Two bearded pupils in Accrington sent home from school

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Mount Carmel Roman Catholic High SchoolTwo teenage boys have been sent home from school after refusing to shave off their beards.

The 14-year-old Muslims are pupils at Mount Carmel Roman Catholic High School in Accrington. Lancashire County Council said the boys had been sent home but could return to school once they had shaved their beards off.

The boys have refused to shave, saying they believed it was part of their faith to keep the growth. According to Muslim tradition, Prophets including Muhammad, Jesus and Moses were all bearded. Some Muslims feel it is a blessing to adopt those facial characteristics.

Last week they were placed in “isolation” because they had failed to comply with rules about appearance. The school said the boys must be clean shaven and that pupils and parents were made aware of this before they started the school.

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Posted in UK

Hundreds vow to fight mosque refusal

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Waltham OakHundreds of supporters of a bid to turn a pub building into a mosque vowed to fight a decision to refuse the proposal.

Around 200 people gathered outside a packed council chamber last night as Waltham Forest Council’s planning committee decided on the application from the Faizen-e-Islam organisation for the Waltham Oak in Lea Bridge Road, Walthamstow, which has been closed for a year.

Residents and committee members expressed concern at the loss of a landmark historical pub, which they said has been an important part of the community in that part of Walthamstow. The application was then denied on the grounds of potential disturbance to people living in sheltered housing next door and predicted parking congestion in the area at prayer times.

In emotional scenes outside the town hall, Ghulam Rabbani, Faizan-e-Islam director, announced the committee’s decision and vowed to appeal. He told the crowd: “This is the beginning of our fight. We will be fighting in a democratic and legal way. We are going for appeal. Our intention was to support the local community regardless of race, creed or colour. We are proud of our work.”

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‘Hate group’ sues to re-run controversial FBI ads on Metro buses

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Faces of global terrorism ad

An anti-Muslim organization has sued the King County for refusing to allow the purported hate group to re-run controversial FBI advertisements on Metro buses.

Metro previously allowed the FBI’s “Faces of Global Terrorism” announcements to appear on the buses before the bureau pulled the ads. The FBI ads – which picture 16 terrorism suspects, most of whom are non-white, Muslim and living overseas – were dropped in June over concerns they perpetuated negative stereotypes of Muslims.

The New York-based American Freedom Defense Initiative and organization president Pamela Geller have sued King County claiming the county is violating the free speech rights of the organization’s members by not allowing it to replicate the defunct FBI ads.

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Crazed EDL supporter jailed after air rifle incident at Muslim home

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Shaun HavelinA crazed English Defence League supporter from Rowley Regis has been jailed for brandishing an air rifle as he shouted racial abuse at a Muslim family’s home.

Neighbours of the Muslim family were terrified after seeing Shaun Havelin, aged 28, screaming and shouting racial taunts with the gun whilst wearing an EDL sweater.

The incident was sparked after an argument with his mother at her Warley Hall Road in which he shook his beloved sweater in her face and said: “I want to die in this.” He then charged round to the Muslim’s family’s house in a nearby street not realising they were not at home.

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NYPD Muslim spying program does not exist, City claims in lawsuit response

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A lawyer for New York City on Monday denied that the NYPD has a surveillance program to spy on Muslims.

Responding to an ACLU lawsuit claiming religious discrimination that seeks to force police to turn over surveillance records, city lawyer Peter Farrell claimed “there is no Muslim surveillance program. … I 100 percent disagree that there was ever a Muslim surveillance program.”

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Muslim security guard fired over beard awarded $66,000 in back pay

Posted on by Bob Pitt

American Patriot SecurityA federal judge has awarded back pay and other costs to a Muslim man who said he was fired from his security-guard job two years ago for refusing to shave his close-cropped beard.

Abdulkadir Omar, 23, who worked for American Patriot Security in 2009 and 2010, was awarded over $66,000 in back wages, attorney fees and court costs. U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik ordered a default judgment against American Patriot on Sept. 27 after the company declined to mount a defense.

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EDL supporter said he would kill ‘foreign people’, drew up list of targets

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A teenage neo-Nazi accused of plotting a “new Columbine” brought a gun into college and pulled out knives in the middle of a lesson, the Old Bailey heard (Tues). The 16-year-old English Defence League supporter bragged about getting a machete for his birthday and making bombs in his bedroom, it is said.

One college pal said the teenager once pulled a large knife out of his trench coat pocket and told him “look at this”. Two weeks later, he brandished three knives in class when the teacher left the room, it is alleged. “He took me right to the bottom of the corridor and showed me this really long knife”, said the defendant’s fellow student. “It was in his trench coat, he had a massive pocket. He just goes: ‘Look at this’, then he put it back.”

He told jurors the teenager pulled out a knife from his boot and two other small blades when challenged by other students. “People were saying why don’t you get your knife out, the teacher was not in the room at the time”, he said. “He got them out in his hand on the table, from under the desk. He pulled one out of his boot, and he showed me all three.”

The boy, who is now 17 and cannot be named, is on trial accused of plotting a terrorist attack using weapons, homemade bombs, and explosives he had stockpiled in his bedroom. He allegedly planned a Columbine-style massacre at his former school in Loughborough, Leicestershire, and wanted to attack the council offices, a local cinema, and Loughborough University.

The court has heard the Nazi and EDL-obsessed teen had threatened to shoot and stab fellow college students, and had drawn up a list of targets for his attack in a notebook.

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Quilliam clears the way for closer co‑operation among ‘counterjihadists’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Spencer, Carroll, Geller and Lennon in Stockholm

Stephen Lennon and Kevin Carroll’s surprise announcement that they have left the English Defence League has been enthusiastically welcomed by Pamela Geller.

Geller writes that she and Robert Spencer – recently banned from the UK because of their record of inciting hatred against Muslims – both “strongly endorse” Lennon and Carroll’s decision. It has become “clear to all of us that the best way to proceed is to leave the EDL behind and move forward in new directions”, says Geller, and she and Spencer “look forward to working with Robinson and Carroll in the future as we continue this great struggle for freedom”.

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