http://www.truthusa.com/MoreThanCartoons.html
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blog:
http://www.westernresistance.com/blog/archives/003910.html
November 14, 2007
“Sweden: Mailing Company Refuses To Deliver Muslim Cartoon”
BLOG ENTRY SNIPPET: “News from the Local reports that a Swedish mailing company has refused to distribute a political newspaper called SD-Kurien, because it features an “offensivie” cartoon of Islam’s prophet Mohammed. The newspaper is the publicity organ of the far-right Sweden Democrats, who already are involved in an anti-immigration campaign.
The current issue of SD-Kurien features a cartoon by artist Lars Vilks, depicting Mohammed as a dog. The cartoon is one of a series that Vilks created, which drew adverse publicity when one of these was reproduced in Swedish local newspaper Nerikes Allehanda on August 18. Vilks has received death threats for his drawings. An art gallery refused to display the series, for fear of attacks.
The company which is refusing to distribute the SD-Kurien newspaper is Posten, Sweden’s largest direct marketing company. Their decision is not apparently based on morality, but upon fear of violent reprisals from fundamentalist Muslims.
Per Ljungberg, a spokesman for Posten, said: “We want to protect the safety of our mail carriers. This illustration has provoked reactions that have led to death threats.”
Today, another direct marketing company, Svensk Direktreklam, has announced that it too is refusing to distribute the SD-Kurien newspaper containing the Mohammed “dog” cartoon.
Jimmie Åkesson, leader of the Sweden Democrat party, issued a statement which said: “For both Posten and its main competitor to refuse to deliver information from a particular political party is a serious threat to free expression.”
Meanwhile, Lars Vilks has decided to make the most of his death threats by working on a musical show based upon his Mohammed/dog cartoons. Echoing another stage musical called “Cats”, Vilks has given a working title to the project - “Dogs”.”
Thanks to bd476 for this update:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1925818/posts?page=15#15
and the ping to this thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1925818/posts
“Extremely dangerous Cyclone Sidr bears down on Bangladesh and India”
Wunderground.com ^ | 11/14/2007 | Jeff Masters
Posted on 11/14/2007 2:20:19 PM PST by dirtboy
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Rights group challenges U.S. over visa refusal for Muslim scholar
Thursday, November 15, 2007
NEW YORK — A leading U.S. civil liberties group mounted a legal challenge against the U.S. government on Wednesday over its refusal to grant a visa to a leading South African Muslim academic.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed the case in Boston challenging the Departments of State and Homeland Security, who refused scholar Adam Habib a visa accusing him of engaging in terrorist activities. "The government failed to explain the basis for its accusation, let alone provide any evidence to prove it," the group said in a statement. "The ACLU, in today's legal complaint, is now demanding that the government substantiate its ban on Habib or grant him a visa."
Melissa Goodman, one of the union's attorneys accused the U.S. government of stifling political debate and maligning Habib's reputation "without giving one shred of evidence to support its claims." "It appears that professor Habib is being excluded not because of his actions but because of his political views and associations," she said. The legal challenge amends a previous lawsuit filed in September and charges that the government's refusal to grant a visa to Habib amounts to censorship and breaches the constitutional right to free speech.
Habib is a political scientist who serves as the deputy vice-chancellor of research, innovation and advancement at the University of Johannesburg. He is known to be a vocal critic of the war in Iraq and the U.S. "war on terror," who has appealed for governments to respect human rights and the rule of law in measures to respond to the threat of terrorism.
The U.S. government revoked his visa in October 2006 without explanation, according to the civil liberties union. "As someone who studies democracies around the world, it is deeply upsetting that the U.S. government refuses to allow me to cross its borders because of my political views," Habib said in the statement. "While I have criticized U.S. foreign policy as a political commentator, it is utterly absurd that anyone would associate me with terrorism," said Habib.
The civil liberties union said Habib's exclusion was part of a larger pattern of foreign scholars, human rights activists, and writers being barred from the United States because of their criticism of U.S. policy. Last year the union filed a similar suit to challenge the U.S. government's refusal to grant a visa to Swiss-based Muslim academic Tariq Ramadan. A controversial intellectual, Ramadan is the grandson of Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist political and social movement founded in Egypt in the 1920s.