A leading Egyptian scholar has demanded that people caught importing a female virginity-faking device into the country should face the death penalty.

Abdul Mouti Bayoumi said supplying the item was akin to spreading vice in society, a crime punishable by death in Islamic Sharia law.

The device is said to release liquid imitating blood, allowing a female to feign virginity on her wedding night. There is a stigma about pre-marital sex in conservative Arab societies.

The contraption is seen as a cheap and simple alternative to hymen repair surgery, which is carried out in secret by some clinics in the Middle East. It is produced in China and has already become available in other parts of the Arab world. The device is reported to be on sale in Syria for $15.

Professor Bayoumi, a scholar at the prestigious al-Azhar University, said it undermined the moral deterrent of fornication, which he described as a crime and one of the cardinal sins in Islam. Members of parliament in Egypt have also called for banning import of the item

Update: MP Joins the Call

7th October 2009. See article from independent.co.uk

Sheik Sayed Askar, a member of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood who is on the parliamentary religious affairs committee, said the kit would make it easier for Egyptian women to give in to temptation. He demanded the government take responsibility for fighting the product to uphold Arab values.

A 'judge' in Malaysia has upheld a court verdict to cane a Muslim woman for drinking beer.

The chief sharia judge of Pahang state ruled that a sharia high court's verdict against Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno was correct and should stay.

If the punishment is carried out, Kartika would become the first Muslim woman to be caned in Malaysia.

Kartika, who pleaded guilty, refused to appeal her sentence and was on the verge of being caned on 24 August. But the punishment was halted at the last minute following an uproar in the media and among rights activists.

On his recent visit to the Maldives, Salih Yucel, a Turkish Islamic scholar and lecturer at Monash University in Australia, was rejected by his fellow Muslims who deemed his beard too short and his trousers too long for him to be a bona fide Muslim. The response to the former imam came as no surprise, being symptomatic of the puritanical Wahhabism taking root in the Indian Ocean archipelago, a favourite haunt of honeymooners and A-list celebrities.

The country's legislative architecture entrenches this intolerance, in a constitution that recognises only Muslims as citizens and a Religious Unity Act that stringently demarcates the type of Islam to be practised. Nor are the country's non-Muslim expatriates, largely Buddhist Sri Lankans and Hindu Indians, permitted to practise their faiths in public as all places of worship apart from mosques are banned. The intolerance does not end here: for Wahhabis, even other Muslims, such as Shias and Sufis, are apostates.

..Read full article

Subversive US cartoonist Robert Crumb, whose take on the Bible is about to be released worldwide, says people are totally nuts for taking the book so seriously for so long.

I grew to hate the Bible, he told a press conference for the international launch of Robert Crumb's Book of Genesis, which he called a gruelling four year project. The book hits bookshelves in late October in Europe, Brazil and the United States.

The idea of millions of people taking this so seriously is totally nuts, he added. The Bible doesn't need to be satirised. It's already so crazy.

Crumb's 220-page epic take on the Book of Genesis painstakingly mirrors every twist and turn, from God's Creation of the world through the meanderings of Noah's Ark and the adventures of Jacob of the coat of many colours.

The Aceh provincial government will not sign the controversial Islamic bylaw allowing adulterers to be stoned to death, an official said. Hamid Zein, the head of the legal bureau of the Aceh governor's office, said that the administration had firmly rejected the bylaw passed by the legislative council on Monday.

As long as the executive and legislative bodies do not settle differences in the application of capital punishment by stoning, the Aceh government will not sign the bylaw, Hamid said.

In the deliberation he said government representatives had repeatedly stated objections to the inclusion of the stoning penalty for adulterers in the Islamic criminal code (jinayat). Aceh is the country's only province with special provisions allowing it to have Islamic sharia-based laws.

However, following initial endorsement of the bylaw, Home Minister Mardiyanto said the government would file a review to the Supreme Court, saying the bylaw was detrimental to the Acehnese and would frighten visitors and investors, as well as possibly not respecting the national Constitution.

Update: Human Rights Watch Unimpressed by Torture in Indonesia

13th October 2009. See article from hrw.org

A new criminal bylaw passed by the provincial parliament of Aceh imposes torture, violates basic rights to privacy, and fails to protect victims of sexual violence, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch urged the Indonesian government to review and reject all provisions relating to the death penalty, stoning, and flogging, and called on the Ministry of Home Affairs to overturn the law immediately.

Stoning and flogging constitute torture in any circumstances, said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. Imposing these draconian punishments on private, consensual conduct means the government can dictate people's intimate lives.

In addition to criminalizing all sex outside of marriage, the new law fails to criminalize marital rape and introduces discriminatory and unjust evidentiary requirements to prove rape. In doing so, the law places sexual assault victims at risk of being punished for engaging in illegal sexual conduct, instead of providing victims of violence or abuse with clear channels for redress.

The new Aceh law flies in the face of the Indonesian Constitution, which confers an irrevocable right to freedom from torture, Pearson said. Further, Indonesian national law does not criminalize consensual homosexual conduct or recognize stoning as punishment for any crime.

The law violates fundamental principles of international human rights, including the rights to life and freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, protected in articles 6 and 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The UN Committee Against Torture, which monitors the implementation of the Convention Against Torture, has unconditionally recognized stoning and flogging as torture. Indonesia ratified the Convention Against Torture in 1998 and acceded to the convention in 2006. Aceh's Islamic Criminal Code directly contravenes Indonesia's obligations under these conventions.

Human Rights Watch also called on the national government and the new Acehnese parliament to reject the proposed criminalization of consensual sexual conduct among adults, including homosexual, premarital, and extramarital sexual conduct. It is incumbent upon the Indonesian government to stand up for the rights of all its people and reject these measures, Pearson said.

Gay rights advocates have criticised slated changes to Victoria's equal opportunity laws that will continue to allow religious organisations to discriminate against gays and single parents.

State Attorney-General Rob Hulls says a new Equal Opportunity Bill will be introduced into parliament next year. Under the changes, religious groups will no longer be able to discriminate on the grounds of race, disability, age, physical features, political belief or breastfeeding. But they can continue to discriminate on grounds including sexuality or marital status if it is in accordance with their beliefs.

Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group spokesman Rodney Croome says the right to employment and education is more important than pandering to religious prejudice:Too often this issue is seen as gay rights versus religious freedom when, in fact, it is about the right to a job you're qualified for, to attend the school of your choosing and to receive essential services, he said.

Australian Christian Lobby director Rob Ward said some of the options canvassed as part of a review of exemptions to the Equal Opportunity Act, had they been implemented, would have had serious repercussions for churches, religious schools and church-related organisations: Faith-based groups throughout Victoria have been united in their strong concern about a number of the options being looked at as they would have undermined the very core of these bodies by preventing them from upholding their beliefs in terms of who they employ and, therefore, how they operate, he said.

The new administration of southern seaport town of Kismayo  has publicly punished three boys they said that they have committed crimes which are taboo in Somalia.

Each one of the boys has received lashes of whips on his back in front of the hundred of the inhabitants of Kismayo, at the national park venue which situated in the heart of the town and will serve under sentence for some months said the judge who passed out the chastisement of the boys speaking to Somaliweyn radio.

The officer added that the boys have been jointly watching pornography films in their cell phones.

Comment: Reality Porn

29th September 2009. From Alan

Hope somebody's filmed it. It would go down a storm on the gay BDSM porn market!

A local authority in Israel has announced that it is establishing a special team of youth 'counsellors' and 'psychologists' whose job it will be to identify young Jewish women who are dating Arab men and rescue them.

Mr Hakak, a spokesman for Petah Tikva municipality, said Russian girls, young Jewish women whose parents arrived in Israel over the past two decades, since the former Soviet Union collapsed, were particularly vulnerable to the attention of Arab men.

Hakak said the municipality had created a hotline that parents and friends of the Jewish women could use to inform on them: We can't tell the girls what to do but we can send a psychologist to their home to offer them and their parents advice.

The move by the municipality of Petah Tikva, a city close to Tel Aviv, is the latest in a series of separate initiatives from official bodies, rabbis, private organisations and groups of Israeli residents to try to prevent interracial dating and marriage.

In a related development, the Israeli media reported this month that residents of Pisgat Zeev, a large Jewish settlement in the midst of Palestinian neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem, had formed a vigilante-style patrol to stop Arab men from mixing with local Jewish girls. Some 35 Jewish men are reported to belong to a patrol known as Fire for Judaism that tries to stop interracial dating.

Last year, the municipality of Kiryat Gat, a town of 50,000 Jews in southern Israel, launched a programme in schools to warn Jewish girls of the dangers of dating local Bedouin men. The girls were shown a video titled Sleeping with the Enemy, which describes mixed couples as an unnatural phenomenon .

Hostility to intimate relationships developing across Israel's ethnic divide is shared by many Israeli Jews, who regard such behaviour as a threat to the state's Jewishness. One of the few polls on the subject, in 2007, found that more than half of Israeli Jews believed intermarriage should be equated with national treason .

Dr Yuval Yonay, a sociologist at Haifa University, said the number of interracial marriages was too small to be studied . Separation between Jews and Arabs is so ingrained in Israeli society, it is surprising that anyone manages to escape these central controls.

The National Alliance for the Freedom of Religion and Faith (AKKBB) has planned to file a request with the Constitutional Court to review the 1965 blasphemy law which they say is discriminatory and against the amended 1945 Constitution that guarantees freedom of religion in the country.

The alliance said the law had raised a public outcry and triggered sectarian conflicts as people were required to accept only the six official religions - Islam, Catholic, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu and Kong Hu Chu - and those with different faiths were branded heretics.

We are in the process of completing the necessary documents to be given to the Constitutional Court, AKKBB coordinator Anick Hamim Tohari said here last week.

The 1965 law on the prevention of religion abuse and blasphemy stipulates that no one is allowed make interpretations deviating from the official religions' teachings. Anick, executive director of ICRP too, said the alliance had formed a small team who was still preparing the judicial review proposal and supporting documentation.

Ahmadiyah and Lia Eden were two Muslim communities that have been rejected because their teaching and doctrine were different to what has been designated official Islamic teaching and doctrine. Many mosques belonging to the two communities have been burned down and their followers displaced from their villages in the West Java regencies of Bogor, Sukabumi and Kuningan, and Lombok in West Nusa Tenggara.

Our constitution guarantees religious freedom. All religious groups deserve equal treatment. Therefore, this law which gives the government the power to intervene in religious matters must be annulled, Anick said, referring to the 2008 joint ministerial decree barring Ahmadiyah from disseminating its teaching.

Egyptian authorities have prevented Maher El-Gowhary, a Muslim-born Christian convert, from leaving the country. He was detained at Cairo Airport. His passport confiscated and he was advised that he is barred from traveling on orders from a higher authority .

Maher and his 15-year-old daughter, Dina, who also embraced Christianity, were traveling to China on a two-week holiday.

Ibrahim Habib, chairman of United Copts GB, who spoke with El-Gowhary during his detainment at the airport, said that Maher was treated very badly by airport security, and was told of his travel ban less than an hour before departure.

Human rights lawyer Nabil Ghobrial joined Maher at the airport. He filed an incident report at the airport police station. According to Ghobrial it is against the law to prevent a citizen from traveling unless there is a legal reason. He says the so-called higher authority should have been named and that his client will file a lawsuit against the Prime Minister and the Interior Minister, besides a compensation lawsuit for damages.

In an aired interview with Coptic News Bulletin on September 17, Maher El Gowhary said The authorities are trying to pressure us [he and his daughter] to convert back to Islam, but this will never happen, even if we have to live on the streets. We love our Lord Jesus, and we have left Islam for good.

A poster, for spiritual support from Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG), included a testimonial, from a woman, who said My son was born with a heart problem. After a party he started bleeding from the mouth. I rushed him to hospital and the specialist said he had 16 loose arteries. He went into a coma, his heart stopped and both his lungs collapsed. Doctors and specialists expected him to die. At the UCKG I was given some blessed oil to anoint my son with. Now that his heart and lungs are better I thank the UCKG for all the spiritual support I received. Further text stated: The Holy Anointing This Sunday at 9.30am.

A footnote stated In accordance to the CAP Code, point 50.3, the UCKG HelpCentre's spiritual advice is to be seen as a complement to scientifically proven treatment you may be receiving. The UCKG does not claim to heal people but believes that God can through the power of faith. Always follow your doctor's instructions.

Issue 1. The British Humanist Association and two members of the public challenged whether the UCKG could substantiate the implied medicinal claim.

The ASA challenged whether:

2. the ad was irresponsible and likely to discourage people from seeking qualified medical advice by offering advice on the treatment of a serious medical condition; and

3. the reference to the CAP Code was an implied endorsement of the ad.

ASA Assessment

1. Upheld

The ASA noted the testimonial explained the medical difficulties experienced by the woman's son and that the medical staff involved in his treatment expected him to die. Although we considered that that made clear that proper medical treatment had been sought, we noted the testimonial also emphasised that UCKG had provided blessed oil to anoint the child with before he subsequently recovered. We noted the UCKG argued that the ad made clear, in both the testimonial and explicitly in the footnote, that they offered only spiritual support and noted UCKG had previously sought CAP Copy Advice over the use of the term. However, although we considered that it was a reasonable way to describe the support UCKG offered, the surrounding claims also went further. We considered that some readers were likely to infer from the ad as a whole that anointing oil had played some role in the sons recovery. Because UCKG had sent no evidence to support such an implication, we concluded that the ad was likely to mislead.

2. Upheld

We noted the ad referred to a serious medical condition. Although the testimonial explained that the woman had sought medical treatment for her son's condition, we considered that, because some readers were likely to infer from the ad as a whole that anointing oil had played some role in his recovery, the ad could discourage people from seeking essential treatment by implying that the oil had a curative effect. We therefore concluded that the ad breached the Code.

3. Upheld

We noted the footnote stated In accordance to the CAP Code, point 50.3 ... and considered that readers were likely to infer from that that the ad complied with that CAP Code clause. We considered that that was likely to be seen as an endorsement by CAP, which was a breach of CAP Code clause 14.6, and concluded that the ad breached the Code.

The ad must not appear again in its current form.

Rally
November 21st 2009, 1200-1400
North Carriage Drive in London's Hyde Park

The rally will mark Universal Children's Day and International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

The rally aims to raise still further our opposition to Sharia and religious-based laws in Britain and the world, including the imposition of Sharia this year in Somalia and Pakistan's Swat region and of the rape laws in Afghanistan. It also aims to show our solidarity with people standing up to political Islam everywhere, including in Iran, and our support for universal rights and secularism. The rally will also defend the right to asylum for those who have fled Sharia and calls for an end to racism and cultural relativism.

Please try to come if you can. It is important for decent people everywhere to stand up to the right-wing political Islamic movement and defend humanity. Doing so will also help push back the far right in its attempts at hijacking the issue of Sharia law to advance its anti-immigrant and racist agenda.

Tell others about the rally and encourage them to join. Also please sign our petition calling for a ban on Sharia law if you haven't. Over 17,000 people have done so already and they represent only the tip of the iceberg of opposition.

Also don't forget about our art competition, which is open to all artists. We have already received some exciting pieces and hope to show them at a gallery exhibition. The deadline for submitting any work exposing the discriminatory nature of religious - based tribunals and encouraging equal rights is November 1.

An Indian fast-track court in Orissa state has sentenced five people to life imprisonment for murdering a pastor in Kandhamal violence against Christians a year ago.

The court found them guilty of killing Akbar Digal, a pastor of a Baptist church at Tatamaha village, on Aug 26 last year.

So far, 17 people have been convicted, including the five persons, in the Kandhamal Riots case. In the past, the fast-track courts had sentenced 12 people to rigorous imprisonment ranging from four to six years; but this is the first time the court has slapped the convicts to life imprisonment. The two fast-track courts - I and II were set up by the government to try cases related to anti-Christian violence that erupted in August 2008.

The anti-Christian violence broke out in Orissa after a Hindu fundamentalist - Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader, Laxmananda Saraswati, was murdered in August 2008. Hindus blamed Christians for killing Saraswati even though Maoist rebels had publicly claimed responsibility for the murder.

Following the swami's death, Hindu mobs attacked Christians, burning their homes, shops, churches and orphanages. More than 30,000 Christians from Orissa were forced to take shelter in refugee camps under fear for further attacks.

About 4,500 Christian homes were burned and 180 churches destroyed. At least 60 Christians were killed, according to the Orissa government's report, but church leaders in Orissa report higher figures and have accused the government of intentionally undercounting the number of deaths.

A new British film about Charles Darwin has failed to land a distribution deal in the States because his theories on human evolution are too controversial for religious American audiences, according to the film's producer.

Creation follows the British naturalist's struggle between faith and reason as he wrote his 1859 book, On The Origin Of The Species.

The film, directed by Jon Amiel was chosen has now been sold to almost every territory in the world. But US distributors have turned down the film that could cause uproar in a country that, on the whole, dismisses scientific theories of the way we evolved.

Christian film review website Movieguide.org described Darwin as a racist, a bigot and a 1800s naturalist whose legacy is mass murder. The site also stated that his half-baked theory influenced Adolf Hitler and led to atrocities, crimes against humanity, cloning and generic engineering.

Update: Evolving News

26th September 2009. From the National Secular Society

After weeks of being unable to find an American distribution company, the creators of a forthcoming biopic on the life and work of Charles Darwin have announced that the film will now be shown in the U.S.

Indie movie distributor Newmarket announced that it has closed a deal to handle Jon Amiel's film which has already generated controversy over its 'sensitive' material, namely, the theory of evolution.

According to Hollywood Reporter, U.S. audiences will have to wait until December to see Creation.

Chris Ball of Newmarket released a statement saying: We at Newmarket pride ourselves in getting behind important films that help open the door for discussion and conversation, as is the case with Creation. While Darwin's name has come to symbolise one side in a debate between the scientific and the theological, Creation personifies the debate, with both sides contending, sometimes violently, within the man. In that sense, we believe that the film will appeal to both people of faith and people of science.

An art installation in a Brussels shop window has been forced to shut down early because of the violently negative reaction it provoked in some passers-by.

Mehdi Lahlou-Georges' exhibit took up the whole of the shop floor with an array of Muslim prayer mats. Each mat had a pair of men's shoes next to it, except one which was occupied by a spot-lit pair of stilettos.

The shop window had stones thrown at it and was spat at before it was boarded up by the owners.

The artist said that the Muslim community did not understand the message of his work.

Carlsberg, well worth a flogging for...probably

The Muslim woman who was sentenced by an Islamic sharia court to be caned for drinking beer has been approached by a movie producer to star in a film on her ordeal.

However, Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno said she will take a decision only after the sentence was carried out.

It is too far ahead. I can't think of anything beyond my punishment at the moment, she was quoted as saying by the Star newspaper.

She was sentenced to be caned but the act was deferred by the Islamic court due to the holy month of Ramadan. She is still awaiting news from the Pahang Religious Department as to when she would face her punishment for drinking beer at a hotel in Cherating last year.

A Christian airport worker faces financial ruin after judges decided she must pick up the bill if she loses her court battle with British Airways over her treatment for wearing a silver cross at work.

Three senior judges refused to grant an order guaranteeing that Nadia Eweida would not have to pay BA's estimated £58,000 legal costs if she lost the case, which is scheduled for the Court of Appeal in January.

Eweida is seeking to overturn a decision by the Employment Appeal Tribunal that she was not a victim of religious discrimination by BA.

The tribunal was told she went home from work in September 2006 after failing to reach a compromise with managers over the visible display of a silver cross on a chain round her neck. The next year, BA changed its uniform policy and Eweida returned to work. But she was unpaid while absent and claims BA should admit its previous policy was unlawful and pay her around £120,000 in damages and lost wages.

She argues that, while Muslims and Sikhs were allowed to wear hijabs and religious Kara bangles respectively, she as a Christian had been asked to remove her cross necklace or hide it from sight.

This week she asked three Appeal Court judges for a protective costs order and claimed that as her case was of general importance she should not have to run the risk of paying a massive bill if she lost. Without a no costs guarantee or at least a £25,000 cap on her costs liability, she would not be able to pursue her appeal, the court was told.

Iranian police have warned shopkeepers not to display female mannequins without a hijab, or showing bodily curves, Irna news agency reports.

Using unusual mannequins exposing body curves and with heads without hijabs [Muslim veils] are prohibited to be used in the shops, police said in a statement carried by Irna.

Display of bow ties and neckties, and the sale of women's underwear by men are also banned, the police said.

Iranians who violate dress codes for the first time are generally cautioned, but repeat offenders can face court action and guidance classes .

A Malaysian state government searched for a new site for a Hindu temple, bowing to pressure from Muslim residents who staged a gruesome protest against its planned construction that triggered debate about religious intolerance.

Authorities in central Selangor state tried to reach a compromise in talks with residents of the Muslim-majority neighborhood in the state capital, Shah Alam, where the temple was to be built. The meeting descended into chaos when protesters shouted insults at Selangor Chief Minister Abdul Khalid Ibrahim and other lawmakers, according to a video of the meeting posted on Malaysiakini, an independent news Web site.

The protesters insist the temple would be too close to their homes and could generate excessive noise and traffic, which would disrupt their concentration during Muslim prayers they ludicrously claimed.

Cow Head Protest

Based on article from prachatai.com

The Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) has criticised the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) over its request to online news portal, Malaysiakini to take down videos related to a controversial protest against the relocation of a temple in Shah Alam, close to the capital city of Kuala Lumpur.

CIJ executive director Gayathry Venkiteswaran said the request was unwarranted as it is an attempt by the government body to silence the messenger, in this case the media, from reporting news.

She was referring to the letter sent to Malaysiakini by the MCMC requesting it to remove two videos from its website. One of the videos was a footage from the protest where a group of residents, mainly Malay Muslim dragged a severed cow head to the premise of the state government office to protest the relocation of a Hindu temple to their residential area on 28 August. Cows are generally regarded with respect by most Hindu devotees.

Despite the action, there was no immediate police investigation into the protest, which civil society groups condemned as legitimising violence and hatred. In the last week, the Home Minister has come out in defense of the protestors and even described them as victims in the issue. The Prime Minister has come out more strongly against the actions of the protestors and the authorities have promised to investigate the matter. The Home Minister's statement was made in an environment where activists, critics and opposition political parties have very little space for expression as the media is overwhelmingly controlled by the ruling government and where their public demonstrations have been met with heavy-handed tactics by the state.

Update: Cow Head Protestors charged with sedition

11th September 2009. Based on article from news.bbc.co.uk

Six Malaysian Muslims have been charged with sedition for parading the severed head of a cow through the streets of Shah Alam in Selangor state last month. The men were protesting against the building of a Hindu temple near a mosque in the area. Some of the demonstrators stamped and spat on the cow's head.

The case has stoked tensions between Malaysia's Muslim majority and the Indian, mainly Hindu, minority to whom cows are considered sacred.

Twelve of the protesters were charged with illegal assembly, which could see them fined and jailed for up to a year.

Six were also charged with sedition - for promoting hostility between different groups - and could face an additional three years in jail.

Defence lawyer Salehuddin Saidin said his clients were carrying the cow head to illustrate the state government's stupidity - and did not intend to offend local Hindus: For Malays, the cow symbolises stupidity, not an insult to any other religion, Salehuddin claimed.

The authorities in Selangor have now found an alternative site for the Hindu temple, further away from the mosque.

Update: Reporters without Borders supports malaysiakini.com

25th September 2009. Based on article from rsf.org

Reporters Without Borders has pledged its backing to independent news website Malaysiakini which has decided to resist an order to remove two news videos judged to be offensive by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission.

The commission told the website in a letter on 3 September that it considered the two film clips offensive and intended to upset people, and particularly the Indians. The penalty for refusing to comply is a fine of 50,000 ringgit (14,325 dollars) and one year in prison.

The website www.malaysiakini.com had posted two video clips accessible only to subscribers to the site, the first on 28 August showing demonstrations by Malay Muslims against the building of a Hindu temple in their neighbourhood, in which they spat on and trampled the bloodied head of a cow, an animal sacred to Hindus. The second, on 2 September 2009, featured interior minister, Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Tun Hussein, speaking at a press conference at which he urged demonstrators not to use violence, while defending their right to protest.

But in a change of stance, on 3 September, the minister ordered proceedings against the demonstrators. The removal order was made under the Communications and Multimedia Act of 1988 banning all content that is indecent, obscene, false, threatening or offensive with the intention or harming, abusing, threatening or harassing a third party .

The Malaysiakini website is right to resist the censorship the government is trying to impose on it. The authorities should understand that it is footage that shows something that happened, which may indeed be embarrassing for some authorities but does not constitute an offence , the worldwide press freedom organisation said.

Three men have been found guilty by a court in Tanzania for murdering an albino boy, in a ruling that campaigners hope will help protect the minority group from being slaughtered for their body parts. The landmark verdict is the first time anyone has been convicted of killing an albino despite more than 50 murders in the past three years.

Albinos – who suffer from a genetic defect that alters their skin and hair pigmentation – have been targeted by modern day witch doctors in East Africa who believe their body parts add potency to black magic rituals.

A string of brutal attacks in which members of the minority group have been literally hacked to pieces, with children as young as five being killed, has provoked angry criticism of the government.

The President Jakaya Kikwete has spoken out against the killers and banned witch doctors earlier this year, while police have arrested scores of suspects but Tanzania's justice system is notoriously slow and yesterday's conviction was the first of its kind.

There are an estimated 17,000 albinos in Tanzania and some researchers believe the genetic defect may have originated in East Africa. Today many albinos in the region suffer intense prejudice and are routinely referred to as zerus or invisibles.

The skin, hair, eyes and limbs of albinos can command thousands of dollars on the black magic market in Tanzania. These sums – often paid by educated, ambitious city dwellers who travel to rural witch doctors for help with business, family or sexual problems – have been sufficient for freelance killers to hunt the pale-skinned minority.

At least 53 murders have been recorded since September 2007 with the most recent killing taking place last month.

Osama Araban, a Muslim man riding a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, went on a rampage last week in Egypt, killing 63-year old Coptic Christian Abdo George Younan, in the village of Bagour, before traveling onwards and stabbing with intention to kill two other Copts in two different villages.

In the village of Behnay he repeatedly stabbed Coptic shoemaker Adib Boulos before being stopped by eyewitness Behman Saeed. Adib suffered a broken scull and lung hemorrhage, and is still fighting for his life in intensive care.

Osama Araban then traveled to the village of Mit Afif and stabbed his third victim, Sobhy Barsum, a blacksmith. He also stabbed his brother Hani Barsum in the neck -- only to be saved by a co-worker. Hani was also hospitalized.

Osama Araban was arrested the following day.

The funeral procession of Abdo Younan was attended by thousands of Copts, led by Metropolitan Archbishop Benjamin of Menoufia Diocese and seventeen clergymen. Hundreds of banners were held, showing the amount of anger and injustice felt by Copts. Anti State Security chants were heard during the procession, besides calling on President Mubarak and the government to save the Copts from the hands of the fundamentalist who are killing them.

This incident which took place on September 16, 2009, has left Copts in Egypt shocked and angered, not only because attacks against Copts have been escalating, but because of the way the murder was committed.

The details of the attacks, not told by the media, but exposed by Coptic lawyers and activists, reveal that 35-year old car painter Osama Araban not only stabbed Abdo nine times but also severed his head from his body -- an Islamic ritual beheading.

Egyptian State Security, which is in charge of drafting press releases and news related to Muslim attacks on Christians, decided from the start which route they wanted the incident to take, and tailor the news accordingly. In an attempt to influence public opinion for the forthcoming acquittal of the Muslim killer, the media reported that the reason for the killing was a material dispute.

Renowned attorney and activist Dr.Naguib Ghoraeel, head of Egyptian Union Human Rights Organization, issued a press release on September 17, calling the crime a massacre, and confirming that what happened was revenge against Christians. He accused the Interior Ministry of lying I suggesting the incident is a mere quarrel, and warned them that no one will believe that the murderer is mentally unstable, should they use this defense.

Taken the criticism the State Security received regarding their usual scenarios, they have now decided to take a completely different route, never used before. The pro-government newspaper Youm 7 reported that Obdo Younan Insulted Islam and the killer therefore decided to take revenge by killing him. This news was picked up by other news agencies.

No Muslim has ever been sentenced justly for killing a Copt. Consequently, the Egyptian Government's manipulation of facts is not to save the Copt's murderer from a just punishment, but more to save its face in front of the Western world for being blatantly unjust towards the Coptic victim, given that Egypt is a member of the UN Human Rights Council which is responsible for the protection of human rights around the globe.

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, says the Human Rights Act. This freedom includes the right to manifest his (or her) religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice and observance.

That's a fine aspiration but of course the Human Rights Act (HRA) isn't all it's cracked up to be by its supporters.

...Read full article

The Rt Rev Michael Jackson, Chair of the Network for Inter Faith Concerns of the Anglican Communion, and Dr Musharraf Hussain, Chair of the Christian Muslim Forum initiated the online petition Safety and respect for Christians in Pakistan on behalf of the Anglican Communion.

The petition states: The attacks on Christians, and on occasions also on Muslims, facilitated as they are by the law on blasphemy, are very damaging to the reputation of Pakistan and indeed to the reputation of Muslims which we wish to see restored.

It has been signed by over 2,000 people, among them Christians and Muslims, from 20 countries around the world including Pakistan. Twenty bishops have also added their names in support of the petition.

Sign the petition

Pakistan's leaders have been hinting at changes to this lynch mob fuelling monstrosity of a law ever since it was enacted. But there is no way that the religious leaders will ever let it go. It is so integral to subjugation of the people of Pakistan that it will stay on the books for as long as islam is the dominant religion.

Update: Death Threats

13th September 2009:  See article from catholicculture.org

Shahbaz Bhatti, a Catholic who serves as minorities minister for the Pakistani government, has disclosed that he has been "receiving death threats and phone calls from extremists for a long time" because of his efforts to protect the rights of the country's Christian minority. Bhatti has been a leader in the campaign to reform Pakistan's blasphemy laws, which are frequently used as the pretext for assaults on Christians. He was also highly visible in condemning the mob violence against Christians in Gojra in August.

Update: Death by Committee

13th September 2009:  See article from dailytimes.com.pk

The National Assembly Standing Committee on Minorities called for an overall review of the blasphemy law on Saturday and formed a sub-committee to submit recommendations on the matter. The new committee will be headed by Pakistan People’s Party member Nafisa Shah and will submit recommendations on the matter.

Update: Presidential Support

23rd September 2009:  Based on article from asianews.it

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said that his government would ensure that the blasphemy law is not misused by anyone. He made the statement after a series of very serious episodes of religious intolerance and persecution and after a number of prominent political leaders asked for changes to the law.

Zardari discussed the issue in London, where he met Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and acknowledged that extremists were misusing the law.

The law punishes any offense against religion and anyone trying to convert others. Muslim extremists, often with the complicity of police and local authorities, have used it to persecute and jail non-Muslims, especially Christians, and moderate Muslims.

A wind of change appears to blowing across the country and even a sizable section of the press has come out against the law. In an editorial article, the Daily Times wrote on 17 September that Christians killed in the name of Islam never get justice. The only way an accused can be saved is to bundle him out of the country after releasing him on bail.

Another editorial that appeared on 18 September in the Dawn said that the Punjab government needs to take urgent steps to protect minorities in the province for the situation there is deteriorating. The centre, meanwhile, should start working towards the repeal of the blasphemy laws. For too long they have been used to settle personal scores, grab land and to kill. These draconian laws must be struck off the books.

In a bid to prevent their own honour killing, young lovers strangled their family after lacing chapatis with sedatives, a court was told

Informal village councils that dominate northern India came under scrutiny yesterday after the arrest of a 19-year-old girl and her lover who are accused of murdering seven of her family, including her parents and grandmother, because they would not let the couple marry.

Sonam and her boyfriend, Naveen, 20, were accused of drugging the victims with a sedative in their chapatis, and strangling them in their home in the northern state of Haryana on September 14.

Anil Kumar Rao, the superintendent of police in Rohtak, told The Times that Sonam and Naveen knew that the local khap panchayat, vllage council, would see their relationship as taboo because they came from the same gotra, a group descended from a common ancestor.

When Sonam's family learnt of the relationship they ordered her to break it off and sent her to a hostel, but she continued to meet Naveen, who enrolled at a nearby computer institute. Sonam's family then detained her at home, banning her from going out or having any interaction with outsiders. But she is said to have contacted her lover by mobile phone when her relatives were out, to plot the murders. After allegedly sedating her relatives, she called Naveen to help to strangle them with a piece of rope, then took a dose of sedative to send herself to sleep to provide an alibi.

A police spokesman admitted that she might have acted out of fear that the village council would order her own killing. It's definitely there in the minds of the people, he said.

Kirti Singh, the top lawyer at the All India Democratic Women's Association (Aidwa), also said that the police and courts should consider whether the couple's lives were threatened: It's like a case of domestic violence in which the wife kills the abusive husband, she said. Something has to be done urgently to stop khap panchayats from operating in this way, otherwise this kind of killing will only continue.

A UK sharia court judge, Suhaib Hasan, explains about islamic divorce in the UK.

The essence is that a man can divorce his wife at any time provided he has paid her a dowry.

However a woman who wants to divorce her husband she has to go via the court process. If she gets her request she has to pay her dowry back.

Hasan is calling that the dowry should be accommodated into UK law.

...Read full article

Shirley Chaplin, a committed Christian, has been told by her employers that she must hide or remove her cross or remain out of the hospital wards. Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital told her that she cannot wear the one-inch tall silver cross openly around her neck, because it breaches their uniform policy and poses a risk to patients.

While the Trust has banned the crucifix in its wards, it makes concessions for other faiths, including allowing Muslim nurses to wear headscarves on duty. She has been warned by her employers that she will be suspended if she does not comply with their request. There are fears that this would lead to her dismissal.

Chaplin says she has been shocked and distressed by the threat, which means she must choose between her faith and her job.

Chaplin will meet with hospital representatives tomorrow to discuss her future, but is taking the Trust to an employment tribunal, claiming that she has been targeted because of her faith: I feel that I'm being bullied and victimised because of my faith. I can't explain how important the cross is to me. It's how I express my faith. Being told to take it off has completely and utterly shaken me.

A spokesman for the NHS Trust said that the uniform policy meant that they were obliged to act over Mrs Chaplin's cross: The Trust considers the wearing of a necklace to be a risk, albeit small, within a clinical setting because patients, particularly those who may be confused, do sometimes grab for items when being moved.

The faith journey of a long-time underground Christian in Somalia ended in tragedy this week when Islamic militants controlling a security checkpoint killed him after finding Bibles in his possession.

Militants from the Muslim extremist al Shabaab killed 69-year-old Omar Khalafe on Sept. 15 at a checkpoint they controlled.

Leaving Mogadishu by bus, Khalafe was carrying 25 Somali Bibles he hoped to deliver to an underground fellowship in Somalia.  A source in Somalia who spoke on condition of anonymity told Compass that the passengers were ordered to disembark from the bus for inspection. The Islamic militants found 25 Somali Bibles in one of the passengers' bags; when they asked to whom the Bibles belonged, the passengers responded with a chilled silence.

As the search continued, the militants found several photos in the bag. The source told Compass that the militants began trying to match the photos with the faces of the passengers, who were all seized by fear as they knew the inevitable fate of the owner.

The Islamic extremists saw that the elderly Khalafe resembled a face in one of the photos, the source said. They asked Khalafe if he was the owner of the Bibles; he kept quiet.

They shot him to death.

Catholic school officials at Lady GaGa's New York old school are following anti-suicide groups by reportedly blasting her gory performance at the MTV Video Music Awards on 13th September.

The singer stunned the star-studded audience at the Big Apple ceremony with her most bizarre stage act to date with a shocking rendition of her hit Paparazzi.

GaGa danced with crutches alongside a wheelchair-bound performer while blood poured down her bare mid-riff. She was then surrounded by her dancers, who acted as if to mourn her death, before her lifeless and blood-spattered body was pulled up from the stage on a winch as the curtain came down.

The performance sparked criticism from teen suicide prevention group PAPYRUS, whose bosses accused her of romanticising suicide .

The singer later revealed that the quirky routine represented her private life being killed by the paparazzi.

However, GaGa, who attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart girls school as Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, has failed to justify her sensational show to the nuns who teach at the centre in Manhattan's Upper East Side. A source tells the New York Post, When someone showed the nuns a video of her bloody performance at Sunday night's VMA Awards, the good sisters were not amused.

Liverpool police enforcing 'No criticism of muslim belief' policy

A Christian couple have been charged with a criminal offence after taking part in what they regarded as a reasonable discussion about religion with guests at their hotel.

Ben and Sharon Vogelenzang were arrested after a Muslim woman complained to police that she had been offended by their comments.

They have been charged under public order laws with using threatening, abusive or insulting words that were religiously aggravated.

The couple, whose trial has been set for December, face a fine of up to £5,000 and a criminal record if they are convicted.

Although the facts are disputed, it is thought that during the conversation the couple were challenged over their Christian beliefs. It is understood that they suggested that Mohammed, the founder of Islam, was a warlord and that traditional Muslim dress for women was a form of bondage.

They deny, however, that their comments were threatening and argue that they had every right to defend and explain their beliefs.

The couple, who are members of the Bootle Christian Fellowship, and their solicitor, David Whiting, said they could not discuss the content of the conversation for legal reasons. But the independent lobby group, the Christian Institute, which has seen both the prosecution and defence legal papers, is supporting their defence.

In July they were arrested and charged under Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986 and Section 31 (1) (c) and (5) of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. They appeared briefly at Liverpool Magistrates Court on Friday to hear the date of their trial before magistrates, and were granted bail on the condition that they did not approach any of the witnesses expected to appear.

The use by the police of the Public Order Act to arrest people over offensive comments has dismayed a number of lawyers, who say the legislation was passed to deal with law and order problems in the streets.

Neil Addison, a prominent criminal barrister and expert in religious law, said: The purpose of the Public Order Act is to prevent disorder, but I’m very concerned that the police are using it merely because someone is offended. It should be used where there is violence, yobbish behaviour or gratuitous personal abuse. It should never be used where there has been a personal conversation or debate with views firmly expressed. If someone is in a discussion and they don’t like what they are hearing, they can walk away.’

He added that the police had a legal duty under the Human Rights Act to defend free speech and I think they are forgetting that.

A number of Church leaders in Liverpool have written to Keir Starmer, the Director of Public Prosecutions, voicing their concerns and pressing for the case to be dropped.

An Indonesian Muslim leader has criticized an Indonesian production company for inviting a Japanese adult video star to appear in its new film, a report said.

Indonesian media reported that porn star Maria Ozawa, also known as Miyabi, was to visit Indonesia next month for the shooting of a film titled Menculik Miyabi, or Kidnapping Miyabi, to be produced by Jakarta-based Maxima Pictures.

I suggest they not use the porn star, even if the film is not pornographic, Amidhan, chairman of the Indonesian Council of Muslim Scholars, was quoted as saying by the Detik.com news portal.

It could give Indonesia a bad image for inviting a porn star, said Amidhan. [...er killing lovers by barbaric stoning is what gives Indonesia a bad image]

In the film, the character played by Ozawa is kidnapped while visiting Jakarta by three Indonesian university students who are infatuated with her, according to the Okezone.com news website.

Update: Porn Star can Come

3rd October 2009. Based on article from news.asiaone.com

As debate rages over the planned visit to Indonesia by Japanese porn star Maria Miyabi Ozawa, Communications and Information Minister Mohammad Nuh has said no one can stop her from coming to the country.

As long as she doesn't do any porn activity in Indonesia, then legally, [her visit] can't be prohibited, Nuh said recently.

The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) has warned that Miyabi must never enter Indonesia, with MUI chairman Ma'aruf Amin saying Miyabi's reputation as a porn star could have an adverse effect on Indonesians.

Nuh noted that the group's opposition Miyabi is not about hatred, but is merely a call for morality.

Update: Porn Star Can't Come

14th October 2009. See article from thejakartaglobe.com

The controversial visit of Japanese porn star Miyabi to shoot a movie in Indonesia has been postponed until an undetermined date, one of the fim's producers said on Monday.

Oddi Mulya Hidayat, from Maxima Pictures, told the Jakarta Globe that after the production house's board of directors met with the film's creative team, they decided to postpone the visit of Miyabi, whose real name is Maria Ozawa, to Jakarta.

Her planned visit and cameo part in a local movie has sparked heated protests from conservative groups in recent weeks, with students in Kudus, Central Java, voicing their disapproval by setting fire to women's underwear on Monday.

Update: Not Our Doing

16th October 2009.  See article from google.com

Indonesia has denied media reports that it had banned a Japanese porn star from visiting the country to film a no-nudity comedy movie.

Culture and tourism ministry official Ukus Kuswara said the film's production company had voluntarily postponed 23-year-old Maria Miyabi Ozawa's visit this week due to pressures from religious groups.

We didn't issue any directive to ban Miyabi's visit to Indonesia, said Kuswara, the ministry's director general for motion pictures, responding to an article in the British press.

It was an initiative taken by the film producer, considering pressures from some groups which were causing a non-conducive environment, he added.

A Moroccan man campaigning to change the law banning eating in public during the Muslim Ramadan fast says he has received 100 death threats.

Radi Omar denied that his group was anti-Islam. We are in favour of individual freedom, he told the BBC.

Six of his colleagues are in custody after planning to eat in public last Sunday and he demanded their release.

The group, known as the Alternative Movement for Individual Freedoms (Mali), has more than 1,200 members on its Facebook site.

They planned a public defiance of the law at the train station in Mohammedia near Casablanca last Sunday but were dispersed by the police. The protesters were prevented from eating and so should not have been detained,  Omar said, adding that they have not been charged.

Under Moroccan law, eating in public during the hours of daylight, when Muslims are supposed to observe a fast, can lead to a fine and up to six months in prison.

Anti-abortion conservatives are proposing a new constitutional amendment that critics claim would make it a crime to take birth control pills in Florida.

The Personhood Amendment that conservative activists are filing today in Tallahassee would add language to the state constitution that defines someone as a person, regardless of age or health status, from the beginning of the biological development of that human being.

This, of course, is just another twist on the conventional argument by anti-choice groups that birth control pills are basically murder weapons. The pill will irritate the lining of the uterus so that the newly formed human being cannot attach to his/her mother's womb and dies, reads an explanation on the website of the American Life League, which is supporting similar efforts in other states. This is called a chemical abortion.

This is the same group that runs thepillkills.com, a site that focuses on blood clots and other health risks that birth control pills pose to women.

Even if these people manage to collect the 676,811 signatures they need to get by Feb. 1 in order for this idea to be considered by Florida residents, even anti-choice politicians seem to be a bit ambivalent about the idea of criminalizing birth control.

Denmark's Conservative Party shelved a proposal to ban the burka after lawyers warned it could violate human rights, the justice minister said.

The centre-right party is the junior member in a minority coalition government with the Liberals, which opposed banning the full body garment worn by some Muslim women.

Justice Minister Brian Mikkelsen, a Conservative, said government lawyers had advised a ban could breach the European Convention of Human Rights and the Danish constitution. It is clear to me as minister of justice ... that we cannot sign up to a project that raises such legal issues, he said in a statement. But Mikkelsen added that a working group had been set up by the government to explore other ways of fighting against the burka's spreading popularity in public places. The burka represents a view of women that has no place in Denmark, he said in the statement.

Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer has suggested repealing of the blasphemy law to protect the minorities.

The blasphemy law should be repealed to protect the religious minorities, particularly in the wake of increasing incidents of Christians’ persecution by religious extremists, he said this while replying to reporters’ queries.

...BUT...

Based on article from dailytimes.com.pk

Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said his party would protest if any changes were made to the country’s blasphemy laws, a private TV channel reported.

He said defending the blasphemy laws was the duty of every Muslim. According to the channel, Shujaat pledged that his party would resist any attempt to annul the law, adding that appropriate solution should instead be reached to prevent the abuse of blasphemy laws.

Amal Estephanos, a 19 year old Catholic Copt, was abducted in broad daylight on Saturday 12th September 2009, by a Muslim to force her father to accept reconciliation with the families of the Muslim murderers of his son Amir Stephanos.

In an interview with Osama Eid of Free Copts, Estephanos said his daughter Amal was kidnapped by the unemployed worker Ibrahim Ali Negm, after she was drugged and bundled into a pickup truck, with the assistance of village strangers. She was taken to Aswan City, to be forced to convert to Islam. This abduction was witnessed by several people..

Estephanos said the State Security has pressuring him to accept taking part in a reconciliation session with the family of the murderers, which he adamantly refuses. With this abduction, they want to humiliate me, and force me to cave in to their reconciliation efforts, he told Free Copts.

He appealed to President Mubarak saying I want my daughter back. It is enough what happened to my son Amir, whose blood is not yet dry.

Reports from Hegaza village indicate that Amal is in Aswan with one of the organizations specializing in forced Islamization of Copts, and that she may have been raped.

Free Copts reported that State Security is detaining the abductor's family until the Amal has been released. This unusual State Security assistance is possibly due to the intervention of Abdel-Rady Araby, member of the Egyptian Shura (Advisory) Council. He told Free Copts on 16th September 2009 that Amal's abduction was a blow to his efforts of reconciliation between the families. He said that he had arranged for a reconciliation meeting to be held on Monday 14th September only to learn that the abduction took place just two days before.

An engaged Muslim couple who tried to have sex in a car have been sentenced to be caned by a Sharia court in Malaysia.

Islamic religious police caught the couple wearing only their underwear in a car at an office parking area in May.

They pleaded guilty to trying to have sex out of wedlock and were sentenced to six strokes of the cane. They were also fined £1,000 each.

The couple, who plan to marry soon, are appealing against the caning but they have paid the fines.

A fugitive 'deviationist' sect leader who had proclaimed to be Rasul Melayu (Malay prophet), will spend Aidilfitri in prison.

Abdul Kahar Ahmad, who was nabbed by a team of Selangor Religious Department enforcement officers, will be held in custody at an undisclosed prison in Selangor.

Over the past three years, he had allegedly preached the deviationist Kahar Ahmad Teachings while playing hide-and-seek with the religious police.

Following the arrest, the Syariah High Court ordered that he be held in the prison, pending hearing of his case on Oct 7.

Twenty months on, and with more than 100,000 signatures from Independent readers seeking his release, Sayed Pervez Kambaksh, the Afghan student sentenced to death for the ‘crime’ of downloading information on women's rights, is free.

The Independent has learned that he is now living outside the country after being secretly pardoned by President Karzai.

Kambaksh was moved from his cell in Kabul's main prison a fortnight ago and kept at a secure location for a few days before being flown out of the country. Prior to his departure, he spoke of how his relief was mixed with deep regret at knowing he was unlikely to see his family or country again.

Only a handful of people were aware of the intensive diplomatic negotiations which took place behind the scenes to get Kambaksh out of jail, details of which cannot be revealed to protect those, Afghans and foreigners, who were involved.

According to senior officials Karzai has been well aware of how Kambaksh's case was reinforcing the negative image of his country abroad but also had to be mindful of not being seen to be bowing to Western pressure. Now his role in rectifying something which was widely seen as a miscarriage of justice will be lauded by the West, human rights groups and progressive opinion in Afghanistan. But he will face opposition from religious conservatives, which may prove electorally costly if there is a second-round run off at the polls.

Update: Angry Mullahs

9th September 2009. See article from independent.co.uk

Conservative and religious groups in Afghanistan reacted with fury yesterday to the news that Sayed Pervez Kambaksh, who was sentenced to death for promoting women's rights, has been freed.

After President Hamid Karzai secretly pardoned the 24-year-old student, hardliners called for an urgent ulama, a meeting of Islamic scholars, to organise protests against the decision.

Maulavi Hanif Shah Hosseini, a prominent mullah, declared: Kambaksh committed a crime against the Koran and the people who conspired so that he escaped the law have also committed a crime.

All the decisions to help this man who disrespected Islam are coming from the foreigners. But the decision to follow along with this came from Karzai and the Afghan government and we disown them. We are going to call for a gathering of the ulama to decide what to do. We are not going to make a big stand against this and any trouble will be the fault of people who helped Kambaksh.

Qari Rahmatullah, MP for Kunduz, said: This just shows that our country is not independent. Our policies are dictated by outsiders. Why should a man be allowed to insult Islam and then just walk away? And he added: Good Muslim people will be unhappy about this and Mr Karzai will have difficulties if the voting [in the election] goes to the second round.

Update: Angry Parliament

18th September 2009. Based on article from smh.com.au

Afghanistan's upper house of Parliament has condemned the presidential pardon of a journalist sentenced to 20 years in prison for downloading an internet article about women's rights and Islam.

The upper house expresses its strongest concerns and annoyance and considers this decision contrary to the Islamic values and the laws in place in the country, said the statement signed by the speaker of the upper house.

It called on Kambakhsh to serve his term, and said that those convicted of apostasy and hatred of Islam must be punished.

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said last week the case would be remembered as a miscarriage of justice marked by religious intolerance, police mistreatment and incompetence on the part of certain judges. Kabul must ensure that blasphemy is no longer used to bring politically motivated charges and to suppress free expression, it added.

A new Indonesian bylaw that endorses stoning to death for adultery and caning of up to 100 lashes for homosexuality should be repealed immediately, Amnesty International have said.

The new criminal bylaw flies in the face of international human rights law as well as provisions of the Indonesian constitution, said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific director: Stoning to death is particularly cruel and constitutes torture, which is absolutely forbidden under all circumstances in international law.

Indonesia’s central government has indicated that the law may contravene Indonesia’s existing human rights protections under the country’s constitution.

We welcome the concerns expressed by different levels of the Indonesian government about these laws, Zarifi said: But the proof is in the doing, and as long as these laws stay on the books they pose a serious threat to Indonesia’s international human rights obligations.

Amnesty International has urged Aceh's newly elected legislature, due to take office in October, to repeal the law as matter of urgent priority. Amnesty International has also called on the new legislature to ensure that all local regulations in Aceh are in full conformity with international human rights law and standards.

Supreme Court Review

Based on article from thejakartapost.com

Indonesia's Home Affairs Minister Mardiyanto says the government will ask the Supreme Court to review the Islamic criminal code newly-endorsed in Aceh, which condemns adulterers to death by stoning.

Mardiyanto said that he was coordinating with Justice and Human Rights Minister Andi Mattalatta, who is scrutinizing contentious articles in the bylaw endorsed by the Aceh legislative council.

The government and the public can voice their objections to the qanun [sharia bylaw]; they can demand the Supreme Court review the bylaw if they consider it wrong or improper. The government will no doubt do that, Mardiyanto said.

Aceh is part of Indonesia, so it must respect the Constitution and the laws of the country. And remember, Aceh should not be issuing bylaws that are detrimental to its people. Investors will refuse to come, people will be afraid to visit Aceh... They have to take those things into account.

A Muslim mob turned violent in Pakistan burning homes, setting one Church on fire and tortured Christians of Jhethe Key village while police opened fire on Christian protesters.

As news of attack on Christians spread in Sialkot city, hundreds of Christian youth gathered on a road which leads to village Jhethe Key. The Christians were demanding lift siege of village by the administration and allow them to visit their friends and relatives whose fate was unclear.

The Muslim radicals attacked Christians after a teenage girl of village accused a Christian boy to push her in street which supposedly caused her Quran to fall down a drain.

The Muslim cleric and lynch mob leader in village Jhethe Key announced at local mosque to gather and attack Christians who were accused of desecrating the Quran.

According to PCP sources, a Muslim mob torched homes and a Church. The Christians of village were also beaten and firearms were used by Muslim rioters.

The recent attack on Christians in village of Sialkot was preplanned by Muslim extremists and was the fourth such attack in two months. How many homes are burnt and how many Christians are injured by Muslims village Jhethe Key is unknown as a PCP correspondent was denied entry to village and Muslim owned electronic media are not covering the incident.

Update: Blasphemy Victim Murdered in Jail

16th September 2009. Based on article from christianpost.com

Robert Danish, a Pakistani Christian youth jailed for allegedly desecrating Quran was found dead inside prison on Saturday morning.

We believe he was killed by Muslim police officials, one of the relatives of the Christian youth was quoted as saying by Pakistan Christian Post. What has surprised Christians and the family of Robert is that he was killed in a special security zone of Sialkot Central Jail on Saturday.

The prison authorities are claiming that Danish killed himself.

Robert Danish, also known as Falish Masih was arrested by police on 11 September after Mohammad Asghar Ali, resident of village Jhethey Key lodged a complaint against him. Mohammad Asghar Ali, the village barber accused Robert Danish of pushing his daughter Hina Ali on the way, letting her drop the Quran in side-drain, thus desecrating the holy book of Muslim. It happened when Hina, who is also rumoured to have an affair Robert was coming home after Quran recitation.

Earlier, the Muslims of the village also accused Robert Danish of having an affair with Hina and threatening to kill him if he will not leave her, that may have prompted the girl’s father to implicate him, the report said.

Update: Violence at Funeral

18th September 2009. Thanks to Alan
Based on article from christianpost.com.
See also article from asianews.it

Violence broke out in certain parts of Pakistan even as Christians buried Robert Masih who was mysteriously found dead at his jail cell a day earlier in Sialkot, in the eastern province of Punjab.

Sources said hundreds of people attended Masih's funeral. Dozens of young mourners began pelting stones at police, who resorted to lathi-charge and fired tear gas into the crowd in Sialkot.

Reacting to the public outcry, the Punjab government Wednesday suspended jail superintendent and his deputy over Masih's death, according to Press Trust of India.

Pakistan Christian Congress (PCC) has given Pakistani official an ultimatum earlier this month to repeal the law by 25 September. Pakistani government last week said it is reviewing the blasphemy law, but gives no time-frame, causing more frustration for Christians.

PCC has demanded a full inquiry to the mysterious death of the Christian youth and the justice be brought to the family of the victims.

The inspector general of prisons for Punjab Province, Kokab Nadeem Warriach, declined to say whether he believed that Fanish’s death was allowed or perpetrated by police guards. He said in a telephone interview to the New York Times that three prison officials had been suspended, and that the investigation ordered by the provincial government would conclude this week.

A case has been filed in the Bombay High Court seeking a ban on the film Baabarr, released last week, for alleged negative portrayal of Muslims.

Questioning the censor board's clearance to the film, petitioner Amar Hussein Mukeri, a Mumbai-based businessman, has alleged that certain characters and incidents are clearly identifiable with real life personalities and the screening of the film may lead to public disharmony.

Contending that the Central Board of Film Certification should not have cleared the film for public viewing even with an adult 'A' certificate, the petitioner has objected to the depiction of Muslims as violent and antisocial.

Seeking an immediate ban on the film, the petitioner said it has hurt his religious sentiments and would evoke similar feelings among fellow Muslims.

The case will come up for hearing on September 17.

The trial of MP Geert Wilders, who is accused of discrimination and inciting hatred, will begin in January in Amsterdam.

Wilders has denied the charges and said at the weekend he wanted to put Islam on trial. That is why I am considering calling on radical imams and other idiots as witnesses, he told the Telegraaf.

This January, the public prosecution department said Wilders should face charges, a decision which was upheld by the high court in May.

A Malaysian Islamic court judge who ordered the first female caning in the country two months ago, has sentenced another Muslim to be caned for drinking alcohol.

Abdul Rahman Mohd Yunos, a sharia high court judge in Pahang state, ordered Nazarudin Kamaruddin to be jailed one year and be caned six times, the New Straits Times reported.

Nazarudin, a permanent resident from Indonesia, pleaded guilty to drinking alcohol on August 27 at a restaurant that was raided by officers from the Pahang religious department.

Muslims caught by religious authorities can be jailed three years and given six strokes of a rattan cane on top of a RM5,000 ($1,430) fine.

Nazarudin, who has been in jail since September 2 because he was unable to post bail, said he had financial difficulties and would not be able to pay a fine. His is the first victim in the state to be jailed for consuming alcohol in public.

The judge also accused Nazarudin of dishonouring the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan - which started on August 22 in Malaysia - by not fasting and by consuming alcohol in public. Abdul Rahman said the accused led an aimless life and did not have a steady job.

Muslim faithfuls from Masjid Hag mosque in Morogoroo, Tanzania are going around the town removing adverts with messages publicising entertainment activities during Eid el Fitri.

The Muslims at the mosque believe that encouraging people to go to dancing halls and bars on Eid is immoral and therefore against Islamic teachings. Ahamad Bawazir and Idd Mtulla, who are leading the 'operation' said they were determined to bring to an end the practice of promoting immorality during Eid.

A group of faithfuls from the mosque went around removing billboards and placards containing messages linking any entertainment activity with Eid. They complained about the on-going practice, where people use Muslim's holy day to promote immoral business.
Bawazir said celebrating Eid el Fitri by going to a dance hall or a place where taarab is played was not acceptable in Islam. He said they had decided to take matters into their own hands after the town authorities refused to act despite being asked to intervene.

The Land Cries Out for the Blood that Was Shed
Revelation TV, 23 June 2009, 15:30

Revelation TV is a UK-based Christian channel that features a range of programmes with a religious theme. Ofcom received a complaint about The Land Cries Out for the Blood that was Shed, objecting to the programme’s stance against abortion, and the showing of graphic images of aborted foetuses. The complainant was concerned that the programme had been broadcast in the afternoon and prior to a children’s programme called R Kids.

The programme was a documentary film, which consisted of commentary and interviews setting out facts, figures and opinions about abortion. All the interviewees (drawn mainly from anti-abortion organisations in the UK, the US and Israel) put forward arguments and opinions against abortion, with the views expressed being predominantly delivered from a Christian and Jewish perspective. During the programme, a range of images were shown, which depicted, in photographic form, aborted foetuses or the process of abortion. In summary, the Images consisted of the following:

• Firstly, montages  of still photographs of late-stage aborted foetuses shown three times during the programme lasting in excess of thirty seconds in total
• second, a number of times, brief but discernable “flash frames” of photographs of late-stage aborted foetuses, shown intermittently throughout the programme.

The programme also touched on: the legal situation pertaining to abortion in the UK, the US and Israel; and the United Nations policy concerning abortion. In addition, a number of interviewees gave their perspectives on the legal situation surrounding abortion in the above countries, and how it was being dealt with at the UN.

Ofcom considered Rules of the Code:

• Rule 1.3: Children must be protected by appropriate scheduling
• Rule 2.1: Generally accepted standards must be applied to the contents of
  television programmes
• Rule 2.3: Offensive material must be justified by the context and appropriate
  information should also be broadcast
• Rule 5.5: On matters of political controversy or relating to current public policy
  due impartiality must be preserved.

Ofcom Decision: Breach of Rules 1.3, 2.1, 2.3 & 5.5

Ofcom had two broad areas of concern about the programme:

Firstly, Ofcom noted that collectively the Images consisted of depictions in photographic form of late-stage aborted foetuses. Ofcom therefore had to consider whether by broadcasting the Images, Revelation TV had failed to ensure that people under eighteen were protected, and generally accepted standards were maintained.

Second, given that the programme was touching on and discussing Governmental and international policy on abortion, Ofcom had to consider whether Section Five of the Code (concerning due impartiality) was engaged, and if so, whether due impartiality was maintained on a matter of political or industrial controversy or matter relating to current public policy.

Ofcom considered the Images collectively as being highly problematic, with real potential to cause harm and offence, including harm to any children watching.

Firstly, the Montages consisted of extremely graphic still photographs showing full images of different late stage aborted foetuses outside of the womb. These images included severed body parts including heads and limbs. Given the very explicit nature of these photographs, and the length of time they were visible to viewers, Ofcom considered the Montages had the greatest potential to cause harm and offence, including harm to any children watching. There were similar concerns about the graphic nature of the Flash Frames which included some of the same stills in the Montages.

This programme was broadcast well before the 9pm Watershed, and in fact, at a time when children would be arriving home from school. It also was broadcast only a short time before one of Revelation TV’s programmes aimed at children (R Kids). Ofcom therefore considered that there was a material chance that some children might be in the audience for The Land Cries Out. Ofcom considered that the strength and highly graphic nature of the Images were totally unacceptable to be broadcast at a time when children might have been watching. The highly graphic nature of the Montages in particular, would have had, in Ofcom’s opinion, the likely potential to have caused distress and upset amongst any child viewers exposed to such material. As a consequence, Ofcom considered the content to be in breach of Rule 1.3.

Ofcom considered that a combination of the Images, and in particular, the Montages, could not be justified by the context given the time of broadcast and the failure to provide adequate information about the nature of the programme, and were, therefore, in breach of Rules 2.1 and 2.3.

Outside of news programmes, under Section Five of the Code, broadcasters must ensure that they preserve “due impartiality” on matters relating to political or industrial controversy or matters relating to current public policy. Having reviewed the programme, Ofcom noted that The Land Cries Out contained no opinions or viewpoints that could be portrayed as being from a pro-abortion stance. Ofcom therefore considered the programme to be in breach of Rule 5.5.

Ofcom considered these breaches of the Code to be serious.

MPs have passed a law to stone to death married adulterers in the Indonesian province of Aceh.

The law, which will come into effect in 30 days, also decrees that homosexuals could be caned and jailed for eight years.

Those convicted of rape or consuming alcohol could be face up to 200 lashes of the cane meted out in public.

The 69-seat house in the semi-autonomous province voiced no reservations over the new law, an extension of the Sharia code already in force.

The new law imposes tough sentences and fines, to be paid in kilograms of gold, for rape and paedophilia.

But the most severe article was on adultery, which orders that offending married couples can be punished by at least 100 lashes, up to the harshest punishment of being stoned to death.

The provincial government initially proposed the new law, but now opposes some of the new clauses added by parliament.

But Bustanul Arifin, secretary of Aceh parliament's special committee for drafting the law, and a member of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), was unrepentant: We feel that it is time now for people to understand the real meaning of Sharia.

The Coptic Church of Saint Paul and Saint Peter in the town of Shebin el Kom was burnt on 9/1/2009, No casualties were reported.

There were conflicting reports as to the cause of the fire, the Egyptian police claimed that it was caused by a "short circuit" even before carrying out an arson investigation, while others believe it was arson.

Church authorities are keeping tight-lipped over the fire and refusing to comment before the results of the investigation are out. According to Free Copts, the priest and witnesses dismissed the possibility of an electric short circuit or a candle as the cause of the fire.

The fire started at about 3:00 PM, when the church was closed, after having had a morning service. It began at the central entrance door and spread inside to damage the church's interior. When the fire brigade arrived, the inside of the church was completely gutted.

Several sources close to the church were interviewed, who asked to remain anonymous, believed that the fire was arson, caused by Muslim neighbors who were against having the church in their vicinity. They said that they have received numerous threats to have the Church firebombed. We were enraged when they told us that the police report would be issued, as usual, blaming a short circuit for causing the fire, or in the worst scenario the arsonists would get off scot-free through the State Security's unofficial reconciliation meetings, in which Copts are forced to give up their rights for criminal charges, said one church member.

Coptic News Bulletin aired an audio with members of the Church who said that two Muslim men were always hovering near the Church since its inauguration a year ago, threatening and intimidating the congregation. Everytime the Church priest reported them to the State Security, they disappeared for a while before coming back with more threats, said a Church member.

The Censor
Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff
16-19th September, 8pm
Call 029 2030 4400 for tickets

Challenging and unsettling, the latest production from controversial theatre group Faction Collective looks set to spark plenty of debate. But, as director Chris Durnall says, that’s exactly what they want

Featuring pornographic films, frank discussion of sexual acts and a shocking denouement, The Censor is not what you would call an easy watch.

Being staged by Faction Collective, the theatre company formed to perform writer Patrick Jones’ 2008 play Revelation, the roots of the decision to bring The Censor, by Scottish playwright Anthony Neilson, to Cardiff next week lie in an incident that took place late last year.

Patrick Jones was due to read a selection of his poetry at a Cardiff branch of Waterstone’s. This was cancelled after some protests by a Christian pressure group, Stephen Green’s Christian Voice, and after some Assembly Members took up the cause they held the reading at the Senedd.

Director Chris Durnal said: So when we started looking around for something to perform this year, The Censor seemed an obvious choice as it picks up on some of the issues surrounding that whole incident.

The play deals with the burgeoning relationship between a female director of pornography and a film censor and the effect this has on his wife. The Censor features what can only be politely described as quite a supremely unsettling coup de theatre involving an act normally performed in the solitude of the smallest room.

A new search engine, called ImHalal.com, aims to protect the sensibilities of Muslims by filtering out content that is 'haram' or forbidden by the faith.

The site will warn people if they are searching for a query that might return explicit content, site-founder Reza Sardeha said.

Besides developing the search technology, Sardeha and others in his team, based in the Netherlands, have also introduced a two layer filter.

When users get a haram rating of level one or two out of three, they are advised to choose another keyword to search, but they can still continue their search if they believe the results fetched will be clean, Sardeha said.

Words like 'porn' and 'rape' are considered to be at a rating of three, and are blocked, he added. Terms like beer and pork, however, get a haram rating of one because users cannot consume them off the internet.

Sitting on the floor, wearing traditional Islamic clothes and holding an old notebook, Abu Hamizi, 22, spends at least six hours a day searching internet chatrooms linked to gay websites. He is not looking for new friends, but for victims.

It is the easiest way to find those people who are destroying Islam and who want to dirty the reputation we took centuries to build up, he said. When he finds them, Hamizi arranges for them to be attacked and sometimes killed.

Made up of hardline extremists, Hamizi's group and others like it are believed to be responsible for the deaths of more than 130 gay Iraqi men since the beginning of the year alone.

The deputy leader of the group, which is based in Baghdad, explained its campaign using a stream of homophobic invective. Animals deserve more pity than the dirty people who practise such sexual depraved acts, he told the Observer: We make sure they know why they are being held and give them the chance to ask God's forgiveness before they are killed.

The killings are brutal, with victims ritually tortured. Azhar al-Saeed's son was one. "He didn't follow what Islamic doctrine tells but he was a good son," she said. Three days after his kidnapping, I found a note on my door with blood spread over it and a message saying it was my son's purified blood and telling me where to find his body.

She went with police to find her son's remains: We found his body with signs of torture, his anus filled with glue and without his genitals. I will carry this image with me until my dying day.

Muslims in Indonesia's staunchly Islamic province of Aceh could be publicly stoned for committing adultery under a new law that the autonomous province's legislature is scheduled to pass next Monday.

With partial syariah law already in place under the autonomy accorded to end three decades of separatist conflict, Aceh looks set to take a giant and controversial step with the law, the Jakarta Globe reported.

The new legislation also mandates that single Muslims caught having premarital sex will get 100 lashes.

The plan has received support from some groups, but criticisms from others who said it might be illegal under Indonesian law. There is also the view that Aceh should be fixing its governance and not introducing such laws.

The plan will add to other laws already in place in some regions, pointing to creeping Islamisation in Indonesia.

The new Aceh punishments are part of a regional regulations Bill on local customs regarding Islamic crimes that the Aceh provincial legislature will endorse, said Raihan Iskandar, deputy chairman of the body.

Update: Barbaric Debate

13th September 2009. Based on article from abc.net.au

Indonesia's staunchly Muslim Aceh province asked provincial politicians to hold off including stoning to death as a punishment for married adulterers in a new bill set to pass into law.

Aceh's provincial parliament is scheduled to pass the new strict form of Islamic criminal law on Monday.

For the time being, we do not agree that stoning people to death should be included in the punishment for married adulterers, Aceh provincial secretary Husni Bahri Top said: There should be an in-depth assessment based on various sources in the Koran, opinions from Islamic preachers and an assessment of the techniques for how to implement it.

The bill currently stipulates that unmarried people who commit adultery should be caned one hundred times and married people should be stoned to death.

On August 30, 2009 Egyptian police forces in the town of Aswan, launched an unprecedented and unconstitutional campaign to enforce the Ramadan fast, arresting 150 for publicly eating, drinking or smoking.

These arrests were seen by many as a step closer towards adopting an Egyptian model of the Saudi Arabian Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice religious police.

There is no such offence in the Egyptian law, said lawyer Khaled Ali, executive director of the Hisham Mubarak Law Center. The Interior Ministry, to justify the arrests, has twisted "violating public decency," which is punishable under Egyptian law, by making eating and drinking publicly in Ramadan to fall under this category.

Faced with a public outcry, the Ministry of Interior denied the arrests, and the Aswan head of Criminal Investigations stated, contrary to published reports, that the arrests never happened at all.

Coptic lawyer and activist, Mamdouh Ramzy called on the Minister of Interior to investigate the police officers involved in these campaigns, and failing that, Ramzy threatened to file a complaint with the Attorney General.

Ramzy fears that Egypt is becoming another Taliban State, and described the Interior Ministry's actions as persecution of Christians, who naturally don't fast during Ramadan and are prone to arrests. He cites these actions as strong evidence of the radicalization of the Egyptian police forces.

A Belfast church has won the right to legally challenge a decision to ban a newspaper advertisement which described sodomy as an abomination.

Sandown Free Presbyterian Church took the full-page advertisement, which was headlined The word of God against sodomy, in the News letter. It appeared in the paper once ahead of last year's Belfast Gay Pride parade.

However, the Advertising Standards Authority banned it from appearing again after receiving seven complaints. The authority said the advertisement was homophobic.

The High Court has now said that there was an arguable case that the church's rights to religious belief and freedom of expression had been breached. Mr Justice Weatherup also found that Sandown may have been denied the chance to offer an explanation to the Advertising Standards Authority before the ban was imposed.

Lawyers for Sandown said the case centred on his client's ability to use the Bible in its public witness teaching. They claimed the authority was mistaken in its interpretation of a quotation from the Book of Leviticus which described homosexual acts an abomination. They said the description applied to sodomy itself rather than any individuals: This is the classic evangelical position between loving the sinner and hating the sin.

Advertisements sponsored by the Israeli government that suggest Jewish people who marry out of their faith are lost or dead have been pulled from TV schedules, amid uproar.

The Hebrew language adverts start with a wide pan of railway tracks accompanied by mournful music – evoking for many viewers the tracks leading to death camps where Jews were exterminated by the Nazis in the Second World War.

They then show posters in English, French and Russian of young people with Jewish-sounding names. The posters are dominated by one word: Lost. More than 50 per cent of Jewish youths abroad assimilate and become lost, says a voiceover. It urges viewers to call a number and report the names and contact information of Jewish youths abroad who can be saved by being brought to Israel to strengthen their Jewish identity.

The ads were co-sponsored by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office with the aim of bringing to Israeli Jews aged 18-30 for a year of study and volunteering on a programme known as masa – Hebrew for journey.

But they have struck a raw nerve among liberal Jews, who say they show a lack of understanding of conditions for Jews in the West, where intermarriage does not always mean the end of Jewish affiliation.

It's telling Israelis that Jews in the diaspora are second-class Jews, said rabbi Gilad Kariv, director of the Israeli Movement for Progressive Judaism: This is an entirely negative campaign.

Israeli historian Gershom Gorenberg added: I don't think who a Jewish student in Boston is dating is the business of the prime minister of Israel.

Despite the row, organisers say the ad campaign is a big success and they have been inundated with thousands of calls from Israelis asking that their relatives abroad be contacted.

Somali Islamists publicly chopped off the right hands of two men in Mogadishu, a sign the hardline Shebab militia is imposing Sharia law in areas of the capital under its control.

The Sharia court found the two men guilty of breaking into houses and stealing property. They admitted to the charges against them, said Sheikh Abdibasit Mohamed, an Islamic court judge in the north of Mogadishu: Therefore each one of them gets his right hand amputated according to the Islamic Sharia.

The two men in their late 20s screamed loudly as the punishment was administered by knife, and were taken to hospital for treatment. A teenager was also publicly punished, receiving 100 lashes over allegations that he raped a young girl.

A Bulgarian religious official has claimed a Madonna gig was to blame for a boating accident which killed 15 people.

Nikolay, the metropolitan of Bulgarian city Plovdiv, says he is angered that the September 5 leg of the star's Sticky & Sweet tour took place.

Locals are expected to commemorative the anniversary of the beheading of John The Baptist on that day.

Demanding it should have been spent in contemplation rather than enjoyment, he cited the tragedy on Lake Ohrid, which saw a pleasure boat crash with many fatalities.

The catastrophe in Macedonia in which 15 Bulgarian citizens died was a sign from heaven, claimed Nikolay.

The Orthodox Church had called for people not to enjoy themselves on the day marking the execution of John. We should not allow the young to have fun on a day that should be dedicated to spiritual reflection, he insisted.

The Danish Member of Parliament Martin Henriksen suggests that Denmark demands Islamic countries to issue an apology for oppression of women, stoning and assaults on civil liberties.

In response to the frequent Islamic demands for apologies and withdrawals, the latest being from the Saudi lawyer Faisal A.Z. Yamani towards Danish newspapers reprinting the Muhammad cartoons, the Danish Peoples' Party now takes aim in the opposite direction.

- I demand an apology for oppression of women, stoning, intimidation of adherents of other beliefs, violation of civil liberties, and not least the extensive contempt for Danish culture and democracy, Danes and Westerners, says social issues spokesman Martin Henriksen, who is seriously weary of Islamic countries and organisations repeatedly demanding Denmark and the Danes to apologize.

- I would like to simply return the ball to their court and demand some apologies from them. We could issue a form letter every time a new incident appears, says Martin Henriksen, who has already drafted such a letter:

We thank you for your enquiry concerning a possible apology for a cartoon issued in Danish newspapers some years ago. We have considered the issue, also from a historical perspective, and conclude that we are not in a position to process your request before the Western world has received the following:

1. An apology for the massive repression of women.
2. A full stop of stoning, whipping and hanging for violation of Sharia law.
3. An apology for and full abandonment of: Persecution of adherents of other faiths, extensive riots and destruction in Western countries having received refugees and immigrants.

When James Katana returned from a church service to his village in the Bugiri district of eastern Uganda he was told that his three-year old son had been taken away by strangers.

We were looking for my child for hours, but we couldn't find him. Someone rang me and told me my son was dead and had been left in the forest. I ran there and saw him lying in a pool of blood. His genitals had been cut off, but he was still alive.

A witch-doctor is now in police custody, accused of the abduction and attempted murder of the boy.

Despite the mutilation and terror the child experienced, police say he was one of the lucky ones. Uganda has been shocked by a surge in ritualistic murders and human sacrifice, with police struggling to respond and public hysteria mounting at each gruesome discovery.

In 2008 more than 300 cases of murder and disappearances linked to ritual ceremonies were reported to the police with 18 cases making it to the courts. There were also several high-profile arrests of parents and relatives accused of selling children for human sacrifice.

In January this year the Ugandan government appointed a special police taskforce on human sacrifice and announced that 2,000 officers were to receive specialist training in tackling child trafficking with the support of the US government. Since the taskforce was set up there have been 15 more murders linked to human sacrifice with another 200 disappearances, mainly of children and young adults, under investigation.

This year we have had more occurrences of people attempting to sell their children to witch-doctors as part of ritual ceremonies to guarantee wealth and prosperity, said Moses Binoga, acting commissioner of the anti-human sacrifice and trafficking taskforce.
Both police and NGOs are attributing the surge to a new wave of commercial witch-doctors using mass media to market their services and demand large sums of money to sacrifice humans and animals for people who believe blood will bring great prosperity.

Jussi Halla-aho, a member of the Helsinki City Council, has been found guilty of defamation of religion by the Helsinki District Court. He was ordered to pay a fine of 330 euros. However, the court dismissed a charge of inciting hatred against an ethnic group.

Prosecutor Simo Kolehmainen said Halla-aho had publicly defamed the Islamic faith in his blog writings. Halla-aho has also written derogatory statements about Somali immigrants on his internet site.

The prosecutor said Halla-aho’s writings insulted Muslims residing in Finland and endangered religious peace.

Halla-aho admitted to writing the comments, but denied that they were intended to defame. He said the comments had been taken out of context, adding that he was not guilty of any criminal offence.

Responding to the case, Minority Ombudsman Johanna Suurpää told YLE that monitoring of the web is still scanty and that there are few clear rules about what kinds of statements are legal. Bringing someone to justice for online slander seems to happen randomly, she says. Suurpää says that clearer laws are needed, noting that hate speech has an impact on the everyday lives of minorities.

Update: Logic vs Nonsense

17th November 2009.  See article from hs.fi

In the view of the court Halla-aho's arguments were not sincere, even though they appeared logical. The court also stated that logic has no significance when religious questions are involved. According to the court, Halla-aho had no intention of holding a proper discussion on negative aspects of the Islamic faith, but to desecrate the sacred values of the religion under the guise of freedom of speech. According to the court, the statement has a tendency to feed religious intolerance.

 

Scientology has called upon the Australian Government to censor the internet and media locally in direct response to protests from Anonymous.

In a long, rambling submission made to the Australian Human Rights Commission made earlier this year, the 'Church' attacks Anonymous calling them, among other things, a hate group of cyberterrorists that is engaged in a malicious campaign of hate that is an anathema to democracy.

The submission states:

In Australia Anonymous have mounted a sustained campaign of misinformation against the Church. As we are a minority religion with the vast majority of the population unaware of our true beliefs and humanitarian programs, their campaign has no justifiable purpose and violates the Church of Scientology’s and parishioners rights to human dignity and religious freedom under the Constitution.

Scientology wants the Internet and media in Australia censored to prevent any negative stories being told about the church, and more, including:

• Banning the use of domain name registration anonymity tools such as WhoisGuard by sites who talk about the church
• The introduction of criminal sanctions for vilification of religion, including jail time for serious religious vilification.
• The prohibition of concealing ones identity with a mask by people engaged in campaigns of harassment and vilification against religions (which they specifically mean Guy Fawkes masks.)

The statement gets worse:

It is recommended that a law be enacted to prevent the dissemination of antireligious propaganda in the media, which is based on unfounded hearsay and either known or reasonably known to be untruthful. Such dissemination shall be the subject of a civil penalty provision in favour of the defamed Church, and/or its individual parishioners if they are individually named or otherwise identified.

A Sudanese woman who was imprisoned for wearing trousers deemed indecent has been released after the country's journalist union paid a $200 fine on her behalf.

Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein, who had been found guilty of flouting the country's decency laws, said after being released that the fine had been paid without her permission.

I am not happy. I told all my friends and family not to pay the fine, she said.

A Khartoum court on Monday ordered al-Hussein to pay a fine or face a month in jail, but she was spared a possible penalty of 40 lashes. Al-Hussein refused to pay, preferring to go to jail as a means of challenging Sudan's public order act.

In Islam, there are only men and women, there are no transsexuals, and this is an Islamic country so that makes life very difficult for us, says Tasha who has been cross-dressing since she was a child.

Like many transsexuals in Malaysia, a conservative and mostly Muslim country, the clash between ID card and appearance means Tasha is shunned by employers, and forced to make her living as a sex worker.

It's a hard life, people don't like us, they're always making fun of us, she says as she prepares for another night in the grimy alleyways of Chow Kit, the red light district of the capital Kuala Lumpur.

Enforcement officials from the Islamic Affairs Department (JAWI) -- notorious for swooping on nightclubs and motels in search of Muslims drinking or having extramarital sex -- regularly descend on the streets of Chow Kit.

Sex workers are sent scattering on their high heels, and those who are caught and hauled off face jail or intensive counselling sessions like a two-week interrogation Tasha once endured.

Although she is on the margins of society, she continues to perform the Muslim prayers, fasts during the holy month of Ramadan, and respected her mother's wish that she not undergo sex-change surgery. Of course I still believe I'm a Muslim, it's just that the religion cannot accept us transsexuals, she says: Why can't Islam accept us? We are human beings as well. I am also one of God's creations.

It was not always this way for transsexuals in Malaysia, where they are known as mak nyah. Until the early 1980s transsexuals were usually accepted in Malaysia, they could go for a sex change and amend their identity card, says Teh Yik Koon from the National Defence University who has written a book on mak nyahs.

But in 1983 a fatwa, or Islamic ruling, that prohibited gender-reassignment surgery as well as cross-dressing was imposed on all Malaysian Muslims.

Influential Islamic cleric Harussani Zakaria, who helped establish the 1983 fatwa, defended the strict approach and said that transsexuals should use their willpower and adopt a traditional lifestyle: You cannot be transsexual, you are either a woman or a man. Why do they want to go against Allah?. If God has created you as a boy, then act like a boy.

A Sudanese woman has said that she would continue her campaign of defiance after being convicted by a court of indecency for wearing trousers in public.

Lubna Hussein said she would refuse to pay the 500 Sudanese pound (£127) fine imposed on her by a judge who ruled that she should not face a punishment of 40 lashes.

Hussein was among 13 women arrested in July during a raid at a party by the police in Khartoum. Ten of the women were fined and flogged two days later. But Hussein and two others decided to go to trial.

I will not pay a penny, said Hussein, who stated last week that she would rather go to jail than pay any fine. I won't pay, as a matter of principle. I would spend a month in jail. It is a chance to explore the conditions of jail.

Amnesty International has called on the Sudanese government to withdraw the charges against Hussein and repeal the indecency law, which it said justifies abhorrent penalties.

The case is being seen as a test of Sudan's Islamic decency regulations, which many female activists claim are too vague and give undue latitude to individual police officers to determine what is acceptable clothing.

Lubna has given us a chance. She is very brave. Thousands of girls have been beaten since the 1990s, but Lubna is the first one not to keep silent, one protester, Sawsan Hassan el-Showaya, told Reuters.

About 150 protesters – most of them women, including some in trousers – had gathered on a traffic island to wave banners outside the court, hemmed in by security guards and riot police. The women were later confronted by dozens of men in traditional Islamic dress who shouted religious slogans and denounced Hussein and her supporters, describing them as prostitutes and demanding harsh punishment for Hussein.

Hussein's lawyer, Nabil Adib Abdullah, has said the law on indecent dress is so wide that it contravenes a person's right to a fair trial. Hussein challenged the charges, arguing that her clothes were respectable, so she did not break the law.

The Church of England has dropped a legal action against a photographer who used a sacred altar for an erotic photoshoot.

The pictures were of semi-naked models cavorting around a graveyard and inside the church were taken at St Michael Penkivel Church in Cornwall. One photo showed two models, called Kate and Bex, fondling each other on a cloth-draped altar, another showed a partially-clothed woman lying on a grave.

The Diocese of Truro launched legal action against photographer Andy Craddock for trespass and not having permission to take photographs. It also accused him of blasphemy - despite the laws being abolished under the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act in May 2008.

A solicitor's letter from Reverend Andrew Yates at the church ordered him to remove the photos from his website within 24 hours, and begin destruction of all copies of the images in your possession or under your control.

But Mr Craddock - who takes erotic fetish snaps during secret photoshoots at churches across the UK - ignored the letter and calls from the church's solicitors Michelmores. He claimed they were powerless to stop him, and defended the photos as art.

The 13th century church has now dropped the case. Jeremy Dowling, a spokesman for the Diocese of Truro, told Sky News Online: The case has been dropped. We thought it would be better to do that rather than give Mr Craddock continued publicity.

The text message forwarded to me from my younger sister Saira was concise and chilling: Mum's sent a hit man to kill you, it read. Be careful.

As I read those words, my first instinct wasn't fear or even shock, but simply survival.

I'd become accustomed to behaviour like this from both my parents - behaviour that anyone else would find abhorrent - and I was emotionally numb to their threats.

But I also knew that my sister's warning was deadly serious and my life was in real danger. I'd been in hiding for several weeks when I received the text.

...Read full article

Anjem Choudary has predictably demanded that author Sebastian Faulks be tried before an Islamic court where the penalty could be possible execution.

He said the bestselling novelist should be hauled before a Sharia court to answer charges that he had insulted the Prophet Mohammed by describing the Koran as the rantings of a schizophrenic.

Although the bestselling author has since apologised, Islam4UK a radical group associated with Choudary and his mentor, the banned cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed, posted an article on its website entitled, Sebastian Faulks on a Death Wish? It concludes: May Allah punish the oppressors and deal with the slanderers.

Choudary, a former supporter of banned extremist group Al-Muhajiroun, denied writing the article, but said he agreed with its content.

He’s not the first person to insult the Prophet. You can see with Theo van Gogh and Salman Rushdie and whole host of other people that it does have those consequences. There are many people out there who do like to take things into their own hands. Someone like this needs to be assessed in an Islamic court of law and if he’s found guilty then there would be capital punishment. It would have to be assessed by an Islamic judge, but that could only happen in an Islamic state where the Sharia is implemented.

Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens, of the Centre for Social Cohesion, said: Choudary and his followers are seeking to impose their will on the population of this country through subversion and incitement to violence. Their latest veiled threats to Sebasitan Faulks serve to provide us with yet another example of the extremist threat posed by this organisation. The weakness of Choudary’s fascist ideology could not be better illustrated than by his inability to provide an intellectual response to criticism, instead resorting to veiled threats and intimidation.

Pakistani police has arrested two Christians for eating during the Islamic fasting season of Ramadan in the city of Sillanwali in Punjab province, International Christian Concern (ICC) reported.

According to ICC, two Christians - Gull Masih and Ashir Sohail were traveling to Lahore, the provincial capital in a bus. When their bus stopped at the Bismillah Hotel on the way to let off passengers, the waiter served them tea and a snack, at this point several policemen started to question them as to why they were desecrating Ramadan by eating during the Islamic fasting season. The two Christians told the police that since they are Christians, they are not supposed to fast during Ramadan.

The report said, the police then threw them in a van and took them to the Sillanwali police station and registered a case against them, alleging that the Christians desecrated the Islamic fasting month. Later the police transferred the Christians to the district jail in Sargodha.

Now their case is pending before a court, it said.

ICC, a non-profit and inter-denominational human rights organisation, dedicated to assisting and sustaining Christians who are victims of persecution and discrimination due to practicing their faith around the world has strongly condemned the arrest of the Christian duo.

Forcing Christians to fast during the Islamic fasting month is both outrageous and a clear violation of freedom of religion. We call upon Pakistani officials to immediately release Gull and Ashir and take appropriate legal measures against police officers who detained them, said ICC’s Jonathan Racho.

The Malaysian government has reversed a ban on Muslims attending a concert by the Black Eyed Peas in Kuala Lumpur.

Officials had imposed the ban because the show is being sponsored by Irish beer giant Guinness.

A culture ministry official said the ban was lifted late last week but did not give any further details as to why.

Government regulations forbid alcohol firms from organising public concerts, but the Black Eyed Peas gig had been allowed in order to boost tourism.

Muslims account for nearly 60% of Malaysia's 27 million people and they are barred from consuming alcohol under threat of a jail, a fine and a caning. This applies also to muslim visitors from other countries.

An Arab organisation is to be put on trial in the Netherlands over its publication of a cartoon deemed offensive to Jews, prosecutors say.

The cartoon, published by the Arab European League (AEL) on its website, questions the Holocaust.

It said the decision to prosecute illustrated bias against Muslims.

It said the same standards were not applied to the Dutch MP Geert Wilders, who made a film including cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. However, he is still being investigated separately for inciting hatred against Muslims by making statements comparing Islam to Nazism.

But Dutch prosecutors said the AEL cartoon was discriminatory and offensive to Jews as a group... because it offends Jews on the basis of their race and/or religion.

The cartoon shows two men standing near a pile of bones at Auswitch (sic). One says I don't think they're Jews. The other replies: We have to get to the six million somehow.

A spokeswoman for the prosecuting authority said the group could be fined up to 4,700 euros (£4,100), though in theory a prison sentence was also possible.

AEL chairman Abdoulmouthalib Bouzerda said the charges proved what Muslims have been saying for decades. Freedom of expression is only a pretext to make life bitter for Muslims... and if [they] try to bring this hypocrisy to light, that right is denied them.

The AEL says it does not deny the facts of the Holocaust but posted the cartoon as an act of civil disobedience. It said it had agreed to remove it from its site, but reversed that decision to protest over the failure to prosecute Geert Wilders.

Enter the super censors. Religious censors are forcing Indian filmmakers to arrange pre-release screenings and modify their movies pre or even post release, with the filmmakers readily complying to avoid bombs going off, street protests and all kinds of trouble.

Not even the Censor Board can evoke such compliance from our Bollywood types. In fact, this authorised body gets a much more belligerent response when it does object to something, with filmmakers crying hoarse about the need to do away with censorship in a democracy, and how they don’t understand why the body can’t keep up with the changing times. Is the censor board becoming increasingly marginal to the process of censorship?

It was objections by Sikh bodies that made Vipul Shah reshoot portions of Singh Is Kinng, with the ‘guidance’ of Sikh leaders, and Akki had to prostrate himself at the Rakabganj Gurudwara in Delhi to ask for forgiveness for the sin of making the film.

Jo Bole So Nihaal ignored such ‘objections’ and got a few bomb blasts for it.

Other Examples:

• Dil Bole Hadippa
  The Sikh community is protesting against – 1) The use of the Sikh small turban, 2) Rani’s character being portrayed as strong but foolish, 3) Promos depicting it as a tale of turbans, twists and tricks.
   
• Love Aaj Kal
  Objections were raised by the Sikh community to Saif’s trimmed beard in the film and a few romantic scenes set in a gurudwara.
   
• Kambakkht Ishq
  Hindu Jan Jagruti Samiti said the song Om Mangalam includes lyrics of a religious song, which was deemed offensive
   
• Kaminey
  Priests at the Jagannath temple have alleged blasphemy, and the Jagannath Sena Sangathan has filed an FIR against the director and producers. There’s a scene in the film in which ‘Apna haath, Jagannath’ is written on a toilet door, with a photograph of a scantily-clad woman alongside.
   
• Jo Bole So Nihaal
  There were two blasts at a couple of Delhi halls after the SGPC accused the film of misusing a Sikh religious term and showing a Sikh character being chased by scantily clad women

A controversial Fatwa prohibiting the construction of new churches in Egypt has provoked considerable discussion and spiraled into a crisis, involving the Fatwa Council, Al-Azhar Grand Sheikh, Christian and Muslim religious personalities, and the media.

It was also reported on 8/26/2009 that the jurists who issued the Fatwa are under investigation on orders of the Grand Mufti and the Justice Minister.

The Fatwa in question was issued by the Al-Azhar affiliated Dar el-Eftta -- Fatwa Council for Islamic interpretations of laws in Islam. It stated the will of a Muslim towards building a Church is a sin against God, just as if he left his inheritance towards building a nightclub, a gambling casino, or building a barn for rearing pigs, cats or dogs.

It was issued in response to an inquiry sent to the Fatwa Council by Dr. Naguib Gabraeel, President of the Egyptian Union Human Rights Organization (EUHRO), asking its opinion as to what he read in an article written by a prominent writer about what was stated in a textbook taught to third year students, Muslims and Christians, at the Faculty of Law, Cairo University, on Inheritance and execution of wills. Gabraeel's inquiry pertained specifically to a quotation from the textbook: it is forbidden for a person to donate money for what would lead to sin, such as donating in his will money towards build a church, a nightclub, a gambling casino, towards promoting the alcohol industry or for building a barn for rearing pigs, cats or dogs. He went on to inquire So what is the Shari'a position to what was mentioned especially concerning the will of a Muslim to donate for the building of a church or a monk's cell? If the answer is prohibition, aren't these houses ! where the name of God is mentioned? Is not Christianity a recognized religion according to the Egyptian constitution? There are also a lot of wealthy Copts and Coptic businessmen who donate towards the building of mosques.

The Fatwa Council replied affirming the correctness of what came in the textbook and issued a Fatwa on September 10, 2008 (document number 1809), which is also published on its official website.

According to Mohammed el-Maghrabbi, deputy chief of the Faculty of Law, and author of the controversial textbook, what he wrote is a principle agreed upon by all Islamic jurists. He added that a will, if devoted by a Christian for building a Church, is forbidden and sinful and is considered in Islam as separation from God. So it is also illegal if a non-Muslim wills his inheritance towards building a Church or a Synagogue.

Christians were angered and considered it a clear and explicit insult to all Christians. The renowned theologian Reverend Abdelmassih Bassit, Professor at the Coptic Orthodox Clerical Institute, called it a shocking Fatwa.

A firm of Saudi lawyers, purportedly acting on behalf of descendants of the Prophet Mohammed, has demanded printed and multi-lingual apologies from Danish newspapers who re-printed cartoons of the Prophet, as well as undertakings that all Internet pictures of the caricatures be removed in perpetuity.

The demand from the Saudi Arabian legal firm of A.Z. Yamani, is contained in letters sent to about a dozen Danish editors-in-chief and gives the end of September as a deadline for compliance.

The Danish Newspapers Association said at the weekend that it plans to contact the Danish foreign and justice ministries to discuss the issue after finding out exactly how many newspapers had received the letter in question.

Demands in the letter from the Yamani lawyers require newspapers who reproduced the cartoons to print an unconditional apology in Danish, Arabic, French and English for having offended alleged descendants of the Prophet Mohammed, as well as undertaking never again to reproduce similar drawings or material. The demand includes a requirement that a front page reference to the apology must also be made.

The Danish Newspaper Association says it doubts that newspapers will comply.

Police have arrested an Egyptian man and a Filipino woman for committing immoral act inside a car.

The lovers were caught by a police patrol on routine duty in the area. A security source said the patrolmen saw the parked car shaking although no one could be seen from a few meters away.

A police officer walked up to the car and saw the couple in a compromising position.

It claims to be one of the world's fastest-growing new religions but a battery of legal cases threaten its very existence in this secular country

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