Blogging for a free world

ABU DHABI.-The Emirates’ authorities have detained in their beaches and stores 40 homosexuals and have ordered their deportation from the Arab country. Most of them were Western and Asiatic. The newspaper Al Emirat Al Youm informed about the crackdown in its webpage.

The arrests took place in Dubai, the commercial center of the country, in an ongoing campaign against “indecent actions“, which began some weeks ago under the slogan “We protect our values”.

Sources from Dubai’s police pointed out that most of the arrested are “Asiatic or Western nationals” who were there on a trip.

After being interrogated under suspicion of “perpetrating immoral actions“, the General Prosecutor ordered their expulsion from the country, according the same sources.

“Some authorities have asked for the campaign to last till after Ramadam“, month of Muslim fasting, which will coincide with the month of September this year, according to Yassem Jalil, the Dubai’s Police Commander. He also pointed out that, among the arrested there are Emirates’ citizens, and that a Government’s commission “is in contact with the family and prepares special studies to end this phenomenon“.

Los Emiratos detienen y deportan a decenas de homosexuales asiáticos y occidentales | elmundo.es.

Technorati Tags: Dubai, crackdown+on+homosexuals, Islamism, homosexuality, Human+Rights

Perhaps the first questionable aspect of the enterprise was its sponsorship by the World Muslim League (WML), the Saudi-backed international agency that is widely identified as a financier of extremism. Fortunately for the participants, the Madrid summit received little coverage in international media. The Spanish conservative and Catholic daily ABC was alone, apparently worldwide, in having the courage to mention that a prominent invitee, the American neo-Nazi William Baker, who spoke in the Friday morning session on “Dialogue, Peace, and Coexistence,” is associated with neo-Nazism.

In 2002, the Orange County Weekly exposed Baker’s long relationship with prominent and scabrous Jew-baiter Willis Carto. That led Southern California Christian preacher Robert Schuller to throw Baker out of his circle of advisers. But Baker was a fine catch, it seems, for the Saudi sponsors of the Madrid gathering. To emphasize, while the big Spanish papers gave nearly-daily coverage to the festival of faiths, and other international papers mentioned its opening, only the traditionally-hardline ABC, on July 19, described it as “inconvenient for the Spanish authorities because of the background of some of the guests, including William Baker, an ex-Neo-Nazi.”

Baker was one of three Americans granted prominence on the program at Madrid, alongside Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the chief Wahhabi lobby entity in the U.S. The third was Rabbi Arthur Schneier, an Orthodox Jewish leader. So two out of three American speakers represented radical Islam and its non-Muslim but extremist sympathizers. The fix, shall we say, was in.

Summer of Love?.

I knew about Nijad Awad being in the Conference but I didn’t know about an ex-Neo-Nazi being one of the speakers. It’s interesting to note that no MSM (except ABC.es) pointed out that fact. But it’s not rare: this ex-Neo-Nazi was speaking on “Dialogue, Peace and Coexistence”… between whom?

It’s also interesting that Zapatero had repeatedly stated he is a “red” meaning he is a total leftist. He had demonised every right-winger in Spain… and yet he made no statement of condemnation or of contempt against this Neo-Nazi. Curious thing.

Thanks to BCF for the tip.

Technorati Tags: World+Conference+on+Dialogue, William+Baker, Nihad+Awad, Council+on+American+Islamic+Relations, CAIR, Madrid, Spain, Dhimmitude, Islamism, Wahhabism

Several hundred would-be immigrants from Sub-Saharan Africa have been rounded up trying to enter Spain illegally over the past several days including 52 arrested by the Moroccan navy.

On Saturday, Morocco’s navy arrested 52 people on board a boat off the coast of Morocco’s southern Oued Eddhab province who were illegally trying to reach Spain’s Canary Islands, Morocco’s official Maghreb Arabe Presse agency reported Monday.

Security services told MAP that the illegals included two women.

According to MAP reports, Morocco is used as a transit country by illegal immigrants trying to enter Europe. The would-be immigrants travel through the Gibraltar Strait, the northern Moroccan Spanish-occupied cities of Sebta and Melilia or the Canary Islands, which are off Morocco’s southern Atlantic coasts.

Sub-Saharan African Would-Be Immigrants Arrested In Morocco And Spain | AHN | July 21, 2008.

Morocco is used as transit country by illegal immigrants: and what is the role played by Morocco in that transit? It would be interesting to know that.

Technorati Tags: Sub-Saharan+Africa, Morocco, Spain, Canary+Islands, immigration, Gibraltar+Strait

During the Global Voices Citizen Media Summit 2008–sponsored by Harvard University and Google in Budapest, Hungary, in late June, and attended by over 200 bloggers, human rights activists, writers, journalists, hackers and IT experts from every corner of the globe–one participant joked that it was worthwhile buying domain names for dissidents likely to be imprisoned. “Just get them with ‘Free (insert name here).com,’ ” he said.

A recent University of Washington report found that 64 people have been arrested for blogging their political views since 2003. Three times as many people were arrested for blogging about political issues in 2007 than in 2006. More than half of the arrests since 2003 were made in Iran, China and Egypt. Internet censorship has become a cause with global relevance.

I was invited to present a paper at the two-day event that covered the research for my forthcoming book, The Blogging Revolution, on the Internet in repressive regimes, plans by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to combat Internet child pornography, and my work with Amnesty International Australia on its campaign against Chinese web filtering, Uncensor.

The goal of Global Voices, started in late 2004, is to provide insights into non-Western nations to Western audiences through country-specific blogs. The last years have seen its agenda expand to include a translation service for multiple languages, Global Voices Lingua , support for minorities in developing nations (the Rising Voices project) and Voices without Votes, the chance for global citizens to comment on the 2008 US presidential election campaign in every country except America.

Raging Against Rising Internet Repression.

Looks like some people are beginning to worry seriously.

Technorati Tags: Blogging+revolution, freedom, blogosphere, Chinese+web+filtering, Global+Voices, Global+Voices+Lingua, Ricing+Voices, Voices+with+Voices, Kevin+Rudd, censorship+in+the+blogosphere

Fahd Al-Qarani faced the judge in the southern Yemeni city of Taiz. The nationally-beloved comedian-singer (dubbed by some the Adam Sandler of Yemen) was being charged by the government for “insulting Yemen’s president, Ali Abdullah Saleh.” To prove their case, prosecutors played a tape of one of his sketches. The entire courtroom burst out laughing – and prosecutors rushed to demand a recess as police intervened.

Clearly, Al-Qarani is a pretty funny guy. Because much of Yemen’s population is illiterate, his recordings reach a much wider audience than opposition newspapers, and his concerts draw thousands of spectators. One of Al-Qarani’s most popular sketches features a taxi driver who, though never named, speaks in a dead-on imitation of President Saleh. The skit is both hilarious and blunt: Yemen is being taken for a ride by a reckless driver.

While Yemeni crowds were laughing – inside and outside of courtrooms – President Saleh was not. After repeated attempts to silence Al-Qarani, the government won its case on July 9, as the comic was sentenced to 18 months in jail plus a $2,500 fine. But Al-Qarani seems to be relishing the notoriety of being sent to jail for being too funny. He called on his fans to come celebrate the verdict, and hundreds poured out into the streets demanding his release and a commitment by the government to protect freedom of expression.

C.R.I.M.E. Report – July 15, 2008. via Armies of Liberation.

Technorati Tags: Al-Qarani, Yemen, freedom+of+expression, humour

Shariah Finance Watch:

Duke’s pub in downtown Cairo is supposed to provide a familiar slice of English comfort amid the noise and pollution of the Arab world’s biggest city. There are soft green leather furnishings and a beautifully polished oak bar, but the most essential ingredient – alcohol – is conspicuous by its absence.

Amir, the pub’s grey-haired bartender, stared disconsolately at a display of fruit syrups behind the counter. “What’s an English pub without beer?” he sighed.

Duke’s has been dry since May, when staff at the Grand Hyatt hotel complex, which houses the pub, were ordered to empty every bottle of booze on the premises into the Nile. Cases of the finest cognac and champagne in the region were among the casualties, with local press reports suggesting up to $1m (£500,000) worth of alcohol was washed away.

The man behind the move is the hotel’s owner, Saudi sheikh Abdel Aziz Ibrahim, who has decided to make all of his business interests alcohol-free. Now, the sheikh is locked in a three-way tussle with the Global Hyatt Corporation and the Egyptian tourist authorities, a skirmish that reveals much about the religious and cultural dilemmas facing modern Egypt.

(…) Many forms of entertainment, from film studios to belly-dancers, have been snapped up by petrodollars and although the Saudi investment provides a much-needed injection of cash into the ailing Egyptian economy, critics fear that the changing cultural landscape – dancers are now covering up and films are avoiding scenes of hugging or kissing – is being used as a vehicle to spread the strict form of Wahhabi Islam prevalent in the Gulf.

Egypt has traditionally been characterised by a more moderate brand of Sunni Islam that has allowed institutions such as hotel bars to flourish in Cairo. Yet commentators say the ongoing crackdown against the Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s largest Islamic political movement that is formally banned from parliament, has left society susceptible to Wahhabism’s assault on “prurient” cultural pastimes.

Saudi money again…

Technorati Tags: Egypt, Hyatt+Corporation, Hyatt+Hotel, Muslim+Brotherhood, Wahhabism, Wahhabi+Islam

Creeping Sharia:

In a filing yesterday in federal court in Dallas, prosecutors said the Islamic Society of North America and the North American Islamic Trust suffered no lasting harm by being included on the co-conspirator list prosecutors filed prior to the trial last year of the Holy Land Foundation and five of its officers because evidence supporting the claim became public just weeks later.

“During last year’s trial, numerous exhibits were entered into evidence establishing both ISNA’s and NAIT’s intimate relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood, the Palestine Committee, and the defendants in this case,” the prosecutors wrote. “They were intimately connected with the HLF and its assigned task of providing financial support to HAMAS. That ISNA and NAIT appeared in these documents and share a common history with these defendants is a reflection of the evidence, not any attempt to ‘disparage’ or ‘vilify.’”

The unrepentant tone of the government’s filing was surprising in light of e-mails ISNA and NAIT filed with the court recently indicating that the lead prosecutor on the case, James Jacks, told lawyers for the groups last year that he was considering filing a pleading to clarify that the groups were identified solely because of evidentiary rules and were not being accused of having any criminal intent.

Curiously, the links are with nearly the same groups which are linked to Mexican drug cartels.

Technorati Tags: USA, Islamic+Society+of+North+America, ISNA, North+American+Islamic+Trust, NAIT, Hamas, Muslim+Brotherhood, Palestine+Committee

DW:

Three German climbers who were held hostage for 12 days after being abducted by Kurdish rebels in eastern Turkey arrived safely home in Germany on Monday on a scheduled airline flight.

Security sources at Munich airport said they arrived on a Lufthansa flight from Ankara.

Lars Holger Renne, 33, Martin Georg S., 47, and Helmut Johann H., 65, all from Bavaria, were abducted on July 8 by five Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) guerrillas who raided a 3,200-meter camp on Mount Ararat.

The three were released on Sunday. After spending the night at a police guest house in Agri, the mountaineers flew to Ankara from the eastern city of Erzurum on Monday morning.

German Ambassador to Turkey Eckart Cuntz welcomed the three men at Ankara’s Esenboga airport: “Firstly I’m very happy and secondly I’m very thankful,” he told reporters in comments translated into Turkish. “Thirdly, long live Turkish-German friendship.”

These are good news indeed.

Technorati Tags: PKK, Kurdish+Workers’+Party, Turkey, Germany

Arab foreign ministers say they have agreed a plan of action to defuse the crisis between Sudan and the International Criminal Court (ICC).

They met in Cairo after the ICC’s chief prosecutor said he would seek to indict Sudan’s president on charges of war crimes and genocide in Darfur.

Ministers said the ICC move had set a dangerous precedent.

Amr Moussa, secretary general of the Arab League, said he would travel to Sudan on Sunday to discuss their plan.

However, he declined to reveal its details at the end of Saturday’s emergency meeting.

BBC NEWS | Africa | Arab nations ‘agree Sudan action’.

We will see what it’s all about…

Related posts:

1. UN, China: posturing over the indictement of Sudanese President Al-Bashir.
2. Sudanese leader not fearful of ICC Charges.
3. At last! Sudanese President charged!

Technorati Tags: ICC, International+Criminal+Court, Arab+League, Amr+Moussa, Sudan, Darfur, Omar+Hassan+Al-Bashir, Human+Rights, Human+Rights+abuses

Islam can be the primary religion by 2050:

The current Chinese-led conquest of Russia’s Far East already seems to be a matter of immediate concern for the Kremlin. The ethnic birth rate disproportion in different regions of the country is another problem. The Muslim community may become the largest community by the middle of the current century. Therefore, Islam has all chances to become the predominant religion in Russia. (NOTE: links added by me).

(…) Islam is currently the second most widely professed religion in the Russian Federation. It is impossible to provide official statistics of “practicing” adherents of Islam or any other religion in Russia because there is no country-wide census or statistics done on this matter by any governmental organization. Roman Silantyev, a Russian Islamologist has estimated that there are only between 7 and 9 million people who practise Islam in Russia, and that the rest are only Muslims by ethnicity. Muslim communities are concentrated among minority nationalities residing between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea: Adyghe, Balkars, Chechens, Circassians, Ingush, Kabardin, Karachay, and numerous Dagestani peoples. Also, in the middle of the Volga Basin reside populations of Tatars and Bashkirs, many of whom are Muslims.

Something truly worrying if we consider that 80% of Muslim literature in Russia “contains appeals not to observe laws of non-Muslim states” (as Russia is, as far as I know) and “to liquidate people with other religion convictions“, according to Russian Islamologist Roman Silantyev.

Technorati Tags: Russia, Islamization, Roman+Silantyev, Islamism, Dhimmitude