“Our story on January 7 about a ‘hit list‘ of top British Jews on the website Ummah.com was based on claims by Glen Jenvey who last week confessed to duping several newspapers and Tory MP Patrick Mercer by fabricating stories about Islamic fundamentalism. Following Mr Jenvey’s confession, we apologise to Ummah.com for the article which we now accept was inaccurate.”
See also the Guardian and the report by the Press Complaints Commission.
A teenage Muslim student was killed after he and his friends were attacked by a gang of drunken racist thugs, a court heard yesterday.
Mohammed al-Majed, 16, suffered serious brain injuries when he was punched in the face by George Austin. The blow sent him flying and he hit his head on the road.
Al-Majed, who was days from returning to Qatar after studying English here, was chatting with fellow foreign students outside a kebab shop when a group of young white men and women allegedly began taunting them.
Paul Rockett, 21, allegedly took a drunken swing at Mohammed’s 17-year-old black friend Peter Henworth after demanding: “Where are you from?” His attempted punch missed and Peter fled – as one thug yelled: “Come back here, you n****r,” the court was told.
Rockett and Quinn later told police that Mohammed’s friends had started the midnight fracas and claimed the students were a gang who were “trying to turn all the kids into Muslims”.
Daily Mirror, 22 September 2009
Update: See “Man convicted of killing Qatari student”, Guardian, 16 October 2009
Torygraph blogs editor Damian Thompson offers his thoughts on the demolition of the migrants’ camp in Calais:
“How interesting that French police waited until the end of Ramadan before forcibly dismantling the Calais ‘jungle’. That tells us something we really need to remember about a huge proportion of the illegal immigrants seeking to enter Britain: that they are pious Muslims.
“Note that there was a bigger fuss about the taking down of the mosque than there was about the removal of the makeshift houses. And note, too, that the refugees declared their determination to enter Britain (‘nothing will stop us’) almost in the same breath as their devotion to their place of worship.”
Thompson observes resignedly that he’ll “no doubt be accused of Islamophobia”. But that would be unfair. He isn’t some bigot who thinks Muslim migrants are all potential terrorists, he explains. He’s just against them because … well, because they’re Muslims.
The Daily Star provides a platform for the English Defence League to claim that they “oppose Nazis and racists as much as al-Qaida hate-mongers” and only wear balaclavas because they “all live in Muslim neighbourhoods where our faces would be recognised”.
An anti-Muslim group forced to call off a 9/11 protest in Harrow for fear of violent reprisals is planning to return if it can raise 2,000 supporters.
Stop the Islamisation of Europe had planned to demonstrate against Islam outside Harrow Central Mosque on Friday, September 11, but was forced to abandon the demonstration because of police fears of a riot in the streets of Wealdstone.
A handful of supporters who did turn up were chased away by hordes of predominantly Asian men, some wielding sticks as weapons, who had broken away from more than 1,000 pro-Mosque supporters who had gathered outside Harrow Central Mosque, in Station Road.
However, Stephen Gash, the SIOE organiser, told the Harrow Times he was thinking of organising another demonstration in Harrow, and a message has been posted on the group’s website confirming it will return if 2,000 people pledge to turn up.
Mr Gash said 60 people had traveled to Harrow on September 11, and insisted they had a right to protest against what he claimed was totalitarian mosques preaching Jihad.
The first protest was widely condemned by leading members of the Harrow community, but police have conceded they have no powers to ban a lawful and peaceful protest.
Harrow Times, 22 September 2009
Before you get too worked up about Gash’s threat, bear in mind that when this pathetic little man organised his “Stop Kuffarphobia” demonstration in London two years ago he told the police he expected a thousand protestors to join him. The actual attendance was variously estimated at between 15 and 30.
Well, that’s how the Los Angeles Times headlines their interview with Tariq Ramadan. They state that his comments have been “edited for conciseness and clarity”. Unfortunately, what that means is we get only fragments of Professor Ramadan’s answers, so his opportunity to “defend his views” is somewhat restricted to say the least.
HOUSTON — A Harwin shop owner has been dealing with outrage and threats after he posted a sign on the store window saying Perfume Planet was closed on September 11 to honor the martyr Iman Ali.
The sign generated a lot of bitter comments on the Internet and dozens of angry calls each day at the Harwin Central Mart. Folks were shocked, believing the shop was honoring a 9/11 terrorist.
“When we came back today, I didn’t go back into the store,” said Luke Vizena, who saw the sign last week. “I won’t do business with this store,” said his friend. Internet traffic was much angrier. One wrote, “This is sickening!!! How long will it take for us to become a Muslim country?” Another said, “I could not stay in the building it made me so sick.”
Store manager Imran Chunawala was stunned because the holiday had nothing to do with 9 /11. Then he realized what happened. This year a key Ramadan Holiday happened to fall on 9/11. “We did not explain enough in the sign because that is the exact same sign we put up every year on this particular day for this particular reason,” said Chunawala. He apologized for the confusion and put up a new sign thoroughly explaining the martyr they were honoring died in 661 AD.
“1400 years ago. That was a long time ago,” said shopper Dolly Korenek.
See also Partisan Gridlock, 17 September 2009 and Snopes, 20 September 2009
Letter in the Morning Star, 21 September 2009:
The planned demonstration by anti-Islamic thugs at Harrow Central mosque on September 11 was a spectacular flop thanks to an impressive mobilisation by the Islamic community and anti-fascist supporters.
The first group of anti-Islamists to catch sight of the mosque soon realised that they were no match for the 1,500 people already gathered there and quickly took flight, racing at impressive speed through the car park of the nearby Harrow Civic Centre with hundreds of anti-fascists on their tails.
Others never got to the mosque and one group’s demonstration was confined to a pub in Harrow town centre, where they were complaining plaintively to surrounding police about being denied their right to protest.
Soon the Stop Islamisation of Europe (SIOE) group, which was one of the main organisers, was announcing that its action was being called off and the still-complaining pub protesters were being marched under heavy police escort back to Harrow Tube station.
This humiliation, however, should not blind us to the fact that these groups are extremely dangerous and that they have no reservations about using physical violence against Muslims, anti-fascists, trade unionists and anybody else who stands in their way.
They want to stir up hatred against Muslims in the same way that Mosley and his blackshirts stirred up hatred against Jews.
The SIOE group is even calling for a boycott of goods from Islamic countries and from Western companies like KFC which are deemed to be too friendly towards Muslims.
The one concern I have over the events in Harrow is that, despite some mobilisation by the regional TUC, trades councils and individual unions, the labour movement was not represented in the numbers one would wish.
It is one thing to condemn these dangerous groups but words are not enough – bodies have to be put on the front line as well.
Richard Lynch
London NW10
One of the most powerful figures in the Anglican Church believes that Africa is under attack from Islam and that Muslims are “mass-producing” children to take over communities on the continent. Archbishop Nicholas Okoh, 56, was elected Primate of Nigeria last week and his elevation could exacerbate tensions at a time when Anglicans are working to build bridges with Muslims.
Archbishop Okoh made his controversial comments about Islam in a sermon in Beckenham, Kent, in July. He said that there was a determined Islamic attack in African countries such as Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda. Africa was “surrounded by Islamic domination,” he said, and he urged Christians to speak out now or lose the authority to speak. “I am telling you, Islam is spending in Uganda and in other places, it is money from the Arab World,” he claimed, accusing Christians of abdicating their responsibilities.
One senior member of Britain’s Muslim community said: “The views presented by the Archbishop are extremist and overwhelmed by Islamophobia and his elevation will certainly foster misunderstanding and extremism. Knowing the communal geography of Nigeria, he will be a massive danger to community relations and cohesion in his country, besides places like London.”
Muslim groups have called on the police to act quickly to prevent violent clashes after the anti-Islam English Defence League announced plans to march on a Welsh city in protest at a new mosque. Members of the group are planning to protest against the conversion of a disused church building into the new mosque in Newport.
A spokesman for the English Defence League told Wales on Sunday: “We are disgusted that a holy building of Christian worship is being turned over to a minority religion, large numbers of whom are in agreement with, or actually support Jihad against the West and intend to take control of this country, impose medieval Sharia law and make Britain an Islamic state.”
South Wales Central AM Leanne Wood has written to the Chief Constable of Gwent Police to raise her concerns about the protest and another one being planned to take place in Swansea the week before.
Islamic Society of Gwent secretary Mubarak Ali said he was very concerned about the protest being arranged. He said:
“I’ve seen how these protests have ended in other cities and I do not want that sort of violence in Newport. People living in Newport have been very supportive of the new mosque and it is people from outside of Wales trying to stir up the trouble. Newport is a very multi-cultural place and has been for some years. These trouble-makers are not welcome here.”
A spokeswoman for Gwent Police said the relevant risk assessment would be carried out to make sure the right resources are put in place to facilitate a peaceful protest.