Italy: panel okays bill banning face veils

Equality in dress, Islamic style

Equality in dress, Islamic style

Italy moved closer to banning Islamic face veils in the country when a parliamentary panel approved Tuesday a measure making illegal the wearing of burqas, niqabs and other ethnic face covers.

The House Constitutional Affairs committee approved the bill backed by Premier Silvio Berlusconi‘s People of Freedom party and the right wing Northern League party, sending it for voting before the full House in September.

Under the draft law, violators will be fined $213 to $426 or community service. Those who force others to wear burqas will be penalized severely with a $14,200 fine and one-year imprisonment.

Silvio Berlusconi in a meeting

Silvio Berlusconi. Image via Wikipedia

Proponents of the bill have cited security concerns for endorsing the proposed burqa ban. A social survey also indicates that most Italians do not approve of wearing face veils in public because it degrades women.

via Italian panel okays bill banning face veils | AHN.

More here.

The only thing I don’t like is seeing here a party called Lega Norte. A party one of whose members have supported ETA murders (“We welcome a firecracker or a bomb when if comes to defending freedom“) and some others have supported Anders Breivik’s ideas.

Egypt: Obama, Al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood

Logo Muslim Brotherhood

Muslim Brotherhood's logo. Image via Wikipedia

This is hardly surprising

Elliot Abrams, a deputy national security adviser handling Middle East affairs under President Bush, noted that Muslim Brotherhood positions on women, on freedom of religion and on religious tests for candidacy to public office are all “an anathema” to the USA. He went on to explain that there is a great likelihood that those in the Muslim Brotherhood who preach the need for the supremacy of Shari’a law in Arab states will prevail. Nonetheless, he agrees with the President that formal contacts with the Muslim Brotherhood open the doors to American influence, and that influence may moderate the Brotherhood’s extremist Islamists positions. In addition he expressed the belief that there are divisions in the Brotherhood which could be exploited and deepened by meetings with American representatives.

Abrams’ assessment is very reminiscent of Israel’s western allies believing that political responsibility would moderate Arafat after Oslo in 1993; or that Hamas would be forced to self-moderate once it was saddled with the administration of the Gaza Strip after its bloody coup. Neither belief was founded in reality.

It is important to recall that the Muslim Brotherhood, since its inception more than 80 years ago, has been consistent in its ideology: the imposition of Shari’a law, by violence, on the entire world. Repression by Arab governments has never moderated it. Its core motivations arise from the jihadist Islamist belief in the obligation incumbent upon all Muslims to make Islam the only, or at least dominant, religion in the world. It is the oldest and among the best organized and wide-spread Islamic extremist terrorist organizations in the world. Its program for a “cultural invasion” of western countries, outlining a phased plan for infiltrating western societies and governments until it has the power to escalate its activities into political or violent confrontation, has been public for more than 20 years. Hamas, a self-proclaimed genocidal terrorist organization whose charter establishes its goal of destroying Israel, is a franchise of the Muslim Brotherhood. Both Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood have expressed the desire to destroy the United States and make Islam the only, or the dominant, religion in the world. Why would a few western carrots or sticks make it change its core beliefs?

It seems likely that whatever his intentions, Obama’s contacts with the Brotherhood will strengthen it politically and increase its chances of becoming one of the dominant, if not the dominant, political force in Egypt. Being able to boast of Obama’s implicit recognition of the Brotherhood’s importance, the Brotherhood will now have an easier time gaining recruits, soliciting funds, and engaging with other major powers in Europe and elsewhere.

via Obama, Al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood.

And we have also seen what has happened with the Arab spring in Egypt, where the Islamists have flooded, expelling democratic protesters.

Turkey: 42% of women suffer abuse from husband or partner

Unofficial Turkish emblem (This is not the Tur...

Image via Wikipedia

Somedays ago, there was a poll saying that “60 percent, both male and female, think women should obey men, while 33 percent think women deserve to be beaten by their husbands if they do not obey – compared to 19 percent in 1996“. Here we see the results:

A study has found that 42 per cent of Turkish women suffer physical or sexual violence at the hands of their husband or partner, despite tough laws designed to protect them.But women’s advocate and researcher Gauri van Gulik says the laws are rarely enforced.
Our reporter Ashley Hall spoke to her from Berlin.
GAURI VAN GULIK: The main thing that I have to say about the abuse in Turkey is that the level is quite extreme. Now we see abuse everywhere we work but what we encountered in Turkey was really not just the daily beatings or just sexual abuse but also very severe kinds of abuse like poisoning, we encountered cases of stabbings, gunfights as well, horrible cases of abuse, very, very sickening frankly. And we encountered that throughout the country in different areas of the country.

via Nearly half of Turkey’s women suffer abuse « Dalit News from Kerala.

Spain: Six Islamic countries are funding Islamism, National Center of Intelligence alerts

The document, sent by the head of the National Intelligence Center (CNI) to the foreign, interior and defense ministers on May 16, sounds the alarm on the financial aid provided by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Libya and, above all, Morocco to the 1.2 million Muslims living in Spain.

“The consequences of this financing result in negative attitudes for peaceful coexistence, such as the creation of ghettos and parallel societies, Islamic courts and police systems outside the law, girls being taken out of school, forced marriages and so on,” reads the CNI report, which has been accessed by EL PAÍS. “There is not enough control over the financial flows represented by donations and aid from other countries to Spain’s Islamic community,” the report continues. “It becomes necessary for the donor countries to be fully aware of the risks entailed by financing individual requests.”

The Spanish government wants oil monarchies such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia to only fund projects that have been first submitted to the Islamic Commission of Spain (CIE), the official mediator, for approval. In the mid-term, however, Spain wants to end foreign intromission.

“The right to and the management of Spaniards’ religious freedom, no matter what their faith, cannot be dependent on any foreign country,” read a joint report by the justice and interior ministries in 2009.

More:

“The consequences of this funding consists mainly in negative attitudes for coexistence, such as the emergence of parallel societies and ghettos, Islamic courts and police outside the current legislation, lack of schooling of girls, forced marriages, etc.,” the CNI’s report said.

From the Gult, a flood of pamphlets arrive that irritate the Spanish authorities. “Today’s Europe is still considering that the white race is superior,” notes a paper published in Castilian by the Ministry of Islamic Affairs in Qatar under the title “Muhammad. The Ideal Prophet”. “Europe, with all its pretensions to enlighten and lead (…) is still behind Islam,” it continues (…). Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has also shown, when he still had the means, predilection for the Spanish converts grouped in the Islamic Council of Spain (ICS). He established a “personal relationship”, according to the CNI, with ICS’ president, a psychiatrist based in Cordoba Francisco Jose Escudero, who adopted the Arabic name of Mansour, who died last October, .

The Secret Service also notes in its report some specific financial operations, such as the 300,000€ paid by Qatar to remodel the Catalan Islamic Cultural Center, but it does not provide overall figures. “For the most part, they are using alternative channels to bring these donations beyond the control of the regular Spanish financial system,” he says.

Needless to say, the more generous of all is Saudi Arabia, by direct donations to the royal family, others made by its Embassy in Madrid and a host of charities more or less official. The string of mosques and centers which receive its aid recipients “are not characterized by its high level of radicalism,” according to the CNI, although their “submission” to the Saudis is complete.

via El CNI alerta de que seis países musulmanes financian al islamismo – Nuevo Digital Internacional.

UK: “Islamic Emirates project”, autonomous enclaves ruled by Sharia Law

Londonistan: How Britain is Creating a Terror ...

Image via Wikipedia

Don’t worry: there is no danger of Sharia being applied in the UK. That’s all rubbish by Islamophobe racists… Of course, then Anjem Choudary is of course, an Islamophobic racist. Err, no. He wants to “plant the seeds down for an Islamic Emirate in the long term“:

The project, which uses the motto “The end of man-made law, and the start of Sharia law,” was launched exactly six years after Muslim suicide bombers killed 52 people and injured 800 others in London. A July 7, 2011 announcement posted on the Muslims Against the Crusades website, states:

“In the last 50 years, the United Kingdom has transformed beyond recognition. What was once a predominantly Christian country has now been overwhelmed by a rising Muslim population, which seeks to preserve its Islamic identity, and protect itself from the satanic values of the tyrannical British government.

“There are now over 2.8 million Muslims living in the United Kingdom – which is a staggering 5% of the population – but in truth, it is more than just numbers, indeed the entire infrastructure of Britain is changing; Mosques, Islamic Schools, Shari’ah Courts and Muslim owned businesses, have now become an integral part of the British landscape. Continue reading

Blasphemy resolution update: OIC, West pledge to “combat intolerance”

Flag of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference

Flag of the OIC. Image via Wikipedia

The real consequences of Breivik’s attack:

In what can rightly be described as a seminal step in relations between the Muslim world and the Western world, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the leading nations of the Western world led by the United States and the European Union agreed Saturday to take concrete steps to combat intolerance, negative stereotyping and discrimination, incitement to violence, and violence against persons based on religion or belief.

The high-level meeting was held at the historic Yildiz Palace in Istanbul. It was attended by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Cathrine Ashton along with foreign ministers and officials from France, Germany, Britain, Italy, Japan, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Poland, Romania, Denmark, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Pakistan, Senegal, Sudan, the Vatican, UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Arab League and African Union. The meeting was co-chaired by OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Ever since he took office, the OIC secretary-general has been working on formulating ways and means to stop acts of religious intolerance. (Really? Because in the Mohammed cartoons, he actually fueled the conflict… and he is one of those who see plots against Islam everywhere and a “pandemic of Islam vilification” than should be fought against with a “blashphemy monitoring mechanism”).

“It was during my address to the 15th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva that I outlined a new approach toward evolving a consensus against incitement to violence and intolerance on religious grounds that could endanger peaceful coexistence and must be viewed as a direct contrast to the very notion of a globalized world,” said Ihsanoglu. “I am glad that the eight points in the proposed approach found resonance with all the negotiating partners. They formed the basis of the consensus reflected in Human Rights Council Resolution 16/18. The importance of the consensual adoption of this resolution should be duly recognized.”

via OIC, West pledge to combat intolerance – Arab News.

But there is more:

The U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had announced the intention of the U.S. State Department to organize a coordination meeting during her participation in the meeting which she co-chaired with the OIC Secretary General, Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu in Istanbul on 15 July 2011. The meeting issued a joint statement emphasizing the dire need for the implementation of resolution 16/18.

Pakistan: Father of 2-year-old raped because he didn’t convert to Islam, speaks

I have already written about this case here. The family lives now in Canada. The girl will never have a normal life, because of the consequences of the rape:

As I asked then, any condemnations from UN, UNICEF…?

T/x to Augusto and BNI.

US Treasury Dept: Iran Supports Flow of Al-Qaeda Funds, Personnel

This is from last week, but it’s interesting to read nonetheless:

A still of 2004 Osama bin Laden video

Image via Wikipedia

Iran has been facilitating the movement of al-Qaeda funds and personnel to Pakistan and Afghanistan from the surrounding region under a deal with the terrorist organization, the U.S. Treasury Department said on Thursday (see GSN, May 14, 2010).

The department said it was blacklisting six individuals, among them a “prominent Iran-based al-Qaeda facilitator” named Ezedin Abdel Aziz Khalil, the New York Times reported. Citizens of the United States cannot do business with the sanctioned individuals, and U.S. officials said the targets would be unable to access any financial holdings within this country. Government sources said they realized, though, that such holdings do not exist in significant quantities.
This network serves as the core pipeline through which al-Qaeda moves money, facilitators and operatives from across the Middle East to South Asia, including to Attiyah Abd al-Rahman, a key al-Qaeda leader based in Pakistan,” the department said in a press release.
Rahman is thought to have recently assumed the terrorist organization’s second-highest post, immediately under Osama bin Laden‘s successor Ayman al-Zawahiri (see related GSN story, today). Rahman was another target of the new penalties.
“By exposing Iran’s secret deal with al-Qaeda allowing it to funnel funds and operatives through its territory, we are illuminating yet another aspect of Iran’s unmatched support for terrorism,” Treasury Undersecretary David Cohen said in released remarks.
The Treasury Department move was intended to shed light on “a key funding facilitation network for Al Qaeda and a key aspect for Iranian support for international terrorism,” a high-level Obama administration official told journalists by telephone.

via NTI: Global Security Newswire – Iran Supports Flow of Al-Qaeda Funds, Personnel: U.S..

Norway: the “Christian terrorist” nonsense (II)

More on Breivik’s ideas on Christianism (1, 2, 3):

Anders Breivik, leaving the courts

Anders Breivik, leaving the courts

Breivik’s worldview, if we can call it that, is not easily characterized. Some have branded him a “Christian terrorist.” He does write that he hopes the “Church gains more or less [a] monopoly on religion in Europe,” but also that “it is essential that science takes an undisputed precedence over biblical teachings.” In keeping with this latter view, he lauds the work of Princeton University molecular biologist Lee M. Silver, who is an advocate of stem cell research and human cloning. So Breivik can’t easily be described as a religious fundamentalist.

Breivik also wants a big cut in aid to developing countries in the hopes that this will reduce world population by 4.5 billion — an exercise in population control I don’t think the pope, much less Scandinavia’s Lutheran Church, would favor. Without pause, he voices admiration for the United States’ Tea Party, while calling for more regulation of capitalism and a “Scandinavian light model” of redistribution, including “giving women more incentives to have children in the form of various welfare incentives.”

One could call him a fascist, and he does subscribe to Arian racial theory. But Breivik also makes fulsome denunciations of Hitler and belittles today’s neo-Nazis as fools. He is certainly hostile to Islam and quotes many right-wing authors and bloggers who obsess about the coming of “Eurabia.” But his rants against feminism, Marxism, and Western sexual mores are little different from those made by Osama bin Laden. He doesn’t call for Western women to be put behind the veil. But he estimates that 50 percent have slept with more than 20 men and are thus “sluts,” thinks society should “discourage” all women from having full-time careers, and blames “current destructive matriarchal policies” for most of what he sees as wrong with Europe.

via A Murderer\’s Manifesto and Me – By Phillip Longman | Foreign Policy.

As I said: this guy is NO Christian… and has an important problem of ideological coherence.

  • Norway attacks: Was Breivik a Christian terrorist? – Christian Science Monitor (news.google.com) To be sure, among those who identify Christianity with the teachings, behavior, codes, and life of the early church, sometimes called “primitive Christianity,” the acts of Breivik have less than nothing to do with the Acts of the Gospels. His logic is seen as a deep distortion, of, say, the spirit of the Beatitudes: “Blessed are the meek … blessed are the peacemakers … blessed are the poor in spirit…”… “Are we capable of seeing the distinction between a dude acting alone with, at this point, no following and a large global movement with many leaders and supporters?” Mollie asks finally. ”Supporters of Islamic extremism are a minority in most Muslim countries. But there’s a dramatic difference between the level of support a killer such as Osama bin Laden had and the level of support a killer such as Breivik has. Media coverage should not ignore that distinction when pushing the moral equivalency meme.”
  • Why Islamist terror dwarfs Breivik’s brand: Almost nobody supports “Christianist” violence (nydailynews.com):Breivik’s ideology does not represent the same sort of threat that Islamism does because it is not shared by nearly as many people, governments or institutions. Aside from a handful of anonymous Internet postings, there have been no avowals of support for Breivik’s mass murder. No influential Christian preachers have praised what he did. There were no celebrations in the streets, nor has any government applauded his attempt to “save” Europe from “Islamization.” The only organizational backing for Breivik’s massacre appears to have come from a 12th century crusader outfit called the “Knights Templar,” which, as far as we know, exists nowhere but in his own deranged head.

    Contrast that condemnatory response with Saddam Hussein‘s remarks after 9/11 – an attack carried out by a transnational terrorist organization sheltered by the then-government of a sovereign state. Saddam said that “the American cowboys are reaping the fruit of their crimes against humanity.” Crowds of Palestinians, meanwhile, took to the streets and handed out candy.

    While these reactions were certainly the exception among most Muslims, smaller-scale terrorist attacks committed against coalition soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, and on civilians in places ranging from London to Madrid to PeshawarPakistan, are regularly legitimized by Islamic clerics who claim huge followings.

France: Socialist pre-candidate Martine Aubry and husband summon blogger to appear in court for defamation

European Parliament election, 2009 (France)

Image via Wikipedia

I wrote some days ago that some French bloggers had denounced that, Jean-Louis Brochen, the husband of the Socialist pre-candidate Martine Aubry, was the advocate of “Meeting and Dialogue”, an organization close to the Muslim Brotherhood, and that he had also defended other islamists in court. I wrote also that French writer Caroline Fourest had also written about these facts in her book, having been requested by Mr. Brochen to “correct those passages”, something she refused to do.

Both of them have sued a blogger, Francis Néri, because he dared to write that in his blog, adding that those are “rumours“:

Martine Aubry and her husband, Jean-Louis Brochen, have summoned a blogger Strasbourg, Francis Neri, to appear in court for defamation, officials said, Tuesday, Aug. 2, with the entourage of the Socialist candidate in the primary 2012. A retired 71 years says on his blog, “The Development Officer”, he was assigned on Sept. 12 before the 17th Criminal Chamber of the Paris Court, and reproduces the text of the assignment.
She is accused in a post entitled “Martine de Lille” published July 11 on his blog and then removed from it, of spreading rumors about the privacy and the health of the PS candidate, and introduce Mr. Brochen, former lawyer, as “a defender of communal and provocative Salafis”.

On July 8th, Ms. Aubry said she had written to the websites which were spreading such “rumors” to ask them to withdraw these allegations, and it they failed to comply, she would file a complaint. “Since mid-May, we have acted“, it was stated in the entourage of Mme Aubry, “but we do not talk about because it is not a political element.” “This is the procedure,” adding that Mr. Neri had received a request to withdraw (Something that Mr. Neri denies…). Continue reading

Italy: North African immigrants riot, block highway and railway

Several hundred immigrants, who were living in Bari, have blocked roads and tracks near the community center in protest against bureaucratic delays which would delay the release of the status of refugees. According to initial reports, some protesters were armed with iron bars and they attacked the police. Police cars were damaged, there were casualties, even among some passers-by.

 

The migrants have blocked the main road, 17bis, in both directions and were causing inconveniences to the movement of trains along the tracks adjacent to the reception center for asylum seekers. A massive number of policemen arrived at the scene. “We want the documents“: this is Mohamed, one of the immigrants who took part in the protest, he answered the question by a reporter of a local television station who asked why the event degenerated into clashes. Mohamed added that he had been living in Cara di Bari for seven months and still doesn’t know anything about his request for asylum. “If they give us the documents, we end the barricade,” said another protester. The police, in riot gear and also using tear gas, forced demonstrators to retreat and tried to bring them close to the reception center for asylum applicants.

Continue reading

Egypt: Islamists Flood Square in Cairo in Show of Strength

Well, this is not shocking at all if we consider what has been happening really:

Tens of thousands of Egyptian Islamists poured into Tahrir Square on Friday calling for a state bound by strict religious law and delivering a persuasive show of force in a turbulent country showing deep divisions and growing signs of polarization (…). “Islamic, Islamic,” went a popular chant. “Neither secular nor liberal.”

via Islamists Flood Square in Cairo in Show of Strength – Nuevo Digital Internacional.

More thanks to Legal Insurrection:

Mobs of ordinary Egyptians joined with soldiers to drive pro-democracy protesters from their encampment in Tahrir Square here Monday, showing how far the uprising’s early heroes have fallen in the eyes of the public.

Six months after young, liberal activists helped lead the popular movement that ousted President Hosni Mubarak, the hard core of these protesters was forcibly dispersed by the troops. Some Egyptians lined the street to applaud the army. Others ganged up on the activists as they retreated from the square that has come to symbolize the Arab Spring.

Squeezed between an assertive military and the country’s resurgent Islamist movement, many Internet-savvy, pro-democracy activists are finding it increasingly hard to remain relevant in a post-revolutionary Egypt that is struggling to overcome an economic crisis and restore law and order.

egypt muslim brotherhood tahrir

Photo from Ironic Surrealism.

Terrorism: Schools in Pakistan training Afghan youths to act as suicide bombers

Young boys taking Qur'an lessons from wooden t...

Madrassah pupils in Mauritania. Image via Wikipedia

Afghan parents who have sent their sons to schools in Pakistan say they\’re becoming increasing alarmed about the type of education their children are receiving.

 

Rather than serve as centers of learning, many fear that these schools and madrassas are designed primarily to turn out a never-ending supply of suicide bombers.

 

One father in Kapisa province, who asked that his name not be used because he was concerned about security, described the dramatic change his 18-year-old son had undergone after one year at a school in Pakistan. Continue reading

Iraq: Bomb at Catholic Church Wounds At Least 20

A car bomb exploded outside a Catholic church in central Kirkuk, Iraq, early Tuesday, wounding at least 20 people, authorities said.

 

The attack took place in Kirkuk’s Shatterlo neighborhood around 5:30 a.m. (10:30 p.m. Monday ET), according to a police official who spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

catholic church bombed in iraq

Continue reading

Survey: Wilders anti-Islamic rhetoric fine

Geert Wilders

Image via Wikipedia

A majority of Dutch believe that Geert Wilders, the anti-immigration politician much admired by Norway\’s mass murderer, does not need to tone down his inflammatory anti-Islamic comments, a poll on Friday showed.

 

Wilders has been criticized for speaking out against Islam and immigration, with comments comparing Islam to Nazism. Last month, a Dutch court acquitted Wilders of inciting hatred of Muslims.

 

…Polling firm Maurice de Hond said on Friday that 52% of those surveyed thought Wilders did not need to moderate his stance on the supposed “Islamization of Europe” in the wake of the Norway killings, while 44% said Wilders should tone it down.

via Survey: Wilders anti-Islamic rhetoric fine – Israel News, Ynetnews.

US: Judge considers that a Muslim can abuse his wife, because “his actions were consistent with his religious practices”

Husband beating his wife

Image via Wikipedia

This is worrying: this is no Islamist lunatic who says Sharia Law should be implemented in the US and that every woman should wear a burqa. No, this is a judge that considers that, above US law, there is another one: Sharia Law. At least, the ruling was overturned on appeal.

In S.D. v. M.J.R., the plaintiff, a Moroccan Muslim woman, lived with her Moroccan Muslim husband in New Jersey. She was repeatedly beaten and raped by her husband over the course of several weeks. While the plaintiff was being treated for her injuries at a hospital, a police detective interviewed her and took photographs of her injuries. Those photographs depicted injuries to plaintiff’s breasts, thighs and arm, bruised lips, eyes and right check. Further investigation established there were blood stains on the pillow and sheets of plaintiff’s bed.

The wife sought a permanent restraining order, and a New Jersey trial judge held a hearing in order to decide whether to issue the order. Evidence at trial established, among other things, that the husband told his wife, “You must do whatever I tell you to do. I want to hurt your flesh” and “this is according to our religion. You are my wife, I c[an] do anything to you.” The police detective testified about her findings, and some of the photographs were entered into evidence.

The defendant’s Imam testified that a wife must comply with her husband’s sexual demands and he refused to answer whether, under Islamic law, a husband must stop his sexual advances on his wife if she says “no.”

The trial judge found that most of the criminal acts were indeed proved, but nonetheless denied the permanent retraining order. This judge held that the defendant could not be held responsible for the violent sexual assaults of his wife because he did not have the specific intent to sexually assault his wife, and because his actions were “consistent with his [religious] practices.In other words, the judge refused to issue the permanent restraining order because under Sharia law, this Muslim husband had a “right” to rape his wife.

via The Real Impact of Sharia Law in America.

“Freedom From Islam”

Something that is not mentioned as often as it should:

Eleanor Roosevelt and United Nations Universal...

Eleanor Roosevelt with UDHR written in Spanish. Image via Wikipedia

As noted in a 2008 report by a Christian human-rights organization, “Apostates from Islam to another religion suffer a host of serious abuses from their families, communities and nations.” These renegade Muslims may well face the death penalty in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Sudan, and other forms of oppression in many other Muslim societies.

The reason for this systemic violation of religious freedom is, unfortunately, religious. Most classical schools of sharia law consider apostasy from Islam a crime punishable by death. A hadith attributed to the Prophet Muhammad is quite clear on this: “If somebody [among Muslims] discards his religion, kill him.” The implication is that Islam is a religion with free entry but no free exit. Continue reading

Terrorism: Muslim Calls for Tourist Jihad, considers Wilders an “ideal victim”

This is the first time that I read about “Jihadi tourism”: that is, you go as a tourist but your real aim is not to see the monuments, but to “kill infidels”:

Geert Wilders

Geert Wilders. Image via Wikipedia

Jihadist Abu Suleiman al-Nasser wrote (1, 2) on the Shumukh al-Islam forum that Muslims should go to Europe posing as tourists in order to murder Europeans. Al-Nasser wrote on the site that Muslims should buy a sharp knife when they’re in Europe. “You could murder more than a hundred people. Walk about and choose your victims.” He wrote that Geert Wilders is an ideal victim. “He looks like a fat calf.”

Meanwhile, the American intelligence website SITE reports that Jihadists are calling for attacks on Belgium and Belgians in retaliation for the recently enacted burqa-ban. According to one Jihadist: “If you have the freedom to make such decisions, then you must also accept our freedom to take action. I call our Muslim brothers in Belgium to do what they can: bomb them, destroy them, torture and murder them.”

via Muslim Calls for Tourist Jihad – Grendel Report.

Related: Belgium: New burqa ban challenged in court.

China: 18 killed in 2 attacks in Uighur area

Kashgar is an oasis city in the Xinjiang Uyghu...

Mosque's minaret in Kashgar. Image via Wikipedia

A city government said Monday that six more civilians died and five “terrorist” suspects were killed by police in one of China’s most troubled ethnic regions, raising the death toll from weekend violence to 18.

Xinijang region in China’s far west has been on edge since nearly 200 people were killed in fighting between Uighurs and Han Chinese in 2009 in Urumqi, the regional capital.

Xinhua did not give a reason for the latest violence, but Xinjiang has been beset by ethnic conflict and a sometimes-violent separatist movement by Uighurs, a largely Muslim ethnic group that sees Xinjiang as its homeland. Many Uighurs say they have been marginalized as more majority Han Chinese move into the region. Continue reading

Libya: Islamists blamed for killing General Abdel Fattah Younes as Libya’s rebels face up to enemy within

The leader de facto of Libya, Muammar al-Gaddafi.

Image via Wikipedia

Their admission that the shadowy Abu Obeida al-Jarrah Brigade was behind the assassination of Gen Abdel Fattah Younes has raised concern that religious elements within the rebellion have now acquired considerably greater influence than previously thought.

Thursday’s killing of Gen Younes, who earlier this year defected from the Tripoli government to join the opposition fight against Colonel Muammar Gaddafi‘s regime, came as a damaging blow to the rebels’ military efforts. He was widely seen as one of the few military figures on the rebel side capable of organising their forces against the better trained Libyan government army.

Abdel Fattah Younes (Telegraph)

Abdel Fattah Younes (Telegraph)

But the admission that the militia whose members are responsible for his death has Islamist leanings, and had been allowed to operate in the east of the country with apparent impunity, will reignite fears that the West\’s support of the Libyan rebels may ultimately open the way to an Islamic state when Col Gaddafi is eventually forced out.

By a coincidence that is embarrassing for the Foreign Office, the assassination came just one day after Britain swallowed its reservations and followed France and the US in formally recognising the rebels\’ Transitional National Council, based in Benghazi, as the legitimate government of Libya.

via Islamists blamed for killing General Abdel Fattah Younes as Libya\’s rebels face up to enemy within – Telegraph.