Members of the Islamic Defender Front donned masks and threatened to set fire to a venue at the Q! Film Festival in the Indonesian capitol city if screenings continued.

The protesters called the international film festival blasphemy and chanted homophobic war cries. Despite the protests, the festival celebrates its ninth installment with the Jakarta event, opening last week.

The fest shoots to raise awareness and tolerance of gay issues. We're still going to go on, John Badalu, the festival's co-founder and this year's director, told Jakarta Post. Unfortunately, though, some of last night's showings ground to a halt.

Despite permanently ending Q! fest screenings at the French cultural center and the Japan Foundation, screenings at the police-guarded Goethe Institute German Cultural Centre shall continue, the center's program assistant told The Guardian.

A muslim mob shot at and beat dozens of Christians, including one cleared of blasphemy charges, in Punjab Province's Gujrat district, Christian leaders said.

The attack on Tariq Gill, exonerated of charges of blaspheming the Quran on Sept. 3, 2009, and on his father Murad Gill, his mother and the other Christian residents was the latest of more than 10 such assaults on the Christian colony of Mohalla Kalupura, Gujrat city, since Sept. 8, the Rev. Suleman Nasri Khan told Compass.

About 40 Islamists – some shooting Kalashnikovs and pistols at homes and individuals on the street, others brandishing axes and clubs – beat some of the Christians so badly that they left them for dead, Pastor Khan said. So far, 10 families have been targeted for the attacks.

On Thursday, the assailants ripped the clothing off of Gill's mother and dragged her nude through the streets, Pastor Khan said.

Pakistan's Taliban have blown up two more girls' schools in the Peshawar provincial capital amid a security operation against the terrorists in the bordering area of FR Peshawar, police and locals said.

The Taliban bombed five schools within a week, spreading terror in the school-going children and their parents.

Badha Bair Police Station Muharrir Mukamil Shah told Daily Times that the Taliban bombed Girls High School Sulman Khel and Girls Primary School Sulman at around 1am and both schools were situated alongside each other. He said six classrooms were destroyed in the girls' high school and four classrooms were destroyed in the primary school.

Schools have been consistently targeted by the Taliban's for the past five years and according to officials, the Taliban have bombed more than 1,000 schools, mostly in Swat.

Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) spokesman Adnan Khan said that the recently devastating floods damaged 900 schools in the province out of which 226 were totally destroyed and that the schools repair and reconstruction would cost Rs 5 billion.

Ofcom has cleared the UK's first television advert for advice on abortion services after rejecting complaints about its political nature.

Last month, the Advertising Standards Authority ASA dismissed over 4,000 complaints about an ad run for sexual health charity Marie Stopes International (MSI).

The ad featured three women who had missed their period, as a voiceover pointed them to MSI for pregnancy advice.

Separately, media regulator Ofcom received 270 complaints about the ad, with the majority claiming that its political nature was in breach of the broadcasting code.

However, the watchdog ruled that the ad was not in breach of its guidelines as MSI is a not-for-profit organisation and so is permitted to advertise on television: Ofcom does not consider that the content of the advertisement itself in any way sought to bring about changes in the law or influence the legislative proces.

The advertisement was the promotion of MSI as an organisation that gives post-conception advice and to encourage viewers who needed such advice to contact them.

An Islamic organization that claims to represent the collective voice of the Muslim world is trying to get the U.N. Human Rights Council to pass a resolution condemning the highly-publicized and now-defunct plan of a U.S. preacher to burn Qurans.

In a draft resolution submitted by Pakistan, the 57 member states of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) expressed their concern over the instances of intolerance, discrimination, profiling and acts of violence against Muslims occurring in many parts of the world.

They also called upon the U.N. Human Rights Council to condemn any advocacy of religious hatred that constitutes incitement to hatred, discrimination, hostility or violence, and to call upon the international community to stand together against acts that undermine peaceful coexistence between nations and create an environment conducive to violence and reprisal.

Specifically, their resolution asks the council to speak out against the recent call by an extremist group to organize a day to burn copies of Islam's sacred text, the Quran.

Aside from the resolution on the planned Quran burnings, OIC is also trying to push through another resolution that it has brought before the U.N. Human Rights Council every year over the past decade.

The resolution, which OIC has annually sponsored since 1999, seeks to make the defamation of religions a human rights violation, saying that the defamation of religions, and incitement to religious hatred in general, could lead to social disharmony and violations of human rights. [As per Pakistan].

It claims there is a need to effectively combat defamation of all religions and incitement to religious hatred in general and against Islam and Muslims in particular.

The OIC resolutions, together with others yet to be submitted at the council, are likely to be voted on when the council wraps up its current autumn session at the end of next week. The council's 15th session, which commenced Sept. 13, concludes on Oct. 1.

A measles outbreak has claimed the lives of 70 children in Zimbabwe over the past two weeks, mostly among families from apostolic sects that shun vaccinations, state media said.

Health ministry disease control director Portia Manangazira said: The persistent refusal (of immunisations) by some segments of society means these closed communities have large numbers of unvaccinated children.

Members of some apostolic sects in the country shun vaccinations and all other forms of Western medicine, saying it contradicts their belief in supernatural powers.

Adam Sheppard complained to the Press Complaints Commission that an article headlined Muslim-only public loos, published in the Daily Star on 15 July 2010, was inaccurate and misleading in breach of Clause 1 (Accuracy) of the Editors' Code of Practice.

The complaint was upheld.

The front-page article reported that a Rochdale shopping centre had installed Muslim-only squat-hole loos, and that the local council had wasted YOUR money on them.

The complainant said that it was inaccurate to say that the toilets were Muslim-only: the facilities, which were common to many countries, would be available to all. In addition, the decision to pay for the nile pans was taken by the shopping centre itself, rather than the local council. It did not therefore involve taxpayers' money.

The newspaper said that - while non-Muslims could have used the loos - they were designed with Muslims in mind. Nonetheless, it accepted that the headline was inaccurate in that non-Muslims would be free to use the toilets. It also accepted that the loos were paid for by a private developer.

Adjudication

In this prominent story, there were two clear errors of fact which, in the circumstances, would have misled readers in a significant manner: the toilets could not be described as Muslim only; and were not paid for by the local council. While the newspaper had accepted that the article was wrong - and offered to correct the item - the Commission was particularly concerned at the lack of care the newspaper had taken in its presentation of the story. This led to a breach of Clause 1 of the Code which makes clear that newspapers must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information. The complaint was upheld.

Following artist Sergio Redegalli's painting opposing the Islamic face covering veils with the slogan Say no to burqas, security outside the Sydney premises has been called in after tensions threatened to boil over.

Police also attended the unit after a female resident allegedly unleashed a foul mouthed tirade against the picture and attempted to deface it with paint.

Redegalli said the painting was a rallying call against the creeping growth of extremism in Australia and was not anti-Islam.

It's about the burqa and extremism and not Islam. This mural has come from frustration. You can't say anything about Muslims without getting in trouble.

The image, which faces one of CityRail's busiest corridors, has been defaced twice since painting began on Monday.

Marrickville Mayor Sam Iskandar said he condemns the painting but council did not have the right to remove it.

Muslim Women's National Network Australia president Aziza Abdel-Halim said the image was disrespectful, insulting and an immature way of starting a debate.

Update: Anti-Discrimination Complaint

29th November 2010. See article from islamophobia-watch.com

Cigdem Aydemir, 27, a Muslim, artist and high-school art teacher, claimed she felt completely offended and insulted when she saw the mural pop up in her neighbourhood.

Aydemir went to the police and then the council to try to make the complaint, but as the mural was painted on private property neither could intervene. She lodged her concerns with the Anti-Discrimination Board, who this week notified Redegalli. Aydemir said: It's Islamophobic; it's feeding the racist and sexist attitudes we have in our society.

Women are banned from studying theology in Turkmenistan - including Islamic theology, the only permitted religious university subject - an official has told Forum 18 News Service.

Only men are accepted for this course, the State University official told Forum 18. Women can't study there. She declined to say why this discrimination against women has been imposed.

This is the only university-level institution in Turkmenistan where the government allows any religious faith to be studied, and only Islam is permitted to be studied. It is also the only institution where the government allows young men who want to become imams to be trained.

A woman lies tied to the ground as a group of men gather round her, repeatedly throwing stones at her.

She appears to plead for help but despite her cries, they continue to rain stones down on her until she lies still.

Disturbing pictures today released to ABC news purport to show Taliban militants stoning a woman to death in north-west Pakistan.

...Read the full article

Whilst Christian Voice have reprehensible views when it comes to homophobia, they surely do have a point in this case. They write

Colchester Magistrates are to hear the case of a Christian man accused of a public order offence in two weeks' time.

Paul Shaw was charged by Essex Police with a hate crime after an election address was distributed in Colchester calling - in very moderate language - for a review of whether sodomy and other homosexual acts should remain legal.

Two homosexual men complained to the police after the leaflet dropped through their door in south-east Colchester , leading to a completely over-the-top police search of Paul Shaw's flat and confiscation of his diaries in June.

Mr Shaw was put in the cells, interrogated in what he describes as a hostile and provoking interview, and then charged on 12th June with causing religiously aggravated harassment, alarm or distress by words or writing under Section 31 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.

MAKE HOMOSEXUAL ACTS UNLAWFUL The offending words were in an election address, distributed after Paul Shaw had stood for election as an independent at a time when he thought a new election was imminent. In a leaflet previously approved by the Returning Officer and the Royal Mail, he said:

I believe for example that homosexual and lesbian acts are immoral and that the law should reflect that; by making them unlawful as they once were; and so acting as a deterrent to such behaviour.

The concept of homophobia is nonsense and a play on words; it is not and has never been a phobia! A phobia is an un-natural fear; whereas a rejection of perverse behaviour; is a righteous godly fear; that fears to do wrong because it knows that there are consequences and punishment otherwise! This is the most pronounced example of a nation that has lost its way ..

However, during a preliminary hearing on Thursday 26th August, the Crown Prosecutor applied for an adjournment. This was in order, he said, to consider the implications for freedom of speech raised by the case.

The Magistrate, District Judge David Cooper, readily agreed and the case was adjourned to Thursday 23rd September at 9.15am. Paul

Update: CPS withdraws its case

26th September 2010. Based on article from ccfon.org

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has withdrawn its case against a Christian man charged under public order legislation in relation to offence caused to homosexuals.

Paul Shaw was charged by Essex Police with a hate crime after an election leaflet was distributed in Colchester that called for a review of whether homosexual acts should remain legal.

An extensive investigation followed during which Shaw was arrested, locked in a cell and interrogated, in what he has described as a hostile and provoking interview. His flat was also searched and his diaries confiscated. He was subsequently charged with causing religiously aggravated harassment, alarm or distress by words or writing under Section 31 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.

After considering the case, the CPS decided that that there was insufficient evidence to proceed.

The bishop at the center of allegations of a gay sex plans to step down as the pastor of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Georgia.

Three men making the allegations – Maurice Robinson, Anthony Flagg and Jamal Parris – have allowed their names to be made public. In documents obtained by ABC News, Parris claimed that the bishop would request he be nude in his presence and would request sexual massages and oral sodomy during trips together in the US and abroad.

As many as 30 young men may now be considering suing Bishop Eddie Long.

Members of the New Birth church, whose membership has grown from 300 to over 25,000 since Bishop Long became pastor in 1987, include politicians, celebrities and the county sheriff. Four years ago, it played host to four US presidents during the funeral of Coretta Scott King, the widow of the Reverend Martin Luther King. Its complex includes a 10,000 seat cathedral, costing $50m [£31.8m].

Bishop Long, who is married with four children, has been a vociferous campaigner against same sex marriage, and in 2004 led a march with Rev King's daughter Bernice to her father's grave in Atlanta in support of a proposed constitutional amendment that defined marriage as between one man and one woman.

Now it has come to light that he told his congregation that gays deserve death during sermons in the 1990s.

Audio of a sermon by Long advocating the death penalty for gays was broadcast by The Michelangelo Signorile Show yesterday, the same day that a fourth person came forward with allegations of sex abuse against the bishop.

According to the Signorile Show, the sermon took place in the mid-1990s, at Long's New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia. Long had published a book entitled I Don't Want Delilah, I Need You!, which preaches traditional gender roles.

In a 2007 report, the Southern Poverty Law Center described Long as One of the most virulently homophobic black leaders in the religiously based anti-gay movement

Three men, described as spiritual sons of the bishop, filed lawsuits against Long and his church this week, alleging that the bishop coerced them into sexual activity. On Friday, a fourth made similar allegations against Long, suing Long's satellite church in Charlotte, North Carolina.

On September 15, Qatar-owned Al-Jezirah TV broadcast a program called Without Limits, presented by moderator Ahmad Mansour, who hosted the Islamist Dr. Selim el-Awah, former Secretary-General of the World Council of Muslim Scholars, which has stunned and enraged Copts inside and outside of Egypt. El-Awah is simply threatening Copts that the forthcoming chaos after Mubarak dies will see mass violence against the Copts, says Magdy Khalil, Coptic activist and head of Middle East Freedom Forum.

The program alleged the Church has its own militia and hides weapons and ammunition in monasteries and churches, preparing for a war against the Muslims. el-Awah said that Israel is in the heart of the Coptic Cause, and the Church gets weapons from Israel. He cited as evidence an incident in mid-August, in which the son of a priest in Port Said, Mr. Joseph El-Gabalawy, was falsely accused of importing weapons from Israel. Although he was cleared of charges and released, as the imported goods were children's fireworks from China and did not belong to him, he is still detained by State Security.

The television program also charged the Church of concealing Muslim converts to Christianity, besides abducting and torturing Christian converts to Islam. Out of the thousands of Christian woman who converted to Islam, willingly or unwillingly, el-Awah mentioned only two wives of priests whom he claimed converted to Islam and consequently were imprisoned in monasteries, Wafa Constantine and Mary Abdallah. Speaking on the latest crisis over Camelia Shehata, about whom Muslims fabricated rumors of her conversion to Islam, he said that she never converted to Islam and was handed over by State Security to her two married sisters

The nearly two-hour program went on to accuse the Coptic Church of being a State within the Egyptian State, allegedly taking advantage of the weakness of the present regime, behaving as if it is above the law. The Church was also accused of making an inheritance deal with the regime to support President Mubarak's son in succeeding his father as president in exchange for benefits.

Selim el-Awah said that ever since Pope Shenouda came out of detention, having been banished to a desert monastery by the late President Sadat in 1981 and released by President Mubarak in 1982, there has been scientific preparation to demand the division of Egypt into a Muslim State and a Coptic secular State

He warned that if the status of the Church remains as such, the country will burn and called on Muslims to go out in demonstrations as the only answer left to counteract the strength of the Church. He said If they go out to the streets, who can control them?

For the first time since the establishment of the State of Israel, says Magdy Khalil, someone has accused the Coptic Church of stockpiling weapons from Israel as a prelude to waging war on Muslims, claiming that Israel is at the heart of the Coptic issue.

A Dutch cartoonist arrested for publishing cartoons on the internet targeting Muslims will not be charged, prosecutors have said.

Gregorius Nekschot's case has been closely monitored as anti-Islamic politician Geert Wilders, is facing charges of inciting hatred and discrimination.

Two Algerian Christians have been tried for breaking Ramadan fasting rules, with hundreds of people protesting outside the courtroom against judicial authorities.

Hocine Hocini and Salem Fellak were arrested on August 13 on the building site where they worked in the northern region of Kabylie after they were spotted eating lunch, which they admit to doing but insist happened in a discreet place.

Muslims are not allowed to eat during daylight hours during the Ramadan holy month, and in Algeria breaking the fast can be punished with three months in jail.

Hocini said: We are innocent, and we haven't done any harm to anyone, he said. We are Christians and we have not eaten in a public place, he said.

Hundreds of people supporting the two accused gathered outside the court at Ain el Hammam to support the defendants and shouted slogans against the legal system.

The verdict is due on October 5.

Update: Acquitted

8th October 2010. Based on article from christianpost.com

The judge at the court in Ain El Hamman dismissed the case since no article [of law] provided for a legal pursuit against the two Christians, according to the BBC.

Six Tyneside men have been arrested after filming themselves apparently burning copies of the Koran on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

Police said the men, all from the Gateshead area, were detained after a video appeared on the internet. They were arrested on suspicion of inciting racial hatred and released on bail pending further inquiries.

In a joint statement, Northumbria Police and Gateshead Council said: The kind of behaviour displayed in this video is not representative of our community as a whole. Our community is one of mutual respect and we continue to work together with community leaders, residents and people of all faiths and beliefs to maintain good community relations.

In the video a group of men wearing tea towels are seen pouring fuel over what appear to be copies of the Koran and setting light to them.

Police side step the law reflecting the latest wishes of parliament on the subject of religious hatred

Based on article from blog.indexoncensorship.org by Padreig Reidy

The Gateshead men, apparently English Defence League supporters, were arrested on suspicion of inciting racial hatred. Not religious hatred.

Legally speaking, it is at least technically possible to arrest someone of incitement to religious hatred. So why did the police not use this power in a case where the target was a religious text?

Back in 2005, when the Incitement to Racial and Religious Hatred Bill was being debated, secularists campaigning against the bill worked to make the bill pretty much unworkable in practice. Consequently, Section 29j of the Act states:

Nothing in this Part shall be read or given effect in a way which prohibits or restricts discussion, criticism or expressions of antipathy, dislike, ridicule, insult or abuse of particular religions or the beliefs or practices of their adherents, or of any other belief system or the beliefs or practices of its adherents, or proselytising or urging adherents of a different religion or belief system to cease practising their religion or belief system.

So are the police not even using this legislation? Were the Gateshead arrests made under the guise of racial hatred because they felt more likely to secure a conviction?

A source tells me the police are claiming that the burning of the Koran itself is the crux of the arrest: not the posting on YouTube. But I cannot imagine how the burning of a book, no matter how precious that book is to some people, is a crime in and of itself. And I certainly don't understand how it's a race crime.

A supply teacher was removed from a Roman Catholic school after he told pupils that two of their classmates who had committed suicide were going to hell.

The tutor reportedly left one girl hysterical after making the remarks during a religious studies class at Lourdes secondary school in Glasgow earlier this month.

One parent told the Daily Express: My daughter was hysterical after these comments were made. Her friends in the same year were also extremely upset. I'm very concerned about this. My worry is that this teacher continues to teach young people.

Traditional boxers in a Malaysian state ruled by a conservative Islamic party have been ordered to ditch their skimpy shorts and good-luck talismans, in accordance with religious rules.

The Pan-Malaysia Islamic Party, which governs the northern state of Kelantan, said that Tomoi boxers - a form of unarmed martial art similar to the popular Muay Thai boxing in Thailand - will be told to cover up.

We want them to follow Islamic rules. We want to promote good values and Islam will be used as the basis for these guidelines, said Abdul Fattah Mahmood, the state minister in charge of sports.

Their boxing trunks were too short and they didn't know that when they were fighting, their underwear could be seen. Many women in the audience felt very embarrassed and complained to us later, he told AFP.

Women in Kelantan have previously been targeted with various campaigns discouraging them from wearing sexy outfits, lipstick or high heels, but it is the first time that men have been told to cover up.

Under the Kelantan guidelines, boxers will be asked to wear trunks that reach below the knees, and must not carry any talismans, despite the good-luck charms' popularity. We want them to cover their 'aurat,' Abdul Fattah said, referring to Islamic rules which in Malaysia require men to cover the area between their navel and knees.

Thanks to all of you who supported the 18 September day of action in support of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani and against stoning and flogging.

You can see a visual report of some of the actions here. Highlights include a rally of over 150 people in Brussels organised by Brussels humanists/secularists, MPs and Amnesty International as well as nearly 20,000 people chanting stop stoning now at the Protest the Pope rally in London at which I spoke along with Terry Sanderson, Pragna Patel, Richard Dawkins, Johann Hari, Peter Tatchell and others. See more.

Our next actions are on 10 October, International Day against the Death Penalty and against Ahmadinejad's visit to New York to address the UN General Assembly this week. See more.

In protest to Ahmadinejad's visit, 40 campaigners, academics and writers have called on the UN General Assembly to issue an emergency resolution calling for an end to the medieval and barbaric punishment of stoning as well as the immediate release of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani and all those sentenced to death by stoning. The open letter also asks that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad not be allowed to address the General Assembly and that his government be boycotted.

Faked photo of Camelia

After the return of the missing priest's wife to her family by State Security on July 23, Egyptian radicals sheikhs have spread rumors that she converted to Islam, exploiting the issue for an outright smear campaign against the Coptic Church. The sheikhs paint an image of Their suffering Muslim sister in a monastery where she is tortured for having chosen to convert to Islam.

Camelia Shehata, wife of Father Tedaos Samaan, priest at St. Georges Church in Deir Mawas, Minya Governorate, disappeared on July 19, resulting in Coptic demonstrations against State Security for refusing to help her husband find her. Father Tedaos accused a Muslim teacher working with her in the same school of being behind her abduction in order to force her conversion to Islam. After 5 days of Coptic sit-ins and the intervention of members of parliament, State Security found her and handed her back to her family.

According to the official version by State Security, Camilia had a row with her husband and left home, staying with one of her relatives in Cairo. The Church kept silent as usual, as per a tacit agreement with Security not to discuss abduction cases.

What re-ignited the Camilia Affair a few days later was a video on the Islamist website Observatory of the Islamic Resistance to Christianizing which gave a different story. Influential Salafi sheikh Abu Yehya, who is known for his paid activities in procuring Christians for conversion to Islam, said that Camilia fled her marital home and went to him to convert to Islam. He claimed that Camilia had proclaimed the shahada, or declaration of Muslim faith, 18 months earlier and has secretly studied the Koran. Allegedly he traveled with her to Cairo and went to Al-Azhar to register her conversion officially, however, they were delayed there until the police arrived and arrested them both.

The website showed Camilia clad in a veil but this was disputed by various Coptic organizations, who claim the photo was reworked in Photoshop.

This story was taken up by other Salafi radical sheikhs who appeared on Islamic TV channels, after adding to it that the church was imprisoning Camilia in one of the Coptic monasteries in Ain Shams (there are none there), where she was given mind altering drugs until she became insane according to Sheikh el-Howeiny.

The media joined in the smear campaign against the Church, accompanied by Muslim demonstrations outside mosques during Ramadan in Cairo and Alexandria against the Coptic Patriarch and Church and the infidel Christians, demanding that Camilia, as a Muslim, should be freed from her captivity in the Coptic monasteries, to practice Islam and calls for her appearance in public.

Previously Pope Shenouda had confirmed that Camilia never converted to Islam, and no one had the right to know where she is.

To the surprise of many, Camilia appeared on September 8, in an 11-minute video published on the website of the Egyptian daily El-Youm7, which had one of its reporters present during the shooting of the video, and who confirmed the authenticity of the video.

Camilia said that she is a Christian with all her heart, denying rumors about her conversion to Islam, adding I'm talking to you in full freedom and without any pressure or intimidation. I am appearing in order to defend my husband, my child, my church and my religion which is Christianity. She denied having been subjected to torture, brainwashing or being detained in a monastery or church. This is illogical because the Church teaches us to love, but I assure you that I am in a safe and pleasant place.

Camilia stressed the Church does not force anyone to stay in or enter into Christianity; it gives no electric shocks, drugs for hallucination or engages in brainwashing, as was rumored. She refused to talk about her personal life, stressing that what happened between her and her husband is personal and no one has the right to interfere in it, also only her husband has the right to look for her, and no one else is entitled to do so or demand her return.

This did not put an end to the sheikhs demands of seeing her in person, because the woman who appeared on the video is not Camelia but a double of her, according to Zoghby, another Sheikh. A website dedicated to her said the woman who appeared in the video had a different front tooth and her eyebrows were thicker.

On September 9, for the first time on official Egyptian TV stations, State Security sources confirmed that Camilia Shehata was the one who appeared on the video.

Sheikh Saeed Amer, Chairman of the Committee of Declaration of Islam at Al-Azhar, stepped-in and denied that Camilia ever came there or that her case came before him.

After this information became known, Muslim lawyer Nizar Gorab filed a complaint to the Prosecutor General against Abu Yehya for inciting sectarian strife by fabricating false stories, reported AlArabiya.net on September 11.

Observers believe this crisis is spiraling out of control despite efforts to contain it.

Nearly 500 Muslims demonstrated in front of Amr Ibn-el-Ass Mosque in old Cairo on their Eid-Feast on September 10 calling on President Mubarak to free Camilia. They chanted If Camilia is still OK, then why have you used a double for her? They distributed computer CDs with her story.

On September 13, an association called the Front of Al-Azhar Scholars, which has been banned in Egypt and operates from Kuwait, issued a statement on its website calling for the boycott of Coptic businesses, professionals and schools After the church became a source of Egyptian intimidation and terrorism to the State and the Nation.

Magdy Khalil said he believes that those players who fabricated the Camilia story will surely fabricate new ones, aiming at agitating and heating up the Muslim street and creating mounting chaos. When the real chaos takes place, they will go into the field to destroy, loot and kill the Copts.

Italy's anti-immigrant North League party has introduced a bill in the lower house of parliament seeking a ban on burqas.

According to the legislation, wearing burqa will be punishable by a year in prison, fines of €150 to €300 for the wearer and €30,000 for anyone forcing a woman to don the face-covering Islamic garment. Anyone coercing a minor or a disabled woman into wearing a burqa will be eligible for a €60,000 fine. If a woman is wearing the burqa of her own volition, the €150-€300 fine can be reduced, if she agrees to do community service aimed at better integrating Muslim immigrants.

The bill is likely to draw criticism from many Muslim immigrants, but 73% of Italians believe the burqa should not be allowed to be worn in public places, according to a recent poll by Panel Data.

The Men of Jesus Christ reported on their website:

On 18th September about 40 people came out to protest against Family Video and the fact that they distribute pornography in the town of Tonawanda in New York State.

There were many people that we spoke to that were totally unaware of this and immediately turned around.

Of course there was the flip side as well, where people were so desensitized to pornography that they just did not care. And there were those that came out and told us that they were OK with it and it should be there. There was even a situation in which a woman and her 12 and 6 year old, just to spite the protest, said to the manager, in front of her children, Can you point me to the dirtiest movie you have in here?.

This is the problem that this country faces, the fact that pornography is legal, but just because it is legal does not make it right.

The major response I received from people who were pro-porn was that I may not agree with it, but what you do in your home is your business and if you don't like it, then don't rent it.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in New York this week for a United Nations disarmament conference, brushed aside questions about the death-by-stoning sentence for an Iranian woman as news that was made up.

Ahmadinejad was dismissive when Christiane Amanpour, host of ABC's This Week, raised the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani who had been sentenced to death by stoning on adultery charges, but whose sentence was lifted by the government after an international outcry.

Amanpour asked Ahmadinejad if he thought death by stoning was an appropriate sentence for anybody in today's modern Iran.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Christiane AmanpourAhmadinejad responded initially with a counter-question: Why do you think that the issue of one lady in a village in Iran called Ms. Mohammadi should suddenly become such a big issue for American officials?

He went on to say that Ms. Mohammadi was never sentenced to stoning. This was news that was produced and incorrect ... this was a news that was made up.

When Amanpour pointed out that Ahmadinejad's own government had lifted the sentence, he responded, Allow me. Allow me. When I represent the Iranian government, how come is it that I am unaware of what you are telling me and that you should be aware of it? This is an issue that is being considered. It's still being processed.

However, Ahmadinejad also called stoning an ancient method that needs to change.

Anti-abortion activists are preparing to launch a landmark freedom of expression test case after they were arrested and held in police cells for 15 hours for refusing to take down placards showing graphic images of an aborted foetus.

Andy Stephenson and Kathryn Sloane, both committed Christians, were detained after a peaceful protest outside a publicly-funded abortion clinic.

Stephenson and Sloane are both members of Abort 67, an organisation which uses shocking images to try to deter women from going through with terminations. They believe the use of graphic imagery is critical in trying to shape public opinion and to reduce the 200,000 abortions taking place in the UK every year. The images, obtained in America are, according to the group, perfectly lawful there and in most other countries across Europe.

The pair were arrested last month as they held a banner aloft outside Wistons abortion clinic in Brighton. Police were called by a member of staff concerned that patients entering the clinic felt traumatised and upset.

Officers asked Stephenson and Sloane to take down a 7ft by 5ft placard depicting an aborted eight-week-old embryo – which they duly did but only to replace it with another banner showing a 10-week-old foetus.

The pair were arrested and taken to Brighton police station where they were held until three in the morning.

The Crown Prosecution Service will decide next month whether to press charges against the pair for causing harassment, alarm or distress under the much abused catch-all Public Order Act.

Ann Furedi, the head of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service which runs the Wistons clinic, said she fully supported the right of pro-life activists to demonstrate against abortion clinics..BUT...Furedi added: There is a distinction between freedom of expression and actions that are designed to distress people who are accessing legal, medical services.

Andrea Williams, director of the Christian Legal Centre, which is supporting the case, said: This is a test case for their democratic right to reveal what abortion really is like. In the 21st century it is not appropriate to silence and to censor those who speak out against abortion, even if the manner in which they do so is not how many would choose.

Thousands have marched in London to protest against the Pope's visit.

Organisers of the Protest the Pope event said they wanted to highlight his stance on controversial subjects, including the ordination of women.

Sex abuse and Catholic opposition to contraception have also been criticised.

Organisers of the protest say 20,000 people took part in the rally; however, police say they are unable to confirm this figure.

The march proceeded from Hyde Park Corner through central London to Whitehall where a rally was held with speakers including gay rights activist Peter Tatchell.

Among the protesters was comedian Al Murray. He said: Like a lot of people I am a perplexed that it is a state visit. The Pope's opposition to condoms kills people. It is all very well him lecturing us on morals but he should look at his own organisation's view.

At the rally, Geoffrey Robertson said: We are here today to celebrate our faith in liberty of conscience; our faith in equality; our faith in human rights. Of the Pope he said: He's been met with the most utter, exquisite, grovelling politeness and with that somehow we are in an uncivilised third world country. What is civilised about demeaning the women, demonising homosexuals, wishing that IVF children had never been born?... our only crime has been silence.

Peter Tatchell told the BBC News Channel: We profoundly disagree with the Pope's opposition to women's rights, gay equality and the use of condoms to prevent the spread of HIV. This is not an attack on Catholic people or the Catholic faith. We are critical of certain policies of the Pope. When he says no woman is fit to be a priest, that's an insult to the whole of female humanity. When he says a husband must not use a condom to protect his wife from infection - even if he has HIV - that's irresponsible. And when he says that all gay people possess a tendency towards evil, that flies in the face of the Christian gospel of love and compassion.

The satirical cartoonist who inspired the controversial Everybody Draw Mohammed Page on Facebook has gone into hiding on the advice of the FBI.

Molly Norris, of Seattle, Washington, has moved and changed her name following a call for her assassination by US-born Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.

The Seattle weekly newspaper said: You may have noticed that Molly Norris's comic is not in the paper this week. That's because there is no more Molly.

The gifted artist is alive and well, thankfully. But on the insistence of top security specialists at the FBI she is, as they put it, 'going ghost' - moving, changing her name, and essentially wiping away her identity.

In her cartoon, Norris proposed May 20 as an Everybody Draw Mohammed Day. An Everybody Draw Mohammed Day page quickly turned up on Facebook but Norris later said she had nothing to do with it.

India's president is being pressed to protect Christians in the country's northern Kashmir region after a muslim mob burned down the oldest school there and also attacked other Christian institutions nearby.

I am pained to state that though the local authorities were informed about a possible attack … no protection was provided, stated the Rt. Rev. Pradeep Kumar Samantaroy in a message to President Pratibha Patil.

You are aware that the Christians in the State of Jammu and Kashmir are a tiny minority who always live and serve under stressful and sometimes threatening situations, the Church of North India bishop added: The present situation has made the Christians in Jammu and Kashmir feel very insecure.

Hundreds of Muslims in the divided region of Kashmir took to the streets in violent protest over the reported desecration of Qurans in the United States.

Around two dozen people reportedly died in the clash that ensued between police and protesters, and the Tangmarg Tyndale Biscoe branch school was burned to ashes.

In a statement, the activist who helped organize the Quran desecration said his group was truly sad to hear of the deaths that followed Saturday's anti-Quran demonstration in front of the White House. But he said to blame them for the violence is ludicrous.

In addition to the Tungmarg Tyndale Biscoe branch school in Kashmir, other Christian institutions also came under attack, including the Roman Catholic Good Shepherd High School at Pulwama that was also set on fire and the Church of North India hospital at Anantnag that was stormed by protestors, two of whom were shot and killed by security forces.

Maryam Namazie and Mina Ahadi, have had their pages on Facebook disabled.

Both were campaigning to save Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani from being stoned to death in Iran.

Maryam and Mina have asked for support in their campaign to get their Facebook pages reinstated.

ICAS' Abbas Goya has started a campaign on Facebook itself.

Update: One Restored, One to Go

22nd September 2010. From Maryam Namazie

By the way, Facebook had disabled Mina and my accounts recently right before the 18 September day of action for Sakineh and against stoning. After many letters of protest from supporters, and an open letter to Facebook founders by a number of well-known personalities, my account has been enabled again, though Mina's has not. Please keep writing to Facebook until they enable her account as well.

The inauguration of a discotheque called Mecca in Spain has 'infuriated' Muslims in the country.

After 10 years of renovations, an old discotheque in the city of Aguilas in the southwestern province of Murcia opened its doors on June 18 under the name La Meca amid protests from Muslim individuals and organizations.

Muslims pray towards Mecca and it is there that the prophet received the holy Quran. Calling a place for dancing and drinking by that name shows disregard to the feelings of Muslims Head of Spanish Federation of Islamic Religious Entities Mohamed Ali

A poll conducted after the inauguration of the discotheque revealed the indignation of Spanish Muslims who viewed the action as disrespectful and prejudiced.

Update: Mecca Goes West

18th September 2010. Based on article from barcelonareporter.com

A Spanish disco Mecca has yielded to Muslim anger and will change its name.

Features that were deemed offensive by Muslims included a minaret-like tower, a blue dome with a half-moon on top which made the building look like a mosque, and verses of the Quran inside.

The disco in Aguilas, near the southern city of Murcia, will also modify controversial features of its architecture, said Mohammed Reda el-Qady, secretary of the Union of Islamic Communities in Murcia.

The disco's owners reached an agreement with local Muslims after its name and style sparked a wave of protests on the internet. A hacker even broke into the website of the establishment, threatening with a war between Spain and the people of Islam.

The disco was criticised as far as Morocco, and the Algerian ambassador to Spain commented on the affair, saying the name Mecca was not a brilliant idea.

A magazine ad for Antonio Federici ice cream showed a heavily pregnant woman dressed as a nun standing in a church holding a tub of ice cream in one hand and a spoon in the other. Text stated Immaculately Conceived ... ICE CREAM IS OUR RELIGION.

Ten readers challenged whether the ad was offensive to Christians, particularly to those who practised Catholicism.

Antonio Federici said the idea of conception represented the development of their ice cream. They said their decision to use religious imagery stemmed from their strong feelings towards their product (they cited the text ICE CREAM IS OUR RELIGION) and also from their wish to comment on and question, using satire and gentle humour, the relevance and hypocrisy of religion and the attitudes of the church to social issues. They believed the small number of complaints the ASA had received represented a very small proportion of the readership of the publications. They did not believe offence had been so deeply felt as to affect their right, as marketers, to free expression and that offence caused to a small minority should not affect the ability of the wider public to see their ad. They believed that, as a form of art and self-expression, advertising should be challenging and often iconoclastic.

The publishers of The Lady magazine had received eight complaints made direct to them. They said that, in hindsight, it had been a misjudgement on their part to publish the ad. They regretted the offence that had been caused to their readers and said they would not publish the ad or anything similar to it in future.

Grazia said they considered the statement ICE CREAM IS OUR RELIGION suggested that the ad was intended to be lighthearted and not mocking of any religious groups. They said the editorial content of Grazia encouraged debate and questioning. As such, they believed the ad was unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence to their readers.

ASA Assessment: Upheld

The ASA noted that the CAP Code stated that ads should contain nothing that is likely to cause serious or widespread offence. Particular care should be taken to avoid causing offence on the grounds of race, religion, sex, sexual orientation or disability. Compliance with the Code will be judged on the context, medium, audience, product and prevailing standards of decency. We considered the use of a nun pregnant through immaculate conception was likely to be seen as a distortion and mockery of the beliefs of Roman Catholics. We concluded that to use such an image in a light hearted way to advertise ice cream was likely to cause serious offence to readers, particularly those who practised the Roman Catholic faith.

We noted that the number of complaints was relatively small but that the ad had been placed in a small number of publications only.

The ad breached CAP Code clause 5.1 (Decency).

Comment: ASA should pay penance

16th September 2010. Thanks to Tom who commented:

Please explain what the big deal is here. I am a practicing christian and I personally found the add to be extremely funny. I see no reason that it should be banned after a few nutters got upset.

If we allow a few complaints to derail an advert like this, what next? All I can say is thank God I live in Canada. Things are not perfect here, but at least they make sense.

Comment: Bringing blasphemy back from the dead

17th September 2010. See article from spiked-online.com by Tim Black

The big beef we have with the Advertising Standards Authority is: who the fuck are they? Who is this shady cabal of people making moral judgements about our advertising? What authority do they have?

This defiant message comes not from any well-known defender of people's freedom, but from a spokesman for a UK-based ice-cream company, who was talking exclusively to spiked.

...Read the full article

Wearing a burka in public is set to become illegal across France after senators passed a nationwide ban.

The country's upper house voted by 246 votes to 1 in favour of the measure, although there were a number of abstentions.

This means that a measure banning full face Islamic veils, also including the niqab, taken by the National Assembly, the lower house, in July was ratified.

Women who defy the planned law face fines of up to £125, or being ordered to attend citizenship classes. If a man, like a husband or a brother, is convicted of forcing a woman to wear a veil he will be fined £24,000 or jailed for a year. These sentences, which would be doubled if the victim is a minor, are designed to avoid men subjugating women.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy argues that the law is aimed at getting all Muslims to integrate fully into French society

The measure will be become effective in the spring of 2011, subject to a six-month period of mediation, and possible appeals.

Italy will present a resolution on the protection of religious minorities at the next United Nations' general assembly, Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said.

Freedom of religion is a principle that applies to every religion, Frattini said after meeting in Rome with Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan's minister for minorities, a Catholic.

We are greatly concerned by the persecution of Christians in many countries around the world, Frattini said: We have to say clearly that if there is a clash, it is between extremists, not between Christians and Muslims, Frattini said.

A Christian worshipper was stabbed in the stomach and a minister attacked with a wooden plank as they travelled to morning prayers in Bekasi, Indoenesia.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks but suspicion has fallen on Islamic hardliners.

In recent months, they have thrown shoes and water bottles at the church members, interrupted sermons and dumped feces on the land.

Local police chief Imam Sugianto said Asia Sihombing, a worshipper, was on his way to the field when assailants jumped off a motorcycle and stabbed him in the stomach. The Rev Luspida Simanjuntak was then hit on the head as she tried to come to his aid.

Leading the charge against the Batak Christians has been the Islamic Defenders Front, which is pushing for the implementation of Islamic-based laws in Bekasi and other parts of the nation. They are known for smashing bars, attacking transvestites and going after those considered blasphemous with bamboo clubs and stones. They also pressured the local government early this year to shutter the Batak church. Perpetrators are rarely punished or even questioned by police.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who relies heavily on Islamic parties in parliament, has been widely criticised in the media for failing to crackdown on hardliners. But he did call on authorities to investigate and to hold accountable those responsible for the latest attack.

Update: Arrested

19th September 2010. Based on article from bangkokpost.com

Indonesian police have detained an Islamic leader over an armed assault on Christian elders which confirmed ongoing fears for pluralism in Indonesia.

Police said well-known Islamic radical Murhali Barda could face up to 12 years in prison for inciting violence and assault, after a group of men stabbed a Christian elder and bashed a priest.

Update: Light Sentences

18th March 2011. See article from compassdirect.org

Human rights and Christian leaders said a West Java court's light sentence for Islamic extremists who injured a church pastor and an elder will encourage more violence and religious intolerance.

After prosecutors decided to file minor charges citing insufficient evidence for assault charges, the judges issued verdicts that have injured people's sense of justice, and the light sentences set a rotten precedent for strengthening the rule of law in Indonesia, according to the institute.

The alleged planner of the attack, Murhali Barda, head of the Bekasi chapter of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), received a sentence of only five months and 15 days for disorderly conduct (Section 335) even though he should have been prosecuted for incitement and joint assault, Siagian said.

The trial brought to light facts that pointed toward incitement by Murhali Barda via Facebook, text messages, and orders to the defendants to attack the congregation of HKBP on Sept. 12, 2010 at Ciketing, said Siagian. If he had been charged with Section 170 he would have been facing a five-to-nine-year sentence, and Section 160 [incitement] carries a six-year sentence. These are both felonies.

Judges of the State Court in Bekasi, West Java handed down a seven-month sentence to Adji Ahmad Faisal, who stabbed church elder Sihombing; the prosecutor had asked for sentence of 10 months. Ade Firman, who clubbed Pastor Simanjuntak hard enough to send her to the hospital for treatment, was given a six-month sentence; prosecutors had requested an eight-month sentence. Two under-age defendants were found guilty and turned over to their parents.

Update: Ongoing Hassle

23rd September 2010. Based on article from christianpost.com

About 100 members of Batak Christian Protestant Church (HKBP) in the capital Jakarta gathered to worship while hundreds of police and security guards stood outside, reported The Jakarta Globe. Church members argued that they have the right to freedom of worship like other citizens of the world's most populous Muslim country.

We just want to carry out our obligations as Christians, but authorities are treating us like terrorists, said Advent Tambunan, a church member, to The Associated Press. There's no justice for us in this country.

Police had buses waiting outside the church Sunday to transport them to another location to worship. But the church members refused and negotiated with the police to allow them to hold their service at the site.

The government has offered to give the church a plot of land to build a new church, according to The Jakarta Globe. But the congregation has not decided whether to take up the offer.

A magazine ad for Antonio Federici ice cream showed a heavily pregnant woman dressed as a nun standing in a church holding a tub of ice cream in one hand and a spoon in the other. Text stated Immaculately Conceived ... ICE CREAM IS OUR RELIGION.

Ten readers challenged whether the ad was offensive to Christians, particularly to those who practised Catholicism.

Antonio Federici said the idea of conception represented the development of their ice cream. They said their decision to use religious imagery stemmed from their strong feelings towards their product (they cited the text ICE CREAM IS OUR RELIGION) and also from their wish to comment on and question, using satire and gentle humour, the relevance and hypocrisy of religion and the attitudes of the church to social issues. They believed the small number of complaints the ASA had received represented a very small proportion of the readership of the publications. They did not believe offence had been so deeply felt as to affect their right, as marketers, to free expression and that offence caused to a small minority should not affect the ability of the wider public to see their ad. They believed that, as a form of art and self-expression, advertising should be challenging and often iconoclastic.

The publishers of The Lady magazine had received eight complaints made direct to them. They said that, in hindsight, it had been a misjudgement on their part to publish the ad. They regretted the offence that had been caused to their readers and said they would not publish the ad or anything similar to it in future.

Grazia said they considered the statement ICE CREAM IS OUR RELIGION suggested that the ad was intended to be lighthearted and not mocking of any religious groups. They said the editorial content of Grazia encouraged debate and questioning. As such, they believed the ad was unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence to their readers.

ASA Assessment: Upheld

The ASA noted that the CAP Code stated that ads should contain nothing that is likely to cause serious or widespread offence. Particular care should be taken to avoid causing offence on the grounds of race, religion, sex, sexual orientation or disability. Compliance with the Code will be judged on the context, medium, audience, product and prevailing standards of decency. We considered the use of a nun pregnant through immaculate conception was likely to be seen as a distortion and mockery of the beliefs of Roman Catholics. We concluded that to use such an image in a light hearted way to advertise ice cream was likely to cause serious offence to readers, particularly those who practised the Roman Catholic faith.

We noted that the number of complaints was relatively small but that the ad had been placed in a small number of publications only.

The ad breached CAP Code clause 5.1 (Decency).

A small US church says it will defy international condemnation and go ahead with plans to burn copies of the Koran on the 9/11 anniversary.

The top US commander in Afghanistan warned troops' lives would be in danger if the Dove World Outreach Center in Florida went ahead.

Gen David Petraeus, the top US commander in Afghanistan, said on Monday that the action could cause problems not just in Kabul, but everywhere in the world. It is precisely the kind of action the Taliban uses and could cause significant problems.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the church's plan was disrespectful and disgraceful.

Muslim countries and Nato have also hit out at the move.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said on Tuesday that any type of activity like that that puts our troops in harm's way would be a concern.

Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen blasted the plans, telling reporters that burning Korans violated the Nato alliance's values.

And the US Attorney General, Eric Holder, called the idea idiotic and dangerous.

But organiser, Pastor Terry Jones said: We must send a clear message to the radical element of Islam.

Dr Jones - author of a book entitled Islam is of the Devil - has said he understands the general's concerns but that it was time for America to quit apologizing for our actions and bowing to kings.

News of the bonfire has also sparked protests in Afghanistan and Indonesia. In Kabul on Monday, about 500 protesters chanted long live Islam and death to America as they set fire to an effigy of Jones. Thousands of mostly Muslim demonstrators rallied around Indonesia at the weekend.

The role of Islam in America has become a hot button issue with social and political implications. While most Americans would probably take issue with exhortations to burn the Koran, there is clearly widespread concern about the influence of Islam.

Update: Website Censored

10th September 2010. Based on article from wired.com

The website of the church that was planning to burn a Koran on Saturday to commemorate 9/11 was removed from the internet after its hosting service claimed the site violated its terms of service agreement.

The removal of the doveworld.org site comes as President Barack Obama urged the Florida pastor not to burn the Koran on the 9-year anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks. This could increase the recruitment of individuals who would be willing to blow themselves up in American cities or European cities, Obama said.

Rackspace, of San Antonio Texas and the web hosting service in question, pulled the plug on the Dove World Outreach Center's site at midnight over what it said was a terms of service breach. Its terms of service agreement prohibits using Rackpace servers if such usage incites violence, threatens violence, or contains harassing content or hate speech.

Dan Goodgame, a Rackspace spokesman, said that the company reserved the right to stop hosting Jones' hate speech as of Thursday morning. He said Rackspace was protecting its right not to associate and do business with Jones under the company's terms of service contract.

Jones said Rackspace's decision was an indirect attack on our freedom of speech.

Update: Dove of Peace Restored

10th September 2010. Based on article from independent.co.uk

The fundamentalist pastor who promised to mark the anniversary of the September 11 attacks by burning hundreds of copies of the Koran has pulled the plug on his stunt, in the face of blanket condemnation from world leaders and a warning from Interpol that Christians around the world were at risk of violent revenge attacks.

As anger mounted against the obscure Florida church, called the Dove World Outreach Centre, Pastor Terry Jones said he was changing his plan, following a meeting with local Muslim leaders.

Earlier, Barack Obama and the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, had led a chorus of condemnation at the proposed book-burning which only intensified through the day, amid claims that it had already prompted killings in Iraq.

In the news conference announcing his decision, the pastor claimed that he decided to cancel his protest in exchange for a deal to move a planned Islamic centre and mosque away from New York's Ground Zero. The imam planning the centre, however, quickly denied any such deal.

The cancellation came as reports emerged from Baghdad of an apparent revenge attack on Iraq's only operating Anglican church, St George's. According to two eyewitnesses, up to four people were killed after gunmen opened fire on guards outside the church, which lies in a compound just outside the comparative safety of the Green Zone.

Update: Bored of the Westboro Baptists even when they burn a Koran

12th September 2010. Based on article from cjonline.com

The burning of a Quran and an American flag Saturday by members of Westboro Baptist Church drew little visible interest. Instead of the hoards of media representatives that descended on Florida, only a handful of area reporters turned out at noon for Westboro's burning.

I'm glad it didn't get a lot of publicity and it didn't draw a lot of people to the church, said Imam Omar Hazim, of the Islamic Center of Topeka: It seemed people in Topeka ignored what they were doing. Members of Topeka's Islamic community were absent from the event. Hazim said that was by design.

Mayor Bill Bunten, who was at home watching The University of Kansas football game during the burning, said national attention on Westboro Baptist is waning.

The fool in Florida one-upped them, Bunten said, referring to the Rev. Terry Jones, of the Dove Outreach Center church in Gainesville, Florida: They were apparently tagging along on his idea, so the fellow in Florida had stolen the stage, so to speak.

Update: A few pages ripped assunder

12th September 2010. Based on article from news.brisbanetimes.com.au

A small Christian group tore a few pages from a Koran in a protest outside the White House on Saturday to denounce what they called the charade of Islam as they marked the anniversary of 9/11.

Part of why we're doing that, please hear me: the charade that Islam is a peaceful religion must end, said Randall Terry, one of the six members in the group.

Another activist, Andrew Beacham, read out a few Koran passages calling for hatred towards Christians and Jews, and then ripped those pages from an English paperback edition of the Islamic holy book.

He carefully put the torn pieces into a plastic bag, in order not to litter, and said: The only reason I will not burn it at the White House is because to burn anything on the Capitol grounds is a felony.

Update: A couple of burned Korans

13th September 2010.  From islamophobia-watch.com

A national Islamic group has called for an FBI investigation after a burned Quran, pages allegedly covered in feces, was found Saturday at an East Lansing mosque frequented by the Michigan State University community.

To have the Quran burned at a mosque is equivalent to having a cross burned at a black church, said Dawud Walid, executive director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, referring to an intimidation tactic frequently used during the civil rights movement by those opposed. He has asked the FBI to consider the burning a hate crime.

Meanwhile in Tennessee, the Rev. Bob Old vowed to stick with his plan to burn the Quran. On Saturday, despite the national tempest and opposition from conservative Christian leaders including Middle Tennessee pastors, Old carried out his plan. But for all the controversy and hype, his Quran burning took place in front of just a handful of people, most of them from the media.

Old and the Rev. Danny Allen stood together in Old's backyard, answering what they say was a message from God. The pair soaked two copies of the Quran and one other Islamic text with lighter fluid, ignited them and watched the books disintegrate into ashes. This is a book of hate, not a book of love, Old said, holding the Quran, before setting it afire. It's a false book, it's a false prophet (Muhammad) and it's false Scripture.

Three protesters stood across the street from Old's home, holding signs that read My husband fights terrorism and your actions perpetuate it and Proud of my country but ashamed of my neighbors.

Update: Violence in Afghanistan

13th September 2010.  Based on article from independent.co.uk

Two protesters were killed and several more injured as for a third straight day violent demonstrations swept Afghanistan in response to the threats made by a US church to burn copies of the Koran.

Chanting Death to America and Death to Christians, about 500 demonstrators clashed with Afghan security forces in Logar province, south of Kabul, pelting them with stones until the soldiers opened fire, killing two and wounding five others. Few protesters were aware that the Koran burning by the pastor of a small church in Florida had been called off, and some warned of more violence to come.

The [district] governor must give us an assurance that the church is not going to burn the Koran, otherwise we will attack foreign troop bases in our thousands, Mohammad Yahya, one of the protesters, said. For his part, the governor, Mohammad Amin Rahim, said he had tried to convince demonstrators that the burning would not go ahead but the demonstrators were not convinced and attacked us.

Update: Roll Up, Roll Up, for Easy Offence

15th September 2010.  Based on article from dailymail.co.uk

An Australian lawyer has contributed to the US pastor's plan to burn the Koran by allegedly smoking holy books and posting the videos on YouTube.

Brisbane-based lawyer Alex Stewart is seen smoking what appear to be joints made up of pages from the Koran and the Bible filled with (lawn) grass.

He was shown lighting up his religious joints under the YouTube title: Bible or Koran - Which Burns Best?

He gave the Bible a seven out of 10 for its burning qualities, and said it was better than the Koran which left him feeling sick. Stewart says burning religious books is no big deal and that people need to get over it.

But since his video attracted approbation from around the world, Stewart - who appeared in the video wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the words I'm an atheist, Thank God - has gone into hiding.

The president of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, Ikebal Patel, said: I think it's highly offensive that he has done this to two of the holiest books in the world. It does not in any way add value to trying to promote world peace and the consideration of different views, especially when there are heightened tensions around the anniversary of September 11 and the Eid el Fitr (end of Ramadan) celebrations.

Sheik Muhammad Wahid, president of the Islamic Association of Australia, said: We condemn the video and our feelings have been hurt by this man's actions.

Stewart told Queensland's Courier Mail newspaper before he fled from his Brisbane home that the video was a joke and he does not do drugs. He insisted that the green substance he showed in a plastic bag before rolling it up in the torn-out pages was actually grass clippings.

The video has been censored and removed from YouTube.

Update: Another burnt Koran

15th September 2010.  Based on article from islamophobia-watch.com

Chicago police are investigating the discovery of a burnt copy of the Quran found outside the Muslim Community Center on the Northwest Side to determine if the book was damaged in a hate crime.

Update: 18 Protestors shot by police

16th September 2010.  Based on article from independent.co.uk

The long-troubled state of Kashmir suffered one of its bloodiest days when at least 18 people were killed and more than a hundred injured as security forces opened fire on protesters in confrontations across the valley.

As politicians in Delhi debated whether to ease a bitterly controversial law that provides effective immunity to troops, Indian forces again responded to widespread demonstrations with deadly force. Related articles

The protests, which saw tens of thousands of people ignore a curfew and take to the streets, were at least partly in anger over reports that copies of the Koran had been burnt in the US. A police officer also lost his life.

Update: The Bill

22nd September 2010. Based on article from dailymail.co.uk

The maverick preacher who sparked an international crisis over plans to burn the Koran has been hit with a £100,000 bill to cover the cost of police security for the stunt.

More than 200 police, including members of a SWAT team, were on duty outside the church in Florida where Jones planned his mass burning of the Holy Book.

The huge security operation was put into place even though Jones called off the burning protest that had been condemned by President Obama and the Vatican.

City officials in Gainesville said they planned to send Jones the security bill.

But Jones has said he will not pay the police bill.

Update: Vengeful Pakistan

24th September 2010. Based on article from cathnewsindia.com

A Pentecostal church in Karachi has been attacked and vandalized by militants still angry over a threat to burn Qur'ans in the United States earlier this month.

Nine copies of the Bible, three hymn books and three wooden crosses were found burnt on Sept. 18 at the Nasri Pentecostal Church in Shah Latif Town, Karachi.

A group of nearly 50 Coptic men from the village of Azeem in Samalout, Minya province, have exposed slavery-related practices against Copts by certain radical Muslim families in their village. They called on human rights organizations for support. They met with activists from Coptic NGOs and appeared on US-based Coptic human rights channel Hope-Sat, which promised support through their lawyers in Egypt.

Bassem Shehata said in an aired interview with Coptic activist Wagih Yacoub: We live in utter slavery. If Copts, some of whom are landowners, disobey orders of the big Muslim families, they are flogged. Bassem said that last year his 14-year-old brother Shenouda was tied by members of a Muslim family to a pole, beaten and tortured in front of his father just because the father did not lend them his tractor. Each time my father begged for mercy for his child, he was also beaten. He said despite the family feeling broken inside his father refused to report the incident, fearing reprisals from the Muslim family.

Bassem said that young Christians work without pay on Muslim land. I had to go because I was afraid they would harm my father.

Protester Kamil Sami said We came out in the open because we cannot take this injustice any longer. He added they feel sorry for their families who have inherited the trait of giving up their rights. We feel obliged to help our families to change the circumstances under which they are living.

Isaac Bebawy summarized the problem by saying the nearly 1000 Copts in the village of 3000 live in servitude to Muslim families, especially a large one called Al-Khawaimin, which includes the mayor, the village Shaikh, a large number of relatives and their friends. Copts are not allowed to sell their livestock on the market but have to sell it to Muslims in the village at a fraction of their fair price, and hire agricultural machinery only from village Muslims at the highest prices. If Copts do not obey, they are subjected to harsh punishments, he said. These include threats of killings, abduction of girls, destruction of crops, burning of houses and beatings.

After presenting a complaint at the Ministry of Interior in Cairo and meeting with Pope Shenouda's secretary, the group returned to their village where they were approached for a reconciliation.

They presented their demands, which were published on Freecopts' website, among which was freedom to sell their cattle, land and property to anyone, not to be prevented from going to the cattle market, not to have their land torched, the freedom to hire agricultural machinery from any source, not to interfere with opening hours of Coptic small businesses, to stop subjecting Coptic school children and youth to harassment by Muslim families while moving about in the village or while going to religious services, pledging not to demand that Copts of any age go to work without pay , and finally not to subject Copts of any age to harassment, threats or beating. They also wanted Security authorities present during reconciliation.

Muslim families refused their demands, especially selling cattle on the open market. There were other freedom restricting conditions, surprisingly they wanted Copts not to walk together, said Abdallah Bouchra to Freecopts.

To see that nowadays Muslims force Coptic men to work for free, that farmers have to sell their livestock and property only to certain Muslims at a fraction of their price, or prevent people from taking buses to go and pray in another village is slavery, commented Wagih Yacoub: It is something that the whole world needs to know is happening in our day and age in Egypt.

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani's son Sajjad is extremely concerned that the Iranian authorities are trying to frame Ms Ashtiani for his father's murder by constructing a new murder case to refute the stoning sentence.

Unfortunately a number of media outlets have bought into the lie (see for example BBC Sunday Morning Live's bias). In fact, the press have been given a copy of the actual court judgment of stoning for adultery at a 30 July press conference in London. Also, even the man who has been found guilty of murdering her husband has not been executed. In Iran, under Diyeh laws, the family of the victim can ask for the death penalty to be revoked.

On 18 September, we call on citizens everywhere to come out in defence of Ms Ashtiani and against the regime of flogging, stoning and execution. We are also calling for protests during 23-24 September when Ahmadinejad will be addressing the UN General Assembly.

Nothing can and will stop us from defending Sakineh's precious life and bringing an end to the medieval and barbaric punishments of stoning and execution.

Let's keep the pressure on.

On September 7 a 300-man security force, backed by a large number of cars and armored vehicles, attacked the monastery of St. Macarius of Alexandria in Wadi Rayan, Fayoum province. The monks in the monastery were assaulted with tear gas, batons and stones. Three monks were seriously wounded.

The security forces prevented the delivery of limestone bricks to be used for the construction of cells for the monks within the grounds of the ancient Monastery. The forces also attempted to confiscate bricks already delivered but the monks sat on the bricks and refused to move.

Security forced surrounded the Monastery until 12 AM the following day, but withdrew after seeing the insistence of monks to assert their rights, said Father Boulos elMakkary, one of the 85 monks living in the monastery. They left with the commander promising to be back soon.

The monks believe that the government wants to prevent any construction on the premises to prevent any increase in the number of monks living there, though cells for the monks are badly needed, said Father Boulos. Presently 5-8 monks share one cell, when each should be living alone.

The Monastery of St. Macarius, also called the Buried Monastery as most of its cells are caves in the mountain, has been uninhabited for a long time due to desert conditions and being without electricity or water. Monks have, however, lived there from time to time until 1996, when they decided to remain there permanently and obtained permission from the Minister of Environment to live there.

Problems with the authorities started with the increase in the number of monks and the need for cells. Two years ago newly built cells were demolished on orders from the Environmental Affairs Agency. We got fined 2 million Egyptian pounds for supplying the monastery with water, we went to court and won through reconciliation, monk Mina said. Police in Fayoum, State Security and the Agency collude against the Monastery and they do not give us any permits. They want us to get a Presidential decree from President Mobarak, he added.

Every Friday, certain streets in Paris are blocked with barriers to accommodate an enormous crowd of Muslims, many of them from faraway parts of the city.

They pray and worship on the public streets, protected by their own private security, CBN Paris said.

During the prayers those who live within the district cannot go outside of their homes, and those who are on their way home can't pass through the streets during the Moslem prayer time. This is done with no authorization by the police. And although it is illegal, the local police are under orders not to interfere, according to CBN Paris.

One French citizen used a hidden camera to film the scene, which was uploaded on YouTube. As a result he has been receiving death threats, and now goes by the pseudonym, Maxime Lepante, CBN Paris reported.

The secretary of the Muslim Community of Basel has been acquitted of publicly inciting crime and violence.

The charges were pressed after he made comments in a Swiss television documentary in April saying that Sharia law should be introduced in Switzerland and that unruly wives should be beaten.

The judge said that the secretary of the Muslim organisation was protected by freedom of expression.

The court ruled that the comments were merely the expression of a wish and were not asking anyone to take action.

A foreigner residing on Lombok Island in Indonesia has found himself the target of local lynch mob over a vandalism complaint.

Locals from Sidemen village on Lombok's main tourism area of Senggigi told the Jakarta Globe that hundreds of residents had attacked and wrecked a villa belonging to a German national, Stephen Alexander, and torched his motorcycle.

Mustan, a local, said Alexander discovered that a vandal had decapitated one of the statues in front of his villa and took the severed head to the home of village chief Amalsah.

He came carrying the statue head and got angry at the village chief, accusing the villagers of damaging his statues.

Alexander threatened to report the vandalism to the police if Amalsah could not find the vandal within two weeks, Mustan said.

He said villagers had just finished tarawih (evening prayers during Ramadan) and were 'insulted' when Alexander demanded to know, What kind of Muslims we were? His words were deeply hurtful.

As Alexander fled for the forest, the enraged lynch mob trashed the resident's villa and burned his motorcycle.

Alexander, who has lived in the Lombok for ten years and is married to an Indonesian, only emerged from the forest when police arrived. They promptly arrested the expatriate and are holding him in protective custody at Senggigi Police headquarters.

Mohammed Tariq was looking after his uncle's music shop one recent afternoon when two bearded men with turbans pulled up on a motorcycle to deliver an ominous warning.

Where is your uncle? one of the armed men demanded of the 14-year-old boy. Tell him to shut down this shop. If he doesn't, we will blow it up.

Within days, Farouq Pacha had cleared most of his shelves of the music cassettes he'd sold on the street for years. I was heartbroken when I heard this - and now I work secretly, Pacha said.

Pacha's shop was one in a string of music stores to become a new target for militants many suspect are Taliban enforcers looking for new ways to re-impose their conservative views - even in once-stable havens such as Jalalabad.

...Read the full article

Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard received this year's M100 Media Prize.  This year's award is for Freedom of the Press in Europe.

Kurt Westergaard created one of the 12 Muhammad cartoons accompanying a feature entitled The Face of Muhammad, published on 30 September 2005, in the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten. His illustration triggered an international controversy about freedom of speech and sparked world-wide, partly violent demonstrations of Muslims who felt insulted.

It wasn't my intention to attack Islam, stated Westergaard in an interview with Der Spiegel, but instead terrorists who abuse Islam for their spiritual ammunition.

Despite an alleged bounty of eleven million Dollar on him and his colleagues, Westergaard defended the publication by invoking the right to freedom of speech.

The board of the M100 Sanssouci Colloquium honours his courage to stand by these democratic values and defend them, notwithstanding threats of violence and death.

The Lord Mayor of Potsdam declared: With Kurt Westergaard we honour a personality who has become a symbol for freedom of speech and opinion. When the drawing of a caricature results in death threats it is our duty to publicly back the illustrator. The Prize is setting a signal.

Based on article from bbc.co.uk

German Chancellor Angela Merkel presented him with the award, saying Westergaard was entitled to draw his caricatures: Europe is a place where a cartoonist is allowed to draw something like this. We are talking here about the freedom of opinion and the freedom of the press

Merkel, who grew up in communist East Germany, added that German people clearly remembered the implications of a lack of freedom and should therefore cherish it: It's about whether in a Western society with its values he [Mr Westergaard] is allowed to publish his Muhammad cartoons, or not. Is he allowed to do it? Yes he is, Ms Merkel said.

She described Europe as a place that respects and values the freedom of belief and religion.

Security was tight at Sanssouci palace in Potsdam where the cartoonist told reporters: Maybe they will try to kill me and maybe they will have success, but they cannot kill the cartoon.

Merkel's decision to speak at the event about press freedom has caused some surprise in Germany. One newspaper said she was taking a huge risk. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said that the effect of having a photograph taken with Kurt Westergaard was incalculable, describing it as probably be the most explosive appointment of her chancellorship so far.

Germany's Central Muslim Council (ZMD) criticised Merkel for attending the award ceremony. A ZMD spokesman, Aiman Mazyek, told public broadcaster Deutschlandradio that the Chancellor was honouring someone who in our eyes kicked our prophet, and therefore kicked all Muslims. He said giving Westergaard the prize in a highly charged and heated time was highly problematic.

A Malaysian TV station said it has withdrawn an advertisement marking the Muslim festival of Eid al Fitr after the ad's Christmas-like theme was criticized for being un-Islamic.

The private TV3 channel began airing the one-minute commercial marking the end of the Ramadan fasting month. The ad showed a man wearing an Islamic skullcap taking children on a magical rickshaw for a ride through the sky.

But some viewers in Malaysia said the character was reminiscent of Santa Claus, and several groups demanded that the ad be retracted. There was also criticism that the ad featured a lotus flower, which is linked to Buddhism.

TV3 apologizes on the airing of the advertisement ... which has offended many people, the station said in a statement, adding that it had been taken off the air. We will be more cautious to avoid similar incidents ... in the future.

The European Union has described the sentence of stoning to death passed against an Iranian woman convicted of adultery as barbaric.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said he was appalled and called the sentence barbaric beyond words.

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani's sentence is currently being reviewed by Iran's supreme court.

An Indonesian court has ordered the local branch of Paris-based Buddha Bar to close after convicting the licence holder of blasphemy, a lawyer said.

It also ordered licensee PT Nireta Vista Creative, the official Jakarta tourism agency and Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo to pay damages of one billion rupiah (110,000 dollars) to the plaintiffs for distress.

The city authorities had failed to consider the religious sensitivities when they approved the licence, the judges said.

Central Jakarta district court spokesman Sugeng Riyono confirmed that judges ordered the bar to close as an unlawful act had been committed.

The plush lounge bar and restaurant is the France-based chain's first franchise in Asia, but it sparked protests almost from the moment it opened in late 2008 in an upmarket area of central Jakarta.

Its trademark Oriental styling -- including a large sitting Buddha figure which dominates the bar area -- 'infuriated' Indonesia's Buddhist minority, who organised protests and a legal challenge.

The owners of the bar reportedly vowed to appeal the court's decision, which could have implications for other hotels, bars and restaurants that feature decorative statues of Buddha.

Update: Appeal

8th September 2010. Based on article from thejakartaglobe.com

The Jakarta city administration has appealed a court ruling that found Governor Fauzi Bowo and the Jakarta Tourism Office guilty of violating multiple laws when they approved a permit for the controversial Buddha Bar.

The charges included blasphemy and breaking laws concerning business and tourism that mandate respect for state-sanctioned religions.

Made Suarjaya, a legal officer with the administration pointed out that: the bar has changed its name, the [Tourism Office] urged it to do so.

The bar opened in Central Jakarta in December 2008. The management last year restored the colonial name of the building housing the bar, Bataviasche Kunstkring, but the decorations and theme were not changed and patrons continued to refer to it as Buddha Bar.

Meanwhile the Directorate General of Intellectual Property Rights Protection (Ditjen HAKI) under the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights is seeking to revoke the nightclub's brand-registration certificate in response to the controversy over its name.

Update: Asking for the judges to be investigated

26th September 2010. Based on article from thejakartaglobe.com

A Buddhist group that backed the city in allowing the Buddha Bar to open will file a complaint against judges at the Central Jakarta District Court who ordered the bar closed.

Lieus Sungkharisma, the chairman of the board of supervisors at Gemabudhi, or Indonesian Buddhist Youths, said that his organization would file the complaint with the Judicial Commission. Lieus accuses the judges of ruling unfairly against the bar's owners, Nireta Vista Creative, as well as Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo and the Jakarta Tourism Agency.

The move comes three weeks after the court ordered the bar to close immediately. Judge FX Jiwo Santoso ordered the owners to pay Rp 1 billion to the Anti-Buddha Bar Forum, or FABB, for mental distress.

Gemabudhi pointed out that the figure was twice the amount demanded by the plaintiffs. That is troubling. We are not disputing anything else, but that, Lieus told the Jakarta Globe. Citing Indonesian civil law and 1970 Supreme Court jurisprudence, Lieus said the judge should not have gone beyond the parties' claims.

Established to monitor the performance of judges and to ensure impartiality in courts nationwide, the Judicial Commission is mandated to interrogate judges over irregularities in verdicts and recommend punishment, which could range from warning letters to dismissals.

It's one of the last great taboos: the murder of at least 20,000 women a year in the name of honour. Nor is the problem confined to the Middle East: the contagion is spreading rapidly

It is a tragedy, a horror, a crime against humanity. The details of the murders – of the women beheaded, burned to death, stoned to death, stabbed, electrocuted, strangled and buried alive for the honour of their families – are as barbaric as they are shameful. Many women's groups in the Middle East and South-west Asia suspect the victims are at least four times the United Nations' latest world figure of around 5,000 deaths a year. Most of the victims are young, many are teenagers, slaughtered under a vile tradition that goes back hundreds of years but which now spans half the globe.

A 10-month investigation by The Independent in Jordan, Pakistan, Egypt, Gaza and the West Bank has unearthed terrifying details of murder most foul. Men are also killed for honour and, despite its identification by journalists as a largely Muslim practice, Christian and Hindu communities have stooped to the same crimes. Indeed, the honour (or ird) of families, communities and tribes transcends religion and human mercy. But voluntary women's groups, human rights organisations, Amnesty International and news archives suggest that the slaughter of the innocent for dishonouring their families is increasing by the year.

...Read the full article

Part 2: Relatives with blood on their hands
Part 3: The lie behind mass 'suicides' of Egypt's young women
Part 4: The truth about 'honour' killings

How should we as Baptists regard the growing popularity of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)?

Simply put, we should hate it.

Psalm 11:5 says, The LORD examines the righteous and the wicked. He hates the lover of violence. This is a hard verse for at least two reasons. First, it does not say that God simply hates violence, but rather, that God hates those who love violence. Second, it confronts our culture's lust for violence, a lust which many Christians indulge rather than reject.

UFC and MMA comprise a lucrative mainstream business of entertainment violence. Gate revenue for UFC fights in 2007 totaled $2.8 million and $200 million for pay-per-view. An international phenomenon, one UFC fight in Dublin sold all 10,000 seats in two weeks. Surprisingly, an estimated one-third of fans are female. UFC and MMA fighters have been featured on mainstream shows such as 60 Minutes and Dr. Phil, and on ESPN.

What exactly are people paying to see? MMA and UFC offer a simple formula. Two people are put in an enclosed or confined space, usually an octagon cage, and fight until one of them is deemed (by the referee) too injured to continue or taps out, meaning he just can't take any more beating. Fighters wear minimally padded gloves which lead to more blood, and those bloody images are then used to market the sport.

Those who pay to see the fights also pay to see octagon girls, scantily clad eye-candy between bouts. MMA and UFC are far from a harmless sport. They are a sinful amalgam of blood lust and female objectification that reflects our cultures growing desensitization to the inherent value of human life.

UFC and MMA amounts to violence porn, a term which has been applied to movies with wanton violence such as SAW, where violence is not part of the plot, it is the attraction. Violence for violence's sake, as opposed to instrumental or redeeming violence, desensitizes the viewer to the graphic horror of watching two people pummel each other for the sake of entertainment. UFC and MMA offer exactly the kind of violence condemned in Psalm 11:5. Ezekiel 7:23 decries, the city is full of violence. Why are Christians supporting violence in the city?

Early Christians were objects of violent persecution, being thrown into Roman coliseums for the amusement of the masses. Two-thousand years later, some Christians are now in the stands, cheering and supporting the blood and violence. Christians must avoid any support or association with the entertainment violence of MMA and UFC. We must not envy the men of violence or choose any of their ways (Proverbs 3:31).

Or have we forgotten the words of Christ? Blessed are the peacemakers.

The Vatican has urged the Iranian government to grant clemency to Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the woman facing death sentence by stoning for adultery.

Talking to reporters, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said that the Holy See was following this affair with attention and commitment, explaining that Church vehemently opposes death penalty and it considered stoning as a particularly brutal form.

A statement from the Vatican said that the Roman Catholic Church had intervened through diplomatic channels several times in the past when it comes to such humanitarian questions.

Iran has reportedly sentenced Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani – the Iranian woman who faces execution after being convicted of adultery – to 99 lashes in prison for spreading corruption and indecency after allowing an unveiled picture of herself to be published in a British newspaper.

The claim, which could not be confirmed, comes from her family and a lawyer representing Mohammadi Ashtiani, based on reports from those who have recently left the prison in Tabriz where she has been held for the last four years.

What has made the latest charges against her even more extraordinary is the fact that the unveiled photograph in question, published by the Times newspaper on 28 August, was not actually of Sakineh but of another woman, for which the paper has since apologised.

In reality, the woman pictured was Susan Hejrat, an Iranian political activist living in Sweden whose photograph had been published on a website along with an article she had written about Sakineh's case, perhaps causing the confusion.

Sakineh's son, Sajad Ghaderzadeh, accused the Iranian authorities of using the mistaken picture as an excuse to increase their harassment of our mother. My mother has been called in to see the judge in charge of prison misdemeanours, and he has sentenced our helpless mother to 99 lashes on false charges of spreading corruption and indecency by disseminating this picture of a woman presumed to be her [Sakineh] without hijab.

News of the latest punishment came amid reports from the family that they had learned her case has been referred for a judicial review to Branch 9 of Iran's supreme court which has requested police documents relating to her case, some of which appear to have gone missing.

A local Surrey newspaper has reported that extremists are disseminating leaflets in Kingston town centre urging Muslims to kill Ahmadiyya.

From the Surrey Comet:

A police investigation was launched last month, after police saw leaflets being handed out calling on Muslims to murder Qadiyanis, a derogatory term for Ahmadiyya Muslim...

[...]

A teenage Ahmadiyya girl, who did not want to be named, said she was shaken and scared after being handed a leaflet written in Urdu saying: kill a Qadiyani and doors to heaven will be open to you.

Surrey is home to a large Ahmadiyya community, and is also the location of the Baitul Futuh Mosque, the largest Ahmadiyya mosque in the country.

According to the British Ahmadiyya's national president, Rafiq Hayat: Freedom of speech one thing, but incitement of hatred is another matter. We want the authorities to nip this in the bud, otherwise this campaign of hatred against Ahmadi Muslims will grow into a threat against other moderate Muslims and indeed the wider society.

A simple online flash videogame backed by the right wing Austrian Freedom Party (FPO), launched in advance of regional elections to be held on September 26, depicts the province of Styria as overrun with mosques and tasks players with stopping further ones from being built.

A Reuters story claims that the Bye Bye Mosque game has already drawn over 60,000 visitors.

Iin addition to criticisms from the local Islamic community, Social Democrats and the Green Party. A local Islamic leader named Anas Schakfeh called the game tasteless and incomprehensible, adding, This is religious hatred and xenophobia beyond comparison.

As the game ends, a message reads, Styria is full of minarets and mosques. So vote for Dr. Gerhard Kurzmann (pictured) and the Freedom Party on September 26 so that this doesn't happen.

A leading catholic has blamed abortion and gay rights for turning Britain into a selfish, hedonistic wasteland which has become the geopolitical epicentre of the culture of death.

Edmund Adamus, director of pastoral affairs at the diocese of Westminster and an adviser to Archbishop Vincent Nichols, said Parliament had turned Britain into a country which is more culturally anti-Catholic than nations where Christians are violently persecuted such as Saudi Arabia, China and Pakistan.

His comments, made with only weeks to go before Pope Benedict XVI's historic state visit to Britain, will cause embarrassment between organisers of the visit and government officials, because they reveal how some members of the Church's hierarchy believe that the pontiff is travelling to a hostile and anti-Catholic country.

In an interview with Zenit, a Catholic news agency, Adamus railed against five decades of equality legislation and the availability of abortion services in modern Britain: Whether we like it or not, as British citizens and residents of this country – and whether we are even prepared as Catholics to accept this reality and all it implies – the fact is that historically, and continuing right now, Britain, and in particular London, has been and is the geopolitical epicentre of the culture of death. Our laws and lawmakers for over 50 years have been the most permissively anti-life and progressively anti-family and marriage, in essence one of the most anti-Catholic landscapes, culturally speaking – more than even those places where Catholics suffer open persecution.

The expression culture of death was first coined by John Paul II and is frequently used by Catholic traditionalists as a catch-all phrase covering the practice of abortion, euthanasia and capital punishment.

In the same interview, he spoke at length about marriage and the role of men and women, pleading with Catholics to exhibit counter-cultural signals against the selfish, hedonistic wasteland that is the objectification of women for sexual gratification. Britain in particular, with its ever-increasing commercialisation of sex, not to mention its permissive laws advancing the 'gay' agenda, is such a wasteland.

Adamus's comments, however, drew widespread criticism from gay rights groups and secularists. Peter Tatchell, a leading figure behind the Protest the Pope coalition, said: The suggestion that gay equality laws make Britain a moral wasteland is insulting but not unexpected. The Pope supports legal discrimination against gay people. He says we are not entitled to equal human rights. [But] to claim that Britain is the centre of a culture of death is absurd. We are a world leader in scientific research to develop new medical treatments to save lives and we make a significant contribution to helping combat hunger and poverty in developing countries.

Amid the controversy and international outcry sparked by the stoning sentence handed down to Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, Iran's supreme court reportedly has sentenced two more people to stoning on charges of adultery.

According to Iran's Human Rights Activists News Agency, the court approved on Aug. 28 a verdict of stoning to death for Vali Janfeshani and Sariyeh Ebadi, convicted of having an extramarital affair.

Janfeshani and Ebadi have been held in the central prison of Orumiyeh in Iran's West Azarbaijan governorate since 2008, according to HRANA. The group said the sentences came out of a vague and ambiguous judicial process and that Janfeshani and Ebadi were not granted the right to choose their own defense lawyers.

A major fast-food chain has said it would extend the number of halal only restaurants in France, after a controversial pilot project in February proved a success.

Some politicians reacted angrily to Quick's announcement earlier this year of its first halal-only branches, saying the chain had deprived non-Muslims of a right to standard burgers and promoted social divisions.

But the Belgian chain said it would switch 14 more of its French branches to serve only halal meat.

Indonesian police have arrested an American man for blasphemy after he pulled the plug on a loudspeaker at a mosque because it woke him up.

Luke Lloyd was taken into custody after he disrupted a nightly Koran reading session near his home on Lombok island which was being broadcast over the mosque's loudspeaker.

The incident happened on August 22 and Lloyd has been under police guard at a hotel ever since, pending further investigations.

He could face five years in jail under the country's blasphemy laws.

Update: Lop Sided 'Justice'

2nd October 2010. Based on article from thejakartaglobe.com

Luke Lloyd will appear in court within two or three days on charges of blasphemy against Islam, police said.

The charges stem from an incident on Aug. 22 in which police said Lloyd entered a mosque near his house in Kuta, turned down the volume on its speakers and insulted Islam.

Luke was later attacked by a mob and his home and its contents destroyed.

Nurkholis, head of general crimes at the local persecutors' office, confirmed it had received the case file: Within two or three days, the US citizen will appear in court on two charges, he said.

The first is blasphemy and the second is disorderly conduct. That latter charge is because he is alleged to have unplugged and damaged the mosque's microphone, which worshippers used for reciting the Koran.

The nature of the blasphemy charge remains unclear. A blasphemy conviction can carry up to five years in jail.

Police have predictably not charged anyone with the destruction of Lloyd's property, estimated at Rp 200 million

Indonesian Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali has said that the Jamaah Ahmadiyah faith had to be broken up, as followers violated regulations and were not Muslim.

The minister was quoted as saying after a hearing at the House of Representatives that Ahmadiyah, which has 200,000 followers across the country, must be disbanded immediately. If not, problems would continue.

It was the first clear statement from the minister following a number of attacks on the congregation and their mosques in the last few years, the most recent in Kuningan, West Java, late last month.

Suryadharma reiterated his earlier statement that the group violated a 2008 joint ministerial decree on Ahmadiyah, which stated that members of the faith could not propagate their teachings. The decree issued by the Religious Affairs Ministry, the Attorney General's Office and the Home Ministry, however, stated that Ahmadiyah followers could continue practising their faith through prayers, visit to mosques and other activities.

Ahmadiyah members have repeatedly said their teachings did not violate Islam, while others insist Ahmadiyah saw its founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, as the last prophet.

The belief that anyone other than Muhammad is the last prophet is in basic contradiction with Islam, Suryadharma was quoted as saying: If that is what is called freedom of worship then that freedom has gone too far.

Christian protesters who picketed the Manchester Pride parade could be banned from the streets during next year's event.

Council chiefs are 'outraged' that around 20 placard-waving demonstrators – many from the conservative pressure group Christian Voice – were allowed to disrupt the event.

They gathered outside the John Rylands Library on Deansgate as more than 100 floats – celebrating Greater Manchester's gay, lesbian, bisexual and trangender communities – went past.

Members of the protest were filmed shouting sinful and wicked at people taking part in Saturday's parade.

The group was largely drowned out by the whistle-blowing crowd of thousands – and Lord of the Rings actor Sir Ian McKellen gave them an ironic wave as he led the procession. But town hall bosses believe the protesters overstepped the mark.

They now plan to work with police to see whether anti-hate laws can be used to ban similar scenes at Pride next summer.

Pat Karney, the council's city centre spokesman, said such protests had no place in Manchester. He said: I will be meeting organisers and police to make sure that next year people are not subject to these vile, hate-filled rantings. This is 2010, not 1950, and young gay men and women should not be subjected to this hatred. We have a proud history in Manchester of freedom of speech but there is no place for this. I am a Christian and I believe that these people are a terrible advert for Christianity. There are things we can do using hate laws to make sure they do not come back.

Stephen Green, national director of Christian Voice, said: It is a very sad day for this country when the authorities want to clamp down on the teachings of the Gospel. This is a major assault on freedom of speech.

The Iranian government urged the country's media to refrain from insults after a hardline newspaper twice described Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, France's first lady, as a prostitute.

The Keyhan daily paper made the comments after Bruni-Sarkozy condemned the stoning sentence against an Iranian woman convicted of adultery.

Ramin Mehmanparast, a foreign ministry spokesman, said insulting foreign dignitaries was incorrect and was not officially sanctioned.

The paper first called Bruni-Sarkozy a prostitute on Saturday and repeated the comment on Tuesday. It said that, like Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the woman sentenced to stoning, Bruni-Sarkozy deserved to die, as did actor Isabelle Adjani, who also condemned the sentence.

Bruni-Sarkozy was one of several French celebrities who published open letters to Ashtiani: In the depths of your cell, know that my husband will plead your cause unfailingly and that France will not abandon you

Spill your blood, deprive your children of their mother? Why? Because you have lived, because you have loved, because you are a woman, an Iranian? Every part of me refuses to accept this.

Kayhan, whose editor in chief is appointed by Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, reported Bruni-Sarkozy's letter on Saturday under the headline: French prostitutes enter human rights uproar. It later returned to the subject, criticising Bruni's illicit relationships with various people and blaming her for causing Nicolas Sarkozy's divorce from his second wife: Studying Carla Bruni's record clearly shows the reason why this immoral woman is backing an Iranian woman who has been condemned to death for committing adultery and being an accomplice in her husband's murder and, in fact, she herself deserves to die..Bruni is the singer and decadent actress who managed to break the Sarkozy family and marry the French president.

Iranian state-run TV also described Bruni-Sarkozy as proud of her immoral acts.

Sanctions

Based on article from iloubnan.info

Meanwhile France has urged the European Union on Friday to threaten Iran with new sanctions over the case of a woman sentenced to death by stoning, despite Tehran's warning to the West not to interfere. 

Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner wrote to European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton to call for all 27 member states to warn Tehran not to execute Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani.

Mock Execution

Based on article from guardian.co.uk

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning, was told on Saturday that she was to be hanged at dawn on Sunday, but the sentence was not carried out, it emerged tonight.

Mohammadi Ashtiani wrote her will and embraced her cellmates in Tabriz prison just before the call to morning prayer, when she expected to be led to the gallows, her son Sajad told the Guardian.

The mock execution came days after prison authorities denied family and legal visits to Mohammadi Ashtiani. Her children were told she was unwilling to meet them while she was told, also falsely, that no one had come to visit her.

Sajad, 22, heard the latest evidence of psychological pressure on his mother when he spoke to her by phone yesterday. They are furious with the international outcry over my mother's case so they are taking revenge on her, he said. The more the pressure comes from outside Iran, the more they mistreat her.

Protest rallies highlighting her plight were held in 100 cities on Saturday.