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Germany: Party plans Mohammed cartoons campaign ('Freedom, not Islam') Via the Local : A far-right party on the campaign trial in Germany's most populous state is threatening to put caricatures of Mohammed outside mosques in a string of cities, prompting fears of violence. The "Pro NRW" party in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia has already shown anti-Islamic caricatures in Essen and Gelsenkirchen, though the police prevented demonstrations taking place directly outside mosques. (...) Interior Minister in state Ralf J�ger condemned the campaign and expressed support for planned counter-demonstrations. "Pro NRW is committing spiritual arson," he told the paper. "The party is consciously taking into account that Muslims will feel provoked and upset. The authorities will exhaust all legal avenues to prevent a xenophobic hate campaign." ( source )

Norway: Muslims question focus on Breivik's sanity Via AP : Muslim leaders in Norway say they are concerned that the anti-Islamic ideology of Anders Behring Breivik, the far-right fanatic now on trial for killing 77 people, is being overshadowed by questions about his mental state. The self-described anti-Muslim militant shocked Norway on July 22 with a bombing and shooting rampage targeting the government headquarters and the Labor Party's annual youth camp. Since he has admitted to the attacks, the key issue for the trial is to determine whether Breivik is sane enough to be held criminally responsible. "I'm not a psychiatrist, but what is important is what he has done. That should be the focus, not how crazy he is," said Mehtab Afsar, head of the Islamic Council in Norway, an umbrella organization of Muslim groups in the country. ( source )

Germany: "We will conquer Rome!" Via KATH.NET , translated by Via Catholic Church Conservation : A 26-year-old regularly preaches in a mosque in Solingen - Cologne City Superintendent: His theses are an "impertinence", Representatives of Muslim organizations distance themselves Anti-Christian expressions of a radical Islamic preacher concern the Protestant Church Association of Cologne City. The 26-year-old Austrian Mohamed Mahmoud was released in September 2011 after a four-year prison sentence in a Vienna prison on charges of forming and promoting a terrorist organization . After a short stay in Berlin, he moved at the end of 2011 to Solingen, near D�sseldorf. Currently he is living in Erbach in Hessen(Odenwald). Several television stations reported on his challenge to Christianity: "We will conquer Rome! And then Peter's Square, or whatever it's called, yes, that is [...]to be the site of the conversion and the area to implement Allah's laws in o...

Paris: 100 Muslims protest against religious extremism Via MSN France , translated by Elder of Zion : A hundred Muslims gathered Sunday afternoon on the steps of the Opera Bastille in Paris to "say no to religious radicalism" and proclaimed their attachment to France and the values ??of the Republic, says an AFP reporter. With French flags on their jackets and under a banner saying "Together against fanaticism", demonstrators observed a moment of silence in memory of "Children of Toulouse and Montauban," victims of Mohamed Merah, responsible for seven murders in both cities in March, and who claimed, according to the Interior Minister, Claude Gueant,to have links with Al Qaeda. ( source )

UK: Imam caught on camera advocating female circumcision Via the Daily Mail : Mohammed Abdul, the Imam of a Bristol mosque, was filmed urging a follower to take women and girls abroad so they can be circumcised legally. (...) The footage was obtained by an undercover reporter working for the Sunday Times newspaper, who posed as a Muslim seeking advice. During a meeting with Mohammed Abdul at the Masjid al-Huda mosque: 'In this country, it is not possible, we cannot do that. (For) any other Muslim who likes to practise the way of Prophet Muhammad, the best way is to go to other countries. 'Some families, they go to Africa or Arab countries. 'In this country you have to fight for your religion, your cultures, They (the British) don't like your Muslim cultures.' ( source )

Athens: Immigrants squeak out living as scrap metal mongers Via AFP : The business is evidence of the poverty in which thousands of illegal immigrants live in Greece, a gateway to the EU but a trap for those who do not manage to continue their journey to more prosperous member states. "There is no other kind of work here," said Zeeshan, who arrived from Pakistan a year and a half ago on a trip that cost him 3,000 euros ($4,000). The 26-year-old said he had studied computer design back home, but now spends 10 hours a day rummaging through the blue rubbish bins that the city has distributed to collect recyclable trash. Zeeshan said he is able to make a couple of dozen euros per day. ( source )

Bosnia: Srebrenica Muslim refugees not given right to vote The 'Mothers of Srebrenica' organization say that the city's Muslims will leave if the refugees won't be allowed to vote. Via the Atlantic : Six months from now, a municipal election will be held in this isolated mining town, the scene of the largest massacre in Europe since World War Two. The town's current mayor, a 33 year-old Bosnian Muslim, says the election will hand Bosnian Serbs control of the town and complete the "ethnic cleansing," or removal, of all Muslims from eastern Bosnia. Serbs say it is democracy, plain and simple. Seventeen years ago, Serb forces executed 8,100 Muslim men and boys here in the largest single mass killing of the war in Bosnia. The U.S. and its European allies - who had declared the town a U.N. protected "safe area" - stood by as the Serbs rampaged for days in the summer of 1995. In local elections since then, a special exemption has been granted that all...

Germany: Neo-Nazi attacks on the rise in western Germany Via DW : Scenes from near Nuremberg in Bavaria: Right-wing extremists threaten some young Kurds, shouting, "Get out you damned Turks!" Then several neo-Nazis attack the group, brutally beating up the migrants. One young man sustains severe injuries, falls into a coma and only barely survives. On a different occasion some youths hold a vigil for the victims of right-wing extremism. They hold up banners saying "Fascism - never again." Suddenly they are bombarded with fireworks by a group of masked people. Later the youth center is daubed with swastikas and the threat: "We will get you all!" ( source )

France: 'I�m Arab, a Muslim, and I vote Marine Le Pen' Via France24 : If French Muslims are largely left-leaning in their voting preferences, there are exceptions. France24.com spoke to three French Muslims of Arab descent, all of whom vote for the far-right National Front party. Here are their testimonies. Karima, policewoman: �Many of my colleagues of Arab descent vote far right, but don�t dare say so.� A 33-year-old naturalised French citizen of Moroccan origin, Karima is a mother of three, married to a Frenchman. She arrived in France 15 years ago, and has a diploma in Computer Science from a French university. Now she works as a policewoman in Paris and declined to provide her last name. Karima says she started becoming interested in the ideas of Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the extreme-right National Front party, in 2002. That was almost a decade before Le Pen handed over the party leadership to his youngest daughter, Marine, in 2011. These days, Karima says she regularl...

France: As Le Pen surges, angst deepens in suburbs Interestingly enough, Reuters points out: "Of all the young people interviewed for this report, only one said he had voted in Sunday's election." Via Reuters : Jean-Pierre, 45, the French son of an Algerian soldier who fought on the French side during the Algerian war of independence, said Le Pen was right to demand tighter border controls because there were no jobs to give to new immigrants. But Jean-Pierre and others in Aulnay said the bottom line about Le Pen was that she was fanning racism against foreign-looking people, especially French citizens of North African origin, by describing France's 5-million-strong Muslim population as problematic. "I am a Muslim, and I'm French, and I cannot accept someone telling me that this or that custom is not acceptable," said Jean-Pierre, who owns a car-cleaning business, and said he voted for Sarkozy. "Does she forget that France was in Algeria for 132 year...

Russia: Chechen Leaders Slam Proposed Creation Of Shari'a Courts Meanwhile, Khasavov fled Russia after receiving death threats . Via RFE/RL : Chechen Republic head Ramzan Kadyrov and Chechen mufti Sultan-hadji Mirzayev have both harshly criticized the proposal by Chechen legal scholar Dagir Khasavov to establish Shari'a courts in Russia for the benefit of those Russian Muslims who do not want to �get bogged down in the Russian legal system,� which they do not trust. (...) Khasavov, who is based in Moscow, advocated Shari'a courts as an alternative to complement Russia�s civil justice system in an interview on April 24 with REN-TV that, according to his son Arslan, has not been shown in its entirety. Instead, only selected statements from the interview were broadcast. The most controversial, and that which occasioned the most negative comment, was Khasavov�s warning that the Muslim community would respond to efforts to prevent the introduction of a Shari'a court with a �...

France: Mosques accused of backing Hollande Via the Local : The rightwing UMP party has accused Socialists of courting the Muslim vote and alleges that mosques are calling for the faithful to vote for leftwing candidate Francois Hollande. "I want to condemn the conniving and irresponsible attitude of the Socialist Party and its candidate after religious leaders belonging to a network of 700 mosques called on followers to vote for Francois Hollande," writes UMP lawmaker Eric Ciotti in a press release on Wednesday. (...) Muslim religious authorities in France however deny they have called on voters to support Hollande. In an interview with the newswire AFP, Abdallah Zekri, a leader of the French Council of Muslim Faith, says imams have called on followers to vote but have not given them instructions as to who they should vote for. ( source )

Italy: Immigrants say they are treated 'worse than animals' Via ANSA : Immigrants held at a reception center in the southern Italian town of Bari said on Thursday that they were treated "worse than animals" by authorities at the structure. The center for identification and expulsion, with a capacity of 119 people, is currently occupied by 196 foreigners awaiting deportation, the immigrants said. ( source )

Cambridge: Muslims question militant's speech Via Cambridge News (h/t DW): Moderate Muslims are appalled that Dr Haitham al-Haddad, who is a judge on a Sharia law court in London, was allowed a platform at the Mawson Road prayer centre. He spoke to students from Cambridge University�s Islamic Society in a packed room, and has previously told Muslims �to prepare themselves for jihad, all over the world�. Hasan Afzal, director of the anti-extremism monitoring group StandforPeace, who was alerted to the visit by a concerned Muslim attending the mosque, said: �I understand the mosque is looking to expand and this has been a bone of contention with the local community and has attracted the ire of far-right groups, including the English Defence League. (...) Ahsan Mohammed, a Newmarket Muslim leader, said: �I am torn in that I want freedom of speech and think that is what makes Britain great but when the views are bonkers and dangerous we have to draw the line somewhere.� ( source )

Belgium: Moroccan PM insults female minister, Moroccan-Belgian MPs want Belgian response Via HLN : Moroccan PM Abdelilah Benkirane recently met in Rabat with two Belgian ministers: Minister of Foreign Affairs Didier Reynders (MR) and Justice Minister Annemie Turtelboom (Open Vld).  However, during the meeting he barely paid attention to Turtleboom, and instead focused on her male colleague, Reynders.  Benkirane praised Reynders' French, and told him he 'didn't have to come with an interpreter'.  Turtleboom made it clear who she was, but Benkirane continued to ignore her.   Turtleboom was upset, but swallowed the insult since she didn't want to cause a diplomatic row.  Moroccan-Belgian MPs say her reaction is unblievable, and that Belgium should respond. Yamila Idrissi (sp.a) and Nadia Sminate (N-VA) say that Turtleboom should have walked out of the meeting.  But Idrissi says it's not too late for a response.  "Belgium shouldn't leave things like that a...

Denmark: 3 men arrested on terror suspicion Via AP : Three men have been arrested in Copenhagen on suspicion of plotting a terror attack after police found them with automatic weapons and ammunition, Denmark's intelligence service said Friday. (...) PET described the men as a 22-year-old citizen of Jordan, a 23-year-old Turkish man living in Denmark and a 21-year-old Danish national who lives in Egypt. ( source )

Copenhagen: Churches shouldn't be turned into mosques since 'Islam is an enemy of Christianty' Via JV : Islam is an enemy of Christianity, says former Minister of Ecclesiastical Affairs, Birthe R�nn Hornbech (Liberals), and therefore Muslims shouldn't be taking over churches which have closed down.  16-17 churches in Copenhagen face closure. The former minister spoke on the issue after Per Ramsdal, pastor of Brorson's Church in N�rrebro, suggested the churches can be used by Muslims, Buddhists or Hindus. Birthe R�nn Hornbech wrote in a mail to Berlinkske News that he will publicly oppose the churches being turned over to another religious, when that religious is a direct enemy of Christianity, as is Islam, for example.  Even if it doesn't necessarily apply to Danish Muslims, Islam is an enemy of Christianity. Kirkefondet (Church Foundation), which owns half the churches due to be closed down, has denied that their churches will be sold to Muslims or other faiths...

Norway: Anti-Islam sites dominated by elderly men Via the Foreigner : Men at home over 65, with little education and no children reportedly represent the average reader of anti-Islam websites. Klassekampen writes it used Alexa to examine eight sites that allegedly inspired Anders Behring Breivik and his manifesto. It claims its investigations revealed readership groups to websites Gates of Vienna, Jihad Watch, The Brussels Journal, Islam Watch, Atlas Shrugged, Tundra Tabloid, Vladtepesblog and The Green Arrow showed a clear pattern. When presented with the results, Andreas Malm, journalist and author of the book �The Hate against Muslims�, told the paper, �The typical profile of conspiracy theorists are elderly, lonely men, who become obsessed with a particular question, and who may be attracted to anti-Islamic conspiracy theories.� �There is a preponderance of older men, often unemployed, who may feel ostracized from society, and seeking for an explanation and a scapegoat,� he declare...

Wales: Islamic teacher under fire for calling on Muslims to support fight for sharia law abroad Via Wales Onlines (h/t EuropeNews ): An Islamic teacher whose group was at the centre of an anti-terror raid on a Cardiff community hall has come under fire for calling on Welsh muslims to �physically� support the fight for sharia law abroad. Abu Hajar, of Grangetown, Cardiff, is one of the leaders of the Islamic group Supporters of Tawheed, which on its website says its core belief is the �domination of the world by Islam�. (...) In a video posted last month on YouTube called �Support the Muslims of Syria�, Mr Hajar said muslims should: snub western help abroad; demand an �Islamic solution� to problems in the Middle East; and impose sharia law there. In the 14-minute video he addresses the people of Syria, saying: �Our money is with you and, if need be and if we are able to, our muslims will come and respond to your call physically as well. ( source )

UK: PM launches campaign to target �aspirational� ethnic minority voters Via the Daily Mail : The Prime Minister will today launch a major campaign to target �aspirational� ethnic minority voters in the suburbs after warnings that he can�t win at the next election without them. Tory Chairman Baroness Warsi has revealed the party aims to woo female and older Asian voters who share the party�s views but who have traditionally voted Labour. She has told Conservative Cabinet ministers and MPs that they need to do more to win over non-white voters in key marginal constituencies. They will be ordered to discuss core Tory values � hard work, good schools, the perils of welfare dependency � rather than �pandering� to received Left-wing wisdom that Asian voters are only concerned with state handouts and foreign policy issues such as Afghanistan. ( source )

Italy: President, Interior Minister visit Rome's Mosque ( photo ) Via ANSAmed : President Napolitano arrives with Interior Minister Anna Maria Cancellieri and the Minister for Integration, Andrea Riccardi. And it is Riccardi's speech that puts the seal on a new pact of ''integration'' and living together. (...) Riccardi remarks how ''the mosque's dome fits in well with all the other church domes in Rome,'' making the capital city ''a model for integration between religions and cultures''. ''Integration arises from differences. Many predicted after the September 11 attacks that there would be a clash between the West and Islam. Ten years later, the Arab Spring has drawn a different scenario: reasons for living together and getting on have multiplied''. President Napolitano appreciated this reference to the Arab Spring. (...) Mohammad al Gramdi, the Saudi Arabian Ambassador and Chair of the Islamic Cultural Centr...

Europe: Amnesty International Finds Bias Against Muslims Via RFE/RL : A new report from Amnesty International has found that some European Muslims are regularly denied employment and educational opportunities because of widespread cultural and religious stereotypes that lead to discrimination against them. The report, titled "Choice and Prejudice: Discrimination Against Muslims in Europe," examines the lives of Muslims in Switzerland, France, Belgium, Spain, and the Netherlands. It found that individuals who wear specific forms of dress, like a head scarf, or other symbols associated with Islam, do worse with jobs and schooling because of prejudicial attitudes and legal impunity in these European states. ( source )

Sweden: 'Smarter' immigrants coming Via the Local : Non-European immigrants are arriving in Sweden with increasingly higher levels of education, according to a new study, although fewer highly-educated immigrants are arriving from Europe and the Nordic countries. While only 31 percent of immigrants who arrived in Sweden prior to 1991 had some form of post-secondary education, 44 percent of immigrants who moved to Sweden after 2002 have some form of higher education. The figures come from a comprehensive survey of the level of education of people in Sweden carried out by Statistics Sweden (Statistiska centralbyr�n � SCB).  ( source )

France: Paris seeks to become Islamic finance hub in Europe Via Zawya : A report prepared by KFH-Research stated that new global markets are seeking to join the main players in the Islamic financing industry and services, such as France. France is working relentlessly to make numerous legal and organizational reformations to facilitate the offering of Islamic financial services and products. The report added that there is great potential for growth in the field of Islamic financial services in France, since France seeks to become a hub for Islamic banking in Europe. It noted that 1.5 million clients are willing to use Islamic banking tools and products, which equals USD 18.2 billion. In addition, French authorities have offered strong support to develop Islamic banking services, not to mention the high number of Muslims living there who seek Islamic banking services. However, the report mentioned that some legislations need to be amended. ( source )

Germany: Salafists dominate Islam Conference agenda ( video report ) Via Deutsche Welle : Although the official topic of Germany's annual Islam Conference was about domestic violence and forced marriage, a recent campaign by Salafist Muslims to distribute free Korans was a key topic of discussion. Senior German officials gathered in Berlin on Thursday for their annual conference with the Muslim leaders from around the country. One of the main talking points of the conference was a recent drive by fundamentalist Salafist Muslims to hand out free copies of the Koran, although it was not officially on the agenda. "We all agree that Salafist extremism is not acceptable and does not work in a free society, as we have in Germany," said German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich, adding that the Salafists did not have the support of the majority of Germany's Muslims. ( source )

Russia: Ethnic Russians to launch center for own protection Via RT : The Congress of Russian Communities is preparing a legal center aimed at protecting ethnic Russians in their conflicts both with the law and with other ethnic communities in the country. (...) The Ilyin Center sets an ambitious objective of changing the Russian laws, in particular Articles 280 and 282 of the Criminal Code, which criminalize public calls for extremist activity and instigating race and national hatred. Presently, 90 per cent of people prosecuted under these articles are ethnic Russians. The law can be changed, in particular, through changing the criteria for finding the literature and media materials extremist. The center also plans to offer protection to ethnic Russians in all criminal cases and to cooperate with other NGOs that deal with problems of nationality and nationalism.  ( source )

Turkey: Parliament Speaker Warns Against Racism In Europe Via the Turkish Weekly : Europe needs to ensure social and cultural integration to ward off �tendencies contradicting European values,� Turkish Parliamentary Speaker Cemil �i�ek said April 20. �There is no place in today�s Europe for racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia and discrimination. It is a task for all of us to prevent further dissemination of such thoughts,� �i�ek told a Warsaw conference of EU parliament heads. ( source )

Germany: Ministry caught in Muslim study leak lie Via the Local : Germany�s Interior Minister was forced to admit on Friday that his ministry had leaked a controversial study on young Muslims in the country to populist Hans-Peter Friedrich and the tabloid newspaper both presented the study as showing that young Muslims were not integrating into German society � infuriating the authors who said their presentation was a gross distortion of what they actually said. ( source )

London: Don�t ban alcohol � we'll get blame, say Muslim students Via the London Evening Standard : Muslim students at a university considering banning alcohol from parts of its campus have hit out at the plan � fearing they will be blamed for the move. Students at London Metropolitan University said banning alcohol in the name of Muslims will cause tension on campus, divide the community, and could be exploited by far-Right groups such as the English Defence League. Malcolm Gillies, Vice Chancellor of London Met, has said he might stop alcohol being served in parts of the university because some religious students view it as �immoral�. But Syed Rumman, vice president of the Student Union, warned that any ban would be �catastrophic�. Mr Rumman, who is a Muslim, said: �I do not drink, but it doesn�t mean that I will deprive another student from having alcohol.� He added: �It is unethical, catastrophic and it will isolate Muslims further in society. This will go against the ethos of L...

Iranian VP: European Leaders Fear Spread of Islam Via FNA : The eye-catching growth in the number of mosques being built in Europe has made leaders of the European states deeply fearful of the rapid spread of Islam and increasing conversion of their nations from Christianity, Iranian Vice-President Seyed Mohammad Reza Mir-Tajeddini said.  "Leaders of the European countries feel deeply endangered by the growing desire and conversion of their people from Christianity to the religion of Islam and the increasing number of mosques in their countries," Mir-Tajeddini said on Sunday.  ( source )

Sweden: Six convicted in 'honour' beating with metal rods For more on this story, see here . Via the Local : Six men in Hallsberg, central Sweden, have been convicted and sentenced to prison after the severe honour-related beating of a 19-year-old with metal rods at a gym. (...) According to the prosecutor, the men wanted to protect the daughter in their family after an alleged kidnapping attempt. The young woman�s father was convicted of aggravated assault and sentenced to four years in prison. His three sons were all convicted of attempted murder and two will serve time in prison, two received 6 year sentences and the third 5.5 years. The two sons with the longer sentence will also be deported from Sweden after having served their time and not allowed back for at least ten years. The man who owned the gym where the beating took place was also convicted to 2.5 years in prison while his 19-year-old son will serve one year. ( source )

Germany: 'Gender (in)equality not linked to Islam' Via DW : Equality between Muslim men and women has little to do with religion, says G�n�l Halat-Mec. DW's Klaudia Prevezanos spoke to the family lawyer and member of the of the annual German Islam Conference. Deutsche Welle: What's the situation regarding equality between Muslim men and women in Germany? G�n�l Halat-Mec: You have to differentiate: It always depends on the social background of the people we're talking about. What we've worked out in the Islam conference is that many issues are not linked to religion or Islam, but are rather rooted in traditional patriarchal structures of society. And that depends on the social situation of the women � are they working, are they independent? At the conference, we've realized that no matter how religious a woman or a couple is � equality is more a social problem that needs to be looked at separately from religion. Of course, we also have a situation in Islam wh...