An Indian professor has approached the Delhi High Court seeking to ban the screening of recently released Black and White alleging that the movie portrays his community in a bad light.

Dr Khalid Alvi, head of Urdu Department in Zakir Hussain college, has contended in his petition that the Anil Kapoor starrer portrays his community in a bad light and its screening should be stayed.

The producer, director and the script writer have intentionally produced the film with an anti-Muslim angle, he said. He alleged the film shows his community as harbouring terrorists.

The film, produced and directed by Subhash Ghai, was released all over the country early this month.

The students and the staff of the college were stunned and shocked that the college was featured in the film and used to malign their community as anti-national and unpatriotic, the petition said.

An 11-year-old girl died from diabetes after her parents prayed for her recovery rather than calling for medical assistance.

Madeline Neumann died on Sunday in Wisconsin, from an undiagnosed but treatable ailment. The local police chief said she had been ill for a month, suffering symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, excessive thirst, loss of appetite and weakness: She just got sicker and sicker until she was dead.

Police are now preparing a report for prosecutors. However, legal action against the parents may be prevented by a Wisconsin state statute against failing to act to protect children from bodily harm. The statute contains an exemption for what it refers to as treatment through prayer. Mrs Neumann said they had never expected her daughter to die. She suffered from diabetic ketoacidosis, which left her with too little insulin.

She said her family believed in the Bible and that healing came from God. But she insisted that they were not crazy religious people and had nothing against doctors. She said their daughter had been tired over the past two weeks but the day before she died, her bad health went into a more serious situation. She explained: We stayed fast in prayer. We believed that she would recover. We saw signs that - to us - it looked like she was recovering.

However, Madeline's aunt said she pleaded with the dead girl's parents to take her to a doctor in the last few days of her life. As Madeline went into a coma, Ariel Gomez telephoned the emergency services from her home in California. But they were too late to save her. She told the ambulance control room that Mrs Neumann had explained to us that she believes her daughter's in a coma now and she's relying on faith.

The state law that allows healing through prayer became an issue in 2003 when a two-year-old autistic child in Milwaukee was crushed to death during an attempted exorcism. The "exorcist" was convicted on a far lesser charge than many people believed was appropriate. The local district attorney urged legislators to remove the exemption but they failed to act on his advice.

Hindutva (Hindu nationalist) extremists stormed two Easter Sunday services and beat at least 16 Christians, including two pastors, in the Karnataka state capital of Bangalore and in Shimoga district.

A mob of more than 150 Hindu intolerants launched the attack on a Pentecostal church and a group of more than a dozen assailants struck Christians of an independent church in Bangalore.

Accusing the church of “forced” conversions without any evidence for the charge, the attackers beat 35-year-old pastor Mandya Nagraj and five others, besides vandalizing church property.

Police arrested six of the attackers and provided protection to the pastor. The Pentecostal church, attended by around 60 Christians, has been functioning for six years with no evidence of attempting to convert people by force or fraud.

In the second attack, at least 12 extremists led by the Hindu priest of a local temple and his associate, identified only as Puttappa, attacked the Grace Almighty Full Gospel Church in Byapanahalli in Bangalore.

The assailants beat 30-year-old pastor P. Isaac and nine believers. Following the attack, the assailants went to the homes of a few believers and warned them against attending the church. They also took Pastor Isaac to the police station and sought to register a complaint against him for “forced” conversions. Police interrogated the pastor and subsequently released him.

Fitna debuted on Thursday at Web site LiveLeak.com, only to be taken down a day later following threats to LiveLeak's staff.

LiveLeak on Friday afternoon issued a statement explaining its decision: Following threats to our staff of a very serious nature, and some ill-informed reports from certain corners of the British media that could directly lead to the harm of some of our staff, LiveLeak.com has been left with no other choice but to remove Fitna from our servers.

This is a sad day for freedom of speech on the net but we have to place the safety and well being of our staff above all else. We would like to thank the thousands of people, from all backgrounds and religions, who gave us their support. They realized LiveLeak.com is a vehicle for many opinions and not just for the support of one.

Perhaps there is still hope that this situation may produce a discussion that could benefit and educate all of us as to how we can accept one another's culture. We stood for what we believe in, the ability to be heard, but in the end the price was too high.

During the day that the film was available, it prompted widespread condemnation. On Friday, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon decried Fitna as hate speech: I condemn, in the strongest terms, the airing of Geert Wilders' offensively anti-Islamic film. There is no justification for hate speech or incitement to violence. The right of free expression is not at stake here. I acknowledge the efforts of the Government of the Netherlands to stop the broadcast of this film, and appeal for calm to those understandably offended by it. Freedom must always be accompanied by social responsibility.

The Organization of The Islamic Conference also denounced the film as blasphemy. OIC Secretary General Prof Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said, The film is a deliberate act of discrimination against Muslims, incitement for hatred and an act defamation of religions which is solely intended to incite and provoke unrest and intolerance among people of different religious beliefs and to jeopardize world peace and stability.

In the day that Fitna played, it was viewed over 420,000 times. More than 280 comments were posted on LiveLeak.com. And many chose to reply through countervideos, which are still online.

The film may also generate a lawsuit. The BBC reports that Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, known for his cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed wearing a bomb-shaped turban, plans to sue Wilders for using his cartoon in the film without permission.

See full article from Reuters

Reuters summarised some of the reaction around the world which has so far being constrained to verbals.

Iran called the film heinous, blasphemous and anti-Islamic, and Indonesia, said it was an insult to Islam, hidden under the cover of freedom of expression.

The Saudi Arabian embassy in The Hague said the film was provocative and full of errors and incorrect allegations that could lead to hate towards Muslims.

Dutch Muslim leaders appealed for calm and called on Muslims worldwide not to target Dutch interests. Our call to Muslims abroad is follow our strategy and don't frustrate it with any violent incidents, Mohammed Rabbae, a Dutch Moroccan community leader, told journalists in an Amsterdam mosque.

Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said he was proud of how Dutch Muslim organisations responded to the film but that it was too early to draw conclusions about the international consequences: There are reasons for continued alertness.

See full article from the BBC

The EU's Slovenian presidency said the film served no purpose other than "inflaming hatred".

In Pakistan there were small protests in several places on Friday against the film, while the government summoned the Dutch ambassador in Islamabad to lodge a protest. Pakistan said it told the Dutch ambassador that it was incumbent on the Netherlands to prosecute  Wilders for defamation and deliberately hurting Muslim sentiments.

The foreign ministry in Bangladesh issued a statement calling the film "unwarranted" and "mindless".

See full article from Yahoo News

A coalition of Jordanian media said they would take Wilders to court over the film and launch a campaign to boycott Dutch products. They urged Arab leaders to review ties with Denmark and the Netherlands.

British Foreign Minister David Miliband stressed the importance of freedom of speech but said it should be combined with respect for religious and racial diversity.

Europe's top human rights authority, the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe, called the film a distasteful manipulation which exploits ignorance, prejudice and fear. It is simply political propaganda and it plays into the hands of extremists who are given such a prominent role in his film," the council's secretary general, Terry Davis said.

A German Muslim group said that protests were likely against the first ever staging of a dramatized version of Salman Rushdie's controversial book The Satanic Verses in Potsdam near Berlin on Sunday.

Nurhan Soykan, spokeswoman for the central council of Muslims in Germany, told Reuters Muslims believed in a free press and freedom of opinion....BUT... even this has its boundaries. We're worried that provocations and insults against us have increased recently. I wouldn't want to ban (the play)....BUT...you can bet on protests from Muslim people. They can't be expected to put up with everything.

German police said they had been consulting with the Potsdam theatre and a large number of officers would be on patrol for the premiere on Sunday. We'll be monitoring the situation, police spokesman Rudi Sonntag said. Although we haven't had any indications of dangers or disturbances, we can't rule out the possibility that demonstrations will be going on.

The top UN rights body has passed a resolution proposed by Islamic countries saying it is deeply concerned about the defamation of religions and urging governments to prohibit it.

The European Union said the text was one-sided because it primarily focused on Islam.

The UN Human Rights Council, which is dominated by Arab and other Muslim countries, adopted the resolution on a 21-10 vote over the opposition of Europe and Canada. 14 countries abstained in the vote.

EU countries, including France, Germany and Britain, voted against. Previously EU diplomats had said they wanted to stop the growing worldwide trend of using religious anti-defamation laws to limit free speech.

The document, which was put forward by the Organization of the Islamic Conference, expresses deep concern at attempts to identify Islam with terrorism, violence and human rights violations.

Although the text refers frequently to protecting all religions, the only religion specified as being attacked is Islam, to which eight paragraphs refer.

The resolution notes with deep concern the intensification of the campaign of defamation of religions and the ethnic and religious profiling of Muslim minorities in the aftermath of the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001.

The EU said, International human rights law protects primarily individuals in their exercise of their freedom of religion or belief, not religions or beliefs as such.

The resolution urges states to take actions to prohibit the dissemination ... of racist and xenophobic ideas and material that would incite to religious hatred. It also urges states to adopt laws that would protect against hatred and discrimination stemming from religious defamation.

Algeria has ordered 13 Protestant churches to shut down since November, the head of Algeria’s Protestant church group said.

Churches were told to close their doors until they are issued a permit that allows non-Muslim groups to hold organized worship.

Algeria passed a law in February 2006 that required non-Muslim congregations to obtain a permit from their regional prefecture to hold worship gatherings. It also banned the production of media intended to shake the faith of a Muslim, according to Compass Direct News.

After the law’s passage, however, there had not been any enforcement and no Christian churches have been closed until recently.

Thirteen chapels have been closed on the orders of local officials, said Pastor Mustapha Krim, who is president of the Protestant Church of Algeria (EPA). No official reason has been given for the government order, but the decision might be linked to recent tension over allegations that Christians were trying to convert Muslims.

Earlier this month, the former chairman of the Protestant group, American pastor Hugh Johnson, was expelled from the country over links to evangelization campaigns, according to some religious freedom groups. In addition to Johnson’s expulsion, three Algerian Christians were convicted of “insulting Islam” on Feb. 5 and unofficially told they would be sentenced to three years in prison and fined.

A far-right Dutch MP released a provocative film about the Koran on a British website last night, a move that is likely to provoke violent repercussions from angry Muslims around the world.

The 15-minute “documentary” juxtaposing images of Islam’s holy book with the 9/11 terror attacks and other bombings was posted on the internet by Geert Wilders, leader of the small right-wing Freedom Party, after weeks of heated debate in the Netherlands about the project.

Wilders who has built his political career campaigning against the alleged “Islamisation” of the West, argued that the film was a legitimate exercise in freedom of expression; however, many mainstream politicians and Muslims said that it was gratuitously insulting.

Viewers had only a few minutes to see it on the Freedom Party website before it disappeared because of “technical difficulties”. It then became available in Dutch and English on LiveLeak, a British-based video-sharing website, sparking fears that extremists could also target British interests.

The company that runs the website defended its decision to host the film last night, saying that there was no legal reason to censor it. LiveLeak.com has a strict stance on remaining unbiased and allowing freedom of speech so far as the law and our rules allow, it said. There was no legal reason to refuse Geert Wilders the right to post his film and it is not our place to censor people based on an emotive response. The website said that it did not endorse Mr Wilders or his views.

The film opened with a Koran being opened and the text of a sura (a verse from the Koran) which it translated from Arabic as imploring the faithful to “terrorise the enemies of Allah”. It was followed by images of aircraft flying into the World Trade Centre in New York on September 11, 2001, with extracts from phone calls to the emergency services on that day.

It showed statistics of the growing Muslim population and images of female genital mutilation, a hanging of suspected gay men, beheadings and bloodied children, all following the words: “The Netherlands in future?”

The film ended with someone leafing through the Koran, and a tearing sound. The sound you heard was from a page [being torn out] of the phone book. It is not up to me, but up to the Muslims themselves to tear the spiteful verses from the Koran, a text on the screen said. Stop Islamisation. Defend our freedom, the film concluded.

The final image was a reproduction of the incendiary Danish cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad with a bomb as a turban. The fuse coming from the bomb was lit and as the screen turned black there was the sound of thunder.

See full article from the Guardian

The 15-minute film, entitled Fitna - strife or division - was posted on the internet, and shortly afterwards segments were rebroadcast by TV channels.

Early reactions were muted. Yusuf Altuntas, of the Contact Group Muslims and Government, said he believed that Wilders is seeking the limits, but not crossing the line. For Mr Wilders, this is quite subtle.

The film was not as jarring as had been anticipated, said Maurits Berger, professor of Islam in the West at Leiden University. It's images and photos, headlines from recent years we already know about.

It was released the evening before a judge was due to hear a Muslim group seeking an independent review to decide whether the film violates hate speech laws. The Dutch Islamic Federation was asking the court to impose a fine of €50,000 (£39,000) every day the film continues to be available for public view.

Mohamed Rabbae, of the moderate National Moroccan Council, had appealed for calm in January when the film was discussed before release. Yesterday he had yet to see the film, but felt this is less bad than we thought he was going to do, but nevertheless it gave the impression the Qur'an justifies violence, and that is really wrong.

Canada is often thought of as a land of bland consensus and multicultural harmony - the last place where you would expect to see a religious minority up in arms, and journalists accusing the state of gagging freedom of speech.

Yet in recent months, these have become fixtures of the country's public debate.

...Read full article

On the evening of Thursday 6th of March in Dudley Hill, Bradford, a Madrassah was attacked.

20 white youths wearing hoodies rushed the madrassah armed with hammers, axes and baseball bats. They attacked everyone in the madrassah. There were young kids in there aged between 9 and 19 who were also attacked and beaten by these thugs. And the teachers were also given a kicking. Most of the students from the madrassah have been hospitalised. It was just sheer luck that no one was killed.

When the police were called they took 30 min to respond when the police station is only 5 min walk away from the madrassah.

There has also been a media blackout regarding this incident. Even the local paper 'The Telegraph and Argus' have not covered this story. The community leaders and local councilors have asked the police about the secrecy of this incident and why haven't they appealed for witnesses via local media.

The police have said that it is important that this incident is kept low key because of Bradford's history this can cause a riot much larger than the one we saw in the summer of 2001. So for the sake of peace and harmony this is kept low key. The police have also assured the community leaders that they will not leave any stone unturned in finding the culprits and bringing them to justice.

See full article from Telegraph and Argus

Police are continuing to investigate a disturbance in Bradford, described as a racially-motivated incident, in which ten people were hurt. The trouble broke out in Harry Street, Cutler Heights, Bradford, at 7pm on Friday, March 7. The disturbance involved about 30 youths in their mid to late teens, some of whom were carrying sticks.

Police made six arrests and all have been released on bail pending further inquiries. Investigations are continuing to trace other witnesses and suspects.

A police spokesman said people from both rival groups had been hurt. She said the disturbance involved people from different races and was being treated as racially motivated.

The police were unable to say whether the incident had been sparked by an attack on a Madrassa, a school for Muslim children.

Egyptian authorities raided a Christian bookstore in Cairo March 15 and arrested Shenouda Armia Bakhait, a bookstore employee. He was interrogated for several hours and then released on bail. Police also seized the Nile Christian Book Shop store records. Why the raid?

Nettleton says human rights advocate groups suspect it was because an Egyptian Christian, Mohammed Hegazy, had visited the store the previous day.

Hegazy was the first convert to petition the religious court to officially change his religion following his conversion to Christianity. It's against Islamic law for a Muslim to leave the faith, and so they denied his request to change his ID. He apparently had been to this Christian bookstore just the day before. It's unclear if the police were following him and that's how they came on the store, or if they were watching the store anyway and just picked this particular day to raid.

Earlier this year I expressed my indignation over the suggestion that the famous Pussy Parlure Spiegeltent, due to be set up shortly as part of this year’s Brighton Festival, might have to shorten its name to placate St Peter’s Church leaders.

All hell broke loose in February when the parish council got arsy over plans to locate the delightful, burlesque-styled Pussy Parlour on council-owned grounds adjoining this useless old church, and for a while it looked as if the venue would have to locate elsewhere.

In a placatory move, the Pussy Parlour’s owner said he was prepared to drop the word “Pussy”, even though it referred to cats (cats being its motif, as you can see from its website.)

It appears that this grovelling gesture has worked. When I picked up a copy of the Brighton festival guide today, I found that “Pussy” had been expunged, and all acts will now take place in the “Parlure”.

This is outrageous! Yielding to pressure from a church is bad enough, but capitulating to one typified by its profusions of phallic projections and named after a Peter – a popular slang term for penis – is intolerable.

Boy, what’s your name? My name is Babu   It is customary to put Mohammed in front of the name   What is your father’s name? Mohammed Abu.   What is that on your lap? Mohammed cat.

A jail official says a cartoonist who was detained on charges of insulting Islam has been released.

Maj. Shamsul Haider Siddiqui, a deputy inspector general of prisons, says a court ordered Mohammed Arifur Rahman's release because the police official bringing charges against him repeatedly failed to appear in court.

Rahman is a former cartoonist for the Bengali-language daily Prothom Alo.Bangladeshi.

The inoffensive cartoonist made a splash with the cartoon shown. Soon after the easily offended kicked up a fuss as reported:

Baton-wielding police broke up a protest by hundreds of Islamists in the Bangladeshi capital against a magazine which published a cartoon they said hurt Muslims’ religious feelings.

Police waded in to halt a march by about 500 demonstrators chanting “death to the editor” and “hang the cartoonist” near Dhaka’s national mosque.

Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen has left India for Sweden after being hounded into hiding by death threats from militants, her publisher and friends told AFP.

Taslima Nasreen flew out of New Delhi this afternoon to Europe for medical treatment, her publisher Sibani Mukherjee told AFP.

She had been seeking permanent residence in India, where she moved after spending time in Europe and the United States, but New Delhi has been fearful of a Muslim backlash. The writer was forced to flee the eastern city of Kolkata, which she adopted as her home in 2004, in November after receiving death threats from Indian Muslims, and has since been living in hiding in the capital New Delhi

Update: Return

25th May 2008

Taslima Nasreen has said that her health has improved and that she intends to return to India in August

Update: Swedish Safe Haven

25th May 2008

Taslima Nasreen has been granted a two-year safe haven in the Swedish town of Uppsala,

She had been seeking permanent residence in India, but New Delhi had stalled the request.

Update: Returning to India

12th August 2008

Taslima Nasreen, on the run from death threats from Islamic militants, has returned to India to renew her visa, a rights activist said Saturday.

Sujato Bhadra, a human rights activist close to the writer said: She has come from Sweden after she got the assurance from the Indian authorities that her visa would be extended. She will apply for the visa in a few days.

Human beings have never lacked for things to fight over, but for the last two millennia, they have fought the most over ideas involving the divine. Politics, technology, military capacity, and diseases have all played decisive roles in shaping history, yet it is impossible to understand the rise and fall of empires, the clash of civilizations, and the evolving balance of power without appreciating the unique fervor that religion inspires, and the speed with which new religions can spread.

...Read the full article

The website where Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders was promoting his not-yet-released anti-Qur'an film has been suspended by its US hosting service.

The site formerly showed the film's title, Fitna, the trail line "coming soon" and an image of a gilded Qur'an. Now it shows a note that the company, Network Solutions, is investigating whether the site violates its terms of service.

Network Solutions has received a number of complaints regarding this site that are under investigation, the note said.

How many ways are there left for me to be worked against? Wilders was quoted as saying: If necessary I'll go hand out DVDs personally.

A Dutch court will hear a complaint lodged by Muslim groups seeking to bar Wilders from releasing the film on March 28, but there is no legal barrier preventing Wilders releasing his film before then.

Copies of The Profit, a 2001 film blocked from distribution in the United States due to a court injunction won by the Church of Scientology, appeared on the Internet Friday on peer-to-peer file-sharing websites and on the video sharing site YouTube.

Directed by former film executive Peter N. Alexander, movie critics have characterized The Profit as a parody of Scientology and of its founder L. Ron Hubbard. Alexander was a Scientologist for twenty years, and left the organization in 1997. The film was funded by Bob Minton, a former critic of Scientology who later signed an agreement with the Church of Scientology and has attempted to stop distribution of the film.

The film was released in August 2001, and was shown at a movie theater in Clearwater, Florida and at a premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in France. A Scientology spokesman gave a statement at the time saying the movie is fiction and has nothing to do with Scientology. The Church of Scientology later took legal action in an attempt to stop further distribution of the film. The Church of Scientology claimed that the film was intended to influence the jury pool in the wrongful death case of Scientologist Lisa McPherson, who died under Scientology care in Clearwater, Florida.

In April 2002, a Pinellas County, Florida judge issued a court order enjoining The Profit from worldwide distribution for an indefinite period. According to the original court injunction received by Wikinews, the movie was originally banned because the court found that it could be seen as a parody of Scientology and so influence potential jurors.

Luke Lirot, the attorney for the film's production company, announced on the film's website on April 7, 2007 that We have absolutely no exposure for any repercussions from the court order, but that the film was still blocked from distribution due to an ongoing legal battle. Lirot wrote: all that's stopping the release of the movie is the legal battle with the partner who was compromised by Scientology (Robert Minton) and is currently using his power as partner to stop the release of the film.

On Friday, copies of the film began to circulate on peer-to-peer file-sharing websites and on YouTube. 

On Saturday, Scientology critic and Emmy award-winning journalist Mark Bunker put a streaming version of the film on his website, www.xenutv.com, and encouraged others to watch and discuss the film on a real-time chat channel.

In a post on Sunday to the message board attached to the official website for the film, attorney Luke Lirot asked that individuals stop distributing copies of The Profit over the Internet. Lirot wrote: It has been brought to my attention that several unauthorized transmissions and downloads of this protected work have taken place over the last 72 hours. Such actions are copyright violations and are unlawful. I request that any further distribution and/or dissemination of this important work cease immediately and any copies of the work that have been downloaded please be deleted. He said that unauthorized distribution of the film will only serve to harm the goal of vast distribution.

The OIC representing the world's muslim countries have been passing resolutions urging UN countries to pass laws to prohibit the supposed defamation of religion.

However the Saudi Arabian parliament last week rejected a recommendation to adopt the international agreement that forbids insulting religions, prophets and clerics.

Seventy-seven members of parliament rejected the recommendation, claiming that if they adopted the agreement, they would have had to recognize the legitimacy of idolatrous religions, such as Buddhism.

The recommendation was put forward by MP Muhammad Al-Quweiha's. He wrote that the Saudi Foreign Ministry should cooperate with the Arab and Islamic bloc in the United Nations to adopt the agreement.

Al-Quweiha explained that his incentive was to prevent the ongoing campaign of insulting Islam and Prophet Muhammad, in particular the cartoons and films which are shown in the US and Holland.

Hindu leaders in the US have asked for a sneak preview of The Love Guru because they fear it may mock their religion.

In the film, Mike Meyers stars as an American who is raised in India. He eventually moves back to the US to seek fame and fortune in the world of self-help and spirituality.

Paramount has agreed to a pre-release showing for the religious group. A publicist said: It is our full intention to screen the film for Hindu leaders in the US once we have a finished print.

Lila D Sharma, President of India Heritage Panel, said: Hollywood is trying to make money by laughing at our holy men and in the process creating a stereotype.

Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir has returned to his hardline rhetoric with a call for followers to beat up Western tourists to Indonesia and for young Muslims to die as martyrs.

In the sermon, organised by an Islamic youth organisation, Bashir likened tourists in Bali to "worms, snakes, maggots", and specifically referred to the immorality of Australian infidels.

The address was caught on video by an Australian university student.

The youth movement here must aspire to a martyrdom death," said the cleric: The young must be first at the front line - don't hide at the back. You must be at the front, die as martyrs and all your sins will be forgiven. This is how to achieve forgiveness.

Observers said the sermon's content was a clear indication of what many terrorism academics have noted - that the accused spiritual head of Jemaah Islamiah has been emboldened by his release from prison last year after serving 26 months for conspiracy in relation to the Bali blasts.

Bashir likened non-Muslims to crawling animals. Worms, snakes, maggots - those are animals that crawl. Take a look at Bali ... those infidel tourists. They are naked.

He called for signs to be erected across Indonesia warning tourists they were entering a Muslim area, and directing they cover up appropriately. But in east Java, he urged the Islamist youth to "beat up" foreigners. God willing, there are none here, Bashir said: If there were infidels here, just beat them up. Do not tolerate them.

An Iranian woman under threat of being stoned to death for adultery has been freed, her lawyer has said.

Mokarrameh Ebrahimi was released from prison in Qazvin province on the orders of Iran's judiciary's amnesty commission, said her lawyer Shadi Sadr.

Ms Ebrahimi's partner, Jafar Kiani, was stoned to death in July 2007, causing an international outcry.

The reasons for Ms Ebrahimi's release are unclear, but Ms Sadr said rights campaigns had certainly played a part.

Human and women's rights groups in Iran and abroad had lobbied to prevent Ms Ebrahimi sharing the same fate as her partner.

She was freed after a total of 11 years in custody. Ms Ebrahimi was reportedly freed along with the son she had by Kiani, and is said to have returned with him to her family in northern Iran.

Amnesty International says a total of 12 people - mainly women - are currently at risk of being stoned to death in Iran.

Author of Hajarat Muhammad (Prophet Muhammad and His Monotheism) Rabindra Prasad Panda was arrested and sent to jail today on the charges of hurting the religious sentiments of the minority community.

The author, in his book, portrayed the photo of prophet Mohammed carrying a sword on the cover page of his book.

The police said the author was charged under Section 295(A) of Indian Penal Code.

The court remanded him to Choudwar jail after rejecting his bail application.

According to police sources, the arrest was made after Muslim community members lodged an report with the Lalbag police station against Panda and also the publisher of the book on March 9. The publisher of the book is yet to be arrested.

Over 2000 nutters, including the religious heads of the community of Kendrapara township area congregated for Friday prayers in the mosques and later they took out a rally procession in the township area demanding of arrest the author and publisher of the book.

According to Maulana Ainul Haq, the Imam of Minar mosque, the author and the proprietor of Vidyapuri Publication Pitambar Mishra had deliberately tried to hurt the religious sentiments of the minority community members by printing an imaginary photo of the Prophet.

At least 1,000 people have taken part in a demonstration in Amsterdam against the planned release of a film expected to be highly critical of Islam.

Protesters objected to the planned internet release of the film by Dutch right-wing politician Geert Wilders.

Some protesters in central Amsterdam carried signs that said Stop the witch hunt against Muslims.

We can no longer remain silent. There is a climate of hate and fear in the Netherlands, said Rene Danen, a spokesman from anti-racism organisation Nederland Bekent Kleur (The Netherlands Shows its Colours), which organised the protest.

In an effort to prolong the trial of two Turkish converts to Christianity accused of denigrating Islam and Turkishness, three gendarme soldiers were summoned to testify before the Silivri Criminal Court in northwestern Turkey as witnesses for the prosecution – which has yet to provide any evidence for its case.

Turan Topal and Hakan Tastan, who were searched, detained and then charged in October 2006 under Turkey’s controversial Article 301 restricting freedom of speech, have been on trial for 18 months.

The state prosecutor had called for the Christians’ acquittal last July, noting that the youthful plaintiffs in the case had given contradictory testimonies and no credible evidence had been produced to prove the charges. But the new judge assigned to the case in November accepted prosecution lawyer demands to call another dozen witnesses to testify.

The three soldiers from the Silivri Gendarme Headquarters testified separately to their involvement in searching the defendants’ homes and office on October 11, 2006, when they said they found a large number of Bibles and Christian documents, as well as several computers.

One of the soldiers said that at the time of their court-ordered investigation, military intelligence officers had shown them an organizational chart, listing names of alleged leaders of the detained Christians’ group, which is accused of conducting illegal religious activities.

Although the Christians’ trial in Silivri is officially held in “open” court, the current judge has refused to admit any Turkish or international press to observe the last two hearings.

301 Changes ‘Shelved Indefinitely’

A senior member of the European Parliament declared last month that the European Union was losing patience with Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) over its failure to change the restrictive Article 301.

“We’re preparing a report for the European Parliament which will be voted on in April,” Joost Lagendijk told the BBC on February 11. If nothing has moved by then on freedom of expression, the report will be negative.

Turkey’s prime minister, justice minister and president have declared repeatedly over the past two years that amending the law was both needful and “high on their agenda.” But last week AKP deputy Nihat Ergun admitted that although a revised draft of Article 301 was completed, it had been shelved indefinitely.

Reportedly this reflects accommodations to the opposition Nationalist Movement Party, which supported the AKP’s recent constitutional amendment to allow headscarves on university campuses but opposes making any changes to Article 301.

Far-right lawmaker Geert Wilders plans to release Fitna, a film attacking Islam and the Koran.

The Netherlands Islamic Federation (Nederlandse Islamitische Federatie) asked a court in The Hague to set up a panel of censors to review the film, in order to discover if there is any reason for it to be banned.

The Dutch Government, while calling on Wilders to abandon his project, has previously said there is no legal way to censor a film before it appears.

The court will rule on the association's request by March 28. Wilders has said that he will release the film "before April 1", posting it on the Internet if he fails to find a broadcaster willing to carry it.

Bookmakers were criticised by religious nutters as thousands opened on Good Friday for the first time.

They won the right to open every day except Christmas in the Gambling Act 2005, which came into force last year. But critics said it was an attack on the sanctity of Easter.

At least 4,000 betting shops opened, including almost all Ladbrokes and Corals, and 200 William Hill branches.

Although there was no horse racing Friday, punters were able to bet on sports such as foreign horse racing and British greyhounds.

But the Church of England urged bookmakers to donate some of their profits to anti-gambling charities. It said: We would encourage operators to keep their shops closed on Good Friday. But those who insist on opening will, we hope, donate a decent portion of their profits towards education, research and treatment aimed at checking the growth in problem gambling.

The Methodist Church said people should think about the religious significance of Good Friday than bet.

Ladbrokes said the change in the law merely brought betting shops into line with other retailers who already open on Good Friday. Spokesman Ciaran O'Brien said: You can bet online any day of the week, any time of the day. That's another reason why the shops should be able to compete. I wouldn't want to moralise about how people spend their leisure time.

Police ordered two Algerian churches to cease activity last week, the latest in a series of 10 church closures and further court cases against foreign and local Christians.

In Tizi Ousou security police on March 9 notified pastor Salah Chalah to close his 1,200-member Full Gospel Church. Police issued notice to a second pastor, Mustapha Krireche, to close down his church in Tizi Ouzou’s Nouvelle Ville district.

They are trying to establish a minority, which might give foreign powers a pretext to intervene with Algeria’s domestic affairs, Religious Affairs Minister Bu ‘Abdallah Ghoulamullah told reporters.

Ghoulamullah reportedly said that the churches and their pastors would be investigated to see if they had broken the law, according to The Media Line, a non-profit news service.

Written police orders called on both churches to cease all activity until [their] situation could be regularized and brought into conformity with a 2006 religion law governing non-Muslim worship.

Passed two years ago, the law forbids attempts to convert Muslims to other religions and bans the production of media intended to “shake the faith of a Muslim.” As all Algerian Christians are converts from Islam, the new law could be interpreted to make nearly all Christian churches in the country illegal.

Osama bin Laden warned in a new audiotape of a "severe" reaction for Europeans' publication of cartoons of Islam's Prophet Muhammad in what experts saw as a direct threat of a new attack in Europe.

The message, posted on a militant Web site that has carried al-Qaida statements in the past and bore the logo of the extremist group's media wing al-Sahab, showed a still image of bin Laden aiming with an assault rifle.

The response will be what you see and not what you hear and let our mothers bereave us if we do not make victorious our messenger of God, said a voice believed to be bin Laden's, without specifying what action would be taken.

Ben Venzke, the head of IntelCenter, a U.S. group that monitors militant messages, called Wednesday's video a clear threat against EU member countries and an indicator of a possible upcoming significant attack.

In the message, bin Laden described the cartoons as taking place in the framework of a new Crusade against Islam, in which he said the pope has played a large and lengthy role.

The Saudi religious police stormed a food court at a shopping mall, and told families to leave because there were no partitions to separate families from one another.

According to the Al-Hayat newspaper, members of the Commission for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice stormed the dining area at the Granada Shopping Center, causing panic among people eating there.

They made no distinction between men, women, or children. They started pulling chairs out from under everyone, one eyewitness told the paper on condition of anonymity. I don't know why they acted like that. There was nothing unusual happening in the place.

While some families left hurriedly, others chose to defy the religious police and ate the rest of their food on the floor, Al-Hayat reported.

The mall manager at the time of the incident, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, called what happened a barbarian assault on the families.

According to the manager, a partition – in the form of screens, curtains or small separate rooms – is used when a woman and her children are dining without a male guardian, but families accompanied by the male head of the family sit at regular tables.

He added that partitions are usually the cause of any problems in restaurants since no one knows what happens behind them: Open areas are more decent.

The Commission's district representative Mansour al-Otaibi said officers did the right thing: Riyadh Province Prince Salman bin Abdul-Aziz instructed the Commission to stop the mixing of the sexes in markets and malls, but people in charge of the mall ignored the instructions and kept procrastinating.

Otaibi said the instructions were clear – each family must be in a partitioned area, and separate families cannot sit together in the open.

New guidance published today by the General Medical Council suggests that doctors do need to be told where their priorities lie when personal beliefs clash with medical procedures. You must make the care of your patient your first concern, the GMC tells the 128,000 doctors practising in the UK. We expect [doctors] to set aside their personal beliefs where this is necessary, it continues.

Doctor knows best, usually. But the GMC says doctors must ensure they retain patients’ confidence by sharing their scientific and medical expertise, not their personal codes of morality. Doctors must not discriminate against patients by allowing their personal views to get in the way of a professional relationship or treatment recommendations.

Doctors should advertise their unwillingness to become involved in procedures they dislike, but they must not preach to patients in ways that exploit patients’ vulnerability or cause distress. Doctors cannot obstruct a woman seeking advice about the termination of a pregnancy. They must assist a family wanting a male circumcision and ensure that a cremation, if desired, can take place. Doctors must ask a patient about the wearing of a veil, and remove a garment that obscures the face if asked. Doctors must respect the views of a Jehovah’s Witness who does not want a blood transfusion.

Doctors may recuse themselves where they feel their own moral, religious or cultural beliefs demand such action. But they cannot allow this privilege to hinder the patient’s pursuit of care. A Roman Catholic doctor can refuse to become directly involved in abortions, but must see that a woman is referred to a doctor who is willing to help. Serious or persistent failure to follow the guidance could result in a doctor being struck off.

The new code acknowledges that personal beliefs and values, as well as cultural and religious practices, are central to the lives of doctors as well as patients. At the same time, the code does not give patients carte blanche permission to demand anything and everything. Serious crimes – such as female circumcision, an abhorrence better described as female genital mutilation – remain beyond the pale.

It is to be sincerely hoped that the new rules cause no more than a vanishingly small minority of doctors to conclude that they are obliged to stop practising on grounds of conscientious objection. But the principles outlined by the GMC cannot be compromised.

There is no room for a pulpit in the surgery.

Israel's Haifa District Court has sentenced two brothers to life in prison for murdering their sister in what was termed an "honor killing."

The two brothers, Anwar Salameh and Hassan Salameh were convicted of conspiring to commit a crime, kidnapping with intent to murder, and premeditated murder.

The murder occurred in December 2005, when the victim was 21. The two defendants conspired to kill their sister after they discovered she had a secret romantic relationship, defying them. They viewed their sister's behavior as harming the family's honor and consequently planned to convince her to join them on a trip somewhere and then kill her.

The two arrived at their parent's home in a car belonging to the older brother and convinced their sister to join them to go to her lover to work out their relationship. The sister was convinced and joined her brothers on the trip. However, during the ride, the defendants veered from the route into the woods. The two brothers locked the doors of the vehicle and closed the windows to prevent their sister's escape. Then they proceeded to strangle her with their hands.

Anwar Salameh said to the judges that the penalty is a little severe for us; we received a very serious punishment. I ask you to take into consideration our situation ? my family is bereaved. Their defense attorney to prevent the publication of the story in the media.

The judges ruled that they could see no reason to deviate from the norm and permitted the publication of the trial's details.

The Thai Information and Communications Technology Ministry is to ‘hack and crack' foreign websites deemed offensive to Thailand's revered institutions.

A March 15 report in Krungthep Turakij newspaper (www.bangkokbiznews.com) quoted a source at the ICT that the ministry could pursue legal proceedings only with websites registered in Thailand, and is now planning a ‘hack and crack' programme to hack offensive websites hosted abroad and delete their contents, because the legal process would take too long.

This approach may be somewhat illegal, but sometimes it might be worth it, if [the websites] are really unacceptable, the source said.

One website registered abroad has been found to advertise merchandise including calendars, dolls, bags, hats, glasses, watches, trousers and underwear, all with a logo of the Buddha meditating on a lotus, with the face of a dog. It was reported to have upset some Buddhists.

The Technology Centre has found that the website has its server in California, USA, and the centre has twice asked the ICT Ministry in writing to shut down the website, but it is still online. The centre has also asked the Foreign Ministry's Information Department to address the problem through diplomatic means.

If within one month the problem is still not solved, I will ask for cooperation from ‘internet cop' Pol Col Yanapol Yangyuen, Commander of Office of Technology and Information Cases under the Department of Special Investigation, to shut it down, said Booncherd. He added that his centre has cooperated with relevant agencies in shutting down 5 similar websites which made commercial use of Buddhist symbols.

Eight Muslims wielding razor-sharp machetes and knives broke into two village churches in southern Ethiopia earlier this month and began wounding worshipers, instantly killing one Christian.

Tulu Mosisa of Kale Hiwot church died after a machete blow nearly beheaded him, according to an eyewitness. Another two members of the Kale Hiwot and Birhane Wongel Baptist churches in the remote village of Nensebo Chebi both lost a hand each in the March 2 attacks, and a 5-year-old boy is still hospitalized after his arm was slashed to the bone.

A total of 23 Christians from the two congregations were injured before local militia officers drove off the attackers, who launched what one observer called “a seemingly well-planned,” simultaneous assault midway through Sunday worship services.

In a first for post-Taleban Afghanistan, a woman has made it to the final three in the country's version of Pop Idol.

Lima Sahar is up against two male contestants for a place in the final sing-off on Afghan Star, which has become one of the nation's most popular television shows.

Conservatives decry the fact that a woman has found success singing on TV, while others – younger Afghans – say the show is helping women progress.