By Usman Manzoor
ISLAMABAD, (The News): After being subjected to a strip search, Dr Aafia Siddiqui, the Pakistani woman held by the Americans on account of terrorism charges, is not allowed to receive even ordinary mail in the New York jail.

Barrister Iqbal Jafree, her lawyer, while talking to The News disclosed that he and a few members of Dr Aafia Siddiqui’s family had been continuously writing to her in New York but the letters always returned undelivered because of wrong address. “I cannot understand that the post offices in USA do not know the addresses of Metropolitan Detention Centre (MDC) in Brooklyn, New York and the address of the Federal Court,” said the lawyer who spent decades in the US.

He said that it was the fundamental right of a prisoner to receive mail and to send mail. “But I think the Americans have forgotten these moral principles when it comes to a poor, ailing Pakistani lady.”

BBC News

About 50 people attended a vigil held at Manchester's Southern Cemetery after Muslim graves were desecrated for the third time in two months.

The Unite Against Fascism peace vigil took take place at the cemetery on Barlow Moor Road, Chorlton at 1400 GMT.

Police are treating the latest attack, which happened between 20 and 23 November and left about 20 graves damaged, as racially-motivated.

 By ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS, Associated Press Writer – 13 mins ago

GENEVA – Swiss voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional ban on minarets on Sunday, barring construction of the iconic mosque towers in a surprise vote that put Switzerland at the forefront of a European backlash against a growing Muslim population.

Muslim groups in Switzerland and abroad condemned the vote as biased and anti-Islamic. Business groups said the decision hurt Switzerland's international standing and could damage relations with Muslim nations and wealthy investors who bank, travel and shop there.

Daily Mail Reporter

A device that smells human fear is being developed by British scientists and could soon be sniffing out anxious terrorists.
The technology relies on recognising a pheromone - or scent signal - produced in sweat when a person is scared.
Researchers hope the 'fear detector' will make it possible to identify individuals at check points who are up to no good.
Terrorists with murder in mind, drug smugglers, or criminals on the run are likely to be very fearful of being discovered.
However calm they might appear on the surface, their bodies could give them away.
Although the research is at an early stage, the aim is to develop a prototype device in the next two to three years.

Mohammad Usman wants Muslims in Novi and the Northville communities to have a convenient place to pray.

Many Muslims in the area travel to Canton or Farmington Hills if they want to attend daily prayers.

"We would like to have a place to worship like anyone else so we can fulfill our obligated prayers," Usman said.

But the location of the Meadowbrook Islamic Center, at 41885 Eight Mile in Northville Township, has some neighbors complaining. The center, which is not yet in use, is in a residential area and occupies a single-family home. Some neighbors also are opposed to the center's plans to create a parking lot on the front lawn.

The Arab American News
Saturday, 11.21.2009, 03:01pm

Rights activists Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian leader, and Anna Baltzer, an American Jew, appeared on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" last month, where host Jon Stewart immediately asked them to fight.
"We're part of a pretty large group, actually, of Palestinians and Jews working together," Baltzer said about the nonviolent movements the two activists lead. "This is not something sort of new or novel. It's just not something we tend to hear too much about."

The Arab American News

By Khalil AlHajal
Saturday, 11.21.2009, 02:26am

Several major rights advocacy organizations sent a letter to the U.S. Justice Department on Monday calling for an investigation into potential civil rights violations commiteed during the Oct. 28 FBI raid conducted in Dearborn in which a religious leader was killed.

Imam Luqman Abdullah, leader of the Detroit-based Masjid Al-Haqq made up primarily of African Americans, was killed during a raid in a Dearborn warehouse where undercover agents lured members of the group in a sting operation involving stolen goods. The groups who signed the letter included the Council of American-Islamic Relations—Michigan, The American Civil Liberties Union—Michigan, the National Lawyers Guild, the Congress of Arab American Organizations, the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice and The Michigan Emergency Committee Against War and Injustice.

 By Soyoung Kim  – Fri Nov 27, 9:33 am ET

DEARBORN, Michigan (Reuters) – At Tuhama's Lebanese deli in Dearborn, and at bakeries and barbershops throughout town, it's no secret the CIA is looking for a few good spies.

"There is a lot of talk, and nobody likes it," said Hamze Chehade, a 48-year-old Lebanese-American, taking a bite of his chicken shawarma.

In dire need of agents fluent in Arabic, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has made an unusual public show of its recruiting effort in Dearborn -- a city of 100,000 with the densest Arab population in the United States.

Posted: 25 November 2009

A ban on the construction of minarets would breach Switzerland's obligations to uphold freedom of religion, Amnesty International said ahead of a referendum on Sunday 29 November on a constitutional amendment on the issue.

The proposal, which was initiated by members of two Swiss parties, will ask Swiss voters if they wish to add the sentence 'The construction of minarets is forbidden' to Article 72 of the Constitution.

The initiators of the referendum claim that the construction of minarets is not protected by the freedom of religion as they have 'no religious significance'. They assert that minarets are 'symbols of a religious-political claim to power and dominance which threatens - in the name of alleged freedom of religion - the constitutional rights of others.'

The Muslim News
By Ahmed J Versi

An 18-year-old Muslim student was attacked and beaten even after he lost consciousness by a gang of white youths on November 6. As they attacked him, they shouted “Where is your Allah now” and “Where is He to help you now.”

The first year business and computer undergraduate student had just left De Montfort University, Leicester, library with his friend at around 8.30 pm when they were attacked by around 10 white youths in Great Central Way, near the junction with Briton Street, Bede Island. The two students, Ahmed and Umar, (not their real name as they wish to remain anonymous) saw the gang taunting and abusing a Muslim woman wearing the hijab. She was with two other women who had gone ahead of her.

November 19, 2009 by TMO

Google Inc.’s announcement that it will buy AdMob Inc. for $750 million brought a media spotlight on Accel Partners, an investor in both AdMob and Playfish Inc., which said today it will sell to Electronic Arts Inc. for at least $275 million. Several blogs, including this one, hailed Accel Partners for its impressive and quick investment returns at a time when deals like these are hard to come by.

But AdMob’s founder and CEO, Omar Hamoui, really deserves the attention for building a company that in three years became the largest player of mobile Web ads and ultimately, a coveted jewel for the largest Internet company.

November 25, 2009 by TMO

History was made this past week, when famous Owner of Farouk Systems (Brand: CHI-USA) Farouk Shami, a Palestinian-American entrepreneur, announced his candidacy for the Democratic Party Nomination to run for the Governor of Texas. Since James Pinckney Henderson of Democratic Party became the first Governor of Texas on February 19, 1846, Thirty-Nine (39) Governors of Texas have come from Democratic Party; Six (6) from Republican Party; One (1) Unionist; and One (1) Independent [Sam Houston]. If nominated by Democratic Party and then elected, Farouk Shami will become the 48th Governor of Texas.

NYUnews.com
by Arielle Milkman
Published November 18, 2009

NYU's United Muslims Association held a teach-in at the Kimmel Center yesterday afternoon to rebut "Going Muslim," a controversial column published on Forbes.com last week by Stern professor Tunku Varadarajan.

But rather than condemning Varadarajan's article, most speakers emphasized the importance of solidarity and multicultural understanding in NYU's diverse community.

Forbes
Tunku Varadarajan, 11.09.09, 12:00 AM EST

"Going postal" is a piquant American phrase that describes the phenomenon of violent rage in which a worker--archetypically a postal worker--"snaps" and guns down his colleagues.

As the enormity of the actions of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan sinks in, we must ask whether we are confronting a new phenomenon of violent rage, one we might dub--disconcertingly--"Going Muslim." This phrase would describe the turn of events where a seemingly integrated Muslim-American--a friendly donut vendor in New York, say, or an officer in the U.S. Army at Fort Hood--discards his apparent integration into American society and elects to vindicate his religion in an act of messianic violence against his fellow Americans. This would appear to be what happened in the case of Maj. Hasan.

Oralandar Brand-Williams / The Detroit News

Detroit -- U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told a crowd of law enforcement, and community and Muslim leaders Thursday the U.S. Justice Department "is again open for business."

"I can assure you under my leadership the Department of Justice will enforce all of our nation's laws with equal conviction," Holder declared, saying that under the Obama administration, the department will return to its "traditional" role of ensuring civil rights.

Holder, the nation's first African-American attorney general, also said he ordered an internal review of law enforcement data within the U.S. Justice Department to study the issue of racial profiling.

By Edward Cody
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, November 26, 2009

MARSEILLE, FRANCE -- Notre Dame de la Garde, an elegant Roman Catholic basilica, has stood for 150 years on a promontory just south of Marseille's Old Port, looking down protectively as fishermen push out to the sea and symbolizing the irrepressible spirit of this fabled Mediterranean city.

But a new and very different symbol is scheduled to rise soon on another promontory, this one on the north side of the Old Port. It is the $30 million Grand Mosque of Marseille, a place for the metropolitan region's more than 200,000 Muslims to gather and worship and a dramatic reminder of the Islamic heritage that is grafting itself onto France's cultural landscape.

By DANIEL PIPES
The Jerusalem Post
Nov 24, 2009
 
To borrow a computer term, if Ayatollah Khomeini, Osama bin Laden, and Nidal Hasan represent Islamism 1.0, Recep Tayyip Erdogan (the prime minister of Turkey), Tariq Ramadan (a Swiss intellectual), and Keith Ellison (a US congressman) represent Islamism 2.0. The former kill more people but the latter pose a greater threat to Western civilization.

The 1.0 version attacks those perceived as obstructing its goal of a society ruled by a global caliphate and totally regulated by Shari'a (Islamic law). Islamism's original tactics, from totalitarian rule to mega-terrorism, encompass unlimited brutality. Three thousand dead in one attack? Bin Laden's search for atomic weaponry suggests the murderous toll could be a hundred or even a thousand times larger.

Andrew Sparrow and agencies
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 25 November 2009 13.55 GMT

Gordon Brown today agreed to investigate claims that two schools backed by the Islamist extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir have received money from the taxpayer.
The prime minister made the commitment after David Cameron cited the case in the Commons and claimed that it was evidence that the government "has not got a grip on the issue of Islamic extremism".
The Tories want to ban Hizb ut-Tahrir, a non-violent extremist group, although ministers have in the past insisted that the evidence does not justify the organisation being proscribed.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama sent greetings Wednesday on behalf of the United States to pilgrims performing the annual hajj in Saudi Arabia, and to Muslims worldwide celebrating the Eid-ul-Adha holiday.
"The rituals of Hajj and Eid-ul-Adha both serve as reminders of the shared Abrahamic roots of three of the world's major religions," read a White House statement.
"On behalf of the American people, we would like to extend our greetings during this Hajj season -- Eid Mubarak," Obama said, using a traditional Muslim greeting.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union has sued a north Florida school district, claiming that the Alachua County School District violated students' rights by not allowing them to wear T-shirts with an anti-Islamic message.
The civil rights organization says that while it doesn't agree with the "Islam is of the Devil" message printed on T-shirts distributed by the Dove World Outreach Center, it does support the students' constitutional right to freedom of speech.

DALLAS – A Muslim doctor interviewing for a job at a suburban Dallas medical clinic says officials there told her she couldn't wear her headscarf in the workplace.
Dr. Hena Zaki of Plano, Texas, said Friday that she was shocked when CareNow officials told her that a no-hat policy extended to her hijab.

Brandweek.com
Nov 23, 2009
Todd Wasserman

Best Buy stands by its decision to wish U.S. Muslims a Happy Eid Al-Adha, a rep for the company said, and though some Best Buy customers took offense, a Muslim advocacy group praised the move.

The retailer got some flak this week for including, along with its circular advertising Thanksgiving Day sales, a note saying "Happy Eid Al-Adha," which refers to a holiday of sacrifice for followers of Islam on Nov. 27 this year. After TechCrunch ran an item about the circular, some claimed offense and said they'd take their business elsewhere. "I spent about $3,000 with . . . your store. I will be shopping somewhere else," one consumer wrote on Best Buy's Web forum. "BB has the Muslims covered with the 'Happy Eid,' but what about the rest of us Americans?" wrote another. "Do we get a 'Happy Thanksgiving'?"

Four people, including one Dearborn man, were charged on Nov. 23 with transporting stolen goods as part of an alleged weapons procurement ring.

A federal terrorism task force in Pennsylvania announced the arrests, according to a Justice Department release.

Fri Nov 6, 10:20 am ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Fearing that a gunman who killed 13 people at a military facility in Texas may have been Muslim, US Islamic groups braced themselves for a public backlash against the faith on Thursday.

Soon after Pentagon officials named one of the shooters at the Fort Hood facility as Nidal Malik Hasan, groups rallied to condemn an act President Barack Obama had earlier described as a "horrific outburst of violence."

"The guy's name is a Muslim name," Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) told AFP, expressing fears about damage to inter-faith relations, already strained by the September 11, 2001 attacks, and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

by Deborah Tedford - npr
November 23, 2009

The number of hate crimes against religious groups in the U.S. jumped more than 8 percent during 2008 — the most notable increase in a variety of hate crime statistics reported in data released Monday by the FBI.

In all, 7,783 hate crimes were included in the FBI's 2008 Hate Crime Statistics report. The report covers crimes involving a victim who was targeted because of race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity/national origin or disability.

The FBI's report reflects only the information gathered by participating law enforcement agencies. Experts warned that the numbers may reflect different standards for what constitutes a hate crime, as well as the inability of some law enforcement agencies to coordinate the report because of budget constraints.

By ANGELA K. BROWN, Associated Press Writer Angela K. Brown, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 1 min ago

FORT WORTH, Texas – An Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people during an attack on his Texas post will likely plead not guilty to the charges against him and may use an insanity defense at his military trial, his attorney said Monday.

John Galligan, the civilian attorney for Maj. Nidal Hasan, said he is considering an insanity defense among other options, but that it's too early to determine his defense strategy.

"Based on the evidence thus far, his mental status must be raised," Galligan told The Associated Press by phone from his office near Fort Hood, about 130 miles southwest of Dallas. "Anybody who allegedly engages in conduct that is completely contradictory to his lifestyle and military career — an insanity defense has to be considered."

Mon Nov 9, 5:30 pm ET

FALLS CHURCH, Va. – The outreach director for the northern Virginia mosque where the suspected Fort Hood shooter sometimes attended prayer services says Maj. Nidal Hasan was not an active member.

Imam Johari Abdul-Malik of the Dar al-Hijrah (dahr al-HIDJ'-ruh) Islamic Center in Falls Church also is denouncing statements from a radical American imam living in Yemen who praised Hasan as a hero on his personal Web site Monday.

By MARK THOMPSON / WASHINGTON Mark Thompson / Washington – Tue Nov 10, 4:50 pm ET

As officials continue to investigate the alleged Fort Hood killer, it is looking increasingly likely that the Army missed several red flags in Major Nidal Malik Hasan's behavior. Many observers say it wouldn't be surprising if such signals had been missed, given that Hasan was a psychiatrist whom the Army desperately needed to help tend to the mental wounds of two wars. But at the same time, some members of the military are quietly discussing the more troubling possibility that the Army looked the other way precisely because Hasan was Muslim. (See pictures of the Fort Hood shootings.)

Army officials strongly deny any suggestion that Hasan's religion resulted in his being given special treatment. But one officer who attended the Pentagon's medical school with Hasan disagrees. "He was very vocal about being a Muslim first and holding Shari'a law above the Constitution," this officer recalls. When fellow students asked, "How can you be an officer and hold to the Constitution?," the officer says, Hasan would "get visibly upset - sweaty and nervous - and had no good answers." This medical doctor would speak only anonymously because his commanders have ordered him not to talk about Hasan, he says.

By KAREN MATTHEWS, Associated Press Writer Karen Matthews, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 33 mins ago

NEW YORK – The five men facing trial in the Sept. 11 attacks will plead not guilty so that they can air their criticisms of U.S. foreign policy, the lawyer for one of the defendants said Sunday.

Scott Fenstermaker, the lawyer for accused terrorist Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, said the men would not deny their role in the 2001 attacks but "would explain what happened and why they did it."

The U.S. Justice Department announced earlier this month that Ali and four other men accused of murdering nearly 3,000 people in the nation's deadliest terrorist attack will face a civilian federal trial just blocks from the World Trade Center site.

By JEFF KAROUB, Associated Press Writer Jeff Karoub, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 57 mins ago

DETROIT – The U.S. government resettled Mazen Alsaqa in Massachusetts in February. Within a month, the Iraqi refugee moved to Michigan.

It wasn't that Alsaqa disliked Worcester, Mass. But he never thought twice about staying. Even though the U.S. government tried to keep him away from the Detroit area and its soaring unemployment, that was the only place Alsaqa wanted to live.

Tens of thousands have fled Michigan's troubled economy in recent years, yet Iraqi refugees continue to move there despite a U.S. government policy trying to limit refugee resettlement in the Detroit area. Family ties and cultural support from the region's large Middle Eastern community appear no match for the U.S. effort, which tries to place refugees in cities where they stand a better chance of financial success.

DOHA (Reuters)

A film about the Prophet Mohammad backed by the producer of "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Matrix" is under discussion, a Qatar media firm said on Sunday, with the aim of creating an English-language blockbuster for the world's 1.5 billion Muslims.

Filming of the $150 million movie is set to start in 2011, with Barrie Osborne as its producer, Alnoor Holdings said.

Alnoor said the film - in which the Prophet would not be depicted, in accordance with Islamic strictures - was in development and talks were being held with studios, talent agencies and distributors in the United States and Britain.

By SYLVIA HUI, Associated Press Writer Sylvia Hui, Associated Press Writer – Mon Nov 16, 1:21 pm ET

LONDON – Two of Britain's most high-profile Muslim extremists have been given free rein to recruit fellow inmates in prison and are spreading propaganda from behind bars, a think-tank founded by two former Islamic radicals said Monday.

London-based Quilliam Foundation said in a report that Muslim cleric Abu Qatada — once described as Osama bin Laden's ambassador in Europe — managed to smuggle out extremist propaganda from prison with the help of visitors, who then spread his message on the Internet.

It said that another radical preacher, Abu Hamza al-Masri — the one-eyed, hook-handed cleric whose extradition is being sought by the United States — was able to hold sermons through the pipes that link cells. It said another inmate used his allotted phone calls to speak to an Islamic TV station.

 By MANUEL VALDES, Associated Press Writer Manuel Valdes, Associated Press Writer  – Tue Nov 17, 6:57 pm ET

GRANITE FALLS, Wash. – Granite Falls residents are suspicious of any newcomers, let alone a Muslim native of Pakistan who moved to this rugged, blue-collar mining town to open his own bar.

But 54-year-old Haroon Saleem has thrived, winning over the town with hard work and an easy smile. He has become so popular that, on Nov. 3, he won the mayor's job in a landslide, getting 61 percent of the more than 800 votes cast — a result that residents say would have been inconceivable not long ago.

"In the old Granite Falls, there were no minorities. It was a rough, rough, logging town. Any outsider, whether a minority or somebody from Everett, was the same. It was very difficult to be accepted in this town," said Sharon Ashton, a close confidant of Saleem.