LONDON (AFP) – A controversial Islamic group sparked a row in Britain Saturday after announcing plans for a march to commemorate civilians killed in the Afghanistan war through a town known for honouring dead soldiers.

Islam4UK says it wants to march through Wootton Bassett, which regularly sees hundreds gather in its streets as the bodies of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan parade through in hearses.

The town, which is close to the Royal Air Force base where soldiers' bodies are repatriated, has become a powerful symbol of Britain's war effort.

Islam4UK calls itself a platform for Al-Muhajiroun, a radical group now disbanded which used to be headed by Omar Bakri, an Islamist preacher barred from Britain for his views.

The march is expected to be held in the coming weeks and will feature symbolic coffins to honour Muslims killed in the conflict.

Islam4UK said on its website that the march would be "held not in memory of the occupying and merciless British military, but rather the real war dead who have been shunned by the Western media and general public".

It added: "It is quite extraordinary... that those military serviceman who have directly or indirectly contributed to their death are paraded as war heroes and moreover honoured for what is ultimately genocide."

A total of 108 British soldiers died in Afghanistan in 2009 compared to 2,038 civilians in the first ten months of the year, according to the United Nations mission in Afghanistan.

The news prompted anger from local politicians, who condemned Islam4UK leader Anjem Choudary.

"We are a Christian country and a traditional old English market town who honour very much our queen and country. We obey the law and pay respects to our servicemen who protect our freedom," said Chris Wannell, a Wootton Bassett town councillor and former mayor.

"If this man has any decency about him, he will not hold a march through Wootton Bassett."

The local police, who have to approve plans for the march, said there was "significant community concern" about it, adding they could apply for a banning order.

AFP, 2 January 2010

ATLANTA -- A Muslim woman is claiming in a federal lawsuit that she was dismissed from the Atlanta Police Department's civilian honor guard because she refused to remove her traditional headscarf.

Helen Lane says in a federal lawsuit filed this week that the head of the voluntary guard laughed at her when she told him she would wear her hijab at a September 2006 funeral. She said she felt "humiliated, hurt and was traumatized" by the laughter.

Lane, who is seeking $250,000 in damages, said she was told by another Atlanta official that "the hijab was like a swastika."

The city has denied the allegations and the honor guard has since been disbanded.

AP, 28 December 2009

On Christmas day, a family doctor in Utrecht refused to allow a woman into his surgery because she was wearing a niqab, or burqa.

The 23-year-old woman had brought her baby to see the doctor. The three-month-old child had diarrhoea and had not drunk for several hours, a situation which is potentially dangerous in young baby. However, the doctor refused to see the woman because she was wearing Islamic dress, with her face covered.

The Equal Treatment Commission confirmed it has received a complaint from the woman, following a report in the newspaper AD. A spokesperson said the commission would definitely be dealing with the complaint, as a GP provides a service and should not refuse to see a woman on the ground of her religious expression. According to the commission this is the first time such a case has been reported.

The woman has also lodged a complaint with the GP's practice and the medical disciplinary tribunal.

RNW, 29 December 2009

The Rt Rev John Goddard, the Bishop of Burnley, suggested it would be more sensitive for the Islamic charity behind the project to consider a location in another part of the country.

His greatest fear is that the presence of the all girls’ school – which hopes to take 1,500 teenage boarders from around the world – might inflame Right-wing extremists and therefore “skew” the progress being made in integrating local communities.

The bishop also pointed out that both the Church of England hierarchy, and that of the Roman Catholic Church, deliberately held back from establishing their own new faith schools in the aftermath of the 2001 riots.

Bishop Goddard’s comments follow a warning by Gordon Prentice, Labour MP for Pendle, that the school, described as a Muslim 'Eton' for girls, would both damage existing schools and colleges in the area and stoke community tensions.

“The last thing we need is single-sex, single faith schools for girls,” he said. “It pulls against community cohesion.

“It makes me weep to think so much time, energy and effort has gone into the community to get people to mix together. [This] goes against all public policy.”

The Mohiuddin Trust, based in Birmingham, insists that its college would actually strengthen ethnic and cultural relationships within the community.

It was formerly known as the Al Ehya Trust, says on its website that it seeks to promote cohesion by “strengthening inter-community relationships”.

It was founded by Hazrat Pir Alauddin Siddiqui, an Islamic scholar based in Pakistan.

Amjad Bashir, the trust’s general secretary, said of the Burnley scheme: “This will be an international community college that will provide for the needs of Islamic women. It is not just some mad place where they are going to be brainwashed by nonsense.”

Bishop Goddard told The Daily Telegraph: “I’ve certainly got concerns, and I regret the idea of it because it distracts us from the most important task of integrating.

“Until other projects develop, the local schools are our best hope of delivering understanding and tolerance.”

He added: “I wonder whether it is the most sensitive placing of a school. I would worry about its impact on the local community and whether it would skew the positive things that are happening here.”

Since the Burnley riots local schools have been given a £250 million makeover, with a number of closures and amalgamations. Local councils have used the changes as a means of improving relationships between ethnic groupings.

Bishop Goddard recalled how in the aftermath of the riots the Church of England held back from pushing for a faith school. Similarly, the Bishop of Salford, the Rt Rev Terence Brain, decided not to seek the foundation of a Catholic Sixth Form College.

“We know our schools have a long way to go educationally, and we also know we have a long way to go culturally. But I think at the moment in Burnley we are in a process where we are developing our relationships with young people and we should do nothing to distract from that.

“I believe it would be a sadness if anyone now began moving towards a pattern of withdrawing children of one particular faith.”

The bishop said he would defend the right of any faith to establish a boarding school, but added: “There would need to be a strong commitment from the college, and I wonder how exactly they plan to integrate with the local community.

“It is incumbent upon them to say how that would happen because we do have those who wish to disrupt the increasing level of tolerance and integration. We have to balance the right to open a new school against the need for it be carefully integrated and properly monitored by Ofsted.”

Dr Mohammed Iqbal, a Mohiuddin trustee, said: 'At this moment it's difficult to offer a detailed response about the courses to be offered as we are still in the preliminary planning stages.

“We do, however, expect to offer a variety of skills and courses. A-levels are being considered but may not be available as soon as the college starts.

“Our objective is to offer young women the opportunity to empower themselves with better qualifications with the aim of improving chances of securing better employment.”

Telegraph UK, 22 December 2009

CRADLEY Heath’s Muslim community is appealing for help after its mosque was burnt to the ground by arsonists.

A fire engulfed the Cradley Heath Mosque and Islamic Centre in Plant Street on Boxing Day destroying the building and the religious countless books inside.

It is the second time in five years that the building has been targeted by arsonists and police are hunting the culprits.

The West Midlands Fire Service first reported that the blaze on Plant Street had destroyed 'industrial units' in Plant Street but when the smoke cleared it became obvious the building was a mosque.

The mosque was a thriving part of the community with 400 worshippers using it and classes of children being taught there.

The worshippers are now trying to find a new place to worship as the new Mosque they have being building alongside the old one will not be ready for use for several years.

Basharat Ali, secretary of the mosque and education centre, said: “This is not the first time we have been targeted, there was a similar attack four or five years ago.

“The building has been completely destroyed and all the books we use with the children have been damaged by water.”

“He added: “The new building is under construction, it is a shell inside and it is due to open in a few years.”

Halesowen News, 29 December 2009

Their aim? To drive out Islamic extremism. Their weapon? The thugs of Britain's most violent football gangs

On Platform One at Bolton station a mob of around 100 men punch the air in unison. The chant goes up: 'Muslim bombers, off our streets, Muslim bombers off our streets...'
Their voices echo loudly and more men suddenly appear; startled passengers move aside. The group march forward waving St George Cross flags and holding up placards. The throng of men around me applaud. A train heading for Glasgow draws up on the opposite platform and the men turn as one, bursting into song: 'Engelaand, Engelaand, Engelaand.'
Some of the men hide behind balaclavas, others wear black hoodies. A few speak on mobile phones, their hands pressed against their ears to block out the cacophony.
'It's already kicking off in Manchester. This could be tasty,' shouts one. These are some of the most violent football hooligans in Britain and today they have joined together in an unprecedented show of strength. Standing shoulder to shoulder are notorious gangs - or 'firms' as they are known - such as Cardiff City's Soul Crew, Bolton Wanderers' Cuckoo Boys and Luton Town's Men In Gear.
The gathering is remarkable, as on a match day these men would be fighting each other. But it is politics that has drawn them together. They are headed for Manchester to support a march by the burgeoning English Defence League.
The police are here in force, too. 'Take that mask off,' barks a sergeant to one young man. He does so immediately but protests: 'Why are they allowed to wear burkas in public but we're not allowed to cover our faces?'
'Just do what you're told,' the policeman snaps back.
'It's always the same these days. One rule for them and another for us. I'm sick of this country,' a man standing next to me says in a West Country accent.
He draws on a cigarette then flicks it to the ground in disgust. He starts to complain again but when the tannoy announces the arrival of the train to Manchester Piccadilly he raises his hands above his head and starts another favourite.
'Rule Britannia, Britannia rule the waves... Britons never, never, never...' His companions join in. As the train comes to a halt the crowd surges forward.
The carriages are almost full so the men pack themselves into the aisles followed by policemen speaking into radios. A group of lads drinking beer at a table eye the new contingent warily.
One man wearing a baseball cap clocks their fear and reassures them.
'It's all right lads, nothing to worry about. We're protesting against radical Islam. Come and join us.'
Further up the carriage another bursts into song.
'We had joy, we had fun, we had Muslims on the run,' he starts up. Nobody joins in and a couple of his mates tell him to 'shut up' as they point to a woman dressed in a black hijab sitting at a table.
A man standing close to her is masked and holds a placard. It has a picture of a Muslim woman crying with red blood streaming down her face. 'Sharia law oppresses women!' the slogan reads.
The rise of the English Defence League has been rapid. Since its formation at the start of the summer the group has organised nearly 20 major protests in Britain's cities, including London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Luton, Nottingham, Glasgow and Swansea.
Its leaders are professional and articulate and they claim that the EDL is a peaceful, non-racist organisation. But having spent time with them, there is evidence that this movement has a more disturbing side. There is talk of the need for a 'street army', and there are links with football hooligans and evidence that violent neo-Nazi groups including Combat 18, Blood and Honour and the British Freedom Fighters have been attending demos.
Violence has erupted at most of the EDL's demonstrations. In total, nearly 200 people have been arrested and an array of weapons has been seized, including knuckledusters, a hammer, a chisel and a bottle of bleach.
As the EDL gains support across the UK, Muslims have already been targeted in unprovoked attacks. In the worst incident, a mob of 30 white and black youths is said to have surrounded Asian students near City University in central London and attacked them with metal poles, bricks and sticks while shouting racist abuse. Three people - two students and a passer-by who tried to intervene - were stabbed.
Following the Manchester protest, when 48 people were arrested during street violence, the Bolton Interfaith Council Executive issued a stark warning that race relations were under threat and Communities Secretary John Denham compared the EDL to Oswald Mosley's Union of British Fascists, who ran amok in the Thirties. In response to these fears, the National Extremism Tactical Coordination Unit, a countrywide police team set up to combat domestic extremism, has been investigating the EDL.
'The concern to me is how groups like this, either willingly or unwillingly, allow themselves to be exploited by very extreme right-wing groups like the National Front and the British Freedom Fighters,' Metropolitan Police chief Sir Paul Stephenson has said.

I had met the English Defence League for the first time in Luton three weeks before the Manchester demonstration. After several calls, key members agreed to talk on the condition that I did not identify them. We met at a derelict building close to Luton town centre. Eleven men turned up. All wore balaclavas, as they often do to hide their identities, and most had black EDL hoodies with 'Luton Division' written on the back. They'd made placards bearing slogans such as 'Ban the Burka'.
The group's self-proclaimed leader, who goes by the pseudonym Tommy Robinson, did most of the talking. A father of two, Robinson explained the background to the rise of the movement.
'For more than a decade now there's been tension in Luton between Muslim youths and whites. We all get on fine - black, white, Indian, Chinese... Everyone does, in fact, apart from these Muslim youths who've become extremely radicalised since the first Gulf War. This is because preachers of hate live in Luton and have been recruiting for radical Islamist groups for years. Our Government does nothing about them so we decided that we'd start protesting.'
Robinson could barely conceal his anger as he explained that the spark for him had been the sight of radical Muslims protesting when soldiers paraded through the town on their regiment's return from Afghanistan in May.
Following the incident Robinson set up a group called United People of Luton and, after linking up with a Birmingham-based organisation called British Citizens Against Muslim Extremists and another called Casuals United (largely made up of former football hooligans), they realised there was potential for a national movement.
'We have nothing against Muslims, only those who preach hatred. They are traitors who should be hanged and we'll keep taking to the streets until the Government kicks them out.'
More than 100 divisions have been set up across Britain and a careful co-ordination means the EDL is becoming efficient and a potential catch-all for every far-right organisation in Britain.
Robinson admits that he has attended BNP meetings in the past. Another prominent member and administrator of Luton EDL's Facebook group is Davy Cooling, a BNP member. Sean Walsh, an activist for the EDL in Luton, is a member of the BNP's Bedfordshire Facebook group.
Even within the EDL there are concerns over links to extremists. A former member called Paul Ray recently claimed that the group had been hijacked by BNP activists, including a man from Weston-super-Mare, Chris Renton, who helped set up the EDL website. Ironically, Ray himself has extremist contacts, including a German former neo-Nazi who is friends with Northern Ireland Loyalist Johnny 'Mad Dog' Adair.
Casuals United was the brainchild of Jeff Marsh, a convicted football hooligan from Cardiff City's Soul Crew, one of the most feared gangs in Britain. Marsh operates behind the scenes, orchestrating activities with both Casuals United and the Welsh Defence League, a sister group of the EDL.
The public face of Casuals United is another Welshman called Mickey Smith. An avowed football hooligan, he is banned from Cardiff City's football ground. Together, Marsh and Smith organise the 50 or so gangs actively recruiting members across the UK.
The EDL insists it is separate from Casuals United, but dig a little and it becomes clear they operate hand-in-hand. Joel Titus is a cocky but politically naive 18-year-old Arsenal fan of mixed race. He tells me that the EDL youth division he runs has over 300 members across the UK.
'We want to hit every town and city in Britain,' he says.
Titus became involved with the movement through Casuals United. And according to anti-fascism magazine Searchlight, his role is to recruit football hooligans.
He sticks to the 'peaceful movement' mantra but a text I later receive from him ahead of an EDL demo in London reveals his involvement with the hooligans. It reads: 'Right lads, the "unofficial" meet for the 31st (London) is going to be 12 o'clock at The Hole In The Wall pub just outside Waterloo Station. I will be there just before that. Remember lads were (sic) going as Casuals Utd and if you could obtain a poppy to wear it would make us look good even if we are kicking off. lol. Cheers lads. Joel "Arsenal" Titus.'

Alarmingly, the EDL is becoming more sophisticated and those orchestrating its activities at the top are far more astute than its foot soldiers. I meet two of the EDL's key figures in a Covent Garden pub - a respectable looking man called Alan Lake, and a man who goes by the moniker 'Kinana'.
Lake is a 45-year-old computer expert from Highgate, north London who runs a far-right website called Four Freedoms. This summer he contacted the EDL and offered to both fund and advise the movement.
'Our leaders in this country no longer represent us,' he says.
Lake's aim is to unite the 'thinkers' and those prepared to take to the streets. He describes this marriage as 'the perfect storm coming together'. Lake says that street violence is not desirable but sometimes inevitable.
'There are issues when you are dealing with football thugs but what can we do?'
He criticises fascist organisations, however, and says he will only support the EDL so long as it doesn't associate with the BNP. When I ask about extremists hijacking the movement, he says: 'There are different groups infiltrating and trying to cause rifts by one means or another, or trying to waylay the organisation to different agendas. The intention is to exclude those groups and individuals.'
These men are outwardly intelligent and their political nous combined with the brawn of the casuals makes them a quasi-political force.
Britain's neo-Nazis realise this. For Kevin Watmough, leader of the neo-Nazi British People's Party and a former member of the National Front, the rise of the EDL is reminiscent of the Seventies.
'The protests remind me of the National Front marches, but I wouldn't march with the EDL because they have blacks as supporters,' he told me.
But other neo-Nazis have joined EDL demos. These include members of Combat 18 and the British Freedom Fighters, who later posted videos of themselves on the internet.
Watmough lives in Bradford and can recall the 2001 riots, which came about as a result of tensions between whites and Muslims. Bradford, along with Oldham, another tinderbox northern city that witnessed riots in 2001, is a stated target for the EDL and Casuals United in 2010. Tension is likely here and in other towns where the EDL is also promoting spontaneous flash demos and the occupation of building sites for new mosques.
Professor Matthew Goodwin, an expert on far-right organisations who has advised the Home Office, says that the police are right to monitor the EDL and to take them seriously.
'(The EDL) is now well-organised and not just a minor irritant. It has become a rallying point for a number of different groups and to have them marching through sensitive areas is a major concern.'
Communities Minister John Denham has also condemned the rise of the EDL: 'If you look at the types of demonstrations they have organised, the language used and the targets chosen, it looks clear that it's a tactic designed to provoke, to get a response. It's designed to create violence. And we must all make sure this doesn't happen.'

Rotterdam rapper Mosheb has been given 80 hours community service and a two month suspended jail term for threatening anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders in a rap.

The public prosecution department had called for 120 hours community service or 60 days in jail.

The text of the number, entitled Who's next, includes the rapper saying it will be 'bam bam' if he meets Wilders. The rapper also calls on Wilders to take back his words if he wants to stay alive and says 'this is no joke. Last night I dreamed I chopped your head off.'

The public prosecution department said the threat could reasonably lead to Wilders fearing for his life or that he would be subjected to violence.

According to news agency ANP, the court agreed with this conclusion and said the rap was threatening. 'A politician must be able to do his work,' the judges said.

Of the 424 incidents of threats against politicians made last year, 292 were directed at Wilders.

DutchNews.nl, 18 December 2009

A small group of demonstrators led by Americans Against Hate Chairman Joe Kaufman last Friday accused Broward County and the Town of Davie of supporting an organization with ties to Islamic terrorists.

A street sign in Davie sparked the anger of the demonstrators who protested in front of the Broward County Governmental Center in Fort Lauderdale on a rainy Friday afternoon.

The sign, at the southwest corner of College Avenue and Nova Drive, credits the Miami office of the Council on American Islamic Relations ( CAIR-FL) for its participation in a Broward County program to clear litter from an "adopted" street.

Kaufman said when he complained about the sign, a spokesman for the Town of Davie told him it would not be removed because CAIR had a Constitutional right to free speech.

"Freedom of speech is a poor excuse," Kaufman said to the demonstrators. "This is not about free speech. It's about terrorism."

The United States Department of Justice has linked Washington, DC-based CAIR to Hamas, which the U.S. government considers a terrorist organization. CAIR was named an unindicted co-conspirator during the federal trial in Dallas of the Holy Land Foundation, the largest Islamic charity in the United States.

"We're here to question Broward County's long-time affiliation with CAIR," Jeff Rubinoff, a Davie resident, said. Rubinoff accused the county of "complicity in supporting a terrorist organization."

He mentioned a CAIR fundraiser at the Fort Lauderdale Convention Center, the Broward County School Board naming CAIR-Florida representative Jawhar "Joe" Badran to a diversity committee and CAIR's Broward County bus ads that he said denigrated Jews and Christians.

"Broward County is once again finding themselves on the wrong side," Rubinoff said. "So far their ears remain closed and they turn their backs to us."

Calls to Broward County Mayor Ken Keechl and Davie Mayor Judy Paul on Friday, before the Jewish Journal went to press, were not returned.

"Too many people have been quiet about their concerns over Muslim extremism," said Rabbi Andrew Jacobs of Ramat Shalom synagogue in Plantation. Stopping it must begin locally, in Broward County, he said. It's time for people to raise their voices about the threat posed by CAIR, Jacobs added.

Muhammad Malik, executive director of CAIR-Florida's Miami office, said the organization wanted to bring out people to pick up litter from the street, like any other group.

Malik said he met with Davie officials and with administrators in the county's Adopt-A-Street program. Neither had a problem with CAIR's sign, he said.

Kaufman and Americans Against Hate "emotionalize" by having a rally on Hanukkah, Malik said. He said he didn't think the Town of Davie would be influenced by the demonstration.

Malik accused Israel of terrorism in the war with Hamas in Gaza. "There were some bad things happening on both sides," he said. "If we really were with Hamas, then I wouldn't be describing acts by Hamas."

Sun Sentinel, 22 December 2009

CAIR-Chicago announced today that it has filed a complaint in federal court against USF Holland and YRC Worldwide Inc. on behalf of an African-American Muslim former employee. The complaint alleges that the man, Reginal Exson, suffered discrimination based on his race, religion and disability.

Exson worked as a truck driver for USF Holland out of the company’s Cook County location. Mr. Exson claims that a company representative made derogatory remarks regarding his race, such as “You are a black f***ing liar. I never met a black person that didn’t lie. It must be part of your gene pool.”

After sustaining extensive injuries on the job in an accident for which he was not at fault in November 2007, Mr. Exson says that the company refused to honor his doctor-recommended work restrictions and subjected him to discipline based on false allegations.

In addition to this discriminatory treatment, a worker’s compensation coordinator is alleged to have called Mr. Exson a “terrorist,” saying, “Did you think I was going to let you and Osama bin Laden get off with all this money that we’re paying you?” Another representative refused to recognize Mr. Exson’s right to pray pursuant to his religious beliefs, allegedly stating “I don’t give a damn about your religion or your prayers.”

Mr. Exson also says that his benefits provider, YRC Worldwide Inc. (the parent company of USF Holland), refused to properly compensate him for work-related injuries or accommodate his restrictions so that he could return back to work. Mr. Exson has not received any pay or benefits from the companies since March 2009.

“Employers must act to ensure that employees work in environments free from racism and anti-Islamic sentiments,” said Kevin Vodak, Staff Attorney at CAIR-Chicago. “Based on Mr. Exson’s allegations, the large trucking corporations involved in this lawsuit fostered blatantly discriminatory terms and conditions that no employee should have to endure.”

CAIR, 21 December 2009

People in Britain are open to the idea of banning minarets, according to a three-country poll by Angus Reid Public Opinion. 37 per cent of respondents in Britain would vote in favour of a ban, while 25 per cent would vote against it.

In the United States, 21 per cent of respondents would vote to ban minarets, while 19 per cent disagree. In Canada, 35 per cent of respondents would vote against a ban, while 27 per cent would endorse one.
Within the frame of Switzerland’s direct-democracy system, a group of citizens or leaders of the eight cantons together can call a referendum to challenge a law approved by the federal legislature. The vote is decided with a simple majority.

Last year, the ultra-nationalist Swiss People’s Party (SVP) gathered more than 113,000 signatures to force a nationwide referendum on banning the construction of minarets in Swiss mosques. The minaret—a tower from which the call to prayer is sounded—is a distinctive architectural feature of Islamic mosques. At this time, only the mosques in Geneva, Wangen near Olten, Winterthur and Zurich have minarets.
Last month, 57.5 per cent of Swiss voters cast a ballot in favour of banning the construction of minarets in Swiss mosques.

Taner Hatipoglu, president of the Federation of Islamic Organisations in Zurich, expressed dismay at the outcome of the referendum, saying, "The initiators have achieved something everyone wanted to prevent, and that is to influence and change the relations to Muslims and their social integration in a negative way."

Polling Data
Suppose a similar referendum took place in [COUNTRY]. Would you vote in favour or against banning minarets in [COUNTRY]?

	CAN	USA	BRI
In favour	27%	21%	37%
Against	35%	19%	25%
Would not vote	16%	29%	18%
Not sure	22%	32%	21%

Source: Angus Reid Strategies
Methodology: Online interviews with 1,000 Canadian adults, 1,004 American adults, and 2,002 British adults, conducted from Dec. 9 to Dec. 12, 2009. Margins of error range from 2.2 per cent to 3.1 per cent.

 Angus Reid Global Monitor, 22 December 2009

A recent referendum in Switzerland placed a ban on minaret construction in the country. Now, a Muslim man living in Switzerland has filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights.

Algerian-born Hafid Ouardidi lodged the complaint with the human rights court in Strausbourg, saying the referendum violates the right to religious freedom. Ouardidi is a former spokesman at the Geneva Mosque.

The referendum passed in Switzerland after 57.5 percent of the country's citizens approved the measure in a November 29 vote. The Swiss national government urged its citizens to vote against the measure, which was supported by a campaign from the right-wing Swiss People's Party. The party opposed the "Islamisation of Switzerland."

One of Ouardidi's lawyers, Pierre de Preux, said that the Swiss government and all members of the European Council had been informed of the complaint.

"We will have both the plaintiff Hafid Ouardiri and the defendant, [the Swiss government], saying the same thing," de Preux told Reuters news agency. "The court is still free to decide whatever it wants, but it sure is going to help the request."

The European Court of Human Rights must still decide if it will accept Ouardidi's complaint.

mz/AP/Reuters, 16 December 2009

Students who dressed up as prisoners from Guantanamo Bay and “blacked-up” their faces for a Christmas party have been accused of racism.
The students, part of the rugby team from the London School of Economics (LSE), were in costume for the annual “carol” last Friday, an “all-day drinking” event organised by the university’s Athletics Union.
They wore orange jumpsuits, with some painting their faces brown and drawing on beards.
At around 1pm, outside the Student Union bar, in full public view, they proceeded to imitate Muslim prayer while other team members dressed as American soldiers shouted orders at them.
It took place just as Muslim students were leaving the nearby Old Building after Friday prayer. They went on from the Houghton Street venue to the Den nightclub in West ­Central Street, Holborn, which was packed with Friday night revellers from across the capital.
Following complaints, a joint statement was released by both unions condemning the “racist” and “immature” actions of the students, adding that their intent was not “malicious”.
Samer Araabi, an LSE student who witnessed the prank as he walked past the Student Union bar, said: “It was unquestionably one of the most insulting, offensive, and downright frightening acts of racism I have ever ­witnessed.”
He added: “As an Arab Muslim, actions like that don’t make me feel safe on my own campus.”
Before the event, Charlie Glyn, the Athletics Union president, asked that things be kept tasteful and has subsequently ­condemned the actions of some students.
In a letter to all sports club captains, Mr Glyn wrote: “The decision by some to wear racially offensive fancy dress and to behave in a ­completely inappropriate manner has not only put me in a very difficult position, but also our future events.”
The joint unions statement said: “Having spoken to the respective teams, there was no malicious or racist intent in their ill-thought out and immature actions, but nevertheless the interpretations and responses to their actions should have been more closely ­considered and it is clear that some people intended to cause offence and outrage.”
The Athletics Union has since introduced new measures that will mean that every ­costume must be approved before any event, with disciplinary procedures for those who do not comply.

West and Extra, 17 December 2009

A 55 year old man who sang a racist song after an Asian male got on the bus has been warned he faces a prison sentence.

Blackburn magistrates heard that David Thompson made several references to the Taliban after Ibrahim Mulla got on the bus from Darwen to Blackburn.

The court was told Thompson, who has a swastika tattooed on his arm, maintained his racist rendition throughout the 20 minute journey, until his target reacted angrily.

Mr Mulla had to be restrained by the driver and other passengers as he challenged Thompson to “say it to his face.”

After he was arrested Thompson admitted to police he was racist, that he didn’t like Asians and he didn’t want them in his country.

Thompson, of Glebe Close, Accrington, pleaded guilty to racially aggravated threatening behaviour. He was remanded on bail for the preparation of a pre-sentence report.

Scott Ainge, prosecuting, said Mr Mulla finished work in Darwen and shortly after 7 pm got on the bus to Blackburn. Thompson got on shortly after and started staring at Mr Mulla before singing; “Hey Mr Taliban give me a banana” or “Hey Mr Taliban give men Bin Laden.”

He repeatedly shouted “Taliban, Taliban”.

“Mr Mulla tried to ignore him but the abuse continued all the way from Darwen to Blackburn,” said Mr Ainge. “Mr Mulla accepts that he became angry and challenged the defendant. He didn’t see why he had to tolerate such racist abuse.”

Andrew Church-Taylor, defending, said the offence was regrettable and it was accepted it had caused offence.

“In context it is a drunken man singing a song which is best described as tasteless,” said Mr Church-Taylor.

He said Thompson had been visiting his daughter in Darwen and other people had been singing the song.

“He began to sing it on the bus because it was in his head,” said Mr Church-Taylor. “We now know it caused offence to one individual. He doesn’t recall saying the other things that are attributed to him but singing this song is sufficient.”

Asian News, 16 December 2009

PARIS — France's immigration minister said Wednesday that he wants the wearing of Muslim veils that cover the face and body to be grounds for denying citizenship and long-term residence.

Eric Besson said he planned to take "concrete measures" regarding such veils, which are worn by a small minority of women in France but have become the object of a parliamentary inquiry into whether a ban should be imposed.

Besson spoke during a hearing before the panel of lawmakers as their nearly six-month inquiry draws to a close.

Besson said he believed a formal ban on veils that cover the face and body seemed to him "unavoidable," with a ban in public services as a minimum step.

Whether such veils are banned or not, he said he intends to personally move forward to ensure that women wearing such veils and seeking French nationality or residence cards are denied.

"I want the wearing of the full veil to be systematically considered as proof of insufficient integration into French society, creating an obstacle to gaining (French) nationality," he said.

He said he would advise prefects, the highest state representative in the various French regions, that the wearing of such veils is a motive for not delivering 10-year residence cards.

Besson said he was prepared to put the measures before parliament to make them law. In November, Besson ordered a nationwide debate on the French identity, to conclude by the end of January with possible measures.

Conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy is the force behind both the national identity campaign and the targeting of full-body veils, which he has said are not "welcome." Critics claim he is playing to traditional far-right fears of immigration, particularly by Muslims.

There is concern that some immigrants and citizens, including members of its Muslim population — at some 5 million the largest in western Europe — are failing to fully integrate and even defying the nation's secular values. A law was passed in 2004 banning Muslim headscarves from classrooms.

AP, 16 December 2009

Most of Europe's Muslims want to live in mixed communities, not segregated neighbourhoods, a new report says.

The work by the Open Society Institute (OSI), an independent think-tank, looked at the social integration of Muslims in 11 West European cities.

It calls for improved efforts to tackle discrimination.

Europe's Muslim population is expected to double by 2025 and could reach 40 million. But data on them is very limited, OSI says.

The report says religious discrimination remains a critical barrier to their participation in European society, and the situation has worsened in recent years.

The OSI says its aim is to promote tolerance and fairness.

Identity issues

Nazia Hussein, who supervised the work, says many Muslims are still seen as outsiders.

"The majority of Muslims that we've spoken to across 11 cities feel very strongly attached to their neighbourhood and city, they feel quite strongly attached to their country," she told the BBC.

"But at the same time they don't believe that their fellow countrymen or the wider society sees them as either German or French or English."

The report offers a series of snapshots from: the Netherlands (Amsterdam and Rotterdam), Belgium (Antwerp), Germany (Berlin and Hamburg), Denmark (Copenhagen), the UK (Leicester and London), France (Marseille and Paris) and Sweden (Stockholm).

In the Kreuzberg neighbourhood of the German capital Berlin few Muslims identified themselves with their nation - not because they rejected German values but, it says, because society still sees them as "foreigners".

New laws forbidding the wearing of visibly religious symbols or clothing in schools have had a detrimental impact, it says.

In the Netherlands recent controversies like the assassination of the film-maker Theo van Gogh by a Muslim extremist have "convulsed public opinion". Muslims, it says, have "become scapegoats for public anxieties over security".

Segregation problem

City authorities were "fighting residential segregation", it acknowledged, but educational segregation remains a problem.

Meanwhile in Rotterdam's Feyenoord district, which has a high concentration of immigrants, attempts to create a more mixed society by allocating housing differently have been legally halted on discrimination grounds.

Muslims there say they feel that the bar for measuring how well Muslims integrate is "constantly raised" and anti-Muslim sentiment and even violence has increased across the country.

In Leicester - one of Britain's most ethnically diverse cities - the police were praised for their community understanding. And though ethnic minorities are well represented politically, "racial discrimination is still very much alive" in the city.

The authors conclude that social segregation does matter, but it is of most concern to Muslims themselves.

The findings and recommendations include the following:

* Among Muslims surveyed, 61% have a strong sense of belonging to the country and 72% a strong sense of belonging to the city;
* The majority of Muslims eligible to vote did vote in local and national elections;
* Many Muslims who are not EU citizens remain disenfranchised, particularly in Germany and France;
* Half of Muslim respondents reported experiencing religious discrimination over last 12 months;
* Muslims are almost three times more likely to be unemployed than non-Muslims;
* City officials must strive to maintain areas that are ethnically and religiously mixed, and ensure that discrimination is not a barrier for Muslims when choosing where to live;
* Cities should foster an inclusive city identity - Amsterdam, Antwerp and Copenhagen have run such campaigns successfully;
* The EU should collect accurate data on minorities and encourage equal treatment in education, housing and other services;
* The EU should enable cities to exchange information and best practices about collecting educational data on minority students.

BBC, 15 December 2009

French President Nicolas Sarkozy's party, the UMP, says it will push for a law banning the burqa, the full-face Islamic veil, according to its parliamentary leader Jean-François Copé.

"The issue is not how many women wear the burqa," Copé wrote in an article in the right-wing newspaper Le Figaro. "There are principles at stake: extremists are putting the republic to the test by promoting a practice that they know is contrary to the basic principles of our country.”

He said the legislation will be enacted after consultation with Muslim communities "so that this measure is understood for what it is: a law of liberation and not a ban".

Three ministers were to testify before a parliamentary panel debating the ban on Wednesday.

Home to Europe's largest Muslim minority, France set up the panel of 32 lawmakers six months ago. It will report next month after hearing the views of Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux, Immigration Minister Eric Besson and Education Minister Xavier Darcos.

Despite an intelligence service report that fewer than 400 women in France wear the full veil, an Interior Ministry study has put the figure at a few thousand.

This proposed ban comes as pressure mounts on Sarkozy to scrap his debate on national identity. The government last month invited citizens from across the country to discuss what it means to be French on the internet and at town halls across the country.

On Monday when Families Minister Nadine Morano told a meeting in the provinces that she wanted young Muslims to "love France, find a job, stop wearing their caps back to front – and to stop speaking verlan” - a popular form of slang in which words are inverted.

The remark has caused a storm of protest, while Pierre Merle, author of Argot, Verlan et Tchatches told the Direct Matin free paper that the slang is used by all young people, not just those of immigrant origin.

"Enough!" said former Socialist leader Francois Hollande. "This debate was badly defined, poorly chosen from the start, and now it is going to the dogs."

Cracks also emerged within Sarkozy's camp, with Higher Education Minister Valérie Pécresse saying there was a need to "shift the focus toward concrete proposals" to prevent the debate from further spinning out of control.

Morano on Wednesday defended her remarks, claiming those who criticised her "did not want to open their eyes to the integration problems that our young people in the suburbs are having".

Her critics are "Champagne socialists who have never set foot in those areas", she claimed

The debate is scheduled to end with a national conference on 4 February.

Paris - Comments by a French junior minister about young Muslims in France have provoked a firestorm of criticism and put the spotlight on a controversial debate on national identity that threatens to spin out of control.

In one of the many local debates scheduled to be held as part of the nationwide discussion on what it means to be French, the junior minister for families, Nadine Morano, suggested Tuesday to a young Muslim that he should change his behaviour.

'We are not putting young Muslims on trial,' she said in a small city in eastern France, in comments that were widely reported. 'What I want of a young Muslim is that he loves France when he lives here, finds work and does not speak in slang. And that he doesn't wear his cap back to front.'

Morano, who is a member of President Nicolas Sarkozy's inner circle, later tried to qualify her statement and complained that it was taken out of context, but the reaction was immediate and violent.

'This brings back the ethnic vision of the nation, the one that took place at (the pro-Nazi puppet government of) Vichy,' opposition Socialist law-maker Arnaud Montebourg said.

The president of the human rights NGO Movement Against Racism (MRAP), Mouloud Aounit, told the online edition of the daily 20 Minutes that Morano's words 'are especially dangerous and extremely violent ... I think today there is a terrible increase in Islamophobic statements.'

Criticism also came from conservatives who are growing increasingly afraid that the debate on national identity is turning into a clash of cultures between mainstream France and the large French Muslim community, which numbers about 5 million.

'That was one word too many,' said Francois Baroin, former minister and now parliamentarian for Sarkozy's UMP party. 'I don't understand and I can't see what the aim of this debate is.'

Conservative former prime minister Dominique de Villepin charged, 'This debate makes no sense. (It is) a false debate which should never have been started in the current circumstances. During a period of crisis there are other things to do than to be divided on an issue as important as this one.'

Opposition politicians as well as a large majority of the French believe that the real aim of the debate is to draw votes from the far-right National Front at next March's regional elections, which the conservatives currently seem poised to lose.

That may be one reason Morano has not been the only conservative politician to use the debate as a stage for making nationalistic comments.

Prime Minister Francois Fillon has several times tried to redirect the discussion, reminding his party colleagues that this was not a debate about Islam, and noting that 'fundamentalism (should be) fought, but absolutely not the Muslims.'

In fact, this debate on national identity has turned into a forum on immigration in general, and more specifically on the presence and behaviour of France's Muslims.

The question that now appears to be at the heart of the event is if Muslims are willing to be integrated and if their religion is at all compatible with French values.

A recent survey found that only a small majority of French adults, 54 per cent, believe that Islam is compatible with life in French society.

The discussion will not be helped by another debate, scheduled to begin Wednesday in the lower house of the Parliament, the National Assembly, where law-makers are to discuss a law on banning the burqa, the garment some Muslim women wear to conceal their faces and bodies.

The government wants to introduce a bill that would make it illegal to wear the burqa in state buildings and public service areas. However, the daily Le Figaro reported Wednesday that UMP law-makers are pushing for a law to ban the burqa everywhere except at home.

In 2008, the Council of State, France's highest administrative court, ruled that wearing the burqa 'represented a radical religious practise (that is) incompatible with the essential values of the French community, notably the equality of the sexes.'

Only a few thousand women in France currently wear the burqa, but if a law banning it is passed, it is certain to keep alive a debate that is widening divisions in France, rather than healing them.

Monsters & Critics, 16 December 2009

NEW YORK – In Indonesia, Muslim groups burn down a mosque belonging to the minority Ahmadiyya. In Singapore, the government refuses to recognize Jehovah's Witnesses. In Belgium, 68 religion-based hate crimes are reported in 2007 alone.

People living in a third of all countries are restricted from practicing religion freely, either because of government policies and laws or hostile acts by individuals or groups, according to a study released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center, "Global Restrictions on Religion."

That amounts to 70 percent of the globe's population, since some of the most restrictive countries are very populous.

CAIR-Chicago recently settled a discrimination suit in favor of a Muslim woman fired for not attending an annual company event.

In November 2006, the woman’s employer planned to throw an annual event which included music and the serving of alcohol. She assisted in planning the event, but told her employer that she did not feel comfortable attending such an event.

A Muslim CTA employee contacted CAIR-Chicago for representation after being repeatedly passed up for promotion.

The employee has been working for CTA since 1979, yet has seen many newer employees – including some he had trained – promoted above him. He filed charges before contacting CAIR-Chicago in 2007.