Category Archives: State Oppression

Putin opposes headscarves in Russian schools

Posted on by Bob Pitt

President Vladimir Putin spoke against the wearing of hijabs at Russian schools Thursday saying that the practice runs counter to Russian traditions. “Why should we adopt outside traditions?” Putin said during a marathon question-and-answer session with Russian and foreign reporters on Thursday.

A test case of Russia’s hijab policy emerged in October, when Muslim parents in a village in Russia’s southern Stavropol Region complained to prosecutors over a ban on headscarves at their daughters’ school. The parents said the ban violated their daughters’ constitutional rights to receive an education and practice their religion.

Rossiiskaya Gazeta reported on Tuesday that Stavropol governor Valery Zerenkov signed regulations banning school students from wearing headscarves as well as “immodest” dress such as shorts and low-cut dresses.

Education and Science Minister Dmitry Livanov had previously said wearing headscarves did not violate any law on education.

It was not immediately clear whether the headscarf ban applies to all educational institutions in the district or only state-run schools.

RIA Novosti, 20 December 2012

Court of Appeal quashes the wrongful conviction of Ahmed Faraz

Posted on by Bob Pitt

One year on from his imprisonment, the quashing of Ahmed Faraz’s conviction for the dissemination of terrorism publications, is a great victory for freedom of expression in the UK.

In a damning judgement, the UK Court of Appeal ruled that no causal link could be presented that publications produced by the Maktabah bookshop would inspire acts of political violence or terrorism. They said that it was incorrect of the trial judge to permit evidence that those who had carried out acts of terrorism had owned copies of the books or DVDs and that it was a short cut to a conviction.

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Security expert says Canada should keep eye out for ‘Islamist’ immigrants

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A security expert says Canada needs to go beyond screening for terrorists landing on our shores and consider the religious beliefs of some prospective immigrants.

Scott Newark says Canada should be concerned about “Islamist” immigrants.

Newark served as executive officer of the Canadian Police Association and also worked as a security and policy advisor to both the Ontario and federal Ministers of Public Safety.

“We need to think hard about what I would call ‘Islamism’, the political Islam that has absolutely no interest whatsoever in integration, that is intolerant and unyielding and absolutely committed to eradicating Western values,” he said in an interview.

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Muslims call for changes over port terror searches

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Muslims in Greater Manchester are calling for changes to the Terrorism Act which allows passengers to be stopped and searched at airports. A letter signed by several organisations has been sent to the Home Office highlighting concerns over religious profiling.

Representatives from mosques and Islamic human rights groups claim some people are detained but never charged. They want shorter detention times and more intelligence-led policing. The campaign also wants no DNA samples to be taken from anyone who has not been charged with an offence.

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Belgian Constitutional Court says veil ban does not violate human rights

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Last week the Belgian Constitutional Court rejected a claim to annul the ban on face coverings, better known as “burqa ban”. This ban prohibits the wearing of clothing that covers the face, or a large part of it, in the public space. The Constitutional Court concluded that the ban does not violate fundamental rights such as the right to freedom of religion, the right to freedom of expression and the right to private life, provided that the ban is not interpreted in such a way that it also covers places of worship.

Strasbourg Observers, 14 December 2012

Muslim man from Oklahoma seeks justice department inquiry

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Saadiq Long press conferenceA Muslim man is seeking answers from federal law enforcement agencies about what he describes as their harassment of him and his family since his return to Oklahoma from the Middle East.

Saadiq Long, a U.S. Air Force veteran and McAlester native, said Thursday he and his sister have been followed by the FBI and have had several unexpected and unwanted encounters with agents of the federal agency since he arrived in Oklahoma from Qatar on Nov. 19.

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Stavropol student barred from school for wearing headscarf

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The parents of a schoolgirl living in the village of Privolny, Stavropol Territory, are complaining that their daughter has been barred from school for wearing a headscarf.

“Today we sent our daughter to school on the school bus. The senior teacher put her back on the bus and it took her home. She has been barred from classes over the headscarf for about two weeks now,” the girl’s father Rizak Rizakov told Interfax.

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Family of British Muslim imprisoned in Djibouti deny terrorist links, allege state harassment

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A former pupil of Haverstock School is believed to be in an East African prison amid claims he could have operated as an international terrorist.

The Home Office has banned Mahdi Hashi from Britain, listing him as threat to national security.

But his family are demanding answers from the government after what they say is a decade of unexplained “harassment” by the secret services. They say the 23-year-old, who came to Camden Town aged six from Somalia, was plagued by spooks years after he refused to work for them as an “informer”.

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