Far-right Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders lost a legal bid Wednesday to stop his pending trial for inciting hatred and discrimination against Muslims.
“The attorney general is of the opinion that there are no grounds” for a further appeal, the Dutch Supreme Court said in a statement.
Lawyers for Wilders had sought to overturn a ruling by the Amsterdam Court of Appeals in January that he should be prosecuted for a series of public anti- Muslim statements, particularly for comparing Islam to Nazism.
Well, this is nothing that we can consider as surprising. But anyway it something truly interesting that they want this to go to trial. Mr. Wilders has stated:
“I am being prosecuted for saying about Islam what millions of Dutch think. Freedom of expression is at risk of being offered at the altar of Islam.”
The real reason (at least for me) of this trial is that he considers Islam as equal to Nazism. Whatever our special ideas on the subject, this process is judging the personal idea of someone about an ideology/religion. Of course, I count with a just trial (consider me an optimist), in which he can express his own reasons about this. But I don’t know if, being realistic, we can count with that just trial. I fear he is going to be fried.
Just notice that he is labelled as “far-right” everywhere you read about him. Even if he has no link with Nazi parties, with actual far-right parties, etc etc.
NOTE: I really can’t blog often now. I am truly busy, I am sorry for this but life is like it is. Thanks to you all for your interest.
The UN’s human-rights body approved a proposal by Muslims nations Thursday urging passage of laws around the world to protect religion from criticism.
The proposal put forward by Pakistan on behalf of Islamic countries – with the backing of Belarus and Venezuela – had drawn strong criticism from free-speech campaigners and liberal democracies.
A simple majority of 23 members of the 47-nation Human Rights Council voted in favor of the resolution. Eleven nations, mostly Western, opposed the resolution, and 13 countries abstained.
The resolution urges states to provide “protection against acts of hatred, discrimination, intimidation and coercion resulting from defamation of religions and incitement to religious hatred in general.”
“Defamation of religions is the cause that leads to incitement to hatred, discrimination and violence toward their followers,” Pakistan’s ambassador Zamir Akram said. (Heyyy, Zamir, so what about discrimination against non-Muslims in Islamic countries? Are they going to be protected against discrimination? No, right?)
“It is important to deal with the cause, rather than with the effects alone,” he said.
I had written before about this really worrying (at least for me) subject. It’s curious though: there are NO Spanish MSM which have published something about this, that I know of.
But you know what’s curious too? That the Organization for the Security and the Cooperation in Europe has alerted of the discrimination that Christians are suffering in Europe:
Last March 4th, for the 1st time in its history, the office of the Organization for the Security and the Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), for the Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), organised a debate in Vienna specially focused in the risks the right to religious liberty regarding Christians, experiment in Europe.
The intervention of Mario Mauro, VicePresident of the European Parliament, was the most interesting of all. He is also the personal representative of the OSCE Presidency against racism, xenophobia and discrimination. the MEP explained that the “examples show that that discriminations against Christians do not only exist in the countries where the Christians are a minority but also in those in which they are a majority of the population, not considering the persecutions that strike these communities outside the OSCE’s area”.
(…) But, why does the Organization for the Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) worry now about the abused rights of Christians? The answer was pointed out in the same debate, remembering that hate and intolerance do not only affect the people’s security but also to country’s stability. That’s why the Organization has decided lately to intensify the efforts to counter these discriminative cases more efficiently in the future.
It seems that Christians are mainly discriminated even in Christian countries. Something which is really worrying…
NOTE that they are NOT worried about the discrimination considerated as an unlawful and unethical fact, but because it can affect country’s stability. Specially in this economic crisis…
Anyway where are the riots? Where the enraged statements made by Governments about Christian persecution? Where the Pope’s statements calling for the murder of those insulting Catholicism/Orthodox/etc.? Where the cartoonists are obliged to live in hiding because they draw a cartoon mocking Jesus Christ or the Church (whatever Church it is)? So, now tell me who did all these things and what religion the belong to now, in this very same moment. Just in case someone begins speaking about “Christian extremism” or something like that…
If we read the statement made by the secretary general of the Moroccan Community Abroad Council (a consultive bureau created by Moroccan King Mohammed VIth), Abdellah Boussouff, we can really consider that as a reality. He nearly goes as far as considering Moroccan as equal as Spanish Muslim.
(He) stated to the Spanish news agency Europa Press during a meeting about Islam in Europe which took place in Fez, that Moroccan nationals living in Spain “need a strong organization that defends the fulfillment of the religious freedom” in the country and for the “full practice of their rights”.
(…) (He also) added that some of the points that were included in the cooperation aggreement between Spain and the Islamic Commission in 1992 “are not fully applied”, pointing to the need of a “really representative and democratic organism because a lot of Muslims do not feel represented by the Islamic Commission” (name which are not fully applied and why a lot of Muslims do not feel represented by the Islamic Commission. I am not saying the latter is “moderate”, I’m saying that it would be interesting to know what is the future Morocco wants for Spanish Muslims, as pointing out what Spain lacks of in this respect would underline what they like Spanish Islam to be).
He maintains that they are “optimistic with Moroccan community’s progress in Spain”, because “all processes need time” and “both Spain and Morocco have a lot of things in common” (name a few… because except the Spanish-Moroccan war of late XIXth century and early XXth century and the Strait of Gibraltar, I just can’t really see what more).
As a special measure, Boussouff considers that the Islamic Council must create a census of Muslims in Spain that could chose their representatives directly, as it’s already done in France and Belgium (countries where there is NO radicalization of Muslims, is there? Ironically speaking, that is...).
But it’s not me the only one who thinks this is meddling in other State’s affairs:
These statements have been regarded by the Spanish Islamic Communities’ Union as a Moroccan meddling in Islam’s management inside Spanish territory.
The president of this Union, Riay Tatary, stated that the “Moroccan Government is not the indicated entity to speak about the management of the Muslim community inside Spain and how their leaders should be elected” (so, Tatary, are you feeling your chair moving under you?).
Anyway, this must be the first time I agree with Tatary in something, although of course, not for the same reasons: I am not the president of any Muslim organization There is something to consider,though: the growing number of Moroccan nationals in Spain (after Hispanic-American, they are the main immigrant group in Spain) makes this reaaaaaaaaally interesting for Morocco, who already wants Ceuta, Melilla and the Canary Islands in a expansionist policy, seen always not very disgustedly by France, a traditional Moroccan ally, and by UK, because of Gibraltar (of course, Spain does not have one thousand million Chinese menacing Hong Kong, does it? In that case, the results would have been truly different ).
Meddling in other State’s affairs does not make a country trustworthy. Trying to meddle over an entire community to use it as an assault weapon to break into the fortress is even more untrustworthy. But considering the degree of Zapatero’s alliance with Morocco, this meddling is not completelly unexpected.
(I’m sorry for not posting, but the spring, the flowers and me are not the best of friends ).
This interview appeared in Spanish newspaper El Ideal de Granada. You know I am not a specialist translating things but this is sufficiently important not to make an effort to traslate it. So I beg your pardon for any mistranslations the piece could have:
Arabist Pedro Martínez Jontávez (born in Jódar, 1933) was yesterday in Granada, to give a conference on Huntington, the US politologue and adviser of the last US President in Arab matters. He has just been awarded by United Arab Emirates as Cultural Personality of the Year, one of the highest awards from the Islamic world. Among other institutions, it was the Department of Arab Literature from the University of Granada, who proposed his name to the award, together with the University of Santiago de Chile. The arabist has the highest distinctions in his profession, and yesterday he received with pleasure the news of his appointment as honour associate of the Granada’s Ateneo.
-What is your own take on having been named as Cultural Personality of the Year by United Arab Emirates?
- I’m truly honored and it’s a great recognition of my works, they insist a lot in that I, personally, and through my works, have tried to build bridges of communication between the Arab world and Spanish and Latinamerican ones. They also say that I have succeeded in uniting the Spanish Arabists and the Hispanist Arabs.
-Are there still any prejudices about the Arab past?
-There are a lot and there is a lingering feeling of animosity which was bigger in past times. Bit by bit, the past from Al-Andalus is being known and valued in a more adequate and accurate way. There is an opinion tide which tries to build a myth of Al-Andalus and against it, there are also tentatives of ending with the myth.
-What concept people widely have of Islam?
-There is an idea growing of a much more monolithical Islam, which represents it through violence, fright and an absolute feeling of submission to religion, something which is an exaggeration and constitutes a prejudiced vision.
-Is there a mistaken idea of Islam?
- Arabic Islam is still a great unknown thing in a world where it’s seen through ignorance, mistrust and prejudices. We don’t know to distinguish between Arab and Muslim and we call them all “moros”. In Spain, a great public intelectual debate about what is and what was Al-Andalus is needed, what means the “Spanish” identity (well, they would say everything except the Catholic Church which is very bad and including Islam of which nearly nothing remains, except some buildings, which were so civilised as not to destroy them, something which is the opposite to what Iran is doing with Dario’s tomb and other pre-Islamic buildings). Al-Andalus is a treasure, a mine of values that we haven’t been able to take advantage of.
-What do you think about the project of the Alliance of Civilizations?
-As an idea and project, it’s useful, justified and necessary, although “alliance” is not the most accurate term for it. Moreover, it’s linked to political objectives. There’s no plan, no strategy, and they have not taken into account the Spanish Arabism, something that I consider an affront. And I speak from the independent and free position of not belonging to any political party (but from a position of someone who has been awarded a highest Arabic award in cultural affairs).
-Why Western countries try once and again to impose their democratic models to the Arab world? (Arab world has never tried to impose anything on others, not even by the sword… )
-Because that’s what they have tried to do ever. Studying the relationship between West and East through history, you can see that there were not only conflicts, but those were the more important times at all. Another reason is linked to the new power strategy, that of the new world order after the fall of the communist enemy and the creation of the enemy “Islam”. The activity of radical islamic minor groups can’t be ignored (wow, what a concession!! That can be acknowledged by reading the newspaper), but Western countries only allow one kind of terrorism, the islamic one, but no one can speak about State terrorism or make the error of saying that Israel is performing State terrorism (Gee, see? no mention to Iran with Hamas or Hizbullah or to Yemen and United Arab Emirates and the “grants” given to several Sept. 11 terrorists). Moreover, they are not islamic movements(now, they are not islamic, but before they were radical islamic…) but islamist, just the same that we should distinguish between popular and populism.
-What importance has García Lorca’s books in the Arab poetry?
-They consider him as a reknown Andalusian poet. Lorca is for Arabs an icon, an angel, a night confidant, a refuge, and with him, the Andalusian iconography recovers the references to the Mediterranean. Lorca is not only a treasure for the left but also for the entire humanity. All his works have been translated to Arabic, including his plays.
El-Gohary was not present at the hearing, as attendance would put him at extreme personal risk. He had planned to obtain papers authorizing attorney Nabil Ghobreyal to act as his proxy representation in court, but staff members at the registry office swore at and beat him, lawyers said.
Judge Hamdy Yasin was forced to adjourn the case until March 28 because El-Gohary did not obtain the necessary proxy representation documents.
“I am now in a position where I can’t do anything else,” El-Gohary, who has been in hiding, told Compass. “I have to go [to court] despite the danger. I believe God will protect me. It’s a very hard decision, but I have to go.”
Copts and Christian converts have to face such systemic prejudice daily in the battle for their rights, he said.
“Our rights in Egypt, as Christians or converts, are less than the rights of animals,” El-Gohary said. “We are deprived of social and civil rights, deprived of our inheritance and left to the fundamentalists to be killed. Nobody bothers to investigate or care about us.”
El-Gohary, 56, has been attacked in the street, spat at and knocked down in his effort to win the right to officially convert. He said he and his 14-year-old daughter continue to receive death threats by text message and phone call.
But he also has received text messages, he said, of encouragement from other Muslim-born converts too fearful to take a similar stand.
“Everyday I get calls from people who have converted but are secret,” said El-Gohary. “They ask me every day about what is happening, because it affects their future.”
“His legal challenge is motivated by concerns for his daughter. About one year from now, at age 16, she will be issued her national Identity Card and the religious registration will follow that of her father,” advocacy group Middle East Concern told BosNewsLife.
“At present she must attend Islamic classes at school despite having been raised as a Christian. Also, [El-Gohary] does not want her to be subject to Islamic family law, which would include denying her the right to marry a Christian,” MEC said.
El-Gohary was reportedly in hiding after receiving death threats from Muslim extremists. Another Muslim-born Christian, Mohammed Hegazy, who also tried to have his new religion registered, was also forced to flee to safety, rights activists said.
El-Gohary also has charged that his nephew was denied a position in state security agencies because of his uncle’s religious “double life.”
(…) Hegazy, who filed his case on Aug. 2, 2007, was denied the right to officially convert in a Jan. 29 court ruling that declared it was against Islamic law for a Muslim to leave Islam.
The judge based his decision on Article II of the Egyptian constitution, which enshrines Islamic law, or sharia, as the source of Egyptian law. The judge said that, according to sharia, Islam is the final and most complete religion and therefore Muslims already practice full freedom of religion and cannot return to an older belief (Christianity or Judaism).
“[El-Din] started to talk about the Quran being in a higher position than the Bible,” one of El-Gohary’s lawyers, Said Fayez, told Compass. “[El-Din said] people can move to a higher religion but not down, so people cannot move away from Islam because it is highest in rank.”
Memos submitted by opposing lawyers asserted that cases such as El-Gohary’s form part of a U.S. Zionist attack on Islam in Egypt, that Christianity is an inferior religion to Islam and that Copts protect and defend converts from Islam at their own peril.
Egyptian mother will appeal court’s decision: Madre egipcia apelará la decisión del tribunal: the woman lost custody of her twin sons on September 24 last year, after the Appeals Court in the coastal town of Alexandria issued a final decision “granting custody over them to their father who had converted from Christianity to Islam.”
An Australian film about Lebanese gangs has been pulled from Greater Union cinemas in Sydney after violent outbursts at early screenings.
The Combination is the first Australian film release of the year and has been receiving rave reviews for its gritty portrayal of life in Sydney’s west.
Set in Sydney’s western suburbs, The Combination follows the story of a Lebanese Australian who gets out of jail, only to find his little brother is following in his footsteps – he’s becoming caught up in the murky world of crime. With a lot of hand-held digital camera work, first-time film director David Field explores the world of the Lebanese-Australian communities of Guildford and Parramatta in a no-frills way; he advertised in local Parramatta papers for some of the young actors. Scriptwriter George Basha, who’s from the area, has also crafted a love story that works well as a central part of the film. Overall, critics are lapping up this local film, saying it’s deep and challenging.
There’s a strong whiff of spaghetti about the lurid climax – obviously conceived with Sergio Leone in mind. So strong is the momentum generated by the rest of the film, however, that you can almost swallow it – Sandra Hall, Sydney Morning Herald
In the latest hearing of a Muslim-born Egyptian’s effort to officially convert to Christianity, opposing lawyers advocated he be convicted of “apostasy,” or leaving Islam, and sentenced to death.
More than 20 Islamic lawyers attended the hearing on Sunday (Feb. 22) in Maher Ahmad El-Mo’otahssem Bellah El-Gohary’s case to obtain identification papers with Christianity designated as his religious affiliation. Two lawyers led the charge, Ahmed Dia El-Din and Abdel Al-Migid El-Anani.
The march has been held after another one was suspended because of being “racist” and even if its leader is hate preacher Anjem Choudary:
Choudary is the same that stated that Islam is not “the religion of peace but of submission to Allah” and who has demanded publicy the execution of Pope Benedict XVIth for insulting Islam. And:
He is no longer a practising solicitor and has left his wife and children to concentrate on his extreme brand of Islam. It was Choudary who organised the Danish Embassy protests over the cartoons of the prophet Mohammed earlier this year, at which demonstrators dressed as suicide bombers and banners proclaimed: ‘Behead Those Who Insult Islam’.
He lauded the September 11 hijackers as ‘magnificent martyrs’ and praised Asif Hanif, the British suicide bomber who killed three in Tel Aviv in 2003.
After the July 7 atrocities in London, he vowed he would not tell the police if he knew a terror attack was being planned and urged Muslims to defend themselves against perceived attacks by ‘whatever means they have at their disposal’.
(…)Despite his hatred of all things British – he says: “If British means adopting British values, then I don’t think we can adopt British values. I’m a Muslim living in Britain. I have a British passport, but that’s a travel document to me” – he and his family live on state benefits.
Rubana is said by friends to claim £1,700 a month in housing benefit and income support while Choudary has also claimed £202 a month in income support.
Yesterday, Choudary declined to talk about his past dissolute life, dismissing it as ‘irrelevant’. He said: “I was born a Muslim and I have done my best to be a good Muslim all my life.”
Recently he also has called for people who get drunk to get flogged 40 times. And has labelled Christmas as “the pathway to hellfire”.
Anyway, I am truly surprised someone who has that past is pointing at others about prostitution. Specially after seeing these photos from Islamic tradition:
20 people orgy – India – unknown time.
The Voyeur – early XXth century – Teheran – Islamic Republic of Iran.
Women, sex and wine Teherán – Persia (La República Islámica del Irán).
Continuing with Choudary, he is a part of a greater net, joint under the influence of Omar Bakri and the Al-Mujahiroun, which include the “Islamic Thinkers Society”. They, of course, promote judeophobia, as we can see by these images:
The “Islamic Thinkers Society” is the US bracnh of the Al-Muhajiroun, an association created by Oman Bakri Mohammed.
In its demonstrations, this “pictured Jew” is a normal motive:
What would have happened if a Jew writes something like that about a Muslim?
But that’s not the only “interesting” thing about this. The picture is taken from this Aryan Nation’s cartoon:
For example, one of the last news on Islam for the UK (that is, Choudary’s web), tells us that “a brother has been arrested” after he hung a posted in his window adding that “it’s clear that the freedom of expression can’t be used by Muslims”. The posted is this one:
Of course, stating support for the killing of non-Muslims or encouraging people to do so is not “racial hatred”. But not letting someone put that poster in the window of a pro-Israeli firm and arresting him (well, there is NO link there, at least I didn’t see anyone), that’s an enormour example of “racial hatred”.
Victimization, that’s the real word to define these absolute idiots. They want to impose on others their own ideas (Lord, there are people who worship another religions!! That’s so hard on me…. when they should adore my prophet and give me more money, this time to buy a car to carry on with Jihadist obligations in a much better and comfortable way!!!), they consider just and marvellous to menace and to kill others just because they don’t agree with them and, finally, they also want to introduce their own law code based on what they personally believe instead of the Law, equal to all humans livign under the Government. But if you criticise them , that’s “racial hatred”.
Oh, please, why don’t they change their job and begin to write comical pieces? It would better for all!!
NOTE: Just in case someone gets a little bit lost. I’m not for fucking Islam or something, I’m for a logical and rational defense against the foolishness of these self-called “Islamic scholars”, who are nothing more than censors who want to be powerful and tell everybody what to do. And I am not for porn images in any of my blogs, but I’m fed up of idiots who want to give moral lessons when they certainly can’t…
The results on the poll on Geert Wilders (Do you agree with the English decision of declaring Wilders “persona non grata”?) are:
A total and absolute error: freedom of speech must be preserved 94% (15 votes).
While I think that freedom of speech is important, I believe that religious sensitivities must be respected 6% (1 votes)
Who is Geert Wilders? 0% (0 votes)
This week poll is about the agreement between the Talibans and the Pakistani Government in Swat’s valley. Fareed Zakaria discusses it and says that while the Talibans are “bad guys”, we don’t have to worry about them as they don’t want to achieve the Global Caliphate:
The groups that advocate these policies are ugly, reactionary forces that will stunt their countries and bring dishonor to their religion. But not all these Islamists advocate global jihad, host terrorists, or launch operations against the outside world — in fact, most do not. Consider, for example, the most difficult example, the Taliban. The Taliban have done all kinds of terrible things in Afghanistan. But so far, no Afghan Taliban has participated at any significant level in a global terrorist attack over the last ten years–including 9/11. There are certainly elements of the Taliban that are closely associated with Al Qaeda. But the Taliban is large and many factions have little connection to Osama bin Laden. Most Taliban want Islamic rule locally, not violent jihad globally.
The Home Secretary came under fire last night for allowing a radical Lebanese propagandist with links to the extremist group Hezbollah to enter Britain for a national speaking tour.
The Conservatives urged Jacqui Smith to ban Ibrahim Moussawi from the UK, warning that he was “likely to foment extremism or promote violence”.
Mr Moussawi edits Hezbollah’s newspaper and is former political editor of the Iranian-backed group’s television station, which is banned in many countries including France, Spain and the U.S. where its output is seen as anti-Semitic.
He was recently barred from entering Ireland, where he was due to speak at anti-war meetings.
He is scheduled to appear at an event in London tonight organised by the Stop the War Coalition, with more events planned around the country over the coming week.
the Communities Secretary Hazel Blears delivered a major speech on the subject which, far from presaging a change in strategy, was a defence of the status quo. (…She) explained that the problem was not just al Qaeda but also people who did not support violence but the ‘political Islamisms’ whose extremist ideas helped promote that violence. So what was she going to do about them – the ‘political Islamists’ — was what we now needed to know.
But she didn’t tell us. Instead, she retreated to the old comfort zone of the ‘moderate majority’and the need to engage with and encourage the mainstream Muslim community so that violence would not take further root there.
(Afterwards) she appeared to be saying that the mainstream Muslim communities with whom the government was having all this dialogue actually had ‘extremist’ views. So while earlier she had been talking about the importance of engaging with moderates, now she seemed to be talking about the importance of engaging with extremists. And as she said, I do indeed think that such ‘engagement’ is ‘endorsement’; more importantly, truly moderate Muslims think so too and have repeatedly begged the government not to engage with extremists in the community because it emboldens them and undermines true moderates .
Yet with groups which display
an equivocal attitude on core values such as democracy, freedom of speech or respect towards women,
there would be ‘ limited engagement’. Did that include the Muslim Brothers, or Hizb ut Tahrir, or other groups who want to Islamise Britain? Because ‘engagement’ with such people is the current strategy, and the result is that radicalisation of Britain’s Muslims is going through the roof while the government is seen to cave into the threat of violence and dance to their tune. Witness, for example, the banning of the Dutch anti-Islamist politician Geert Wilders, who threatens no-one, while according to the Centre for Social Cohesionthe Hezbollah spokesman Dr Ibrahim el-Moussaoui is to be allowed into the country to teach a course on political Islam at the School of Oriental and African studies – a course apparently aimed at educating Government officials and the police.
So this guy, actually an extremer who has been chief political editor of a terrorist group’s TV is going to give a course to educate Government officials and the police.
This fortnight’s poll: priorities in the fight against Islamism
Fareed Zakaria says we don't have to be very worried by the Talibans as they don't advocate Global Jihad. Do you agree? Vote in this fortnight's poll!!
Bookmark/share a post
There is something to consider,though: the growing number of Moroccan nationals in Spain (after Hispanic-American, they are the main immigrant group in Spain) makes this reaaaaaaaaally interesting for Morocco, who already wants Ceuta, Melilla and the Canary Islands in a expansionist policy, seen always not very disgustedly by France, a traditional Moroccan ally, and by UK, because of Gibraltar (of course, Spain does not have one thousand million Chinese menacing Hong Kong, does it? In that case, the results would have been truly different 
).
Entries (RSS)