Hamza rant find in terror raid

RANTS by Abu Hamza were found at the home of a fanatic who plotted to behead a
British soldier, a court heard yesterday.

Cops discovered writings by the hook-handed cleric - now in jail for inciting
murder - in a search of Parviz Khan’s house.

Also found were videos featuring speeches by al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden,
images of coalition troops killed in Afghanistan, and propaganda about
terrorist atrocities.

Khan, 37, has admitted masterminding a plot to abduct a Muslim British soldier
and behead him.

Guilty ... Khan

The court was told he was the “hub” of a terror cell dedicated to sending
supplies to Pakistan for use by terrorists.

He concocted his plot to kidnap a squaddie from the streets of Birmingham
because he was “enraged” there were Muslims in the British Army.

But the plan was sunk when cops swooped on dad-of-four Khan last January after
bugging his home in the city’s Alum Rock area.

Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson said several computers were seized.

He said: “Files showed an interest in al-Qaeda and its activities.”

A jury was told Khan has pleaded guilty to engaging in conduct with the
intention to commit acts of terrorism.

He allegedly enlisted Amjad Mahmood and Basiru Gassama, to help identify his
target.

Mahmood, 32, denies failing to disclose information relating to an act of
terrorism. Gassama, 30, has pleaded guilty to the same charge.

Trial continues at Leicester Crown Court.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi to be granted visa for medical treatment in Britain

An Islamist cleric who has defended suicide bombings and the execution of homosexuals is to be allowed to enter the UK, sparking a major row between government departments.

The Observer understands that senior civil servants in the Home Office and Foreign Office have recommended that ministers approve an application by Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who is banned from entering the United States, to come to London for medical treatment.

The news has prompted unease in the Department for Communities and Local Government, which fears that allowing Qaradawi in might offend other faith groups as well as many Muslims. Several senior civil servants are also understood to have reservations because Qaradawi, 80, has previously received treatment in France, suggesting that he can receive medical attention for his undisclosed illness elsewhere.

There were calls last night for ministers to reject Qaradawi's application. 'Qaradawi has been banned from the US since 1999,' said Dr Irfan al-Alawi, international director of the Centre for Islamic Pluralism. 'Why should the British government allow him to come here?'
This is not the first time Qaradawi's close relationship with Britain has attracted controversy.

Two years ago the government paid for him and his wife to fly from his home in Qatar to Istanbul for a conference. In 2004 the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, invited Qaradawi, the spiritual leader of the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, to the capital. The move provoked widespread protests from Jewish groups and gay rights organisations.

A spokesman for the Foreign Office said that it could not comment on individual visa applications.

Plot To Kidnap and Behead British Soldier

Men Admit Beheading Plot

Four men have admitted offences linked to a plot to kidnap and murder a Muslim member of the British armed forces. The court heard details of the plan to seize the soldier in Birmingham's Broad Street with the help of drug dealers.

• Watch in video player page

Four men have pleaded guilty over a plot to snatch a British soldier off the streets and behead him "like a pig".
The plan, to be carried out in Birmingham, was to film the victim's ordeal in a lock-up garage and put it on the internet to spread fear within the British forces.

Clockwise from top left: Khan, Gassama, Elasmar and Irfan

Islamist fanatic Parviz Khan, 37, was the ringleader of the gang thwarted by police and MI5 last year.
He admitted the charges at Leicester Crown Court two weeks ago along with three other men - Basiru Gassama, Hamid Elasmar and Mohammed Irfan - who pleaded guilty to offences related to the plot.
But the guilty pleas could not be reported until today - as two other men begin their trial for similar offences.

Amjad Mahmood, 32, denies knowing about Khan's plot.
Zahoor Iqbal, 30, denies possessing a computer disc called Encyclopaedia Jihad, which is believed likely to be useful to a terrorist.
Both men have also pleaded not guilty to helping Khan supply equipment to terrorists in Pakistan.
Prosecutors said that Khan was found with a "shopping list" from terrorist contacts of materials they wanted sent back in the next delivery.

On the list was a laser range-finder, as well as more mundane items such as walkie talkies and waterproof map holders.
"There were widespread leaks about the plot and the jury have been told to disregard them," said Sky News' Midlands correspondent Darren Little.
Speaking from outside the court, he added: "They were told before they were given the details that some of the reporting surrounding the plot had been fanciful and far-fetched.
"The details they have heard this morning have been pretty far-fetched as well."

Brown will probe missing pupils crisis

300 girls are missing in Bradford alone; they are thought to be victims of forced marriages. Gordon Brown's now wants to investigate.

Many young girls of school age simply didn't come back from trips abroad.But instead of flooding schools with publicity, it's claimed the government's own posters aren't allowed to be put up, for fear of upsetting local opinion.Campaigners say everything should be done to support those at risk.

see also

66,000 women and girls have undergone female genital mutilation

EUROPEANS THINK ISLAM IS DANGEROUS

AN “overwhelming majority” of Europeans believe immigration from Islamic countries is a threat to their traditional way of life, a survey revealed last night.

The poll, carried out across 21 countries, found “widespread anti-immigration sentiment”, but warned Europe’s Muslim population will treble in the next 17 years. It reported “a severe deficit of trust is found between the Western and Muslim communities”, with most people wanting less interaction with the Muslim world. Last night an MP warned it showed that political leaders in Britain who preach the benefits of unlimited immigration were dangerously out of touch with the public. The study, whose authors include the former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey, was commissioned for leaders at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

It reports “a growing fear among Europeans of a perceived Islamic threat to their cultural identities, driven in part by immigration from predominantly Muslim nations”. And it concludes: “An overwhelming majority of the surveyed populations in Europe believe greater interaction between Islam and the West is a threat.” Backbench Tory MP David Davies told the Sunday Express: “I am not surprised by these findings. People are fed up with multiculturalism and being told they have to give up their way of life. “Most people in Britain expect anyone who comes here to be willing to learn our language and fit in with us.” Mr Davies, who serves on the Commons Home Affairs Committee, added: “People do get annoyed when they see millions spent on translating documents and legal aid being given to people fighting for the right to wear a head-to-toe covering at school. “A lot of people are very uncomfortable with the changes being caused by immigration and politicians have been too slow to wake up to that.”

The report says people have little enthusiasm for greater understanding with Islam and attempts to improve relations have been “disappointing”. And with the EU Muslim population expected to reach 15 per cent by 2025 it predicts: “Any deterioration on the international front will be felt most severely in Europe.” But leading Muslim academic Haleh Afshar, of York University, blamed media “hysteria” for the findings. She said: “There is an absence of trust towards Muslims, but to my mind that is very much driven by an uninformed media. “To blame immigration is much harder because the current influx of immigrants from eastern Europe are by-and-large not Muslim.

The danger is that when people are fearful of people born and bred in this country it is likely that discrimination may follow.”

For a far more extensive representation of muslim violence worldwide go to the Religion of Peace website

Man Charged with Child Cruelty over Ashura Rites...

A man has been charged with child cruelty after two teenage boys allegedly took part in a religious ceremony involving flagellation.

Syed Mustafa Zaidi, 43, of Station Road in Eccles, is due before magistrates in Manchester on Friday.Greater Manchester Police said the charge relates to the treatment of two boys, aged 15 and 13, at a traditional Ashura ceremony.The ceremony took place at a community centre in Levenshulme, police said.

Letting children self-flagellate with knives on the ends of chains is an offence under Section 1(1) of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933

Gang pounce on student before exam

A SHOCKED Sixth-Form College student was badly beaten-up by a gang of youths moments before he was due to sit an exam.
Nicholas Markham (17), of Royton, was outside the college when he was approached by 10 Asian men at around 1.20pm on Thursday.The teenager, who was with his three friends, was about to enter the college on Union Street West to sit his PE exam when one of the thugs shouted abuse at him.Six members of the gang then jumped on him from behind, kicking and punching him, causing severe bleeding to his left cheek and mouth.The victim’s mother Lindsey (34) said: “My son was taken to A&E in case there were any fractures to his face. He was assaulted so badly the bleeding wouldn’t stop.“He didn’t sit his exam in the end but the college were happy to let him resit.”Speaking of the attack, she said: “This was a totally unprovoked assault as Nicholas has never been in trouble before.“He is shocked by what has happened and is learning to deal with it. The police are also involved.”A Greater Manchester Police spokesman said: “Police are investigating after a 17-year-old boy was assaulted outside Oldham Sixth Form College on Thursday.“Inquiries are continuing. At this stage there is nothing to suggest the assault was racially motivated.”

'Three Little Pigs CD' banned from Government-backed awards for offending Muslims and builders

A story based on The Three Little Pigs has been rejected by a Government-backed awards event because it might offend Muslims... and builders.

The digital book, retelling the classic children's tale, was criticised by judges who said "the use of pigs raises cultural issues".
They also claimed the award-winning CD-rom, entitled The Three Little Cowboy Builders, might "alienate parts of the workforce (building trade)".
The "virtual" book is designed for use on computers and interactive whiteboards and aimed at primary school children.
Its publishers, Shoo-Fly, insist there is nothing offensive in it.
But judges for the annual BETT awards, which recognise excellence in educational technology, claimed they had "concerns about the Asian community" and insisted "the use of pigs raises cultural issues".
As a result, they "could not recommend this product to the Muslim community".
Anne Curtis, of Newcastle-based Shoo Fly, said the idea that including pigs in a story could be interpreted as racism was a "slap in the face" and described the criticism as "inflammatory".
Mrs Curtis said the product was "tongue in cheek" and took a humorous look at the building trade, with an attack on cowboy builders.
The awards are run by Becta, the Government's educational technology agency, Emap Education and the British Educational Suppliers Association.
They said: "This failed to reach the required standard across a number of criteria... In particular, the product was not sufficiently convincing on curriculum and innovation grounds to be shortlisted."

Devout Muslims Debate Attacking British Civilians...

"With British Troops Murdering Muslims, There Can Be No Covenant of Security in the U.K."

On January 18, 2008, a member of the Al-Ekhlas English forum (www.ek-ls.org ) posted the following inquiry in English: "Can anyone [provide clarification regarding] the covenant of security [i.e. assurance of protection]? In the U.K., there seem to be many opposing views on this subject. On the one hand, some brothers say we must respect the covenant of security because in the U.K. we live among the kuffar [i.e. non-believers] and [therefore] we have a covenant with them. Others say we no longer have a covenant of security because of the arrests, detentions, and charges [against our brothers], and the monitoring of mosques by the British government...
"British foreign policy in Afghanistan and Iraq has caused the murder of women and children. Some brothers have suggested that this also justifies [the revocation of the] covenant of security in the U.K.. Other brothers have said in the forums that if you live outside the U.K., there is no covenant of security and that it [i.e. the U.K.] may be targeted.
"With all the sheikhs arrested or exiled, i.e. Sheikh Abu Hamza, Sheikh Abu Qatada, and Sheikh Omar Bakri, [and] surely with the British troops murdering Muslims, there can be no covenant of security with the U.K..
"Can someone please clarify for me what the correct situation is regarding the covenant of security with the U.K. and with other European countries, as I am very confused?" [3]
"It Is Best To... Declare that You are At War With the [Non-Believers]"
In response to this query, a forum member cited the full text of a 2003 fatwa by Saudi sheikh and Salafi jihadi scholar Nasser Fahd, which relies on the legal precedent of killing Ka'b Ibn Al-Ashraf [4] to justify the violation of aman committed by the terrorists who carried out the 9/11 attacks. [5] The writer expressed his reservations regarding such a justification, saying: "If you look in Sharh as-Siyar al-Kabeer by as-Sarkhasi [a legal book by a Hanafi scholar], you can see numerous examples of the covenant of security that are less obvious than a visa. He [Sarakhsi] says that as long as a Kaafir [i.e. non-believer] thinks he has your assurance of safety, and [if] you did something that normally [conveys such an assurance], this [constitutes] a contract between you and him. I know that you [i.e. the inquirer] did not ask about visas, but I think that being the citizen of a particular country [makes it] even more evident that you are not going to harm that country. In fact, they [i.e. Westerners] view a citizen's betrayal (treason) as the worst possible offense, because they do not expect such an act of a citizen..."
The writer then offers what he views as a legal solution which allows the revocation of aman within the boundaries of Islamic law. He proceeds as follows: "Therefore, in order to stay away from doubtful matters, it is best to simply declare that you are at war with the kuffar before you [commit] any act of jihad on their land. If you are too afraid to make it open... it would be better for you to make hijra [i.e. to migrate] to a land of jihad, where you can openly proclaim that you are at war with Britain or with any other country you choose."
"By Carrying Out Operations on the U.K. Mainland, You Are Retaliating for the Bombing of Our... Country's Infrastructure"
Other forum participants were much more vehement, supporting outright violation of the "assurance of protection" offered to Muslims in the form of a visa or citizenship. As one member phrased it: "The answer is self-evident: As far as I understand, the covenant has ceased to be valid..." Another writer cited legal justification to support this view: "Just bear this in mind: Britain has officially 'declared' war on two Muslim nations and, [consequently], we are in a 'state of war.' Any [preliminary] agreements (including the covenant of security) have now been broken and cannot be reestablished until the 'state of war' is ended.
"British Muslims have an obligation to Iraqi and Afghani Muslims, and that includes assisting them against offenders in every possible way. By carrying out operations on the U.K. mainland, you are retaliating for the bombings of our governmental/financial institutions, military/civil installations. and our country's infrastructure, such as bridges - not forgetting, of course, the thousands of innocent Muslim lives caught up in the bombings. Moreover, [by carrying out operations,] you are pressuring the U.K. government [to stop] its aggression.
"It's a simple formula... the only formula. However, 99% of [the] people, including 'BIG TIME' scholars, just don't want to engage in this struggle, i.e. jihad, [and] they will find many excuses..."
[1] See, for example, MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 1816, "Participants in Islamist Forums Discuss Proposal for Terrorist Attack in Paris," January 18, 2008,

http://memriiwmp.org/content/en/report.htm?report=2516.

[2] For a classical discussion regarding the restrictions imposed on a Muslim who enters a non-Muslim country with aman (assurance of protection), see Ibn Qudama, al-Mughni (Riyadh, 1997), v.13, pp. 52ff. For a more modern discussion of this notion, see e.g. Abu Basir Al-Tartousi's response to the question of whether Muslims are allowed to steal or to harm unbelievers' property when they enter the unbelievers' country with an assurance of protection:

http://www.altartosi.com/book/book03/index.html.

[3] http://www.ek-ls.org/forum/showthread.php?t=116463.

[4] According to Islamic tradition, Ka'b Ibn Al-Ashraf, who was a member of the Jewish tribe Banu Nadir in Medina, incited the Meccans against the Prophet. The Prophet ordered him killed, and, according to one tradition, the Prophet's companions provided Ka'b with a false aman in order to gain his trust, and then used it to lure him out of his house at night and kill him.

Iraq deputy prime minister's 'Blackburn mosque jibe'

THE Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq has claimed mosques in Blackburn are more extreme than in his home country, according to an MP.

The shock comments were allegedly made by Dr Barham Salih, who visited the town as a guest of Jack Straw in 2005.
He is reported to have told a Conservative MP: "I am not surprised that you British are facing so many problems with extremists after what I saw in those mosques in Blackburn.
"What I saw...would not be allowed here in Iraq - it would be illegal."
The comments have angered mosque leaders in the town, who have branded them "a load of rubbish".
The Lancashire Telegraph has sent a fax to Dr Salih via the Iraqi Embassy in London asking him to explain his views.
Shadow culture minister Tobias Ellwood said Dr Salih was speaking to him at a dinner party in Baghdad in November.
Mr Ellwood made the claims during a Westminster debate about terrorism.
Speaking after the debate, Mr Ellwood said: "I know Jack Straw well, but my eyebrows raise when you have a very senior Iraqi leader make comments like that.
"I do not believe these comments can be dismissed out of hand.
"I was absolutely shocked.
"He went inside the mosques, and said literature he saw would be illegal.
"He was quite clear.
"The comments are only directed at a very small proportion of mosques in the UK - the vast majority of Muslims wouldn't want to be labelled."
Salim Mulla, of the Lancashire Council of Mosques, reacted furiously to the comments.
He said Dr Salih spoke positively about what he had seen when they spoke during his visit.
Mr Mulla said: "We are going out of our way to bring the community together.
"Nobody is working harder than us at breaking down barriers.
"For Dr Salih to make these sort of comments is not very helpful at all.
"I don't know where he's coming from.
"He was very co-operative when he visited, and took lots of photographs.
"How many incidents have we had in Blackburn?
"He is talking a load of rubbish."
Dr Salih, a Sunni Muslim, was elected in January 2005 to Iraq's first democratically-held elections in 50 years.
During his visit to Blackburn, in the run up to the 2005 general election, he told an audience at Audley Community Centre not to vote against Mr Straw, then foreign secretary, because of the war in Iraq.
Coun Mulla said he could not remember which mosques Dr Salih had visited.
Mr Straw could not be contacted for comment.

MOSQUE PLAN IS OPPOSED

Residents have hit out at plans to turn a disused factory into a community centre and place of worship.People living in Bath Street, Belgrave, Leicester, say they fear noise and traffic problems if the proposals get the go ahead.
They have already collected more than 100 signatures of protest and Leicester City Council has so far received 21 letters of objections to the application.The plans have been put forward by a group of businesses which say its main use will be a community centre.However, resident Michael Adams, 59, of Elsadene Avenue, Belgrave, Leicester, said he did not believe the proposals have been clearly spelled out.He said: "When we were originally informed the place was just going to be a community centre."We then had a meeting on December 7 and it came out that it was going to be a mosque."On December 26 there was an advert in the paper and it didn't mention it was going to be a place of worship."We don't feel we were given all the information."What concerns us is that these people don't live in the area."Most of the Muslims who live in this area attend a place of worship in Loughborough Road, and they don't even know about this situation. There will be more traffic, noise and disruption to the residents."May Danvers, 80, of Overing Close, has collected more than 100 signatures of protest along with her daughter Irene Dawson, 57, who lives at the same address.Mrs Danvers said: "I don't approve of it at all."We don't want a mosque, we have got enough traffic already."The business group, made up of Dawoodi Bohra Muslims, part of the mainstream Islamic religion, propose the centre will host keep fit and martial arts classes, among other things.On the planning application the listed opening hours are 8am to 11pm and the maximum number of people using the building daily is predicted to be 30.Jaffer Kapasi, a trustee and treasurer of the group who made the planning application, said: "The community centre will be open to everyone regardless of their religion."Before we bought the building we spoke to the residents and told them who we were, what we intended to do and that we needed their help."I think their fears about noise and traffic just won't be there because it will be used by a very small group of people - we won't be having a call to prayer and there is sufficient parking in the area."The centre will add value to the area will bring the communities together."We will be spending about £2 million on the building and the facilities."A spokeswoman for the city council's planning department said: "As I understand it there is one room set aside for prayer, and many buildings have a prayer room inside them."We have re-advertised the application because some people felt we had not given a full description of the plans."But from the plans the fact it is a place of worship is secondary to its use as a community centre."Residents have until January 23 to voice their opinion to the council on the plans

DIY BOMB MANUALS ON SALE WITH THE GROCERIES AT TESCO

Lethal bomb-making manuals are on sale alongside your weekly groceries - on Tesco's website.

The step-by-step guides show fanatics how to make explosives or chemical agents like those used by al-Qaeda. They are available through the site's entertainment section, next to kids' books on Harry Potter and High School Musical.

And, shockingly, the three manuals - costing £35 each after a five per cent discount - were sent to us with NO checks to see if we were extremists. Rob Webb, whose sister Laura, 29, died in the 7/7 attacks in London in 2005, said: "I can't understand why anyone would sell this material, especially Britain's biggest retailer. There is never a justification for killing innocent people - or for books or material that could help would-be terrorists do this."

Terror expert Charles Shoebridge said: "Tesco's slogan is Every Little Helps. And, for a terrorist, books like these certainly do."
The deadly manuals, by author Jared Ledgard, were dispatched within days of our online order. Each explains how to make hundreds of bombs and chemical agents - many with items bought in the high street.

A Soldiers Handbook, Volume 1: Explosives Operations tells how to create a huge blast from a lightbulb and other materials. Another section details how to build pipe bombs filled with shrapnel.
Mr Shoebridge said: "There really can be no other purpose for such a device other than to kill and maim."

Hundreds of bomb materials are mentioned in The Preparatory Manual of Explosives, Third Edition, including Semtex, ammonium nitrate and TNT.
The book is advertised on the website as: "An invaluable reference manual covering the preparation and use of 166 of the most influential explosive compounds known to man."

Mr Shoebridge said: "These explosives have been extremely effective in terrorists' hands."
The art of creating deadly gases were highlighted in A Laboratory History of Chemical Warfare Agents. Mr Shoebridge said: "Hydrogen cyanide is one of the most lethal agents when used in enclosed areas. You could die within minutes of inhaling."

Several UK-based fanatics have been jailed for owning terror manuals. A fortnight ago, al-Qaeda-trained Sohail Qureshi, 30, of east London, got 41/2 years' jail for offences including possessing bomb manuals.

He was in email contact with "Lyrical Terrorist" Samina Malik, 23, of Southall, west London, who in November became the first British woman convicted under the Terrorism Act for owning terror manuals and given a nine month suspended jail term.
And in October, Abdul Patel, 18, of east London, dubbed the Terrorists' Teaboy as he used to run errands for extremists, was jailed for six months for hiding a bomb manual.

Chemical weapons expert Professor Alastair Hay, of Leeds University, said the manuals could help build gas bombs, adding: "I can't understand the rationale for collating them. The message should be that chemical weapons are dangerous and illegal."

Dr Clifford Jones, of Aberdeen University, said the explosives books were accurate.
Tesco withdrew the books after we contacted them. A spokesman said: "These titles are available on all leading book websites. However we do respond quickly to feedback and have removed these titles after The People alerted us."

'We want to offer sharia law to Britain'

Islamic courts meet every week in the UK to rule on divorces and financial disputes. Clare Dwyer Hogg and Jonathan Wynne-Jones report on demands by senior Muslims that sharia be given legal authority

Amnah is a modern British Muslim. She is dressed in a denim skirt and her head is covered in a hijab. Poised and self-assured, she has come to meet Dr Suhaib Hasan, a silver-bearded sheikh who sits behind his desk, surrounded by religious books.

The origins and obligations of sharia law


"But why would I have to observe the waiting period?" she asks him. "What are the reasons?" There is an urgency to her questions.

Dr Suhaib Hasan is pushing for personal sharia law to be integrated into the British legal system

"These reasons don't apply to me, that's what I'm very confused about. If you could give me the reasons why I have to wait three months, then I'll understand."

Amnah is going through a divorce and is baffled at being told that she must wait for three months to remarry, considering that she hasn't seen her estranged husband for two years.

She twists her sock-clad toes into the carpet, grasping one hand with the other in her lap, and fixes Dr Hasan with an intense look. He meets this with a simple reply: "These rulings are all in the Koran. The rulings are made for all."

Amnah has little choice but to comply: Dr Hasan is a judge, and this is a sharia court - in east London. It sits, innocuously, at the end of a row of terrace houses in Leyton: a converted corner shop, with blinds on the windows, office- style partitions and a makeshift reception area.

It is one of dozens of sharia courts - also known as councils - that have been set up in mosques, Islamic centres and even schools across Britain. The number of British Muslims using the courts is increasing.

To many in the West, talk of sharia law conjures up images of the floggings, stonings, amputations and beheadings carried out in hardline Islamic states such as Saudi Arabia and Iran. However, the form practised in Britain is more mundane, focusing mainly on marriage, divorce and financial disputes.

The judgments of the courts have no basis in British law, and are therefore technically illegitimate - they are binding only in that those involved agree to comply. For British Muslims who are keen to follow Islam, this poses a dilemma. An Islamic marriage is not recognised by British law, and therefore many couples will have two ceremonies - civil for the state, and Islamic for their faith.

If they wish to divorce, they must then seek both a civil and an Islamic divorce.

Dr Hasan, who has been presiding over sharia courts in Britain for more than 25 years, argues that British law would benefit from integrating aspects of Islamic personal law into the civil system, so that divorces could be rubber-stamped in the same way, for example, that Jewish couples who go to the Beth Din court have their divorce recognised in secular courts.

He points out that the Islamic Sharia Council, of which he is the general secretary, is flooded with work. It hears about 50 divorce cases every month, and responds to as many as 10 requests every day by email and phone for a fatwa - a religious verdict on a religious matter.

Dr Hasan, who is also a spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain on issues of sharia law, says there is great misunderstanding of the issue in the West.

"Whenever people associate the word 'sharia' with Muslims, they think it is flogging and stoning to death and cutting off the hand," he says with a smile.

He makes the distinction between the aspects of law that sharia covers: worship, penal law, and personal law. Muslim leaders in Britain are interested only in integrating personal law, he says.

Dr Suhaib Hasan is pushing for personal sharia law to be integrated into the British legal system

read more here

The "Islam is Peace" Campaign

Government renames Islamic terrorism as 'anti-Islamic activity' to woo Muslims

Orwell Alert from the UK: War Is Peace, Freedom Is Slavery, Ignorance Is Strength, and Islamic Terrorism Is Anti-Islamic. Violent actions committed by believing Muslims, who justify those actions by reference to Islamic texts and teachings, will now be called "anti-Islamic activity."
Ms. Smith, your statement that "there is nothing Islamic about the wish to terrorise, nothing Islamic about plotting murder, pain and grief" certainly expresses a mainstream view. I have just a few questions. How do you propose to counter the recruitment among peaceful Muslims that is being conducted by these "anti-Islamic" Muslims, who quote the Qur'an, Sunnah, and Islamic law to portray their "anti-Islamic" behavior as not only Islamic, but the only true Islamic position? Wouldn't combating that call for a searching and honest examination of the actual contents of those texts? Aren't you making that examination a bit more difficult to do by pretending that it need not be done, and that the strife is already o'er, the battle done, and the "moderates" have beaten back the ideological challenge of the "extremists"? How can sincere Islamic reformers prevail when you act as if there is nothing in Islam that needs reforming?

Terrorism by Muslim fanatics was yesterday re-named "anti-Islamic activity" by Jacqui Smith.
The Home Secretary said that - rather than acting in the name of Islam - they were behaving contrary to their faith.

Her words were chosen carefully to reflect new Government strategy on the language used to describe fanatics.
Security officials believe that directly linking terrorism to Islam is inflammatory, and risks alienating mainstream Muslim opinion.
In her first major speech on radicalisation, Miss Smith repeatedly used the phrase "anti-Islamic".
One passage said: "As so many Muslims in the UK and across the world have pointed out, there is nothing Islamic about the wish to terrorise, nothing Islamic about plotting murder, pain and grief. Indeed, if anything, these actions are anti-Islamic".
Another referred to enlisting the Muslim community against "anti-Islamic activity".
It follows a decision taken last year to stop using the phrase 'war on terror', first adopted by US President Bush.
Officials were concerned it could act as a recruiting tool for Al Qaeda, which is determined to manufacture a battle between the values of Islam and the West.
The strategy emerging across Government is to portray terrorists as nothing more than cold-blooded murderers who are not fighting for any religious cause.
Al Qaeda-inspired terrorism is instead being described by key figures as "more like a death cult".


Here’s a video clip from the BBC on Britain’s latest attempts to tackle Islamist radicalization—but just as in the US, government agencies are often confused about who they should be reaching out to.

OUR TAXES PAY FOR LESSONS IN TERROR

MILLIONS of pounds of taxpayers’ money is being poured into financing terrorist propaganda, it emerged last night.
Some of the cash is even being used to fund school textbooks which teach children in Palestine to worship violence and hate all non-Muslims.
The money has also been spent on school books praising the “insurgents” killing British troops in Iraq, a report revealed.
Tories and Jewish leaders expressed outrage at the revelations and called for an urgent investigation into how the Palestinian Authority has used £47.5million in British aid over the past year.
Shadow Foreign Office Minister David Lidington said he was “disturbed” by the findings of the TaxPayers’ Alliance report. He added: “It is imperative that future generations are taught a message of reconciliation and mutual understanding.
“I have contacted both the Palestinian representative in London and the United Nations Relief Agency to discuss the issues the TaxPayers’ Alliance has raised.”
Former Tory home security spokesman Patrick Mercer said the way the money was being used was “grotesque”.
“It worries me deeply that taxpayers’ money is being used, quite improperly, for destructive purposes,” he said.
“While aid needs to be directed to the needy, its abuse for terrorist purposes is grotesque.”
Former Labour MP Lord Janner said the report was “concerning”.
Lord Janner, a previous President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, added: “It’s vital that Palestinian children are not indoctrinated with anti-Jewish and Israel hatred.”
But the report, by analyst Matthew Sinclair, says that British aid “is helping to fund ‘hate education’ and promote violence.” It gives examples of programmes on the Palestinian Authority’s official TV station.
One sermon on November 10, 2006, proclaimed: “We want to kill the Jews. Kill them one by one, make their children orphans and their wives widows.”
Another attacked anyone who refused to become a Muslim. It said: “God’s enemies are the enemies of the religion! Count them and kill them.”
Most shockingly, a Palestinian Authority pre-school education programme in 2004 included the following exchange: Girl: “If a boy comes in front of your house where a tree is planted, and cuts it down, what would you do?”
Tarabisho (a puppet): “I’ll fight him and make a big riot. I’ll bring AK-47s and I’ll commit a massacre.”
One textbook justifies executing those who leave Islam because “Islam has to protect itself.” A history book praises “a brave resistance to liberate Iraq”.
A spokesman for the Department for International Development said: “We don’t fund the Palestinian Authority directly and therefore don’t fund textbooks.
“UK aid is spent on helping Palestinians to pay doctors and teachers, maintain water and electricity supplies and support refugees. It’s certainly not spent on promoting violence and extremism – we undertake stringent checks.”
But the TaxPayers’ Alliance said that, by funding worthwhile activities, Britain was freeing up funds which could be spent in more sinister areas.

Muslim M&S worker refused to sell 'unclean' Bible book to grandmother, customer claims

A Muslim store worker at Marks & Spencer refused to serve a customer buying a children's book on biblical stories because she said it was "unclean".

Sally Friday, a customer at a branch of one of the famous stores, felt publicly humiliated when she tried to pay for First Bible Stories as a gift for her young grandson.
When the grandmother put the book on the counter, the assistant refused to touch it, declared it was unclean and then summoned another member of staff to deal with the purchase.

Mrs Friday was so upset that she has now complained to the store's manager.
Politicians and religious leaders supported her in condemning the high street chain and it has reignited the debate over religious beliefs in the workplace.
Conservative MP Philip Davies said the refusal to serve Mrs Friday, 69, was "unacceptable" and "damaging" to community relations.


inayat Bunglawala, assistant secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, described the assistant's comments as "offensive" and called for Marks & Spencer to conduct an investigation.
He said: "This appears to be a very regrettable incident and the 'unclean' remark was clearly very offensive and unacceptable.
"Many Biblical stories complement the teachings of the Koran. We hope that M&S will investigate this incident."

A spokesman for Marks & Spencer today said that an investigation into the alleged incident was under way.
She added: "We are surprised by this alleged incident and are investigating it thoroughly.
"It appears that there has been some misunderstanding over what was said.
"We have apologised to Mrs Friday over any distress caused."

A source close to the shop assistant claimed there had been a misunderstanding.
She said: "I think there was some confusion over what the customer heard."
Mrs Friday said that the incident had ruined her trip to the sales in Reading, Berks, with her daughter.
She said: "I went to the till and heard the girl say it was unclean and then she got someone else to serve me.
"At first I wasn't sure what was going on and then I realised she was wearing a headdress and I clicked that the title of the book had Bible in it.
"I felt very humiliated and immediately left the store."

Mrs Friday, who lives in Old Basing, Hants, went on: I have given it careful thought and still feel humiliated that because I am purchasing a children's Bible story book, a cashier is able to object and refuse to put it through the till.
"Had this been a copy of the Koran I am confident any Christian person would be happy to do her job, and for this to happen in a Marks & Spencer of all places beggars belief.

"I am not racist but I have vowed never to let a person wearing a head-dress serve me again.
"It will be a long, long time before I shop again at M&S."

Mosque's plan to broadcast call to prayer from loudspeaker 'will create Muslim ghetto'

Muslim elders at an Oxford mosque have said they intend to push ahead with plans to broadcast a call to prayer from a loudspeaker despite fierce opposition.

Local residents have attacked the idea saying it would disrupt the peace and turn the area into a 'Muslim ghetto'.
But the elders said they still intend to seek planning permission to install the loudspeaker.
If granted, they would broadcast a two-minute long call three times a day from the Central Mosque, where up to 700 people gather to worship every Friday.

The idea has gained support from the Bishop of Oxford, the Rt Rev John Pritchard, who last week said those in opposition to the idea should "relax" and "enjoy community diversity".
But residents, who packed out a council meeting last month to signal their outrage, remain set against the plan which they say is an "un-neighbourly intrusion".
They said they would rally to block the proposal when it is submitted to the council in nine months time, when construction on the mosque is complete.

Dr Allan Chapman, 61, who lives near the building, said: "The response against this has been incredible, we have been indundated with calls ranging from stiff upper lip outrage to sheer screaming fury.
"The universal message is what an utter cheek to inflict this on a non-Muslim area of Oxford. If this application goes forward then a large number of angry people are poised to form an opposition to it."
Dr Chapman added the broadcast is not to comparable to the ringing of church bells because: "They are just a signal. The Muslim call is a theological statement."

Residents have said the main objection is the loud amplification of the broadcast.
Elizabeth Mills, 56, said: "We don't have a problem with the Imam climbing to the top of the minaret and shouting.
"But we object to electronic amplification. The Bishop of Oxford might say it's ok but he doesn't have to listen to it."

Martin Stott, 53, a member of the Oxford Oratory, added: "This is not an anti-Muslim thing, it is more about community cohesion."
A spokesman for the Central Mosque said that sounding the call to prayer is a traditional part of the religion.
Sadar Rana, 68, said: "Building work will take another nine months to a year, it is then that we plan to make an application to the council.

"We want to fix a loudspeak to our minaret to broadcast our call to prayer. We would like to have it three times a day but if that is not accepted, then we would like to have it at least on Fridays.
"We do not need the volume to be loud but we want to have the call in some form because it's our tradition."

Bin Laden's son wants a visa - so he and his grandmother bride can live in Cheshire and have a surrogate baby

Osama Bin Laden's son has applied for a British visa so he can live in Britain with his wife.
Omar Bin Laden, 26, who admits attending terror training with the Al Qaeda leader in Afghanistan, has been interviewed with his wife Jane Felix-Browne, 52, by British Embassy officials in Cairo, where he is currently living.

The couple plan to set up house in Jane's £550,000 home in Moulton, Cheshire, have a child through a surrogate mother and work as "peace activists".

Omar and six-times-married Jane, who has changed her name to Zaina Al Sabah Bin Laden, have given the embassy access to their bank accounts to allow checks on the authenticity of their relationship.
The son of the world's most wanted man has divorced his first wife, the mother of his two-year-old son, to prove his marriage to Jane is genuine.
The couple claim they have been assured the visa application will be given the green light when the embassy receives the divorce documents from Saudi Arabia, proving Omar is solely married to Jane.
He and Jane, who has three sons and five grandchildren, married following a whirlwind romance in September 2006 after meeting outside the Pyramids in Cairo.
The couple made their application to the embassy in Cairo last November.

Lessons in terror: Osama bin Laden last saw his son in 2000
A UK marriage visa would give Omar, the fourth son of the architect of the 9/11 Twin Towers outrage, "leave to remain in the UK" with no time limit on his stay.
Initially, visas for spouse immigration are for two years, after which a person can apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain, which would make Omar eligible for a UK passport.
Jane said: "The embassy staff are all very friendly and they are doing all the checks. It could take a while for the visa to come through but there's no reason in law why Omar and I should not be able to live in the UK together.

"It is very easy to get a tourist visa. Other members of Omar's family have had them, but we have applied for a settlement visa. We would stay in Cheshire where I have a house.
"We have been told there will not be a problem as long as we can provide the original documents from his divorce from his first wife. And that should be done in a week."
Meanwhile, the couple are organising a 3,000-mile horse ride from Cairo to Morocco in support of "peace" and in defiance of the threat of terrorist attacks in the area.

Earlier this month, the famous Dakar Rally for cars and motorbikes from Lisbon across north-west Africa to Senegal was cancelled because of fears of an Al Qaeda attack.
Last month four French tourists were murdered in Mauritania – through which much of the rally runs.
But Omar, who last saw his father in Afghanistan in 2000, told The Mail on Sunday:
"Associates of my father forced the cancellation of the Dakar Rally, but they won't stop me from riding.
"We want people to join us on the trek – Jews, Arabs, Christians, Muslims, it doesn't matter where people are from."

Jane and Omar reportedly divorced last year, but it had been staged following a series of death threats. Jane says they are now looking for a surrogate mother so that she can have a child with her new husband.
Immigration lawyer Laura Divine said the Home Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office would usually accept an application for a marriage and settlement visa if all the eligibility criteria were satisfied.

She added: "They would want to see Bin Laden's divorce papers because it is the woman in this case applying for her husband to join her, and that husband must have only one wife."
The British Embassy refused to comment on individual cases.
In Jane's home village of Moulton, neighbours told of their surprise that Osama Bin Laden's son wanted to move from Egypt.

One said: "There's something different every couple of weeks – the last I knew she was getting divorced.
"Why would Bin Laden want to come to this cold, miserable climate? Give me Egypt any day."

Human Rights Act 'being abused'

Britons believe too many people, especially immigrants and asylum seekers, take advantage of the Human Rights Act (HRA), a poll has suggested.

The survey for the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), which dates from 2004 but has only just been published, says 57% believe the law is being exploited.
The poll of 2,000 people featured in a report which found there was widespread support for a law on human rights.

The MoJ said ministers had been working to improve understanding of the Act.
A spokesman said: "The overwhelming conclusion shows 84% of the general public agree it is important to have a law which deals with human rights in Britain.
"Since this research was undertaken, the government has undertaken a campaign to promote better understanding of the Act and to ensure that public authorities are more aware of their duties to the public under the Act."
The government commissioned the Human Rights Insight Project in 2004, but the MoJ has only now released the findings.

The 1998 act, which came fully into force in 2000, includes the right to life, the right to privacy and family life and the right to freedom of religion.
It incorporates Articles two to 12 and Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights into British law.
The study, released now without publicity, suggests that British people feel values of respect, dignity, equality and fairness are very important.

But a majority said the act was being misapplied, particularly by certain groups, including refugees, lawyers and celebrities.
Overall, 40% of those questioned said the law created more problems than it solved.
The report recommends that government develop a "communications strategy" to try to win the public over.
But the document states that the research was commissioned to "stimulate discussion" and does not represent government policy.

It called for more work to correct public misunderstandings about the HRA.
Justice Secretary Jack Straw has defended the HRA and rejected Conservative calls for it to be scrapped in favour of a British Bill of Rights.

Al-Qaeda's white army of terror

HUNDREDS of British non-Muslims have been recruited by al-Qaeda to wage war against the West, senior security sources warned last night.

As many as 1,500 white Britons are believed to have converted to Islam for the purpose of funding, planning and carrying out surprise terror attacks inside the UK, according to one MI5 source.Lord Carlile, the Government's independent reviewer of anti-terrorism legislation, said many of the converts had been targeted by radical Muslims while serving prison terms.

Security experts say the growing secret army of white terrorists poses a particularly serious threat as they are far less likely to be detected than members of the Asian community.Since the 7/7 and 21/7 London bombings, police and intelligence services have had considerable success in identifying, disrupting and stopping extremist plots. As a result, groups such as al-Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen have been forced to change tack.

Converting white non-Muslims has been one response.The trend is well established in the United States. American-born Adam Gadahn is one of the FBI's top 10 most-wanted terrorists after converting to Islam and rising through al-Qaeda's ranks to become a prominent spokesman.

One British security source last night told Scotland on Sunday: "There could be anything up to 1,500 converts to the fundamentalist cause across Britain. They pose a real potential danger to our domestic security because, obviously, these people blend in and do not raise any flags."The exact figure of those who have converted to Islam and turned to terror is not precisely known. Not everyone who converts becomes radicalised and it may be that just two-fifths go down that path, but it remains a significant and dangerous problem."Carlile said he was not aware of specific numbers, but confirmed to Scotland on Sunday that Whitehall was aware of the new threat and was actively tackling it.

He said: "These people are an issue and are potentially very dangerous. There have been cases of non-Muslims converting before, and of these, Richard Reid, the so-called Shoebomber, is the most obvious example."They are more difficult to detect and the security services are right to place some focus on this issue."Carlile said the majority of converts were targeted when they were in prison: "These (converts] are outside the standard type of profile which most police forces would have of a terrorist, which is male, young, and of Middle Eastern or Asian appearance.

That is why they are so potentially dangerous."Carlile added: "The Home Office has a lot of money, millions of pounds, which is being put forward for communities and fighting radicalisation. There is no question how tackling this issue is best achieved: it is achieved at a community level."Security experts say radical Muslims in prison have become adept at identifying potential new recruits to their cause.

Those in custody for the first time, the young and the lonely are particularly susceptible.Initially, the approach is made to comfort, console and support, with very little reference, if any, to religion.However, after several 'chats', the conversation will be turned towards the subject and, gradually, over a period of weeks or months, it is possible to complete the conversion.

Robert Leiken, director of the Immigration and National Security Programme and a specialist on European Muslims based at the Nixon Centre in Washington DC, said: "To me, the figure of 1,500 seems reasonable as many, perhaps less than a third, will actually go on to become radicals."New religious recruits always tend to be more zealous than those who have grown up with that specific religion."Edwin Bakker, a Dutch-based security specialist, has studied at length the issue of radical conversions. He said: "The question is rele
vant and timely.

Newcomers to Islam are extra-sensitive to perceived discrimination of Muslims and Islam-bashing. "They feel they have to defend Islam – one of the essential concepts of Jihad – and they feel they have to prove themselves as newcomers."But one of Scotland's leading Muslims disputed the claims of radicalisation, saying Islam's strict moral code made it unattractive to many westerners.Bashir Maan added: "I do not know of any Islamist terror group in Scotland and, considering as a Muslim a person must pray five times daily, abstain from drinking (and] sex outside marriage, adhere to strict dietary and many other rules, it is impossible to convert to Islam a young person brought up in this very liberal society."I agree that the security services must be vigilant and keep their eye on everybody, but I think in this case they seem to be over-reacting."

Muslim teen was 'murdered'

AN unlawful killing verdict was recorded on a Muslim teenager who was found dead on a river bank five months after she disappeared.
The body of Shafilea Ahmed, 17, was discovered beside the River Kent at Sedgwick, Cumbria, in February 2004, following claims from friends and teachers that she feared being forced into an arranged marriage.
Police launched a murder inquiry and arrested her parents on suspicion of kidnapping the Warrington teenager but both were released without charge.
During the four-day inquest in Kendal, Cumbria, Shafilea’s mother, Farzana Ahmed, accused detectives of not doing enough to find her daughter’s killer.
East and South Cumbria Coroner Ian Smith told the inquest today: “She was murdered. I’m convinced of that because of the way in which the body was disposed, it had been hidden and she had been taken many miles away from home.”

she made a dramatic plea to be saved from her abusive parents a few months before she died in what police believe was an "honour killing".
Shafilea Ahmed was seen with injuries on her neck, an inquest heard yesterday.
The westernised 17-year-old, who wanted to become a solicitor, was frightened her parents would send her to Pakistan and force her into an arranged marriage.
After running away from home, she told a local council housing officer: "There were regular incidents since I was 15 - one parent would hold me while the other would hit me."
She said her parents, taxi-driver Iftikhar Ahmed, 48, and his wife Farzana, had prevented her going to school or her part-time call centre job.
Shafilea also said her mother stole £2,000 she had saved from her bank account.

She ran away in February 2003, climbing out of a window of her home in Warrington, Cheshire, with the help of her friend Melissa Powner.
Miss Powner confirmed that Shafilea had lived in fear of her parents. Months earlier she had been off school for a week and returned with visible injuries on her neck.
Shafilea explained they came from a confrontation with her parents over boys' phone numbers on a phone bill.
Miss Powner said: "She didn't have much of a life - she wasn't able to be with her friends and socialise outside school."

She said that as they were walking to school one morning, Mr Ahmed saw them and pulled Shafilea into his car. Miss Powner said: "He shoved me out the way and said 'Keep out of it'."
Police were called, but Shafilea agreed to return home, saying later that her mother had got down on her knees and promised there would be no forced marriage. Days later, however, she flew to Pakistan with her father.
When she returned in the summer of 2003 she needed weeks of hospital treatment after apparently swallowing bleach in protest at a planned marriage.

In September she enrolled to continue her A-levels at Priestley College, Warrington, and made contact with Miss Powner. But before they could meet, Shafilea disappeared.
Her family did not raise the alarm, but police were called by a teacher after the teenager missed classes.
Her parents put their home on the market the same day, telling a potential buyer they were moving because their daughter had brought 'shame' on the family.
Shafilea's remains were found in February 2004 beside the river Kent in Cumbria, 100 miles away. A pathologist has said she was probably smothered or strangled.
Mian Khan, who was introduced at the Kendal hearing as Shafilea's grandfather, insisted there had never been any plans to force her to marry.
But on being asked to confirm that Shafilea's father was indeed his son, he opted not to reply after being told he did not have to answer questions which might incriminate him.
Accused of affirming, rather than swearing an oath on the Koran, because he knew he was going to be telling lies, he again refused to answer

Eastern Europeans 'targeted by angry Asians'

A clash of cultures between Asian and eastern European youths is leading to increasing tension and violence on Yorkshire's streets, it is claimed.

Some young Britons of Asian descent are now leading a campaign of intimidation against the new economic migrants from eastern Europe, whom they claim are taking their jobs.

The situation has become so bad in cities like Bradford that a leading social think-tank has begun research into how to get the two sides working together.The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has commissioned Bradford-based organisation QED to identify the causes of tensions between the two groups and improve cultural understanding and communication between them.

In the introduction to the project it states: "The newly-arrived central and eastern European migrants have settled within five of Bradford's most deprived communities, which have high percentages of 'settled' ethnic minorities."There are problems of local cultures clashing and major misunderstandings of each other's backgrounds and ways of living."Project director Mohammed Ali told the Yorkshire Post:

"The European Union expansion has had an impact on the number of jobs going to those in the ethnic minority communities – it's easy to bring in outsiders who will work for less but we run the risk of leaving people behind."We're looking at the causes of tension and ways of bringing the groups together. Communication is the key to these things – we want to look at opportunities to bring people together to share each other's cultures and backgrounds and experiences."While most of the crime between the communities goes no further than verbal threats, car vandalism and petty fights, little gets reported to the police because of the traditional eastern European wariness of authority.

One Asian scholar at a Bradford mosque, who did not want to be named, said: "A lot of Polish people are coming into Bradford at the moment and unfortunately we're seeing Muslim boys breaking their windows. They're complaining that the Polish people are coming in and taking their jobs."They're taking out their aggression on the newer immigrants for what they've had to suffer themselves in the community for years."Writing on an internet forum about a recent problem of eastern Europeans selling fake gold jewellery in the city, bank worker 'Amir' said: "Our parents worked very hard, they had two jobs at a time, with no benefits."They suffered racism and other hard times – but these Polish people are causing mayhem on the streets, illegal driving, drugs, crime, harassing women."Haqueq Siddique, who runs the West Bowling Youth Initiative project in one of the more deprived wards in Bradford, said: "I hear about these issues
and tensions but I don't see them." There were tensions "but it's nothing major".Ewa Sadowska, co-ordinator of the Polish charity Barka UK, said: "We hear stories about intimidation of Polish people every day.

"There's a high level of crime against Polish people, and I'm sad to say, a lot have been described as living in conditions like pigs."About two million people have left Poland since May 2004, many coming to Britain, and about 20 per cent of them were ill-prepared.Philip Davies, the Conservative MP for Shipley, said: "We've been accused of being racist in the past but this proves that the problem with immigration is not about race but about numbers."We cannot cope with the numbers coming in from eastern Europe, it places huge tensions in communities, it puts pressure on housing, health services and schools, and as we're seeing, creates all sorts of problems."

Schoolboy battered to brink of death with claw hammer in savage attack

A gang battered a schoolboy to the brink of death with a claw hammer in a scene straight out of a Quentin Tarantino film, a court heard .
Henry Webster, 16, was struck with such force that an imprint of the hammer was left on his skull, fracturing it in three places.
The 6ft 2in rugby player, who needed emergency surgery, still feels the effects of the "savage beating" by 16 Asian youths, Bristol Crown Court was told.
Four teenagers - Wasif Khan, 18, Amjad Qazi, 19, and two boys aged 15 and 16, who cannot be named for legal reasons - deny charges of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
James Patrick, prosecuting, said: "To those who watched it, it made a sickening sight, the sort of violence you would expect to see in a Quentin Tarantino film - certainly not in a playground in a school."
The court heard how a fight "blew out of nothing" in January last year, after Henry ran into a group of Asian boys in a corridor at Ridgeway School in Wroughton, Swindon.
After a brief argument, he was asked to meet the 15-year- old defendant at the school tennis courts later that day.
Mr Patrick said: "It was to be a fair fight. A one- on- one - or so Henry thought.

"But he had not reckoned on the fact it was not to be one-on-one - it was going to be significantly more."

Amjad Qazi,19, is one of the four teenagers who are charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm.

The court heard how the defendant had texted or telephoned a group of friends from Swindon, who travelled to the 1,400-pupil school especially for the fight.
In a video interview filmed six days after the attack and shown to the jury , Henry told police he tried to walk away but the group ambushed him.
"I stood around for a bit, then these men came through the gate and looked around," he said.
"[The 15-year-old] was pointing at me and saying "He's the one, he's the one". A man in a black jacket pushed me and, as I walked away, he started punching me.
"I heard screams, then I was punched in the back of my head. I was curled up on the floor but they repeatedly kept hitting me.
"Then I felt the hammer hit the back of my head. I know it was a hammer because if it was a punch, your vision does not change.
"As I got hit, my vision turned to stars - it all separated, what I could see, because it was so powerful."
Mr Patrick said: "Amazingly, Henry remained conscious throughout but his injuries were described by paramedics as lifethreatening."
Witnesses to the assault saw his attackers run off, punching the air and shouting: "We've done it."
Doctors have told Henry he will never recover from the attack
Henry said: "The hammer had gone through my head, through my skull and into the fluid in my brain.
"I have been told I will never recover because the brain cells will not reform."
The trial continues.

'Hypocrite' Straw reprimands magistrate who walked out of court due to veiled Muslim defendant

Jack Straw was accused of hypocrisy yesterday after censuring a magistrate who refused to deal with a case in which a Muslim woman wore a face veil.
The Justice Secretary issued a formal reprimand to Ian Murray even though Mr Straw himself famously asks women to remove their veils in his constituency office.
Mr Straw said in October 2006 that veils were "a statement of separation and difference".
Philip Davies, Tory MP for Shipley, a West Yorkshire constituency with a strong Muslim presence, said: "He is a complete hypocrite.
"Jack Straw tells everyone that he will ask anyone who wears a veil to remove it, then he turns round and disciplines someone for following his line.
"People are fed up to the back teeth with continual concessions to minority groups, in particular in the courts."
In his role as Lord Chancellor and head of the legal system, Mr Straw yesterday backed an order that Mr Murray should go for further training and guidance in court procedure.
The taxi driver was on the bench at Manchester magistrates' court last June when Zoobia Hussain, 32, appeared accused of criminal damage.
Miss Hussain, a jobless mother of five who was later convicted of the offence, was wearing a niqab, a veil which covered her face apart from her eyes.
The Judicial Communications Office that speaks for the Lord Chief Justice said that the reprimand was given because of Mr Murray's behaviour in court rather than his attitude to the veil.
Judges and magistrates may ask for veils to be removed, a spokesman said.
Mr Murray, 65, from Stockport, said he would not sit as a magistrate until the matter had been finally resolved

British Muslim who planned to murder UK troops jailed

When he was stopped at Heathrow, dentist Sohail Qureshi claimed he was flying to Pakistan to celebrate the Muslim festival of Eid with his family.
The haul of weapons, cash and terror handbooks he was carrying however told a much more sinister story.
An Islamic extremist, the 30-year-old was in fact on his way to fight for the Taliban against British troops.
In an email to a contact before he left Qureshi wrote: "Pray that I kill many, brother. Revenge, revenge, revenge."

Yesterday he became the first person to be convicted under tough new anti-terror laws.

However it emerged he could be out of jail in a year.

The Old Bailey heard Qureshi was arrested in October 2006 carrying a night-vision scope, two metal batons and two rucksacks.
He also had medical supplies, CD roms containing extremist material and £9,000 in cash hidden in seven envelopes around his body.
Qureshi, who arrived in the UK from Russia in 2004, boasted he had been sent to Britain by Al Qaeda for terrorist fundraising.


He kept snapshots of himself holding an M16 rifle and an AK47, both thought
to be have been taken in Pakistan when he attended a terror training camp.
He was also in email contact with Samina Malik, the so-called "lyrical terrorist" who wrote poems about her desire for martyrdom.




Malik, a WHSmith employee who worked airside at Heathrow, was given a suspended jail sentence in November.


Shortly before his arrest, Qureshi, from Forest Gate, East London, asked her in an email: "Sis, I hope you get this email before anyone else. What is the system like at work? Is the checking still very harsh or have things calmed down a bit?"
Qureshi was jailed for four and a half years yesterday but could be out on parole in a year.

He is expected to serve half his sentence and has already been on remand for 14 months.

He pleaded guilty to preparing an act of terrorism, possessing an article for terrorist purposes and possessing a record of information likely to be useful to terrorists.

Prosecutor Jonathan Sharp said: "Sohail Qureshi is a dedicated supporter of Islamic extremism.

"He intended after a brief visit to his family to travel either to Pakistan, Waziristan or Afghanistan and to seek an opportunity to engage in terrorist action."

Police had Qureshi under surveillance when he contacted Malik to ask about security.


When he was arrested, he was carrying a U.S. Marine and Canadian forces manual, a chapter from an autobiographical book he had written called My Father the Bombmaker, a copy of the Poisoner's Handbook, a picture of him holding an M16 and "motivational Islamist material" stored on a CD.


Documents found on the hard drive in his luggage included field manuals on camouflage and how to conduct military operations in severe and cold winter conditions.

Qureshi had described his intentions to carry out terrorist activities on an extremist web forum.

"I am not going for good as far as I know, it is only a 14 to 20 day operation, if it's in Pak, Afg or Waz," he wrote.


He also posted a "farewell" letter, anonymously, on an Islamist website.
In it, he admitted raising thousands of pounds from sympathisers in the UK which he intended to give to the cause as "bullets cost money".

The court heard Qureshi was born in Pakistan and grew up in Saudi Arabia, where his father worked as an engineer. He also lived in Russia for seven years.

A qualified dentist, he arrived in Britain in 2004 and worked as a dental assistant in Barking, East London, because his qualifications were not recognised here.

The Common Serjeant of London, Judge Brian Barker QC told him: "Any form of terrorism, whatever it is and wherever it is, is an affront to civilisation and can lead to untold grief and destruction."

In emails disclosed by Scotland Yard, Qureshi said that in 1996 he trained at an Al Qaeda camp in Pakistan and was briefly the "emir" of another camp in 1998.

Met Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke said: "Qureshi is a trained and committed terrorist, who by his own admission had contacts within Al Qaeda.


"He wanted to carry out terrorist acts overseas and gathered the equipment to help him do this. He was no amateur."

UK Grooming

Asians found guilty of shattering man’s skull in race hate attack

Three Asian racists were convicted at the Old Bailey today of shattering a man’s skull because he was white.
Sodrul Islam, 23, Delwar Hussain, 21, and Mamoon Hussain, 20, were found guilty of attempted murder for the attack on John Payne, 33. Up to 30 Asians set upon the victim and his friends for drinking in a pub on the Clichy estate in Stepney, which the gang considered to be their turf. They shouted insults including “white honkies” at the five people who dared to walk through.

Mr Payne was then felled with a machete and the gang repeatedly punched and kicked him as he lay helpless on the ground. The gang continued as Mr Payne’s sobbing girlfriend tried to shield him. He suffered a severe fracture of his head and bone fragments penetrated his brain. Surgeons at the Royal London Hospital battled to save him. He continues to require constant medication and suffers severe epilepsy, nightmares and flashbacks. The three defendants, from Stepney, will be sentenced in the New Year.
Two others were cleared of affray by the jury after being found not guilty of attempted murder and wounding with intent on the directions of the judge

Asian men jailed for race attack

Three Asian men who were convicted of attacking a group of friends and trying to kill one of them have each been given an 18-year jail sentence.
Sodrul Islam, 23, Delwar Hussain, 21, Mamoon Hussain, 20, were sentenced at the Old Bailey.
John Payne, 33, was left partially paralysed by the attack on an east London estate nearly two years ago.
The court heard that as many as 30 men attacked the group of five white people, shouting racial abuse.
Police said the attack was unprovoked; Mr Payne had been on a night out with four friends when they were attacked.
He is thought to have been struck by a machete or axe before falling to the ground.
Mr Payne was repeatedly kicked, causing bone fragments to enter his brain. He now suffers from epilepsy as a result of the attack.
Never being able to play football with my son is the harshest thing that I will ever have to endure John Payne
The three men convicted of attacking him were all found guilty of attempted murder, grievous bodily harm and violent disorder.
But there was no evidence that any of the three shouted racial abuse or used a weapon.
In a victim impact statement read to the court, Mr Payne explained that since the attack he had lost his job and home, he still had no feeling in one foot and suffered from epilepsy.
"Never being able to play football with my son is the harshest thing that I will ever have to endure," he said.
Debbie Granger, Mr Payne's cousin, said: "We are pleased with the sentence and feel that justice has been served to those responsible for such a violent crime."
However, she added that several other attackers are "still on the loose".

Muslim leaders back Livingstone as mayor

Prominent Muslim organisations and individuals have pledged to back Ken Livingstone as mayor of London, saying it is in the "best interest" of Muslims to vote for him in this year's elections on May 1.
A statement, published today in full on the Guardian's website, praises Livingstone for his continued support of a multicultural society and for protecting Muslim communities against racism and Islamophobia.
The 63 signatories include Mohammed Ali, the chief executive of the Islam Channel, which claims to have an audience of millions, Professor Tariq Ramadan and Dilwar Hussain from the London Muslim Centre, part of the East London Mosque.

They said: "His stands and policies have constantly championed justice in the Middle East ... freedom for the Palestinians and withdrawal of occupying troops from Iraq; a rare trait of modern-day public figures. He has enhanced London's standing in the world and helped improve the lives of all of the city's communities.
"We pledge to continue our support for the mayor on all levels possible in order to secure his staying in office for a third term."
Ihtisham Hibatullah from the British Muslim Initiative, which organised the statement, said Livingstone was doing more to help Muslim communities than other mayoral candidates. "He supports religious freedom. He's committed to developing skills of alienated communities and he's doing great work on social cohesion. These signatories are major players; they have reach and come the elections there will be a huge mobilisation of the Muslim vote."
Livingstone's criticism of US and UK foreign policy has increased his popularity among Muslims and he has appeared at events such as IslamExpo, which attracts tens of thousands of people every year.
The mayor welcomed the statement, saying that London's prosperity and good community relations were based on openness and tolerance. "The fundamental basis of London's openness and choice is that every Londoner should be able to live their life as they freely choose with the sole condition that they do not prevent others doing the same," he said.
His courting of Muslim groups and leaders sparked controversy in 2004, when he invited Islamic scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi to a conference about female students wearing hijab. Among his fiercest critics was gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, who condemned the invitation because of al-Qaradawi's support for "female genital mutilation, wife-beating, the execution of homosexuals in Islamic states, the destruction of the Jewish people, the use of suicide bombs against innocent civilians and the blaming of rape victims who do not dress with sufficient modesty".
His rival, Conservative candidate Boris Johnson, said he was "not remotely worried" by the statement of support and warned against "divide and rule" politics. "When anything is signed by so-called community leaders I take it with a big pinch of salt," he said. "My grandfather was a Muslim and so was my great-grandfather. I am proud of my Muslim ancestry. But I want to talk about the interests of Londoners. I don't care what religion they are. I want to look after people from all communities."

Family ‘let son kill his bride’

FOUR relatives stood by as a husband systematically battered his bride to death, a court heard yesterday.
Sabia Rani, 19, died after being kicked, punched and stamped on until she looked like a victim of a “catastrophic” road crash.
Shazad Khan, 25, is serving life for murder but his close family, including his mum and sisters, say they saw nothing wrong happening.
Rani spoke no English, having arrived here from Pakistan in 2006 for an arranged marriage just five months before she died. Some relatives told cops that Rani was killed by evil spirits, Leeds Crown Court heard.
Khan’s mother Phullan Bibi, 52, her daughters Uzma Khan, 23, and Nazia Naureen, 28, and Uzma’s husband Majid Hussain, 28, deny allowing the death of a vulnerable adult. Prosecutor Simon Myerson said they must have known of Rani’s suffering. Khan and Hussain deny perjury. The trial continues.

Bishop warns of no-go zones for non-Muslims and demand resignation

Islamic extremists have created "no-go" areas across Britain where it is too dangerous for non-Muslims to enter, one of the Church of England's most senior bishops warns today.

Michael Nazir-Ali: Extremism has flourished as Britain lost Christianity
The Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester and the Church's only Asian bishop, says that people of a different race or faith face physical attack if they live or work in communities dominated by a strict Muslim ideology.

Bishop Nazir-Ali warns that attempts are being made to give Britain an increasingly Islamic character

The Muslim Council of Britain today described his comments as "frantic scaremongering", while William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary, said the bishop had "probably put it too strongly".

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said the idea of no-go areas was "a gross caricature of reality".

Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, Bishop Nazir-Ali compares the threat to the use of intimidation by the far-Right, and says that it is becoming increasingly difficult for Christianity to be the nation's public religion in a multifaith, multicultural society.

His comments come as a poll of the General Synod - the Church's parliament - shows that its senior leaders, including bishops, also believe that Britain is being damaged by large-scale immigration.

Bishop Nazir-Ali, who was born in Pakistan, gives warning that attempts are being made to give Britain an increasingly Islamic character by introducing the call to prayer and wider use of sharia law, a legal system based on the Koran.

In an attack on the Government's response to immigration and the influx of "people of other faiths to these shores", he blames its "novel philosophy of multiculturalism" for allowing society to become deeply divided, and accuses ministers of lacking a "moral and spiritual vision".

Echoing Trevor Phillips, the chairman of the Commission for Equalities and Human Rights, who has said that the country is "sleepwalking into segregation", the bishop argues that multiculturalism has led to deep divisions.

David Davis, the shadow home secretary, has accused Muslims of promoting a kind of "voluntary apartheid" by shutting themselves in closed societies and demanding immunity from criticism.

In the Synod survey, to be published this week, bishops, senior clergy and influential churchgoers said that an increasingly multi-faith society threatens the country's Christian heritage and blamed the divisions on the Government's failure to integrate immigrants into their communities.

It found that more than one in three believe that a mass influx of people of other faiths is diluting the Christian nature of Britain and only a quarter feel that they have been integrated into society.

The overwhelming majority - 80 per cent - said that the Government has not upheld the place of religion in public life and up to 63 per cent fear that the Church will be disestablished within a generation, breaking a bond that has existed between the Church and State since the Reformation.

Calls for disestablishment have grown following research showing that attendance at Mass has overtaken the number of worshippers at Church of England Sunday services.

Bishop Nazir-Ali, whose father converted from Islam to Catholicism, was criticised by Ibrahim Mogra, of the Muslim Council of Britain. He said: "It's irresponsible for a man of his position to make these comments.

"He should accept that Britain is a multicultural society in which we are free to follow our religion at the same time as being extremely proud to be British. We wouldn't allow 'no-go' areas to happen. I smell extreme intolerance when people criticise multiculturalism without proper evidence of what has gone wrong."

But the Bishop's concerns are shared by other members of the General Synod.

The Rt Rev Nicholas Reade, the Bishop of Blackburn, which has a large Muslim community, said that it was increasingly difficult for Christians to share their faith in areas where there was a high proportion of immigrants of other faiths.

He believes that increasing pressure will be put on the Government to begin the process of disestablishment and end the preferential status given to the Church of England. "The writing is on the wall," he said.

Gordon Brown relinquished Downing Street's involvement in appointing bishops in one of his first facts as Prime Minister - a move viewed by some as a significant step towards disestablishment.

Last night, Mr Davis said: "Bishop Nazir-Ali has drawn attention to a deeply serious problem. The Government's confused and counter-productive approach risks creating a number of closed societies instead of one open, cohesive one. It generates the risk of encouraging radicalisation and creating home-grown terrorism."

Inayat Bunglawala, assistant secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said: "Bishop Nazir-Ali appears to be exercised by what he perceives as the decline in the influence of Christianity upon this country, but trying to frantically scaremonger about Islam and Muslims seems to us to be a rather unethical way of trying to reverse this.

"He talks about the rise of 'Islamic extremism' but fails to mention how some of the policies of our government and especially that of the United States in the Middle East over several decades now has clearly contributed to this phenomenon."

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Muslims demand resignation of Church of England bishop who spoke of "no-go" areas for non-Muslims

"John Reid should not come to a Muslim area, we do not want to see him." -- UK jihadist Abu Izzadeen, September 2006. The "Muslim area" in question, in which Britain's Home Secretary was not welcome, was East London.
But now, 15 months later, we learn that to suggest that some Muslims hold such attitudes, and that unbelievers may be unwelcome and unsafe in some Muslim areas, is a demonstration of "hatred." None of these Muslim leaders, continuing their consistent pattern of total evasion of responsibility, say anything like, "The bishop has a point. We need to integrate more," or "We need to be careful not to make non-Muslims feel unwelcome in predominantly Muslim areas," or anything similar. It's all his fault.

"Muslims call for 'no-go' CoE bishop to resign," by Caroline Gammell in the Telegraph

Religious groups have demanded the resignation of the Bishop of Rochester after he claimed that Islamic radicals had turned parts of Britain into "no-go" areas for non-Muslims.
The Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali wrote in The Sunday Telegraph that fundamentalism had made some communities hostile to Christians and those from other faiths.But Mohammed Shafiq, from the Ramadhan Foundation, said: "Mr Nazir-Ali is promoting hatred towards Muslims and should resign."
Ajmal Masroor, of the Islamic Society of Great Britain, said: "It's a distortion of reality. Our communities are far more integrated than they were 10 years ago.
"If the Church of England had an iota of fairness they would take serious action."

Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali stands by his views

The Islamization of Europe

Europe has joined the long war against radical Islamic terrorists, but for them the battles are also at home in London, Madrid, and in an ever-growing number of communities. Muslim immigrants have flooded into European ghettos, challenging the continent's tolerant culture. British journalist Rod Liddle presents a riveting account of the account of the clash between a naively elitist Europe and a rapidly expanding minority of Islamic fundamentalist.

66,000 women and girls have undergone female genital mutilation

Eurabia Alert. "The unspeakable practice of female circumcision that's destroying young women's lives in Britain," by Jo-Ann Goodwin and David Jones in the Daily Mail

...During a highly disturbing, four-month investigation, however, we uncovered evidence that thousands of British-African girls, in towns and cities throughout the country, have been forcibly "cut".
By conservative estimates, 66,000 women and girls living in Britain have been mutilated. This figure, accepted by the Metropolitan Police, came in a report by a volunteer organisation funded by the Department of Health and carried out with academics from the London School of Tropical Hygiene and the City University.
And thousands more girls are at imminent risk as families club together to fly professional "cutters" from Africa to Britain.
These women "elders" perform the crude operation for up to £40 a time, often on kitchen tables or floors, without anaesthetic, using filthy, blunt knives, razor blades or scalpels.

But of course, the increasingly dhimmi Daily Mail hastens to assure us, it has nothing to do with Islam:

Attempts are also made to justify this iniquitous practice on religious grounds. Some hard-line Muslims insist that women must undergo genital cutting to remain faithful to the purest teachings of Islam - although, in truth, it is not even mentioned in the Koran, and only ambiguously in the Hadith (a collection of oral traditions about the life of Mohammed).

In reality, while many say that there is nothing in Islam which requires female circumcision, one of Sunni Islam’s “Four Great Imams,” Ahmad ibn Hanbal (from whom the Hanbali school of Islamic jurisprudence takes its name) quotes Muhammed as saying: “Circumcision is a law for men and a preservation of honour for women.”
Sheikh Muhammad Sayyed Tantawi of Egypt’s Al-Azhar University has called circumcision “a laudable practice that did honor to women.”

But the Daily Mail either doesn't know or doesn't care to know about such Islamic justifications for this practice. Yet as long as they remain unconfronted, this barbarity will continue.

Cleric’s chilling warning to UK

A FANATICAL Pakistani cleric told The Sun yesterday of his chilling dream to turn the world Muslim – by force if necessary.

Qari Hifzur Rehamn, 60, spoke openly of imposing Islamic law’s stoning and beheading on Britain – as Pakistan was rocked by unrest over the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.
He warned: “We want Islamic law for all Pakistan and then the world.
“We would like to do this by preaching. But if not then we would use force.”
Rehamn, 60, spoke in the Pakistani town of Kahuta as the call to prayer echoed over the dusty streets.
He is Imam of the town’s fundamentalist religious school or madrassa, where classes for kids as young as nine include Jihad or Holy War and barbaric punishments.
His teachings are frightening enough. But his mosque lies in the shadow of the secret bunker where Pakistan produces nuclear weapons.
And when asked if it would be right to nuke British infidels, he laughed and answered: “Probably.”
Army
Rehamn, in a flowing grey beard and turban, explained Islamic, or Sharia Law as we sat surrounded by some of his 250 students.
He said: “Adulterers who are married should be buried in earth to the waist and stoned to death.
“Homosexuals must be killed – it’s the only way to stop them spreading. It should be by beheading or stoning, which the general public can do.
“Thieves should have their hands cut off. Women should remain indoors and films and pop music should be banned.”
So what does he think of Britain? The dad insisted: “The nonbelievers must be converted to Islam. Morals in your society, with women wearing revealing clothes, have gone wrong.”

Scary ... playground nuke
Phil Hannaford
The spot where enriched uranium is produced for Pakistan’s 80 to 120 nuclear warheads is behind razor wire less than five miles from where we spoke.
A dummy missile even sits in a children’s playground in Kahuta.
Only this month, doomed opposition leader Benazir Bhutto raised the spectre of al-Qaeda-linked Islamic militants seizing control of Pakistan’s nuclear warheads – and activity by radicals near Kahuta.
Despite the efforts of politicians such as her to champion democracy, the country has long been a hotbed of Islamic extremism and there is no shortage of potential martyrs.
At the Red Mosque in the heart of the capital Islamabad, Maulana Mohavya Irshad, 24, stared coldly at me. He said: “I’m ready to become a suicide bomber and lay down my life for Islam. Democracy is wrong. Earth belongs to God and God’s law must be implemented.
“I hope Britain and the rest of the world will have Sharia Law this century. We will continue to sacrifice our lives to achieve this.”
Meanwhile, the al-Qaeda warlord accused of masterminding the death of Ms Bhutto, 54, has warned his 13,000-strong private army will fight to the death against any troops sent to seize him.
Long-bearded Baitullah Mehsud, holed up in the bandit country of South Waziristan on the Afghan border, denied being behind Bhutto’s murder last Thursday in a suicide bomb attack in Rawalpindi.
But his cousin Shehryar Mehsud, 34, told The Sun: “Baitullah and the rest of us will fight to the last man.
Our army of thousands of Muslim brothers is ready for Jihad against the infidels and against the infidel government in Pakistan.
“UK and America are the enemy number one of Islam. We have joined the Taliban troops fighting in Afghanistan and will continue Jihad until we liberate the country.”
The Pakistani government claims a phone-tap caught Mehsud, 34, and a cleric gloating over Bhutto’s death, calling it “spectacular”.
His cousin insisted: “Baitullah Mehsud is not involved in the killing of Western ally Benazir Bhutto.
Fight
“We did not kill her but she was against Islam and Islamic teachings.”
Another of his clan, Mohamad Ali Mehsud, 26, bragged to The Sun about Mehsud striking from his lair in Pakistan against British and US forces in Afghanistan.
Mohamad said: “Baitullah is cunning. He moves positions all the time and uses disguises. Many times he has survived by a whisker.
“His men cross into Afghanistan, fight infidel soldiers and steal laptops, mobile phones and money. They bribe the soldiers guarding the border to get back into Pakistan.”
But did Mehsud kill Bhutto? Mohamad said: “Baitullah didn’t like Bhutto’s lipstick and Western ways. But he didn’t kill her. He only kills men.”