Author Archives: Grace

Muslim scholars urged to practice polygamy

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From APF

Malaysian Islamic scholars urged to be polygamists

AFP – Friday, December 11

Malaysian Islamic scholars urged to be polygamists

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) – – The spiritual leader of Malaysia’s Islamic party has urged religious scholars to practice polygamy, saying they could rid the practice of its bad reputation, a report said Thursday.

Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, who leads the Pan-Malaysia Islamic Party (PAS) which is part of the opposition alliance, said that ulamas could be model polygamous husbands.

“Normally, when a man likes a beautiful woman, he will take her as his second wife,” he said according to the New Straits Times.

“But after they have children, he will divorce the woman. This is the bad image that I meant which should be cleaned up,” he said. “Ulama can play an important role in clearing this image.”

Nik Aziz said it was important to project a better image of polygamy, “especially in the era of information and communication technology, so that Islamic practices can be emulated by all communities.”

Muslim men in Malaysia are allowed up to four wives. Activists and women’s groups say polygamy is cruel and has deviated from its original purpose in Islam, which was to protect widows and orphans.

Islam is the official religion of Malaysia, where more than 60 percent of its 27 million people are Muslim Malays. Polygamy is illegal for non-Muslims.

Children should be monitored for Islamist brain-washing-tots as young as 4 vulnerable to radicalization

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From The Daily Mail U.K.

Nursery school children should be monitored for signs of Islamic extremist brainwashing, say police

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 12:08 PM on 11th December 2009

Children as young as four should be monitored for signs of brainwashing by Islamic extremists, a leaked police memo states.

In an email to community group leaders, an officer in the West Midlands counter-terrorism unit wrote: ‘I do hope that you will tell me about persons, of whatever age, you think may have been radicalised or be vulnerable to radicalisation.

‘Evidence suggests that radicalisation can take place from the age of four.’

The email was written by a police sergeant trying to allay Muslim community concerns.
It was leaked to The Times.

However, the policy was last night condemned by the Tories and the Liberal Democrats.

Chris Grayling, the Shadow Home Secretary, said the policy runs the risk of ‘alienating even more people’, while Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said it was an ‘absurd waste of money’.
Parviz KhanThere have been concerns about the radicalisation of children since terrorist Parviz Khan was caught on tape indoctrinating his five-year-old son.

There have been concerns about the radicalisation of children in the West Midlands since a terrorist was caught on a surveillance tape indoctrinating his five-year-old son.

Parviz Khan was jailed for plotting to kidnap and behead a British soldier in 2008. He was recorded threatening to beat his own son if he did not swear allegiance to Osama Bin Laden and encouraged him to ‘kill’ America, George W Bush and Tony Blair.

Instead of easing concerns in the Muslim community, the email has instead inflamed tensions.

The sergeant wrote: ‘I am a police officer and therefore it will always be part of my role to gather intelligence and I will report back any information or intelligence which may suggest someone is a terrorist, or is planning to be one or to support others.

‘However, my role is to raise the level of awareness of the threat of terrorism and radicalisation and support and work with partners to try to prevent it.’

The sergeant’s West Midlands police unit last night confirmed that counter-terrorist officers specially trained in identifying children and young people vulnerable to radicalisation had visited nursery schools.

Sir Norman Bettison, who speaks for the Association of Chief Police Officers on the anti-terror strategy Prevent, said the email was a ‘clumsy’ attempt by the officer to explain the strategy.

Chief Constable Sir Norman said: ‘There is absolutely no example, nationally, of the police engaging with nursery-age kids specifically on this issue.

‘That is the age for learning about stranger-danger and the Tufty Club.’

But he added that the policy ‘is no different to addressing the harm of drugs or sexual exploitation’.

‘Prevent is a way of addressing those most vulnerable in an attempt to protect them,’ he said.

‘It is easy to give Prevent initiatives a kicking because it is viewed as intrusive but, the next time there is a terrorist outrage involving young people who have been radicalised, there will be a wringing of hands and people will say, “What more could we have done?”‘

Farisa JihadControversy: Twenty-month-old Farisa Jihad sported inflammatory headwear during a protest outside the Danish embassy in London in 2006.

Arun Kundnani, of the Institute of Race Relations, contacted the officer who sent the email and asked for an explanation as to why counter-terrorism officers had visited nursery schools.

Mr Kundnani said: ‘He did seem to think it was standard. He said it wasn’t just him or his unit that was doing it.

‘He said the indicators were that [children] might draw pictures of bombs and say things like “all Christians are bad” or that they believe in an Islamic state.

‘It seems that nursery teachers in the West Midlands area are being asked to look out for radicalisation.

‘He also said that targeting young children was important because they would be left aware of what was inappropriate to say at school.’

The West Midlands counter-terrorism unit confirmed that an officer had visited a nursery school attached to a primary school and had spoken to staff.

A spokesman said: ‘We have been trying to bring counter-terrorism work out of the shadows. It can cause consternation at first when a policeman introduces himself as a counter-terrorism officer.

‘But we are actually trying to get over the accusation that Prevent is about spying by being more open and we are reaping the benefits now with better engagement.’

OIC tells Switzerland to annul minaret ban

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From The Ottawa Citizen

Switzerland. OIC asks anti-minaret vote be annulled

Canwest News Service December 11, 2009 4:03 AM

The Organization of Islamic Conference urged Swiss authorities Thursday to annul a vote banning the construction of minarets, saying it could fuel similar moves across Europe. Envoys from the pan-Islamic body’s 56 member states brought the request on Thursday to the Swiss ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Dante Martinelli, Pakistani ambassador Zamir Akram said. On Nov. 29, Swiss voters approved a move to ban the construction of minarets. The ban was opposed by the Swiss government, the bulk of Switzerland’s political parties as well as the economic establishment. However, given that most Swiss voters approved it in a referendum, the ban would now be inscribed in the country’s constitution.

© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

Men who force women to don burqa not welcome in France

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From The Telegraph U.K.

Men who force wives to wear Burka ‘not welcome in France’

Muslim men who force their wives to wear the full Islamic veil should not be granted French citizenship, Justice Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said on Thursday.

Published: 7:00AM GMT 11 Dec 2009

Wading into the debate over whether to ban the burka, Mr Alliot-Marie said the government would await the recommendations of a parliamentary panel considering possible legislation to bar Muslim women from wearing the full veil.

But the minister went on to say that “there are a certain number of basics on which we must stand firm”.

“For instance, someone who would be seeking French citizenship and whose wife wears the full veil is someone who would not appear to be sharing the values of our country,” she told LCI television.

“Therefore in a case like that one, we would reject his request,” she said.

The justice minister said the wearing of the niqab or burka was a “problem that affects our ability to live together, the values of the republic and in particular human dignity.”

A French court last year denied citizenship to a veiled Moroccan woman on the grounds that her “radical” practice of Islam was incompatible with French values.

President Nicolas Sarkozy has proclaimed the burka “not welcome” in secular France but he has not waded into the debate on whether the full veil should be banned.

The panel of 32 lawmakers from across the political spectrum are to hand in their much-awaited report on whether to ban the burka next month.

Tarte au poires ou tarte au pommes?: France defends Swiss minaret ban

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From The National Post

Sarkozy defends Swiss vote to ban minarets

James Mackenzie, Reuters Published: Tuesday, December 08, 2009

Protesters demonstrate the vote to ban minarets in Switzerland, Dec. 1, 2009.

Valentin Flauraud/Reuters Protesters demonstrate the vote to ban minarets in Switzerland, Dec. 1, 2009

PARIS — French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Switzerland’s vote to ban new minarets showed why it was vital for France to hold an extended debate on national identity despite criticism that it has only fuelled racist views.

In a column in the daily Le Monde on Tuesday, Mr. Sarkozy defended the Swiss referendum against widespread criticism in France, saying it had laid bare fears of a loss of identity that should not be ignored.

“Instead of condemning the Swiss out of hand, we should try to understand what they meant to express and what so many people in Europe feel, including people in France,” he wrote.

“Nothing would be worse than denial.”

Feminism: what jihadists fear most.

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From The National Post

What jihadists oppose most

Sure, radical Islamists are upset by infidels and the existence of a Jewish state. But their biggest gripe of all? Feminism

George Jonas, National Post Published: Wednesday, December 09, 2009

In an interview made available on the Internet last month ( www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2wvqDfitLY), Dr. Hamid Tawfik, a Cairo-born physician who describes himself as a former jihadist, is asked why he came close to becoming a terrorist. He replies that it was the influence of “a certain [fundamentalist] form of religious teaching” he encountered while at university. “It was not poverty,” he explains. “I came from a wealthy family. It wasn’t lack of education. I was in medical school, my father was an orthopedic surgeon, my mother was a French teacher, so it wasn’t any of this …It was basically a religious form of teaching that instructs us to use violence with non-Muslims or with Muslims who do not conform to our value system.”

Later in the interview, in answer to the question of who is the “enemy” –is it the West, any non-Muslim, the Jews –Dr. Tawfik is unequivocal:

“The West, but in particular, women’s rights. Women’s rights was the first enemy for us.”

He adds that it’s strange feminism should have been the biggest gripe of jihadists, but it was. He is emphatic that this is why, wherever a “radical [Islamist] group” acquires power, the first thing it does is suppress women.

“First thing, before anything else, they tell women not to go out, to wear the hijab …”

If Dr. Tawfik is accurate, as I suspect he is, what lessons can we draw from it?

None, I’m afraid, that we could translate into immediate, practical policies. Since we don’t endow universities just to cut jihadists off at the pass, we won’t stop educating people, or stop trying to make them prosper, just because education and prosperity don’t prevent them from becoming jihadists. By the same token, we won’t exclude women from equal partnership in modern society just to assuage the feelings of Taliban types. Continue Reading →

Honour murders: surge of 60% across Britain

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From The Telegraph U.K.

Police tackle more ‘honour’ cases

Police are tackling more suspicious incidents motivated by so-called ”honour” than ever before, according to new figures released today.

Published: 12:11PM GMT 07 Dec 2009

The Metropolitan Police recorded 256 incidents, of which 132 were criminal offences, in the year 2008-9.

This was a surge of 60% from the 161 incidents recorded in the previous financial year, of which 93 were criminal offences.

The latest figures revealed the upward trend is continuing with 211 incidents reported in the six months until October, of which 129 were offences.

Police define honour violence, including murder, rape and kidnap, as crimes motivated by a desire to protect the honour of a family or community.

Women are the most common victims of honour violence which is linked to some interpretations of cultural and religious beliefs.

But ”non-crimes”, where no offence has been committed, were also recorded, particularly where police believe the incident could be part of a wider picture.

These could include incidents in which an attempt has been made to force someone into marriage.

Detectives continue to probe the murder of mother-of-two Geeta Aulakh, 28, who was hacked to death with a sword in Greenford, north west London, last month.

In July a young Danish man of Asian origin suffered horrendous injuries when acid was poured down his throat in Leytonstone, east London.

Police believe he was targeted by a group of men because of a personal relationship with a Muslim woman.

One of the most high-profile cases is that of Banaz Mahmod, of Mitcham, south London, who was murdered by family members and buried in a Birmingham garden.

Independent investigators criticised officers for failing to take her seriously after she contacted them four times to say she was in fear for her life.

Earlier this year, police were issued with new guidance telling them to assume honour crimes have been committed in more circumstances.

Senior officers anticipated that the move would drive up figures as in many cases only limited information is available or a potential victim refuses to help police.

In London, each of the 32 boroughs has a dedicated unit staffed by officers trained to investigate all kinds of hate and domestic violence crimes.

There is also a central team reviewing all cases daily and flagging up incidents where people may be immediately at risk.

Detective Chief Inspector Gerry Campbell, of the Metropolitan Police, said the new figures could be revealing the true extent of the problem.

He said more work is being done to collect up-to-date information about people at risk and emerging patterns.

Mr Campbell said: ”The description of this type of crime is misplaced. There is no honour in these crimes.”

Up to 12 people are murdered every year in the name of ”honour” and police fear a further 500 people are forced into an arranged marriage or attacked.

The Forced Marriage (civil protection) Act 2007 strengthened the law on forced marriage and other forms of honour-based violence.

A Home Office spokesman said: ”Forced marriage and honour-based violence are appalling crimes and the government is working with partners across the voluntary sector to support victims.”

Iran interrupted: internet cut, communications crawl

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From AP

Iran Cuts Internet Access One Day Before Student Protests Scheduled

Sunday , December 06, 2009

AP

TEHRAN, Iran —

Iranian authorities have slowed Internet connections to a crawl or choked them off completely before expected student protests Monday to deny the opposition a vital means of communication.

In another familiar tactic before such rallies, authorities have ordered journalists working for foreign media organizations not to leave their offices to cover the demonstrations.

Iran’s beleaguered opposition has sought to maintain momentum with periodic demonstrations coinciding with state-sanctioned events. Monday’s rallies will take place on a day that normally marks a 1953 killing of three students at an anti-U.S. protest. Since the 1990s, the day has served as an occasion for pro-reform protests.

Students are at the center of the opposition to Iran’s clerical regime and its brutal crackdown on demonstrators protesting what they believed was a fraudulent presidential election in June.

The opposition, which relies on the Web and cell phone service to organize rallies and get its message out, has vowed to hold rallies Monday, the first anti-government show of force in a month. It is not clear if the demonstrations will take place on university campuses or in the streets.

The call went out on dozens of Web sites run by supporters of opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mahdi Karroubi, both of whom ran in the June 12 election. Most of those sites have been repeatedly blocked by the government, forcing activists to set up new ones.

Internet connections in the capital, Tehran, have been slow or completely down since Saturday. Blocking Internet access and cell phone service has been one of the routine methods employed by the authorities to undermine the opposition in recent months.

The government has not publicly acknowledged it is behind the outages, but Iran’s Internet service providers say the problem is not on their end and is not a technical glitch. A day or two after the demonstrations, cell phone and Internet service is restored.

Former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who has been a powerful voice of dissent from within the ranks of the Islamic leadership, accused Iran’s hard-line rulers in comments reported Sunday of silencing any constructive criticism.

“The situation in the country is such that constructive criticism is not tolerated,” Rafsanjani was quoted by several news agencies as saying.

Throughout Iran’s postelection crisis, Rafsanjani has appeared to side with critics alleging that the vote was rigged.

Signs have mounted in recent days of a potentially explosive confrontation Monday, especially if student protesters dare to take their demonstrations off campuses.

Iran’s police chief, Gen. Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam, warned that security forces will crush any protests Monday.

“If any unauthorized gatherings take place outside the universities, police will confront them,” Moghaddam was quoted as saying by the semi-official Fars news agency.

Monday’s protests, if they go ahead, would be the first major show of force by the opposition since Nov. 4, when Iranian security forces beat anti-government protesters with batons on the sidelines of state-sanctioned rallies to mark the 30th anniversary of the U.S. Embassy takeover.

The opposition has sought to display unity and resolve after relentless crackdowns on their protests and a mass trial of more than 100 activists and prominent pro-reform figures accused of fomenting the postelection unrest and seeking to topple the government.

Authorities have also focused on Iran’s students, besieging campuses nationwide with a wave of arrests and student expulsions. The pro-government Basij militia has also recruited informers on campuses to blow the whistle on any opposition troublemakers, according to students.

The opposition says at least 72 people died in the bloody crackdown on protesters after the election and that many of those detained were abused in custody. The government puts the number of dead at 30.

Seeking to confine journalists working for international media to their offices on Monday, Iran’s Culture Ministry suspended accreditation allowing them to report from the streets.

A text message to journalists from the ministry’s foreign media department said, “All permits issued for foreign media to cover news in the streets of Tehran will not be valid from Dec. 7 to Dec. 9.”

The ministry also warned the few remaining pro-reform newspapers not to publish “divisive” material, the official IRNA news agency reported.

“Following publication of headlines … contrary to unity by some newspapers, they were given written notification,” IRNA said. The agency identified the newspapers as Etemad, Hayat-e-Now, Aftab-e-Yazd and Asrar.

Iran warns Switzerland of consequences over minaret ban

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From AFP

Iran urges Bern not to enforce minaret ban

(AFP) – 14 hours ago

TEHRAN — Iran warned Switzerland on Saturday of “consequences” over a referendum banning the building of new mosque minarets and urged Bern not to enforce the ban, the official IRNA news agency reported.

The vote went “against the prestige of a country which claims to be an advocate of democracy and human rights,” Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told Swiss counterpart Micheline Calmy-Rey in a telephone call, quoted by IRNA.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki

Mottaki said last week’s referendum would “damage Switzerland’s image as a pioneer of respecting human rights among Muslims’ public opinion.”

“Values such as tolerance, dialogue and respecting others’ religions should never be put to referendum,” he argued, warning Switzerland of the “consequences” of anti-Islamic acts, IRNA reported.

The foreign minister hoped the Bern government would soon “take necessary steps and find a constitutional way to prevent imposition of the ban.”

IRNA said Switzerland’s ambassador in Tehran was summoned on Saturday before the foreign ministry, which protested against the minaret ban which was backed by more than 57 percent of voters who cast their ballot on November 29.

Calmy-Rey said the referendum was carried out against the will of the Swiss government, which would “use all its means to support Muslims rights,” the IRNA report added.

The referendum on a constitutional ban on minarets was proposed by a rightwing Swiss party and had not been expected to succeed.

Besides the government, the ban was opposed by the bulk of Switzerland’s political parties as well as the economic establishment.

It drew widespread criticism from the United Nations, Muslim states, fellow European countries and the Vatican.

India set to rid itself of annual baby-tossing festival

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Annually during the first week of December in rural districts of India, hundreds of infants are thrown from the high roof tops ( some of which are as high as 50 feet) of mosques and temples by Hindu and Muslim villagers. The babies are to hopefully land in the safety of sheets and blankets held by the awaiting, celebratory crowd below. If the child survives the fall, it signals a life of good luck, well health, prosperity and a long life (unless you happen to be a baby girl, in which case a long life may or may not be in your future, but that is entirely another story). Singing and dancing abound.

Devotees at a shrine in Harangal village of Parbhani in western India's Maharashtra dangle the frightened looking baby 50 feet above the cloth sheet below

Devotees at a shrine in Harangal village of Parbhani in western India’s Maharashtra dangle the frightened looking baby 50 feet above the cloth sheet below.

——–

The good news is India is set to ban this sacred, ceremonial gang baby toss with the hope of enlisting Hindu and Muslim villagers to become residents of the 21st century. I predict hard work ahead.

Canada:Muslim jailed for threats of honour murder against daughter seen as ‘hero’

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Maybe I need to get out more, but I don’t know any average father who has ever threatened his daughter with violence and murder. I also don’t know any average father who would toss his daughter down a flight of stairs, beat her, taunt her with vile language, follow her, send her menacing letters or threaten that male members of his extended family carry out an honour murder against her. I also don’t know any average father who would consider his daughter a shame because she chooses to exercise free choice over her own life.

I also don’t know any average mother who would view such action(s) by her husband against their children to be merely ‘strict’ parenting, nor do I know any average mother cruel or ignorant enough to believe that such behaviour does not constitute abuse. As for Al Mezel’s supporters, I am not in the least bit surprised to find those who would eagerly line up four fold to stand knee deep in their own Islamist shit to defend sharia, nor do I find it astonishing to learn that his family is shocked and disappointed by the criminal charges. After all, in the eyes of those who believe sharia should be the existing system of jurisprudence in this country, Al Mezel has committed no crime, in fact his actions serve to round out the virtues of a responsible, dutiful father.

But perhaps the most important aspect of this story and the one we should pay closest attention to and understand fully, comes from Al-Mezel’s own parole officers assessment; that his interest and hard work in the Muslim community lies not in the religious, but in the political. It is this doctrinal, political system called Islam that his daughter has had a complete understanding of and from which, she has fled.

From The Ottawa Citizen

Support strong for jailed union boss

Cabbies collect money for man serving year term for ‘honour’ crime

By Gary Dimmock, The Ottawa CitizenDecember 5, 2009 7:08 AM
Yusef Al Mezel is widely respected by his taxi driver co-workers.

Yusef Al Mezel is widely respected by his taxi driver co-workers.

Photograph by: Rod MacIvor, The Ottawa Citizen

The other day at the Innes Road jail, taxi drivers stood in line four-deep to visit their union leader, Yusef Al Mezel.

And although Al Mezel, 44, is in jail for threatening to kill his daughter in an “honour” crime, his popularity among the city’s cabbies is far from waning.

In fact, many of the 1,500 members of Canadian Autoworkers Local 1688 are now collecting money for Al Mezel, who is the sole financial provider for his big middle-class family.

Except, that is, for the 25-year-old daughter he threatened after she took off her hijab, abandoned Muslim beliefs, and refused an arranged marriage.

The police relocated Eman Al Mezel for her own protection. Her father pleaded guilty, sparing his family a sensational trial.

She has had no contact with any members of her family since her father was charged in 2007. Publicly, Al Mezel has said the case is a family matter. Privately, he has expressed remorse, insisting his threats were made out of concern for his daughter.

His wife, Hussuh Thageel, and one of his other daughters, have told a parole officer that he’s an “average father with strict expectations of his (seven) children.

“However, his family did not consider his behaviour to be abusive,” the parole officer wrote in her report. His family also said they were shocked and disappointed by the criminal charges. Continue Reading →

Turkey cries fowl on Swiss ban while Churches denied permits

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From The Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey

Turkish Parliament speaker speaks out against Swiss ban

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

ANKARA – Hürriyet Daily News

Turkish Parliament Speaker Mehmet Ali Sahin says he opposes the minaret ban passed in Switzerland on Sunday, adding that basic freedoms cannot be put to a vote.

Parliament Speaker Mehmet Ali Sahin voiced his opposition to the Swiss ban on minarets on Wednesday, saying that it was wrong to put a basic freedom to a vote.

His remarks came during a meeting with his Finnish counterpart, Sauli Niinistö, in Parliament.

“In fact, it should have been expressed more loudly before the referendum that such a basic right cannot be the focus of a referendum. What were we going to discuss if the ‘yes’ vote emerged from the referendum instead of ‘no’ vote?” Sahin said. “Were we going to say, ‘Such a basic right cannot be the focus of a referendum’? I believe it is necessary to pursue a consistent policy toward this issue.”

The referendum put forth by the nationalist Swiss People’s Party labeled minarets as symbols of rising Muslim political power that could one day transform Switzerland into an Islamic nation. The initiative was approved 57.5 percent to 42.5 percent on Sunday.

“As far as I can see, Swiss government officials are also uneasy. The [Swiss] justice minister pointed to the European Court of Human Rights,” said ?ahin, hoping the situation, which worries Muslims living in Switzerland, would be corrected in the future.

The Finnish parliament speaker said this was not a usual issue for Finland, which believes that human rights and the freedom of expression should be respected. Such an issue cannot be submitted to a vote in Finland, he said.

In an interview with private broadcaster NTV, Swiss Ambassador to Turkey Raimund Kunz said the referendum result was a decision made by the Swiss people, not by the state. He made clear that the Swiss government was against the initiative and called on voters to say “no” in the referendum.

“This is not a vote against Islam and Muslims,” he was quoted as saying. “This is not a vote against their religion and praying. There are mosques in Switzerland. Muslims will be able to perform what their religion requires. This will not change in the future.”

The ambassador said the reactions would not cause the Swiss government to change its foreign policy, making clear that their policy of dialogue with Muslim countries would continue.

“I understand Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s reactions,” he said. “I hope we’ll continue our dialogue with Turkey.”

On Tuesday, Erdogan spoke out against the ban, calling it a reflection of increasing racist and extreme nationalist waves in Europe.

Meanwhile, as the Turkish Prime Minister likens the ban to European intolerance and extreme nationalism…………

Churches Impossible to Build or Restore in Turkey

Sharia smackdown in Stockholm

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From The Local: Sweden’s News/ English

Muslim dentist loses discrimination suit

David Landes

Published: 30 Nov 09 17:39 CET

A Muslim woman from Kista north of Stockholm who was denied a job as a dentist after refusing to wear short-sleeved work clothes for religious reasons has lost her discrimination case against the Swedish Public Dental Service (Folktandvården).

“It’s incomprehensible,” the woman told The Local following the ruling by the Stockholm District Court.

Following the completion of her dental studies in January 2008, the now 29-year-old woman applied for a position with the public dental service in Stockholm.

During the hiring process, she was informed that the dental agency requires personnel to wear short-sleeved gowns when treating patients.

But the rules, put in place for hygiene reasons, came into conflict with her Muslim faith, which requires that she show as little skin as possible in public.

Looking for a solution, she said she would be willing to wear disposable arm sleeves over a long-sleeved gown.

“We presented evidence from Socialstyrelsen (National Board of Health and Welfare) that showed that using these disposable arm sleeves has the same level of hygiene,” she said.

After Folktandvården rejected the compromise, she sued the dental service for 150,000 kronor ($21,500) in damages alleging the organization’s refusal to accommodate her request to avoid short-sleeved work clothes amounted to discrimination.

But the Stockholm court sided with the dental service, finding that the decision not to hire the woman did not amount to discrimination.

In its ruling, the court cited health board regulations which recommend healthcare personnel use short-sleeved gowns when examining patients.

“Even it if means a disadvantaging of Muslims […], Folktandvården is required to follow the current guidelines for basic hygiene for the healthcare system,” the court wrote in its judgment.

The court also ordered the woman to pay 250,000 kronor to cover the dental service’s court costs, something which she said is not going to be easy.

“It’s pretty unacceptable. I’m not working right now and have no income,” she said, adding that she is currently supported by her father.

The 29-year-old told The Local she is considering an appeal, but has yet to make up her mind.

Kenya: 350 girls set to face the knife in December ceremony

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‘Stars, prevailing weather patterns, and other key elements had signaled that the initiations should go on in the next two weeks’.

The Daily Nation

From The Ottawa Citizen

Female predicament

The Ottawa CitizenDecember 3, 2009

The status of women in Afghanistan gets a lot of attention these days. You can go into coffeeshops in Ottawa and hear people arguing about how many girls’ schools have been built, or how common it is for women in Kabul to go without burqas.

But Afghanistan may no longer be the front line in the war against women — or, at least, it’s not the only front line. In the last few weeks, harrowing stories from many countries demonstrate that extreme misogyny is taking root around the world. The Taliban are not the only offenders.

Indeed, while Islamic clerics and jihadis are leading the charge, many girls are just as much at risk from their own parents — even their own mothers.

That’s certainly the case in Kenya, where — according the Daily Nation newspaper — 350 teenage and pre-teen girls are scheduled to undergo mass genital mutilation in early December. Although this brutal procedure — often euphemized as “female circumcision” — is now illegal in Kenya, it is still common, and there is still a cultural belief that “decent” girls must get “the cut.”

In Canada, Liberal MP Keith Martin is trying to bring attention to this story and put pressure on the Kenyan government in time to save at least some of the girls from a culturally legitimized form of assault, both physical and psychological, that is directly linked to harmful ideas about gender and sexuality.

In Sudan, women have been flogged and imprisoned for wearing pants. One woman who was arrested for the crime back in July, a courageous journalist named Lubna Ahmed Hassan, has fled the country and written a book called Forty Lashes for a Pair of Trousers.

In Somalia, the pattern that brought the Taliban to power in Afghanistan is repeating itself, while the world watches. The collection of fundamentalist thugs called al-Shabaab (“the youth,” just as the Taliban are “the students”) now controls much of Somalia, and imposes a strict form of sharia law. Women, of course, get the worst of it. In November, a divorced woman was accused of a relationship with an unmarried man — enough to meet al-Shabaab’s definition of adultery. She was buried up to her waist and stoned to death in front of a crowd. The man accused of being her boyfriend was given 100 lashes. The world has learned about a few such cases in Somalia over the past year.

Even in secular democracies where the rule of law applies, girls and women are not safe from perverse notions about sexuality and family honour. Domestic violence in the name of imported religious or cultural values is happening now in Canada and other western countries. Honour killings are still rare in Canada, but the fact that they happen here at all is reason for concern, and reason to find ways to protect girls growing up in violent homes.

It’s easier to help women in Canada, or even in Kenya, than it is to help women in anarchic states such as Somalia. But no matter where a misogynist crime happens, it’s incumbent on Canadians to at least notice, and to condemn.

It’s common for critics of Canada’s mission in Afghanistan to accuse this country of hypocrisy, because we did so little about the abuse of women there before 2001. If Afghanistan has taught us anything, it’s that the status of women in any country is an indicator of its ideological trajectory and its potential to affect international security.

© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

Swiss voters right to crush the architecture of dominance

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From The National Post.

Barbara Kay: Swiss right on minarets

Posted: December 02, 2009, 9:24 PM by Matt Gurney

Switzerland’s official ban on the construction of new minarets has naturally elicited the usual reflexive cries of “Islamophobia” amongst multiculturally correct commentators, not to mention fears of Danish-cartoon style blowback fomented by excitable Islamist demagogues.

These emotional reactions obscure a crucial point about minarets, and all other tall, pointy architectural symbols that draw the eye upward. Like the Twin Towers for example. Whether they are religious or secular in conception, structures that physically dominate the landscape by means of height send a message to observers – and nobody can choose *not* to observe them – that what the structure stands for is a dominant cultural force in people’s lives. The twin Towers stood for the dominant role of capitalism and commercial hegemony that is a point of pride for Americans. That is precisely why they were chosen as targets for destruction. Continue Reading →