‘Alert over dangers of Sharia’: Sun promotes Geert Wilders admirer Baroness Cox

Posted on by Bob Pitt


Baroness Cox hosts Geert Wilders at the House of Lords in March 2010

Stoning, whipping and amputations could become common punishments in the UK if hardline Sharia law is allowed to thrive, a peer has warned.

Crossbencher Baroness Cox claimed a rise in the number of British Muslims using it instead of the official court system could even lead to the destruction of democracy.

She said Sharia law will become a way of life in parts of the UK, sparking support for the BNP, unless officials step in.

UK Muslims have been able to use Sharia for legal disputes since 1982.

The baroness said: “We do not at the moment have the most brutal punishments, but there are those who would like to bring them in.”

Sun, 21 March 2012

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Wilders’ anti-Islam party is bankrolled by US supporters, says former MP

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Geert Wilders and David Horowitz Freedom CenterAmerican lobbyists make large donations to a foundation set up by the anti-immigration PVV, Hero Brinkman, the MP who left the party on Tuesday, told a television talk show on Tuesday evening.

Brinkman said he could not rule out the money being used to pay for Geert Wilders’ defence on racial hatred charges but declined to comment further on what the money had been spent on. Nor would he comment on the size of the donations.

The PVV is thought to generate significant funding from Israeli and far-right supporters in the US.

Because the PVV has no members, it does not receive government subsidies to run the campaigning side of its operations and relies instead on donations.

Dutch News, 21 March 2012

Brinkman’s allegation about the PVV’s finances confirms what had already been revealed in the Dutch press. In 2010 Volkskrant and NRC reported that the two main US sources for Wilders’ funding were David Horowitz and Daniel Pipes.

Update:  See “U.S. groups helped fund Dutch anti-Islam politician Wilders”, Reuters, 10 September 2012

Bay City, Michigan: Man may avoid jail in ethnic intimidation case if he writes 10-page report on ‘the greatest accomplishments of Muslims’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Delane BellBAY CITY — A Bangor Township man who police said yelled racial slurs outside a Bay City bar has accepted a plea deal, and he may avoid jail if he writes a convincing report on Muslims’ cultural contributions.

Delane D. Bell, 25, earlier this month pleaded no contest to a two-year felony count of ethnic intimidation. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to dismiss misdemeanor counts of assault and battery and malicious destruction of property between $200 and $1,000.

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Kingston Mosque attack trial continues

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A man accused of taking part in an attack on Kingston Mosque denied making up lies to clear his name, a court has heard.

The prosecution claimed all nine men on trial at Kingston Crown Court could be identified on CCTV walking toward the mosque in a large group on November 21, 2010.

Martin Pottle, 23, of Hanworth, interrogated by police on January 6, 2011, was accused in his interview of making up a story about walking to Sainsbury’s with a friend, whose name he could not remember, so his friend could top-up his phone.

Jordan Ellingham, 21, of Feltham, said he went on the march to be “a bit patriotic”, heard people say “let’s go to the mosque” and was “intrigued” so went to East Road, the jury heard.

Mr Ellingham told police: “I didn’t know what was going on. A bit of shouting and then I think a few things being thrown by people.” He said: “I weren’t aggressive, weren’t violent.”

Kingston Guardian, 21 March 2012

As we have previously noted, both Pottle and Ellingham are associates of Joel Titus, the English Defence League’s former national youth organiser, as is another of the defendants, Paul Abley. Last year, following a series of violent incidents on EDL demonstrations, Titus was slapped with an ASBO banning him from attending any further EDL protests or loitering outside mosques.

More than half of Canadians mistrust Muslims, poll says

Posted on by Bob Pitt

More than half of all Canadians believe Muslims can’t be trusted and nearly as many believe discrimination against Muslims is “mainly their fault,” according to the results of a new national survey released ahead of Wednesday’s International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

The online poll of 1,522 Canadians, commissioned by the Montreal-based Association for Canadian Studies and Toronto-based Canadian Race Relations Foundation, also highlights how Canadians see the Internet as by far the leading conduit for racism in the country, and that more than one-third of respondents say they’ve “witnessed a racist incident” in the past year.

ACS executive director Jack Jedwab described the results as a “disturbing” sign that racism not only remains a problem in the country but that many Canadians feel comfortable holding transparently discriminatory views, then saying things like: “If we feel this way about you, it’s your fault.”

Ayman Al-Yassini, executive director of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, said the findings provide more reasons to promote better inter-faith and inter-cultural relations and to “build bridges among different communities” in Canada to combat discrimination. “This is also more evidence that the Internet has become the major vehicle for spreading hatred and prejudice,” he said.

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Mob gathers at court as Yorkshire teenager charged with Facebook smear of Afghan soldiers

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Protest against Azhar Ahmed

A Yorkshire teenager today denied posting a grossly offensive message on Facebook about the deaths of six British soldiers in Afghanistan.

Azhar Ahmed, 19, appeared at Dewsbury Magistrates’ Court charged under the Communications Act 2003 with sending a message that was grossly offensive on March 8.

A racially-aggravated public order charge was withdrawn at today’s hearing and Ahmed denied the new charge that was put to him.

Ahmed, of Fir Avenue, Ravensthorpe, West Yorkshire, was bailed and will stand trial at Huddersfield Magistrates’ Court on July 3. He has been bailed to an address not given to court.

There was a large police presence outside court as around 50 far-right protesters staged a noisy demonstration when the defendant arrived and left.

Yorkshire Post, 20 March 2012

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Sharia law, free speech … and the racist far right

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Stormfront logoOver at the National Secular Society blog Anne Marie Waters of the anti-sharia campaign One Law For All (OLFA) complains that the London School of Economics students’ union adopted a resolution defining Islamophobia as “a form of racism expressed through the hatred or fear of Islam, Muslims, or Islamic culture, and the stereotyping, demonization, or harassment of Muslims, including but not limited to portraying Muslims as barbarians or terrorists, or attacking the Qur’an as a manual of hatred”. Waters demands: “Who decides what constitutes hatred and are we now being told what we can and can’t be afraid of?”

Waters will, however, be pleased to hear that there are still people who staunchly uphold her right, and that of fellow OLFA spokesperson Maryam Namazie, to whip up fear of Islam. OLFA’s campaign against sharia has recently been endorsed by the white supremacist website Stormfront. Some might feel embarrassed to receive the support of far-rightists whose promotion of hostility towards Islam is clearly part of a general programme of inciting racial hatred. But then, as Waters herself puts it, who decides what constitutes hatred?