Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia

Muslims call for changes over port terror searches

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Muslims in Greater Manchester are calling for changes to the Terrorism Act which allows passengers to be stopped and searched at airports. A letter signed by several organisations has been sent to the Home Office highlighting concerns over religious profiling.

Representatives from mosques and Islamic human rights groups claim some people are detained but never charged. They want shorter detention times and more intelligence-led policing. The campaign also wants no DNA samples to be taken from anyone who has not been charged with an offence.

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EDL to stage Newcastle demo against Islamic school

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The English Defence League (EDL) is to stage a demo in Newcastle after the city council approved plans to turn the Byker Grove building into an Islamic school.

The protest has been criticised by interfaith and anti-fascist groups, with plans already under way for a counter-demonstration.

The rally, the first to be organised in Newcastle by the organisation since 2010, has been approved on a national level and will take place in May next year, according to an EDL regional spokesman.

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Hizb ut-Tahrir lashes Australian think tank study

Posted on by Bob Pitt

HT logoControversial Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir has hit back at claims it may pose a security threat.

Perth-based think tank Future Directions International (FDI) says while Hizb ut-Tahrir does not advocate violence, its anti-Western rhetoric could pose a “socio-cultural” security threat by increasing the disharmony between Muslim and non-Muslim Australians.

In the long term, the group may pose a significant national security threat by indirectly instigating terrorist attacks, FDI warned in a study last week.

But Hizb ut-Tahrir says the study is riddled with errors and lacks proper analysis.

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Newcastle council rejects far-right campaign, gives go-ahead for disused building to be converted into Islamic school

Posted on by Bob Pitt

BNP burka groveByker Grove will be transformed into an Islamic school. Council planning chiefs have given the go-ahead to plans to convert Bishop’s Palace – used to film the popular TV series – into a fee-paying faith school.

The BAHR Academy will cater for up to 340 boys and girls between 11 and 16 in Benwell, Newcastle. But the development of the currently empty and run-down site will also include a community building, coffee shop and events space open at weekends.

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EDL planning another march in Cambridge

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The English Defence League (EDL) is planning another march in Cambridge, according to campaigners. A “massive” counter demonstration has already been planned by Cambridge Unite Against Fascism (CUAF).

More than 670 officers policed an EDL march in the city in July, 2011.

Richard Rose, of CUAF, said: “Our head office has information that has been confirmed by the EDL that they will march in Cambridge on February 23. We have organised a counter demo opposing the EDL and what it stands for.”

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Muslim man from Oklahoma seeks justice department inquiry

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Saadiq Long press conferenceA Muslim man is seeking answers from federal law enforcement agencies about what he describes as their harassment of him and his family since his return to Oklahoma from the Middle East.

Saadiq Long, a U.S. Air Force veteran and McAlester native, said Thursday he and his sister have been followed by the FBI and have had several unexpected and unwanted encounters with agents of the federal agency since he arrived in Oklahoma from Qatar on Nov. 19.

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National ‘MyJihad’ campaign launched with Chicago bus ads

Posted on by Bob Pitt

My Jihad poster (3)

On Friday, December 14, the Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Chicago) will announce the launch of the “MyJihad” educational campaign at a press conference in the morning and at a community party in the afternoon.

MyJihad is an independent national initiative that seeks to share the proper meaning of Jihad as believed and practiced by the majority of Muslims. Jihad is a central tenet of the Islamic creed, which means struggling uphill in order to get to a better place.

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German Muslims call for ‘denazification’ of state

Posted on by Bob Pitt

An umbrella organisation representing Muslims in Germany has called for a “denazification” of German state authorities, and demanded they refrain from using the terms “Islamism” and “Islamist” to describe radical Muslims.

The German Muslim coordination council (KRM) presented a dossier on Wednesday on the botched investigation into the National Socialist Underground (NSU) terrorist cell.

German Muslims say the debacle – in which authorities failed to prevent the murders of nine immigrants and one police woman over a decade – was no accident, wrote the Frankfurter Rundschau on Thursday.

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