Punishment includes Islam indoctrination

An Ontario man convicted of promoting hatred against Muslims says his community-service sentence has included indoctrination into Islam.

After losing an appeal to Canada's Supreme Court on Oct. 17, Mark Harding must resume his sentence of two years probation and 340 hours of community service under the direction of Mohammad Ashraf, general secretary of the Islamic Society of North America in Mississauga, Ont.

Harding, 47, said he had one session under Ashraf in 1998 before an appeal process stayed the sentence.

Ashraf, according to Harding, said that instead of licking stamps and stuffing envelopes, "it would be better if you learned about Islam."

The cleric made it clear, Harding recalled in an interview with WorldNetDaily, that during the sessions nothing negative could be said about Islam or its prophet, Muhammad.

"He said he was my supervisor, and if I didn't follow what he said, he would send me back to jail," recounted Harding, who had been prevented from speaking publicly about his case under a gag order.

Harding was convicted in 1998 on federal hate-crimes charges stemming from a June 1997 incident in which he distributed pamphlets outside a public high school, Weston Collegiate Institute in Toronto. Harding – who said that until that point he spent most of his time evangelizing Muslims – was protesting the school's policy of setting aside a room for Muslim students to pray during school hours.

In one of his pamphlets, Harding listed atrocities committed by Muslims in foreign lands to back his assertion that Canadians should be wary of local Muslims.

The pamphlet said: "The Muslims who commit these crimes are no different than the Muslim believers living here in Toronto. Their beliefs are based on the Quran. They sound peaceful, but underneath their false sheep's clothing are raging wolves seeking whom they may devour. And Toronto is definitely on their hit list."

"The point I was trying to make is you shouldn't have a violent religion like Islam allowed in a school when Christianity or Hinduism or Buddhism is not allowed," he told WND.

Harding, an evangelical Protestant, insists he has love rather than hatred toward Muslims and wants to see them go to heaven.

A lawyer for Harding, Jasmine Akbaralli, says she is trying to obtain permission for her client to serve out his sentence in an Islamic community closer to his current home in Chesley, Ont., north of Toronto and about a three-hour drive from the Islamic Society of North America.

The plea is based on humanitarian grounds, she said, due to her client's poor health.

Harding said he has suffered four heart attacks since 1997, and he and his wife and two children are penniless because his health has prevented him from maintaining his trade as a cabinetmaker.

Akbaralli said she would not comment on Harding's previous experience with Ashraf, noting that she was not representing him at the time. Calls to Ashraf and others at the Islamic Society of North America on Tuesday and Wednesday were not returned.

During his 1998 session with Ashraf, Harding was told to read a book called Towards Understanding Islam, by Sayyid Abul A'la Maududi.

On page 12 of the book, Harding noted, it gives a description of a "kafir," or infidel, a person who does not follow Islam.

"Such a man ... will spread confusion and disorder on the earth," the book says. "He will without the least compunction, shed blood, violate other men's rights, be cruel to them, and create disorder and destruction in the world. His perverted thoughts and ambitions, his blurred vision and disturbed scale of values, and his evil-spelling activities would make life bitter for him and for all around him."

"It was obvious that he intended to make sure I understood that I was a kafir," Harding said of Ashraf.

Harding's 1998 conviction on three counts of willfully promoting hatred was commended by Canadian Muslims.

"The verdict sends a message to Christians, Muslims and Jews that personal views of that nature can't be allowed in a public forum," said Shahina Siddiqui, coordinator of community relations and social services for the Manitoba Islamic Association, in a report by the Canadian evangelical publication Christian Week. "There's a fine line between freedom of expression and hatred. Harding crossed that line."

Mohamed Elmasry, president of the Canadian Islamic Congress, said after the verdict that "spreading hate is against Canadian values and against Canadian law, and it doesn't matter the group that is victimized."

The verdict was not a suppression of free speech, Elmasry insisted, according to Alberta Report magazine, arguing that he would not consider scholarly books in the library that criticize Islam to be hate literature. Harding "is just trying to stereotype and put out hate literature, and he was found guilty by the courts," he said.

Harding asserted at the time that he meant to criticize only Islamic terrorists, not all Muslims. But he added that faithful Muslims will always engage in jihad, or holy war, against non-Muslims because it is required by Islamic teachings.

Many Muslim scholars in North America argue that jihad essentially means "struggle" and is not necessarily violent.

But Harding said that after his case became public, he no longer felt safe, due to threats from Muslims. When he entered court for the first time for his trial, he required police protection as a large crowd of Muslims gathered, with some chanting, "Infidels, you will burn in hell."

Harding said he received many death threats among more than 3,000 hate-filled calls that came to his answering service in 1997. Similar calls were received by police and the Ontario attorney general, he said.

"I had a call from someone who said they were from (Louis) Farrakhan's (Nation of Islam) group, and they were going to break my legs," he said. "Another caller said he would rip out my testicles."

The Islamic Society of North America in Canada, where Harding is required to fulfill his community service, describes itself as a "broad-based unity of Muslims and Islamic organizations committed to the mission and movement of Islam: nurturing a way of life in the light of the guidance from the Quran and Sunnah for establishing a vibrant presence of Muslims in Canada."

The organization shares facilities with the Canadian Council on Islamic Relations, an affiliate of the controversial Council on Islamic-American Relations, or CAIR, in Washington, D.C.

"I wouldn't want to create the impression that I wouldn't like the government of the United States to be Islamic sometime in the future," Hooper told the Star Tribune. "But I'm not going to do anything violent to promote that. I'm going to do it through education."

Judge Sidney B. Linden's 1998 ruling against Harding was based on Canada's genocide and hate-crimes law. The judge determined he was guilty of "false allegations about the adherents of Islam calculated to arouse fear and hatred of them in all non-Muslim people."

The law bars a public statement that "willfully promotes hatred" against groups "distinguished by color, race, religion or ethnic origin." The code has an article that excuses statements expressed in "good faith," including religious expression. But the trial judge found that Harding had either "tried to incite hatred or was willfully blind to it," according to lawyer Akbaralli.

Canadian Christian groups are fighting a bill reinstated this month by a homosexual parliament member that would add "sexual orientation" as a protected category in the hate-crimes statutes. Known previously as bill C-415, it is now registered as C-250.

Evangelicals have supported Harding in principle, though many have signaled their opposition to his aggressive tactics or have expressed reservations.

Harding said he's received a lot of support from Christians who immigrated to Canada from Muslim countries, where minority religions experience discrimination and persecution.

"I have a lot of Pakistani and Egyptian friends helping me through this because they understand what Islam is all about," he said. "When they heard about me in the news, they called to offer their support."

I wonder how far behind America is!

Not far at all. Remember James Ujama, that paragon of Islamic virtue now incarcerated for, among other things, trying to organize an Al Qaeda training camp in Oregon? Well it seems ol' James was arrested after starting an altercation at a Seattle Kinko's store in 1999. He eventually pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct charges, and was ordered to seek anger control treatment. Well, Ujama sought treatment, alright.

Among the documents seized at his arrest is correspondence filed with the Seattle court on Oct. 26, 1999 -- at about the same time Ujaama was allegedly promoting the jihad training camp idea. It reads:

"This letter is to confirm that Mr. Earnest James Ujaama has successfully completed 16 hours of anger management classes and counseling.... Mr. Ujaama was extremely patient, and showed kindness and courtesy to our staff and clients [at] all times. He was particularly energetic, outgoing, and willing to help. In short, Mr. Ujaama was outstanding to have work with us and will be missed sorely by all of us."

The letter satisfied the U.S. court's requirement. It was signed by Al Qaeda recruiter Abu Hamza, Finsbury Park Mosque, London.

NEWS Concern Growing Over Bloomberg Rights Nominee

Mohammedi Is Counsel to a Group Accused of Condoning Terrorism BY BENJAMIN SMITH- A member of the city’s Human Rights Commission is under fire for his position at a group that has been accused of condoning terrorism, and has peddled conspiracy theories about the September 11 attack.

Omar Mohammedi is general counsel to the New York chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations. He was appointed October 15 to be one of 14 members of the city’s Human Rights Commission, charged with enforcing the city’s anti-discrimination laws.Jewish leaders — including another member of the Human Rights Commission — yesterday criticized the appointment, while an Islamic group has launched a petition drive in support of Mr. Mohammedi.

“The mayor is making a mistake,” said a spokesman for the American Jewish Committee, Kenneth Bandler. “This is an organization that condones terrorism and its officials should not be appointed to any government commission.”Mr. Mohammedi, a lawyer who specializes in employment discrimination, did not return phone and e-mail messages.

A spokesman for Mayor Bloomberg, Edward Skyler, defended the appointment.“We are appointing an individual, not an organization,” Mr. Skyler said. “This guy has never said a controversial thing in his life. He’s about as controversial as milquetoast.”Mr. Skyler said the city’s Department of Investigations had vetted Mr. Mohammedi, and the city also ran his name past federal officials at the State and the Treasury Departments.

Mr. Mohammedi’s main role with the Council on American Islamic Relations, CAIR, has been in aiding Muslims who have been questioned by the federal authorities. “He has been very helpful in defending those whose rights have been trampled,” said Al Haaj Ghazi Khankan, head of CAIR’s New York chapter.

While Mr. Mohammedi has not been at the center of controversy, CAIR has long attracted criticism. People linked to the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which is on the State Department’s list of terrorist organizations, founded the group in the early 1990s. Although its officials say they don’t support terrorism, CAIR officials have defended Hamas and the Lebanese group Hezbollah.

Mr. Khankan did not return calls seeking his organization’s positions on the Middle East conflict, but he was quoted in the Jewish Week last October making fine distinctions between Hamas’s killing of Israelis above and below the military age of 18.

“Those who are below 18 should not be attacked,” he said.The group has also circulated a petition calling on the federal government to unfreeze the finances of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development,

which has been accused of funneling money to Hamas. Mr. Skyler said CAIR’s New York chapter is “not as controversial as the national chapter.” CAIR’s most visible function in New York is defending Muslim civil rights. It has also lobbied against smoking and gay marriage.But one long-time critic of CAIR in Washington, Steven Emerson, called City Hall’s distinction “ludicrous.”

“That’s like saying that the New York chapter of the KKK is not as controversial as the national chapter,” he said.The New York chapter’s Web site displays an unusual response to the September 11 attacks, a letter to the editor of the New York Times written last October 5. The letter, which CAIR suggested its members send the paper, questions whether Mohammed Atta and other Muslims were responsible for the attacks and speculates on who really benefited — echoing theories that the Bush administration or the Israelis orchestrated the attacks.

“The important questions are: Who is impersonating these three Muslim Arabs? Why are Muslim Arabs been implicated in this terrorism? And, who could ‘benefit’ from this horrific tragedy?”

:it asks. “Definitely mainstream Muslims by the consensus of Islamic religious scholars since the dawn of Al-Islaam could NOT be the culprits.”CAIR was also the co-sponsor of a forum at Brooklyn College in 1998 where a crowd chanted “No to the Jews, descendents of the apes.”Another member of the Human Rights Commission, Rabbi Haskell Lookstein, yesterday raised questions about Mr. Mohammedi’s appointment.“

If in fact CAIR does have close ties to known terrorist organizations, then the presence of its general counsel on the Human Rights Commission of New York City would seem to me very problematic,” said Rabbi Lookstein.

“The most elementary human right is the right to live and not to be blown to bits.”Mr. Mohammedi’s ties to CAIR appear initially to have passed under the radar of most Jewish organizations. However, CAIR’s national office sent out an appeal on October 17:“Representatives of the pro-Israel lobby are pressuring officials to withdraw the appointment of Omar T. Mohammedi to the New York City Commission on Human Rights,” the e-mail said.

“Those who oppose Muslim political participation are using falsehoods and distortions to smear Islamic leaders in an attempt to silence our voice in this country. We call on the American Muslim community to send positive messages of support for Mr. Mohammedi’s appointment to New York’s mayor and Commission on Human Rights,” read the statement, quoting CAIR’s executive director Nihad Awad.Mr. Skyler said the city received 200 letters in support of the appointment, and only one in opposition.A spokesman for the main office of CAIR in Washington, Ibrahim Hooper, called the controversy over Mr. Mohammedi’s appointment “old news.”

“There were some objections raised from segments of the pro-Israel lobby, and they were basically rejected,” he said. “We think he’s qualified, and obviously the city thought he was, too.”

(U.N Human Rights Commission in very State now just look in your state phone book)

COMING TO AMERICA

3/4 in U.S. want less Arab immigration Despite recent poll, government continues program 'importing Islam'

More than three-fourths of Americans want U.S. immigration laws tightened to allow fewer immigrants from Arab or Muslim nations into the country.

Instead, Washington pays to move Muslims to the United States.

According to a recent Worldviews 2002 survey, 76 percent of Americans say that "based on the events of Sept. 11, 2001, U.S. immigration laws should be tightened to restrict the number" of Arab or Muslim immigrants.

Also, 77 percent said they favored restricting immigration "in order to combat terrorism."

"Outside the terrorism context, opinion also tilts toward decreasing immigration in general, suggesting that the 9-11 attacks may have fueled a broad reaction against 'outsiders,'" said the survey.

Yet, under the (U.N) Refugee Act of 1980, the government's Office of Refuge Resettlement has set aside some $159 million in fiscal year 2002 for the resettlement of "refugees," including those from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Egypt and Somalia.

As of Aug. 27, 1,119 people have resettled this year from Afghanistan; one from Egypt; 446 from Iran; 216 from Iraq; three from Lebanon; 112 from Somalia; 381 from Sudan; and three from Syria.

"Of special concern [to Americans]," said the Worldviews survey, "is controlling and reducing illegal immigration, which 70 percent say should be a very important goal of U.S. foreign policy."

Additionally, said Worldviews researchers, despite press reports of rising anti-Americanism overseas, "Europeans and Americans are in broad agreement when it comes to the war on terrorism, Iraq and a host of other international issues."

Worldviews is a joint project between the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations and the German Marshall Fund of the United States, both U.S.-based public-policy organizations.

Meanwhile, Project USA, an immigration-reform group, reports that since October 2001 – just a month after 9-11 – the U.S. has spent about $17 million per month on resettling an average 1,671 refugees from around the world.

"Part of that money is disbursed in the form of outright cash payments to individual refugees, at least 20 percent of whom are Muslims," said an analysis issued by the group earlier this month.

"In other words," said the analysis, "even though an overwhelming percentage of Americans think that there should be less Muslim immigration to the United States, the federal government and the refugee-resettlement industry are importing Islam at $10,000 per Muslim."

The group says "the very first step in the war on terror is to end illegal immigration."

"The lack of serious effort to secure U.S. borders and enforce immigration law undermines administration claims that concern for the safety and security of the American people is driving the looming war with Iraq," said the analysis.

The Worldviews survey also said Americans' attitudes about Islam have become more wary since 9-11.

"The proportion of the public calling Islamic fundamentalism a critical threat to vital U.S. interests has jumped 23 points to 61 percent, putting it in seventh position out of 20 threats ranked," said the survey.

Additionally, "four out of 10 Americans say that the 9-11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon 'represent the true teachings of Islam' 'to a great degree' (21 percent) or 'to some degree' (18 percent)."

Despite new concerns about Muslims and Arabs, however, only slightly more than one in four Americans (27 percent) say they believe a "clash of civilizations" between Islam and the West is inevitable.

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