Category Archives: State Oppression

Israeli MP proposes banning Islamic prayer call

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Robert IlatovIsraeli Right-wingers have revived highly contentious plans that could effectively silence the Muslim call to prayer, known as the muezzin.

In a move that risks stoking already simmering tensions in Jerusalem between Jews and Arabs, a member of Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition is tabling legislation that could put strict limits on Islamic prayer calls from mosques in the city and across Israel.

Robert Ilatov [pictured], a parliamentarian with the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party, is sponsoring the bill with the support of Avigdor Lieberman, the Israeli foreign minister who is also the party’s leader.

While the legislation is being justified on the grounds that prayer calls often produce “intolerable noise” that disturbs many citizens’ sleep, it is bound to prompt accusations of religious intolerance and prejudice against Israel’s Muslim minority.

A similar proposal – also put forward by Yisrael Beiteinu – was shelved in 2011 despite having the explicit support of Mr Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, after several cabinet members criticised it as likely to cause division.

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FBI questioning mosque leaders

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Worried about the increasing reports of FBI pressures on mosque imams nationwide to inform on members of their congregations, a leading US Muslim advocacy group has urged imams to seek legal assistance from an attorney, whenever they are approached by officers.

“American Muslim leaders and institutions should maintain positive relations with local and federal law enforcement authorities, but those relations must be built on respect for constitutionally-protected civil rights,” Jenifer Wicks, Civil rights Litigation Director at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), was quoted by Defending Dissent earlier this week.

“Consulting with an attorney is the best way to protect your rights.”

CAIR, the USA’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, said it has received reports from around the nation of mosque officials being asked to meet with FBI agents and then being pressed to inform on members of their congregations.

In an advisory to Muslim community leaders, CAIR recommended that before any meeting with the FBI or any law enforcement agency, US Muslim leaders should seek the advice of an attorney and have that attorney present at any meeting.

Wicks urged community leaders to ask for business cards from those individuals from the FBI and immediately consult with an attorney before any questioning takes place.

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Congressman wants ‘all out’ surveillance on Muslims, blames ‘morons’ in media for limiting spying

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Peter King (2)Republican Rep. Peter King says the United States should respond to the shootings Wednesday morning in and around the Canadian Parliament, which left a soldier dead, by increasing surveillance on Muslims.

The New York Republican, speaking with NewsMaxTV’s America’s Forum also placed blame on “morons” on the New York Times editorial board, Associated Press, and American Civil Liberties Union for limiting the New York Police Department’s ability to surveil Muslim communities.

“We can have all the technology in the world, the fact is we have to find out what’s happening on the ground in these Muslim communities and we can only do that through increased surveillance,” King said.

“What the NYPD used to until those morons at the New York Times editorial board, and Associated Press, and American Civil Liberties Union went after them…the fact is we have to find what people are thinking. We have to find out who the radicals are,” King said. “We have to find out what’s going on in the mosques which are often incubators of this type of terrorism.”

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Muslim Brotherhood: ‘Cleared of UK terrorism link’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

David Cameron with Mohammed MorsiA review of the Muslim Brotherhood’s UK activity has cleared it of links to terrorism, its lawyers have said.

The Brotherhood is an Islamist movement which has been declared a terrorist group by Egypt’s military rulers.

Reports suggested members of the group moved to London to escape a crackdown in Cairo and plotted a response to the ousting of President Mohammed Morsi, a Brotherhood leader.

There has been no reaction yet from No 10 regarding the lawyers’ announcement.

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Police frisk man in Muslim dress – moments after letting him walk past in Western clothes

Posted on by Bob Pitt

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRLkwkG5nPE&list=UU0W6NYJ_y7cd3laVfaSOl0A

A shocking video that apparently shows a New York police officer pushing two Muslim men up against a wall just because of how they are dressed has sparked fury online.

YouTube star Adam Saleh uploaded the video to the internet after claiming he had had enough of police officers ‘racially profiling’ him when he is dressed in traditional Muslim clothing.

Adam runs a YouTube account called TrueStoryASA with his friend Sheikh Akbar where the two young men make funny and prank videos.

However, they decided to make a new video for their 650,000 subscribers after becoming frustrated at police following them when they are dressed in traditional Muslim attire.

In the three minute video, branded “messed up and cruel” by online fans of the pair, the two young men are first seen wearing western clothing and having an argument in American accents.

A police officer stands close by and appears to watch as the two play out a row that, at one point, gets physical. Despite Adam ‘threatening’ and pushing Sheikh, the officer does nothing.

Just 20 minutes later, the two young men have changed into traditional Muslim dress and are walking past the officer again. They again pretend to have an argument but the officer, who appears to have no clue it is the same men as earlier, instantly steps in and demands to know what is going on.

The officer, whose face is blurred throughout, asks the men what is going on, but when he is told it’s nothing, asks sternly: “What’s all the arguing about, why are you dressed like this?”

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Paris Opera expels veiled woman during performance

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Opéra BastilleFrance’s government is drawing up a new set of rules for theatres after the Paris Opera ejected a woman for wearing a veil during a performance, the institution’s deputy director said Sunday.

The incident took place when a veiled woman was spotted on the front row of a performance of La Traviata at the Opera Bastille, Jean-Philippe Thiellay told AFP, confirming a media report.

France brought in a law in 2011 banning anyone from wearing clothing that conceals the face in a public space, or face a 150 euro ($190) fine.

The woman was sitting just behind the conductor, visible to monitors, wearing a scarf covering her hair and a veil over her mouth and nose during the performance on October 3.

“I was alerted in the second act,” said Thiellay, adding that “some performers said they did not want to sing” if something was not done.

France’s ministry of culture said a bill was currently being drafted to remind theatres, museums and other public institutions under its supervision of the rules regarding veils.

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‘Burqa ban’: Bronwyn Bishop backs down on parliament segregation proposal

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The presiding officers of Australia’s parliament house have backed down from a controversial decision to segregate Muslim women wearing facial coverings such as burqas or niqabs in the public galleries.

The speaker, Bronwyn Bishop, and the Senate president, Stephen Parry, met on Sunday to reconsider the “interim access arrangements” announced just over two weeks ago.

Bishop and Parry faced criticism over the decision to force visitors wearing facial coverings to sit in a separate area of parliament’s public gallery shielded by glass panels. The prime minister, Tony Abbott, had called on the pair to rethink the segregation policy, noting that all members of the public in the galleries had already cleared airport-style security checkpoints.

In a new information circular issued to parliamentarians and staff on Monday morning, the Department of Parliamentary Services backed down on the most controversial element.

Explaining the new interim arrangements, the department said: “All visitors entering Parliament House will be required to temporarily remove any coverings that prevent the recognition of facial features. This will enable DPS security staff to identify any person who may have been banned from entering Parliament House or who may be known, or discovered, to be a security risk. Once this process has taken place, visitors are free to move about the public spaces of the building, including all chamber galleries, with facial coverings in place.”

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Downing Street set to crack down on the Muslim Brotherhood

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Downing Street is to order a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood and a network of Islamist groups accused of fuelling extremism in Britain and across the Arab world.

David Cameron launched an inquiry into the Brotherhood earlier this year, prompted by concerns it was stoking an Islamist ideology that had encouraged British jihadists to fight in Syria and Iraq.

Sir Richard Dearlove, the former head of MI6, who is an adviser to the review, is reported to have described it as “at heart a terrorist organisation”. The Brotherhood insists it is non-violent and seeks to impose Islamic rule only through democratic change. It has condemned Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil) and al-Qaeda.

A senior source close to the inquiry said its report – compiled but not yet published – had identified “an incredibly complex web” of up to 60 organisations in Britain, including charities, think tanks and even television channels, with links to the Muslim Brotherhood, which will all now come under scrutiny.

The inquiry, aided by the security services, has also investigated its network abroad. One expert said that the Brotherhood was now operating from three major bases – London, Istanbul and Doha, the capital of Qatar.

Dr Lorenzo Vidino, who is understood to have worked on the Cabinet Office report, presided over by Sir John Jenkins, Britain’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, said: “It is clear that the Brotherhood has many dark spots, ranging from its ambiguous relationship with violence to its questionable impact on social cohesion in Britain.”

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Chris Keates disputes ‘Trojan Horse’ inquiry findings

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Chris KeatesThe general secretary of teaching union NASUWT has claimed there has been no radicalisation or religious extremism in Birmingham’s Trojan Horse schools.

Chris Keates, general secretary of the Rednal-based union, has dismissed the findings of two independent reports and has written to the Education Secretary Nicky Morgan to complain about one penned by former anti-terror chief Peter Clarke.

Mr Clarke, who led a Government-ordered probe into the Trojan Horse plot after five Birmingham schools were placed in special measures following snap Ofsted inspections, found “compelling evidence” of an attempt to “gain control” of some school governing bodies.

He claimed his discoveries were the “tip of the iceberg” and the Government was “nowhere near” getting to the bottom of the issues. He also criticised both NASUWT and Birmingham City Council’s response to the scandal.

But Mrs Keates criticised Mr Clarke, claiming he did not go “far enough” when carrying out his investigation.

She said: “I thought he came with an agenda from government to find radicalisation and extremism and when I read the report I was certain he did. I asked to see him and when I did he did not ask me any questions. My concern was that the only people he spoke to were people with axes to grind. Yes, there were particular members of a community behaving in the wrong way but I don’t believe it was radicalisation or extremism.”

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French politician harasses veiled Muslim woman … who tells her to get lost

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Nadine Morano burqa tweet

French UMP politician Nadine Morano had a shocking experience earlier today when she got off a train at the Gare de l’Est in Paris.

To her horror she came upon a Muslim woman traveller pulling a wheeled suitcase and wearing a niqab. “The woman was fully veiled,” Moran told LOR’Actu. “You could only see her eyes. I find that unacceptable in France. It is a provocation.”

Morano immediately confronted the woman, told her the garment was illegal and instructed her to remove it. To Morano’s indignation, the woman’s simply replied “je m’en fous” and continued on her way.

Having reported her to the police, Morano then took to Twitter and Facebook to proclaim her outrage at this uppity Muslim who had treated her with “total contempt”.

According to Morano, the niqab is a public security issue: “Who is under that outfit? What is in that suitcase … suspicion is permissible when someone is concealed.” She pontificates: “Our vigilance must be unfailing during this period of radicalisation of communalist behaviour, of recruitment to jihad.”

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