Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia

CAIR-NY calls for hate crime probe of attack on Muslims outside mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Tayba Islamic CenterThe New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY) today called on law enforcement authorities and public officials to investigate an alleged attack on Muslim worshippers on their way to prayers at a Brooklyn mosque as a possible hate crime.

On Friday evening, witnesses say passengers in a Lexus drove by the Thayba Islamic Center shouting anti-Muslim slurs, including “This is for your Allah,” and threw eggs at several members dressed in traditional Muslim attire. A 70-year-old Muslim in traditional Pakistani attire and wearing an Islamic Kufi (scullcap) was reportedly hit in the chest by an egg.

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Lansing: Muslim woman attacked in mall

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A civil liberties group said Monday that an incident in which a woman was assaulted at the Meridian Mall on Saturday should be investigated as a possible hate crime.

Meridian Township police confirmed that officers responded to an assault that occurred at the mall Saturday but would neither confirm nor deny the description of events offered by the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI).

Dawud Walid, executive director for CAIR-MI, said two white men and a white woman surrounded a 26-year-old Muslim woman and tried to pull off her face veil and abaya, a full body dress worn by some Muslim women. They knocked her to the ground and shouted expletives at her, he said.

“We urge state, local and federal law enforcement authorities to investigate a possible bias motive for this troubling incident and to make every effort to bring the alleged perpetrators to justice,” said Walid.

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US terrorism prosecutions: Trials of American Muslims rife with abuse

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Illusion of JusticeThe US Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have targeted American Muslims in abusive counterterrorism “sting operations” based on religious and ethnic identity, Human Rights Watch and Columbia Law School’s Human Rights Institute said in a report released today. Many of the more than 500 terrorism-related cases prosecuted in US federal courts since September 11, 2001, have alienated the very communities that can help prevent terrorist crimes.

The 214-page report, “Illusion of Justice: Human Rights Abuses in US Terrorism Prosecutions,” examines 27 federal terrorism cases from initiation of the investigations to sentencing and post-conviction conditions of confinement. It documents the significant human cost of certain counterterrorism practices, such as overly aggressive sting operations and unnecessarily restrictive conditions of confinement.

“Americans have been told that their government is keeping them safe by preventing and prosecuting terrorism inside the US,” said Andrea Prasow, deputy Washington director at Human Rights Watch and one of the authors of the report. “But take a closer look and you realize that many of these people would never have committed a crime if not for law enforcement encouraging, pressuring, and sometimes paying them to commit terrorist acts.”

Many prosecutions have properly targeted individuals engaged in planning or financing terror attacks, the groups found. But many others have targeted people who do not appear to have been involved in terrorist plotting or financing at the time the government began to investigate them. And many of the cases involve due process violations and abusive conditions of confinement that have resulted in excessively long prison sentences.

The report is based on more than 215 interviews with people charged with or convicted of terrorism-related crimes, members of their families and their communities, criminal defense attorneys, judges, current and former federal prosecutors, government officials, academics, and other experts.

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Another flop for the South East Alliance

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Anti-SEA protest Cricklewood

Having been humiliated by anti-fascists last month when they turned up in Cricklewood to stage a protest against the Muslim Brotherhood, the South East Alliance came back today for a rematch.

The dozen or so fascists that turned up (I counted 13 of them, although I’m told that at one point the SEA’s ranks swelled to fully 14 “patriots”) were put in a pen on Cricklewood Broadway, some distance away from the Muslim Brotherhood office they were targeting. They were confronted by several hundred counter-demonstrators.

After milling around pointlessly in their pen for a couple of hours, the SEA retreated back to Kilburn tube station under police escort. There were so few of them that they didn’t even get to use the road and their “march” was restricted to the pavement.

The SEA, needless to say, claimed a victory over the left. Even their own supporters weren’t buying that.

SEA claim victory

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French mosque site desecrated with pig’s head

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Ambérieu-en-Bugey pig's headThe Collectif contre l’Islamophobie en France  and Al Kanz have reported that, barely a month after work began on the site of a future mosque in Ambérieu-en-Bugey in the Rhône-Alpes region, it has been desecrated with a pig’s head on a stick.

Rafik Goucem, president of the UCMA (Union cultuelle des musulmans d’Ambérieu), the association in charge of the mosque, issued a statement condemning the act and calling on Muslims not to respond to this provocation. He points out that the Muslim community in Ambérieu-en-Bugey has always had excellent relations with the town and its citizens and hopes this is an isolated incident.

The UCMA has lodged a complaint with the police and expresses confidence that the authorities will do everything possible to ensure that the perpetrators are apprehended.

Al Kanz suggests that in order to show solidarity with the UCMA and assist the financing of the mosque it would be appropriate to make a donation to their fund.

Iceland: MP leaves Progressive Party over handling of mosque issue

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Þorsteinn MagnússonÞorsteinn Magnússon resigned yesterday as Alternate MP for the Progressive Party citing the party’s handling of the mosque issue. Þorsteinn said in an interview with visir.is that the reaction of the party’s leadership implies that there was nothing wrong in the party’s handling of the matter.

“The chair and most other key people in the leadership of the Progressive Party failed to publicly comment on the conduct of the party in Reykjavík during the election campaign period. Then the recent words of the chair of the party, in my view, imply the complete denial that anything was wrong … The party has in my opinion not handled the case in an acceptable way,” he commented.

Þorsteinn went on to say, “There must be a requirement that representatives of the party, whether at the national or municipal level, conduct their pleadings in accordance with it [the key policy of the Progressive Party] and reject viewpoints that are likely to encourage discrimination.”

As reported earlier, the party’s leader in Reykjavík, Sveinbjörg Birna Sveinbjörnsdóttir, stated during the municipal election campaign that she wanted city authorities to go back on their promise to the Muslim Association of Iceland on a free lot to build a mosque in Reykjavík.

During the campaign, the debate, such as on the Progressive Party’s Facebook page, quickly turned into general opposition towards Muslims and a mosque in Reykjavík, resulting in support for the party surging and achieving two seats on the city council. Prior to Sveinbjörg’s statements, polls had suggested that the party would not gain any seats in Reykjavík.

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Anti-racism protesters organise demonstration as Britain First plan meeting in Swanley

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Anti-racism protesters are planning a demonstration against right-wing group Britain First which is holding a meeting in Swanley. The group originally planned to hold the meeting in Dartford, but tweeted that the first venue had cancelled due to “adverse police activity”.

Gabriel Forcella-Burton, organiser of the anti-Britain First protest, said: “This is exactly what happened in Wigan last week when the venue found out who they really were. I think it’s a combination of that and them knowing they would meet stiff opposition in Dartford.”

Britain First is now planning to meet at an unnamed venue in Swanley, the latest stop on the group’s controversial national tour.

Both Britain First and anti-racism protesters have been building support on social media over the last few weeks.

Mr Forcella-Burton said: “The majority of the protesters will be local people – some who have never met before. We have been in touch with some antifascist groups from the south east but the core will be from Dartford.”

The ‘Kentish Batallion’ of the stridently anti-Muslim Britain First recently ‘invaded’ Crayford Mosque in Bexley, demanding they remove signs designating separate entrances for men and women. Mr Forcella-Burton said: “The congregation from the Crayford Mosque they targeted two weeks ago will be present, as they have been directly affected by this.”

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Demonstrate against the South East Alliance in Cricklewood

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Racist thugs not welcome in Cricklewood

When the far-right South East Alliance tried to march on a Muslim Brotherhood office in Cricklewood, north west London, last month their path was blocked by anti-fascists and they were forced to turn back.

On Saturday the fascists are returning for a rematch. North West London United, a broad coalition of community groups and trade unions, is organising a counter-protest.

See also “Fascists not welcome in Cricklewood”, Kilburn Herald, 8 July 2014

And “Community in Brent unites against plans for far-right group to march in Cricklewood”, Kilburn Times, 14 July 2014

Update:  See “Another flop for the South East Alliance”, Islamophobia Watch, 19 July 2014

Why banning Sharia courts would harm British Muslim women

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The calls to ban Sharia councils in Britain, as a way of ending discrimination suffered by Muslim women at the hands of these religious tribunals, is short-sighted and not the best way forward finds Myriam Francois-Cerrah.

Daily Telegraph, 17 July 2014

You’ll note that the Telegraph sees fit to illustrate this article with a photo of an al-Muhajiroun placard.