Blogging for a free world

Saudi religious police have arrested 55 people at a party allegedly held by homosexuals at a farm in Qatif province in the east of the country.

According to a report on the Arab satellite TV channel, al-Arabiya, two young men were allegedly found wearing women’s make up and dancing on stage together.

The detainees were all handcuffed when they were arrested. Saudi police said during their search they found drugs and alcohol and other items that are prohibited under the country’s strict Sharia law.

A similar police blitz was carried out more than a month ago at another farmhouse in the same area where 21 alleged homosexuals were arrested. Some of those arrested were Filipinos and Pakistanis living in Saudi Arabia.

tolerance, saudi style « Bored Melo.

Will San Francisco county some time denounce this kind of behaviour instead of considering only Catholic teachings on homosexuality? Oh, no, don’t be ridiculous, Catholic Church and specially Israel are the bad guys… Seriously, no Muslim country discriminates homosexuals and they can marry in all of them….

Related:

1. Malaysia: Sharia raid on transvestite beauty pageant.
2. Emirates arrest and deport homosexuals in campaign to protect their values.
3. Turkey: a gay honour killing?
4. How to forbid a comedian to tell jokes.
5. Brazil will punish those who speak against homosexuality. Surely, no Islamic “scholar” will be “punished” for that thing… they are from other culture…

Eight South Asian countries, most of which are facing violent insurgencies, agreed Thursday to pool efforts to fight terrorism, a Sri Lankan government minister said.

The decision came ahead of a weekend summit in the Sri Lankan capital at which India and Afghanistan are expected to put pressure on Pakistan to do more to combat the militancy that has rattled all three nations.

Foreign ministers from the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation also approved draft agreements on Thursday on launching a regional development fund of US$307 million and a food bank amid skyrocketing food prices, Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama told reporters.

Pakistan is grappling with restive tribal regions along its border with Afghanistan, where fighting between insurgents and government troops intensified this week. The government in Kabul is facing a resurgent Taliban-led militancy, and a spate of bombings has hit India in recent weeks.

But cooperation in combatting terrorism is likely to face roadblocks amid accusations from India and Afghanistan that Pakistan may be behind recent violence, including a huge bombing outside the Indian Embassy in Kabul on July 7.

(…) The summit — which represents one-fifth of the world’s population and many of its most impoverished — is comprised of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

S. Asian nations vow to jointly fight terrorism – USATODAY.com.

Related news: McCaffrey: Afghanistan, a “narco-state”. Read also: Why Afghanistan is not the only country to blame for the heroin production.

Technorati Tags: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Islamism, Jihadism, Jihad, Nepal, Pakistan, South, Asia, South+Assian+Association+of+Regional+Cooperation, Sri+Lanka, terrorism, the+Maldives

China will censor the Internet used by foreign media during the Olympics, an organising committee official confirmed Wednesday, reversing a pledge to offer complete media freedom at the games.

“During the Olympic Games we will provide sufficient access to the Internet for reporters,” said Sun Weide, spokesman for the organising committee.

He confirmed, however, that journalists would not be able to access information or websites connected to the Falungong spiritual movement which is banned in China.

Other sites were also unavailable to journalists, he said, without specifying which ones.

China to censor Internet during Games: official.

How magnificent for all of this the Islamist threat from Uighurs…

From LGF:

China has installed Internet-spying equipment in all the major hotel chains serving the 2008 Summer Olympics, a U.S. senator charged on Tuesday. “The Chinese government has put in place a system to spy on and gather information about every guest at hotels where Olympic visitors are staying,” said Sen. Sam Brownback.

Technorati Tags: censorship, China, Falung-Gong, journalists, Olympic+Games, spying+on+citizens

The international community has been accused of failing to provide basic equipment vital to the peacekeeping mission in Sudan’s Darfur region.

The accusation was levelled in a report backed by 36 human rights groups and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

It comes on the first anniversary of the decision to deploy a UN-African Union force in war-torn region.

Meanwhile, the UN Security Council is expected to vote on whether to extend the troops’ mandate for another year.

The UN estimates that five years of conflict in Darfur have left 300,000 people dead and more than 2 million people homeless.

BBC NEWS | Africa | Support for Darfur mission urged.

How many times this mission has been “urged”? When will Al-Bashir be detained and flew to The Hague as Karadzic has been? Well, looks like he won’t be flown to The Hague after all:

The United States, despite support for the struggling peacekeeping mission, did not vote because of its opposition to any delay in efforts to prosecute Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

The resolution that was approved 14-0 carried language that noted an African Union request to freeze the International Criminal Court’s prosecution of al-Bashir.

Though the measure does not stop the prosecution, U.S. Deputy Ambassador Alejandro Wolff said that the language “would send the wrong signal” to al-Bashir and “undermine efforts to bring him and others to justice.”

Technorati Tags: al-Bashir, Darfur, Human+Rights, Sudan, United+Nations+Security+Council, UNSC

The Imam of Gallarate when he was arrested.

The First Section of the Criminal Appeals’ Court has annuled the condemnation of a year and four months in 2007 by Appeal Tribunal of Milan to Mohamed El Mahfoudi, who was then the Imam of Gallarate (Varese). It has also ordered a new procedure to take place about the facts which caused the first one.

The imam was accused of association to commit criminal activities, links with the international market of weapons and of assistance to illegal immigration. He was intercepted when he was contacting a member of an Islamic group specialised in weapons’ trafficking, false documents and illegal immigrations and with “foreigners to legalise” inside Italy. During the process, El Mahfoudi maintained that the phone numbers only proved that he was interested in all immigrants. He denied favouring illegal immigration.

The Appeal Court has consdiered that the motivation of the Appeal Tribunal is “not enough and with errors in essential parts of it”. According to the second supreme judges, the “supposed favours were only maintained in four phone numbers, by which the imam was interested in the job’s situation of immigrant subjects who were not better identified, to legalise their situation in Italy”.

Terrorismo: Cassazione annulla la condanna all’ex imam di Gallarate - Il Messaggero.

Of course, the best way ever of improving immigrants conditions in a country is to have the phones of “weapons dealers” and of people “specialised in falsified documents” in your phone listing.

Technorati Tags: El-Mahfoudi, illegal+immigration, Italy, Varese

Italy is set to deploy 3,000 soldiers in major cities and top immigration detainment centers. In an effort to fight crime, these soldiers will guard presumably important buildings as well as fight everyday crime. Police unions were responsive to the federal additions of force, trying to expose it as a mask for local police budget cuts. Officials insist this isn’t the case, and these soldiers would free the police to solve major crimes.

Italy Deploying 3,000 Soldiers to Cities to Fight Crime.

Technorati Tags: Italy, crime, security, Army+deployed+in+Italy+to+fight+crime, Silvio+Berlusconi

EU Referendum: Climate Nazis.

Just can’t comment upon this… it’s truly worrying: this looks like Communist regimes where everyone is asked to spy on his/her relatives. I really don’t like this.

Technorati Tags: ecofascism, ecology, Great+Britain, UK

The former Bosnian Serb leader, Radovan Karadzic, is due to be formally charged by the UN war crimes tribunal.

Mr Karadzic was indicted on 11 counts of war crimes in connection with the 1990s Bosnian conflict, but the exact charges will only be revealed in court.

(…) Mr Karadzic left Belgrade on Wednesday hours after clashes at a rally attended by at least 10,000 supporters to protest about his arrest.

He then took a special flight to Rotterdam airport in the Netherlands, from where he was transferred to the UN’s detention unit.

(…) Goran Petronijevic, who joined the Karadzic legal team on Tuesday, admitted that reports of an appeal being sent by post to the authorities in Serbia had been a ruse designed to delay Mr Karadzic’s extradition in order to allow time for his family to visit him in jail.

BBC NEWS | Europe | Karadzic due in war crimes court.

Yesterday, at Hague Tribunal, he vowed to defend himself and accused the West in general and US in particular of “breaking an agreement that would keep him out of court”.

Karadzic was prevented from reading in full a four-page statement he had prepared, although he managed to tell the court that he had wanted to appear before the tribunal soon after his 1995 indictment. He suggested a deal had been cut with U.S. diplomat Richard Holbrooke, who negotiated the Dayton peace agreement ending the war in Bosnia, that Karadzic would not be sent to The Hague if he didn’t endanger the accord.

“My commitment was to withdraw . . . even from literary life and all sorts of public life,” said Karadzic, a trained psychiatrist and a poet. In return, he said, “the United States of America would fulfill its commitments.”

Holbrooke dismissed the allegation. “It’s an old story by one of the worst mass murderers in the world, and it’s completely untrue,” Holbrooke said in a phone interview. “There was no deal. It would have been immoral, illegal and disgraceful.”

It’s a good way of increasing Serbian hate against US…

Technorati Tags: Bosnia, Human+Rights, Karadzic, Serbia, war+crimes, ex-Yugoslavia, Radovan+Karadzic

A multi-billion dollar oil deal between China and the west African state of Niger has been denounced by unions and transparency campaigners.

Civil rights groups in Niger are calling for a parliamentary inquiry into the $5bn (£2.5bn) contract and for scrutiny of how funds will be spent.

China’s state oil company was given oil exploration rights in Niger in June.

There is widespread concern that the people of Niger will not benefit from the country’s oil wealth.

For centuries Africa has failed to gain much benefit from its enormous mineral deposits; they were plundered by colonisers and during wars.

But even when the governments of independent African countries have signed deals with mining companies, the people in those countries have rarely benefited.

Now as resource hungry China expands its business in Africa there are claims that a lack of transparency will once again prevent the people from gaining.

BBC NEWS | Africa | Outcry over China-Niger oil deal.

What?? No, of course not… China is communist… how on earth it can “prevent the people from gaining“?

Oh, and who would have said that Niger’s population is 90% Muslim…

Technorati Tags: Niger, China, energy+resources, Africa, China-Niger+oil+deal, Human+Rights

“The Israeli enemy’s increase in violations of Lebanese airspace, water and land, especially in the past few days, is considered an unacceptable provocative escalation,” said a statement from the Islamic Resistance, Hezbollah’s military wing.

“It requires condemnation and serious action by the Lebanese authorities and the United Nations,” the Shiite militant group said, complaining of hundreds of breaches within a week.

“There has been a sharp increase in Israeli breaches of Lebanese airspace, water and land this month,” a Lebanese army official told AFP.

Hezbollah accuses Israel over airspace violations – Yahoo! News.

I would see normal that Lebanese Government complaint if these “alleged violations” had taken place. But Hizbullah????

Well, don’t get surprised:

Since Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora bowed to Hizbullah’s demands in Doha last month and agreed to grant the Iranian-controlled, Syrian-supported terror group control over his government, Lebanon has become an official agent of a terror group. That is, Lebanon, as a state, has become a sponsor of terror. But no one seems to notice or to care.

(…) All of Lebanon’s supposedly moderate leaders were at the Hizbullah-controlled Beirut airport to accord Kuntar a hero’s welcome. President Michel Suleiman embraced Kuntar – who crushed four-year-old Einat Haran’s skull – and his fellow terrorists as “our freed heroes.” Sa’ad Hariri, the head of the March 14th movement, referred to Kuntar’s release as “an historic day of joy.” Saniora hailed the corpses-for-murderers swap explaining, “The success of Hizbullah in the negotiations led by a third party is a national success for the party and for the struggle of the Lebanese because it secured national goals which Israel always refused to respect.” And Druse leader Walid Jumblatt hailed Kuntar’s release as “a national holiday.”

(…) ALL OF this is depressingly familiar. In many ways, the Saniora government is to Hizbullah in Lebanon what the Fatah terror group is to Hamas in the Palestinian Authority. As is the case in Lebanon, the US trains, finances and arms Fatah. It supports Fatah politically against Israel, claiming that Fatah has earned its support through its moderation relative to Hamas. But as events have shown repeatedly, Fatah is a terrorist organization and is only too happy to collude with Hamas in attacking Israel and to form governments with Hamas so long as Hamas doesn’t embarrass it too much.

Well, this is true and terrible…

Technorati Tags: Hizbullah, Israel, Lebanon, Siniora, Suleiman, Kantar, terrorism, Islamism, Jihadism