Yearly Archives: 2012

Hundreds march in peaceful Doha rally

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Doha protestHundreds of people marched in a peaceful rally from the Omar bin Khattab mosque to the American embassy in Doha yesterday afternoon soon after the Friday prayer to protest against a film denigrating the Prophet of Islam.

Expressing their resentment over the attempt to malign Islam by tarnishing the image of the Prophet, the protesters called for revenge against those who made the movie. “No Muslim will tolerate such a cowardly and lewd form of depicting the Prophet’s personal life. It is unfortunate that America and Europe have become the breeding ground for hatred against Islam and Islamic values and Islamic way of life” said one of the protesters, Abdullah al-Mutawwa.

Prior to the rally, Islamic scholar and chairman of the International Union of Ulema, Dr Sheikh Yousuf al-Qaradawi, strongly criticised the film in his Friday sermon at the Omar bin Khattab mosque.

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Nova Scotia: racist attacker jailed for one month

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Pictou County woman who cares for her three grandchildren has been sentenced to a month in jail for hurling racial insults at a doctor’s wife and assaulting her, as well as attacking the victim’s rescuer.

Justice Ted Scanlan of Nova Scotia Supreme Court said in a written decision released Tuesday this was one of the most difficult sentencings of his 20 years on the bench. “I have sentenced people for murder, assault, robbery, drugs, you name it. This case stands out,” Scanlan said.

The incident happened in the mall on Westville Road in New Glasgow on May 29, 2011. A drunken Katherine Feltmate, 51, confronted Alizah Khan, asking her why she was wearing a head scarf on a hot day. Khan asked her why she was commenting on what she was wearing when others were wearing sweaters, coats or jackets.

Feltmate then hurled racial and religious slurs at Khan, forced her against a wall, raised her hands and pushed a shopping cart around. Brian Anthony Jarvis came to Khan’s aid, and Feltmate turned on him and accused him of being racist.

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Sunderland Muslims fear arson attacks on cars were carried out by racists

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Usman Chaudhry

His car a burnt-out shell, student Usman Chaudhry fears he is the target of racist thugs. The 28-year-old’s Nissan Micra was one of two cars destroyed by arsonists in one weekend. He woke up at 5.30am to see his car on fire outside the house he shares with friends in Pensher Street, Millfield.

Police were first on the scene, but firefighters were already dealing with another blaze in the next street.

Mr Chaudhry, who has lived in the city for 11 months, said: “I was up early because I was preparing for a project. I heard a noise outside and saw my car was on fire. I called the police and woke up my friends who I live with and they extinguished the fire.”

Takeaway shop worker Hussain Mohammad was woken by fire crews putting out a blaze in his Peugeot 306 in Offerton Street. The 27-year-old Iranian national said: “I got up at about 6.30am and the fire engines and police were there. The whole engine was burnt-out.”

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‘Muslims must control their anger’: scholars oppose violent response to anti-Islam film

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Qaradawi and MayorRenowned Islamic scholars reacted to a movie that insulted Holy Prophet Muhammad and the ensuing attacks on embassies by issuing a joint statement.

In a statement released on Friday, the An Nusra Al Alamiya organization led by Yusuf al-Qaradawi made a call for prudence. With its headquarters in Kuwait, An Nusra Al Alamiya pointed out that the movie targeting Holy Prophet Muhammad was provocative and all ensuing attacks on U.S. embassies should end.

“Reactions against the insult directed at Holy Prophet Muhammad were legal and were things desired. This is a necessity of our faith. Defending the Holy Prophet Muhammad is a desirable Islamic behaviour. However, a Muslim must act based on the Islamic law and directives issued by the Holy Prophet Muhammad. We should not be acting in opposition to our Prophet Muhammad while thinking that we are defending him,” the statement underlined.

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Call for cameras at every mosque in France after new attack

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Limoges mosque graffitiA Muslim leader called Wednesday for surveillance cameras to be installed at every mosque in France following the latest in a series of attacks on Islamic places of worship.

A mosque in Limoges in the centre of the country had excrement smeared on its doors overnight in an incident that reflects a growing trend, according to Abdallah Zekri, who chairs an Islamophobia Observatory set up by France’s Muslim Council.

“It is time that town councils took this problem seriously and started putting cameras in front of mosques, as is already the case for synagogues,” Zekri said.

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California man confirms role in anti-Islam film

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The search for those behind the provocative, anti-Muslim film implicated in violent protests in Egypt and Libya led Wednesday to a California Coptic Christian convicted of financial crimes who acknowledged his role in managing and providing logistics for the production.

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, 55, told The Associated Press in an interview outside Los Angeles that he helped with logistics for the filming of “Innocence of Muslims,” which mocked Muslims and the prophet Muhammad and may have caused inflamed mobs that attacked U.S. missions in Egypt and Libya. He provided the first details about a shadowy production group behind the film.

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Posted in USA

Another ‘price tag’ attack on mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Price tagVandals sprayed right-wing slogans on a mosque near Hebron on Tuesday night.

The graffiti included the words “Price Tag Migron” spray-painted on the outside wall of the Salman al-Farisi mosque in Imreish, southwest of Hebron, in reference to the West Bank outpost the government evacuated on September 2.

B’Tselem – The Israel Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories said on Tuesday that residents of the nearby village of Avda said they chased off a group of settlers who tried to set cars on fire late Tuesday night.

On Monday, Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch announced that police plan to create a unit that will focus on investigating price-tag incidents, the name given to acts of right-wing vandalism or violence perpetrated against Palestinians to protest government policy toward the settlements.

Jerusalem Post, 12 September 2012