Muslims Proudly Claim Credit for Brutal Murder of Russian Orthodox Priest

From Atlas, Chechens murder priest after years of threats and post it on a jihadi website. Whatever problems W Europe may have with Muslims and the spread and implementation of sharia, Russia has it bad. Not to mention a catastrophic demographic collapse as well.

Here is the link to ATLAS with thanks to The Baron for the tip

Martin Mawyer on CFRA speaks about Islamberg

Martin Mawyer, the founder of The Christian Action Network, and the man who made the movie, ‘Home Grown Jihad’ where the C.A.N. took hidden video of the goings on within domestic USA terrorist camps (at great personal risk) speaks to Nick Vandergragt of Ottawa Canada’s AM talk radio station CFRA 580 December 26th.

Martin and his organization should be listened to. They have a lot to say that needs to be known.

Enjoy.
The footage I placed over the interview is initially a trailer for Homegrown Jihad, then some footage from the movie as well which repeats about every 8 minutes.

Martin Mawyer CFRA from Vlad Tepes on Vimeo.

Forced Islamization of Christian Girls Supported By Egyptian State

H/T Gates of Vienna: From AINA.Org

Cairo (AINA) — The phenomenon of abduction, rape and forced Islamization of Christian girls in Egypt was shown for the first time on the Christian TV channel “Life TV”, which broadcasts from outside Egypt and has nearly 60 million Arab-speaking viewers in Egypt and around the world.

The testimonies of the victims and their families came as a shock to many, including Egyptian Christians, since this issue is taboo for the Egyptian media, “Our role is to expose those behind those crimes,” said Rasheed El Maghreby, the program’s moderator.

The program was aired in mid-November 2009, and interviewed Mr. Magdi Khalil, an authority on Coptic affairs who has made a complete field study on forced Islamization of Christian minors in Egypt. Mr Khalil explained that this phenomenon in its present form is nearly 40 years old, and most of these conversion crimes, with a few isolated exceptions, are carried out by organized Islamization gangs or “Islamization Mafia”, a termed coined by him, which are fully funded by the state and supported by State Security.

“Those highly organized gangs carry out systematic planning,” says Khalil. “Besides violent forced abductions, other devious means include allurement, deception, psychological pressure, financial temptation, emotional relationships ending in rape and photographs taken to blackmail the victims into conversion, and spreading fear in the hearts of their families. They turn the minor into a broken, humble, and submissive person who drifts along a road which would have been impossible for her to take under normal circumstances or in an atmosphere of family or legal protection, and of her own free will.”

The TV program aired three cases of victims throwing light on the complete disadvantage of the affected families in front of the “Islamization mafia”, in view of the complete lack of support, if not collusion, of the authorities.

Ingy Adel, now 16, was abducted at the age of 12 on her way to school by being anaesthetized and bundled into a car. “I was taken into a room by a man called Sultan, who tied my hands behind my back and raped me,” said Ingy. Four men followed Sultan in raping her, “I felt as each one of them raped me, that I was their enemy. They have beaten me ferociously.” She said that for a whole month she was given drugs and raped, “more than 50 men raped me.” After two months and only through the efforts of her father she was found and brought back home. When they reported the crime to the State Security she was beaten by the officer to change her testimony and say that she ran away from her family with her own free will. “Until today they have done nothing about it and will not do anything, because I am a Christian,” sobs Ingy (see testimony).

Another victim was Amal Zaki from Mahalla el-Kubra. “I received a phone call at work, informing me that my father was taken ill and lies in hospital and wishes to see me urgently. A work colleague with a Burka offered to accompany me. Outside was a car full of sheikhs, and when I refused to get in, I was pushed inside the car, and woke up in a dark room in Dar el Eftah [Al-Azhar affiliated Islamic Legislation Authority]. I knew that I was married to a certain Ahmed Ramadan, the cousin of my Burqa colleague. He tied me to the bed, after three hours I was taken to hospital suffering with haemorrhage.” Amal’s father continued the story: “I went to State Security and they assured me that they will get her back, but they were just fooling me; they knew all along were my daughter was. When I reported Ahmad Ramadan to the police, he said in the police report that State Security told him to marry Amal, take her to Cairo for conversion to Islam, and after 9 days, they told him to divorce her. He presented documents to support his claims” Amal was returned 9 months later after her father paid a ransom to her abductors. Although she never went to Al-Azhar to convert to Islam, she still got a conversion certificate. Continue Reading →

Man urged son to rape cousin, 12

OK this is the worst thing I have seen for a while. I am going out for something fun now for a bit. This does me in. Islam in it’s day to day activities, in it’s normal course of action commits acts of horror that I would not have been able to think of if it was my full time job to do so.

From The BBC News:

A man who encouraged his teenage son to marry and rape his 12-year-old cousin has been jailed.

The 54-year-old organised a sham Muslim ceremony between his son, then 16, and the girl at his home in Woolwich, south-east London, in March last year.

At Wood Green Crown Court the boy got an 18-month supervision order for rape.

The fathers of the boy and girl were both jailed for three years for inciting a child to engage in sexual activity following an illegal marriage.

The boy’s mother, 54, was given a 12-month jail term, suspended for two years, for the same offence.

She was also ordered to do 200 hours of community service.

The offences are incomprehensible and the victim is a truly brave girl
Det Insp Noel McHugh

The case came to light when the mother of the girl, who objected to the arranged “marriage”, told police about it.

Scotland Yard child abuse detectives then discovered several relatives of the boy had urged him to rape his cousin.

In a statement, the girl’s mother said: “What happened to my daughter was a nightmare. These convictions will help us move on.”

Speaking after the case, Det Insp Noel McHugh, who led the investigation, called it a “really awful crime”.

He said: “This has been an exceptionally challenging investigation and we are grateful to all those who assisted with the case and ensured the convictions.

“The offences are incomprehensible and the victim is a truly brave girl who suffered at the hands of those who should have offered her protection.”

The girl’s father, 29, and the boy, now 17, were ordered to sign the sex offenders register.

Neither the victim nor any of the guilty parties can be named for legal reasons.

When missing Muslims is a bad thing.

Readers of Vlad may remember that not long ago, the good people at the Christian Action Network asked us to upload some new film they had of the activities at ‘Islamberg’ New York.

The film is here

but I recommend looking for the documentary they made on the Jamat Al Fuqra terrorist training camps all over the USA and Canada called Homegrown Jihad. Here is the thirty five minute version.

So now it appears as if oddly, these camps are empty all of a sudden. Well, on first blush one might think all the exposure they got from the Christian Action Network’s film might have made them leave and try something else or maybe even give up altogether. Now this story from Family Security Matters which speculates otherwise:

Eeyore for Vlad. The story below copied from this post at Family Security Matters:

December 22, 2009

The Case of the Missing Muslims: Why Is Islamberg Now a Ghost Town?

Paul Williams, PhD

The Wall Street Journal reports this week that U.S. investigators are discovering that more and more young Muslims are vanishing from mosques, madrassas, and Islamic centers.
The disappearances, the Journal notes, are raising grave concerns among FBI and Homeland Security officials who fear that an onset of jihadist activity will take place on American soil in the near future.
Hundreds of Muslim men are also missing from Islamberg and this is not a propitious omen.
The sentry post is gone and no guards are in sight at the entrance to the 70 acre Islamic settlement located in the dense forest between Deposit and Hancock in upper New York State.
Young men in Islamic garb no longer congregate before the makeshift mosque, and no students are in attendance at the one room shack that serves as Sheikh Gilani’s “International Quranic Open University.”
Gunfire no longer can be heard from the firing ranges along the eastern parameter of the property – and no grunts come from new recruits at the obstacle course.
A new sign at the entranceway reads, “Welcome to Holy Islamberg: The International Quranic Open University.” Next to this sign, which features the image of a mosque emerging from the mountains, is a pot of plastic carnations. Another sign proclaims that the community is home to the “United Muslim – Christian Forum.”
Such statements of welcome are offset by the “No Trespassing” signs that have been nailed to trees throughout the compound.
On the opposite side of the road leading into the community is a rack of metal mailboxes bearing such names as Abdul-Haqq, Abdul Jalil, Mumim Roberts, Abdullah Simonds, and Salam Insan.
What has happened to this once bustling complex of radical Islamists – a place where the cries of muezzins were accompanied by the incessant rat-tat-tat of machine gunfire? Where are the Arab dignitaries that used to visit this remote community in chauffeur-driven limousines? Where are the armed sentries who warded away all intruders?
A handful of children play in the mud and muck before rows of rusty old trailers, and a few women in full burkas walk along the rutty dirt road that leads to the heart of the squalid Muslim compound.
The few residents who remain in the settlement are not environmentalists. Sewage seeps from septic tanks and outhouses into the creek that flows at the base of the settlement. Bags of rotting garbage remain stacked between the trailers. And the once pristine countryside is now littered with junk cars, moldy mattresses, empty tanks of propane, and old appliances.
Where are the men?
What has happened to this bustling center of jihadi training?
Why has Islamberg become a ghost town?
The same phenomenon of vanishing Muslim men is taking place at mosques, madrassas, and other Islamic communities throughout the country and at other Jamaat ul-Fuqra paramilitary compounds, including one in Red House, Virginia.
U.S. investigators have now discovered that many of the missing Muslims are showing up in the killing fields of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Somalia.
Five American Muslims recently were arrested in Pakistan following a raid at the home of a member of the Jaish-e-Muhammad, a Pakistani movement designated as a terrorist group by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2001.
The five American Muslims – identified as Ahmed Abdullah, Waqar Hassan Khan, Eman Hassan, Yasir and Rami Zamzam – were planning to join forces with the Taliban to fight the U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan.
Zamzam is a graduate dental student at Howard University, where he served as president of the Muslim Student Association.
David Coleman Headley, another Muslim who disappeared, is a native of Chicago who attended Lashkar-e-Toiba-operated terrorism training camps in Pakistan and helped Lashker-e-Toiba members and others plan and execute the attacks in Denmark against the newspaper which published cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed, which Muslims found offensive, as well as the violent attack in Mumbai, in about 170 people died.
At the same time Headley was taken into custody, U.S. investigators discovered that 20 Somali immigrants, who were reported missing from a mosque in Minnesota, had joined the Islamist insurgent group, al Shabaab, and were engaged in fighting Somalia’s U.S.-backed government.
And there is the case of Najibullah Zazi, a 24-year-old resident of Denver, who made a trip to Peshawar, Pakistan, in 2008 for the stated purpose of visiting his wife only to show up at an al Qaeda training camp where he received instruction in making and detonating explosives. In September, Zazi was collared by federal officials as he made his way to New York City to carry out attacks with the same back-pack bombs that were used to blow up a train station in Madrid and several subway stations in London.
Where are the Muslim men from Islamberg?
The answer comes from a heavy-set woman in a long black burka who stops to check her mail box. “The men – all gone,” she says in halting English. “All – in Pakistan.”
Islamberg was established in 1980 by Sheikh Mubarak Ali Gilani, a Pakistani cleric who served as the imam of the Yasin Masjid in Brooklyn. A quack practitioner of something called “Koranic psychiatry,” Sheikh Gilani presented himself to the Brooklyn congregation as “the sixth Sultan ul Faqr,” with a lineage that dates back to the prophet Mohammed. He claimed to have supernatural powers that came from his regular reception of visits by jinn and “non-human beings.”
Sporting ammunition belts, Gilani called upon members of a Black Muslim street gang known as Dar al-Islam (DAR) to take part in the holy war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Hundreds answered the call and headed off to training camps in Pakistan, which had been established by Osama bin Laden, and other members of the mujahadeen.
Under Gilani’s direction, the DAR transformed into Jamaat ul-Fuqra (“the community of the impoverished”) and continued its prison ministry under Muslims of the Americas, a new, non-profit corporation. The sheikh soon came to realize that it would be financially advantageous to train new recruits for the holy war on American soil rather than shelling out the freight of sending them to Lahore and Peshawar. He purchased a 70-acre parcel of land near Green Haven, set up a firing range and an obstacle course, purchased a slew of old single-wide trailers and created a paramilitary compound called Islamberg.
When released from the federal prison, former convicts now received not only the customary $10 and a suit of clothes but also a one-way ticket to Gilani’s compound.
What took place at Islamberg and the International Quranic Open University?
The answers came from Sheikh Gilani in his recruitment videos: “We give [students] specialized training in guerilla warfare. We are at present establishing training camps. You can easily reach us at Open Quranic offices in upstate New York or in Canada or in South Carolina or in Pakistan.”
Similarly, in a handbook, published by the university, Gilani wrote that the foremost duty of all students is to wage war against “the oppressors of Muslims.” The students are expected to sign an oath that reads: “I shall always hear and obey, and whenever given the command, I shall readily fight for Allah’s sake.”
Now that the recruits at Islamberg have been trained in the basics of guerilla warfare, they have been deployed to Pakistan for advanced courses in explosives and weapons of mass destruction.
They will be returning home soon.
Click here for more on this disturbing story.

Muslim police chef defeated in ‘bacon roll’ tribunal faces £75,000 legal bill

Hasanali KhojaFrom Daily Mail H/T Tundra Costly case: A caterer told the court that Hasanali Khoja ate pork

A Muslim chef who lost a claim of religious discrimination against Scotland Yard after complaining he was forced to cook sausages and bacon faces a legal bill of more than £75,000.

Hasanali Khoja accused the Metropolitan Police of failing to consider his Islamic beliefs when he was asked to handle pork products as a catering manager at a police station.

The £23,000-a-year chef claimed suggestions by his bosses that he should wear gloves and use tongs left him ‘stressed and humiliated’. Muslims are banned from eating pork under Islamic law.

But Mr Khoja, 62, lost his claim in May after a police employee told an employment tribunal how she saw Mr Khoja eat bacon rolls and sausages. Continue Reading →

Paris streets subtitled in English.

I spent the better part of Sunday at the local pub with a fellow who was able and willing to translate this 13 minute video that one of the bravest civilians in France shot, of Muslims taking over Paris streets for two and a half hours every Friday and attempting to justify it. I was very impressed that the seemingly lone photographer actually had the courage to ask the obvious questions. The answers, while dishonest, did reveal the truth of the agenda behind this take over. You can guess, it has little to do with religion. I would like to see these guys try this stunt in Riyadh for example.

The subtitles are a little hard to read so I reccomend watching in high def. That option should be here somewhere or you can always click through and watch at youtube where it should be easy to play in high-def it is is not here. Also, youtube only allows me 10 minutes. So I had to edit just over 3 minutes out of this version. If you want to see it in it’s entirety, I have posted the Vimeo version below but it may take some effort to read the titles on that one.

Eeyore for Vlad

Vimeo version. The whole 13 mins

Muslims in Paris show true agenda from Vlad Tepes on Vimeo.

I found this video originally at Atlas Shrugs. Also there is an older post from yesterday here on Vlad with more info.

Honour killings soar as Islamic fundamentalism spreads it’s wings

From The Telegraph U.K.

Tulay Goren murder: ‘honour’ crimes doubling every year, figures show

“Honour killings” are now running at the rate of one a month, it has emerged, following a shocking rise in violent crimes committed in Britain in the name of religion.

By Gordon Rayner and John Bingham
Published: 6:30AM GMT 18 Dec 2009

The number of murders, rapes and assaults on people who dare to break strict religious or cultural rules is doubling every year, police figures show, with up to two violent “honour crimes” being committed every day.

But charities which help victims of honour crimes say the true extent of the problem is far worse than the statistics show, as every year hundreds of vicitms – normally women – are too frightened to report attacks or to give evidence in court.

The escalating problem was highlighted yesterday as an Old Bailey jury convicted Mehmet Goren, 49, of the cold-blooded and premeditated murder of his 15-year-old daughter Tulay after she fell in love with someone from the “wrong” branch of Islam.

Miss Goren disappeared 10 years ago after telling a friend she might be pregnant but justice caught up with her father after his wife “courageously” testified against him and lifted what was described as the “cloak of secrecy” which surrounds honour crimes.

A prosecutor said the case was a “wake-up call” to the authorities over the extent of the problem in this country, which campaigners say is growing because of the rise of religious fundamentalism. Continue Reading →

More on Paris streets and Islamic primacy

Here is a new video showing a discussion between a photographer/reporter trying to show how Muslims take over public sidewalks, and Muslim ‘security’ people claiming he has no right to film on a public sidewalk. I am working on finding a translator now and hope to have this video up with English titles soon. Thanks to Atlas for having this and H/T to Cloudberry for hipping me to it.

Muslims in Paris show true agenda from Vlad Tepes on Vimeo.

The Muslims take over the Paris streets for Friday prayers. They block off roads, put their rugs out on the sidewalk as well as the street, deprive shop owners of business for two and a half hours, deprive residents of the street from entering or leaving their apartments for that time. Look how aggressive they get with the camera man. (Note: no women.)
Click over to get the rest. I will try and get this subtitled at some point today if I can find a French volunteer.

Britain: police ‘missed opportunity’ regarding honour killing of Muslim schoolgirl

Anyone who tells you that honour killings are simple cases of domestic violence is attempting to blow smoke up your arse.

Grace.

From The Telegraph U.K.

Honour killing: police accused of ‘missed opportunities’ over Tulay Goren

The Muslim schoolgirl murdered by her father in an “honour killing” had repeatedly told police in the days before her death how she was being threatened and assaulted, it can be disclosed.

By John Bingham
Published: 8:48PM GMT 17 Dec 2009

Tulay Goren: Honour killing: police accused of 'missed opportunities' over Tulay Goren

The body of Tulay Goren has never been found Photo: PA

Tulay Goren and her family were in contact with police officers nine times over a 10-day period just before her death, as she continued to be assaulted by her violent father, Mehmet Goren.

Police are now facing calls for an investigation into “missed opportunities” and how they “failed miserably” to prevent the murder of Tulay.

In the weeks before her disappearance, Tulay: ran away from home twice; personally reported two attacks by her father, while her boyfriend also reported an assault; asked to be sent to a children’s home rather than go back to her family; and specifically requested that officers note down her assault complaints down in case of future attacks.

Meanwhile, her own relatives complained to police about her boyfriend, saying that he was “pestering” her. Police warned the family not to take matters into their own hands.

Goren even went to the police demanding his daughter underwent a virginity test; and later reported her missing, lodging a complaint of unlawful sexual intercourse against her boyfriend. Continue Reading →

Lowell Green handles a caller brilliantly

Tuesday Dec 15 2009 a caller to Lowell Green’s CFRA 580 AM radio talk show, was about to discuss adoption in Islam and how it relates to the story of the 75 year old woman who is about to be lashed, probably to death, for having some minor social contact with her adopted son.

Lowell interrupted the caller and explained as clearly as he could, that he could not allow the caller to continue.  That he knew what the caller was going to say. That he knew what the caller had to say was likely true. That the station would likely be heavily fined, the host may well lose his job but would certainly be reprimanded for allowing the caller to continue, and that the consequences to the station and staff overall would be greater than the station could bear. That the caller should feel free to trash talk Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism or Buddhism but nothing may be said of Islam that may make it look bad, even if true.

I am certain what Lowell said is exactly the truth. I hope the rest of us take note. Islam has effectively already removed the most important freedom we have. The freedom to speak what is actually true, and therefore, the freedom to make decisions based on valid information for ourselves.

Islamburg makes video response to Christian Action Network

The organization, ‘Islamburg’ which the C.A.N. exposed as a Pakistani funded terrorist training camp with locations across America, made a video response to Martin Mawyer’s excellent and courageous film on their organization. As a courtesy to them, I allowed it to be posted as a video response on Vlad Tepes’s youtube channel. However, felt it was necessary to add a short introduction to their response although I did post their film intact other than that. First, the CAN film, and below, the Islamburg video response.

Below, is Islamburg’s response with my introduction:

London ‘Mega-mosque’ a clear political sign of Islamic primacy.

The fact that Ken Livingston is the main force behind this mosque should be enough to concern any true liberal.

If anyone who is reading this or watching this short clip has not already read the short book by Sam Solomon, The Mosque Exposed, it is very important that you do so, for a perspective on what this clip actually means. Even the producers of this clip at CBN do not seem to grasp the full import of it. Mosques are not, nor were they ever an analogue of a church or temple of any kind. They are a beach-head. A toe hold. They are a political and military incursion into an area with the express and exclusive purpose of establishing Islamic primacy and the use of Islamic sharia as the basis of jurisprudence, not just for Muslims but for all. This is not to say that Muslim prayers are not said in them, but the purpose is more political than religious from our frame of reference. From theirs, the distinction is meaningless.

Bomb-sniffing dogs on Vancouver transit worry Muslim leader

I have an idea! Don’t wear a bomb on to a subway. See that’s the thing. Muslims are objecting to bomb-sniffing dogs cause Muslims have the same pathological hatred for dogs as they do for anything good in this world. But the solution for them is so easy. Don’t wear a bomb or any explosives and no dog will slobber all over you. Then, there is the annoying use of the term ‘have to’ as if people choosing to obey seventh century arbitrary religious edicts actually constitute something one has to do, in a manner that requires others to accommodate them. A person with a heart condition has to take medication or they will die. Tiger Woods has to by an entire orchid farm or greenhouse if he wants to keep his marriage intact. But a Muslim doesn’t HAVE to wash after he is near a dog. He just feels he should or it effects the degree to which his prayers are received, by someone for whom there is no evidence ever existed.

Eeyore for Vlad

From the CBC by way of Gates of Vienna:

Passengers stepping off the SkyTrain could soon be greeted by explosive-sniffing dog patrols.Passengers stepping off the SkyTrain could soon be greeted by explosive-sniffing dog patrols. (Mike Laanela/CBC)Specially trained bomb-sniffing dogs might soon be patrolling Metro Vancouver’s buses and SkyTrains just in time for the Olympics, but that has some Muslims concerned.

The Metro Vancouver Transit Police Service is in the process of selecting the handlers and dogs that will be part of the two-year pilot project, said deputy chief George Beattie.

Once the teams are trained, the dogs will work on the entire transit system, including buses, SkyTrains and SeaBus ferries.

But the idea of being sniffed up and down by a slobbery pooch — no matter how well trained — has already raised concerns among some members of Metro Vancouver’s Muslim community.

Some devout Muslims consider dogs to be unclean animals and try to avoid any contact with them. Some Muslim cab drivers in Vancouver have even refused to take guide dogs in their vehicles and will call for a second vehicle to take the fare instead.

Shawket Hassan, the vice-president of the B.C. Muslim Association, says he wants to make sure the dogs will not touch passengers during searches, which could lead to problems, particularly for Muslims heading to a mosque to pray.

“If they touch the body, then there is a probability they will leave some saliva on the clothes,” said Hassan.

‘If I am going to the mosque and pray … and I have this saliva on my body … I have to go and change or clean.’ — Shawket Hassan, vice-president of the B.C. Muslim Association Continue Reading →

Wahhabist modernity: Saudi t.v. hosts ‘break new ground’ by wearing niqabs

From BBC News

Saudi women enter Wahhabist ‘modernity’ through a ground breaking move to stay in the 7th century.

Saudi TV presenters break new ground by wearing niqab

Two women TV presenters in Saudi Arabia dressed in the Niqab

Female presenters on the Saudi channel Awtan TV
Amani Fikri
BBC Arabic Service

Until recently you would never have seen women presenting television programmes dressed from head to toe in the niqab or burqa. But on the Saudi religious channel Awtan TV it has now become the norm.

Female broadcasters at the station are draped in the all-enveloping dresses, which are usually black and also cover their faces.

The work environment too is very different. Male technical assistants do not enter the studio while the women are presenting.

There are more than 60 religious channels across the Middle East. Some allow women to present programmes without being fully covered or dressed in black.

Others have no women presenters at all.

Relationship

Awtan TV decided to take a unique approach. The station was launched in 2008, and last month it set a precedent by allowing women to present, but only on the condition that they wear the niqab.

We report from the field in the niqab and it does not stop us from doing anything
Ola al-Barqi
Awtan TV presenter

Ola al-Barqi anchors a breakfast show, as well as a quiz show for girls called Mosabqat Banat.

A key element of the programme is the relationship built between presenter, contestants and the audience – something that might be more difficult if the presenter is totally covered up.

“The face is not the only way to build a relationship,” explains Ms Barqi, speaking to BBC Arabic.

“We’re always receiving calls from viewers in various countries encouraging us to keep doing what we do.”

And, as Ms Barqi points out, women are not just confined to the studio at Awtan TV.

“We report from the field in the niqab and it does not stop us from doing anything.”

‘Restrictive’

Wahhabism, the strain of Sunni Islam that is officially practised in Saudi Arabia, is considered one of the religion’s most conservative forms.

Some critics say that Awtan TV is restricting women’s freedom by making it compulsory to wear the niqab if they want to be presenters.

The issue recently returned to prominence when a leading Egyptian cleric, Sheikh Mohammed Tantawi, said he would issue an edict stating that the niqab was a “custom that has nothing to do with Islam”.

The majority of moderate Muslim scholars agree with him.

But Ms Barqi says nobody “forced the niqab” on her and she does not intend to force it on her three daughters, who watch their mother on television and feel proud of her.

Women seamstresses in Saudi Arabia dressed in the Niqab

These seamstresses in Saudi Arabia work in the factory completely veiled

However, the presenter thinks that when the time comes, her girls will want to wear the niqab because that is how they were brought up and it is, she argues, part of Shariah – Islamic law.

Advantages

Ms Barqi says there are other good reasons why she wears the niqab.

It helps her to concentrate more on her work rather than anything else, and what she looks like is irrelevant.

“We don’t introduce ourselves as beautiful women who put on layers of make-up. Our audience is focusing on what we present to them, our ideas and our discourse.”

Ms Barqi believes some people work in the media to become famous. But that is not why she became a presenter.

“We don’t need fame,” she explains.