Aisha Pritchard and Sadi Elhaloul talk to Emdad Rahman about the police harassment they suffered at Cardiff International Airport in December when they tried to board a flight to Dubai.
Category Archives: Wales
Nun accused of religious harassment
A nun was convicted of religious harassment after ranting against “terrorist” Muslims in the middle of London’s busy Oxford Street. Sister Ruth Augustus, 66, was fined £200 after she shouted at two women in full robes and veils “you’re probably terrorists, get back to your own country”. City of Westminster Magistrates Court heard how trouble flared when Augustus, a missionary who has worked with prostitutes in the developing world, was handing out prayer leaflets outside Debenhams department store on Easter Tuesday.
WPC Natasha Walker said she heard a ‘commotion’ outside the shop and went to investigate. The officer said: “I heard someone shouting ‘terrorists, terrorists’ more than once. It’s busy on Oxford Street, so she must have been shouting really loud. I turned round and noticed there were a group of people standing outside Debenhams. Sister Augustus was shouting ‘terrorists’ repeatedly and other things about Muslims. I asked her to stop, but she refused. She said ‘I will not stop, I’m a nun’.”
Parties unite to condemn BNP
The four main parties in Wales have united to condemn the racist British National Party for its comments attacking the National Museum of Wales over the staging of two exhibitions on Islamic culture. The exhibitions explore the contribution of Muslims to world history, science and art.
On its website the BNP states, “You may think that this is rather strange, particularly as Wales has an enormous heritage of its own, not least in the field of early Christianity.” The website goes on to refer to planning permission granted for a large mosque in Cardiff and suggests Plaid Cymru should be renamed Plaid Islam because it has several Muslim councillors.
Labour’s Deputy Health Minister and Newport East AM John Griffiths said, “This is horrible stuff. The National Museum should be congratulated for opening the eyes of Wales to the huge contributions Muslims have made in so many fields. The BNP is trying to foster intolerance and must not be allowed to succeed.”
Plaid Cymru’s Helen Mary Jones said, “There is no place in a modern, multicultural Wales for this kind of rubbish. The National Museum has a duty to inform and educate … Confining information or representation to that of any one race, language, political belief, or religion is a very dangerous prospect.”
The Welsh Conservatives’ culture spokeswoman Lisa Francis said, “Exhibitions such as this play an important role in promoting understanding, tolerance and respect for religion and culture. It is something which should be celebrated and encouraged. People will rightly be appalled at the BNP’s latest attempt to spread its pernicious, divisive, offensive and dangerous propaganda.”
Welsh Liberal Democrat culture spokeswoman Eleanor Burnham said, “Wales has a proud tradition as an outward-looking nation which has been enriched by the contributions of people from other countries and traditions.”
A spokesman for the National Museum said, “We put on these two small high-quality exhibitions at National Museum Cardiff sites for a number of reasons. The material relates to communities of Muslim background who are an important part of Wales’ history and contemporary life. It meets a wish from visitors from other communities to know more about Muslim cultures.”
Ex-archbishop Carey speaks out against the veil
The Welsh-based former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord George Carey says Muslim women, particularly teachers, should not be permitted to wear the veil in the workplace. The 70-year-old former head of the Church of England who now has a home in Llanrhidian, Gower, was speaking ahead of a lecture he will give at Swansea University next week.
“The face is an important medium of communication,” he said. “We all need to see a full face, to see the smile and hear the voice clearly. Obviously, wearing of the veil is not central to Islam otherwise every Muslim woman would be compelled to adopt that kind of dress.”
‘National Museum of Wales goes Islamic’, Nazis complain
“Do the ordinary people of Wales really deserve their hard earned taxes to be squandered in grant aid to cultural bodies such as the ‘National Museum of Wales’; to be used by an apparently small out of touch elite, to promote what is seen by many as a politically motivated campaign of Islamic propaganda?”
The fascists of the BNP (“Cymru’s fastest growing and unashamably pro-Christian political party”) take exception to the staging of two exhibitions on Muslim culture at the National Museum of Wales.
BNP regional voices, 18 November 2006
Of course, we all know the distinctive contribution the BNP makes to Christian culture in Wales. Only two months ago one of their activists was convicted of racially aggravated disorderly conduct after screaming “Paki whore” and “Sieg heil” at a traditionally-clothed Asian woman in Swansea in June this year.
Arrest made after fire at mosque
Police have arrested a 36-year-old man after a fire broke out at a mosque in Cardiff on Tuesday morning. Officers and fire crews were called to the Madina mosque in Cathays, just before 0830 GMT when a fire on the second floor spread to the roof. South Wales Fire Service said about a quarter of the building was lost to the fire, but they were able to save a number of meeting rooms.
Wales TUC joins Muslims in fighting racism
The Wales TUC joined forces with the Muslim Council of Wales (MCW) last night to recruit more Muslims into trade unions and battle racism. In a joint statement pledging to work together to combat the scourge of Islamophobia, they said that “WTUC and the Muslim Council of Wales will work together in support of workplace justice and against Islamophobia.”
The statement notes that, “by combining together, we will be able to achieve more towards those objectives we share in common than we can do by acting alone.” It stresses: “The shared belief of the MCW and Wales TUC in justice, equality and opposition to prejudice is matched by our belief that these objectives can be better achieved in the workplace. We believe it is in the interests of workers to join the appropriate trade union at their workplace and that employers should recognise such unions.”
Pig’s head found outside mosque
A pig’s head was found dumped outside a mosque in south Wales hours before the holy festival of Ramadan began, police have said. It was discovered outside the Jamia Mosque in Newport at 2230 BST on Saturday, 23 September. Gwent Police were called to the scene and have begun a hate crime inquiry to identify the culprit in what is being seen as “premeditated” attack.
See also WalesOnline, 30 September 2006
Racist attack on imam in Rhyl
Beaten… for being Muslim: Sickening attack on a family man
THIS is the battered face of a Muslim man beaten unconscious in a racist attack as he walked to morning prayers.
Assistant imam Mohammed Naeem was attacked after being racially abused on his way to Rhyl’s Islamic Cultural Centre in Water Street. He was punched mercilessly and left unconscious, bruised, bleeding and needing 15 stitches in his mouth.
He also lost two teeth in the attack, which happened at about 2.30am last Wednesday – just two days before the first anniversary of the London bombings. He was taken to Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, Bodelwyd-dan, for treatment.
The 29-year-old family man, who has a wife and three children, was yesterday still recovering in hospital following the horrific attack by two men. Last night outraged Muslim leaders appealed for anyone with information to contact police.
Church recalls ‘Prophet’ magazine
The Church in Wales has appealed to 500 subscribers to its magazine to return their copies after it printed a cartoon satirising the Prophet Muhammad. The editor has resigned after the cartoon was published in the Church’s Welsh-language magazine Y Llan.
The drawing – which was from the French magazine France Soir – satirises the Prophet Muhammad by depicting him sitting on a heavenly cloud with Buddha, and Christian and Jewish deities. He is being told “don’t complain…we’ve all been caricatured here”.
The Archbishop of Wales Barry Morgan wrote to Y Llan‘s approximately 500 subscribers asking them to return their copies, which he said would be reprinted without the cartoon. Dr Morgan also personally contacted Saleem Kidwai, the Muslim Council of Wales’ general secretary, to apologise and to assure him that no offence had been intended.
The Church showing admirable concern for the culture and sensibilities of the Welsh Muslim community? Surely this is a case for Dhimmi Watch?
Postscript: Yes, predictably, here it is.