this fatwa with Koranic evidence or arguments.

RFE/RL: Of course, groups like the Taliban and Al-Qaeda also issue fatwas in which they call for violent struggle against people they see as oppressors or infidels. What makes you believe you are right and they are wrong?

Qadri: When I talk about this subject, I have a basic principle in mind, and every Muslim should keep this principle in mind. Number one: nobody -- as an individual or as a private organization or as a group of people -- has the right to declare jihad. This is the unanimously agreed-upon view of Islam; no jurist and no school of law in Islamic history has disagreed with this point. Jihad cannot be declared by any group of individuals or any organization, this is number one, [because] this can create anarchy and disorder and disruption all over the world.

Neither the Koran nor the Sunnah, I mean the tradition of the Holy Prophet, nor the classical authorities, none of them say that any group of individuals or any party or any organization has the right to declare jihad or take up arms and fight against the government or challenge the writ of the government.

Even governments with Muslim rulers who are not practicing Islam in totality, or enforcing Islam in totality -- even then they are not allowed to take up arms against them or to fight against them. They are not allowed to take up arms and kill non-Muslims and commit suicide bombings in non-Muslim societies to kill civilians and to kill noncombatants. There is no jihad against noncombatants.

RFE/RL: When you say killing innocent people cannot be justified in Islam, does it mean suicide bombers will go to hell?

Qadri: Yes, definitely. Number one: killing is a big sin, it is a crime. And killing people with an ideology that killing them is lawful and that killing them is permissible or not forbidden, but is an act of jihad -- considering that the killing of people is an act of jihad -- if somebody kills people with this ideology, he goes out of the fold of Islam, he himself becomes a non-Muslim, and that is why this suicide bombing contains two big crimes, or rather three. Number one is killing people. Number two is considering the act of killing lawful. And number three is the suicide act. Suicide itself is a forbidden act which leads to hellfire.

RFE/RL: And what about those who encourage people to commit suicide bombings or pick up arms to fight against others -- what awaits them?

Qadri: They will also join in the same torment and punishment. They are a partner in this punishment, and this is a crime of the same level, same sanguinity. They are also leading themselves to hellfire because they will have a double sin upon them. The same sin that the suicide bombers commit goes to the instigators, promoters, or propagators. And, number two, there is the act of propagating an evil, and that also leads to hellfire.

RFE/RL: How do you describe Al-Qaeda as an organization and the activities it is involved in?

Qadri: There is no need to ask this question, and the reason is that the whole world knows [the answer]. Whatever they are doing, I declare again that it is not an act of jihad, it is not an act of goodness. Whatever they are committing, it is an act of brutality, an act of violence, an act of militancy, an act of disorder, an act of disruption. It is a fitna [sedition]. This is terror and this leads to hellfire. It is not a service to Islam; it is a big loss and damage to Islam.

RFE/RL: Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov has claimed responsibility for the March 29 twin suicide bombings on the Moscow metro system that killed at least 39 people. The rationale is that this is revenge for civilian deaths in Chechnya at the hands of Russian troops and pro-Russian forces. Is it justified?

Qadri: Taking revenge on the non-Muslims, even their aggressors, their armies -- taking revenge in this form by suicide bombings, killing people traveling in planes or trains, Islam does not allow.

For example, if you kill somebody's parents, mother and father, is that person allowed in revenge to rush to your house and kill your parents, in Islam? The answer would be no. He has to go to the court of law and to follow the courts of law, and the murderer should be punished through the court of law. This is Islam. If somebody is committing aggression, you have the right to fight there on the land; the army has a right to fight there in self-defense. But you have no right to go and commit suicide bombings or acts of terror.

Radio Free Europe

Toronto Muslim: ‘We need another Holocaust’ [Video]

The JDL of Canada staged a protest against Palestine House on Good Friday April 2 2010. Here one of their thugs can be heard screaming - "You need anotther Holocaust". This is why our Government needs to defund Palestine House. They have received millions of Canadian Tax Payer dollars to promote Islamist hate.

Kathy Shaidle

At Friday’s demonstration, we encountered Muslims on the other side of the street, who, besides calling for “another Holocaust,” uttered the following statements (video), on a public sidewalk, in broad daylight, in the presence of uniformed police:

We love jihad. We love killing you… We love killing dogs.

You f*ckers need another Holocaust

You monkeys!

Bye, Gypsies. Bye, Gypsies, bye, Jews!

You need another Holocaust. You’d love it. I know you would love it.

Go steal something… You guys are all thieves.

What do your women taste like?

You’re not Canadian, you’re Indian, you’re brown.

Real news Blog

Saudi Shiites arrested over worship: rights activist

Only one type of Islam welcomed here!! Saudi Shiites get the Christian treatment ~ persecuted for worshipping their faith in the Islamic world.

AFP - Authorities in Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia have arrested several Shiite community leaders in the Eastern Province for hosting Shiite worship services in their homes, an activist said Tuesday.

A 30-year old school teacher was detained on Monday in Al-Khobar, where three other Shiites were arrested a week earlier for private services on the Shiite Ashura holiday last December, said Ibrahim Mugaiteeb of the Human Rights First Society.

The arrests follow more than a year of tensions in the Eastern Province over permits for new Shiite mosques in the region.

Authorities have shut down several makeshift Shiite mosques and refused a mosque permit for the 20,000-strong Al-Khobar Shiite community, according to Mugaiteeb.

"They cannot have their own mosques, and they can't pray in a Sunni mosque," he told AFP. "They are not allowed to have prayers in the streets."

He said that three of those arrested were from the same al-Maki family: Hassan Ali al-Maki, the teacher arrested Monday, Abdullah Fahad al-Maki, 73, and Hassan Ali al-Maki, 45.

The fourth man was Mahdi Ahmad al-Khodhair, 64, and all were arrested March 29, Mugaiteeb said.

Mainly concentrated in the Eastern Province, Shiites constitute around 10 percent of the population of Saudi Arabia, where Sunni Islam is the official practice and most Sunni clerics regard Shiism as a rejection of "true" Islam.

No Hijab On The Soccer Field: Iranian Girl's Youth Olympic Team Barred At Singapore Games

FIFA says on its website that “the player's equipment must not carry any political, religious, or personal statements,”

Everyone knows that Iranian women cannot voluntarily take off their veils. They are forced under penalty of law to wear them. These girls probably feel lucky they can wear the sports pants.

The secretary-general of Iran's National Olympic Committee has called on Muslim countries to protest the world soccer body’s ban on head scarves for women during the Youth Olympic Games this summer.

Bahram Afsharzadeh has said that FIFA’s decision to forbid the Iranian women’s football team from wearing head scarves during the games in Singapore is a violation of Muslims' rights and shows disregard for “issues such as nationality, religion, and race.”

The decision also creates “obstacles on their part in the way of women's progress,” the hard-line Fars news agency quoted Afsharzadeh as saying.

RFE/RL’s Radio Farda reported on April 1 that FIFA said in a letter to the Iranian Football Federation that the Iranian women’s team is not allowed to participate in the games in Singapore while wearing hijab, or head scarves.

Faride Shojaee, the vice president of the women’s department of the Iranian Football Federation, said in response that FIFA officials had previously allowed Iranian athletes to participate in the Olympics with their Islamic hijab, “before denying them the right to do so in the letter they sent on Monday.”

Shojaee said she would try to resolve the problem with FIFA officials at the organization’s headquarters in Geneva next week. “FIFA officials have mistaken the religious hijab for national dress, claiming that if they were allowed to participate with Islamic hijab, other participants might also demand to appear in their respective traditional costumes,” she said.

The president of the Iranian Football Federation, Ali Kafashian, also called on the world football governing body to reconsider its decision.

Kashefian is quoted by the semi-official Mehr news agency as saying that “due to [their] religious beliefs, the Iranian women’s team will participate in the competition only if they are allowed to observe the Islamic dress code.”

FIFA says on its website that “the player's equipment must not carry any political, religious, or personal statements,” and that “all items of clothing or equipment other than the basic must be inspected by the referee and determined not to be dangerous.”

The ruling suggests that FIFA considers playing soccer while wearing the hijab to be potentially dangerous to the player.

In 2007, an 11-year-old girl was not allowed to play in a soccer game in Canada because she was wearing the hijab. The Quebec Soccer Association said the ban on the hijab is to protect children from being accidentally strangled.

The Islamic hijab became compulsory for Iranian girls and women following the 1979 revolution. While many Iranian women support the hijab, others believe that it is a violation of their rights and that they should be able to have the freedom to choose what they wear. They also say that the hijab limits their ability to take part in some sports and activities.

In a 2003 commentary for “The Guardian” newspaper, well-known Iranian-born graphic novelist and filmmaker Marjane Satrapi described the compulsory Islamic hijab as an “act of violence against women.”

“Forcing women to put a piece of material on their head is an act of violence, and even if you get used to it after a while, the violence of insisting that women must cover their heads in public with a small piece of cloth does not diminish,” Satrapi wrote.

RFERL

Saudi cleric announces visit to Jerusalem to bolster Islam claim to the city

Islam's Dome of the Rock is backdropped as Christian worshippers holding palm leaves walk down the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem during the traditional Palm Sunday procession on March 28, 2010.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — A Saudi cleric announced Monday on his television show that he will visit Jerusalem next week to bolster Muslim claims to the city.

If Sheik Mohammed al-Areefi goes ahead with his plan, it would be an unprecedented trip for a prominent Saudi. Jerusalem is the third holiest site in Islam, but most Muslim countries — including Saudi Arabia — observe a strict boycott of Israel and ban travel there.

Al-Areefi told his viewers Sunday on the religious satellite channel Iqra that the next episode of his show would be about Muslim claims to Jerusalem and Palestine. Al-Areefi said he would visit the city next week, though he did not specify when.

He said he was not afraid of any "treachery from the Jews," as he had put his trust in God.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said while he was unfamiliar with the case, al-Areefi could apply for a visa from the consulate in Amman.

"Throughout the years many people from countries like Libya, Indonesia and other countries that don't have relations with Israel have visited Jerusalem," he said. "All these visits were naturally coordinated with Israeli authorities."

Al-Areefi is viewed as a comparative moderate among Saudi Arabia's conservative clergy.

His show is aimed at encouraging young people to get involved in their communities and contribute their time in humanitarian work. It features a studio audience of young people and live call-ins from viewers.

Al-Areefi is currently visiting Jordan.

UK Labour Ken Livingstone on Iran state run Press TV

Amazing!!

And his stated aim is to become Mayor of London AGAIN!!

Challenge to anti-Israel propaganda here ~ Ken Livingstone would go to any length not to offend Muslims:

This is the problem with the Islamic argument ~ Shari'a is all about parallel legal system ~ if you are non-Muslim you are on the lowest rung ~ why should they want to look at this. Syria, Egypt, Pakistan ~ a Muslim woman cannot marry a non-Muslim man, and a Non-Muslim man ~ in places like Syria a man cannot marry another Christian who falls outside of his religious group ~ unless he converts to Islam ~ of which of course he can never legally leave. People in Egypt have been jailed because their father converted to Islam ~ and having lived their lives as Christians ~ in their 30's and 40's they find that they are being forced to be Muslim, have their marriages annulled and children forcibly converted to Islam by the state.

Muslims can talk about Israel all they want ~ but if they think they are going to roll their Islamic system of law out via people like Ken Livingstone ~ they are dreaming.

The Blacks in the Islamic world's apartheid system are its Christians!!

Nurse awaits ruling in crucifix ban case, while Muslim women can wear the government fitted burqa

The new inclusion means publicly excluding everything Christian and allowing all things Muslim. In the British National Health Service a woman can wear a burqa against WHO regulations that require faces to be shown, but after 30 years of service nurse Chaplin no longer wear her Christian cross.

The absolute joke about inclusion is that it is not inclusive. The same thing is happen in Holland ~ a Coptic railway employee cannot wear his cross after all the years of wearing it ~ but the Muslim women can wear her headscarf. It is clear no one is going to be bombed or receive threats from an overseas militant website if hospital staff are not allowed to wear the cross. Everyone criticizes France ~ for its headscarf ban but it was a blanket ban. Unlike in the UK and in Holland where priority is given to the Islamic belief.

A CHRISTIAN nurse from Devon who was banned by hospital bosses from showing a crucifix necklace is expected to learn today if she has won her claim for discrimination at an employment tribunal.

Grandmother Shirley Chaplin, 54, took action against bosses at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital after they told her to either hide or remove it because they classed it as jewellery.

They insisted that the crucifix breached health and safety rules because it could scratch patients or injure Mrs Chaplin if it was grabbed.

Ward sister Mrs Chaplin, from Exeter, refused, arguing that the crucifix was essential to her Christian beliefs.

The hearing at Exeter finished last week and the tribunal's judgment is expected today.


Mrs Chaplin – who has worn the inch-long crucifix since she was 16 – said: "I feel personally discriminated against, and I am very angry.

"I have worn my cross for 38 years and it has never harmed anybody.

"If I am forced to hide it, I feel I am denying my Christian convictions.

"I feel torn between my two vocations – my faith and my job.

"I have respect for Islam as a faith and I admire Muslims for sticking to their views, but they do not seem to face the same rigorous application of NHS rules.

"Not only are they allowed to wear headscarves in the wards but other, non-religious staff wear jewellery and have not been challenged.

"I believe much of the discrimination against me has been handed down from on high, from central Government.

"They have brought in all these diversity policies so as not to offend anyone.

"But they don't mind offending me."

Mrs Chaplin, a member of the Church of England, told the Mail on Sunday that she did not force her faith on anyone.

She said: "I don't push my faith in people's faces.

"I don't go round quoting passages from the Bible.

"I am a very private person."

Her cross and chain was a present from her family to mark her confirmation service at St Mary's, her parents' parish church in Bishops Lydeard, near Taunton.

Mrs Chaplin is adamant that most of her patients are reassured by her crucifix.

The saga began last June when hospital bosses told her the cross hanging around her neck posed a risk to patients and a series of meetings with managers followed.

The Royal College of Nursing told Mrs Chaplin the union could not support her case as it had agreed the uniform policy with health chiefs.

She said: "It's now so difficult to stand up and be a Christian.

Official blames al-Qaida in Iraq for bombs, 34 die

BAGHDAD (AP) — Baghdad's top military spokesman is blaming al-Qaida in Iraq for a series of massive explosions at apartment buildings across Baghdad which killed at least 34 people.

Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, an spokesman for Baghdad's operations command center, said after the blasts Tuesday "we are in a state of war with the remains of al-Qaida." He spoke in an interview on state-owned TV.

He said terrorists are trying to disrupt security and the political process in Iraq, where parties are struggling for form a new government after the March 7 election produced no clear winner.

Tuesday's attack was the fourth with multiple casualties in Iraq in five days.

-

A suicide bomber also struck near the former British embassy in central Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source told Reuters.

German Jihad Colonies Sprout Up in Pakistan's Lawless Waziristan

A threat video created by the so-called "German Taliban." The video, released on the Internet this fall, threatens to take the jihad to German cities. The message was illustrated with images of the Brandenburg Gate and the main railway station in Hamburg and even Oktoberfest in Munich.


A wave of Germans traveling to training camps for militant jihadists has alarmed security officials back in Europe. The recruits are quickly becoming radicalized and, in some cases, entire families are departing to hotbeds for terrorism. It is even believed that colonies catering to German Islamists have taken shape in the border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

It was a Sunday in September when they lost their son Jan*. He gave his parents a particularly tight hug, his father recalls, a long and intense embrace. The father says that he could sense that this was no normal goodbye, and that it was about more than the supposed vacation trip to celebrate the couple's first wedding anniversary -- which was the story that Jan, 24, and his wife Alexandra* had cooked up for him.

It was the day of the German parliamentary elections in 2009, and the autumn sun was shining in Berlin, but Jan and Alexandra weren't interested in who would govern the country. They were going to leave Germany. They had rejected this society and this state. Jan and Alexandra packed their things into a rental car, picked up another couple, and the four friends headed off into exile. One of their traveling companions was 17 years old and six months pregnant -- her husband had just turned 20. Their child would not be born in Germany.

A propaganda video featuring German Islamist Eric Breininger (left) and Ahmet M., a Turk born in Germany who is believed to be a key recruiter in the Germany-speaking Islamist scene.


The two married couples headed to Budapest, where they boarded a plane for Istanbul. Jan placed one last call to his parents from a hotel.

Since then there have been only sporadic e-mails. These have been loving messages to his father and mother. But he also writes things that frighten his parents. He is living among brothers and doesn't need much money, Jan writes. No, they can't visit him -- it would be too dangerous, he says. And no, he can no longer imagine returning to Berlin, to a life among the kuffar, the infidels.

Islamist Cüneyt Ciftci, a former employee for Bosch, who hailed from the quiet southern German town of Ansbach, carried out a suicide bombing in Afghanistan in March 2008.


Then, in December, he wrote that he didn't know if he would live to see the next summer. Since then his parents have been looking in their mailbox every morning -- and every morning it's the same: nothing. They can hardly bear the uncertainty.

Extremist Expats

German intelligence agencies presume that Jan and Alexandra are now living in the Afghan-Pakistani border region. It is a world in which al-Qaida and the Taliban are strong and the state is weak, where conflicts are resolved according to the rules of the sharia and local chieftains. This is also allegedly the last refuge, at least for the time being, of Osama bin Laden.

In this remote mountain region, a colony of Germans has sprung up -- expats who have severed all roots and found a new homeland in the Hindu Kush. Germany's Federal Office of Criminal Investigation (BKA) maintains a list of suspects who have taken off to Afghanistan or Pakistan -- or at least tried to leave -- over the past few years. The list has nearly 100 names. It's a directory of the third generation of Islamist terrorists after the 9/11 suicide pilots and Germany's so-called "Sauerland Cell". Like their predecessors, they are eager to fight the holy war and die a martyr's death. Intelligence agencies are now wondering who among this generation will become the next Mohammed Atta or the next Fritz Gelowicz, the ring leader of the Sauerland Cell -- or who will emulate former Bosch employee Cüneyt Ciftci, who hailed from the quiet southern German town of Ansbach and carried out a suicide bombing in Afghanistan in March 2008, blowing himself to pieces and killing four people.

Hamburg's renamed Taiba mosque is in the same building where Mohammed Atta, the top terrorist who died in the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington, used to come to worship as he planned the most spectacular act of terrorism ever committed.


The list includes Jan and Alexandra from Berlin, Michael W. from Hamburg -- who tried to slip away last spring but was arrested in Pakistan and sent back -- and the 19-year-old Berliner Omar H., who disappeared with his girlfriend last January. They are driven by the dream of a life that they see as a pure reflection of the teachings of Islam. They want to exchange the Western world for an archaic life in barren huts, where they only occasionally have electricity and where the Koran stands above everything.

The first two generations consisted of angry young men who yearned to go into battle, and opted to leave their women behind. The third generation is different, though. They are younger and highly ethnically mixed, often men and women who leave Germany together -- or even shortly before the birth of their children -- on their way from the Berlin district of Wedding to Waziristan, the porous border region skirting the Afghan-Pakistani border.

'It's Shocking How Quickly Your Own Child Can Slip Away from You'

Agencies such as the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany's domestic intelligence agency, and the BKA are particularly worried about the speed at which these young men and women are prepared to leave their lives in Germany, usually burning their bridges behind them. Occasionally, as in the case of Jan and his wife, it takes only a few months before they become unreachable -- first in terms of their willingness to listen to opposing points of view, then in a very literal sense.

Jan's parents, who came to Berlin from Eastern Europe 20 years ago, noticed the first change in May 2008, when their only son suddenly refused to eat pork. He told his mother earlier that he had purchased a copy of the Koran.

His parents weren't concerned because Jan had completed high school and planned to become a career soldier. He also had his girlfriend Alexandra, who was two years younger than him. The two young people wanted to get married. It looked like the makings of a picture-book life: peaceful, happy and unspectacular.

The wedding was in September 2008 -- a beautiful ceremony, held in the middle of the religious fasting month of Ramadan. They didn't eat until after sunset, but there was music and the bride was dressed entirely in white, just as she had wanted. In November, the couple married again -- this time in a Muslim ceremony -- and after that everything went very quickly. By March 2009, the parents only saw their daughter-in-law wearing a full veil. And the number of conflicts started increasing.

Jan tried to convert his father to Islam. His father accompanied him to the mosque to see who his son was meeting with. Jan even tried to convert his elderly grandmother, who is a fervently pious Catholic.

He decided to drop his original career plan of becoming a professional soldier, preferably stationed abroad. Jan told his parents that he otherwise might be forced to fight against his fellow believers. He also dropped out of vocational school.

By early 2009 the young couple mentioned for the first time that they would rather practice their faith undisturbed by distractions, in a country where this was still possible -- in Yemen, for example, Somalia or Pakistan, far away from the big cities. Last autumn, Jan and Alexandra started to secretly auction off their possessions on eBay. The process of radicalization had taken little over a year. "It's shocking how quickly your own child can slip away from you," says Jan's mother, who is now seeking contact with other families who have had similar experiences. "Hardly anyone else can understand our situation," she says.

The Recruiter

German officials believe that Jan can be seen in a video made by a relatively new group that calls itself the "German Taliban Mujahedeen". Up until now, they have drawn attention to themselves with noisy propaganda -- in a video released last fall that threatened to take the war to German cities, for example. This message was illustrated with images of the Brandenburg Gate and the main railway station in Hamburg. The man who appears to be responsible for the propaganda is Ahmet M., 32, who has apparently become something of a media services provider for a segment of the German colony.

Ahmet goes by the name of "Saladin" on the Internet, and every few weeks his "Elif Medya" label issues a new propaganda film aimed at luring new volunteers to Afghanistan. The muddled messages of German Islamist Eric Breininger from the milieu of the Sauerland Cell carry this same trademark, as do the communiqués of the "German Taliban."

The explosion, shown here in a video still, killed four people.

Saladin's specialization with recruits from Germany can be explained by his personal history. He was born in the northern town of Salzgitter and his last German place of residence was in the state of Saarland. He ran afoul of the law in Germany at an early age and was caught stealing for the first time at 15. Later, he was convicted of dealing hash and cocaine, sentenced to three years in prison and deported to Turkey in April 2000.

German investigators believe that Ahmet M. alias Saladin is a key recruiter on the German-speaking scene. Only a few weeks ago, he personally tried to direct a willing recruit all the way from Germany to the Hindu Kush, but the German police intercepted the Berliner en route.

Ahmet M. boasts that he has served as the spokesman for the Islamic Jihad Union over the past few years, but he says "now I work for the Taliban." The German-Turk is thought to act as a link between the young new recruits and the front. During the month of Ramadan, he collected donations on German online forums to purchase "basic foodstuffs for the widows and orphans" and the wounded on the jihad battlefields of Afghanistan.

From Pothead to Mujahedeen

The videos from the combat zone may seem bizarre, but they are effective. They lure men like Michael W. from Hamburg, an ethnic German born in Kazakhstan, who headed off in March 2009. Traveling with a friend, he flew with Qatar Airways from Vienna to Doha. When the two men checked in that morning in Vienna, Austrian officials asked them questions such as where they intended to travel and what they planned to do in Pakistan.

Take a vacation, said one.

Do business with carpets, said the other.

Police discovered that Michael W. was carrying two notes that smacked of neither vacationing nor the carpet trade.

One of them bore the headline "Rules of Conduct for the Jihad" and focused on highly practical issues. "Remain calm during battle. Do not scream," was one of the guidelines. "Do not punish with fire" and "no mutilating corpses," were two other bits of advice. The second piece of paper was a letter of recommendation from someone called "Ibrahim, the Lebanese from Hamburg," apparently to grant the holder access to a training camp. In addition, both men had laptops and mobile phones in their original packaging. The Austrians allowed them to pass, and they traveled via Doha to Karachi in Pakistan. There they were arrested because they were apparently traveling under false pretenses. Later, they were deported to Germany.

Michael W. is now 24 years old. He usually wears long, light-colored garments, has a big flowing beard and smiles a great deal. The police have identified him as a "dangerous element" and federal prosecutors are investigating his activities. He is seen as one of the new enemies of the state. It is likely that he was introduced to the scene by a fellow high school student in his graduating class of 2006.

In Hamburg there is a group of young believers who have been meeting since the summer of 2008, and it reportedly includes Michael W. The leader of the group has slipped past the border controls and is now in Waziristan -- a former pothead who has become a mujahedeen. Those who have been left behind meet every Friday in the former Quds Mosque on Hamburg's Steindamm street -- the very same house of worship once frequented by Mohammed Atta, and now called the Taiba Mosque. During religious services, Michael W. sits extremely close to the low wooden pedestal where the prayer leader stands.

Isolation, Deprivation and Suffering

It's possible that Michael W. should be thankful to the Pakistani border authorities. They may have saved his life. Reports currently arriving from the Hindu Kush in Hamburg, Berlin and elsewhere sound like a far cry from paradise -- and more like war and death. They paint a picture of life in isolation, full of deprivation and suffering.

Ever since the Pakistani army launched an offensive last fall and advanced on Waziristan, the Islamist groups have had to fear for their existence. "The kuffar are attacking us with all their might," one report from the combat zone states. There are also Germans among the heavily wounded. Relatives back home in Germany are now afraid that their children will be killed by the bullets of the Pakistani army -- or by a US drone attack.

Ever since he left Germany, Jan's parents have been asking themselves if their son is actually capable of fighting. On the one hand, his father says, Jan has never been violent. The father says he once asked him directly about it, and his son replied: "I'm not crazy." On the other hand, he recalls that they once went to see the combat-filled film "300," and Jan said how great it must be to have something worth fighting for.

And then there's that last will and testament. It was written by Omar H., one of Jan's acquaintances from Berlin. He slipped off the radar in late January together with his 16-year-old girlfriend Stefanie, who now calls herself "Amina". They are probably on their way to the German colony -- to the others from Berlin.

"I want to be buried in a Muslim cemetery. Care should be taken to ensure that no non-believer (including Jews and Christians) is buried near my grave," Omar decreed in his testament with his rounded, flawless schoolboy handwriting. "When I die, I would like to be washed according to Islamic rites by my wife Amina along with the helpers of her choice, then wrapped and buried. This is my wish unless Allah, in his mercy, honors me with a martyr's death."

Der Spiegel