Appeal against deportation

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“It is with utmost distress and pain that we approach your kind office to plead the case of 10 Pakistani students, who are being held by British authorities despite absence of any charges or evidence. Our kids are in prison, thousand of miles away from us having no contact with them for the last 43 days. Agonies, stresses which we are experiencing at the moment cannot be simply explained, what to speak of the mothers of these unfortunate students. UK has long history of fair play and justice and we are sure that justice coupled with compassion will also prevail in this case.”

Socialist Unity reproduces the letter to Gordon Brown from parents of three of the Pakistani students who are awaiting deportation, under the pretext that they pose a “threat to national security” but without any evidence being presented to substantiate that charge.

‘Tories commit to Islamification of Britain’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Well, so the brain-dead bigots of the BNP claim.

The basis of this accusation is the recent launch of the Conservative Muslim Forum North West, which aims to “give Muslims in the party a platform to have their voices heard, to engage with Muslims and encourage them to participate in political life at all levels, from grassroots to Parliament”. This initiative also “hopes to encourage more Muslims to join the party with a big drive to encourage more women and young people to become politically active”.

Could there be a more graphic illustration of the Tories’ sell-out to the Muslim hordes?

Mind you, I can’t help recalling that when the government launched its Young Muslim Advisory Group last October the Tories’ shadow minister for community cohesion, Sayeeda Warsi, denounced it as “another example of the Government engaging with the British Muslim communities on the basis purely of their faith”. She continued: “When will the Government learn that the Muslim community is not a homogenous block…? Actions such as this are a continuation of the Government’s policy of state multiculturalism, which creates a more divided Britain.”

I suppose, though, that when the Tories themselves are trying to rally support among Muslims in the run-up to a general election, “engaging with the British Muslim communities on the basis purely of their faith” seems like quite a good idea after all.

Muslim stripped of German award after criticising crucifix

Posted on by Bob Pitt

qkControversy erupted in Germany Friday after a Muslim author was deleted from the winners’ list of an annual culture award after he wrote that a crucifix was an idolatrous image.

The state of Hesse had planned to hand its 45,000-euro (61,000-dollar) prize this July jointly to a Jew, a Muslim, a Catholic and a Lutheran to honour the cultural achievements of the monotheistic religions.

But Catholic Cardinal Karl Lehmann of Mainz and Peter Steinacker, former head of the Lutheran church of Hesse and Nassau, objected to sharing the state culture prize with Navid Kermani, an Iranian-born author.

Kermani had begun an article about a crucifix, a standard Christian image that depicts Jesus Christ in an agonizing death nailed to a wooden cross, with, “I’d express my personal rejection of the theology of the cross frankly with ‘blasphemy and idolatry’.”

The prize board then wrote to Kermani withdrawing its offer of the prize to him.

The Central Council of Muslims, one of four national Islamic groups in Germany, described the church reaction as “childish”. Aiman A Mazyek, secretary of the council, to the Berlin newspaper Tagesspiegel, said, “How would they have felt if a Muslim had refused to meet a churchman because he did not revere the Prophet Mohammed?”

Monsters and Critics, 15 May 2009

Over 100 complaints over BBC’s Muslim head of religious shows

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The BBC has received 115 complaints over its appointment of the first Muslim to the role of head of religion and ethics. Channel 4 executive Aaqil Ahmed was confirmed in the post on Monday, becoming only the second non-Christian – after agnostic Alan Bookbinder in 2001 – in the BBC’s 87-year history to be appointed to the role. It is understood the “vast majority” of the complaints are about Ahmed not being a Christian.

Guardian, 16 May 2009

Posted in UK

Answers needed over ‘terror’ raids

Posted on by Bob Pitt

'Terror' arrests in ManchesterA lawyer representing three Pakistani students detained for 13 days then released without charge has said it is the worst case of its kind since new legislation extended detention periods in 2000.

Mohammed Ayub lambasted the government on Friday for its treatment of his clients who were detained after high-profile police raids in the north-west last month and then released without charge.

The men were subsequently redetained pending possible deportation to Pakistan where, he argued, their safety was not certain.

Referring to the Home Office figures on the poor conviction rate in terror cases in general, he said: “It signifies that the security services are acting on poor or misleading intelligence and the continuation of such operations is likely to lead to a lack of public confidence in the security services.”

Mr Ayub, from Chambers Solicitors in Bradford, also said that he had concerns over the report into the operation which led to his clients’ arrests being compiled by Lord Carlile, the government’s independent reviewer of terror legislation.

“We call for an independent inquiry into Operation Pathway, so that lessons can be learned as to how this investigation could have got it so terribly wrong and so that no other innocent person should have to face the continuing ordeal that our clients are suffering.”

Morning Star, 16 May 2009

Six injured as protesters clash over Islam centre in Vienna

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Anti-Strache protestPolice special forces clashed with protesters as marches through Vienna over the planned extension of an Islamic cultural centre turned violent yesterday (Thurs).

Police said 700 people held a counter demonstration after roughly the same number joined a protest organised by the “Moschee ade” (Goodbye Mosque) movement fighting plans to extend the centre.

Moschee ade leaders said further protests would be organised if the Social Democrats (SPÖ) of Vienna do not take back their approval of the plans to extend a Muslim centre in the Brigittenau district.

Protest organiser Hannelore Schuster, mother-in-law of People’s Party (ÖVP) Science Minister Johannes Hahn, said she and other protestors would “march once every month.” Schuster said the centre should be relocated, but denied that the proposal was because of any anti-Islamic feeling.

Heinz-Christian Strache, federal leader of the right-wing opposition Freedom Party (FPÖ) held a speech at the event during which he wielded a cross.

And there were furious protests from left-wing groups who had to be held back by special police forces after skinheads attended the event.

Police chiefs said six people were injured when counter-demonstrators clashed with officers, adding three of them were policemen. Three people were put in custody for grievous bodily harm.

A group of Green party members, including city councillor David Ellensohn, joined the counter-demonstration.

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Just one in eight terror arrests ends with guilty verdict, admits Home Office

Posted on by Bob Pitt

'Terrorist' arrested 2Seven out of eight people arrested under Britain’s terror laws since the al-Qa’ida attacks on America in 2001 were not convicted of a terrorism offence, figures released yesterday show.

More than three-quarters of those imprisoned were given sentences of less than 10 years and a half will be released in less than five years.

Between 11 September 2001 and 31 March 2008, there were 1,471 arrests under terrorism offences in Britain. Of these, 521 resulted in a charge of some form, with 222 people charged with terror offences, and 118 people charged with terror-related offences, such as conspiracy to murder.

Civil rights campaigners last night seized on the figures as more evidence to support concerns that police were using tough terror powers indiscriminately against mostly innocent people. Shami Chakrabarti, director of the human rights group Liberty, said:

“In free societies we arrest on suspicion, charge with evidence and convict when there is proof. These figures remind us that the overwhelming majority of those arrested for terrorism were not guilty of any charge and half weren’t charged at all. All the more worrying that wholly innocent people may be held for a month without charge or indefinitely without charge under control orders – based on secret suspicions and intelligence alone.”

The statistical report, the first of its kind, follows a series of high-profile cases in which suspects arrested and detained under the Terrorism Act have been released without charge. Last month it emerged that the case against 12 Muslim men involved in what Gordon Brown had described as a “major terrorist plot” amounted to one email and a handful of ambiguous telephone conversations. Eleven Pakistani students and one British man were freed after extensive searches of 14 addresses in north-west England failed to locate evidence of terrorist activity, according to security sources.

The new figures will also support concern that police use of anti-terror stop-and-search powers is alienating Muslim communities. Last year searches under the terror laws trebled. Officers in England and Wales used Terrorism Act powers to search 124,687 people in 2007-08, up from 41,924 in 2006-07, separate figures released this month revealed. Of the subsequent 1,271 arrests, only 73 of those were for terror offences.

Independent, 14 May 2009