— Pakistan Daily Times reports: “An angry mob attacked the house of a 60-year-old woman in Sanghar district in Sindh in another alleged incident of desecration of the holy Quran, a private TV channel reported late on Wednesday. Following the attack, the police shifted the woman, Akhtari Malkani, to the police station from a katchi abadi area in the district. The District Bar Association officials assured the mob that a case would be registered against the woman if she was found guilty. Despite assurance from the lawyers and police, the people demanded that the woman should be handed over to them and pelted stones at the police station building and burned tyres on road.”
Day: August 5, 2009
Iran Protest News: August 5, 2009
(Iran) Ahmadinejad sworn in as riot police break up protests
Latest Updates on Iran’s Post-Election Crisis
(Iran) White House U-turn on Ahmadinejad as president sworn in amid protests
— “‘Let me correct a little bit what I said yesterday,’ Robert Gibbs, President Obama’s spokesman, said as thousands of Iranian riot police beat back protesters outside the inauguration ceremony in Tehran. ‘Whether any election was fair…we’ll let (the Iranian people) decide about that.'”
“Pakistan Muslim Groups Threaten More Violence”
ICC Reports: “Pakistan Muslim Groups Threaten More Violence”
— “Threaten to Hang Christian, Demand Release of Clerics Arrested for Inciting Violence”
— “Several Muslim groups met in Gojra, Pakistan, today to hold a press conference call on the government to exonerate religious leaders accused of inciting the anti-Christian attacks that occurred this past weekend. In addition, they threatened to hang the Christian whose alleged blasphemy sparked the violence.”
— “Muslim groups Jamiyat Islami Gojra (a religious group) and Anjam-e-Tajran (a trade union) initially condemned last weekend’s violence in their statements.”
— “However, they quickly reversed course by calling for the release of Ulma and the other clerics named in the official police report.”
— “They further contradicted their initial statement by threatening to hang Talib Masih and others accused of blasphemy in the Gojra bazaar if the government had not arrested him by August 10.”
— “This press conference is a sign that the government has not restored the rule of law in this area and is risking another outbreak of violence by its delay in responding adequately to the situation.”
Pakistani Christian in USA have announced here today to hold Press Conference on August 10, at Washington DC and on August 12, 2009,
Pakistan: Christians Burned to Death (including women and children), Mob Burns Houses, Church in Punjab’s Gojra – Korian Area
Pakistan: Hate Engulfs Christians in Pakistan
Pakistan – Report of Mob Burning Christian Homes for Alleged Extremist “Blasphemy”
North Korea: Freed journalists home in US after North Korea pardon – Euna Lee and Laura Ling
(North Korea) Freed journalists home in US after North Korea pardon – Euna Lee and Laura Ling
— AP reports:
— “‘The past 140 days have been the most difficult, heart-wrenching days of our lives,’ Ling said, her voice cracking.”
— “Thirty hours ago, Ling said, ‘We feared that any moment we could be sent to a hard labor camp.'”
— “Then, she said, they were taken to another location.”
Saudi Arabia: Women Hold University Protest
Saudi Arabia: Girl students protest, clash with Taif University guards
— Saudi Gazette reports:
— “Scuffles broke out Sunday as female security guards of Taif University tried to disperse about 1,000 girl students who staged a sit-in after being turned away on admissions day.”
— “Red Crescent teams treated one girl’s female guardian who was beaten up by the security women, witnesses said”
— “Security agencies of the governorate were called in to restore order after the squatting girls and their guardians blocked the streets in front of the university gates”
— “Security men from the university also assaulted a press photographer and confiscated his camera”
Saudi women hold university protest
— AFP reports:
— “Scuffles broke out on Sunday when hundreds of Saudi women students held a rare protest at a university over alleged corrupt admission policies, local newspapers reported.”
Saudi Arabia: Women Hold University Protest
— Stratfor also reports:
— “Hundreds of female Saudi students staged a protest at a university near Mecca over alleged corruption in admission policies, Agence France-Presse reported Aug. 2, citing local Saudi newspapers. The protest began after female students were denied admission to Taif University. Students blocked the university entrance and nearby streets and Al-Medina newspaper reported that female security guards clashed with the students after the students attempted to enter though the university gates.”
Saudi Gazette reports on Taif University’s response:
— “Taif University claimed Monday that its refusal to pay heed to recommendations for admission was the reason why ‘400 girl applicants who scored low marks,’ staged a chaotic sit-in protest here.”
Bangladesh: Dhaka, death threats against the family of a Christian convert from Islam
(Bangladesh) Dhaka, death threats against the family of a Christian convert from Islam
— AsiaNews reports: “After graduating from a top Bangladeshi university Rashidul Amin Khandaker went to Australia to expand his father Ruhul’s business. Here he discovered Christianity and was attracted by the faith’s beauty. On 26 July 2008 he was baptised by Fr Dominic Ceresoli, parish priest at St Therese in the Archdiocese of Sydney. As a result of this his family has met with the disapproval of the community and has been ostracised. Now they have received death threats.”
— Rashid’s father “Ruhul told AsiaNews that since his son’s conversion he has been ostracised by Muslim clerics and cannot even go to the local mosque to pray. ”
— “Last Saturday he received a letter from ‘Allahr Dal’ (Allah’s Group), an extremist Islamic group banned for its violent views. In it he is accused of being a ‘tool’ of Christians to destroy Islam. They order him to ‘sacrifice’ his son Rashidul because the latter’s conversion has brought into disrepute the whole Muslim community.”
— “He concludes saying that ‘we don’t even have the courage to go to the police’ to file a complaint.”
— “Speaking to AsiaNews, a Christian woman, Annie Halder, said that such threats should not be underestimated.”
— “Allahr Dal is thought to be closely linked to Muslim extremists in Pakistan and Afghanistan.”
— “‘The lives of Christian converts from Islam are in great danger in Bangladesh. We have seen converts murdered as the government failed to protect them.'”
Louisiana: Ku Klux Klan member’s mental competency hearing is postponed
Louisiana: Ku Klux Klan member’s mental competency hearing is postponed
NorthShoreNOLA reports on Louisiana trial of Shane Foster “charged with second-degree murder in the Nov. 9 shooting death of Klan recruit Cynthia Lynch”
— “In an attempt to make him mentally competent to stand trial for obstruction of justice in the killing of an Oklahoma woman, a state judge is giving an alleged Ku Klux Klan member another 60 days of tutoring in the St. Tammany Parish jail, authorities said.”
— “On April 21, state Judge Reginald ‘Reggie’ Badeaux ordered Shane Foster, 21, of the Bogalusa area to get tutoring from a court-appointed forensic coordinator for 90 days with the hope that it would ‘restore’ Foster’s competency and make him ready for trial.”
— “Assistant District Attorney Julie Knight and Foster’s defense attorney John Lindner agreed today to give that tutoring another 60 days. Badeaux is expected to sign an order to that effect sometime this week, according to Lindner and others close to the case.”
— “Foster is the son of Raymond ‘Chuck’ Foster , the alleged imperial wizard of the Bogalusa Sons of Dixie Knights. Chuck Foster is charged with second-degree murder in the Nov. 9 shooting death of Klan recruit Cynthia Lynch in a remote part of northeastern St. Tammany. Authorities have said the slaying occurred after Lynch told Foster that she wanted to go home.”
— Previous Reports:
—- New Orleans: April 27 Trial for KKK Killing
—- New Orleans: Klan member pleads guilty to obstruction
—- Louisiana: Accessory in Ku Klux Klan killing admits guilt, gets one-year sentence
—- Louisiana: Ku Klux Klan (KKK) member can have his guns back, state judge rules in Covington
Germany: Police raid neo-Nazi occupied hotel — Landhotel Gerhus
(Germany) Police raid neo-Nazi occupied hotel — Landhotel Gerhus
— “Police commandos in Lower Saxony raided a hotel occupied by neo-Nazis on Tuesday morning after hearing shots fired on the premises.”
— “Parallel raids of apartments in Hannover and Rotenburg/Wumme”
— “Only hours after the raid, a court ruled the neo-Nazis could be legally removed from the premises”
— Previous Report:
—- “Germany’s pro-Hitler party triggers outrage with ‘training centre’ plans”
Germany: Nazi hit man trial to start in October
Germany: Nazi hit man trial to start in October
— “Admitted Nazi hit man Heinrich Boere will go on trial in October for the execution-style killings of three Dutch civilians during World War II, a German court spokesman said Tuesday”
Pakistan: Christians protest against deadly violence
Pakistan: Christians protest against deadly violence
— UCAN News Reports: “On August 2, Churches in Pakistan praryed for the ‘Christian martyrs’ during Sunday Masses and services.”
— “On the same day around 600 Christians staged a protest against the Punjab provincial government in front of the Quetta Press Club in the capital of the southwestern province of Baluchistan.”
— “They carried banners which read, “Stop violence against minorities” and “Arrest Gojra murderers.” The protesters included Caritas workers from Quetta, members of the Catholic bishops’ Justice and Peace Office, and several pastors and politicians.”
— “Jafar George, the Catholic provincial minister of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party, said in his address at the gathering: ‘The Punjab provincial government has failed to stop violence in Gojra or act against the attackers. If it cannot provide security to the minorities, it must resign.'”
— “Similarly the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance staged protest rallies in Lahore and Sargodha on Aug. 2 to condemn the Gojra rioting.”