Category Archives: Canada

Melanie Phillips finds a Muslim she likes

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Irshad Manji Trouble With IslamMelanie Phillips can hardly restrain her enthusiasm for “Muslim refusenik” Irshad Manji, author of The Trouble With Islam, who recently visited Britain to much media acclaim.

Our Melanie expresses her doubts that Islam, unlike Judaism or Christianity, can ever be made compatible with individual liberty, even by Irshad Manji. “But her cause is the key to the future, and all of us who love freedom should give Irshad Manji – and all the other courageous Muslim refuseniks struggling towards the light – unequivocal backing in this war for civilisation.”

Jewish Chronicle, 20 May 2005

Well, Irshad Manji certainly has all the right people on her side – in addition to Melanie Phillips, there’s Daniel Pipes, Anthony Browne, Front Page Magazine … oh, and Peter Tatchell.

Europe, radical Islam and secularism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Joe Katzman at Winds of Change expresses his admiration for Irshad Manji, who is quoted as saying: “I subscribe to Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s point that ‘Islamic terrorism, both in the Netherlands and abroad, is able to thrive because it is embedded in a wider circle of fellow Muslims’. This is a reality that most Western security experts have yet to grasp.”

Winds of Change, 28 April 2005

For the full Aspen Institute interview, see here.

So, in circumstances where right-wingers are claiming that Islamic terrorists are not a small isolated minority but have roots in the wider Muslim community, Manji announces that this view is essentially correct. And at a time when many of her fellow Muslims are campaigning against increased state repression directed at people with no record of supporting terrorism, Manji suggests that the West’s security services have underestimated the true extent of the terrorist threat. Just brilliant.

Adil Charkaoui joins Montreal protest

Posted on by Bob Pitt

MONTREAL – Suspected Moroccan terrorist Adil Charkaoui joined several dozen people Saturday to protest national security certificates used to detain alleged terrorists without trial or charges.

“I had a normal life like everybody and then one day (the Canadian Security Intelligence Service) decided I was a threat to national security,” said Charkaoui, 31, who was detained under a certificate for almost two years before being released under stringent bail conditions in February.

“They arrested me, they didn’t show any proof and they told me I was very dangerous,” he said, pulling up his pantleg to show the electronic ankle bracelet he must wear. “I am just asking for justice … I want the government to give me a fair trial to clear my name and show I’m not a terrorist.”

Canadian Press report, 26 March 2005

Federal court upholds Harkat’s detention

Posted on by Bob Pitt

OTTAWA — A Federal Court judge has upheld the use of a security certificate against Mohamed Harkat, who has been held in jail in Ottawa for more than two years after being accused of being a terrorist.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service says the Algerian-born man is a member of al-Qaeda who trained in Afghanistan, then entered Canada as a sleeper agent. Mohamed Harkat has been jailed for more than two years under a security certificate.

On Tuesday, Federal Court Justice Eleanor Dawson ruled that the grounds for the certificate are reasonable, opening the way to Harkat’s deportation to Algeria. She rejected Harkat’s constitutional argument that security certificates – which let authorities arrest and hold people they suspect of posing a threat to national security – violate fundamental justice.

CBC news report, 22 March 2005

The trouble with The Trouble with Islam

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“As a Muslim, Ms. Manji has the right to criticize Islam more harshly than the rest of us. Her book, however, dredges up ancient history and events in poverty stricken, underdeveloped dictatorships supposedly to advance the idea that, in order to modernize, Muslims must become more self-critical. The brutal history of Christian European nations is barely mentioned.”

Linda Belanger comments on Irshad Manji’s Book The Trouble With Islam.

canpalnet, 1 January 2005

Montreal Muslims call for peace during Daniel Pipes lecture

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Everything inside me tells me not to even write this article because, in my estimation, the person I am writing about is so hateful and so vile that I am loathe to even give him any attention at all. The person I am talking about is Daniel Pipes who is well known in our community for his anti-Arab/anti-Muslim statements and writings and his far to the right pro-Israeli positions.”

Yahya Abdul Rahman reports on Daniel Pipes’ lecture at McGill University.

Montreal Muslim News, 13 March 2003