“The idea that white politicians should be the ones to ‘save’ Muslim women from oppression is itself racist. It also will make it more difficult for Muslim women who want to stand up for women’s rights within their own communities, if all Muslims feel they are subject to racist attack from outside. What women wear is not and should never be a matter for politicians to decide. It should be for women themselves to decide.”
Italy: Tunisian woman fined for wearing veil
A 26-year-old Tunisian woman has been fined for wearing a face veil while walking to a mosque in northern Italy, stoking an increasing debate on the integration of Muslim minorities in Europe.
Police in the city of Novara, a stronghold of Italy’s anti-immigration Northern League, stopped the Muslim woman on Friday while she was walking with her husband to prayers wearing a black niqab that covered her face but left her eyes exposed.
Police handed her a 500-euro fine under a bylaw introduced in January by the mayor of Novara which bans clothing in public that prevents identification by police.
“We just enforced a local law that stops people from covering their face near sensitive places like schools, hospitals or post offices,” inspector Leonardo Borghesani told Reuters. “We understand the fine is hefty, but she can appeal.”
The Northern League, a coalition ally of conservative Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, is pushing for legislation to outlaw face-covering Islamic garments in public.
See also CNN, 4 May 2010
Germany’s interior minister rejects veil ban
Germany’s interior minister has criticized the ban on wearing a full Islamic veil, or burqa, in public, saying Tuesday even a debate would be “unnecessary in Germany.”
Thomas de Maiziere, from the majority coalition partner, the Christian Democratic Party, or CDU, said his country does “not need a ban,” as there are at most a hundred women who wear burqas, in a video interview with the German Leibziger Volkszeitung.
Earlier this week, another CDU deputy, Wolfgang Bosbach, had voiced a similar opinion, saying: “Veiling is part of the right to express your personality.” He also said a ban like the one in Belgium would be counter to the German constitution.
Both politicians’ remarks came a few days after German MEP Silvana Koch-Mehrin, European parliament vice-president and a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s junior coalition partners, called for a Europe-wide ban.
Much more pressing issues than the burqa will be discussed at the upcoming Islamic conference, held by with the German government in cooperation with Muslim organizations on May 17 in Nuremberg, de Maiziere said. There, issues such as whether there is an antagonistic atmosphere toward Islam in Germany, and the differentiation between Islam and Islamism, will be discussed, he said.
The Neo-Nazi who planned to poison Muslims and Jews
This is the first picture of the neo-Nazi planning terrorist attacks using one of the world’s most deadly poisons. Ian Davison intended to use ricin poison to target Muslims, Jews and blacks in an extreme right-wing plot. The 41-year-old pleaded guilty to preparing for acts of terrorism and producing a chemical weapon and is awaiting sentence.
His son Nicky Davison, 19, was convicted of possessing so-called “terrorism manuals” at a trial at Newcastle Crown Court last week.
Both had set up right-wing group the Aryan Strike Force and talked of “overthrowing” the Government, because they believed it had been taken over by Jews.
Documents found on two computers at the home in Annfield Plain, County Durham – which Nicky Davison shared with his mum and siblings – were called The Anarchist’s Cookbook and The Poor Man’s James Bond.
These “manuals” included details on how to make deadly ricin, bombs, explosives, detonators, guns and silencers. Father and son were remanded in custody and will be sentenced on May 14. Detective Superintendent Neil Malkin, the officer who led the investigation, said the racist gang was fully intending to use the deadly ricin.
Swiss council votes for ban on veil
A Swiss canton on Tuesday passed legislation preparing the groundwork for a possible ban on the Islamic burqa.
The local council in Aargau, a canton (state) in the north of Switzerland along the German border, voted overwhelmingly to work on a state initiative to make wearing the burqa in public places illegal. Most major parties backed the move.
Pushing the motion forward, the centrist and right wing parties in favour said the garment was a “symbol of male dominance over women,” according to the Swiss news agency SDA.The parties also said the full body veil prevents the integration of migrants into Swiss society.
The Socialist party objected to locally legislating on the matter, but members noted that they had negative views on the burqa, citing feminist concerns. The Green party was opposed, saying the proposal was “hysterics” and a scare-mongering tactic.
It is estimated that less than 100 Muslim women across Switzerland wear the burqa, a full body and face covering.
See also WRS, 4 May 2010
Banning hijab no rights violation, US court rules
Sheriff’s deputies did not violate a Muslim woman’s rights by forcing her to remove her hijab, a religiously mandated headscarf, in a courthouse holding cell, a federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled Monday.
Souhair Khatib sued Orange County for damages under a federal law that prohibits government agencies from imposing a “substantial burden” on the right to practice one’s religion in a prison, jail or pretrial detention facility. She said her religion forbids her to expose her head or neck to men outside her immediate family.
But in a 2-1 ruling, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said a holding cell, where inmates are kept before being brought into court, isn’t a jail or pretrial detention facility and therefore isn’t covered by the federal law.
The law was intended to protect the religious rights of people who “are sent to reside” in custody, Judge Stephen Trott said in the majority ruling upholding a federal judge’s dismissal of the suit. Trott said a holding cell doesn’t fit that definition because the maximum stay is 12 hours and no one is kept there overnight.
Chief Judge Alex Kozinski wrote an indignant dissent, saying the holding cell is “a full-fledged jail.”
“Can we honestly say that a mammoth facility in the bowels of the Santa Ana courthouse, whose main purpose is to hold inmates while awaiting trial, cannot possibly be a pretrial detention facility?” Kozinski asked. He noted that Congress had declared that the law should be interpreted “in favor of a broad protection of religious exercise.”
EDL protestors arrested
Police have arrested two men from the English Defence League protest site. Officers removed the two males from the disused factory in Hall Street following the EDL roof top protest at around 3.30pm this afternoon.
The demonstration started at 11pm last night, when four EDL protestors climbed on to the roof of the premise with banners, English flags and a PA system, to protest against plans for a new mosque. It is believed the EDL leader Tommy Robinson was one of the protestors on the roof.
The two men, who it is believed broke into the premises last night, are currently helping police with their inquiries.
EDL members began dispersing around 2pm, however police have reported small groups did cause nuisance around the town.
Franklin Graham claims his religious rights are being denied
Several weeks after being dropped from a Pentagon prayer service, evangelist Franklin Graham said Monday that his “religious rights are being denied.”
During an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Graham said that his speaking slot in conjunction with Thursday’s National Day of Prayer was unjustly dumped over his saying that Islam is “evil.” The only reason his invitation was dropped, Graham said, was that “a couple members of the Pentagon who are Muslim objected about me coming.”
“I feel my religious rights are being denied here because of what I believe,” the evangelist said. “I believe Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life … I believe that because of my beliefs, that’s why I’m not being given the opportunity to speak.”
“I don’t believe that Muhammad can lead anybody to God,” he said. “If you just look at the religion as it treats women, it is horrid. We can’t even talk publicly about what they do to women. You know, I just – for that alone – I cannot accept the religion.”
See also Newsmax, 3 May 2010
EDL driven out of Dudley
English Defence League (EDL) members have been humiliated and driven out of Dudley today. Anti-fascist activists and the local Asian community combined to halt the EDL seizure of an empty warehouse on the proposed site of a new mosque.
UAF report: EDL attempt to start riot in Dudley
Members of the English Defence League (EDL) have been deliberately provoking Muslim communities in Dudley for over 12 hours, by staging a rooftop demonstration on the site of a proposed Mosque that communities are seeking planning permission for.
The EDL have been playing the Muslim call to prayer on loud speakers, from late last night, attempting to provoke Muslims to go to the site and create the impression to Dudley residents that Muslims are responsible for the disturbance.