Femen stages topless protest in Stockholm mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Three feminist activists from the radical protest group Femen staged a topless protest inside a Stockholm mosque on Saturday before they were led away by police.

The women burst into the mosque and tore off their black robes to bare their breasts, which were emblazoned with slogans such as “No sharia in Egypt and the world” and “My body is mine, not somebody’s honor”. The women shouted “Free Women”, “No Sharia” and “No Oppression”.

The mosque was largely empty at the time apart from a couple of employees and some members of the press who had been told of the planned protest in advance.

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CAIR calls for hate crime probe of New Jersey mosque vandalism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Islamic Center of Morris CountyThe New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NJ) today called on state and federal law enforcement authorities to investigate vandalism of a mosque in that state as a possible hate crime.

An official with the Islamic Center of Morris County in Rockaway, N.J., told CAIR that someone spray-painted a Nazi swastika on an exterior door of the mosque Friday evening. The alleged perpetrator was caught on surveillance video entering the mosque and then going out to a vehicle and returning to spend time at the site of the graffiti. Rockaway Borough Police are investigating the incident as “criminal mischief.”

The mosque had faced opposition several years ago when it was in its planning stage.

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English Defence League leaders arrested on way to Woolwich

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL leader arrestedTwo English Defence League leaders have been arrested as they attempted to visit the spot where Drummer Lee Rigby was murdered last month.

Tommy Robinson and Kevin Carroll were detained by police on Saturday on suspicion of obstructing officers in east London. The Metropolitan police said on Friday that anyone trying to march to Woolwich would be arrested and imposed a route for the walk between Hyde Park Corner and Old Palace Yard, opposite the House of Lords.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said on Saturday: “At approximately 11.25am today, two men were arrested outside Aldgate East station for obstructing police. They have been taken to a south London police station.” In a statement posted on the EDL’s Twitter feed, the group said: “Tommy Robinson & Kev Caroll arrested for obstructing the police and carted off.”

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NYC man charged with hate crime in mosque stabbing

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A New York City man has been charged with attempted murder as a hate crime for allegedly stabbing a man as he unlocked a mosque for morning prayers last year. Queens District Attorney Richard Brown says Friday Bernhard Laufer was awaiting arraignment on attempted murder and assault charges in the alleged bias attack.

Laufer was in custody Friday and unable to comment. Attorney information was not immediately available. Brown says he faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted on the top count.

Brown says Bashir Ahmad received stiches and staples after he was stabbed repeatedly while unlocking the front door of a Queens mosque last November. He says Ahmad was stabbed in his hands, legs and back. Brown says Laufer threatened him with an anti-Muslim slur.

Associated Press, 28 June 2013

Secret no-fly list blamed for American’s Bangkok nightmare

Posted on by Bob Pitt

U.S. citizen detainedA Southern California medical student is back home after spending nearly two weeks at a Bangkok airport when he says his name turned up on a no-fly list. Rehan Motiwala’s ordeal ended Friday when he was finally granted permission to fly out of Thailand and was greeted at Los Angeles International Airport with hugs from his family, the Los Angeles Times reported.

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Half of Britain’s mosques have been attacked since 9/11

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Al-Rahma Islamic Centre fire (2)Around half of mosques and Muslim centres in Britain have been subjected to Islamophobic attacks since 9/11, academics have warned as the far-right English Defence League prepares to march to the south-London scene of Drummer Lee Rigby’s murder.

The figures are highlighted in a report which also found that the number of anti-Islamic attacks increased by as much as tenfold in the days following the Woolwich attack.

Meanwhile, research by The Independent shows Islamophobic attacks spreading across Britain, with mosques being set alight and Muslims targeted at home in the past month.

Despite the warning signs, a senior Government adviser told The Independent that there remains a “lack of political will” to take on the rise of Islamophobic attacks in Britain. The adviser, who did not want to be named, said that attempts to “tackle this issue – even before Woolwich – struggled to attract buy-in,” with the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles, identified as the primary source of frustration.

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Man admits to mosque bomb jibe

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Garith WoodA man threatened to bomb a mosque during a racist rant. Garith Wood yesterday admitted behaving in a racially aggravated manner during the incident on May 9 last year.

Livingston Sheriff Court was told that Wood, 27, made racist comments about a 14-year-old Asian boy near Deans Mosque, Livingston. He then turned his attention to another Asian, Abdu Raman Bismillah, calling him a “black b******”. Part of his hateful tirade included threatening to bomb the Livingston Sunni Islamic Centre and Mosque, the court was told.

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Men who attacked Poole mosque sentenced to four months in prison

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Four men who smashed windows in a religiously-aggravated attack on a Poole mosque were jailed for four months today.

Before their afternoon attack on the Dorset Islamic Cultural Centre on May 23, Michael Manyweathers, Robert Mullins, Trevor Mullins and Jeremy Rochester had been drinking and discussing the murder of drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich the day before.

Bournemouth Crown Court heard that 34-year-old Rochester used a stick to smash six windows, encouraged by Manyweathers, 49, and Trevor Mullins, 38. Robert Mullins, 35, who drove them to the Ashley Road mosque, sat in the car nearby. They were interrupted by an off-duty police officer who was walking nearby with his elderly father, and later arrested.

All four pleaded guilty to racially or religiously aggravated criminal damage as the attack was deemed a joint enterprise.

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EDL march banned from Woolwich

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A planned march to Woolwich tomorrow (June 29) by far-right group the EDL has been banned by police – but its leader has vowed to visit anyway.

The group had planned to end an Armed Forces Day march – billed as a charity walk – in Woolwich where Drummer Lee Rigby was killed in May. But the police have announced new conditions imposed on the event.

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Man arrested in connection with Walsall mosque bomb

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Aisha Mosque Walsall (2)A 75-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of causing an explosion likely to endanger life or damage property after a home-made bomb exploded near a mosque.

West Midlands police said the man was arrested at his home in Walsall on Thursday afternoon by detectives from the counter-terrorism unit. He has been taken to a police station in the West Midlands for questioning.

Officers are searching his home address as part of the investigation into the home-made explosive, the remains of which were found in an alleyway adjoining the Aisha Mosque and Islamic Centre in Rutter Street, in the Caldmore area of Walsall, last Saturday. The arrest comes as part of a major investigation by specialist detectives and experts from the West Midlands counter-terrorism unit.

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