Concerned that prejudice rather than genuine zoning issues might be at work, the U.S. Department of Justice has opened 28 cases nationwide involving local denials of mosque construction applications since 2000, according to a department official.
Usama Hasan finds a new friend
Any sympathy Quilliam’s new senior researcher Usama Hasan may have won within the wider Muslim community last year, as a result of the threats to which he was subjected over his views on evolution, has no doubt evaporated following his disgraceful campaign against Leyton’s Masjid-al-Tawhid.
Still, I suppose it’s a case of swings and roundabouts. You squander the goodwill of some, only to earn the approbation of others. Judging by an exchange of tweets last Friday that followed the publication in the Evening Standard of a hysterical article claiming that the mosque where he formerly served as imam poses a terrorist threat to the Olympics, it appears that Dr Hasan has now formed a mutual admiration society with none other than Hasan Afzal.
Torygraph exposes Baroness Warsi’s (non-existent) ‘new links to radicals’
The Sunday Telegraph continues to pursue the Tory right’s campaign against Sayeeda Warsi, who was recently referred to Sir Alex Allan, the independent adviser on the Ministerial Code, after she accepted that she had committed the (very minor) offence of forgetting to declare a business relationship with her husband’s cousin Abid Hussain when he accompanied her on a visit to Pakistan.
According to the Telegraph‘s investigations editor Jason Lewis, “there were calls last week for the inquiry, ordered by David Cameron, the Prime Minister, to be widened after Mr Hussain admitted that he had been involved in Hizb ut-Tahrir, a radical Islamist party that the Conservatives had pledged to ban”. Who the people making these calls might be, Lewis doesn’t tell us. Perhaps this is because the “calls” were more in the nature of malicious whispers, which is how some Tory rightwingers have been attempting to undermine Warsi ever since she was appointed party co-chairman.
Bournemouth councillor ordered to make apology after EDL Twitter comments
A Bournemouth councillor has been ordered to make a public apology for her controversial online comments about the English Defence League.
Conservative Cllr Sue Anderson has been told she needs to apologise at next Tuesday’s full council meeting, send a written apology to the complainant and undertake equality and diversity training.
Those were the recommendations of Bournemouth’s standards committee, who discussed the issue at a private meeting last month. They concluded that Cllr Anderson had potentially breached the council’s code of conduct with her comments on Twitter late at night on Saturday, May 5.
Eleven arrested during EDL rally in Rochdale
Eleven men were arrested by police today during a rally by the English Defence League in Rochdale.
More than 400 members of the far-right organisation gathered for around two hours outside the town hall. The majority were brought into the town centre on buses and coaches from a nearby retail park at 1pm.
Many gathered outside pubs on Packer Street amid a heavy police presence before they were escorted by officers to a pen on the car park outside the town hall. Officers dealt with a handful of minor skirmishes as the group marched the short distance to the car park from Packer Street.
Two fireworks, believed to be bangers, later exploded at the feet of crowds stood outside the pen near to the Post Office on The Esplanade. No one was injured.
Supreme Court orders Finns Party MP to pay fine for hate speech
Finland’s Supreme Court has ordered controversial Finns Party MP Jussi Halla-aho to pay a fine for his anti-Islamic blog posts dating back to 2008. He is also to delete certain writings from his blog.
Finland’s highest court ordered Halla-aho to pay 50 day fines, instead of 30 levied by a lower court, for statements about Somali immigrants.
Two lower courts previously dismissed hate charges against Halla-aho and only fined him for defaming religion.
The Supreme Court said Halla-aho’s posts, which likened Islam to pedophilia and said Somalis are predisposed to stealing and living off welfare, qualified as inciting hatred against an ethnic group. In its ruling, the judiciary said hate speech does not fall under the protection afforded by the freedom of speech.
Halla-aho chairs Parliament’s Administration committee, which deals with immigration issues.
See also “Soini: No action on Halla-aho court ruling”, Yle, 8 June 2012
Sarkozy’s racist legacy
Graham Murray reports on the ‘normalisation’ of extreme Right politics in France.
Why Islam is an integral part of Germany
A history lesson for Joachim Gauck from Bernhard Zand.
EDL get ready to descend on Rochdale
Rochdale shop owners are preparing ahead of tomorrow’s English Defence League march. The far-right movement will descend on the town at 1.30pm to demonstrate against what they see as an expansion of Muslim extremism.
Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk urged the town to continue as usual. He said: “Tomorrow’s ‘protest’ is nothing more than an attempt to stir up racial tensions and incite violence. The police are fully prepared to deal with this and the protest will be outside of the town centre, which will be open for business as usual. I would urge everyone to continue to support local shops and businesses.”
Evening Standard warns of ‘terror’ threat to Olympics … from Leyton mosque
The Evening Standard has latched on to the allegations against Masjid-al-Tawhid in Leyton, carrying a report in today’s issue titled “Mosque near Olympics site in ‘terror link’ investigation”. The aim of this scaremongering headline, which is based on a quote provided by the mosque’s former imam Usama Hasan, is obviously to suggest that the forthcoming Olympic Games face a threat from Masjid-al-Tawhid.
Interestingly, the nature of this supposed “terror link” has changed. According to the Standard, the Charity Commission’s investigation, launched in response to a complaint by Usama Hasan, is now “understood to centre on sermons delivered at the mosque between 2004 and 2010 by Haitham al-Haddad, a preacher by whom notorious ‘underpants bomber’ Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab claims he was influenced”. Indeed, to underline this point the report is illustrated with a photo of Abdulmutallab.