Harlow man charged over mosque bomb threat

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A 52-year-old man has been remanded in custody after he allegedly threatened to bomb a mosque.

Nigel Flanaghan has been accused of telling the police that there was an explosive device in a Harlow place of worship on January 8. Mr Flanaghan is also accused of causing religious aggravated fear or provocation of violence through words or behaviour, motivated towards Muslims.

After a court appearance in Chelmsford Magistrates’ on Tuesday the defendant of Wharley Hook in Harlow, just outside North Weald, has been remanded in custody.He will appear in court next week.

This is Local London, 30 January 2014

Anti-Quilliam protest at Plymouth University

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Anti-Quilliam protest in PlymouthA protest against a speaker specialising in Islamism and counter-extremism has taken place at Plymouth University tonight. Around 30 people gathered to show their anger at Sheikh Dr Usama Husan giving a lecture at the uni. It comes after he failed to condemn an image from the online cartoon “Jesus and Mo” showing Jesus and Mohammed saying “hey” and “how ya doin” to each other.

Dr Hasan is a senior researcher in Islamic Studies at Quilliam was speaking at the Jill Craigie cinema tonight on the topic of Islam and democracy in the wake of the Arab Spring. The University cites Dr Hasan as a trained imam and a scientist with a PhD, MA and MSc from the Universities of Cambridge and London, and a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Around 30 people from the university’s Plymouth Islamic Society protested at the event as he had not condemned the actions of Quilliam co-founder Maajid Nawaz, a Lib Dem parliamentary candidate for Hampstead and Kilburn who retweeted the controversial image. They gathered peacefully in the lobby area of the Roland Levinsky building ahead of Dr Hasan’s arrival. A few “boos” were heard as he entered the lectured theatre.

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Asian Christian ‘stabbed as revenge for Lee Rigby’, then ignored by police

Posted on by Bob Pitt

An Asian teenager beaten and stabbed by a gang of youths in a racist attack claims he has been ignored by police.

Sonoo Yaqoob said he was assaulted by more than 15 people in Glasgow’s Queen’s Park on June 24, 2013 while he was walking with two friends. His assailants abused, assaulted and stabbed him before running when they heard police sirens, Mr Yaqoob said.

He told a media conference on Wednesday that his attackers told him he was targeted as revenge for the murder of soldier Lee Rigby. He was racially abused throughout the assault, he said.

Mr Yaqoob said police took him to hospital for treatment but then left and made no attempt to contact him. Mr Yaqoob and his father attended their local police station to find out what enquiries police were making. However, seven months later, he alleges that police have failed to act sufficiently on the crime.

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‘Let them go to Saudi … we are not a dumping ground’ – Kevin Carroll condemns decision to accept Syrian refugees

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Grudgingly, belatedly and on the eve of a Commons debate over a Labour motion that would very likely have resulted in defeat had they opposed it, the Tory-led coalition government announced yesterday that Britain would temporarily resettle up to 500 refugees from Syria.

The government has still not signed up to the United Nations programme that has seen Germany take in 10,000 refugees, and the tiny number it has agreed to accept must be seen in the context of the millions who have fled the civil war in Syria. The select few who are to be admitted to the UK will be only “the most vulnerable”, namely children, the elderly, the disabled and victims of torture and sexual violence.

You might think that nobody with a shred of civilised feeling would object to giving refuge to these desperate people. And you’d be correct. Vocal opposition this token humanitarian gesture has mainly been restricted to the scum of the far right. Here, for example, we reproduce a series of tweets and retweets by former English Defence League co-leader Kevin Carroll angrily denouncing the government’s decision.

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Islamophobes’ legal bid to stop planned mosque in Cambridge because it could be ‘front for terrorism’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A protest group has been criticised for a legal application to stop a £17.5 million mosque being built in Cambridge, in which they claimed it could be “a front for terrorism”.

Stephen Gash, of Stop Islamisation Of Europe (SIOE), and Sareeta Webra, founder of Sikhs Against Sharia (SAS), made an application for a Cambridge County Court injunction to prevent the mosque in Mill Road being built. The application calls for a “court injunction to be served against the Muslim Academic Trust for construction of a mega-mosque”.

The campaigners claim the planning consultation was not conducted “lawfully”. And the application adds: “It is well documented that many so-called Muslim charities are fronts for Islamic terrorism and that several of those cited are based in the United Kingdom.”

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New Jersey: Police officer who posted racist Facebook threat against Obama will keep job

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Coon Trapper Facebook page

PLEASANTVILLE — A village police officer who was suspended after he apparently posted a vulgar, racist post about President Barack Obama on his Facebook page last month will keep his job after he accepted a litany of disciplinary measures Monday night.

The Board of Trustees unanimously passed a resolution that allows Police Chief Richard Love to impose on Officer Peter Burns a 60-day suspension without pay or benefits; forfeiture of 25 vacation days; a psychological evaluation; a training program focused on diversity and sensitivity; and a two-year “last chance” agreement, in effect a probationary period.

“Officer Burns has provided an apology to the community at large and to Pleasantville residents, as well as to the chief and his colleagues in the police department,” Mayor Peter Scherer said.

The post, posted on Dec. 11 on a Facebook profile Burns operated under the name “Coon Trapper,” contained a racial slur, using the “N word” to describe Obama and calling him “un-American.” “The fact that he (Obama) is still alive bewilders me,” Burns wrote in the diatribe. “Go die in a shallow grave you Muslim commie … ”

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Six teens charged with race attacks at Sandwell mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Six teenagers as young as 14 have been charged after mosque worshippers including pensioners and a schoolboy were slapped and kicked. Members of the Cradley Heath Mosque & Islamic Centre were targeted, sparking an investigation from officers.

Today, West Midlands Police revealed a sales assistant aged 17 had been charged with three counts of racially-aggravated assault. He is accused of punching and kicking men aged 68 and 70 in attacks on October 16 and 17, and slapping an eight-year-old boy outside the mosque on October 24. Two 16-year-olds, two 15-year-olds and a 14-year-old, all boys from Cradley Heath, have also been charged with racially-aggravated harassment and criminal damage to a motor vehicle.

The six, who cannot be named, have been bailed to appear at Sandwell Youth Court on Monday.

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No show by EVF at Croydon Islamic centre

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EVF Croydon mosque harassmentSupporters of two right-wing groups did not follow through online threats made against an Islamic centre.

Last week the Advertiser reported that three men had appeared in a video recorded outside Anjuman-e-Zaini, in Brighton Road, South Croydon, late on the evening of January 19.

The men, believed to be connected to the English Defence League (EDL) and its splinter group the English Volunteer Force (EVF), can be seen ringing the doorbell and accusing the licensed place of worship of being an “illegal mosque”. One then threatened to return on Friday to “have the place over”. The video was posted online and the men also took to social media to invite others to join in.

Anjuman-e-Zaini, which has targeted by the groups in the past, contacted the police after being informed of the video by the Advertiser. Secretary Shaukat Dungarwalla said that Friday, and the weekend, had passed without incident. He added: “Fortunately nothing happened, but then police have been excellent. They put the lid on the issue.”

Croydon Advertiser, 27 January 2014

Geller and Spencer booked for Australian visit

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Debbie Robinson with Geller and Spencer
Debbie Robinson of the Q Society with Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer

Two American anti-Islam activists who were banned from entering Britain are due to speak at a Melbourne conference in March. The Q Society, which brought out Dutch anti-Islamic MP Geert Wilders to Australia last year, has organised the event with the international group Stop Islamisation of Nations (SION).

The location of the first International Symposium on Liberty and Islam in Australia will not be disclosed after violent protests were staged when Mr Wilders appeared in Melbourne last year. Organisers say only that venues will be in the inner city, with a visit to a pub and a cocktail reception at a waterside location on the agenda.

Speakers include SION leaders Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer from the US. They were barred from entering Britain last year to speak at an English Defence League rally because their presence was deemed to “not be conducive to the public good”. Ms Geller and Mr Spencer are critics of Islam and staunch supporters of Israel.

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Reports and comment from Islamophobia Watch 20‑26 January

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Reports and comment from Islamophobia Watch 20-26 January 2014