Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia

Swiss council votes for ban on veil

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Swiss canton on Tuesday passed legislation preparing the groundwork for a possible ban on the Islamic burqa.

The local council in Aargau, a canton (state) in the north of Switzerland along the German border, voted overwhelmingly to work on a state initiative to make wearing the burqa in public places illegal. Most major parties backed the move.

Pushing the motion forward, the centrist and right wing parties in favour said the garment was a “symbol of male dominance over women,” according to the Swiss news agency SDA.The parties also said the full body veil prevents the integration of migrants into Swiss society.

The Socialist party objected to locally legislating on the matter, but members noted that they had negative views on the burqa, citing feminist concerns. The Green party was opposed, saying the proposal was “hysterics” and a scare-mongering tactic.

It is estimated that less than 100 Muslim women across Switzerland wear the burqa, a full body and face covering.

Earth Times, 4 May 2010

See also WRS, 4 May 2010

Banning hijab no rights violation, US court rules

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Sheriff’s deputies did not violate a Muslim woman’s rights by forcing her to remove her hijab, a religiously mandated headscarf, in a courthouse holding cell, a federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled Monday.

Souhair Khatib sued Orange County for damages under a federal law that prohibits government agencies from imposing a “substantial burden” on the right to practice one’s religion in a prison, jail or pretrial detention facility. She said her religion forbids her to expose her head or neck to men outside her immediate family.

But in a 2-1 ruling, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said a holding cell, where inmates are kept before being brought into court, isn’t a jail or pretrial detention facility and therefore isn’t covered by the federal law.

The law was intended to protect the religious rights of people who “are sent to reside” in custody, Judge Stephen Trott said in the majority ruling upholding a federal judge’s dismissal of the suit. Trott said a holding cell doesn’t fit that definition because the maximum stay is 12 hours and no one is kept there overnight.

Chief Judge Alex Kozinski wrote an indignant dissent, saying the holding cell is “a full-fledged jail.”

“Can we honestly say that a mammoth facility in the bowels of the Santa Ana courthouse, whose main purpose is to hold inmates while awaiting trial, cannot possibly be a pretrial detention facility?” Kozinski asked. He noted that Congress had declared that the law should be interpreted “in favor of a broad protection of religious exercise.”

San Francisco Chronicle, 4 May 2010

UAF report: EDL attempt to start riot in Dudley

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL provocation Dudley

Members of the English Defence League (EDL) have been deliberately provoking Muslim communities in Dudley for over 12 hours, by staging a rooftop demonstration on the site of a proposed Mosque that communities are seeking planning permission for.

The EDL have been playing the Muslim call to prayer on loud speakers, from late last night, attempting to provoke Muslims to go to the site and create the impression to Dudley residents that Muslims are responsible for the disturbance.

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What’s threatening about European attacks on Muslim veils

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“The anti-burqa cause is sweeping Europe. In addition to Belgium and France, Italy and the Netherlands are considering bans. Yet the targets of these measures are virtually nonexistent. Mr. Bacquelaine estimates that a couple of hundred women in Belgium wear a full veil. In France, one study estimated that there are 1,900 burqa wearers in a Muslim population of 5 million.

“The idea that this poses a criminal or cultural threat is ludicrous. Those who say they are defending women’s rights have it exactly backward: They are violating fundamental rights to free expression and religious freedom…. Muslims, including the devoutly religious, are in Europe to stay. Banning their customs, their clothing or their places of worship will not make them more European. It will only make Europe less free.”

Editorial in the Washington Post, 1 May 2010

MI5 ‘tried to recruit Muslim spies’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Cageprisoners

A human rights organisation has condemned the intimidation, profiling and attempted recruitment of members of the Muslim community by Special Branch and MI5. Cageprisoners specifically cited the case of Asif Ahmed, who it said was recently detained under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000 in Edinburgh airport along with his wife.

Schedule 7 allows police to stop and question travellers at ports and airports “for the purpose of determining whether they are a person who is or has been concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.” Failure to answer questions is a criminal offence.

The Ahmeds were allegedly questioned in detail and an attempt was made to coerce Mr Ahmed into becoming an informer for Special Branch to spy on the Muslim community.

Cageprisoners also published a report titled The Horn of Africa Inquisition, which detailed how the community from the Horn of Africa and those travelling to the region have allegedly been harassed by MI5 and Special Branch through profiling techniques.

Cageprisoners executive director Asim Qureshi said:

“The last seven years of the war on terror have seen the profiling and criminalisation of the Arab and Pakistani communities by UK authorities around the world. The policies that have been implemented through counter-terrorism legislation and Prevent have only been counter-productive as Muslim communities feel marginalised from British society. It is an unfortunate reality that many Muslims feel besieged at this time and the policies of government have done nothing to temper that.”

Morning Star, 1 May 2010

See also “British Muslims on safari ‘stopped by MI5′”, Independent, 1 May 2010

FIFA lifts ban on Iranian girls football team

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) overruled an earlier verdict banning Iran’s female footballers from observing Islamic code of dressing in the Olympic Games in Singapore, and allowed Iranian women footballers to wear Islamic dress during the competitions.

Earlier in March, FIFA had banned the Iranian women football squad wearing Hijab from participating in the inaugural Youth Olympic Games (YOG) which will be held from August 14 to 26 in Singapore.

Following the announcement, Head of Iran’s Football Federation Ali Kaffashian along with Member of the Federation’s International Relations Omid Jamali travelled to Switzerland to meet FIFA President Sepp Blater and FIFA Secretary-General Jerome Valcke on April 14.

The Iranian side could convince Blater and Valcke that the Iranian girls’ new wearing would not violate FIFA rules, noting that the entire world should respect Muslims’ rights and consider Islamic rules and values as a crucial factor when dealing with the Muslim countries’ women football teams.

Following the discussions in Switzerland, FIFA wrote a letter to Kaffashian, announcing its agreement with the Iranian girls’ Islamic code of dressing.

In its letter, FIFA said that if the hat covers the hair without violating the game’s rules and the girl footballers can use it, participation of the Iranian girls in the Olympic competitions in Singapore will be unimpeded.

FIFA also ordered the relevant bodies to take all the requirements to register the Iranian under-15 female footballers, stressing that there is no problem for the participation of the Iranian girls in the Singapore Olympic games.

FARS news agency, 1 May 2010

Stop Islamophobia: Defend the Muslim Community

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Stop Islamophobia

One Day Conference Saturday 5 June 10am to 5pm
Camden Centre London WC1H 9JE

Muslims are under attack in this country as never before. Government policies and the media have created an atmosphere in which all Muslims are portrayed as reactionary and anti-western.

Young Muslims in particular are subject to surveillance in colleges, schools and mosques in the name of combating “extremism”. Those who exercise their right to demonstrate peacefully have been subject to arrest and heavy sentencing.

Meanwhile, the racist “defence leagues” have been focussing their attacks on Muslim communities, with provocative marches in towns and cities inciting racial hatred and bigotry.

From its founding in 2001, Stop the War has been committed to combating racism. We recognise that Islamophobia is a direct consequence of the “war on terror”. We believe it is vital that the anti-war movement acts in conjunction with other campaigns and organisations to stem its tide.

The Stop Islamophobia: Defend the Muslim Community conference on Saturday 5 June, organised by Stop the War and the British Muslim Initiative, will bring together a wide range of opinion united in concern over the escalating demonisation of Muslims in our society.

Organised by Stop the War Coalition and British Muslim Initiative

Supported by CND, Cordoba Foundation, Federation of Student Islamic Societies, Islam Channel, Islamic Forum of Europe, Islamophobia Watch, London Muslim Centre, Muslim Welfare House, National Union of Journalists, North London Central Mosque, Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

Book here

Veil ban is part of campaign to stigmatise French Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Muslims in France say the government’s plan to fine women for wearing the Islamic veil is one in a string of political ploys that stigmatise them and pander to anti-Islamic prejudice.

Extracts from the law leaked on Friday propose to fine women 150 euros (200 dollars) for wearing a full-face veil in public, while anyone who forces a woman to wear one would face a year in jail and fine of 15,000 euros.

Some say giving police the power to fine Muslim women in the street is part of a worrying trend, after the government’s “national identity debate” and its targeting last week of a man accused of polygamy and radicalism.

Amid the polygamy controversy, bullets were fired at a mosque in Istres, southern France, and a halal butcher in Marseille. A French Muslim group, CFCM, said this signalled “a rise of racism and Islamophobia.”

“It’s getting tougher and tougher. It’s as if people have had something against us for a long time and now that the politicians are saying it, they are letting it all out,” said Mamadou Alpha Diallo, 73, outside a Paris mosque.

Muslims in France “have the impression that Islam is on trial,” added Dounia Bouzar, an anthropologist and high-profile commentator on Muslim affairs.

AFP, 30 April 2010