CAGE Daily News Feed

Jail for rapist who attacked Muslim for showing interest in Christianity

dolphin — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 20:55:22 GMT

A man who raped a Muslim woman because she showed an interest in Christianity has been jailed for at least five years by a Sydney court.

As Abdul Reda Al-Shawany was sentenced on Friday, the Downing Centre District Court heard a harrowing statement from the victim, revealing that her shame and fear had been compounded by her cultural background.

The woman, who cannot be named, arrived in Australia as a refugee from Iraq.

Norway: Man now charged with three rapes

dolphin — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 20:46:31 GMT

The 30-year-old Somalian first arrested in connection with a violent rape in the Gr�nerl�kka district of Oslo on May 4 now stands charged with another two similar crimes.

The first woman was badly beaten before being raped, including being thrown against a concrete wall. She received extensive facial injuries and a broken cheekbone.

The accused has confessed during questioning to raping the 48-year-old woman.

Arab Media Reports Syria Making Preparations for War with Israel

dolphin — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 20:44:35 GMT

A Qatari newspaper, Al Watan, reported Friday that Syria is making concrete preparations for war with Israel, saying that the Syrian government has removed the Government and State Archives from the Damascus area. According to the paper, this move indicates preparations for war.

Syrian parliament member Muhammad Habash confirmed on Al-Jazeera Arabic world news satellite TV last week that Syria is indeed engaged in active preparations for a war with Israel. The conflict, said the Syrian MP, is expected to break out during the summer months.

Officials close to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reported Sunday that their efforts to begin negotiations with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad have gone unanswered. They also said that Mr. Assad�s failure to reply signaled that his claims of wanting peace were not honest and were meant to improve his own status in the international community.

"Moderate" Abbas Executes Man Without Trial and Attacks Others

dolphin — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 20:42:20 GMT

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas unleashed his party's Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades terrorist militia Friday, executing one person without trial and wounding and arresting dozens of others. Al Aksa said it murdered a 32-year-old Hamas loyalist from Shechem in retaliation to Hamas assassinations of Fatah terrorists in Gaza.

The bloodshed spread to Tulkarm, east of Netanya, where masked Fatah terrorists sprayed fire indiscriminately and torched a Hamas office, according to the Bethlehem-based Ma'an news agency.

Abbas' terrorists also kidnapped a grocery store owner in Tulkarm, shot at two buses, set fire to a Hamas charity office and to stores and raided homes.

U.S. plans end to Palestinian embargo

dolphin — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 20:40:41 GMT

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Mahmoud Abbas got a major boost in his increasingly bellicose showdown with Hamas on Saturday, with a U.S. diplomat saying he expects a crippling embargo to be lifted once the Palestinian president appoints a government without the Islamic militants.

But the money is unlikely to reach Gaza, now controlled by Hamas and cut off from the world.

The new Cabinet is to be sworn in Sunday in the West Bank, where Fatah forces stormed government offices on Saturday, just three days after Hamas seized control of Gaza and Abbas dismantled the Hamas-Fatah coalition government in response.

12 arrested for instigating youths to meet Osama

dolphin — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 20:37:28 GMT

Bhopal, June 16 (IANS) Twelve people have been arrested in Madhya Pradesh on charges of tutoring Muslim youths to wage a holy war under Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, police said Saturday.

Acting on a tip-off, police arrested them Friday night in Raisen town and presented them Saturday in a local court that granted 15-day remand for further interrogation.

'Those nabbed were planning to train youths, take them to Delhi and then allegedly take them for a meeting with bin Laden,' Raisen police chief K.C. Jain told IANS on the telephone.

Egyptian Copts and Muslims clash

dolphin — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 20:31:03 GMT

CAIRO (AFP) - Violent clashes have erupted between Muslims and Coptic Christians in the northern city of Alexandria and elsewhere in Egypt, newspapers reported on Friday.

One clash was sparked by a row between a young Copt and the son of the imam of the city's Bilal mosque which resulted in dozens of the faithful from both sides fighting outside the Church of the Holy Virgin in Al-Dekhela district.

Several people were hurt and police arrested 13 Muslims and Copts on Thursday, said the independent newspaper Al-Masri Al-Yom which added that the incident underlined growing tensions in the port city and elsewhere.

Four shot dead in Thai Muslim south

dolphin — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 20:30:01 GMT

NARATHIWAT, Thailand, June 16, 2007 (AFP) - Insurgents killed four people in separate shootings in Thailand's restive Muslim-majority south, police said Saturday.

A Muslim man was gunned down at his home on Saturday in Narathiwat, one of three insurgency-hit provinces bordering Malaysia, police said.

Another Muslim man was killed in a drive-by shooting late Friday in Narathiwat, while a 33-year-old Buddhist was shot dead by rebels at a tea house in neighboring Pattani late Friday.

BBC sorry for calling Jerusalem capital of Israel

dolphin — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 21:18:29 GMT

The BBC apologized this week for referring to Jerusalem as Israel's capital, and promised not to repeat "the mistake," following a complaint by four British organizations.

Arab Media Watch, Muslim Public Affairs Committee, Friends of Al-Aksa and the Institute of Islamic Political Thought sent a joint complaint to the BBC after a presenter on its Football Focus program on March 24 mentioned that Jerusalem was Israel's capital and "historic soul."

The BBC's Editorial Complaints Unit posted a response on its Web site: "The reference was a passing one in a context where the focus was on sport, not politics. While recognizing the sensitivity of the issue of the status of Jerusalem, the ECU took the view that the program-makers had taken sufficient action by acknowledging the error and rectifying the Web site."

Religious extremists in 3 faiths share views: report

dolphin — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 21:12:18 GMT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Violent Muslim, Christian and Jewish extremists invoke the same rhetoric of "good" and "evil" and the best way to fight them is to tackle the problems that drive people to extremism, according to a report obtained by Reuters.

It said extremists from each of the three faiths often have tangible grievances -- social, economic or political -- but they invoke religion to recruit followers and to justify breaking the law, including killing civilians and members of their own faith.

The report was commissioned by security think tank EastWest Institute ahead of a conference on Thursday in New York titled "Towards a Common Response: New Thinking Against Violent Extremism and Radicalization." The report will be updated and published after the conference.

'Hizbullah not rearming in S. Lebanon'

dolphin — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 21:10:20 GMT

Dismissing claims that Hizbullah has returned to its former strength in southern Lebanon, UNIFIL commander Maj.-Gen. Claudio Graziano told The Jerusalem Post in an exclusive interview on Thursday that the guerrilla group was practically non-existent south of the Litani River and that if the peacekeeping mission continued, the threat of war would be completely removed within three years.

Visiting Tel Aviv for meetings with IDF officers, Graziano, an Italian general appointed commander of UNIFIL in February, told The Post that his men believed in their mission of preventing hostilities in southern Lebanon and were willing to sacrifice their lives on Israel's behalf.

"Our job is to defend peace and it is a value-based job for soldiers," he explained. "There are people who will offer their lives for higher values like peace, security and stability."

Muslim plotters taped hundreds of times: prosecutor

dolphin — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 21:07:24 GMT

CAMDEN, New Jersey (Reuters) - Six Muslim men accused of plotting to kill soldiers at a New Jersey army base had hundreds of conversations recorded by federal agents that will be used against them at trial, a prosecutor said on Thursday.

Assistant U.S. Attorney William Fitzpatrick told U.S. District Judge Robert Kugler he would soon be able to provide transcripts of relevant conversations to defense attorneys.

"How many are there? Hundreds?" Kugler asked during a status hearing.

Muslim bloc not in favor of int'l force in Palestinian territory

dolphin — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 21:01:41 GMT

The world's largest Muslim bloc said Thursday it is not in favor of the deployment of an international force to help check the spiraling violence in the Palestine territory.

"What is needed is not external forces. What is needed is a better understanding between the internal forces," Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, secretary general of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, told reporters.

The idea of a multinational force to be stationed in Gaza was brought up recently by both Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Muslim prisoners in Bhopal receive Islamic education

dolphin — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 20:53:18 GMT

Bhopal, June 12 (ANI): The Central Jail in Bhopal has been providing Islamic education to Muslim prisoners, particularly who are serving life term in its bid to enlighten inmates about the basic principles of life and humanity.

"There are many Muslim prisoners in this jail who have been awarded life sentence. Most of them are clueless about Quran and Islamic teachings. Hence, we have started a Quran teaching programme. Moulvis from reputed Mosques are teaching the prisoners different verses of Quran," said Purushottam Som Kuvar, Superintendent of the jail.

The ISO 9001-2000 certified jail, houses nearly 3000 prisoners convicted for various offences, and has been running different programmes to reform inmates.

3 killed, 13 schools burned in southern Thailand

dolphin — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 19:57:32 GMT

Three Muslim men were gunned down, while separatist insurgents set fire to 13 schools in Thailand's Muslim-majority south, police said Thursday.

Two men were killed in separate drive-by shootings late Wednesday and mid-day Thursday in Yala, one of three insurgency-hit provinces bordering Malaysia, police said.

In neighbouring Narathiwat, gunmen killed a 54-year-old local government official in an ambush on his motorcycle early Thursday, police said.