Peter Robinson should make public apology, says speaker at Belfast anti-racism rally

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Belfast rally against racism

One of the speakers at an anti-racism rally attended by thousands of people in Belfast on Saturday has called for the First Minister to make a public apology over recent comments he made about the Islamic faith.

Mohammed Samaana has worked as a staff nurse at the Ulster Hospital for over a decade. A member of the Muslim community, he has been the victim of racist attacks in Northern Ireland. He told UTV that the First Minister Peter Robinson should apologise publicly for recent controversial comments he made about Muslims.

The DUP leader’s comments appeared to defend controversial evangelical pastor James McConnell, whose sermon about Islam is being investigated by police. Mr Robinson has previously insisted his remarks were “misinterpreted and given a meaning that was never intended”. He met with NI’s Muslim leaders earlier this week at Stormont Castle, where he apologised in private.

Mr Samaana said the apology should not have been behind closed doors and he is angry that the First Minister has not apologised to all Muslims. “I heard the insult – but I haven’t heard the apology. I heard that he apologised before three men behind closed doors – that’s not an apology, ” he said. He wants a public apology and for Peter Robinson to condemn the recent negative comments made by Pastor McConnell.

Continue reading →

Reykjavík: Progressives could get seat on city council

Posted on by Bob Pitt

In the wake of recent remarks made by the Progressive mayoral candidate that she would revoke a plot of land Reykjavík granted for the building of a mosque, the party now has enough support to possibly win a seat on city council.

According to a poll conducted from May 26 to 28 by Market and Media Research, Progressive Party support rose from 5.3% to 6.8% in the past week, finally giving them enough support to win a seat on city council. This is at the cost of the Independence Party, who lost a projected seat over the course of the last week.

Progressive Party support rose in the wake of remarks made by Progressive mayoral candidate Sveinbjörg Birna Sveinbjörnsdóttir that she would revoke a decision made by Reykajvík city council in January 2013 to grant a plot of land for the building of a mosque to Reykjavík’s Muslim population.

Continue reading →

Ofsted inspectors make U-turn on ‘Trojan Horse’ school, leak shows

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Park View School

Ofsted’s first inspection of Park View academy – at the centre of the Trojan Horse allegations of an Islamist plot – cleared the school of allegations of discrimination and retained its “outstanding” rating, according to a leaked draft of the inspector’s recommendations seen by the Guardian.

The results of that initial inspection were rejected just a few days later when Ofsted inspectors re-entered the school and overturned their initial findings, replacing a string of relatively minor recommendations with more severe criticism that could see it placed in special measures as early as next week.

The revelation is the latest twist in the so-called “Trojan Horse” saga, which has seen claims of Islamist plots to take over schools in Birmingham turn into a political row that has engulfed the education secretary, Michael Gove, Ofsted chief inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, Birmingham city council and Britain’s former senior anti-terror policeman, recruited by Gove as a special education commissioner.

At the centre of the saga is Park View, a school rated by Ofsted as outstanding as recently as 2012 and praised by Wilshaw for its extraordinary exam success, despite having 60% of its pupils eligible for free school meals – three times the national average – in a deprived, heavily Muslim part of Birmingham.

Continue reading →

Michael Piggin trial collapses after jury fails to reach verdicts

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Michael Piggin graffiti and gun

A teenager accused of plotting a Columbine-inspired massacre at his former school in Loughborough has walked free from court after the collapse of his third trial. The jury in the trial of Michael Piggin, 18, failed to reach a verdict after deliberating for nearly 60 hours over 12 days at the Old Bailey in London.

Prosecutors said immediately afterwards that they would not seek a further retrial of the teenager, who first faced court last October, accused of planning to carry out a murderous attack on his former school, a cinema, a mosque and a council office near his home in the Midlands.

Piggin had earlier pleaded guilty to stockpiling weapons, including petrol bombs and component parts of pipe bombs, but consistently denied he intended to carry out an attack. The collapse of the third trial meant Piggin, who has Asperger’s syndrome, was free to leave the dock of the Old Bailey on Friday afternoon, although he must return to the court on 13 June to be sentenced for possessing explosives.

Over 10 weeks of evidence, the trial heard how Piggin allegedly drew up tactics for what he called “Operation: The New Columbine” in a notebook emblazoned with a Nazi swastika and the face of Che Guevara. The notebook allegedly contained a “hit list” which included his former school, a mosque, a cinema and other buildings among his supposed targets.

Continue reading →

Britain’s Muslim Brotherhood review still poses puzzling questions

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Time’s up for submissions to the British government’s controversial review of the Muslim Brotherhood – though it is just a coincidence that the May 30 deadline comes just as Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi is confirmed as Egypt’s next president. Anyone who wanted to could send evidence (maximum 3,000 words) to the cabinet’s national security secretariat in Whitehall, which is coordinating the work being done by Sir John Jenkins, the UK ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

The terms of reference include “the philosophy, activities, impact and influence on UK national interests, at home and abroad, of the Muslim Brotherhood and of government policy towards the organisation.”

No other countries are mentioned but critics insist the “review” (inside suspicious inverted commas) is directly linked to events in Egypt, where Sisi’s election victory follows the army’s removal of the Brotherhood’s democratically-elected (but deeply unpopular) Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 – and the bloodshed and repression that followed. In an open letter published in the Guardian this week they warned of a “dangerous precedent” and fretted that it might “represent a risk to civil liberties and further erode human rights standards”.

Concerns persist that the review is the result of pressure from Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Arab oil monarchies which persecute Islamists and are hugely important markets and clients for the UK, and have been instrumental in backing and bankrolling Sisi’s crackdown in Egypt. The authorities in Cairo have of course been banging the drum as well.

Continue reading →

Luton Muslim school demands Ofsted re-inspection over ‘extremism’ claims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Olive Tree Primary SchoolA Muslim school says it will seek legal action unless a new Ofsted inspection is carried out, after saying it was depicted it as a “hotbed of extremism”.

The Olive Tree Primary School in Luton said it was criticised for promoting fundamentalist Islamic beliefs. It added that inspectors also asked children inappropriate questions about homosexuality and terrorism.

Ofsted has declined to comment on the draft report, which it says was given to the school “in confidence”.

The independent school said it was rated “inadequate” by the educated watchdog after it carried out an emergency inspection, triggered by its headteacher expressing views about Islam and homosexuality on local radio. Inspectors subsequently withdrew from the school on the second day following complaints about their questions on homosexuality, but the body said it had already gained “sufficient evidence” to form a report.

Continue reading →

Terry Jones plans another visit to Dearborn

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Terry Jones, controversial anti-Islam pastor, will visit Dearborn to rally against Islamic Sharia law again. The Florida native is expected to be the featured guest speaker June 14 at the Dearborn Freedom Rally, an event held by the American Patriotic Bikers, according to an announcement by Stand Up America Now, the activist group Jones founded.

In a previous announcement, the organization said Jones was going to speak at Camp Dearborn in Milford. However, Jones said he will be speaking from the grassy area in front of the Islamic Center of America (ICA), a mosque on Ford Road.

The event was planned specifically for Flag Day, he said, and will include a motorcycle parade through the city before a presentation and his speech in front of the mosque, which will focus on the First Amendment and Sharia law. “It’s also on how Islam is not compatible to Western society because of its lack of freedom in thinking, thought and expression,” he said.

Continue reading →