On trial for converting from Islam to Christianity, a Jordanian man may lose legal custody of his children and have his marriage annulled if found guilty of “apostasy.”

Mohammad Abbad fled Jordan last month after Muslims violently attacked him and his 10-year-old son in their home and his father sued him on charges of apostasy, or leaving Islam.

I can’t win this case as long as I insist that I converted from Islam to Christianity, Abbad wrote from the safety of a nearby country. The court will annul my marriage, I will be deprived of my kids, I will be with no ID or passport, and my properties will be confiscated, he said, referring to a previous Jordanian apostasy verdict.

Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews in black coats and fur hats protested in Jerusalem against a court decision that allows stores to sell food banned by ritual law during Passover.

About 3,500 men gathered in Jerusalem's main ultra-Orthodox neighbourhood to pray and listen to rabbis warn that selling leavened food during Passover in contravention of Jewish law risked bringing destruction upon the city they regard as holy.

Leaven during Passover will bring devastation on Jerusalem, Rabbi Amram Hoffman told the crowd. If you don't cry over this leaven then Jerusalem won't stay in our hands.

To commemorate the biblical Israelites' hasty exodus from slavery in Egypt, Jewish law forbids eating leavened products during Passover.

Parliament passed a law in 1986 banning the display of unleavened food and supermarkets hide bread and other non-kosher products behind plastic covers while many restaurants close for the week.

But in a decision some religious Jews saw as an attack on their way of life, a Jerusalem court ruled two weeks ago that grocery stores and restaurants can display leavened food because they are not "public areas" covered by the 1986 ban.

Police had feared the protest might turn violent after trouble flared at previous Orthodox rallies over issues such as Jerusalem's annual gay pride event. But no incidents were reported.

In a poll conducted by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in the United Kingdom, faith — defined here not as limited to extremism but rather in the broadest possible terms — was considered to be tantamount to “intolerance, irrational behaviour and the basis for justifying persecution”.

Many of those polled not only believed that faith was divisive but also that it brought about irrational educational and other policies.

As an Orthodox Jew respectful to all faiths, including those who do not believe in any organised religion or in any religion at all, I was a bit taken aback by all of this. When I was growing up, religion was perceived to be the light guiding the path of the individual in his or her quest to attain a well-rounded and beneficial existence. Now it is being seen as some form of moral lassitude.

...Read leader

An Indonesian court has sentenced an Islamic sect leader to four years in prison for "blasphemy".

Abdul Salam, who founded the Islamic sect al-Qiyadah al-Islamiah in 2000, was arrested last year after the Indonesian Ulema Council, the country's authority on Islam, declared the group heretical.

Salam has declared himself a prophet and has not required his followers to pray, fast during the month of Muslim holy month of Ramadan, or perform the Haj pilgrimage, three of the five pillars of Islam, the prosecutor said.

The chief judge trying the case at the South Jakarta district court said Salam, also known as Ahmad Mosaddeq, was guilty of: deliberately committing acts which are blasphemous to the religion. Throughout the trial the defendant did not admit even once that what he did was wrong.

Salam smiled after the verdict was read out, while radical Muslims fiercely opposed to his teachings shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is Great).

Salam's supporters, who filled the court's gallery, sang chants of praise for him.

A London mayoral candidate is taking the BBC and ITV to the High Court for censoring his party Election Broadcasts in the run up to the May 1 elections.

The Christian Choice candidate, Alan Craig, has instructed the Christian Legal Centre to file papers this morning at the Royal Courts of Justice after BBC and ITV officials instructed him to remove parts of his Party Election Broadcast which was aired on Wednesday evening.

Cllr Craig, a long-standing campaigner against the 'mega-mosque', due to be built in Newham close to the site of the Olympic Games, originally described the organisation behind it, Tablighi Jamaat, as ‘separatist’.

However, BBC and ITV officials responsible for supervising the Broadcasts instructed him to moderate his views and change this description of the Islamic organisation if he wanted it aired.

Cllr Craig claims not only ‘political interference’ by the broadcasters, but says such action breeches his rights under the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects freedom of speech.

According to the Christian Legal Centre, Cllr Craig changed the word to “controversial” under duress. Late in the day ITV insisted that the agreed word “controversial” should be applied to the mosque plans not to the Islamic group. Cllr Craig’s objections to the mega-mosque, however, have consistently been related to the nature of the Islamic group behind the project - the plans have not yet been published.

Cllr Craig said: BBC and ITV officials, none of whom were lawyers to our knowledge, clearly instructed us to ‘tone down’ our views and change the sense if we wanted the PEB broadcast. The legal language of ‘libel’ was mentioned by the BBC, and in the case of TV, we were forced to go back to the studios at the last minute to record a censored version of the PEB.

I am advised that libel is a defamation of an individual, and no-where in the broadcast do we defame individuals. My comments are reasonable and moderate and do not contradict the Racial and Religious Hatred Act. The BBC and ITV are not entitled to limit free speech and I look forward to the judge ordering them both to broadcast my original message.

Andrea Minichiello Williams, barrister and director of the Christian Legal Centre, said: Providing that the content of an election broadcast is within the law, the BBC and ITV should enable the electorate to hear the unedited views of candidates and allow them to make up their own minds as to whether they agree or not.

The Christian Legal Centre will be calling for a Judicial Review of the BBC’s and ITV’s decision, and ask the judge to order, as a matter of urgency, the unedited Party Election Broadcast on both channels. The case will be heard next Monday when Cllr Craig will be represented by leading Human Rights barrister, Paul Diamond.

Update: The Censored Word

29th April 2008

Original version:

You may know about plans by a separatist Islamic group to build Europe’s biggest mosque next to the Olympics site in West Ham. I think it’s a bad idea that will bring division and I’m glad moderate Muslims support my stance in opposing it.

Censored version:

You may know about controversial plans by an Islamic group to build Europe’s biggest mosque next to the Olympics site in West Ham. I think it’s a bad idea that will bring division and I’m glad some Muslims leaders support my stance in opposing it.

The BBC should not apply its impartiality rules when it comes to religion, and the Corporation should be biased in favour of Christianity, said Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor last week.

The Cardinal was speaking after a speech by BBC Director-General Mark Thompson in Westminster Cathedral. Thompson, a Catholic, said that the BBC intended to increase its religious coverage after the "success" of programmes like The Monastery and Extreme Pilgrim.

Murphy O'Connor also said that Christianity should have unopposed time to deliver its message on the BBC. Sometimes the adversarial aspect — if you've got one view you've got to have the opposite view — supplants what we need.

Keith Porteous Wood, Executive Director of the National Secular Society, said: Cardinal O'Connor speaks like a classic demagogue. His desire to have no contradiction to his message is authoritarian and anti-democratic. Religion already has hours of time of TV and radio in which no-one is allowed to question or comment. Thought for the Day is one such slot, where preachers of all hues are allowed to make blatantly political pitches for religious points of view, and no-one is allowed to interrupt. Mark Thompson's enthusiasm for the Catholic Church is beginning to suggest that his approach to religion is not entirely balanced or objective. If he listens to the Cardinal, he risks undermining the BBC's precious heritage of trust as an impartial voice for the whole nation – not just the Church.

A Briton escaped from the Philippines with his girlfriend and baby daughter after being threatened with seven years in jail for adultery.

David Scott was remanded in custody last year with his married girlfriend Cynthia Delfino. The couple were accused of adultery by officials in the devoutly Catholic country.

They were told that their daughter, Janina, was to be handed over to Ms Delfino’s estranged husband, Noriel Delfino, on the grounds that the child was born before the Delfinos’ marriage was annulled, officials said.

Markets were paralysed in northern Nigeria's largest city Kano on Sunday when Muslim traders protested an alleged blasphemy of the prophet Mohammed by a Christian trader.

Hundreds of angry traders at the Sabon-Gari market were seen setting bonfires on major streets leading to the market, and called for the killing of the trader.

He was accused of putting blasphemous writings about Mohammed onto the walls of his shop.

A Kano police spokesman said the man escaped to the police station in the market, from where he was quickly ferried to the state police headquarters for protection: We have made several arrests of persons suspected of attempting to breach the peace while the suspect is in our custody pending conclusion of investigation.

He said the police used tear gas and fired shots in the air to disperse the protesters, while the market and other businesses were shut to prevent the situation from escalating.

Three Filipino workers who supposedly tore a page of the Muslim holy book the Koran and scribbled on it are being investigated on charges of blasphemy.

Their employer lodged a complaint with police in the conservative emirate of Sharjah based on a statement by a colleague. The employee said he saw his three colleagues commit the act deemed to be blasphemous in the United Arab Emirates.

The three men and seven other workers had been involved in a labour dispute with their employer, which had been resolved by terminating their work permits ahead of their deportation, the consulate official told the newspaper.

Six employees had already been repatriated. But two of the jailed men were arrested when they tried to leave for Manila on March 29, unaware of the complaint which was lodged on March 17, the paper said. The third was taken into custody when he left his country's consulate, the official said.

The three have not been formally charged.

In Riyadh, the college day begins for female students behind a locked door that will remain that way until male guardians come to collect them. Later, in a female-run business, everyone must vacate the premises so a delivery man can drop off a package. In Jeddah, a 40-year-old divorced woman cannot board a plane without the written permission of her 23-year-old son. Elsewhere, a female doctor cannot leave the house at all as her male driver fails to turn up for work. These scenes make up the daily reality for half of the Saudi Kingdom, the only country where women legally belong to men.

After more than a decade of lobbying, the New York-based group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has finally been granted access to Saudi Arabia, where it has uncovered a disturbing picture of women forced to live as children, denied basic rights and confined to a suffocating dependency on men.

The House of Saud, in alliance with an extremist religious establishment which enforces the most restrictive interpretation of sharia, Islamic law, has created a legal system that treats women as minors unable to exercise authority over even trivial daily matters.

This is a demoralising and sometimes ridiculous reality in which women cannot open bank accounts for their children, take them to the dentist or even on a field trip without the written permission of the father.

The oil-rich kingdom lies at the bottom of the UN rankings on female empowerment and women make up only 4% of the workforce.

The frustrations of a female doctor are typical of those faced even by educated women: When I take my daughter to the doctor's, they ask me where my husband is, and refuse to do anything until he comes to authorise it. Even if it is something small like an ear infection.

Another woman who, despite the legal barriers, owns her own business, describes the farcical difficulties she faces: Only women can enter my premises. If a delivery man needs to drop something off we have to exit the premises first. It is ridiculous.

Women were denied the right to vote in the kingdom's first municipal elections because there were no separate voting booths for them.

Even progress that is achieved often serves to underline the fundamental problem – that of legal guardianship of men over women. In the words of one Saudi woman: We still need to get a male guardian – husband, father or brother – to sign a form saying where we are allowed to work and when. It is like we are their property.

A video interview showing American TV actor Jason Beghe criticising Scientology has been removed from YouTube.

The 48-year-old was the first celebrity to speak out against the religion, telling how his 12 years with the church damaged him and accusing Scientology of being “destructive” and a “rip-off”.

After Beghe’s criticism of the church made headlines yesterday, YouTube suspended the account of the prolific Scientology critic who posted the video, making the clip unavailable to viewers.

But the suspension has angered YouTube users who have thrown their weight behind Mark Bunker, who uses the name XenuTV1 on the site. By this morning, 45 YouTube members had used their sign-ons to re-post Bunker’s interview with the Cane and CSI actor.

In the clip, Benghe said: My experience personally, and what I’ve observed for myself, is that Scientology is destructive and a rip-off. It’s very, very dangerous for your spiritual, psychological and mental, emotional health and evolution. I think it stunts your evolution.

One YouTube user, Vongoloid, uploaded the video with the message: Actor Jason Beghe exposes... Scientology to Mark Bunker of Xenu TV. YouTube suspended Mark's account, XenuTV1, so I am putting this up for justice.

Angry viewers posted comments below the re-hosted clips Unsuspend his fuckiing account, YouTube, wrote one: Banning free speech is a major no no. Knock it off.

A bookstore owner in Beijing has been re-arrested for publishing Bibles and Christian literature after he had been released in January due to “insufficient evidence.”

Shi Weihan was re-arrested on March 19 and has been held without any family visits allowed, according to his wife Zhang Jing. Shi was first arrested on November 28, 2007, and held until January 4.

His wife said she had received no word on her husband’s condition, and she has been prohibited from bringing him any food or change of clothing since his re-arrest.

Operating a bookstore located near the Olympic Village, Shi had never had any problems with authorities before his arrest last November, according to a long-time friend. His bookstore operated legally, and it sold only books for which he had obtained government permission.

The arrest of Shi appears to be part of a crackdown on religious groups that the government fears could raise dissident voices during Olympic Games set to begin in August.

Marriott International will meet in Washington May 14 with anti-porn nutters that have petitioned the hotel chain to remove adult movies from its rooms.

Coming in response to an April 3 letter signed by 47 "pro-family" groups, the meeting may or may not serve to further the groups' agenda, as making such a broad change to the corporation's policy would be a very complex proposition, Marriott officials say.

Marriott is a publicly traded company, so Mr. Marriott would not make a unilateral decision, said VP of communications Roger Conner, referring to CEO J.W. Marriott Jr., to whom the letter was addressed.

This is the first time a major hotel chain has agreed to meet with anti-adult lobbying groups, but even so, Conner stressed that it's the individual properties and not Marriott International that decide whether or not to offer adult programming, and that receive compensation for it from Lodgenet and other providers.

Adult industry attorney Paul Cambria, however, pointed out to Cybercast that, Adult entertainment is completely protected by the First Amendment, and the Supreme Court has said so time and time again.

Christianity's holiest shrine, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, was the scene on Palm Sunday of an unseemly brawl when dozens of Greek and Armenian orthodox priests and worshippers exchanged blows.

When police tried to break up the fight, they were pummelled with palm fronds.

All hell broke loose when Armenian clergy forcibly ejected a Greek priest from their midst. The pushed him to the ground and kicked him, according to witnesses.

The church, built over the site where Jesus was allegedly buried and resurrected, has an unhappy history of rivalry among several Christian denominations.

Each denomination jealously guards its share of the basilica, and fights over rights of worship at the church have intensified in recent years, particularly between the Armenians and Greeks.

Under what is known as the status quo, the Holy Sepulchre is divided among the Armenians, Roman Catholics and the Greek Orthodox who have the largest share. The Coptic, Ethiopian Orthodox and Syrian Orthodox churches also have duties to maintain specific areas.

The leader of the Dutch chapter of the Ex-Muslim movement, Ehsan Jami, has decided to disband the group, claiming that people are too frightened to join because of Islamist threats.

Jami sits on the municipal council in Voorburg, formerly for the Labour Party, now as an independent. He presented plans for a committee for former Muslims last year. He was subsequently assaulted in the street and was provided with additional protection.

Jami is currently holding discussions with a political party on the possibility of his standing for a seat in parliament in the next election.

The case of a Turkish barber who was sentenced to death at the Jeddah General Court on March 31 on charges of blasphemy will be sent to the Appeals Court in Makkah next week.

Sabri Bogday was sentenced to death after two men, one Saudi and the other Egyptian, reported to the authorities that he had sworn at God and Muhammad at his barbershop in Jeddah early last year.

A source told Arab News that Bogday admitted in court to swearing and did not challenge the witnesses’ testimonies. He also said that he was in no conflict with the two witnesses — an important point, since, according to Saudi law, the testimony of an accuser is not accepted if it can be shown that he or she has some ulterior motive.

The source added that the judges did not give Bogday the chance to repent.

Arab News also learned that the death sentence was based on a “hadd” ruling (a clear verdict based on laws from the Qur’an and Sunnah) and not a “ta’azir” ruling (a judicial interpretation of the Shariah law). In both cases the death sentence can be appealed. However, since the verdict in this case is based on a “hadd” ruling, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah would not be able to pardon the victim.

At the final court hearing three weeks ago, a death sentence was announced in spite of Bogday denying that he swore at God and the Prophet. The ruling was issued based on the witnesses’ testimonies and Bogday’s previous admission in court.

Sources said officials from the Turkish Consulate did visit the Jeddah General Court at the beginning of the trial, but did not assign Bogday a lawyer. Hussein Al-Sharif, head of the National Human Rights Society (NSHR) for the Makkah Province and a professor of law at King Abdulaziz University, said that he hopes the Turkish Consulate will intervene and assign a lawyer for the Appeals Court.

Legendary French actress Brigitte Bardot has gone on trial facing a charge of inciting racial hatred after making comments concerning the religion of Islam.

She faces a possible two-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of €15,000 if she is found guilty.

The star, who is pursuing career as an animal rights activist, has faced similar charges of inciting racial hate on four prior occasions.

The latest charges came about after the star publicly published a letter she sent to French president Nicolas Sarkozy last year lambasting the Muslim religious festival of Eid al-Adha - due to its traditions of slaughtering a sheep.

In the letter she says: I am fed up with being under the thumb of this population which is destroying us, destroying our country and imposing its acts.

Prosecutor Anne de Fonette told the court she was seeking a tougher sentence than on previous occasions, stating: I am a little tired of prosecuting Mrs Bardot.

The verdict is expected in several weeks.

At this year's Istanbul International Film Festival, one of the major attractions is A Jihad for Love, a documentary about a taboo subject: homosexuality in Islamic countries. Homosexuality is strictly banned in most interpretations of the Koran. This is the first time the film is being screened in a Muslim country.

The ending of A Jihad for Love, was greeted with rapturous applause from a packed audience. The film, which Indian Muslim director Pervez Sharma filmed in 12 countries and took six years to make, is an intimate look at the lives of 12 gay Muslim men and women.

Much of the material was filmed in secret in Muslim countries that ban homosexuality. But Sharma says the film is as much about the Muslim faith as it is about homosexuality: It shows people, Islam is not a problematic monolith, but that is lived in very diverse ways, in different countries, that it is living religion. It is the world's fastest growing religion, for a reason, and it certainly enables the discourse about Islam to shift. It takes it away from violence and takes it towards love, and that is why I called the film A Jihad for Love.

While homosexuality is legal in Muslim-majority Turkey, it remains a taboo subject for many. This member of the audience appreciated that the wall of silence was broken.

The response was not all positive. Several of Turkey's Islamic newspapers condemned the film, calling it an attack on the Islamic faith. According to orthodox interpretations of the Koran, homosexuality is strictly forbidden.

The film and its filmmakers will tour the world for the next couple of years. Screenings are planned in India and Indonesia. The filmmakers hope the Arab world will eventually open its doors and allow A Jihad for Love to be seen.

A poll by the charity, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, has uncovered a widespread belief that faith - not just in its extreme form - was intolerant, irrational and used to justify persecution.

Pollsters asked 3,500 people what they considered to be the worst blights on modern society, updating a list drawn up by Rowntree, a Quaker, 104 years ago.

The responses may well have dismayed him. The researchers found that the “dominant opinion” was that religion was a “social evil”. Many participants said religion divided society, fuelled intolerance and spawned “irrational” educational and other policies.

One said: Faith in supernatural phenomena inspires hatred and prejudice throughout the world, and is commonly used as justification for persecution of women, gays and people who do not have faith.

Many respondents called for state funding of church schools to be ended.

The findings contrast with Rowntree’s “scourges of humanity”, which included poverty, war, slavery, intemperance, the opium trade, impurity and gambling.

Poverty and drugs remain, but are joined by issues such as family breakdown, young people’s behaviour and fears over immigration.

Tom Butler, the Bishop of Southwark, rejected the indictment of faith. He said: People meeting together, week after week, for worship, support and education in church, synagogue, temple, gurdwara and mosque can not only help people build local community but can teach children to become good citizens.

However, Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society, said he was extremely pleased. Britain has had it with religion, he said.

Turkey's Office of Religious Affairs has announced that Muslims may forsake Islam for another religion.

The decision sets up a conflict between Turkey's government, which asserts a strong secular identity, and the Islamic religion, which teaches that apostasy is punishable by death.

The Turkish government has been trying to achieve a delicate balance between the demands for greater religious freedom, especially in light of the country's application for membership in the European Union, and the rising sympathy for militant Islam among the country's people.

European Union ministers have agreed to punish incitement to terrorism through the internet.

At a meeting in Luxembourg, EU justice and interior ministers tightened existing laws. Public provocation to commit terrorist attacks, as well as recruiting and training people for terrorism will be punishable offences throughout the EU.

EU officials said the decision to punish propaganda, recruitment and training for terrorism through the internet filled an important gap in European legislation.

They described the internet as a virtual training camp for militants, used to inspire and mobilise local groups.

Earlier this month, the EU anti-terrorism co-ordinator, Gilles de Kerchove, said the threat of terrorism in Europe had not diminished and about 5,000 internet sites were being used to radicalise young people.

National courts will now be able to ask internet service providers to remove such sites. But under pressure from Nordic countries and civil rights campaigners, ministers made clear that the new provisions may not be used to restrict freedom of expression.

Britain, Spain and Italy already punish public incitement to terrorism.

And as if to make the point

See full article from the Independent

A Muslim activist who became known for his publicly expressed extremist views was jailed for four and a half years yesterday for terrorism-related offences committed during a series of inflammatory speeches at a London mosque.

Judge Nicholas Price said that Abu Izzadeen a British-born convert to Islam, was a "leading light" in a group of men who used a gathering at the Regent's Park mosque in November 2004 to call for volunteers to fight British troops in Iraq and appeal for funds to finance insurgents abroad.

The judge said Izzadeen and his co-defendants had abused the right to freedom of expression. Izzadeen and Simon Keeler, another British-born convert from Whitechapel in east London, were singled out as having led the incitement. They were sentenced to serve four and a half years.

Judge Martin told Izzadeen: I am left in no doubt that your speeches were used by you as self-aggrandisement and not as an expression of sincerely held religious views. I find that you are arrogant, contemptuous and utterly devoid of any sign of remorse.

Abdul Muhid, also from Whitechapel, was sentenced to two years for fundraising for terrorism abroad. He will serve the term once he finishes a four-year sentence for soliciting murder during protests against the publication of cartoons in a Danish newspaper depicting the Prophet Mohamed. The other defendants were given prison terms between two years and three years nine months.

An Iranian police chief in charge of fighting vice in Tehran was jailed today for reportedly consorting in a brothel.

General Reza Zarei was jailed after being caught with six naked women at a brothel in the Iranian capital.

Ali Reza Jamshidi, a spokesman for Iran’s judiciary, confirmed today that Zarei had been taken to jail. He refused to elaborate further about the case. But officials, speaking anonymously, have supported the allegations.

The order to raid the alleged brothel was reportedly given directly by Iran’s Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi.

Zarei was in charge of a program to clean cities from corruption and in recent months had reported arrests of young men and women for illicit relationships and not respecting the Islamic dress code.

Under Iranian law prostitution is punishable by death. But in the past decade, prostitutes are becoming more visible on Iranian streets, mainly due to economic hardships. The rise in prostitution has led to suggestions that brothels be legalised and monitored. Some Iranians say brothels could be run according to Islamic rules, perhaps under the Shiite Muslim tradition which allows men and women to enter into “temporary marriages”, sometimes for less than 24 hours.

Sharjah municipality in the UAE has launched a crackdown against the distribution of an old video game which has been banned.

Several residents complained about the game as it contains material offensive to religion, values and social norms.

The 18-rated video game God of War is based on Greek mythology that encourages players to kill different "gods" to reach the next level of the game. It contained sexual scenes.

A UAE national said: I knew that it was banned, but many of my friends were able to buy pirated copies from Dh5 to Dh10. I was shocked to see how much it contradicted Islamic values, said Khalid Bin Deemas, adding that it was dangerous as the video game was popular among children.

The permanent fatwa committee has instructed all concerned government departments to forbid the sale of such games and to confiscate them.

A Sharjah Municipality official confirmed that they continue to confiscate all video games that contain language and scenes that offend the religion, values and traditions of the country, including God of War. The games were confiscated during recent inspections.

A British teacher killed in Somalia was targeted because he had converted from Islam to Christianity, his widow has claimed.

Daud Hassan Ali, 64, was shot in the early hours of Monday outside a school his charity had just finished building.

A British colleague, Rehana Ahmed, 33, and two Kenyan teachers were also killed in the attack on Hiran English School, in central Somalia. All four were reportedly shot in the head.

The Islamist al-Shabab Movement, the armed youth-wing of the Council of Islamic Courts movement, has admitted attacking the town, but it has not accepted responsibility for the killings.

Mr Ali's widow, Margaret, 64, said her husband had been targeted by Islamists who, she said, believe it is OK to kill any man who was born into Islam and left the faith.

She said her husband knew it was a risk going back to Somalia as a Christian, but said he was there to teach, not convert others to his faith. He was a teacher. He never made any attempt to convert anyone to Christianity, and only practised his faith in private, she said.

An Afghan legislative committee has drafted a bill seeking to introduce Taliban-style Islamic morality codes.

The draft, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, needs approval by both chambers of the Islamist-dominated parliament and President Hamid Karzai signature to become a law.

Women and girls are obliged to not wear make-up, wear suitable dresses and observe hijab (veil) while at work or classrooms, said one article of the draft.

It also aims to ban women dancers performing during concerts and other public events as well as on television. The mass media including television and cable networks must avoid broadcasting programmes against Islamic morals, it said without giving details.

Men and young boys must avoid wearing bracelets, necklaces, "feminist dresses," and hair-bands, the draft reads.

The proposals also demand an end to dog and bird-fighting, pigeon-flying, billiards and video games, all past times favoured by many Afghans.

It demands separate halls for men and women during wedding parties.

Update: Shameful President

22nd April 2008

Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai defended a decision by his government to ban Indian soap operas, saying they violated his nation’s moral standards and culture.

The culture ministry has given several privately run television stations until today to stop showing certain popular serials based on tales of love, disputes and the daily lives of Indian Hindu families.

At least one has already been taken off air after the ban, which authorities say was prompted by a call from religious scholars who labelled the shows “un-Islamic”.

Asked about the move, Karzai told a media briefing his government was committed to media freedom...BUT...like the rest of the countries in the world, we want our television broadcasting to be in line with our culture, based on our society moral standards,

An Upper Sharia Court in Kaduna, Nigeria has sentenced a lesbian couple, Hajiya Aiâsha and Malama Hauwa to a six-month imprisonment for living contrary to the teachings of the Sharia.

The lesbians had told the court that they had been married for five years.

The Sharia Judge, Mustapha Umar ordered that apart from the 20 lashes given to each of the lesbians at the court premises, they should also spend the next six months in prison with no option of fine for violating the tenets of Islam.

Scores of people demonstrated against the recent murder of a Hindu worker in a Karachi factory by his colleagues, who had accused him of passing blasphemous remarks about Prophet Mohammed.

Jagdish Kumar, a 22-year-old worker at a leather factory in Karachi, was murdered by his colleagues after he allegedly passed blasphemous remarks during a debate on religion.

Asghar Ali Narejo, Chairman of the NGO Council for All Under-privileged Segments Eminence,  led the protest outside the press club in Mirpurkhas, Kumar's hometown.

The protesters carried banners and placards and called on the government to take strict measures to end religious extremism and to order an impartial inquiry into the killing of Kumar.

They also urged the government to take appropriate measures to protect all citizens, irrespective of their faith.

Update: Blasphemy Used to Settle Personal Score

18th April 2008

A fact finding team of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has said that Jagdesh, a Hindu who was murdered on April 8 in Karachi on the suspicion that he had uttered blasphemous words, was killed because of a personal dispute with two fellow workers.

The deceased worker used to work in the ’stretching’ department of Nova Leather Industries Private Limited, which is based in Karachis Korangi Industrial Area.

According to the HRCP report, Jagdesh had arguments with his two colleagues, who spread the word throughout the factory that Jagdesh was making blasphemous remarks. A mob of emotional workers then beat him to death.

Update: Murderer Not Charges

3rd May 2008

The three workers who carried out the beating were arrested, charged not with murder but with failure to inform the police that blasphemy was underway.

A H Nayyar, an Islamabad-based peace activist said: Not a single murderer who killed anyone for blasphemy has been punished for murder. In fact, such murderers get hero's treatment in police stations. And those police officials who openly honour such murderers have never been tried for their illegal and reprehensible action.

European Commissioner for External Relations and Neighborhood Policy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, said in Saudi Arabia that the EU would not develop new laws against blasphemy.

Ferrero-Waldner was speaking in reference to the recent release of Fitna, a short film by Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders, and Mohammed cartoons published in European newspapers in 2005 and 2006.

There are two principles involved in this matter: freedom of press and freedom of religion. Every individual has a right to express what he thinks is correct. Similarly, the other individual, who is not in agreement, can rebut in the same way, she said.

Ferrero-Waldner said that the Dutch government was quick to stress that the opinion made in the stupid film is not that of the government or its people: It is an individual opinion. We practice freedom of religion. You have to understand that Muslims have freedom to practice their religion in our country.

UNHuman Rights Council

Based on an article from myTELUS

Islamic countries have used a meeting of the United Nations' top human rights body to demand the prosecution of a Dutch politician whose anti-Qur'an movie has sparked Muslim protests.

Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and other members of the UNHuman Rights Council said the Netherlands should adopt laws against religious defamation.

We recommend to the government of the Netherlands that it must ... initiate prosecution against the author of the movie Fitna, Pakistan's representative Masood Khan told the 47-member council.

Nebahat Albayrak of the Dutch delegation told council members that the public prosecutor was investigating whether the film breaks any laws.

The Ontario Human Rights Commission said yesterday it will not proceed with a complaint against Maclean's magazine for an article titled The Future Belongs to Islam by columnist Mark Steyn that appeared in October 2006.

The Canadian Islamic Congress complained to the commission that the content of the article and the Maclean's refusal to provide space for a rebuttal had violated its human rights.

The commission said the Ontario Human Rights Code did not give it jurisdiction to deal with the content of magazine articles through its complaint process.

Steyn's article argued that high birth rates among Muslims points to them becoming the majority in Europe, an eventuality that would fundamentally transform the West. It also says some Muslims are violent radicals.

While freedom of expression must be recognized as a cornerstone of a functioning democracy, the Commission strongly condemns the Islamophobic portrayal of Muslims, Arabs, South Asians and indeed any racialized community in the media, such as the Maclean's article and others like them, as being inconsistent with the values enshrined in our human rights codes, the commission said in a statement: Media has a responsibility to engage in fair and unbiased journalism.

President of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pottering, said that he was against the anti-Islam film Fitna.

Talking to reporters in Doha on the sidelines of the eighth Forum on Democracy, Development and Free Trade, he said that he understood the cultural differences between the Islamic world and Europe and that he was committed to dialogue based on partnership.

If there are people who commit acts of terrorism in the name of Islam, we do not believe they represented the mainstream of Muslim thinking… we [the EU] will not accept that Islam and terrorism are identical. We are not in favour of descriptions and pictures that identify violence with Islam. We are against any cartoons that could instigate violence, he said.

We are committed to the freedom of the press...BUT...I am against publishing cartoons that hurt the feelings of others.

As a Catholic, I would feel insulted if someone derides the Pope. We might disagree with others but we have to respect them.

Mark Thompson, the Director General of the BBC, has warned broadcasters against becoming overly-cautious in their reporting on Islam for fear of causing offence to Muslims.

Speaking at Westminster Cathedral Thompson, a practising Catholic, said there was a growing nervousness about discussion about Islam and its relationship to the traditions and values of British and Western society as a whole.

He said that the BBC and other major channels have a special responsibility to ensure that debates about faith and society and about any religion should not be foreclosed or censored.

In an effort to demonstrate that his remarks were not targeted solely at ensuring that Islam received journalistic scrutiny, Thompson also referred to his decision to broadcast Jerry Springer, The Opera despite an avalanche of complaints from Christians unhappy at the depiction of Jesus in the satire.

There is no point having a BBC which isn’t prepared to stand up and be counted; which will do everything it can to mitigate potential religious offence; but which will always be forthright in the defence of freedom of speech and of impartiality, he said.

Nearly 50 nutter organisations are asking the Marriott hotel chain to take pornographic movies out of guest rooms.

In an April 3 letter to CEO John Marriott III, 47 pro-family nutters requested a meeting to discuss the issue. The letter goes on to say that pulling the pay-per-view movies would be in line with Marriott's public statement of promoting the well-being of children and families and stand against ... such tragedies as human trafficking and the exploitation of children.

Among the nutters who signed the letter are: Dr. James Dobson (Focus on the Family), Bishop Harry Jackson (High Impact Leadership Council), Tony Perkins (Family Research Council), Paul Weyrich (Free Congress Foundation), Dr. Richard Land (Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission), Matt Staver (Liberty Counsel), and Robert Peters (Morality in Media).

Don Wildmon, the founder and chairman of the American Family Association, was one of the signatories to the letter. He says it is time for Marriott to put families first: Children can go [into a Marriott room and] accidentally ... access the porn. So we're asking Marriott simply to put people above profits and [to] drop the porn movies from their guest rooms."

Wildmon says so far, Marriott has not responded to a request to meet with representatives of the pro-family groups to discuss the matter.

According to a press release from AFA, Marriott has approximately 2,800 hotels in the U.S. -- and about 2,400 of them offer in-room pornographic movies.

A Turkish barber accused of swearing at God is sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia.

Sabri Bogday from the southern Hatay province went to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia 11 years ago and opened a barbershop.

According to reports, Bogday argued with his neighbor, an Egyptian tailor, and was arrested after the tailor told the police that he had sworn at God.

While Bogday has been in prison for the past 13 months, the Egyptian who made the allegation has disappeared.

When he was sentenced to death in the last court session and prison authorities came to his cell and told him to call his family for the last time, the family panicked and is now calling for Turkish authorities to intervene. The family also fears Bogday might be executed before the appeals court deals with the matter.

His mother Atra Bogday said her son is a very polite and God-fearing individual, dismissing the claims that he had sworn at God: His Egyptian neighbor lied.

His wife Muazzez said: I confronted the tailor when my husband's friends told me what happened. He said it's none of his business. We later learnt that he closed down his shop and fled. He didn't attend a single court session.

Both Turkey's President Abdullah Gül and Foreign Ministry officials are said to be closely monitoring the case. Bogday's appeal is expected to be heard within 15 days.

Remember the Christian Congress for Traditional Values (CCTV). They have appeared several times on Melon Farmers for being holier than thou. For example:

The CCTV advert showed a man, woman, boy and girl with the statement Gay aim: abolish the family.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld complaints against the ad, ruling that it could be inflammatory. The poster broke advertising rules on social responsibility, decency, matters of opinion and truthfulness, the ASA said: We considered the statement and the way it appeared was likely to cause offence both to the mainstream gay community and supporters of equality.

The ASA added that it was also likely to be seen as controversial and possibly inflammatory by a significant number of people who saw the poster in an untargeted medium. We concluded that the poster was likely to cause serious or widespread offence and might lead to anti-social behaviour.

Now Christian Congress for Traditional Values was established by Bishop Michael Reid who was the head of Peniel Church.

And guess what, Reid has been pursuing his own aim of family abolition by undertaking a long time extra-marital affair.

He has now resigned saying: It is with great sorrow and regret that I have resigned from the church board and have stepped down from official duties. I confess that I have sinned by committing adultery. I recognize that I have failed in my duties and acted in a way that harmed the Church. I take full responsibility for my actions and so I resigned. I apologize to my wife and family and all of you whose trust I have betrayed and ask for your forgiveness and prayers.

The website of Christian Congress for Traditional Values has been replaced by a statement of apology

Iraq's powerful Islamic parties and leaders are resisting efforts to reform a law that sanctions lenient punishments for those found guilty of so-called honor killings.

Article 111 of the Iraqi penal code, first approved in 1969, stipulates that a man can be sentenced to a maximum of three years in prison if he kills or disables his wife or girlfriend immediately after witnessing her engaging in a sex act with another man. The same penalty applies if a defendant is convicted of killing or disabling the woman's sexual partner. And if the defendant has no criminal background, such sentences are usually commuted.

Acting minister of state for women's affairs, Narmin Othman, is leading a campaign to change the Baath-era law. She argues that men accused of killing their wives or girlfriends should be charged with murder, the penalty for which is life imprisonment or the death penalty.

Othman's initiative has received the support of about 60 members of parliament, including members of the Iraqi List and the Kurdish Alliance. But members of Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki's United Iraqi Alliance and the Sunni-led Iraqi Accord Front both oppose the legislation, meaning that the reform legislation has little chance of passing.

Qais Al-Ameri, a member of the United Iraqi Alliance, argues that honor killings are permitted under sharia law: Illicit sex is the most dangerous thing in a society, and there should be severe punishments against those who practice it.

Nor have leading clerics shown any indication they would support eliminating the statute. After meeting opponents of honor killings, Sheikh Mohammed Al-Yakoobi, the spiritual leader of the Islamic Fadhila party, made it clear he believes men have the right to kill women they find engaged in illicit sexual activity.

Nutter clamour is growing against the upcoming Hollywood movie The Love Guru over denigrating Hindu traditions.

The movement is spearheaded by Hindu chaplain and Indo-American leader Rajan Zed.

Zed has been saying that from the information available about the movie, it appears to be lampooning Hinduism and Hindus and using Hindu terms frivolously.

Swami Pooja Saraswati, a spiritual leader says: I watched the trailer of the movie Love Guru and was shocked that any respectable movie producer would so blatantly ridicule a great world religion, a culture, spiritual path and sincere way of life, portraying it as farce. Producers Paramount Pictures will agree to make changes suggested by Rajan Zed and other Hindu leaders, during the premier of this insulting film before millions of Hindus, yogis and people of high spiritual consciousness around the world feel hurt, offended and outraged, she added.

Reverend John J. Auer, Pastor of First United Methodist Church in Reno added his support: Neither Zed nor I have any interest in censorship...HOWEVER...it is crucial that every faith tradition be given the chance to be heard in response to any portrayal in popular culture of elements of that tradition that might be easily misrepresented and/or misunderstood.