The brother of David Haines, the British hostage murdered by Islamic State militants, said he does not blame Islam for the killing.
“I have become aware of a number of verses in the Koran that I feel particularly apt at this time,” Mike Haines told reporters.
Islamic leaders in south-east Queensland say they are being targeted by an increase in hate crimes, following an increase in the terror threat level and the arrests of two people allegedly linked with fighting in Syria.
Logan mosque spokesman Ali Kabri said that overnight on Saturday, someone left pamphlets outside the mosque filled with abusive language and photographs, saying Australian Muslims were not welcome in the country.
In the past few days officials also discovered a photo of the Mecca and a photo of a pig’s head close by. It followed an incident two months ago when body parts of a pig were found outside the mosque.
“It’s appalling… there’s an emotional fear. There’s emotion of disgust,” Mr Kabri said. “There’s emotion of threat to the Muslim community. Because we’re afraid that for now there are pamphlets but it could lead to violence. We’re afraid for our families and afraid for our children.”
Mr Kabri said the “silly actions” of a few showed Australia to be an intolerant society to the rest of the world. “But I don’t believe we’re an intolerant society, we’re a tolerant society,” he said.
This is the headline to the Mail‘s report of the shocking murder of a young girl shot dead by her clearly mentally disturbed father in retribution for his failure to win custody and denial of access due to his earlier violent behaviour.
There is, needless to say, no evidence that religion played any part at all in the tragedy.
A Gold Coast City councillor says she’s been threatened with gang rape and death over a proposed mosque, and Facebook is protecting the identity of her tormentors.
Chris Robbins says she has spent several weeks trying to get the social media site to reveal the identity of the creators of the “Stop the Mosque at Currumbin” page after it used a photo of her as its profile picture, claiming she was receiving money from unspecified Islamic backers, a claim she denies.
Ms Robbins says she had to engage a lawyer to threaten the website with defamation before the picture was removed. The page remains live along with a host of anti-councillor comments from Facebook users.
Facebook has told AAP it has had no contact with any lawyers representing Ms Robbins and says the Gold Coast councillor has not begun its process for requesting data. “We respond to requests for data to police consistent with our law enforcement guidelines,” a Facebook spokesperson said.
“These guidelines also outline if and how civil litigants can make data requests.” The spokesperson said Facebook was contacting Queensland police to understand what, if any, requests for data relating to the incident had been made.
Ms Robbins says she was targeted by protesters after announcing the council had received an application to build a mosque at an industrial site in Currumbin on the southern end of the Gold Coast. “Horrific vilification, threatening all kinds of nastiness directed at me because I’d basically gone to the meeting and said council’s got an application for a mosque and we will be assessing it as we’re obliged to by law,” she told AAP.
English Defence League (EDL) protesters have attacked police in Rotherham while demonstrating over the recent revelations about child sexual exploitation in the town.
Three men linked to the demonstration were arrested ahead of the march on suspicion of possessing an offensive weapon and remain in custody. A fourth man from Rotherham was also arrested on suspicion of committing a public order offence.
Police erected 10ft (3ft) barricades around the town centre, while extra officers were drafted in from around the country.
South Yorkshire police said officers had been “confronted with missiles and barriers” but said no injuries had so far been reported. Some 1,200 protesters were expected to descend on Rotherham, in what has been described as a political exploitation of the recent abuse findings.
The shock report last month said that although the majority of perpetrators were described as “Asian” by victims, some councillors were nervous about identifying the abusers’ ethnic origins “for fear of being thought racist”.
Weman Bennett of Unite Against Fascism said: “We want justice for the victims, but we don’t want racists exploiting it.” Speaking from the organisation’s small counter-demonstration, Bennett said most of the violence had been between EDL members themselves.
A senior Conservative has become embroiled in a row after suggesting a Muslim Labour councillor may have got preferential treatment because she was wearing a headscarf.
Tory education spokesman Coun James Hutchings (Edgbaston), who later apologised, made his comment at a watchdog committee discussing the fallout from the Trojan Horse scandal in inner-city schools.
He was annoyed the only committee member named in minutes of a previous meeting was Muslim Labour chairwoman Coun Mariam Khan (Washwood Heath), who wears a hijab, saying that all other members had been overlooked. Coun Hutchings said: “The only person mentioned by name is you, I don’t know why you were so privileged, perhaps it is because you are the only person wearing a headscarf.”
Coun Khan replied: “I assure you it is probably nothing to do with how I dress or whether or not I wear a headscarf.”
Other committee members immediately declared their shock at the statement. Cabinet member for children’s services Brigid Jones said: “Did you seriously suggest a woman got preferential treatment because of the way she dressed? I want to place on record my astonishment and absolute disgust.”
Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King is calling for the U.S. government to begin spying on American mosques to stop ISIS’ recruitment efforts, charging the militant organization is actively operating in mosques across the country.
Although there is no evidence that ISIS is running a nationwide recruitment effort or using mosques as centers to target would be jihadis, King insisted the Obama administration must target mosques for domestic surveillance activities.
“Here’s a thought that occurred to me,” King said speaking to the Deace Show Thursday. “I didn’t look at the population of Germany at the beginning of the Third Reich but it’s probably in the area of 70-80 million is my guess. And out of that Hitler in a few years build something that cost the lives of roughly 60 million people. The radical islamists have 1.3 or more billion muslims to work with. Now they aren’t all supporters. Daniel (inaudible) says 10-15% of them, but that is a huge population to draw from.”
King said ISIS recruiters were “certainly in the United States,” citing mosques in Virginia and Minneapolis to say mosques were the “communications centers” for ISIS.
A teacher has been suspended after she allegedly made a comment about a Muslim student’s headscarf. Parents complained to police and Bolton Council following the alleged incident at Sunning Hill Primary School, Daubhill, on Wednesday.
It is claimed a girl at the school was fidgeting with her headscarf and the teacher involved was heard to say: “If she was in my class I would chuck the scarf in the bin.” The woman is alleged to have made the comments about the traditional female Muslim head dress in earshot of several pupils.
Bolton Council said the teacher had been suspended pending an investigation.
Islamophobia is one of the most violent and frequent forms of racist violence and discrimination in Europe today. But it remains unrecognized, leaving the EU powerless in quantifying and countering this phenomenon, writes Elsa Ray, spokesperson for the Collectif contre l’Islamophobie en France.
A man who launched into a racist tirade outside a Scottish mosque the morning after drummer Lee Rigby was hacked to death in London has escaped with a £150 fine.
Grant Gallagher caused a disturbance outside the mosque in Livingston, West Lothian. He was heard shouting: “The soldier was innocent. He didn’t deserve to die – you terrorists killed him.” He angrily grabbed the gate with both hands and shook it, screaming racist abuse.
Livingston Sheriff Court heard that an Asian man who witnessed the bizarre behaviour stopped his car and wound down the window. A woman having a cigarette in her garden nearby also heard Gallagher’s 2am rant. They were so concerned that police were summoned. Gallagher was detained and arrested some time later. He made no reply to caution and charge.
Gallagher, 55, of Lime Grove, Livingston, pled guilty to behaving in a threatening and abusive manner on May 26 last year. He admitted shouting and swearing and making racist remarks during the incident, classed as a racially aggravated offence.