Category Archives: Austria

Christopher Hitchens on free speech

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When I was reading the story about ESW and how she is being treated in a way that most of us would consider unthinkable for a modern democracy, I was reminded of a moment in one of my all time favourite speeches by Christopher Hitchens when he spoke in Toronto on the matter of freedom of speech.

I clipped out that bit with a link to the story in the post below about Elisabeth but the whole speech is really worth seeing. It is perhaps, Hitchens at his very best. Check out the 3 minute clip but please do stay and watch the whole thing below. It is well worth it. I have posted it before on Vlad but not since well over a year ago and if you have seen it, it is well worth seeing again.

Eeyore for Vlad.

“Justice Must Not Be Made the Handmaiden of Sharia”

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by Baron Bodissey

Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff at ACT! For America
We have reported previously on the pending “hate speech” case against our Austrian correspondent Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff. The most recent post featured a CBN news report about her (links to the earlier articles are at the bottom of this post).

For the last ten months Ms. Sabaditsch-Wolff has had the possibility of a formal charge hanging over her head, based on what she said last November in a seminar she gave about Islam. She has been waiting for the other shoe to drop, and now it seems that the red patent-leather stiletto heel of Austrian “justice” has finally thumped against the floor.

EUSSRThe travesty of the matter is that Ms. Sabaditsch-Wolff did not learn of the charge filed against her through a court document.

She received no official summons.

It was not communicated through her lawyer.

No, that’s not the way they do things in modern multicultural Austria. As is typical of the corrupt soft-totalitarian state known as the “European Union”, she learned of the official charge via the Austrian media.

Here’s what she told me in an email:

I just had a long talk with my legal representation. This is a huge judicial scandal. My lawyer has tried to get the documents detailing my case and the charges. In vain. the public prosecutor cited “computer problems”, the clerks said there is a note in my case that nothing is to be made public (wonder why the media knew about it then), and he was shoved from clerk to clerk, getting nothing. So far we know that I will be tried, but nothing else.

I have nothing whatsoever in my hands. I cannot defend myself at the moment because neither my lawyer nor I know the precise charges.

It makes me wonder about our judicial system. It is outrageous that the media in both Germany and Austria knew about this before the accused. Continue Reading →

Muslims try to pray in Spanish cathedral

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FOX NEWS… MADRID (AP) — A group of Muslims tried to pray inside a Roman Catholic cathedral that was originally a mosque and then scuffled with security guards and police who tried to stop them, a Spanish official said Friday.

Two of the tourists were arrested after the incident Wednesday night in the southern city of Cordoba and a police officer and a cathedral security guard were slightly injured, National Police spokeswoman Rosa Ortiz told The Associated Press.

The Great Mosque of Cordoba was built after the Moorish invasion of Spain in the 8th century. Cordoba is known as the City of Three Cultures because Muslims, Jews and Christians lived there in harmony during medieval times.

The mosque was transformed into a cathedral in 1236 when King Ferdinand III captured the city from the Moors. Since then, except for rare exceptions, Muslim prayer rites have been forbidden inside.

The building still retains exquisite red and white arches and gleaming marble columns from the original mosque. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1984, and is one of Spain’s most popular tourist sites.

Ortiz said a group of 120 Muslim tourists from Austria entered the mosque Wednesday evening and a handful of them — six or seven, she said — started to pray. Security guards told them to stop, but the small group insisted and argued with the guards, so National Police were summoned. 

Two of the people praying insisted even then, and got into a shoving match with officers, after which they were arrested for disobeying and threatening law enforcement officers, Ortiz said. 

She declined to name them saying only they were men aged 23 and 19. The detainees were to appear before a judge in Cordoba on Friday. Ortiz said had never heard of an incident like this before. 

The bishop’s office in Cordoba said the larger group had acted in a coordinated and aggressive fashion, but Ortiz downplayed that idea. 

Mansur Escudero, a Spanish Muslim leader, said he has been pressing the Catholic church for years to let Muslims pray in the mosque, but to no end. 

Over the past few decades exceptions were made, at the request of King Juan Carlos, and members of the Saudi royal family were allowed to pray in the mosque, Escudero, who is president of the Islamic Commission of Spain, told the newspaper El Mundo. 

Spain has a Muslim community of about 1 million, out of a total population of 45 million. 

The building’s official title is the “Mezquita Catedral de Cordoba” — the mosque cathedral. Escudero said the name should be changed to ex-mosque cathedral. 

“Or just cathedral. If it is not a mosque, they should not call it a mosque,” he was quoted as saying.

Austria continues its tradition of destruction of freedom of speech and bending to tyrants

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Here, we see how words are twisted to make racists the victims, and people’s freedom to speak plain simple facts, facts like “If the prophet of Islam was alive today, he would be in jail as a paedophile” are made the crimes.

Yes pointing out the crimes of Islam is now the crime in Austria while Islam claims victim status. So what else is new?

T’was Hamas that killed Hamas

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Go figure ay?

From Indymedia.com

Report: Hamas security official aided Dubai assassins Print E-mail

Published by Haaretz Thursday, 18 February 2010

A Hamas security operative is under arrest in Syria on suspicion of having assisted the hit squad that assassinated Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, the British Guardian daily reported late Wednesday.

Image
Gazans mourn the assassinated Mahmoud al-Mabhouh Wednesday in a mass demonstration organized by Hamas. (© AP)

Palestinian sources in the Gulf said Nahro Massoud was in detention and under interrogation in Damascus, the Guardian reported. Last week, Jordan said it had extradited two Palestinians to Dubai in connection with the killing.

However, Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshal denied the allegation, according to the report. “It is not correct at all,” he was quoted as saying. But Palestinian sources insisted Massoud was being questioned amid speculation that potentially senior Palestinian defectors may have been involved in the plot. Al-Jazeera reported that one of the Palestinians extradited to Dubai worked for Fatah’s security services, but the Palestinian Authority has denied that.

Dubai police announced on Wednesday that their inquiry into the assassination of Mabhouh is focusing on bringing the suspected assailants to trial. They said investigators had successfully recreated a detailed picture of the operation. The official Web site of the Dubai police featured the suspects’ pictures and personal information in an effort to locate the assailants.

According to Palestinian news agency Ma’an, Dubai police said on Wednesday that they hold retinal scans of the suspected assassins, which they plan to publish through international police intelligence service Interpol.

Airport officials carried out routine retinal scans on 11 suspects sought by Dubai when they entered the country in the days before the hit. An official source in Britain said that the investigation has now widened, with police seeking a further six members of the assassination team – making 17 in all.

Dubai police also identified Austria as the “command center” for the assassins, after mobile phone data showed at least seven numbers originating there, the Guardian reported. Dubai police speculated members of the group communicated using “encrypted” messages, and that contact was maintained via several Austrian mobile phone Sim cards. Austria has confirmed its officials were investigating the claims.

Quebec man gets life sentence for Al Qaeda linked bomb plot

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Said Namouh

Said Namouh

 TORONTOSTAR… MONTREAL-A rural Quebec man was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday for his role in an overseas terrorist bomb plot by an Al Qaeda affiliated group.

It is just the second time in Canadian legal history that a life sentence has been handed down in a terrorism case, after the one last month to one of the so-called ‘Toronto 18′, Crown prosecutors said.

Said Namouh was found guilty last October of four terrorism-related charges relating to a loosely planned plot to bomb targets in Germany and Austria.

The terror attack was motivated by those countries’ military presence in Afghanistan.

Namouh was involved with the Global Islamic Media Front, an organization recognized by the court as a terrorist group that took part in propaganda and jihad recruitment.

The organization is described as an Al Qaeda media tool.

Namouh, 37, will have no chance of parole for at least 10 years.

Quebec court Judge Claude Leblond said Namouh remains dangerous and remorseless whereas in other Canadian terrorism cases, some of the accused had seen the error of their ways. Taqyyia

Leblond noted that an attempt by Namouh to seek the court’s favour by taking the stand during his sentencing hearing last November had the opposite effect.

“In no way since the events has he distanced himself from terrorism,” Leblond said in his judgment. Continue Reading →

Copts in Austria protest Muslim treatment in Egypt

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Below is a machine translation from this site. Thanks very much to ESW of Mission Europa for these excellent photos of the event. It is so good to see one of the worlds most profoundly persecuted minorities, and I might add, the actual indigenous people of Egypt, begin to at least publicize the facts of their existence.

More from ICLA

A recent demonstration in Vienna, Austria has called for an end to the persecution of Coptic Christians in Egypt.  While the OIC (Organisation of the Islamic Conference) tries to impose global heresy laws on the world to prevent the criticism of religion, Egyptian non Muslims feel the full force of religious persecution.  Where is the concerned voice of the OIC in the preservation of the ancient religion of Egypt, Coptic Christianity?  Of course the OIC is silent because all it cares about are the objectives of political Islam and its desire to become the religion of the entire world.  The OIC should end its charade; it claims to be concerned about human rights abuses but is unwilling to raise its voice when such abuse occurs in the name of Islam.  Can we therefore conclude that the OIC member states are a set of hypocrites who only care about their own narrow political agenda and do not care a jot for the interests of humankind and civilised values?

It must be remembered that the Copts inhabited Egypt before the Islamic invasion and descend from the majestic lineage that built the pyramids and played such an important role in helping found Western civilisation.  We hear so much about the illegal occupation of Judea and Samaria by the decedents of that region’s ancient inhabitants.  The ancient inhabitants of Egypt are a persecuted minority in Egypt.  Those of us who live in the West will suffer the same fate if our despicable political leaders continue their misguided pro sharia policy that proceeds under the disguise of multiculturalism.

It is surely time to stand up to real intolerance!

The following are photographs from the Vienna demonstration in favour of rights for Christians in Egypt:

CBN knocks it out of the park again on Free speech and Islam in Europe

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Please take the eight minutes to watch this. It is more than good, it is important.

Whose Law?

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Here is a lecture by a woman in Austria, a country with some of the most extreme anti freedom of speech laws in the western world, about Islam and its consequences. Below the video, an article taken from Gates of Vienna on Elisabeth, the speaker in the video, and aspects of this case. Elisabeth was charged with a hate crime on the day this lecture was given.

Elisabeth Lecture video 1 from Vlad Tepes on Vimeo.

Whose Law?

by Baron Bodissey

Elisabeth Sabaditsch-WolffMost readers are familiar with Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, the Austrian anti-jihad activist who is facing a “hate speech” charge for one of her recent presentations on Islam.

The evening after her “Islamophobic” speech was publicized in the Austrian press — on November 26th, 2009 — Elisabeth gave the third in a series of lectures on Islam. Considering that her previous presentation was the one that brought down the “hate speech” charge on her head, Elisabeth’s lecture that night drew a lot of attention.

The video below shows the first part of her lecture about sharia law, which was the final seminar on the topic presented in Vienna. Listen to what she says and see if there’s anything that’s untrue, or inflammatory, or that passes the bounds of reasonable opinion. Like Geert Wilders, she is being targeted for speaking up about matters that the political elite prefer to keep under the rug.

During her presentation Elisabeth refers to the media gathered outside the venue who want her to make a statement:

The full transcript of this portion of Elisabeth’s lecture is below the jump. Continue Reading →

Thats not halal! Muslim bites finger off of rabbi

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As I understand it, to make food legal for Muslims some moron has to shout the same thing Muslims shout before they blow themselves up or fly a plane into a building. While its possible that this particular Muslim did shout that all to familiar phrase as he attacked the rabbi, I somehow doubt that it made this poor shmoe’s finger halal. If that Muslim is still hungry, I have a finger I would like to show him.

Found on GAR, the original story is here:

Chabad Rabbi Attacked in Vienna

A Muslim man attacked a Chabad rabbi Saturday night as he was conducting the annual ceremony to light the public Chanukah menorah in Stefenfaltz Square in the city of Vienna, Austria.

The attacker hurled himself at Rabbi Dov Gruzman, principal of the city’s Jewish school run by the Chabad-Lubavitch Chassidic movement, and began punching him, a local resident told Arutz Sheva. As the rabbi tried to hold off his attacker, the Muslim suddenly bit his victim, severing part of his finger in the process. The Muslim was caught and arrested by police, and was held for questioning. The rabbi was evacuated to the hospital where doctors rushed to reattach his finger.

Gruzman told Arutz Sheva that the Muslim had raced towards the entrance at the beginning of the ceremony and began to curse the Jews who were there and the Jewish people in general. “I tried to hold him off, to keep him away from the entrance and he bit me really hard, and that’s how he injured me,” he said.

The event itself did not discourage Rabbi Gruzman, and in fact strengthened his resolve. “We are glad that such an event occurred,” he said. “Today, because of what happened, we are planning [a much larger event]. We increased the number of sufganiot [Chanukah jelly doughnuts] from 50 to 700 – and this is our answer to the attack and to anti-Semitism.”

However, the rabbi himself will be unable to participate in Sunday evening’s ceremony due to the fact that he is still hospitalized, and being monitored for infection from the bite. Nevertheless, he emphasized, through the Chanukah lighting ceremony he sends his blessing to every Jew around the world.

Fighting hate speech charge in Austria

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by Baron Bodissey

Regular Gates of Vienna readers are familiar with Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, who recently gave a series of exemplary Counterjihad presentations at the OSCE Human Dimension roundtable in Vienna a few weeks ago.

Those who speak out prominently against Islamization sooner or later face the wrath of the dhimmi establishment. Anyone who sticks his head up over the parapet risks having it shot off.

And so it is for Elisabeth. She dared to speak the truth about Islam. Now, like Geert Wilders and hundreds of other Europeans, she has run afoul of her country’s hate speech laws, and faces prosecution for what she said.

Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff was interviewed today by S.M. Steinitz for profil (Austria’s equivalent to Time or Der Spiegel). Many thanks to Jihad Watch for publicizing Elisabeth’s case:

“I Am Against Dialogue”

A criminal complaint is being filed against Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff for “hate speech” under Austrian law, essentially the same thing that Susanne Winter was convicted of early this year.

Elisabeth gave a presentation about Islam at an FPÖ-organized seminar, and said some of the usual things that anti-jihad advocates say when they talk about Islam. A left-wing magazine, which had planted someone in the audience, caused charges to be brought against her at the same time as they publicized it in their magazine.

Elisabeth held the controversial Islam Seminar at the FPÖ-political academy. Charges of defamation of a religious group have been filed against the daughter of a diplomat. This is her only interview in which she explains her views.

Mrs. Sabaditsch-Wolff, are you afraid of Muslims?

No, I am afraid of political Islam, which is massively gaining influence in Europe. That is what I am against.

What is your goal?

I want to preserve Europe and its democratic and secular values.

What bothers you about the Islamic way of life?

Islamic doctrine discriminates against women and non-Muslims. Islamic law, or shariah, cannot be reconciled with democratic principles and universal human rights.

Do you see the need for that?

There are powerful groups who are working towards the Islamization of Europe. That is a fact. What can we gain from closing our eyes and ignoring this? Even Libyan leader Muammar Ghadafi says: “There are signs that Allah will grant victory to Islam in Europe without swords, without guns, without conquest. We don’t need terrorists, we don’t need homicide bombers. The 50+ million Muslims [in Europe] will turn it into a Muslim continent within a few decades.” A head of state confirms what our politicians deny. What else has to happen until we finally get it?

There are people who see the growth of Islam in Europe as an opportunity for a completely re-engineered pluralistic society.

The vision of a pluralistic society does not withstand a reality check. Show me one example where this has been a success. Wherever Muslims have been given the opportunity for self-organization they have established parallel societies. See Berlin-Kreuzberg, see Lyon. See also Great Britain, where parts of shariah have been implemented.

Do you really think that Austrian culture is endangered?

Continue Reading →

“Hate Speech” Accusations at the OSCE Meeting

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by Baron Bodissey

The OSCE Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting in Vienna wrapped up with yesterday’s sessions in Vienna. As I mentioned earlier, the meeting’s theme was “Gender equality, with a special focus on combating violence against women”.

The Counterjihad was represented at the meeting by the International Civil Liberties Alliance in association with Pax Europa, Mission Europa, and Wiener Akademikerbund.

Before the day was over, those four organizations had been accused of “hate speech” by certain of the other delegates for their presentations and recommendations.

But first things first. Here’s the official intervention and recommendation by Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff of Pax Europa:

The presentations by various members of the Counterjihad groups were referred to as “hate speech” by some of the other participants. One of the Austrian representatives made this response (translated from the German):

Inappropriate Use of ‘Hate Speech’ Allegations at the OSCE Gender Equality Meeting in Vienna

Reply by the Austrian Representative regarding the accusation of “hate speech” against NGOs

I object to a certain debate culture which is employed more and more often by a certain group of participants. Disagreement with someone else’s opinion is immediately denounced as hate speech. The accusation of hate speech is a serious one. We have been dealing intensively with this phenomenon in these human dimension meetings for many years. We take part in these human dimension meetings precisely because we need to find solutions to the current grave problems. The localization and identification of the problems and their implications are an important prerequisite to finding a solution. Continue Reading →

Muslim Europe: the demographic time bomb transforming our continent

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Telegraph News 

Muslim InvasionThe EU is facing an era of vast social change, reports Adrian Michaels, and few politicians are taking notice

Britain and the rest of the European Union are ignoring a demographic time bomb: a recent rush into the EU by migrants, including millions of Muslims, will change the continent beyond recognition over the next two decades, and almost no policy-makers are talking about it.

The numbers are startling. Only 3.2 per cent of Spain’s population was foreign-born in 1998. In 2007 it was 13.4 per cent. Europe’s Muslim population has more than doubled in the past 30 years and will have doubled again by 2015. In Brussels, the top seven baby boys’ names recently were Mohamed, Adam, Rayan, Ayoub, Mehdi, Amine and Hamza.

Europe’s low white birth rate, coupled with faster multiplying migrants, will change fundamentally what we take to mean by European culture and society. The altered population mix has far-reaching implications for education, housing, welfare, labour, the arts and everything in between. It could have a critical impact on foreign policy: a study was submitted to the US Air Force on how America’s relationship with Europe might evolve. Yet EU officials admit that these issues are not receiving the attention they deserve.

Jerome Vignon, the director for employment and social affairs at the European Commission, said that the focus of those running the EU had been on asylum seekers and the control of migration rather than the integration of those already in the bloc. “It has certainly been underestimated – there is a general rhetoric that social integration of migrants should be given as much importance as monitoring the inflow of migrants.” But, he said, the rhetoric had rarely led to policy.

The countries of the EU have long histories of welcoming migrants, but in recent years two significant trends have emerged. Migrants have come increasingly from outside developed economies, and they have come in accelerating numbers.

The growing Muslim population is of particular interest. This is not because Muslims are the only immigrants coming into the EU in large numbers; there are plenty of entrants from all points of the compass. But Muslims represent a particular set of issues beyond the fact that atrocities have been committed in the West in the name of Islam. Continue Reading →

Austrian fined for quoting quran

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This article taken verbatim from Gates of Vienna. It seems to me that Nazis, the accusation by all who defend their own non Islamic heritage, are the ones doing the fining punishing and determining of what can be said through the force of the state. People need to start to carefully define for themselves what in fact the word Nazi means.

Eeyore for Vlad.

censored

An article today on ORF.at reports that a man was convicted of “belittling religious teachings” for what is essentially no more than quoting or summarizing Islamic scriptures.

Our Austrian correspondent ESW summarizes the case, based on the ORF report:

This occurred in a local court, under Austrian law (not EU law). A 43-year-old man was accused of belittling religious teachings and received a suspended sentence of €300. “Suspended” means that he does not have to pay the fine if he does not repeat the offense.

The defendant — who is a teacher and may lose his job — received the sentence because he wrote online under a pseudonym that “the Quran is a book of lies” and “the Muslims are the enemies of the Christians, and they (the Muslims) killed 200 Jews single-handedly.” Continue Reading →