http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1541304/posts
Man bit off ear in cashcard queue row [Defense: Not
me, I was fasting for Ramadan]
Sheffield Today.net ^ | 14 December 2005 | Vincent van Gogh
Posted on 12/15/2005 3:33:22 PM PST by aculeus
A MUSLIM man who bit off part of a security guard's ear told police he
couldn't have deliberately carried out the attack - because he was
fasting for Ramadan.
Mohammed Sarfraz, of Cliffe Field Road, Meersbrook, said he was
fasting for Ramadan at the time of the incident, and it was forbidden
for him to eat or drink during daylight hours.
When interviewed after his arrest, he said: "I don't know why I've
done this. I'm a Muslim, I was fasting, the last thing I should ever
have done is eat something."
The 31-year-old is accused of attacking James Thorpe, aged 55, who
works at Sheffield Family Court, in revenge for jumping the queue at
the Lloyds TSB cash machine in High Street, city centre, at about
8.50am on October 12.
Sarfraz admits biting Mr Thorpe but claims he attacked him to get free
after being held in a bear hug. The defendant, who is married with two
young children and works as a chef at his family's restaurant in the
Wicker, claimed the trouble was initiated by Mr Thorpe. Sarfraz told
the jury sitting at Doncaster Crown Court: "I went forward to put my
bank card into one of the machines and this gentleman came and tried
to snatch my card out of my hand. I thought I was going to be robbed.
"My arm smashed into the cash machine. The card dropped on the
floor, and I picked it up, then the man started to kick me."
Sarfraz said there was a pause in the incident, but he didn't run away
because he was "scared" he would be chased by a crowd which had
gathered.
He continued: "The man then got me in a bear hug. There was nothing
I could do to get away.
"I saw his ear and I bit it. At the time I didn't think - I just thought it
would be enough to make him let go of me."
Continued........at link.
CAROLYN THOMPSON 45 minutes ago
(AP) - A group of Muslim-Americans asked a federal judge Thursday to allow them to travel to a religious conference in Toronto later this month without being fingerprinted, photographed and held for hours at the border, like they were on the way home from last year's gathering.
In a case that weighs the government's anti-terrorism efforts against the rights of its citizens, the New York Civil Liberties Union argued on the group's behalf for a court order prohibiting border agents from stopping and searching Muslim-Americans based solely on their attendance at the annual Reviving the Islamic Spirit conference in Toronto on Dec. 23-29.
Homeland
Security officials acknowledged subjecting those who attended last year's conference to lengthy security checks upon their return to the United States, but said they had reason to believe that people associated with terrorism planned to attend the conference or others like it.
NYCLU lawyer Christopher Dunn accused the government of trampling the plaintiffs' right to practise religion in the name of homeland security.
"We fully respect the government's concerns about terrorism. That does not mean, however, that the constitution disappears at the border," Dunn said.
A lawyer for the government said that while the stops may have taken too long, border agents did what was necessary to protect the country in light of credible intelligence.
"The concern was not that they went to a religious conference. The concern was that individuals, money, documents or weapons were going to get smuggled across the border," said Anthony Coppolino, who argued against the group's request.
The five plaintiffs, all New York residents, are among at least three dozen Muslim-American men and women who were corralled for as long as 6 1/2 hours at two western New York border crossings while trying to re-enter the United States by car. They said they were made to surrender credit cards, cellphones and other belongings and were frisked, questioned, fingerprinted and photographed without explanation.
continued at links: