Category Archives: Sharia Law

Britain: Islam channel condones rape, cites women as whores

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From The Daily Mail U.K.

Britain’s Islam Channel rapped for advocating marital rape and calling women prostitutes

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:17 PM on 9th November 2010

A Muslim religious channel that allowed presenters to condone marital rape and call women who wear perfume in mosques ‘prostitutes’ has been censured by the TV watchdog.

In one programme, the host told viewers that it was ‘not strange’ and ‘not such a big problem’ for a man to force his wife to have sex.

Ofcom ruled the Islam Channel, which broadcasts on Sky, breached the broadcasting code in five programmes between May 2008 and October 2009.

Censured: The Islam Channel condoned domestic violence and called women who wear perfume in mosques 'prostitutes' Censured: The Islam Channel condoned domestic violence and called women who wear perfume in mosques ‘prostitutes’

A phone-in show in May 2008, in which a female caller asked if she had the right to hit a violent husband back, was deemed in breach of the code.

The presenter at one point stated: ‘In Islam we have no right to hit the woman in a way that damages her eye or damages her tooth or damages her face or makes her ugly.

‘Maximum what you can do, you can see the pen over here, in my hand, this kind of stick can be used just to make her feel that you are not happy with her.’

Ofcom said it considered the presenter was clear some form of physical punishment was acceptable.

A discussion programme in April 2009 on sexual relations within marriage was found to have breached guidelines, as was a programme in October 2009 in which it was said women who wore perfume outside the home could be declared ‘a prostitute’.

Breaching broadcasting guidelines: Regulator Ofcom ruled that discussions containing contentious views on violence against women and marital rape on Islam TV were against broadcasting guidelinesBreaching broadcasting guidelines: Regulator Ofcom ruled that discussions containing contentious views on violence towards women and marital rape on Islam TV were against broadcasting guidelines

In a submission to the report, the Islam Channel said it ‘does not condone or encourage violence towards women under any circumstances’ and ‘does not condone or encourage marital rape’.

Two further programmes in October 2009 relating to aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict were found to have breached the code relating to impartiality in political matters.

Ofcom previously imposed a statutory sanction on the channel in 2007 for various breaches.

The findings followed an inquiry begun after allegations were laid against the TV station by a moderate Islamic think tank, the Quilliam Foundation.

The Islam Channel, launched six years ago, has been accused in the past of giving airtime to extreme views, including those of Hizb ut-Tahrir, a group that Tony Blair said he wanted to ban in the aftermath of the 2005 London transport bombings.

Joke of the year: Iran and Saudia Arabia seat contenders for UN Women’s Agency

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From CNS News

Late Entry May Foil Iran’s Bid for a Seat on Board of New U.N. Women’s Agency Wednesday, November 10, 2010
By Patrick Goodenough

(CNSNews.com) – Iran has some unexpected competition in its bid to be elected to the executive board of the new United Nations agency tasked with promoting the equality of women.

East Timor, one of the smallest countries in the Asia regional group, say it also will run for a seat on the board of U.N. Women.

Earlier the Asia regional group approved only 10 countries for the 10 seats earmarked for Asia on the 41-member board, which will approve projects and budgets for U.N. Women. That uncontested slate would have assured Iran of a spot in Wednesday’s vote.

A list of candidates provided to CNSNews Tuesday night shows that East Timor does not have the Asia group’s endorsement. Nonetheless its candidacy offers countries that object to Iran being on the board the opportunity to direct their votes elsewhere.

Queries sent to East Timor’s foreign ministry and its mission to the U.N. brought no response by press time.

Several other countries whose treatment of women has raised concerns among women’s rights advocacy groups do look set to get posts on the board, however.

They include Saudi Arabia, which is not standing on the Asia slate but is one of two countries (Mexico being the other) nominated for two seats set aside for emerging donor countries.

Among others with poor records on women’s rights and equality are Libya, Ethiopia and Cote d’Ivoire, all standing in the Africa group, which has put up a clean slate (10 candidates for 10 available seats); and Pakistan, one of the countries in the running for the Asia seats.

“We are relieved to know that the Asia group is in the end not offering Iran a free pass to the U.N. Women’s board and now has 11 candidates for 10 seats,” Philippe Bolopion, U.N. advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, said in response to queries Tuesday.

“In our view, what sets Iran apart is not just its dismal record on women’s rights but also the fact that it’s aggressively going after women’s rights advocates who dare to speak out against discriminatory laws in the country,” he added.

“Iran has time and again shown outright hostility to the very objectives U.N. Women was born to realize, and certainly should not be elected to its board.”

Wednesday’s vote will not involve the full 192-nation U.N. General Assembly but the 54-member Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the U.N. organ that coordinates socio-economic and related affairs.

Like other U.N. bodies, ECOSOC is itself constituted along geographical lines, which has an impact on voting patterns: Africa controls 14 votes, the Western group 13, Asia 11, Latin America and the Caribbean 10 and Eastern Europe six votes.

ECOSOC last April ushered Iran into another U.N. entity dealing with women’s issues, the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).

On that occasion, despite protests by more than 200 Iranian women’s rights activists, neither the U.S. nor any other member of ECOSOC raised an objection. As a result of their silence, Iran got the post “by acclamation.”

The Obama administration, a strong supporter of the new agency, has spoken out against Iran’s U.N. Women bid.

No suitability criteria

Officially called the U.N. Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, U.N. Women will consolidate the work previously done by four separate U.N. divisions dealing with women’s issues.

Four months after it was established by the U.N. to great acclaim, the prospect of countries with poor records on women’s rights getting seats on the board has caused dismay.

The exiled Iranian rights activist and Nobel peace prize winner Shirin Ebadi told a press conference in New York Tuesday that giving places on the board to countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia was “like a joke.”

“This is a critical point for this agency, as it starts its work,” she said.

The France-based opposition group, National Council of Resistance of Iran, called Iran’s candidacy “an insult to all Iranian women and all women’s rights advocates around the world” and urged countries not to support the “misogynous regime.”

Thirty-five of the board’s members will come from the U.N.’s five regional groups. The remaining six seats are earmarked for contributing countries – four for the largest funders of the U.N. Women budget and two for developing state contributors (the category in which Saudi Arabia is a candidate).

The only criteria laid down for membership on the board are those relating to regional group and contribution status. The agency’s founding resolution contains no further requirements – for instance, that countries are expected or urged to nominate and vote for candidates with strong records on women’s rights.

“The question of who gets to sit on the board overseeing U.N. Women is a matter that is left up to member states,” Farhan Haq, a spokesman for Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, confirmed during a briefing Tuesday.

“We respect the right of member states to elect their own members of the board, and of course, it is certainly up to them.”

Haq added that all member states were expected “to uphold fundamental human rights.”

One current measure of suitability against which candidates for the U.N. Women board could be judged is a recently-released World Economic Forum report on the “Global Gender Gap,” a rating of how successfully countries have closed gaps between women and men in economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, political empowerment and health and survival.

Out of 134 countries rated in the 2010 report, both Iran and Saudi Arabia were placed near the bottom, at positions 123rd and 129th respectively.

Other candidates in Wednesday’s election that scored badly in the Global Gender Gap were Pakistan (132nd place), Cote d’Ivoire (130th) and Ethiopia (121st).

Not all countries were rated; Libya and East Timor were among those not assessed.

Woman fined 2 1/2 years pay AND given the death penalty for blasphemy

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I do not mean to make light of this but people who have been given the death penalty typically have a difficult time paying large fines after the fact.

From All voices.com

Pakistani Christian Woman Sentenced to Death for Blasphemy Charges

Pakistani court has sentenced a Christian mother of two, Asia Bibi to death for “blasphemy” charges thereby becoming the first woman to receive such a capital punishment.

This indication is contained in a report by Release International, (www.releaseinternational.org), a United Kingdom based Christian organization serving the persecuted Christians in 30 countries around the world adding that a sessions court judge gave Asia the maximum sentence yesterday at the end of a trial that lasted for more than 16 months.

The report said that Asia, a farm laborer in her late-30s from Ittanwali, Punjab, was also fined more than £700 – the equivalent of two-and-a-half years’ salary for the average worker. Continue Reading →

Curse the judge, shout fanatics as the Muslim girl who knifed MP smiles as she gets life

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The Independant:

By Michael Seamark
Last updated at 8:49 AM on 4th November 2010

A judge was subjected to a tirade of abuse in his own courtroom yesterday as he jailed an Al Qaeda-inspired Muslim woman for attempting to assassinate an MP.

Islamist protesters harangued Mr Justice Cooke from the public gallery at the Old Bailey, shouting ‘Allahu akbar’ (‘God is great’), ‘British go to hell’ and ‘Curse the judge’.

The outbursts came as Roshonara Choudhry, 21, was sentenced to life imprisonment for stabbing former minister Stephen Timms. Choudhry smiled broadly as the judge told her: ‘You said you ruined the rest of your life. You said it was worth it. You said you wanted to be a martyr.’
Seconds away: Roshaonara Choudhry (bottom left hand corner) pulls a knife before plunging it into Labour MP Stephen Timms during a visit to his constituency surgery
Choudhary has been found guilty of trying to murder Labour MP Stephen Timms. Today it can be revealed she had a hit list of politicians
Choudhry became radicalised after reading literature from radical Al Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki

Outside, a second group demonstrated as the judge told the high-flying student – who stabbed the politician twice in the stomach as ‘punishment’ for voting for the Iraq invasion – that she must serve at least 15 years behind bars.

The chaotic scenes unfolded as Home Secretary Theresa May dramatically revealed that the Al Qaeda gang behind last week’s ‘Lockerbie-style’ cargo plane bomb plot are already working in the UK.

In court the judge pointedly contrasted Mr Timms’ Christian beliefs with the ‘distorted thinking’ of his attacker, who refused to recognise the court and appeared by videolink for her sentencing.

More… Continue Reading →

Melanie Phillips on Tower Hamlets.

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Sunday, 24th October 2010 The Spectator


People like myself who have warned for some years now about the steady Islamisation of Britain receive a torrent of scorn and abuse from the so-called custodians of our culture. Terms such as ‘scare-mongering’, exaggeration’ or ‘alarmism’ tumble out alongside the inevitable ‘Islamophobia’.

Now we can see what these cultural kamikazes are helping bring about. In the east London borough of Tower Hamlets, a man with reported links to radical Islamism, Lutfur Rahman, has been elected Mayor of the borough, giving him control of a billion-pound budget and thus the apparent installation of a platform for the progressive intimidation and silencing of British Muslims who do not want to live under sharia law, let alone the non-Muslim majority in the area.

In order to know anything about this crucial development, you have to read the Telegraph’s Andrew Gilligan who has been closely following what’s been going on in Tower Hamlets during the past year. He writes on his blog:

Please click here for the rest:

Cat Stephens’ real thoughts.

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Yet he is not above selling his song books under his old name, Cat Stephens. Check any musical instrument store. None of them say, ‘Yussef Al Islam’s hit, Peace Train’.

Stunning testimony at the trial of Geert Wilders.

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Thanks to the Counter Jihad Collective, and especially the work of V.H. as translator and the good Baron over at Gates of Vienna, we have managed to translate and subtitle a lot of the testimony given by the judge (I still don’t exactly understand that as procedure) reading from Wafa Sultan and others, on behalf of Geert Wilders.

This testimony, written by Hans Jansen, is the most blunt and insightful of all. Yes it is nearly an hour, but well worth it. Jansen does not mince words and responds to all the questions asked of him with tremendous clarity eliminating irrelevant assumptions from the questions and then discussing the pertinent aspects of Islam relative to the charges against Geert Wilders directly. This really is an excellent watch. Hans is an Arabist with world class credentials on Arabic and Islamic history and culture.

Scotland: No men allowed in ‘halal’ hair salon.

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From Herald Scotland, courtesy TROP

Now it’s halal hairdressing: a snip for Scottish Muslims

  • Mahida Iqbal
  • Mahida Iqbal struck on the idea of a ladies-only salon after offering an at-home hair service to her Muslim customers.

Exclusive: Helen McArdle

24 Oct 2010

With its frosted windows, CCTV cameras, and tightly monitored security entrance, it is going to be one of Aberdeen’s most secretive business enterprises.

So, you could be forgiven for wondering if the shop has something to hide.

Well, it does – its customers. Or rather it is the customers who want to remain hidden. For this is Scotland’s first ‘halal hairdressers’ – a beauty salon which conforms to the strict rules of Islam; a place were Muslim women who wear the veil or headscarf can be seen uncovered without the risk of the gaze of men.

Discreet Creative Hairdressing, scheduled to open in three weeks, is the brainchild of 21-year-old Mahida Iqbal and her husband of nine months, Fueb Mieh.

The salon will be a ‘man-free zone’. The frosted windows will stop any inquisitive men passing by from gawping at the clients. No-one can get in without passing through a secure buzzer entry system with CCTV. All this means that the Muslim ladies who have come for a new hair-do can remove their headscarves safe in the knowledge that only other women can see them.

Our salon is completely discreet, completely hidden from the public, from men, whereas the salons here, men still walk past and they can still see in or come in.

Mahida Iqbal

Iqbal hit on the idea when she began wearing the headscarf for the first time last year, although she credits her husband – a fellow entrepreneur who runs Indian takeaways – for coming up with the proposal.

“At first I was just going to open up a hair salon that was going to be ladies-only,” said Iqbal. “But then my husband suggested I should target the Muslim community because there isn’t a salon yet in Aberdeen that provides these services.” She spoke to Muslim women who wanted a ‘halal’ service, but had nowhere to go. “So I used to go and do homers for the ladies, or they would come to my house.”

While there are other salons in Scotland which offer a ladies-only service, Iqbal wants to offer something geared to the needs of the Muslim community.

She said: “There are hair salons in Glasgow that are ladies-only, but not like our salon. Our salon is completely discreet, completely hidden from the public, from men, whereas the salons here, men still walk past and they can still see in or come in. Ours has a buzzer entry system, and we’ve got CCTV so that we can see who’s actually approaching the door.

“We can allow people in and if there is a man there then we won’t let him in. And there’s the window frosting as well. There’s a big population in Aberdeen that are Muslim. There’s Pakistani, Bengali, African, black American, Arabic – there’s a very large Muslim community. And me myself, attending mosque and attending Muslim events, I’ve got to know a lot of the Muslim ladies, so I’m hoping to generate a lot of business by word of mouth.”

However, Iqbal is not content to stop at hair-styling alone. Her salon will be a haven to a whole range of the pampering needs for Muslim women, with a variety of specialist beauty techniques such as henna tattooing and facial threading – an ancient hair-removal technique – also on offer.

“We’ve got an African hair stylist because afro hair is different from European hair, so she’s going to be doing braiding and taking care of African clients. We’re going to have a make-up artist, a beautician, a nail technician, a henna artist, a threading specialist, and teeth whitening as well.”

“It is somewhere where customers can feel comfortable, feel pampered and relaxed, knowing that no-one is going to come in and disturb them,” Iqbal added. “Muslim husbands can feel relaxed knowing that their wife is safe, where no man is going to be able to see them, and then they can come home and show their beauty. Muslim clients have never experienced this ever. It’s a great feeling.”

The Muslims are coming. Phyllis Chesler and CBN

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In France, young Muslims have been rioting for days—not about the age of retirement but in a display of hostility towards the French Republic; some are now describing this violence as “anti-French racism.” In Holland, young Muslims riot incessantly and call out the vilest hate speech imaginable against America, Israel, Jews, Holland, and infidels—and yet Dutch politician, Geert Wilders, is still the one on trial for telling the truth about Islamic jihad because it offended some Muslims.

No, the Wilders trial is not yet over; three judges must first agree with both the defense and the prosecution who have both asked that all charges be dropped.

Meanwhile, in the United States, Juan Williams was just fired by NPR aka National Palestinian Radio for admitting that he, like so many others, including many Muslims, “feels” some trepidation when he sees Arabs in Islamic clothing board a plane.

But Americans face an even more serious danger than offended Muslims or foreign and home grown Muslim terrorists.

Contrary to many fears, sharia (Muslim religious law) cannot be imposed. It is unlikely that sharia law will overthrow American constitutional law or that American judges will issue rulings based on the Qur’an.

But here’s what can happen; in fact, it is already happening.

Voters in Oklahoma will soon be voting on a “Save our State” bill which passed the Republican-controlled state legislature. The proposed Oklahoma legislation (State Question 775) is essentially a preemptive strike against the possibility that sharia law might become either an acceptable alternative to American law or that it will supersede it.

In 2004, in Oklahoma, the U.S. Justice Department helped a 6th grade girl win the right to wear hijab in public school. The Justice Department said: “No student should be forced to choose between following her faith and enjoying the benefits of a public education.” Many Muslim Americans have used American law to argue for their right to wear hijab, receive special halal food, segregate a public swimming pool, obtain foot baths at universities, etc.

For the rest please check out Newsreal Blog were this post is from:

Lorne Gunter: If Islam were truly equal, wouldn’t Muhammad be fair game, too?

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From The National Post:

During the controversy over cartoons of Mohammed that appeared in a Danish newspaper in 2005, I received an email from a reader insisting, “This is about treating Islam equally! I am a Muslim and all we want is for our religion to be treated with the same respect as other religions.”

The problem with his demand is that the cartoonists in question did treat Islam in the same way Western culture treats Christianity, Judaism and other faiths. The media typically reserves no special reverence or respect for the major Western religions (including their Prophets). And so if Islam were treated “equally,” then Mohammad would be fair game, too.

For instance, how many times in the past decades can you remember lib-left media commentators disparaging the way Christian fundamentalists propped up George Bush — typically in language and tone that implied Christian voters were less intelligent and sophisticated than most?

Read the Toronto Star on any given day and there will be two or three references to Christians and the Harper government that drip with sneering disdain for the views and brains of both.

Of course there are also Andres Serrano’s Piss Christ photograph and Chris Ofili’s Holy Virgin Mary, made in part out of dung, among other artworks that have challenged Western notions of faith and perception.

Few Western media outlets would censor cartoon or artistic depictions of Christ. Danish publishers merely wanted the same lack of courtesy extended to Islam and its prophet. Continue Reading →

Australia: male journalists ordered out of courtroom while Muslim woman testifies without niqab.

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I predicted this. I knew it would only be a matter of time before sharia standards would be granted formal legitimacy and folded into western court proceedings. This woman refused to remove her niqab at a previous hearing, so to satisfy her irrational sensibilities, the judge decided that sacrificing Australia’s own laws of gender equality to suit Islamic gender apartheid practices would be a fair cultural exchange.

From The Australian

Muslim woman removes niqab to give evidence, as male journalists are barred from court

  • From: AAP
  • October 18, 2010 5:28PM

A MUSLIM woman who sparked a national debate when she asked to give evidence in court wearing a niqab has uncovered her face to testify in a fraud trial.

Tasneem, whose last name has been suppressed by the Perth District Court, gave evidence for just 15 minutes today in the trial of Anwar Sayed.

Mr Sayed, 50, is accused of falsifying student numbers at the Muslim Ladies College of Australia in Kenwick, in Perth’s south, to fraudulently obtain part of $1.125 million the school received in state and federal government grants.

Tasneem, 36, has worn a niqab since the age of 17 and wanted to wear it while giving evidence in the trial.

But Judge Shauna Deane in August ruled she must remove the face-covering garment so that the jury could see her facial expressions.

Tasneem only removes the niqab when she visits the doctor and dentist, at customs in airports and when she has her driver’s licence photograph taken.

Judge Deane last week ruled that to make it easier for Tasneem to give evidence comfortably, men would be removed from the court.

The only men allowed in the courtroom while she gave her evidence today were male jurors, the judge’s usher, Mr Sayed and the lawyers.

While female journalists were allowed to stay in the court to report on Tasneem’s evidence, male journalists were ejected.

A lawyer representing Network Ten and the Seven and Nine networks made an application on Friday to alter the order so that male journalists could remain in court, but the application was rejected.

Giving evidence via video link today, Tasneem appeared comfortable, flanked by a security person and a support person, both of whom were female.

During her brief evidence she explained that she worked at the school as an Islamic studies teacher for two hours a day, five days a week.

Tasneem said that “from time to time” some students would go overseas on holiday or to visit family, mostly in Afghanistan, so it was possible they were enrolled at the school, but did not attend for long periods of time.

Mr Sayed is the director of Muslim Link Australia, which runs the Muslim Ladies College.

He allegedly knowingly signed a declaration that in the 2006/07 census year, more than 180 students were enrolled in the school when there were 80 to 100 fewer than that.

The school received about $164,000 from the state government and about $961,000 from the federal government.

The trial continues.

AAP