No 10 accused of condoning Islamophobia over e-petition

Posted on by Bob Pitt

English_RoseMuslim campaigners have accused Downing Street of condoning Islamophobia by publishing a petition which warns that building a large mosque complex will “cause terrible violence and suffering”.

The petition is one of the most popular on No 10’s website, with over 45,000 signatures to date. It was posted under the name of Jill Barham. Attempts by Guardian Unlimited to contact her have been unsuccessful.

The writer of a blog called “English Rose”, which links to sites supporting the BNP and “opposes the Islamification of this country”, claims to be the author of the e-petition.

It states: “We, the Christian population of this great country England would like the proposed plan to build a mega-mosque in east London scrapped. This will only cause terrible violence and suffering and more money should go into the NHS.”

Guardian, 16 May 2007

Isma beaten by racist, 15

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Isma DinThis Muslim woman was attacked in the street by a 15-year-old white girl who punched her repeatedly in the head while screaming racist obscenities. Isma Din, aged 23, suffered a fractured eye socket, swelling, and cuts to her nose, mouth and teeth in the assault in Meersbrook, while being called a “Paki bitch”.

Today she told The Star she believed the motivation for the attack could be the hijab head scarf she wears as a practising Muslim. She said: “She just kept on punching me and punching me. She would not stop. She was calling me a Paki – it was definitely a racist attack.”

Isma, who was on her way to work at the time of the attack, said her ordeal lasted three or four minutes but “it felt like a lifetime”. It only stopped when a female motorist pulled up to intervene. Now Isma is suffering blurred and double vision and will have to undergo an operation on her eye socket once the swelling has gone down.

Sheffield Star, 16 May 2007

7 July probe tactics criticised

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Police investigating the 7 July attacks on London have been criticised by the lawyer for Hasina Patel, the widow of suicide bomber Mohammad Sidique Khan. Imran Khan, who represents Ms Patel, spoke after she and two other men had been questioned over eight days and were released without being charged.

Mr Khan told BBC News 24 that police relations with the Muslim community have been further damaged. “Those in her community are incredibly angry at the way the police have approached this,” he said. “In my view, if their intention in this case was to destroy what relations they had with the Muslim community, then they have done that.”

He said he was “relieved” at Ms Patel’s release, but remained “shocked” at the police’s handling of her arrest. He did not reveal specific details but said police had been for some time in possession of evidence that “unequivocally” proved she had known nothing about what her husband was planning two years ago.

He added: “To arrest her in these circumstances – a woman who lost her husband, who has been accused of the most atrocious events that have taken place in this country, has now spent seven days in isolation in Paddington Green – I wonder what she must be feeling. She’s quite clearly innocent of anything, because she’s been released by police having trawled through her life and possessions and caused her a tremendous amount of grief.”

BBC News, 16 May 2007

World Tae Kwon Do Federation upholds hijab ban

Posted on by Bob Pitt

MONTREAL — Muslim women who participate in competitions sanctioned by the World Tae Kwon Do Federation will not be allowed to wear a hijab.

The decision came Monday following a request for a ruling from the Canadian Tae Kwon Do Federation after two young Muslim girls were banned from a competition last month in Longueuil, Que.

The world federation indicated in a letter to the Canadian federation that it does not recognize any religion and would not make any accommodation for hijabs.

The world federation is the sport’s largest organization and is recognized by the International Olympic Committee.

The rule, which forbids wearing anything under protective head-gear, remains unchanged and will be in effect when the world championships begin on Friday in Beijing. The competition is the first in a series to determine which athletes will compete in the Olympic summer games in Beijing in 2008.

The world federation also indicates in the letter the IOC agrees with its decision.

The world federation is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, and oversees world and Olympic tae kwon do competitions.

The Canadian federation says it will accept the ruling while the Quebec Federation of Tae Kwon Do says the ruling shows it was justified in applying the rule last month in Longueuil.

Last week, the International Tae Kwon Do Federation, a separate entity which is not sanctioned by the IOC, announced it would temporarily accept competitors wearing a hijab until a committee could be formed to study the issue further.

Canadian Press, 14 May 2007

Muslims bent on world conquest (part 354)

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“To Islam, a non-Muslim is a combatant against Allah and he is fair game to be subjugated and killed. When some billion and a half adhere to the pathological belief of Islam and use it as their marching order of life, the rest of humanity can ignore the threat only at its own peril. Once again, a resurgent Islam is on a campaign of conquest throughout the world. Hordes of life-in-hand foot-solider fanatical Muslims are striving to kill and get killed. All they want is the opportunity to discharge their homicidal-suicidal impulse, on their way to Allah’s promised glorious paradise…. Deluded by the threats and promises of Islam, Muslims, poor or rich, vie with one another in furthering the violent cause of Allah. Many non-Muslims are also victims of a different, yet just as deadly, delusion. They believe that Islam is a religion of peace, that only a small minority of Muslims are jihadists, and that Muslims can be reasoned with to abandon the Quran-mandated elimination of the non-believers.”

Global Politician, 14 May 2007

Poll: Ban veils in shopping centres

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“More than four out of 10 Britons want to ban garments that hide the face – such as the Muslim veil – from shopping centres, a survey has said…. The online poll of 1,000 people for G4S Security Services showed shoppers were more worried by anti-social behaviour than by the threat of terrorism. However, the poll was conducted before a jury at the Old Bailey convicted five Muslim extremists of plotting to use a stash of 1,300 lbs of fertiliser to blow up targets including Bluewater shopping centre…. Of those polled, 41% called for a ban on items of clothing that obscured the face. The survey did not specify any particular type of garment, although a G4S spokesman said it would be fair to assume some people interpreted the question to refer to a veil.”

Press Association, 14 May 2007

Reid plots to tear up our rights

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Reid PlotsCivil rights campaigners condemned Home Secretary John Reid on Sunday after he claimed that current human rights laws are no longer acceptable and must be “modernised.”

At a summit in Venice of interior and home affairs ministers from the six largest EU countries, Mr Reid urged ministers across Europe to begin a major rethink of how human rights legislation works in practice. In a controversial speech, Mr Reid said that politicians who followed existing case law “to the letter” were failing to do everything they could to guard against terror attacks.

Human rights legislation has caused problems for new Labour, including the defeat in the House of Lords of emergency laws passed in 2001 to detain terror suspects indefinitely without charge or trial. Enforcing its replacement system – known as “control orders” – has also been fraught with difficulties because of human rights legislation. The government is also unable to deport foreign suspects because the European Convention on Human Rights prevents people being sent back to countries where they may face torture or ill-treatment.

Human rights group Liberty director Shami Chakrabarti said that it is clear to all observers that Mr Reid is no friend of the post-war human rights framework. “He would like to rip it all up and start again, casting aside an international framework that was agreed by democrats all over the world in the wake of the Holocaust and the Blitz,” Ms Chakrabarti said. “In particular, he would like to lock people up for long periods without due process and deport foreign nationals to places of torture.”

Morning Star, 14 May 2007

‘Outrage Over New Ban on the Cross’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Outrage Over Ban on the Cross“School chiefs are today under fire for banning pupils from wearing crosses in class while allowing the jewel­lery of other faiths. Christian groups and politicians condemned the education bosses and accused them of ­’double standards’. The officials have told headteachers to ban jewellery except in ‘exceptional circumstances’ when schools need to be ‘sensitive’ towards other faiths. The ‘exceptions’ include lockets worn by Muslims and Hindu bracelets….

“A spokesman for the Lawyers’ Christian Fellow­ship yesterday said: ‘We have had numerous examples recently of the rights of some faith groups being tolerated while the rights of others, generally Christians, are not. Where rights are in competition, some rights win out. So we have a situation where gay rights trump Christian rights and in some areas, Muslim rights seem paramount’.”

Daily Express, 14 May 2007

See also Sunday Telegraph, 13 May 2007 and Evening Standard, 14 May 2007

And check out Five Chinese Crackers, 14 May 2007