EDL member who burned Qur’an part of racist gang that threatened and abused Turkish takeaway workers

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Andrew Ryan2A former Carlisle soldier just released from jail for publicly burning the Koran was among nearly a dozen people who racially abused two takeaway workers.

The city’s crown court heard that Andrew Ryan, 33, and his brother Matthew Ryan, 27, were part of a group who threatened and racially abused two Turkish men at Manhattan Pizza in Botchergate last year.

The Ryan brothers, along with three other men and four women, pleaded guilty to two charges of using racially aggravated threatening behaviour. All admitted that their abuse of the two takeaway workers had been inspired by their mistaken belief that the men were Pakistani.

Continue reading →

Statement by the Federation of Muslim Organisations (FMO) on claims made on Islamophobia Watch

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The FMO wishes to provide a retort to the claims made by Islamophobia Watch on Wednesday January 18th 2012. The report is an unfortunate one as it is grossly inaccurate in terms of the claims that have been made about the Federation and its elected PR Officer, Suleman Nagdi. More worryingly, the article will only serve to cause divisions amongst those who are united in the drive against The EDL at a time when unity is most needed.

Islamophobia Watch’s main gripe with the Federation is to do with our decision not to support a counter-demonstration during the EDL’s previous visit to the city. It is the Federation’s decision once again not to support a counter-demonstration and this was outlined in the Leicester Mercury in an article on Wednesday January 18th when Nagdi said:

“Our message will be the same as last time. We are urging people, particularly the young, to refrain from going into the city centre to oppose the English Defence League out of some misguided idea that they are protecting their city. We are best to leave everything to the experts – in this case the police.”

Continue reading →

Al-Qaeda bid for Brit girl bombers: Extremist websites lure angels of death, MPs warn

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Al-Qaeda is trying to recruit WOMEN to carry out suicide bombings in the UK, MPs warn today. It is using extremist websites to radicalise the angels of death, says their chilling report.

The Commons home affairs committee says it has heard evidence the terror group is “specifically launching and targeting women for violent acts”.

It is already a deadly tactic in the Middle East, where growing numbers of Palestinian women are volunteering for suicide missions against Israel. The MPs’ report comes days after four Islamic extremists admitted plotting to bomb the London Stock Exchange.

Continue reading →

Leicester Mercury reports Saturday’s EDL and UAF protests

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL Leicester march 2012Hundreds of people with very different political viewpoints took to the streets of Leicester city centre during Saturday’s rival marches. Both the English Defence League and Unite Against Fascism claimed success for their protests.

Despite a police warning for groups to stick to their agreed march routes, Unite Against Fascism encouraged its supporters to gather at the Clock Tower at 11am and to remain there until the EDL passed by.

A group of at least 50 who congregated at the Clock Tower were then warned by police to move on or face arrest. They included former city council leader Ross Willmott, who told officers he had a legal right to be at the scene of the EDL protest.

Councillor Willmott had earlier criticised city mayor Sir Peter Soulsby and police for allowing the EDL to march through the city centre and for allocating march routes which kept the groups apart. Coun Willmott said: “The police have a difficult job to do, but we are peaceful people who want to hold a vigil and demonstrate against the EDL.”

Continue reading →

Breivik demands medal for killing ‘Labour Party traitors’ he holds responsible for ‘Islamic colonisation’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Anders Breivik in handcuffsThe Norway gunman who killed 77 people in twin attacks in July asked an Oslo court Monday to immediately free him and demanded the country’s highest military award, sparking derision from survivors.

Showing no sign of remorse, 32-year-old Anders Behring Breivik said the massacre was “a preventive attack against state traitors” who were guilty of “ethnic cleansing” due to their support for a multi-cultural society. “I do not accept imprisonment. I demand to be immediately released,” the rightwing extremist told the court before it ordered that he be held in detention until his trial opens on April 16.

Continue reading →

Women want the chance to bend it like Beckham, headscarves and all

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Lakembaroos footballers

Muslim Lakembaroos are free to wear the hijab when they take to the soccer field in club competitions in Sydney every week.

The only thing they need to watch is that their headscarves match their uniforms, just as their male counterparts must wear an undershirt the same colour as their jerseys.

But any young Muslim Lakembaroo with aspirations of making the Matildas and going to an Olympics knows her career may never get off the ground under FIFA laws banning the hijab in international competition.

Continue reading →

Dutch Council of State on ‘burqa ban’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Dutch Council of State says it should be up to women themselves to decide whether or not to wear garments which cover the face. The highest government advisory body argues that ministers shouldn’t use a general ban to rule out the choice of some women to wear the burqa.

Last Monday, the government sent draft legislation for a ‘burqa ban’ to parliament. The proposal would outlaw the wearing in public of face covering articles such as burqas, full-face helmets and balaclavas.

One of the reasons being put forward by ministers to justify a ban is that the burqa and similar articles of clothing run counter to the equality of the sexes. The council, however, thinks this is something to be judged by individual women themselves.

Continue reading →

Richard Peppiatt on tabloid misrepresentation of Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Richard Peppiatt at Leveson inquiryA former Daily Star journalist has repeated accusations that a number of British daily newspapers put pressure on journalists to fabricate anti-Muslim stories.

Richard Peppiatt, who worked as a full-time freelance journalist at the Daily Star for two years, claimed that editors forced journalists to fabricate news that suggested Muslims and immigrants were threatening national security.

He said the fabricated stories were mainly related to Muslims, depicting them as a threat to British society. The defamatory stories became more widespread after the bombings in London on June 7, 2005 – often referred to as 7/7 – and the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the United States.

“Especially since 7/7 and, to a degree, since 9/11, Muslims have certainly been painted as the ‘cartoon baddy’. Definitely in the tabloids. Someone always has to be blamed, you can’t just leave it up in the air when something happens; somebody always needs to take the blame. Sadly it’s the Muslims that have been chosen to be portrayed as the ‘baddies’,” he told Today’s Zaman in a phone interview.

Continue reading →

EDL supporter and former BNP member plastered window with anti-Islamic posters

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Darren ConwayA former BNP member has been convicted of a religiously aggravated public order offence for putting anti-Islamic literature in his window.

Darren Conway, 44, claimed he displayed the posters because he wanted to force his letting agents to improve his flat. Lincoln magistrates convicted him and sent the case to Lincoln Crown Court for sentencing. Conway of Heaton Street, Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, admitted growing 16 cannabis plants found in the flat. He was arrested in April last year after a complaint from a nearby shop worker about the posters.

 

Edward Johnson, prosecuting, described the material on his windows as grossly offensive towards the Muslim faith. Conway admitted that at the time of the offence he was a member of the BNP and a supporter of the English Defence League but said he had since left the BNP. He downloaded most of the material from the internet, the court heard.

Conway told the court that he acted recklessly in an attempt to draw attention to his rented property, with the aim of getting the letting agents to carry out improvements.

BBC News, 6 February 2012