Category Archives: Islam in the Americas

Judge orders runaway convert to go home

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Rifqa Bary

Rifqa Bary

 ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) – The teenager who ran away from Ohio to Florida because she feared physical harm for converting from Islam to Christianity has been ordered back to Ohio.

A Florida judge said Tuesday that 17-year-old Rifqa Bary, who has been staying in Orlando, should return to her family, who live outside Columbus.

Bary has been in foster care in Florida while her case was being reviewed. The judge says he will turn over the case to an Ohio court in the next few weeks, but no order has been signed yet.

Bary ran away from her parents’ home in July, saying she feared being killed for changing religions. But a Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation found no credible threats to Bary.

Up next for Bary is a status hearing which is scheduled for October 23, at which time her parents attorneys have to submit immigration documents. That could be the day that she is sent back to Ohio.

If the issue is not resolved by the end of October, a judicial review has been tentatively scheduled for November 10.

Blast at Islamic center raises questions

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 NIN…13 October 2009: Fire scene tape remained stretched across the entrance to the Ihsan Islamic School at 423 West Onondaga Street Syracuse, New York as I walked the perimeter of the property yesterday morning.. The criss-cross of the yellow barrier serves a lone public reminder of a mysterious explosion that occurred there last Thursday afternoon. According to authorities, the blast occurred in an “unused” portion of the basement, spewing a cloud of natural gas, debris and dust into the main area of the building and forcing the evacuation of about 75 students and school personnel. Investigators have yet to release a statement about the cause of the explosion, although at least one additional meeting between fire officials and  investigators took place Monday to discuss their findings.

It’s definitely odd,” stated one law enforcement official close to the investigation, speaking to this author on the strict condition of anonymity in Syracuse on Monday. “There are issues that are under investigation that are well outside of public purview,” added this source, saying that the blast was not directly related to the building’s heating or electrical system. “The blast occurred in a location that one would not expect if it was caused by a heating unit, at least not in the normal sense. It’s curious.”

This source also stated that “it is not likely, it has basically been ruled out that [the blast] was caused by any who shouldn’t have been there, or by an outsider with criminal intent such as arson.” Although such cryptically worded statements tend to fuel notions of conspiracy, it is clear that this source was purposely intending to offset previous publicly reported suggestions that the school might have been the target of some anti-Islamic individual or group. “The evidence simply does not point in that direction.” Continue Reading →

Ottawa’s refusal to take Gitmo inmates irks U.S.

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White House puzzled by Canada’s abrupt refusal to accept detainees from Guantanamo prison

Flag-Sticker Toronto Star…GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA–An apparent snub by the Canadian government has dismayed officials on the Obama administration’s task force who are working to resettle dozens of detainees here and close the prison, a high-ranking administration source told the Star.

Various foreign governments have offered refuge to prisoners that the Pentagon has cleared for release, including France, Portugal, Ireland and smaller nations such as Bermuda and Palau. Dozens more are now negotiating with the task force, answering U.S. President Barack Obama’s call for help.

But the official, who has intimate knowledge of the negotiations and who spoke to the Star on the condition he not be named, said Canada abruptly stopped talks earlier this year. He said the task force was surprised to learn of Canada’s decision through a press release.

“I just found it puzzling,” there were no phone calls or diplomatic meetings, the official said. “A public rejection was odd.” Continue Reading →

“NYPD is racially profiling” Muslims charge

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From TROP

Muslim advocates charge NYPD is racial profiling in Queens raids tied to alleged Zazi terror plot

BY Henrick Karoliszyn and Samuel Goldsmith
DAILY NEWS WRITERS

Updated Saturday, October 10th 2009, 4:52 PM

Marchers gather in front of the Queens Public Library in Flushing Saturday to rally against perceived racial profiling in the NYPD's terror probe.

Farriella for News
Marchers gather in front of the Queens Public Library in Flushing Saturday to rally against perceived racial profiling in the NYPD’s terror probe.

Recent terror raids in Queens have led to a spike in fear and racial profiling, Muslim advocates charge.

About 40 people rallied outside the Flushing Public Library Saturday to draw attention to what they called an uptick in targeted policing.

The rally was in response to raids last month linked to a suspected bomb plot. Najibullah Zazi, 24, who authorities say was trained at an Al Qaeda terror camp, pleaded not guilty to conspiring to detonate explosives.

“An entire community of people and religion should not be profiled or characterized as terrorists because of [one] certain investigation,” said Monami Maulik, who runs the South Asian immigrant rights group Desis Rising Up and Moving.

Naiz Khan, who allowed Zazi to stay at his Flushing apartment, said FBI agents raided his flat and he hasn’t been able to find work since.

“I was so scared and I was so nervous,” he said. “I have been so affected by this.”

“People are scared,” said Sultan Faiz, a leader at Abu Bakar Mosque in Queens.

Organizers say Muslims in New York haven’t been this scared since the months after 9/11, when some were subject to discrimination across the country.

The NYPD issued a statement saying they don’t engage in racial profiling.

NYC Terror Suspect’s Friend, Activist Group Urge Against Targeting Muslims

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ZAZI. Another misunderstood terrorist

ZAZI. Another misunderstood terrorist

 FOXNEWS…Members of the New York City Muslim community suggested Saturday they were being unfairly targeted in a terror plot probe, as a friend of the probe’s prime suspect said the scrutiny has put his “life on hold.”
Several people speaking Saturday afternoon at a news conference cautioned authorities against profiling Muslims in their probe of an alleged bomb plot with links to Al Qaeda.
The suspect, Najibullah Zazi, an Afghan immigrant who worked in Denver and New York City, is being held without bond in New York. The friend, Naiz Khan, befriended Zazi 10 years ago at a mosque.
Kahn let Zazi stay with him in New York City in the days leading up to what investigators say was a failed attempt last month to bomb sites as the city marked eight years since the Al Qaeda attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Kahn now is under 24-hour FBI surveillance.
“We are so, so nervous,” Khan told reporters at the news conference, organized by the nonprofit group DRUM in Queens, N.Y. “My life has been affected by this. I have no job. … I have put my life on hold.”
DRUM, which stands for Desis Rising Up and Moving, describes itself as a group representing South Asian immigrants of various generations in New York City.
DRUM, which stands for Desis Rising Up and Moving. Does this not have a ring of militancy to it?
Its executive director said that a wave of fear has gripped the Queens community since raids of several apartments and businesses were executed there last month as part of the investigation into the suspected bomb plot.
“People should not be profiled or characterized as terrorists because of religion,” Monami Maulik told reporters Saturday afternoon.
The fact that it is Muslims again and again who plot these attacks should have no influence on who is investigated. The fact that Islam calls for militant Jihad against the Infidel should be ignored at the peril of Americans in the interest of community cohesion.
However, prosecutors say they have evidence that Zazi and others — regardless of their religion –trained with Al Qaeda in Pakistan. Investigators still are hunting for additional players and expect to make more arrests. Officials say Zazi’s suspected accomplices are under surveillance and are no longer a threat because the plot was thoroughly disrupted
Zazi, 24, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of conspiring to detonate homemade explosives in the United States, and on Friday, Zazi’s father pleaded not guilty to a charge of lying to investigators.
Federal investigators have questioned two men whose photographs were shown to a Muslim religious leader along with a picture of Zazi. Adis Medunjanin, a 24-year-old Bosnian immigrant, reportedly met voluntarily with investigators for 14 hours, and Zarein Ahmedzay, a 24-year-old New York City cab driver, also was interviewed by the FBI.
Both men’s photos were among four shown to Ahmad Wais Afzali, an imam at a Queens mosque accused of tipping off Najibullah Zazi that New York Police Department detectives were searching for him.
Naiz Kahn has said he also has been questioned by the FBI, though his photo reportedly was not among those shown to the imam.
Zazi, who left New York earlier this year to take a job driving an airport shuttle in Denver, is the only person charged in an international terror investigation described by Attorney General Eric Holder as one of the most significant plots uncovered in this country since 9/11. Zazi, who’s being held without bond, has pleaded not guilty to conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction.
Prosecutors have said Zazi and others they have not identified received explosives training at an Al Qaeda camp in Pakistan. U.S. intelligence and senior administration officials have said they became aware of Zazi’s connection to a possible plot in late August. They said he was recruited and trained by Al Qaeda, and he had contact with a senior Al-Qaeda operative.

Robert Spencer: Berlin Oct. 4

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This is an excellent speech by Mr. Spencer. I disagree with him on one point however. A victory for the jihadis is not also a victory for us because more of us wake up to the danger. It is only a victory for them as each soft jihad victory widens the door of accommodation of Islam and sets more precedents in law which make it harder to say no to the next one.

Link: Robert Spencer Berlin complete

Sharia law ‘highly misunderstood’ says Obama advisor Dalia Mogahed

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From The Telegraph U.K.

Miss Mogahed, adviser to President Obama, sits with Nazreen Nawaz of Hizb ut Tahir for a chit-chat on sharia law. “ The majority of women around the world associate gender justice or justice for women, with sharia compliance”, Mogahed asserts.

Barack Obama adviser says Sharia Law is misunderstood

President Barack Obama’s adviser on Muslim affairs, Dalia Mogahed, has provoked controversy by appearing on a British television show hosted by a member of an extremist group to talk about Sharia Law.

By Andrew Gilligan and Alex Spillius in Washington
Published: 8:00PM BST 08 Oct 2009

Miss Mogahed, appointed to the President’s Council on Faith-Based and Neighbourhood Partnerships, said the Western view of Sharia was “oversimplified” and the majority of women around the world associate it with “gender justice”.

The White House adviser made the remarks on a London-based TV discussion programme hosted by Ibtihal Bsis, a member of the extremist Hizb ut Tahrir party.

The group believes in the non-violent destruction of Western democracy and the creation of an Islamic state under Sharia Law across the world.

Miss Mogahed appeared alongside Hizb ut Tahrir’s national women’s officer, Nazreen Nawaz.

During the 45-minute discussion, on the Islam Channel programme Muslimah Dilemma earlier this week, the two members of the group made repeated attacks on secular “man-made law” and the West’s “lethal cocktail of liberty and capitalism”.

They called for Sharia Law to be “the source of legislation” and said that women should not be “permitted to hold a position of leadership in government”.

Miss Mogahed made no challenge to these demands and said that “promiscuity” and the “breakdown of traditional values” were what Muslims admired least about the West.

She said: “I think the reason so many women support Sharia is because they have a very different understanding of sharia than the common perception in Western media.

“The majority of women around the world associate gender justice, or justice for women, with sharia compliance.

“The portrayal of Sharia has been oversimplified in many cases.”

Sharia in its broadest sense is a religious code for living, which decrees such matters as fasting and dressing modestly. However, it has also been interpreted as requiring the separation of men and women.

It also includes the controversial “Hadd offences”, crimes with specific penalties set by the Koran and the sayings of the prophet Mohammed. These include death by stoning for adultery and homosexuality and the removal of a hand for theft.

Miss Mogahed admitted that even many Muslims associated Sharia with “maximum criminal punishments” and “laws that… to many people seem unequal to women,” but added: “Part of the reason that there is this perception of Sharia is because Sharia is not well understood and Islam as a faith is not well understood.”

The video of the broadcast has now been prominently posted on the front page of Hizb ut Tahrir’s website.

Miss Mogahed, who was born in Egypt and moved to America at the age of five, is the first veiled Muslim woman to serve in the White House. Her appointment was seen as a sign of the Obama administration’s determination to reach out to the Muslim world.

She is also the executive director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, a project which aims to scientifically sample public opinion in the Muslim world.

During this week’s broadcast, she described her White House role as “to convey… to the President and other public officials what it is Muslims want.”

Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, said Miss Mogahed was “downplaying” Sharia Law.

“There is a reason sharia has got a bad name and it is how it has been exercised. Regrettably in the US there have been acts of injustice perpetrated against women that are driven by the Sharia-type mindset that women are objects not human beings,” she said.

She cited the example of Muzzammil Hassan, a Buffalo man who ran a cable channel aimed at countering Muslim stereotypes and was charged earlier this year with beheading his wife after she filed for divorce.

“Americans understand by example, it’s not as if we are an ignorant mass of people. Just as we don’t broad brush all Muslims, so should Dalia not downplay the serious nature of sharia law.”

Toronto 18 ringleader pleads guilty

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I think the sentences of other Toronto 18 members [time served and 2 more years in jail] has more to do with these admissions of guilt than say, actual remorse and shame for the crimes of wholesale slaughter they wished for the people of Toronto.

Zakaria Amara, 24, pleaded guilty Thursday to participating in a terrorist group and intending to cause an explosion for the benefit of a terrorist group. (Stringer/Reuters)

Zakaria Amara, 24, pleaded guilty Thursday to participating in a terrorist group and intending to cause an explosion for the benefit of a terrorist group. (Stringer/Reuters)

CBCNEWS…Zakaria Amara pleaded guilty Thursday to charges related to the Toronto 18 terrorist plot to set off three fertilizer bombs, two in Toronto and one at an unnamed Ontario military base.

Amara, 24, has been alleged to be one of the ringleaders in the plot to recruit and train extremists to carry out the attacks, which never transpired. He is the fourth adult to admit guilt in the affair.

In a Brampton, Ont., courtroom, Amara pleaded guilty to two counts: knowingly participating in a terrorist group and intending to cause an explosion for the benefit of a terrorist group.

Justice Bruce Durno entered convictions against Amara on those counts before proceeding to sentencing. An agreed statement of facts is being read into the court record.

In all, 17 men and youths were arrested in the Toronto area in June 2006 and detained following an investigation by CSIS. An 18th person was arrested in August 2006.

The suspects faced charges including participating in a terrorist group, receiving training from a terrorist group, providing training and intending to cause an explosion that could cause serious bodily harm or death.

CN Tower among targets

The offences allegedly took place between March and June 2006 in Mississauga and a rural township near Orillia, Ont.

The Crown alleges that the group’s potential targets were the CN Tower, the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Toronto CSIS office.

Seven of the 18 people arrested have since had their charges dropped or stayed. Another six are in custody awaiting trial.

Last Friday, Ali Dirie was sentenced to seven years after pleading guilty to taking part in the homegrown terrorist group.

The 26-year-old’s sentence amounts to two years after time served is factored.

In September, Saad Gaya, 21, pleaded guilty to intending to cause an explosion for the benefit of a terrorist group and is to be sentenced next month.

Gaya and Saad Khalid were arrested while unloading bags labelled “ammonium nitrate” from a truck driven by an undercover police officer.

Khalid, 23, pleaded guilty in May and was handed a 14-year prison sentence. He was given seven years’ credit for pre-trial custody and can apply for parole after less than 2½ years.

Last year, a judge found Nishanthan Yogakrishnan, 21, guilty of participating in, and contributing to, a terrorist group.

Although 17 at the time of the offences, he was tried as a youth but received an adult sentence of 2½ years before being released in May in consideration of time served before trial.

Muslim group calls for burka ban in Canada

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2079018National Post… A Canadian Muslim group is calling on Ottawa to ban the wearing of the burka in public, saying the argument that the right to wear it is protected by the Charter’s guarantee of freedom of religion is false.

“The burka has absolutely no place in Canada,” said Farzana Hassan, of the Muslim Canadian Congress. “In Canada we recognize the equality of men and women. We want to recognize gender equality as an absolute. The burka marginalizes women.”

She said many women who cover their face in public are being forced to by their husbands and family. As a result, she argued, these women are denied opportunities and cannot live freely as other women in this society.

“The Koran exhorts Muslims toward modesty, which can be expressed in a number of different ways and it doesn’t have to be that you have to cover your face or you have to wear a virtual tent wherever you go. This is not a requirement of Islam or the Koran. We are saying this practice has become a political issue promoted by extremists and to counter this trend we are asking for a ban on the burka.”

The proposal calls for the banning of “masks, niqabs and burkas.” A niqab covers the face but allows the eyes to be seen; a burka covers the entire body and the eyes are obscured by a mesh covering.

“For me that is a huge embarrassment,” said Ms. Hassan. “It brings the kind of criticism Muslims [unfairly] face.”

Ms. Hassan said her group is bringing this up now because of an edict released this week in Egypt, by a top Muslim authority, calling for a ban on the burka.

Ms. Hassan said she is not asking for the banning of the hijab, which just covers the hair, but she would also like to see that custom vanish. Continue Reading →

Al-Qaeda inspired groups still active in Canada: report

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0603pic7The National Post… A secret government list of the country’s top terrorist threats says al-Qaeda-inspired extremists remain active in Canada and are willing and able to carry out attacks.

“AQ’s Islamist extremist ideology continues to inspire individuals in Canada,” says the classified Intelligence Assessment. “AQ-inspired groups and individuals present a threat of terrorist attack in Canada.”

The report indicates that, long after police arrested 18 suspects around Toronto for allegedly plotting “al-Qaeda-inspired” shootings and bombings, such extremists remain a central security concern.

Three terrorist groups are named in the report, titled “Canada: Bi-Annual Update on the Threat from Terrorists and Extremists.” Dated last November, the Integrated Threat Assessment Centre report was only recently released under the Access to Information Act.

Aside from al-Qaeda and al-Qaeda inspired groups, the document names Hezbollah and notes its leader Hassan Nasrallah has threatened to avenge last year’s assassination of its military chief Imad Mugniyah. But the report says Hezbollah “has never attacked a target in Canada” and that “Hezbollah in Canada is primarily structured for fundraising.” Continue Reading →

CFRA’s Nick Vandergraaf speaks with VP, IFPS-CAN and Kurt Westergaard

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Unfortunatly, www.sevenload.com chose to close my channel and therefore make all the videos I had uploaded and edited and so on, unavailable. So I am re-uploading this video interview by CFRA’s Nick Vandergraagt of Kurt Westergaard, The famed Danish creator of the ‘Moetoon’ and installing here.

Enjoy and feel free to grab the embed code and put on your own blogs if you choose.

Eeyore for Vlad.

CFRA Nick James KurtW from Vlad Tepes on Vimeo.

‘A grenade launcher in every house’

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Khadr says “basic weapons training, rocket launchers, grenade launchers and how to detonate explosives, were part of the “Muslim culture”

A 2005 file photo of Abdullah Khadr and his mother Maha Elsamnah Khadr

A 2005 file photo of Abdullah Khadr and his mother Maha Elsamnah Khadr

Toronto Star… An Ontario court heard this morning about how Abdullah Khadr, who is fighting extradition to the United States on terrorism charges, attended a training camp as a teenager where he learned to use a rocket launcher and detonate explosive material.

The 28-year-old member of the infamous Khadr family took the stand for the first time to testify in his own defence, recounting his years spent living in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Crown Howard Piafsky tried to link Khadr to his father, Ahmed Said Khadr, a reputed Canadian Al Qaeda financier and friend of Osama bin Laden. The patriarch moved his family overseas to Pakistan and Afghanistan, where he was involved in charitable projects.

Khadr, who admitted having a close relationship with his father before he was killed by Pakistani forces in 2003, denied any knowledge of his father’s ideologies. He also told Superior Court Justice Christopher Speyer that he had no knowledge about allegations that his father diverted funds from charitable projects toward Al Qaeda.

When testifying about a three-month camp he attended when he was about 13 or 14, Khadr explained that learning about basic weapons training, rocket launchers, grenade launchers and how to detonate explosives, were part of the “Muslim culture” and part of growing up in Afghanistan.

“Afghanistan is not Canada, it’s a country that’s been going through war,” said the Canadian-born Khadr, who grew up moving between Canada, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

“When you go fishing, you fish with a bomb, you don’t fish with a fishing rod.”

Learning how to use a grenade or rocket launcher is part of growing up there, he said, adding, “if you live in Afghanistan or Pakistan, a grenade launcher is in every house… It’s something everyone has.” Continue Reading →

Nation of Islam: Kill all the white people.

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Nation of Islam Minister Khallid Muhammad giving his infamous Kill the White Man speech in 1996. He was publically supported by the likes of Al Sharpton, Keith Ellison, Cynthia McKinney. When Khallid died in 2001, Al Sharpton rushed to his bed side and gave $10,000 to pay for his funeral. The media hides the rampant extremism of the black community.

h/t Gates of Vienna