Free Republic

# Freedom of religion is fundamental to Swiss law and European human rights treaties. # A minaret is a simple and common architectural feature of a mosque, and is neither a safety risk nor a public nuisance. # A minaret carries no political symbolism or significance. # Advertising campaigns to promote the law were racist. # The law may alienate Swiss Muslims, who are largely of European origin and are known to be moderate. # The international outcry against the law may have a negative influence on the Swiss economy and foreign relations

Spanish police have arrested nine men suspected of seeking to have a woman killed after they accused her of adultery, claiming they were following Islamic law, authorities said on Sunday.

slideshow In the age of balloon boys and party crashers, regular people just don't know what to believe any more. Last week, I spent more than my share of hours trying to track down the truth about an incident on an AirTran flight out of Atlanta on Nov. 17. Flight 297 to Houston, with about 70 passengers onboard, departed gate C-16 at 4:43 p.m. Until something happened that caused the pilot to turn around and come back. Two and a half weeks later, the incident is in high dispute, thanks to some passengers who have spoken out on the Internet...

SPANISH police have arrested nine men suspected of seeking to have a woman killed after they accused her of adultery, claiming they were following Islamic law... Authorities say the men set up a court there to judge her for adultery. "These men had formed a kind of court to apply (Islamic) sharia law,'' the spokesman said, adding the woman told authorities she was tried and sentenced to death. She was later able to escape and report what happened to police.

Countries from Italy to Sweden are debating the right of women to wear the niqab. Canada is the latest country to enter the fray, with the Muslim Canadian Congress desiring to ban it. Is such a ban possible in the U.S., where its prevalence is evident in certain urban centers, like Philadelphia? Muslim women's wearing of niqab, the veil covering everything but the eyes, and, by extension, the face-concealing mesh that is combined with a long garment to form the burqa in South Asia, has been introduced into the West as a purported religious obligation, and therefore, is put forward...

MOGADISHU, Somalia — A male suicide bomber dressed as a woman attacked a university graduation ceremony Thursday in a small part of the capital still under government control, killing up to 19 people, including three Cabinet ministers and three journalists. The attack was a severe blow to a country long battered by war and underscored the government's tenuous hold on even a small area of Mogadishu. African Union peacekeeping troops protecting the government wage near daily battles with Islamic militants who hold much of central and southern Somalia and act so brazenly in the capital that they carry out public...

It's a little easier to understand why a man who claimed to have thwarted a potential terrorist attack on a plane has not answered repeated requests to tell his story. He was not on the plane, according to AirTran Airways. "After conducting additional research into this situation, we have verified, according to flight manifests (legally binding documents) that the individual that allegedly created a first-hand account of events on-board AirTran Airways Flight 297, a Theodore Petruna, was never actually on-board the flight," AirTran said in a statement, which the AJC was the first to obtain. An e-mail from a Tedd...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR6eQcg7hR8 Quote - Snippet: http://www.jihadwatch.org/2009/12/female-jihadis-training-on-us-soil.html SNIPPET: "Watch this brief video. It is clear that this is not play-acting, not comic opera soldiery, but very real training -- and for what? What do authorities think these women are doing this for? To stay in shape? They're training for battle. For combat. The Christian Action Network sent me the full video of which this is a part. It shows veiled women marching and engaging in hand-to-hand combat training, firearms training, and more -- in a Muslim compound in the U.S. The implications are clear. Americans, for the most part, have no clue...

It was the holy time, so I had to grope the lady SNIPPET: "He was yesterday found guilty of the aggravated indecent assault of a 23-year-old woman who suffers cerebral palsy and epilepsy." SNIPPET: "Magistrate Jennifer Betts said Qazizada claimed he was a devout Muslim who was fasting when the attack occurred in September last year. " 'Men don't even touch their wives (during Ramadan)', were his words," Ms Betts said in Ryde Local Court." SNIPPET: "As she struggled to get out of his taxi, Qazizada squeezed the woman's breasts several times. Throughout the assault, he asked the woman: "Are...

Few would deny that Muslims too are victims of Islamist terror. But a new study by the Combating Terrorism Center in the US has shown that an overwhelming majority of al-Qaida victims are, in fact, co-religionists. In the battle against unbelievers, can one also kill Muslims? Even the terror network al-Qaida is troubled by this question. A leading al-Qaida ideologue for the terror network, Abu Yahya al-Libi, has developed his own theologically-based theory of collateral damage that allows militants to kill Muslims when it is unavoidable. Even the Iraqi affiliates of Osama bin Laden's terror group, who are known to...

The FAA is investigating an incident aboard an AirTran flight from Atlanta to Houston that touched off a firestorm of e-mails. AirTran Flight 297 was delayed on November 17 after a passenger refused to turn off his cell phone. *snip* According to the e-mail, Petruna and other passengers believed they witnessed a dry run for a terrorist attack. Petruna said he couldn’t talk on camera, but Chaplain Keith Robinson, who was also on the flight, did talk with us. *snip* “Flight attendants were sobbing openly,” Robinson said. Robinson said a passenger getting off the plane warned him not to get...

MOGADISHU, Somalia – A suicide bomber disguised as a woman attacked a graduation ceremony in Somalia on Thursday, turning a rare reason to celebrate into carnage that killed at least 22 people — including medical students, doctors and three government ministers. The blast was blamed on Islamic militants who have shown a rising ability to carry out sophisticated large-scale bombings against high-profile targets — and highlighted the inability of Somalia's weak government to protect even the small section of the capital it controls. "Today should have been a day of celebration — not mourning," said Somalia's ambassador to Kenya, Mohamed...

America, like so many countries in the West, laments its strained relations with the Islamic world. In June, Pres. Barack Obama traveled to Cairo to speak against the “fear and mistrust” that exist between the West and Islam. Yet Muslim governments demand respect for Islam while refusing to offer similar respect for religious minorities within their own borders. The recent Swiss vote to ban the construction of minarets in that European nation has become the latest controversy to generate Muslim protests worldwide. However, Islamic governments are in no position to complain about Western intolerance and “Islamophobia.” Most Muslim nations are...

Bastard mooslems infected Islam in Action, a blog by Christopher Logan, with malware, forcing Blogger to shut it down. The muzzies also took over Christopher’s other site, christopherlogan.org, and it now re-directs to some fetid B.S. site about “Islam is peace.” Being charitable, as those who follow the religion of blowing people to pieces typically are, the bastards also killed his computer with their malware.

ANKARA: Muslims should consider withdrawing their money from Swiss bank accounts in response to the country's ban on construction of minarets, a Turkish minister said. "I am certain this (vote) will prompt our brothers from Muslim countries who keep their money and investments in Swiss banks to review their decision," said Egemen Bagis, cited by Turkish daily Zaman. Bagis is the chief negotiator for Turkey's European Union accession as well as minister for European affairs. "In 2008, when banks around the world were falling, no bank was affected in Turkey, and the door of Turkey's banking system is open to...

European papers are dismayed by Switzerland's popular vote to ban the building of minarets. Some fear it will backfire, sending the wrong signal to the Muslim world and setting a precedent for other parts of Europe. Several papers criticise the type of democracy practised in Switzerland, which allows ordinary people rather than elected representatives to decide on such matters. However, one popular Swiss tabloid defends the ban as a starting point for a debate on tolerance.

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SNIPPET: "EL PASO -- An electrical engineering student at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) appeared before a U.S. Magistrate Judge Wednesday on charges he allegedly made a bomb threat to a UTEP employee. According to the criminal complaint, Ahmad Ibrahim Fares-Hammad "maliciously" made the false bomb threat to an administrative assistant at the Biological Science building on November 18, 2009 and told her "it is fun to blow people up." The FBI agent investigating the incident said the employee claimed Fares-Hammad walked into the department's office carrying a small device with short metal poles that had yellow,...

<p>NAIROBI, Kenya — The EU's anti-piracy force says Somali pirates have seized a super tanker carrying crude oil from Saudi Arabia to the United States.</p>

South Korean Fined In First Racial Insult Case A South Korean man has been fined one million won ($865; £520) for making discriminatory remarks against an Indian professor. The conviction is the country's first involving racist remarks towards a foreigner, Incheon District Court officials told local media. The man yelled racist comments and said "Arab! Arab!" at the Indian man while on a bus in July, the judge said. The professor felt publically insulted by the comments, he added. The 31-year-old South Korean had objected to Bonogit Hussain talking loudly on a bus. Mr Hussain had been in South Korea...

NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania – Three Spanish aid workers were kidnapped by gunmen Sunday while delivering supplies to impoverished villages in the desert nation of Mauritania, a police official said. The two men and one woman were attacked while delivering supplies to villages along a 240-mile (400-kilometer) road that links the capital Nouakchott to Nouadhibou to the north, the official said. He asked that his name not be used because he was not authorized to speak to the media. (snip) Mauritania, once known as a predominantly moderate Muslim nation on Africa's western coast, has been rocked by back-to-back attacks by an al-Qaida...

Three US Navy Seals who effected the capture of a highly sought terrorist suspect are headed for court-martial. Meanwhile, the suspect, Ahmed Hashim Abed may have to be released under new Obama Administration guidelines for dealing with perpetrators of the inaptly renamed “man-caused disasters.” The bizarre turn of events was set in motion by what Administration officials termed the “unnecessary roughness” displayed by the Seals during Abed’s capture last September. It appears that one of the Seals may have punched Abed and bloodied his lip. “We have rules governing this sort of thing,” said Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. “Without...

"Pakistani Christian on Run from Taliban Death Threat Islamic extremist sermonizing leads to altercation at barbershop in South Waziristan." SNIPPET: "LAHORE, Pakistan, November 27 (CDN) — A young Christian man is in hiding in Pakistan from Taliban militants who seek to kill him for “blasphemy” because he defended his faith. In February Jehanzaib Asher, 22, was working in a barbershop his family jointly owns with his cousin in Wana, South Waziristan – a Taliban stronghold in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas in Pakistan’s northwest – when the Islamic militants showed up to try to convert him to Islam." SNIPPET: "He...

Entrepreneurs from Muslim World Sought for Washington Summit The 2010 summit follows up on President Obama’s pledge in Cairo to find ways to deepen ties between the U.S. and the Muslim world.By Stephen Kaufman Staff Writer Washington — Approximately 150 entrepreneurs from Muslim-majority countries and Muslim communities around the world will be invited to a two-day summit in Washington in spring 2010 to meet with their peers and U.S. officials to explore areas of partnership and ways to drive economic and social innovation. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Dennis Hightower told reporters at Washington’s Foreign Press Center November 23 that the...

Regardless of what Obama thinks or says, Muslims consider him a Muslim. In the Muslim world, one is automatically a Muslim if the father is a Muslim, and Obama's birth father was descended from Kenyans who adopted Islam from Arab invaders in Africa. No matter what religion Obama claims publicly, he is still considered a Muslim in the Muslim world. Even if his father was not an active practitioner, Obama's Islamic inheritance and his public endorsement of Islam make him a useful Muslim. He can proclaim to be a Christian, and even attend a church, and still be considered a...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The crash of a luxury train in Russia killed 25 people and injured up to 63 more, an official said on Saturday, and sources suggested it may have been an act of terrorism. "Twenty-five people died in the accident," an official reported to Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu during a meeting televised by Vesti-25 television, hours after the crash. Several carriages of the Nevsky Express traveling from Moscow to St Petersburg were derailed at 9:30 p.m. (1830 GMT) on Friday near the town of Bologoye, 350 km (200 miles) from Moscow. Estimates of the number of injured ranged...

Hundreds of Ottawa Muslims converged on the Civic Centre Friday for Eid-ul-Adah, one of the most important dates in the Muslim calendar. It's known as the "Festival of Sacrifice" and commemorates the Prophet Ibrahim's willingness to sacrifice his son to God. "Today, we're celebrating Eid-ul-Adah and it coincides with the pilgrimage to Mecca, which is going on right now," "This is Eid, and it's one of the most important days for us because we're Muslim," said Eman Frahat. The event was co-organized by the Muslim Association of Canada and the Ottawa Muslim Association.

It may be a gruelling and at-times dangerous journey for Muslim pilgrims, but Brisbane man Omar Saghir says the Hajj last year was the most amazing experience of his life. Millions of Muslim pilgrims have already risked floods and swine flu this year on the annual journey to the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina. But the 28-year-old wants to make the pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia again as soon as he can save up the money. "The experience for me, because I'm Australian-born and I've never really been outside of Australia, it was a very, very, very intriguing experience,"...

The Swiss are to decide this weekend whether to ban minarets on mosques, in what is in effect the first direct vote in a European country on Islam and the practices of Muslims. "The minaret has got nothing to do with religion. It's a symbol of political power, a prelude to the introduction of sharia law," argued Ulrich Schlüer, of the rightwing Swiss People's party, an architect of the campaign. UN experts and human rights activists condemned the campaign as overtly racist. The rightwing anti-immigrant lobby has led the campaign, but it has been joined by some secularist leftists and...

The 87-year-old Kenyan grandmother of President Obama – once described by the Associated Press as a "Christian" – is making the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, the Hajj, according to news reports. The annual Islamic tradition was noted by the president, who issued a special statement today as Sarah Obama was reported to be a guest of the Saudi Arabian king. "Michelle and I would like to send our best wishes to all those performing Hajj this year, and to Muslims in America and around the world who are celebrating Eid al-Adha. The rituals of Hajj and Eid al-Adha...

New York (CNN) -- The serendipitous occurrence of this year's Thanksgiving holiday on the same evening as the Muslim Eid-ul-Adha is a festive occasion to reflect on the place of Islam in American collective consciousness. On the same evening that millions of Americans gather around their Thanksgiving dinner to celebrate this most American of holidays, even more millions of Muslims around the globe, including the growing number of American Muslims, will do the same -- celebrating as well one of the most definitive moments of their faith -- Prophet Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son for his God. This holiday...

1 hr 36 mins ago "The rituals of Hajj and Eid-ul-Adha both serve as reminders of the shared Abrahamic roots of three of the world's major religions," read a White House statement. "On behalf of the American people, we would like to extend our greetings during this Hajj season -- Eid Mubarak," Obama said, using a traditional Muslim greeting.

WASHINGTON – While attorneys representing the co-author of "Muslim Mafia" were preparing late today to honor a federal court order to return documents obtained from the Council on American-Islamic Relations in an independent undercover operation, FBI agents served a warrant on a Washington, D.C., law office for the same documents. The FBI agents entered the capital law offices of Cozen O'Connor tonight and issued a warrant for thousands of pages of documents as well as audio and video recordings gathered by P. David Gaubatz and his son Chris in a daring and lengthy undercover penetration of CAIR in which the...

If the Ft. Hood terrorist attack teaches us anything, it should teach us that Political Correctness will kill this country. Every day we find out another example of Major Hasan telegraphed his Islamist intentions and the higher ups in the military did nothing for fear of offending the Muslim community.Beyond the Fort Hood Mass Murderer, we see that our government still interacts with terrorist supporting organizations such as CAIR, Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the Muslim Students Association, the Muslim American Society who are all children of the Muslim Brotherhood. We even walked away from the word terrorism for...

Faleh Hassan Almaleki pleaded not guilty Monday to two counts of aggravated assault. Prosecutors are expected to issue harsher charges now that his daughter has died. Peoria police say Almaleki ran down his daughter and her boyfriend's mother ... Almaleki fled the country after the attack, but was stopped at a London airport and sent back to the U.S.

Note: The following text is a quote: Terror Charges Unsealed in Minnesota Against Eight Defendants, Justice Department Announces The Justice Department announced that terrorism charges have been unsealed today in the District of Minnesota against eight defendants. According to the charging documents, the offenses include providing financial support to those who traveled to Somalia to fight on behalf of al-Shabaab, a designated foreign terrorist organization; attending terrorist training camps operated by al-Shabaab; and fighting on behalf of al-Shabaab. Thus far, 14 defendants have been charged in the District of Minnesota in indictments or criminal complaints that have been unsealed and...

This is single sourced for now. Here's the MEMRI Blog source, which is calling out this original reporting from al-Watan.com. A source in Kabul for the Afghan secret talks between the elements in the Taliban led by Mullah Mutawakkil, the Foreign Minister of movement between the American ambassador in Kabul, Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry, which has achieved progress - without explaining further details. She suggested the United States during the talks give the power to the Taliban in the provinces of Kandahar, Helmand, Uruzgan and Kunar, and Nuristan, in exchange for not ... Full article...

A Potomac, Md., Islamic center maintains links to Iran despite its claims that it is independent of a foundation that is being sued by the U.S. government on charges of funneling money to the Islamic republic. Ali Mohammadi, the current manager of the Islamic Education Center (IEC) of Maryland, told The Washington Times that the center's only relationship to the Alavi Foundation is that of tenant to landlord. He quoted a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office as saying that forfeiture proceedings initiated earlier this month against the foundation - which also owns property in New York and other states...

LEWISTON — A national Muslim civil rights organization has filed a formal request with the Lewiston School Department to allow a middle school student to pray on school property. The group also wants Lewiston to modify existing policy and provide "constitutionally protected religious accommodation," such as a designated prayer room. The group has also requested the school department institute diversity training for school staff, and to ensure the middle-schooler won't face retaliation because of her request to pray at the Lewiston Middle School. According to the Washington, D.C.,-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, seventh-grader Nasra Aden had been routinely "praying discreetly...

Come Friday prayers in Lahore, it is not hard to find the alleged mastermind of the Mumbai attacks. Hafiz Mohammed Saeed is neither in hiding nor in jail. The founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba is instead delivering a sermon to thousands of devoteees at the Jamia al-Qadsia mosque — one of the biggest in the city. “God has promised to make Muslims a superpower if we follow the right path,” Mr Saeed told his followers, who listened in rapt silence. Outside, policemen with machineguns stood guard and bearded security men frisked all those entering. “Our rulers are the slave of America and...

Ace videographer Dave Miles kindly sent along these superb videos from the Rifqa Rally for human rights and religious freedom, Columbus, Ohio, November 16.

An Illinois woman is charged with a hate crime for berating a Muslim woman about the Fort Hood shooting and then pulling at her headscarf. The charge could lead to three years in prison: justice or prosecutorial overkill? In the days after the Ft. Hood shooting, mosques around the country bolstered their security in anticipation of a backlash from Americans angry about a Muslim man alleged to have killed American soldiers on their own turf. Since then, only one alleged hate crime against Muslims has been directly tied to the Fort Hood rampage. Two days after the rampage by an...

Western policymakers and elites in government, academia, and the media suffer from an extraordinary ignorance about the true nature of Islam. This ignorance was on display following the murder of thirteen American troops at Fort Hood, Texas by Nidal Hasan, a devout Muslim who held the rank of Major in the U.S. Army. Hasan is said to have shouted "God is Great" in Arabic as he gunned down his unarmed fellow troops. Gen. George Casey opined that if Hasan's actions caused "diversity" in the Army to suffer, it would be a greater tragedy than the murders of his troops. President...

Note: The following news brief is a quote: http://ny1.com/8-queens-news-content/top_stories/109259/queens-imam-involved-in-terror-investigation-granted-holiday-travel 11/20/2009 09:14 AM Queens Imam Involved In Terror Investigation Granted Holiday Travel By: NY1 News The Queens imam under house arrest for allegedly interfering with a terror investigation will spend Thanksgiving in Virginia. According to reports, Ahmad Afzali was given permission to travel to his father’s home for the holiday. A federal judge in Brooklyn approved the trip after a request was filed by Afzali’s attorney. Federal prosecutors reportedly did not oppose the request, but the office of pretrial services was concerned his electronic ankle monitoring bracelet would be out of...

Today elitist Nancy Pelosi has thrown Afghan President Karzi into the meat grinder. Besides this, back in October Obama opened up his bottomless checkbook to the Taliban. Also stating that in the future, Taliban members will be allowed into the Afghan government. Is it clear whose side the left is on? Pelosi calls Afghan Karzai "unworthy partner" WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Afghan President Hamid Karzai is an "unworthy partner" who does not deserve a big boost either in U.S. troops or civilian aid, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.

A muslim who threatened to kill his wife and cut out her tongue after she blocked an arranged marriage for their daughter has been banned from seeing his family. In the first prosecution of its kind, Aurang Zeb has been convicted of breaching a Forced Marriage Protection Order taken out to stop him taking Rozina Akhtar out of Britain to marry. But despite his chilling threats he escaped imprisonment and was given community service. Last night campaigners condemned the sentence, saying it sent out the wrong message. 'There's clear evidence that this man threatened to kill his wife, so how...

GENEVA – Islamic nations are mounting a campaign for an international treaty to protect religious symbols and beliefs from mockery — essentially, a ban on blasphemy. .. Algeria and Pakistan have taken the lead in lobbying to bring the matter to a vote in the U.N. General Assembly. Such a ban would face great resistance in Western nations .. The countries that form the 56-member Organization of the Islamic Conference are currently lobbying a Geneva-based U.N. committee to accept its plan, .. If that occurs, Muslim countries and their allies in the developing world would stand a decent chance of...

Where can you spend almost $US150,000 per square metre on a piece of land? Not the Champs-Elysees in Paris, or Broadway or New York. But Mecca! This film shows the transformation of the holiest place in the Islamic world into a real estate business for religious tourism … More than 3-million Muslims from around the world now attend the world’s largest pilgrimage, the Hajj. Following the pilgrims’ journey, this film features a rare interview with the Bin Laden Group behind much of the monumental development of Mecca, potentially Saudi Arabia’s new ‘gold’.

Just days after the terrorist shooting at Fort Hood, Texas by a devout Muslim in the military, Janet Napolitanto appointed two other devout Muslims to positions within the Department of Homeland Security.

Cairo (AINA) -- 15-year-old Egyptian girl Dina el-Gowhary, who converted from Islam to Christianity, has sent a plea to President Obama, complaining of mistreatment by the Egyptian Government and asking for his mediation. "Mr President Obama," she writes, "we are a minority in Egypt. We are treated very badly. You said that the Muslim minority in America are treated very well, so why are we not treated here likewise? We are imprisoned in our own home because Muslim clerics called for the murder of my father, and now the Government has set for us a new prison, we are imprisoned...