Author Archives: taffy

‘I’ll cut out your tongue’

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Businessman Aurang Zeb outside Blackburn magistrates court this week

Businessman Aurang Zeb outside Blackburn magistrates court this week

MailOnline  A muslim who threatened to kill his wife and cut out her tongue after she blocked an arranged marriage for their daughter has been banned from seeing his family.

In the first prosecution of its kind, Aurang Zeb has been convicted of breaching a Forced Marriage Protection Order taken out to stop him taking Rozina Akhtar out of Britain to marry.

But despite his chilling threats he escaped imprisonment and was given community service. Last night campaigners condemned the sentence, saying it sent out the wrong message.

‘There’s clear evidence that this man threatened to kill his wife, so how can he be given community service?’ said Shazia Qayum of Karma Nirvana, a group which helps victims of forced marriage.

‘He should have been locked up. The law just isn’t strong enough at the moment, and it’s time the Government made forced marriage a criminal offence.’

Zeb, a former builder, set up a marriage between Rozina and his brother’s son while visiting their native Pakistan when she was just 19.

After returning home to Blackburn, his daughter decided she did not want to go through with it.

His wife, Parveen Akhtar, stepped in, explaining she had been pushed into an unhappy marriage to Zeb 24 years ago and did not want their daughter to suffer the same fate.

But he insisted Rozina had no choice, saying she was ‘dishonouring’ the family, magistrates heard.

Using laws on forced marriage introduced last November, police secured one of Britain’s first FMPOs against Zeb, 43.

He was ordered to forfeit his passport and barred from taking Rozina, now 23, to Pakistan.

But though he moved out of the family home after February’s ruling, he continued stalking them, Blackburn magistrates were told.

He would wait for Parveen in his car outside the house to accuse her of having an affair – which she denied, said Catherine Allan, prosecuting.

The father of two also harassed his son, Nasir Khan, almost running him off the road and demanding he attack Parveen and Rozina.

In one conversation, Zeb said that if Nasir killed them he would ‘only get five to seven years’ in jail. Continue Reading →

15 Year Old Egyptian Convert to Christianity Sends Plea to Obama

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hat tip to R.E.A.L

peterathanasiusdina Cairo (AINA) — 15-year-old Egyptian girl Dina el-Gowhary, who converted from Islam to Christianity, has sent a plea to President Obama, complaining of mistreatment by the Egyptian Government and asking for his mediation. “Mr President Obama,” she writes, “we are a minority in Egypt. We are treated very badly. You said that the Muslim minority in America are treated very well, so why are we not treated here likewise? We are imprisoned in our own home because Muslim clerics called for the murder of my father, and now the Government has set for us a new prison, we are imprisoned in our own country.”

The handwritten Arabic letter, posted on Coptic websites, also says “I am 15 years old but I still have hope that my message will reach President Obama.”

The el-Gowhary family was barred from leaving Egypt on September 17, 2009 without any legal reason. They were told, however, that the order came from a higher authority (AINA 9-26-200).

Dina, is the daughter of 57-year-old Maher el-Gowhary, also known by his Christian name Peter Athanasius, who embraced Christianity secretly 35 years ago. In August, 2008 he filed the second ever lawsuit of a Muslim-born Egyptian against the Egyptian Government to officially alter his identification documents to reflect his new Christian identity. He lost the case in June 2009. According to the Court ruling, the religious conversion of a Muslim is against Islamic Sharia law and poses a threat to the “Public Order” in Egypt. (AINA 6-16-2009). He appealed the ruling.

Maher and Dina have been living in hiding ever since he filed his lawsuit because Muslim clerics have called him an apostate and several Fatwas (religious edicts), for ‘spilling his blood’ have been issued. He frequently changes where he lives to evade being killed, and friends supply him with food. “We cannot sleep, eat or go out in the street,” he said. He believes that the authorities are putting pressure on them (he and Dina) to re-convert back to Islam, “but this will never happen, even if we have to live on the streets. We love our Lord Jesus, and we have left Islam for good.”

The International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), in conjunction with Copts United, presented el-Gowhary’s case to the UN Human Rights Council in its 12th session in September 2009.

Maher visited the Canadian Embassy to see if he can get religious asylum. He found an Egyptian receptionist there in her Hijab, so he left. The Egyptian staff at Western embassies in Cairo are under the control of State Security.

Maher lashed out today at the Egyptian Government, asking for his Egyptian nationality to be taken away if it is the reason why the Government is adamant on depriving him of his basic rights as an Egyptian citizen. He told Copts United “if the Egyptian nationality is the cause of my imprisonment within my home and being unable to move, then I do not want it.” He added that it would be more honorable for him to hold the nationality of any other country rather than the Egyptian one “Where I live together with my daughter suffering imprisonment within the walls of my apartment and without any freedom.”

By Mary Abdelmassih

Families concerned about missing Somali-Canadians

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SOMALIA TORONTO — Several Somali-Canadian families are asking what happened to their sons after a group of young men apparently disappeared from Toronto two weeks ago.

They left town without notice, and have not contacted home since. “They didn’t even tell their parents,” said Omar Kireh, administrator of the Abu Huraira Centre, the Toronto mosque where the men occasionally worshipped.

A circle of friends in their twenties leaving town together might not ordinarily be cause for concern, but following recent events in the American Somali community, their disappearance has set off alarm bells.

More than 20 Somali-Americans who similarly vanished from Minneapolis have turned up in Somalia as members of Al-Shabab, an Islamist youth militia aligned with al-Qaeda and often likened to the Taliban.

One of the Americans died while conducting a suicide bombing and another is also confirmed dead. Their families blame extremists for radicalizing the young men, and RCMP Commissioner William Elliott said last month a similar pattern may be occurring in Canada’s large Somali community.

But almost two weeks after the Toronto men went missing, the RCMP and Canadian Security Intelligence Service are still puzzling over their fate. Investigators have been showing photos of five men to members of Toronto’s Somali community.

Ahmed Gure, who runs the Ottawa-based Somali news website Hiiraan Online, said he had spoken to relatives of the parents. He said they fear the men have gone to Somalia to fight. Continue Reading →

Glendale ‘honor killing’ victim, 20, just wanted to be normal

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GET R.E.A.L

image5408992x Noor Faleh Almaleki just wanted to be a normal American woman.

The striking 20-year-old from Iraq, who’d lived in the Valley since she was a young girl, wanted her hair and makeup to be perfect, her clothes to be fashionable. She wanted a job, a degree and a husband of her choosing.

On her Facebook page, Noor posted photos of herself and wrote: “I am spectacular,” punctuated with a smiley face emoticon. But Noor’s father had a much different ideal for his daughter: a life in strict line with traditional Iraqi culture.

He made her quit her fast-food restaurant job and arranged for her to marry a man in Iraq she didn’t know, according to friends and family.

Finally, police say, 48-year-old Faleh Hassan Almaleki put an end to what he perceived to be his daughter’s rebellious life. Using his Jeep as a weapon, he allegedly ran her down in a parking lot Oct. 20 in what prosecutors are calling an “honor killing” to cleanse what he considered were indiscretions to the family’s honor.

Noor underwent spinal surgery and was in a coma until her death on Monday. Another woman struck by the Jeep, the mother of Noor’s boyfriend, was expected to survive. Marcella Andregg, a friend for seven years, described Noor as independent, but far from rebellious and always respectful of her parents. She said Noor just wanted to live her own life, but that her father wouldn’t let her.

“His whole persona was very controlling, very strong-minded in the ways he wanted it for her,” Andregg said. “He talked down to her very much, made sure she knew she wasn’t good enough and brought a lot of dishonor to the family.”

Meanwhile, she said, Noor “just wanted to be a normal teenager,” and later, wanted to finish college, marry the man she loved, and have children. Continue Reading →

Suspects in FBI mosque raid get bail. Canada

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FBI Raids Michigan CBC…Two Canadian men accused by the FBI of conspiring to commit federal crimes in the U.S. have been granted bail in Windsor, Ont., but with a number of conditions that will be announced later Friday.

Mohammad Al-Sahli, 33, and Yasir Ali Khan, 30,[pictured]  will be released on $300,000 bond.

They also have to meet with the RCMP every Friday, live with relatives, stay home from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. [ I suspect the times reported are a misprint] every day, hand over their travel documents and stay in the Windsor-Essex area.

Both men have been held in custody since their arrest in Windsor on Oct. 30.

They were the last of 11 men sought in an FBI complaint that listed several charges, including conspiracy to sell stolen goods.

They were also allegedly involved in a radical Islamic group whose leader, Luqman Ameen Abdullah, 53, was fatally shot by FBI agents during a raid on his mosque in Dearborn, Mich., on Oct. 28.

About 100 members of Windsor’s Muslim community attended Friday morning’s bail hearing at the Superior Court of Justice, filling the courtroom.

Somali adulterer stoned to death

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Islamists in southern Somalia have stoned a man to death for adultery but spared his pregnant girlfriend until she gives birth.

Abas Hussein Abdirahman, 33, was killed in front of a crowd of some 300 people in the port town of Merka.

An official from the al-Shabab group said the woman would be killed after she has had her baby.

Islamist groups run much of southern Somalia, while the UN-backed government only control parts of the capital.

This is the third time Islamists have stoned a person to death for adultery in the past year.

Al-Shabab official Sheikh Suldan Aala Mohamed said Mr Abdirahman had confessed to adultery before an Islamic court.

“He was screaming and blood was pouring from his head during the stoning. After seven minutes he stopped moving,” an eyewitness told the BBC. Continue Reading →

Mass. Man Indicted on New Terror Plot Charges

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BOSTON —  A Massachusetts man has been indicted on new charges in an alleged terror plot to kill two prominent U.S. politicians and shoot people at American shopping malls.

Tarek Mehanna, of Sudbury, is accused of conspiring with two other men — Ahmad Abousamra, who authorities say is now in Syria, and an unnamed cooperating witness.

The 27-year-old Mehanna was arrested Oct. 21 on a charge of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists.

The 10-count indictment released Thursday also charges Mehanna and Abousamra with conspiracy to kill in a foreign country, conspiracy to provide false information to law enforcement and making false statements to law enforcement.

Authorities say the men allegedly talked about killing two members of the executive branch and plotted to randomly shoot shoppers. They also allegedly talked about killing U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

Montreal welcomes an Islamist extremist in sheep’s clothing

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tariq ramadan Tarek Fatah NP… 
Tomorrow evening the citizens of Montreal will be treated to a spectacle of Islamist double-talk that will leave them dazzled. Tariq Ramadan will be speaking to a gathering at the University of Montreal.This time the voice of Islamism will not be the regular run-of-the-mill shrieks by sheikhs, but delivered by a man with a mellow disarming smile. The guttural accent we have come to associate with angry mullahs of the Middle East will be replaced by milky English delivered with a French accent.
But make no mistake. The message of Tariq Ramadan will remain the same. The crudeness will be replaced by sophistication; the clumsiness by finesse. And Canadians, hungry for some sense of movement towards moderation in the world of Islam, will most probably lap it all up.

So who is Tariq Ramadan?

My first encounter with him was in a TVO discussion about Sharia Law in Canada in 2005.

I had heard Tariq Ramadan had spoken against the idea of introducing Sharia Law in Canada. I was excited. The grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt would have the maturity and understanding to take a brave stand when the rest of the Islamist establishment was hell-bent on making sure sharia law found a foothold in North America.

However, my hopes were dashed when the live show went on air. Tariq Ramadan made it very clear. He was not opposed to sharia law coming to Canada; he just didn’t think it was the right time to introduce it. In his words, Muslims were displaying a “lack of creativity”. He suggested that rather than ask openly for sharia law, Islamists should have sneaked it in through the existing legal framework.

Taken aback, I was reminded of the Islamist doctrine of Taqiyaa, a dissimulation methodology employed to hide one’s true agenda, which recommends appearing harmless to one’s adversary with the objective of having them lower their guard. Continue Reading →

Peaceful preaching inside, violent message outside a New York mosque

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[kaltura-widget wid=”mlq0qadxzw” width=”410″ height=”364″ addpermission=”3″ editpermission=”3″ /]

When will “the West” wake up to the threat hiding behind the pretense of religion?

READ MORE

Accused men crossed border 47 times. CANADA/USA

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NPost… Two Canadians facing extradition to the United States for their alleged involvement in a radical Islamic group crossed the Windsor-Detroit border a total of 47 times this year, and both have been stopped by U.S. officials at the border in the past, according to a newly released federal document obtained by the National Post.

The Attorney-General’s application record for provisional arrest, which includes an affidavit by an RCMP Immigration Task Force officer as well as U.S. Department of Justice documents, provides insight into the alleged activities of Yassir Ali Kahn, 30, and Mohammad Al-Sahli, 33, who face U.S. charges of conspiracy to commit federal crimes in connection with a Detroitbased radical Sunni group.

Mr. Al-Sahli of Lebanon and Mr. Kahn of Pakistan last crossed the border on Oct. 14 and Oct. 19 respectively, roughly two weeks prior to their arrests in Windsor on Oct. 31, according to U. S Department of Justice documents in the file.

One U.S. document says that in 2004 Mr. Kahn, who reportedly crossed the border 30 times this year, was “interviewed at the port for having suspicious literature in his conveyance.” A similar document for Mr. Al-Sahli says he was issued a “penalty for undervaluation of electronic appliance” on June 6, 2006.

Mr. Al-Sahli, who the record says “was charged with or convicted of driving a commercial vehicle with a defect” in January 2009, and Mr. Kahn are accused of selling goods stolen from interstate shipments, including 82 laptops since 2007.

According to the record, U.S. authorities believe that “many of the individuals involved in this stolen property conspiracy were convicted felons who were armed and engaged in acts of violence including the beating of children, assaulting police officers, advocating the murder of U.S. government officials, threatening to detonate bombs, and training in martial arts, use of firearms and sword fighting.” Continue Reading →

POLICE INFILTRATED BY THE TALIBAN ‘AT EVERY LEVEL’

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DailyExpress… A BRITISH war hero yesterday warned the Afghan national police had been “infiltrated at virtually every level” by the insurgency

Captain Doug Beattie also claimed that in British-controlled Helmand province Afghan police officers were almost all drug users.

Despite this, the vetting process for police recruits “is not serious”.

He also cited two incidents where Afghan national army soldiers had turned on British troops.

But he said Britain must stick to its policy of training Afghan security forces because it is “our exit strategy”. Capt Beattie won the Military Cross in Afghanistan in 2006 and served with the police both then and last year. He said part of the problem was that the police had not been given the same resources and training as the Afghan army.

But he said: “They are not really police. They are a tribal militia provided by their village.

“They are not controlled by central Government but by local warlords, jihadis and tribal elders. The Government pays them and sometimes elders pass the pay to the police. That’s why police sometimes set up road blocks and extract money from locals – to make ends meet.

“If the government’s paying them they’re reasonably happy. But if they don’t get enough money they’re quite happy to be paid by the insurgency.”

He alleged that a former chief of police in Helmand was caught talking directly to the Taliban on his personal phone on several occasions.

Capt Beattie, who left the Army this year after 27 years’ service, said: “The insurgency has infiltrated the police at virtually every level. Because they are poorly paid they take money from the highest bidder.”

He said drugs were readily available and about 80 per cent of the police in Helmand were “habitual users of cannabis or heroin”.

He told of the Afghan army holding one of his men at gunpoint while they murdered a Taliban prisoner before running off. And a British mentoring team had to be evacuated after paratroopers accidentally killed a child and locals attacked their base.

Captain Beattie is the author of Task Force Helmand (Simon & Schuster), priced £17.99.

Matt Gurney: Let the children sing O Canada

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NP… Canadian schools sometimes seem as prone to turn out stupid ideas as literate graduates, but some ideas are still dumb enough to warrant special mention. I’m looking at you, New Brunswick.As theNational Post reported today, dozens of francophone schools in New Brunswick have asked to be excused from the daily singing of O Canada, arguing there are other ways to teach patriotism to students. “It is nothing against the anthem or anything like that,’ said Hermel Mazerolle, director of administration and finance for District 11. ‘I think it’s just not only the anthem that will put Canadian values into our families and kids.’”

So it’s not an attack on Canada as country, just an attack on common sense. I suppose that’s marginally better, but only just barely, because anyway you look at it, this idea stinks.

First off, if teachers intend to teach patriotism in the same manner students are taught Canadian history, the thought is alarming. Rather than a few bars of song every day, students would instead be subjected to incredibly bland, uninteresting versions of what it means to be Canadian, dumbed down into a pablum whose only purpose is to avoid offending any particular group. Anyone who’s flipped through a Canadian social science textbook any time over the last 20 years knows what I’m talking about. According to the approved official version of events, Canadian history goes something like this:

White people arrived and brutally destroyed the advanced and untroubled native civilization that was flourishing in their absence. Then the English conquered the French, and we don’t really have any comment on that, but it happened. Later on, we formed a country, and did a way better job of it than those crazy Americans, and at some point after that, we won a battle at Vimy Ridge, which was instrumental into making us into peacekeepers a generation later. How that happened, no one knows, but don’t ask questions. Just trust us. And then Pierre Trudeau came along, and we purged ourselves of all remaining human imperfections while simultaneously becoming bilingual UN cheerleaders. And it should be noted that women played a huge role in every part of that process, except the bad parts. The End.

While that’s obviously a bit flippant, the exaggeration isn’t as great as you might think. Continue Reading →

Bear kills militants in Kashmir

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It sure is nice to be able to post some good news once in awhile.

_46658036_bear226afp BBCNEWS… A bear killed two militants after discovering them in its den in Indian-administered Kashmir, police say.

Two other militants escaped, one of them badly wounded, after the attack in Kulgam district, south of Srinagar.

The militants had assault rifles but were taken by surprise – police found the remains of pudding they had made to eat when the bear attacked.

It is thought to be the first such incident since Muslim separatists took up arms against Indian rule in 1989.

Bodies found

The militants had made their hideout in a cave which was actually the bear’s den, said police officer Farooq Ahmed.

The dead have been identified as Mohammad Amin alias Qaiser, and Bashir Ahmed alias Saifullah.

News of the attack emerged when their injured comrade went to a nearby village for treatment.

“Word spread in the village that Qaiser had been killed by the bear,” another police officer said.

A joint party of the police and army personnel went into the forest and collected the bodies of the two militants.

Police say they also recovered two Kalashnikov assault rifles and some ammunition from the hideout.

Animal attacks

Wildlife experts say the conflict in Kashmir has actually resulted in an increase in the population of bears and leopards.

Following the outbreak of the insurgency people had to hand in their weapons to police – which put a halt to poaching.

As a result, there has been a greater incidence of man-animal conflict, say experts.

There have been many reports of bears and leopards killing or mauling humans in different parts of the Kashmir valley in recent years.

Three years ago, residents of Mandora village near the southern town of Tral, beat a black bear to death which had strayed into the village.

Daughter screamed at ‘honour killing’ Dad in court

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Disappeared 10 years ago

Disappeared 10 years ago

 METRO…The sister of an alleged “honour killing” victim screamed with anguish at her father as she faced him across a courtroom today.

Nuray Guler shouted in Turkish and gesticulated wildly at Mehmet Goren during an outburst as she gave evidence at his murder trial.

Mrs Guler, 28, let out a prolonged and piercing wail before walking out of the court in tears.

Mehmet Goren is alleged to have killed Mrs Guler’s sister Tulay, after consulting with brothers Ali and Cuma, because she fell in love with the wrong man.

The 15-year-old schoolgirl went missing in January 1999 and her body has never been found, Old Bailey jurors have been told.

Mrs Guler today told the court that her father had threatened to kill Tulay the day before she disappeared.

Cross-examining her later, Michael Turner QC, for Mehmet, asked her why she had not said this to police.

Mrs Guler, speaking through a Turkish interpreter, became emotional and turned to face her father as she replied: “I did not think that this would be possible.

“I still can’t think that it is possible, because a father could not do such a thing. I never believed, not even…”

Mrs Guler stretched her arms out in front of her and shook her fists as she shouted at her father in the dock, without leaving the interpreter time to translate the rest of what she said.

She ended the outburst with a prolonged scream before Mr Justice Bean ordered her to be taken out.

He told the interpreter not to translate what she said.

After a brief adjournment, she again turned to face Mehmet from the witness box and addressed him in Turkish.

But the judge stopped her, saying while he appreciated giving evidence was a “stressful experience” for her, she must not “make speeches” and only “answer counsels’ questions”.

During further cross-examination, Mr Turner asked whether her mother Hanim – who has also given evidence against Mehmet in the trial – had told her what to say.

“Never,” replied Mrs Guler. “My mother wants me to be kept away from everything. She wants me not to get involved in anything but I am not my mother. I am not scared as she is. I have no fear.”

Mehmet, 49, together with Cuma Goren, 42, and Ali Goren, 56, deny murdering Tulay on January 7 1999. They also deny conspiracy to murder her boyfriend Halil Unal between May 1998 and February 1999.