...On the seventh day, God created blasphemy and lynch mobs. Happy with his delegation, he could now take a rest.

Man gang raped over refusal to convert to islam

From Christian Today see full article

Lawyers in Pakistan are investigating a report that up to 30 men tortured and gang-raped a young Christian man for refusing to convert to Islam.

The victim is seriously injured and unable to move. According to the Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS) the police are keeping him locked up and have denied him medical treatment.

The police are also refusing to register the rape following a counter-claim made by his principal attacker – “a man of influence”.

According to CLAAS, the Christian was invited to a game of cricket. A quarrel broke out and he was beaten up. Later that evening, the father of one of the Muslims asked the Christian over to his house.

Joseph Francis, the National Director of CLAAS, explained: When he entered the drawing room, he found it filled with unknown people. They began to beat him severely. They threatened him with dire consequences if he did not accept Islam. After his refusal, they committed sodomy with him one by one for the whole night.

Francis said that they later threw their victim out on the street unconscious.

CLAAS say the charges were drawn up by the attacker, who has used his influence to put pressure on the authorities.

We’re deeply concerned about the growing number of attacks against Christians in Pakistan, says Release International’s CEO Andy Dipper. We are receiving reports of rape, abductions and forced conversion. Pakistan is becoming an increasingly difficult place for Christians to live.

Kurdish prime minister speaks against honour killings

From Stop Honour Killings

The prime minister of Iraqi Kurdistan Neghervan Barzani has vowed that tough measures will be taken against those guilty of so-called honour killings: The government authorities will take the toughest legal measures he promised in a press conference.

Barzani said that recently there have been horrendous crimes commited against women in some areas of [the autonomous region of] Kurdistan. While we condemn these crimes, we also rebuke the government ministers and other bodies for not having applied suitable solutions to prevent such episodes reoccurring.

The regional premier then proposed to change the definition of these crimes, called "honour crimes" in the penal code, to "murder".

According to Barzani, these acts indicate a deterioration within society and a backwardness in its values and culture. He appealed to clerics, to teachers and university professors to help people become aware of the problem, stressing that the battle against such brutality was a collective duty.

 
Nutters scupper art exhibition

Based on an article from the Catholic World News see full article

An art exhibition including a supposedy obscene image of the Virgin Mary has been cancelled in Bologna, Italy, on orders from the city's Mayor Sergio Cofferati.

Cofferati described the anti-Catholic display as unacceptable vulgarity that offends believers and non-believers. The Communist mayor went on to say: Cultural exhibits are effective when they are respectful and do not become vulgar, as unfortunately, happened in this case.

A local politician from the Forza Italia Party, Fabio Garagnani, has demanded the exhibit be tried before the courts for transgression of article 403 of Italy’s penal code, which penalizes public offences against religious faith. A statement by the Archdiocese of Bologna called the event an “abominable blasphemy."

 
Family stone woman for adultery in Pakistan

From the SomaliNet see full article

After dying mysteriously in early June, relatives of the deceased woman in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), have confessed to stoning her to death on suspicion of adulterous relations.

According to earlier reports, the woman died mysteriously and was buried quietly by her family.

The Dawn newspaper said the father and husband of the woman admitted that they had killed her for her suspected extra-marital affair, when a local court summoned them to decide on the police request for exhuming the body to determine the cause of death.

Police arrested the two men after the confession, while the woman's brother who also took part in the stoning is at large.

 
Obscenity investigation into The Da Vinci Code quickly dropped

From the CBC.ca see full article

State prosecutors in an Italian town have dropped an obscenity investigation into the movie The Da Vinci Code, a day after it was launched.

The port village of Civitavecchia, north of Rome, was the centre of international media attention over the investigation.

But the state prosecutor's office in the town said the decision to drop a plan to lay charges was made based on the merits of the case.

There are no grounds for this investigation, an official said.

It was launched following a complaint from a group of clergy who claimed the film violated Italian obscenity laws because it puts forward the idea that Jesus married and had a child.

 
If muslims can raise violent protests why shouldn't hindus

From India eNews see full article

A poster depicting Congress party president Sonia Gandhi as goddess Durga has angered Hindu groups, who have termed it 'derogatory'.

The poster, adorning a wall at the district Congress committee office here, shows Sonia as goddess Durga with her multiple arms. In Hindu mythology Durga is considered the destroyer of evil. The poster has been in the office since the state assembly elections earlier this year.

Hindu groups like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) are seeing red. This is derogatory to the most widely worshipped Hindu goddess and we will not sit quiet, declared Vinod Agarwal, a prominent VHP leader.

He even threatened to take the protest to a high pitch. If Muslims can raise violent protests against sketching of a cartoon on their Prophet, how can we sit silent on such blasphemy.

 
The Vatican should realise by now the harm that can be caused by sexual denial

From the Khaleej Times see full article

The Vatican urged nations to pass laws to curb the ‘modern slavery’ of prostitution to protect women from violence and punish clients.

A new document said the exploitation of women stemmed from activities including human trafficking and sex tourism and the problem should be tackled in a comprehensive way.

The victims of prostitution are human beings, who in many cases cry out for help, to be freed from slavery,’ the document by the Vatican’s department on migrant issues said: The customers too are people with deeply rooted problems, and in a certain sense are also slaves.

An effective measure towards cultural change with respect to prostitution could derive from associating criminal law with social condemnation. Monsignor Agostino Marchetto, explained: We think that there should be not only protection of women but also a punishment for the clients.

He said the Vatican would push for legislation along the Swedish model, which penalises customers with jail sentences and fines based on their salaries.

The section of the document that dealt with prostitution, called Pastoral Ministry for the Liberation of Street Women, said men who frequent prostitutes should be aware of the Church’s: clear condemnation of their sins and the injustice they commit.

Call to ban vibrating condom rings in Madhya Pradesh

From The Times see full article

A vibrating condom has become the latest target of Hindu nationalists who have outlawed sex education in many schools and suggested teaching teenagers yoga instead.

Authorities in the central state of Madhya Pradesh are planning to ban sales of Crezendo condoms, which have a “vibrating ring” in each pack, on the ground that they should be considered sex toys.

Condoms should be used for family planning, said Kailash Vijayvargiya, the public works minister for Madhya Pradesh, which is governed by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). These are sex toys to be used for sexual satisfaction, he told The Times. I’ve instructed government officers to check if there is a law against such things. If there isn’t a law, we’ll make one.

Crezendos, released nationwide six months ago, advertise themselves as your passport to the Republic of Pleasure, promising a 20-minute joyride through the realms of vibrating pleasure. Each pack contains three condoms and a tiny battery powered vibrator attached to a ring, which is designed to sit at the base of the condom and stimulate the man and the woman during sex. The vibrator is re-usable, but its battery lasts for only 20 minutes, according to Hindustan Latex, its state-owned manufacturer.

This month, India’s first “condom bar” opened in the northern state of Punjab. The initiative is certain to raise eyebrows among more orthodox residents. But its backers say that there is a serious purpose behind the scheme as the aim is to promote HIV and Aids awareness.

And call for jihad

From Malaysia Sun see full article

Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa students raided a Chinese massage centre here and took 12 persons, including nine foreigners, hostage.

Those abducted are nine Chinese, five of them women, and three Pakistanis.

Riding in three vehicles, the religious kidnappers raided a Massage Centre at House No 17, Street 4.They overpowered three Pakistani guards posted at the centre after injuring them.

Later, they entered the building and ordered the Chinese men and women present there to accompany them. On refusal, the students thrashed them and forcibly took them to the Jamia Hafsa compound.

The religious students accused the abducted people of rendering un-Islamic and unlawful services.

Sources told The News that there is a strong possibility of an Army operation against the Lal Masjid brigade this time as the victims include nationals of a friendly neighbour of Pakistan.

Earlier, the Khateeb of Lal Masjid, Maulana Abdul Aziz, told a Juma congregation that Europe has made it its habit to commit acts of blasphemy. Describing the importance of Jihad.

He said that the major cause of humiliation of Muslims was non-observance of Jihad, recalling the times when Muslims ruled the world through Jihad and nobody had the courage to commit blasphemy and cast an evil eye on Muslim women.

He requested the Ulema to announce a Jihad against Britain and expressed his firm belief that the youth would stand up once again to curb obscenity and injustice. He said obscenity was on the rise in the name of cultural programmes both in Pakistan and abroad. He asked the government to expel the British high commissioner and snap relations with Britain unless they withdraw the knighthood conferred on the blasphemer.

Las Masjid cite maintaining good relations with China

From Voice of America see full article

All nine Las Masjid hostages were released Saturday evening.

Chief cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi insisted the nine were clearly involved in operating a brothel. It was taken because it is against the law, against the sharia and against the Islamic values, he said. He added that the nine were released in the interest of maintaining good relations with China.

Pakistani authorities have sharply condemned the incident. Officials say they are filing kidnapping charges against at least 25 of the mosque's students, but police say none has been taken into custody.

This is the first time the students have targeted foreigners, and security analysts here in Pakistan say the move will likely increase the pressure on the government to crack down on the mosque.

Christians on vaccinating girls against HPV

From the National Secular Society

Fundamentalists Christians from the Christian Institute and Christian Voice organisations have spoken out in opposition to the Government's plans to use a new vaccine to save up to 700 women a year from dying from cervical cancer. The vaccine, Gardasil, protects against the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) that can lead to Cervical Cancer.

Colin Hart, director of the Christian Institute, said of the vaccine: It's basically a sex jab, encouraging the view that girls can be sexually available. It is a disease that you can only get through being sexually promiscuous. The thing we should be doing is trying to stop kids being sexually active.

Meanwhile, the even more appalling Stephen Green, national director of the extremist Christian Voice, called it "a tart's jab". He said: The best way of not getting cervical cancer and genital warts is to stay a virgin and marry a virgin. Why don't these officials want young people to do that? Why don't we raise their expectations and ours and treat them with some respect? 'I expect school health outreach workers from Primary Care Trusts and the like will be giving Gardasil to young girls behind their parents' backs. Since the vaccine works best before the onset of sexual activity, they will be treating these girls, to put it bluntly, like tarts, saying they are sexually incontinent, lacking in self-respect and the basic morality required to keep their virginity.

 
A Call to ratify stoning sentences

From the Vanguard see full article
See Video of Stoning to Death
Sign the petition: Stop Stoning Forever

The Nigerian Bauchi State Sharia Commission has called on Governor Isa Yuguda to ratify 43 amputations and death penalties passed by various sharia courts in the state since 2003.

In a 12-point communique at the end of its meeting on how to address moral decadence, the commission said that ratifying the sentences would discourage people from engaging in immoral acts.

It said the sentences had not been ratified by the former governor, Alhaji Ahmadu Mu’azu, and advised Yuguda to ratify them to serve as a deterrence to others.
The list of those awaiting death by stoning for adultery, includes among others, Yunusa Rafin-Chiyawa, Umaru Tori and Jibrin Babji.

 
Imminent stoning in Iran

From the Arabisto see full article
See Video of Stoning to Death
Sign the petition: Stop Stoning Forever

On Thursday morning, in Tekstan, Qzvin Province,Iran, a man and a woman will be stoned in front of the city's graveyard. The stoning will take place in public and the judge will attend the event and will throw the first stone.

Makroumeh Ebrahimi , 43, has spent eleven years in Qzvin Prison, alongside with the man with whom she has a child. Their child is now 11 years old.

Reportedly, they have even dug a hole for the stoning. The stoning verdict is reportedly based on judge's deduction, and not on confession, as Sharia suggests.

Officials have denied the reports but reputable activists have definitely confirmed it.

 
Iran stays a barbaric execution

From the Buzzle see full article
See Video of Stoning to Death
Sign the petition: Stop Stoning Forever

Iranian authorities have halted the planned stoning to death of a man and woman convicted of adultery following international protests.

Western diplomats in Tehran and organizations including Amnesty International and Human Rights' Watch had condemned the executions.

The Norwegian foreign minister, Jonas Gahr Stoere, summoned the Iranian ambassador to Oslo to protest that stoning is a barbarian punishment which violated human rights. He also told the ambassador that the Norwegian parliament's foreign affairs committee would likely cancel a planned visit to Iran next week if the stoning was carried out.

He later told Norwegian news organizations that he had received information that Iranian judicial authorities had stayed the execution.

Ayatollah Shahroudi, the head of Iran's judiciary, ordered a moratorium on execution by stoning in 2002, pending a decision on a permanent change in the law, apparently being considered by Iran's supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. But a law passed in September 2003 on the implementation of certain kinds of penalties, including stoning, appeared to undermine this moratorium.

 
'Cleric' calls for murder of magazine editor

Based on an article from the Times of India see full article

A 'cleric' has issued a fatwa ordering the killing of the editor and the publisher of a local fashion magazine for publishing allegedly objectionable pictures of Adam and Eve, after which Pakistani authorities banned the sale of its latest issue.

The magazine Octane carried the images of Adam and Eve under the caption 'Apple: The Bone of Contention' in its June edition. Police lodged a case against the monthly magazine on the charge of publishing "obscene" pictures after the head 'cleric' of Lal Masjid, Maulana Abdul Aziz, issued the fatwa on Saturday at the mosque: Who will kill the chief editor and chief publisher of monthly Octane that published snaps of Hazrat Adam and Eve in their June publication.

But, masjid administrator Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi on Sunday demanded that the charge of blasphemy be brought against the editor and the publisher. The police have charged them for publishing vulgar pictures but not under blasphemy laws, he said, claiming the accused persons have committed a grave sin.

Magazine editor Zubair Kasuri, however, argued that it was just an advertisement which was also published by others earlier. He claimed that there was nothing blasphemous about it. But if it created any misunderstandings, we are ready to apologise.

Update: Bone of Contention

From the Daily Times see full article

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemned a fatwa for “blasphemy” issued by a cleric against the staff of English-language fashion magazine Octane.

The managers of this magazine deserve to die, Maulana Abdul Aziz said at Friday prayers on June 15 at the radical Lal Masjid after the magazine carried a series of photos in its June edition with a caption that read: Adam and Eve, the bone of contention.

There is no possible justification for such radical steps to express disapproval of certain media practices, said a statement issued by Reporters Without Borders. We urge the Pakistani government to take responsibility for the safety of the staff of the magazine and to put an end to this harassment.

Pakistani policeman murders two accused of blasphemy

From Monsters & Critics see full article

A Pakistani policeman shot dead a publisher accused of blasphemy and another person at a detention centre in the town of Kharian, about 125 south-east of the capital Islamabad, officials said on Saturday.

The police constable gave himself in to his colleagues after the incident, the District Police Officer Ahsan Mehboob told the BBC Urdu Service.

I have no regret over what I did, said the police constable was quoted as saying.

Publisher Mian Qasim was arrested last week along with three other people in a nearby city of Gujrat over charges of printing two books that contained derogatory remarks about the Muslim Prophet Mohammed.

Indian state bans other religions from near temples

From the BBC see full article

The government of the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh has banned the propagation of other religions in the holy places of Hindus across the state.

It follows a row over alleged Christian missionary activity around a shrine in the town of Tirumala.

The ordinance promulgated by the state Governor, Rameshwar Thakuar, came into effect immediately in Tirumala. The ordinance also affects seven areas surrounding Tirumala over an area of more than 10,000 acres affecting 20 Hindu religious places. It empowers the state government to prohibit the propagation of religion in places of worship or prayer other than the religion traditionally practiced at such places.

The ordinance said that there had recently been a number of instances where worship or prayer by non-Hindu religious groups in or near Hindu places of worship hurt sentiments and disturbed the peace and tranquillity of that area.

While practicing or preaching any religion was a fundamental right of every citizen, propagation of other religion in temple areas could not be allowed, the state Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy said.

CPS set up dedicated teams for honour crime cases

From The Guardian see full article

Dedicated teams of senior prosecutors are to be deployed in the UK's honour killing hotspots in the wake of the failings exposed this week by the case of a young Kurdish woman murdered by her family.

The prosecutors, who have all had experience of complex organised crime cases, will start work this month as part of an overhaul of how cases are handled. The move is designed to boost conviction rates and improve protection for victims.

The Crown Prosecution Service has revealed the changes after the justice system was criticised for doing too little to protect vulnerable women. Senior police officers told the Guardian that there are systemic failures in how cases are handled - measures proposed years ago have been shelved, delayed or ignored, they warn.

Chief constables and the Home Office are also working together with other agencies to ensure that women in danger are identified early and dealt with properly to improve protection for victims. Plans to be published soon by the Association of Chief Police Officers will tell forces to follow new risk assessment models to ensure women are taken seriously if they complain of family violence.

The CPS will this month pilot its new approach in four "hotspot" areas. A team of 20 prosecutors are to be based in London, the West Midlands, West Yorkshire and Lancashire. Each one will be trained by a number of different agencies including the police, the government's forced marriage unit and the independent victims group, the Southall Black Sisters.

For services in highlighting censorship and intimidation

From the Times Now see full article

Salman Rushdie, the author who spent a decade under the threat of a Muslim death sentence, receives a knighthood in the Queen's Birthday Honours.

After his novel The Satanic Verses was condemned as blasphemous, an estimated £10million of British taxpayers' money was spent on police protection for Rushdie and news of the honour is likely to anger Islamists still critical of the book.

Indian-born Rushdie was forced into hiding in 1989 when the Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or death sentence, over The Satanic Verses.

The novel had already provoked fury in the UK, with copies publicly burned on the streets of Bradford. Khomeini called the book a blasphemy against Islam and sentenced Rushdie to death.

The writer, guarded by Special Branch around the clock, moved home 30 times to keep his whereabouts secret from would-be assassins but now lives a more normal life - even though some Iranian figures claim the fatwa remains in force.

Rushdie said he was: thrilled and humbled to receive this great honour.

Whilst Rushdie Honoured

Based on an article from the Boston.com see full article

Iran accused Britain yesterday of insulting Islamic values by knighting Salman Rushdie, whose novel The Satanic Verses prompted the late Iranian Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to issue a fatwa death warrant against him.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said Rushdie, awarded the knighthood for services to literature, was "one of the most hated figures" in the Islamic world.

Spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini portrayed the decision as an act directed against Islam by Britain: Honoring and commending an apostate and hated figure will definitely put the British officials [in a position] of confrontation with Islamic societies. This act shows that insulting Islamic sacred [values] is not accidental. It is planned, organized , guided, and supported by some Western countries.

Whilst Rushdie Honoured

From The Guardian see full article

Indignation at the OBE for Salman Rushdie spread to Islamabad, with one Pakistani minister reported as saying that a suicide bomb attack would be a justified response to the award of the knighthood.

The Pakistan parliament called on the British government to reverse the decision or face further protests from Muslim nations. If someone commits suicide bombing to protect the honour of the Prophet Muhammad, his act is justified, the minister for religious affairs, Ijaz ul-Haq, told Pakistan's national assembly. He urged Muslim countries to break diplomatic ties with London.

His comments were reported on local news networks and provoked an angry response around the world. Effigies of the Queen and Rushdie were burned in the eastern Pakistan city of Multan as students chanted Kill him! Kill him!

Pakistan's lower house of parliament also passed a resolution condemning the decision to knight the Booker prize winner. We deplore the decision, said Pakistan foreign ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam yesterday. Rushdie's knighthood would hamper inter-faith understanding, she said.

The Muslim Council of Britain, while condemning any threats to Rushdie's life, also attacked the decision to grant him a knighthood. Salman Rushdie earned notoriety among Muslims for the highly insulting and blasphemous manner in which he portrayed early Islamic figures much-loved and honoured by them, Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said. The insensitive decision to grant Rushdie a knighthood can therefore only do harm to the image of our country in the eyes of hundreds of millions of Muslims across the world. Many will interpret the knighthood as a final contemptuous parting gift from Tony Blair to the Muslim world.

It is believed Mr Blair was not involved in the decision to knight Rushdie, who has expressed delight at the knighthood. His name was recommended to the Queen by a cabinet office committee.

 
John Reid stands by Rushdie honour

From the Bangkok Post

Anger has predictably spread across the Islamic world. Demonstrators in Malaysia were said to have chanted "go to hell, Britain!"

Even the Iraqi foreign minister, on a visit to London, condemned the knighthood as "untimely" and hinted that extremists would exploit the move.

British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett Wednesday defended the controversial knighthood for author Salman Rushdie but said she was "sorry" if the award had caused offence: Obviously, we are sorry if there are people who have taken very much to heart this honour, which is after all for a life-long body of literary work.

Meanwhile, Britain's Home Secretary, John Reid, told an audience in New York Wednesday that the British government stood by the honour and would not "apologise" for it.

But Reid, while conceding that the issue was "sensitive," ruled out an apology by the British government, saying that the protection of people's right to express their opinions in literature, argument and politics was of over-riding value to our society. I think we have a set of values that accrues people honours for their contribution to literature even when they don't agree with our point of view. That's our way and that's what we stand by.

In Tehran, the Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the British ambassador, Geoffrey Adams, over the knighting. The ambassador was told that the move was regarded by Tehran as a "provocative act" which angered one and a half billion Muslims worldwide.

However, the British ambassador insisted that the honour was given for Rushdie's services for literature and should therefore not be regarded as insult.

 
Bin Laden honoured in revenge

From the Times Now see full article

A group of hardline Pakistani Muslim clerics have bestowed a religious title on Osama bin Laden in response to a British knighthood for the author Salman Rushdie.

The clerics, the Pakistan Ulema Council, has given bin Laden the title 'Saifullah', or sword of Allah.

If a blasphemer can be given the title 'Sir' by the West despite the fact he's hurt the feelings of Muslims, then a mujahid who has been fighting for Islam against the Russians, Americans and British must be given the lofty title of Islam, Saifullah, the chairman, Tahir Ashrafi, said.

From Gulf Times see full article

A top Muslim cleric in Jammu and Kashmir yesterday called for books by Salman Rushdie to be burned and said Britain had to apologise for awarding the author a knighthood.

A small protest also saw some 200 Muslim youths chant “Death to Rushdie” and “Down with Britain” as they torched effigies of the Indian-born British author, accused of blasphemy against Islam in his 1998 book The Satanic Verses.

I urge the Queen and her government to withdraw the award and also apologise to the Muslim world for conferring the knighthood title on Rushdie, as it has hurt Muslim sentiments, Grand Mufti Bashir-u-Din said in a statement.

He also urged governments around the world to ban Rushdie’s books and called on Kashmiri Muslims to burn them, arguing that Rushdie was still liable to be killed for rendering gravest injury.

A hardline militant group, Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen, called for a one-day strike in the state today: The Kashmiri nation has to rise in one voice to show resentment against the shameful decision by observing a complete shutdown, Jamiat spokesman Jameel Ahmed said.

From The Guardian see full article

Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister of Pakistan, yesterday called for the sacking of the religious affairs minister who was reported as justifying a suicide bomb attack on Salman Rushdie.

Ms Bhutto said Mohammad Ejaz ul-Haq had damaged Islam and Pakistan with his remarks in the Pakistan parliament.

Ms Bhutto said: The minister ... son of a previous military dictator who had patronised extremist groups, had done a great disservice both to the image of Islam and the standing of Pakistan by calling for the murder of foreign citizens.

 
Bounty offered for the head of Rushdie

From The Independent see full article

A group of Pakistani businessmen have offered a reward to anyone who beheads Salman Rushdie as worldwide protests against the author's knighthood increased.

The leader of the Islamabad Traders Association, Ajmal Baloch, offered a bounty of more than £82,000. During a rally in Islamabad's central Aabpara market, Baloch called on Islamic countries to boycott British goods and announced: We will give 10m rupees to anyone who beheads Rushdie.

Further protests against the knighthood broke out in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad as worshippers filed out of Friday prayers. The numbers attending the rallies were generally in their low hundreds and were led by the more radical of the country's numerous Islamist parties. More than 300 protesters rallied in Islamabad chanting "Damn Rushdie" and "Down with Britain".

A small protest was also held outside Regent's Park Mosque in London, largely by former members of the banned radical group al-Muhajiroun.

Update: Kuwait Chips In

28th June

The Kuwaiti National Assembly (NA) has expressed disappointment and discontent at Britain's award of knighthood to Salman Rushdie, the apostate author of the book Satanic Verses.

The NA said that it strongly condemns the decision to honour infidel writer Salman Rushdie by bestowing on him the title of Knight of the British Crown, describing the step as hurting Muslim feelings.

Kuwait government has also joined the Islamic Republic of Iran and Pakistan to summon the British ambassador in the country to protest the accolade given to the apostate author.

Getting wound up by religious images on pants

From India Muslims see full article
See also CafePress.com where one can get loads of images printed on most garments you can think of.

A Belgian garment company has apologized and withdrawn from circulation an undergarment with the picture of Lakshmi, the Hindu Goddess of wealth, following strong protests from the Indian community in Belgium.

The firm known as DOD based in Brussels in an email said we are very sorry for having offended you, but not being conscious of the origin of the picture, we didn't do it on purpose. Please accept our deepest apologies, we respect all religions and didn't mean any harm.

Earlier, Kapoor Chand Prem, President of Association of Trading in the Saint-Josse municipality of Brussels had lodged a strong protest with DOD. Prem told INEPNEXT that the garment was an insult to “our religion and culture” and called for its immediate withdrawal from circulation.

The question, however, remains open as to who and in which country was the 'disgusting' undergarment manufactured and whether it is on sale in other countries too.

Cardinal calls on boycott of Amnesty

From Pink News see full article

A senior Vatican cardinal said that Catholics should stop donating to human rights group Amnesty International because of its new policy advocating abortion rights for women if they had been raped, were a victim of incest or faced health risks.

Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, accused Amnesty of turning its back on its mission to defend human rights.

The inevitable consequence of this decision, according to the cardinal, will be the suspension of any financing to Amnesty on the part of Catholic organisations and also individual Catholics, said a statement from Cardinal Martino's office yesterday.

Amnesty changed its neutral stance on abortion in April, but its Italy chairman Paolo Pobbiati insisted its new position had been misinterpreted by the cardinal: This has nothing to do with legitimising abortion as part of a campaign for human rights, it is to do with combating violence against women. It was partly inspired by our experience in Africa where soldiers rape women in communities they attack to force them to have their children.

We also believe women who have had abortions should benefit from medical care regardless of the reason for the abortion.

Moreover we aim to promote education and contraception to reduce abortion rates.

Indonesian Sunday school attacked

From AlertNet see full article

Around 100 Muslim hardliners barged into a Christian reverend's house in Indonesia's Java island, beating his wife and a teenager during Sunday school, a teacher said.

The attackers, who were dressed in black and said they were part of the Alliance of Anti-Apostasy Movements, said the house was illegally being used as a place of worship.

Lidia, a Sunday school teacher in the small West Java town of Soreang, said the men smashed stained glass images of Jesus Christ and demanded the school be shut down.

The reverend's wife said three teachers and 15 children were in the class when the group forced its way in, shattering stained glass images and destroying a number of Bibles.

Under local laws, a house of worship for any religion requires 60 signatures from surrounding residents and should have a congregation of at least 90.

The head of the local office of the Indonesian Christian Church Association, Reverend Maladi Dani, said it is difficult to meet the requirements in remote places and areas with overwhelmingly Muslim populations.

Religious police under investigation

From The Peninsula see full article

Saudi Arabia's religious police said they would review procedures after coming under attack from human right activists and local media over the deaths of two detainees in under a month.

Five members of the morality police in the northern province of Tabuk were being questioned after 50-year-old Ahmed Al Bulawi died of a heart attack while in their custody.

They had arrested Bulawi, a driver, on suspicion of being caught in a state of "illegal seclusion" with a woman who turned out to be related to his employers, it said.

A week earlier, police opened an investigation into the death of Salman Al Huraisy, 28, while in the custody of religious police in the capital Riyadh. Relatives accused the squad of beating him and dragging from his home.

They told Al Watan newspaper that other members of the family who were also seized had seen Huraisy beaten to death in detention. The vice squad accused them of dealing with alcohol.

The Interior Ministry has rejected calls to disband the force, despite an increase in public criticism of its members, who wear distinctive long beards, loose headscarves and white robes that stop above the ankles in what they consider to be an imitation of early Muslims.

Saudi newspaper Okaz reported last week that a woman was severely hurt after she jumped off the fourth floor of a building in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah when religious police broke into her apartment, suspecting she was involved in indecent activities.

Saudi minister defends the religious police

From The Peninsula see full article

Saudi Arabia’s Interior Minister has defended the kingdom’s controversial “religious police” after the deaths of two Saudis in custody and accused media of exaggerating the case.

Prince Nayef called on journalists and people in the media not to be hasty and ‘not blow up’ mistakes by government bodies.

The Interior Ministry has rejected calls to disband the force.

Suspect beaten and died in custody of Saudi religious police

From AlertNet see full article

Saudi authorities said that a member of the conservative Islamic kingdom's religious police would be tried over the death in custody of a Saudi man.

Salman al-Huraisy, 28, died in Riyadh last month. His family say he was beaten to death by members of the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice for suspected alcohol consumption.

A 50-year-old man died of a heart attack while in the vice squad's custody in the desert town of Tabuk earlier this month, and the two cases have sparked a national debate about the behaviour of the force and whether it should be abolished.

A statement issued by the Riyadh governorate earlier this week used language that appeared to suggest the man facing trial over Huraisy's death was not a member of the religious police: We want to make clear to all that the statement did not say the person causing the death was from outside the Committee, he was just not one of the members assigned officially to this case.

One Saudi columnist wrote that the religious police enjoyed immunity of any kind of accountability and that they have have taken on the role of the policeman, judge and jury.

The Saudi government has sought to play down the significance of the incidents. It is a difficult balancing act for the rulers of Saudi Arabia. The royal family derives its legitimacy from presenting itself as the upholder of Islamic Sharia. It would not like to be seen as undermining the power of the religious police, neither can it afford to alienate an angry public.

The trial will be watched closely by supporters of the police as well as their critics.

Joy turned to horror in Syria

From Stop Honour Killings see full article

Sahar was just twenty-five when she was killed in the Northern Syrian city of Aleppo. Sahar's husband suffered from a condition which meant that he was unlikely to be able to father a child. However, he persevered with medical treatment, including a surgical intervention, Sahar fell pregnant.

This event should have been greeted with joy: however Sahar's family reacted with suspicion. Persuading Sahar's husband that the child was the result of an extra-marital liaison on her part, they summoned her before the court to answer the charges of 'illegal relations.'

Sahar was cleared of any charges after medical experts declared that Sahar's husband was fertile, and genetic testing confirmed the paternity of the fetus. The judge, perceiving that Sahar's family were not convinced by the scientific evidence ordered that the young woman be referred to an association in Aleppo responsible for the protection of women.

However, Sahar's elder brother visited her in this shelter, and convinced her that the family now believed in her innocence. He persuaded her to come and live with him, giving her a guarantee that he would not harm her. On the 24th of May, this same brother shot her three times in the chest.

Honour killing in Norway

From Stop Honour Killings see full article

An Iranian man charged with stabbing his wife to death outside a Norwegian crisis center in Drammen last autumn has pleaded not guilty.

The man also said in court that he was certain his wife had cheated on him, and he blamed her brother for being a bad influence on her. The brother, he claimed, had become "too European," and gave the dead woman "inappropriate advice."

The 39-year-old mother of three was stabbed more than 20 times outside the Betzy Crisis Center in Drammen last year. She'd been moved there from another crisis center in Bærum, just west of Oslo, for her own protection after she left her husband, but he tracked her down.

I asked her if she would come back home with me, her husband said: I told her the children weren't doing well without her. She said that she would come back.

He waited for her outside the center until she emerged with a girlfriend. He’s charged with stabbing her in broad daylight after he approached her. He claimed he didn't stab her more than 20 times. I don't think it was more than four or five times, he said in court.

Honour killing in Iran

From Stop Honour Killings see full article

Iran's Ham-Mihn newspaper reported the case of an Ahwazi woman who was buried alive by her father in April.

Villagers had accused her of having an extra-marital affair after she divorced her husband, prompting her father to kill her for the sake of family honour. He admitted killing his 22 year old daughter Nejat, but claimed she agreed to be buried alive and even helped to dig her own grave.

After Nejat's mother learnt of the killing, her husband threatened to bury her alive too if she reported the murder to the authorities.

Nejat's two year old daughter has since been taken to an orphanage in Ahwaz City,

 
Threats to slit the throats of Palestinian TV broadcasters

From the Washington Times see full article

An Islamic group threatened to behead female TV broadcasters if they don't wear strict Islamic dress, frightening reporters and signaling a further shift toward extremism in the Gaza Strip.

The threat to "cut throats from vein to vein" was delivered by Swords of Truth, a fanatical group that has previously claimed responsibility for bombing Internet cafes and music shops.

Most of the 15 female broadcasters on government-run Palestine TV wear head scarves. But they also wear makeup and Western clothing -- not considered strictly observant by extremists.

The Swords of Truth also accused the female broadcasters of being without any ... shame or morals.

Update: Protests

18th June

Several dozen Palestinian television journalists protested in Gaza after a shadowy Islamist group threatened to decapitate female journalists who did not dress according to a strict Islamic dress code.

The protestors assembled in front of the office of President Mahmoud Abbas to demand protection after the threat made by the Swords of Islamic Truth group.

We demand that the presidency take protection measures for the television employees, as we think that the threats are serious, Lina Shahine, one of the journalists, said.

 
Church nutters want game set in church banned

Based on an article from the BBC see full article

The Church of England is considering legal action against Sony for featuring Manchester Cathedral in a violent computer game.

Sony Playstation's Resistance: Fall of Man uses the interior of the cathedral's nave without permission.

The game, which has sold more than one million copies, shows a virtual shoot-out in the cathedral's nave in which hundreds of soldiers are killed.

A Sony spokesman said that permission had been sought where necessary. However, the Church said Sony did not ask for permission to use the cathedral and it has demanded an apology and the removal of the game from shop shelves - otherwise legal action will be considered.

The nutter Bishop of Manchester, the Rt Revd Nigel McCulloch, has described the decision to feature the city's cathedral as "highly irresponsible" - especially in the light of Manchester's history of gun crime: For a global manufacturer to re-create one of our great cathedrals with photo-realistic quality and then encourage people to have guns battles in the building is beyond belief and highly irresponsible.

The nutter Dean of Manchester Cathedral, The Very Revd Rogers Govender, also hit out at Sony's decision to feature the cathedral, claiming it was "undermining" the work of the church: We are shocked to see a place of learning, prayer and heritage being presented to the youth market as a location where guns can be fired.

Comment: Work of Fiction Just Like the Bible

From MichaelG

For the uninitiated, Resistance is a FPS (first person shooter) Set in a frightening, alternate 20th century reality (even more frightening than the reality of Blair`s Britain then?) the plot of the game involves the U.S. and Britain banding together in a last-ditch effort to save Europe and Asia from a horrific scourge. In mere decades, the Chimera - a species of unknown origin propagating a virus that converts other life forms into more Chimera - has overrun Russia and all of Europe.

Aaahhh, so it's a work of fiction then. Just like the Bible. And ...propagating a virus that converts other life forms into more (of their kind)...? Perhaps the game has more in common with religion than you might think.

Church gets arsey over game

Based on an article from the BBC see full article

Church of England officials will send a letter to Sony demanding an apology over the use of Manchester Cathedral as a backdrop for the Resistance: Fall of Man computer game.

They will ask the Sony to remove images of the building from the game, and to provide backing to anti-gun campaigns in the city.

The cathedral's David Marshall said Church leaders would meet on Monday to draft a letter and discuss what other action to take.

He said the letter would make four demands:

• An apology for using the cathedral
• Withdrawal of the game, or modification of the section of the game to remove the cathedral interior
• Sony to make a substantial donation from the games' profits allowing the cathedral's education department to target more effectively those aged 18 to 30
• Sony to support other groups in Manchester fighting against gun crime.

 
No legal case against Sony, but Blair pushes a moral case

From Ekklesia see full article

The Church of England is facing an "uphill battle" if it chooses to pursue legal action against Sony over its use of images of Manchester Cathedral in the game Resistance: Fall of Man, says a lawyer quoted in the latest issue of specialist magazine The Escapist.

According to Alex Chapman of Campbell Hooper Solicitors, there is a provision in the United Kingdom's 1988 Copyright Designs and Patents Act which states that representing certain artistic works that are on public display, including buildings and sculptures which are permanently situated in a public place or in premises open to the public, is not a copyright infringement.

Therefore, the inclusion of the Cathedral in the game could not be considered to be an infringement of any copyright on it, Chapman declared, adding that since copyright on a work expires 70 years after the death of its creator, it is also very unlikely that the Cathedral has any copyright remaining on it at all.

He explained to The Escapist's Andy Chalk: Pubic buildings are generally fair game for inclusion in videogames, films, etc., and it is something that their owners just have to accept.

From CVG see full article

Tony Blair has joined in on the row over the use of a building that resembles Manchester's Cathedral in PS3 shooter, Resistance: Fall of Man.

When asked for his opinion on the issue during yesterday's Prime Minister's Questions, Blair replied, I think it's important that any of the companies engaged in promoting these types of goods have some sense of responsibility and also some sensitivity to the feelings of others. This is an immensely difficult area, the relationship between what happens with these games and its impact on young people. I think it is important that people understand there is a wider social responsibility as well as an interior responsibility for profits.

Speaking in Tokyo, Sony Computer Entertainment spokeswoman Nanako Kato said that the church holds a resemblance in some parts to Manchester Cathedral but the point was to depict a backdrop of an old church, not to illustrate a specific church. She also added that Sony is taking the church's views seriously.

 
So will the church forgive them their sins?

From the BBC see full article

Sony has apologised to the Church of England for using Manchester cathedral as a backdrop to one of its computer game, Resistance: Fall of Man.

In a statement, Sony said the company sincerely apologised for causing any offence, but added it believed it had sought all necessary permissions.

The Dean of the Cathedral, the Very Reverend Rogers Govender, thanked Sony: We acknowledge the admission by Sony that the building in the game is Manchester Cathedral. We thank Sony for the