New York Muslim trapped in Germany because of no-fly list

Samir SuljovicA Queens man has been trapped in Europe for the last 17 days, says a civil rights group, because his name is allegedly on the no-fly list.

Samir Suljovic, 26, first tried to fly back home to New York from Vienna, Austria, on October 1. Airline agents told the New Yorker that he could not board a return flight at the request of his own government.

On Wednesday, the New York Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY) issued a statement that demands that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) allow Suljovic to return home from his current location, Germany.

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Jewish groups join coalition against anti-Muslim subway ads in D.C.

Washington subway Geller ad

Some national Jewish organizations joined a coalition of religious groups calling on the Washington Metro system to donate profits from an anti-Islam ad to charity.

“The placing of offensive, anti-Muslim ads in the D.C. Metro system is an important opportunity to affirm our commitment both to free speech and to a society that deplores hate and hate speech,” said Rabbi Batya Steinlauf, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington’s director of social justice and interfaith initiatives, and president of the Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington. “We are all part of one community,” she said.

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Babar Ahmad’s family speak out over extradition ‘double standards’

The family of Babar Ahmad have spoken out following the Government’s decision to block the extradition of Gary McKinnon on human rights grounds.

Mr McKinnon, 46, who suffers from Asperger’s syndrome, was facing extradition and a lengthy jail sentence after he admitted “hacking” into US government computers but claimed he was looking for evidence of UFOs.

Home Secretary Theresa May today blocked the move citing McKinnon’s illness as the primary reason for not sending him to the United States.

Last week Tooting residents Babar Ahmad and Syed Talha Ahsan, who also suffers from Asperger’s syndrome, were extradited to the US on terror charges despite being detained without trial for more than five years.

But the family of Mr Ahmad, reacting to today’s news, accused the Government of “double standards” and “old-fashioned racism”.

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Rotherham residents stay clear of town centre for fear of EDL

EDL Rotherham (4)Residents revealed they were too frightened to go into Rotherham town centre when hundreds of marchers took to the streets.

The town came to a standstill as around 300 English Defence League supporters from across the country descended on the town on Saturday.

They were heavily marshalled by police on foot and horseback as they marched through the streets chanting anti-Islam songs.

Around 200 people also took part in a peaceful Unite Against Fascism rally and march – staged to celebrate multiculturalism – in the town centre.

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Norwich churches speak out against EDL march

Leaders of all the main Christian denominations in Norwich have spoken out against a march by the English Defence League in Norwich organized because a city church has been barred by Norwich City Council for anti-Islam material. Church leaders from the Church of England, Roman Catholic, Methodist and Baptist churches, Salvation Army, United Reformed Church and the Quakers have united to issue a joint statement against the march.

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Muslims protest against hate speech on YouTube

Google HQ protest

Up to 3,500 people have protested outside the headquarters of Google in central London over an anti-Islam film. Buckingham Palace Road in Victoria was closed for three hours by the demonstration.

The protesters called for the trailer for the US-made film, Innocence of Muslims, to be removed from YouTube, which is owned by Google. Google has said the video is “clearly within our guidelines and so will stay on YouTube”.

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