Month: September 2009

NYC: Repeal blasphemy law in Pakistan. Rev. Fr. Ilyas Gill

NYC: Repeal blasphemy law in Pakistan. Rev. Fr. Ilyas Gill

Pakistan Christian Post reports:

“A delegation of Pakistani Christian Diaspora in USA called on Federal Home Minister of Pakistan Mr. Rehman Malik and demanded repeal of blasphemy law here on September 25, 2009.
Mr. Malik was in New York in official delegation of Pakistan headed by Asif Ali Zardari President of Pakistan to participate in General Assembly Session of UNO in New York.

The Christian delegation comprised of religious leaders Fr. Ilyas Gill, Rev. Samie Samson while Manny Alam, President – Pakistani-American Christian Association , Thomas Bhatti, President- Christian League of Pakistan in America, Victor Gill, President – Christian Voice of Pakistan, Inc. and William Shahzad, Chairman – Pakistani Christian Association of USA represented political groups.

The delegates urged on “Election, Not Selection” and repeal of blasphemy law in Pakistan.

Mr. Babar Khokhar, James Gill, Javeed Khokhar, Tariq Masih, James Cyprian and other leaders of PCA were also present in meeting.”

Nepal: “Under UN pressure, Nepal to probe ‘disappearances'”

“Under UN pressure, Nepal to probe ‘disappearances'”

AP reports:
— “Nepal’s Maoist-dominated government promised Saturday to establish a “disappearance commission” to investigate political killings that the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights says were perpetrated by communist insurgents fighting to overthrow the monarchy.”

“Nepal’s Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal spoke to the U.N. General Assembly on Saturday, telling other nations: ‘We have come a long way in terms of our transition from conflict.'”

“‘Like in every post-conflict situation, there are ups and downs and obstacles in the way. Managing the legacy of the violent past with justice and reconciliation and mainstreaming all the forces into a democratic order are major challenges before us,’ he said.”

“The prime minister promised that his government ‘is determined to establish a truth and reconciliation commission and a disappearance commission as a part of ensuring transitional justice and restoring social harmony and peace.'”

“The pledge came a day after the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal, Richard Bennett, released a letter demanding that the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) allow police to get to the bottom of several assassinations and a bus bombing.”

“The U.N. envoy’s letter wanted answers to the killings of businessman Ram Hari Shrestha, journalist Birendra Shah and another victim, Arjun Lama, as well as a deadly bus bombing in June 2005 in Madi at killed some 50 people.”

“Bennett’s letter said the three killings ‘are among those for which there is substantial evidence of Maoists’ responsibility,’ naming Maoist Third Division Commander Kali Bahadur Kham as being allegedly involved in Shrestha’s killing.”

“In the case of the bus bombing, Bennett said, the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) has claimed responsibility and identified the perpetrators, but no one has been punished and the Nepalese police seem unable to act without cooperation from the Maoist party.”

“‘The practice of protecting and promoting alleged human rights violators, whether they are Nepal Army officers or members of UCPN-M, must end,’ Bennett wrote.”

“Nepal’s government is preparing a report that says 16,274 people were killed in the country during the 10-year conflict between Maoist rebels and government troops that climaxed in 2006, officials recently said.”

“The Maoist rebels began their armed revolt in 1996 seeking an end to the monarchy and to establish a communist state. The rebels gave up their insurgency in 2006 and joined a peace process under U.N. supervision and ultimately became part of the political mainstream.”

“A communist-dominated Constituent Assembly voted in May 2008 to abolish the centuries-old monarchy and declared Nepal a republic and a secular state.”

“The UCPN-M contested elections last year and emerged as the largest political party in Nepal. They led a coalition government between September 2008 and May 2009.”

“Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal resigned as prime minister over the president’s refusal to dismiss the army chief, and a new coalition government took over in May.”

See Also:

May 7, 2009 – Washington Times: “Nepal’s Maoist double-cross”

SATA Report on “Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist”

2007 – Deteriorating Rights Situation in Nepal — By Navaraj Pudasaini, Human Rights Attorney

Asian Human Rights Commission – Nepal
May 2007 – “Everyone should receive social justice but without breaking other people’s legs” — by Dr. Sanjeev Upreti
— “Maoists continue to maintain that it is all right to use violence as a temporary tool to obtain social justice. Madhesi aandolan also repeated the same lesson learnt during the Maoist war. As a consequence, the idea that it is all right to break other ‘people’s legs-or to vandalize shops and burn buildings- in order to achieve justice has become a part of the national culture of Nepal.”

— “Maoists continue to maintain that it is all right to use violence as a temporary tool to obtain social justice. Madhesi aandolan also repeated the same lesson learnt during the Maoist war. As a consequence, the idea that it is all right to break other ‘people’s legs-or to vandalize shops and burn buildings- in order to achieve justice has become a part of the national culture of Nepal.”

United Nations Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights in Nepal – December 2006:  The torture and death in custody of Maina Sunuwar – Summary of concerns

DC: Muslims Taunted At Public Prayer Event

— Washington Times: “About 3,000 Muslims gathered Friday for a first-ever prayer service in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol in what turned out to be a peaceful assembly despite the taunts of Christian evangelists on the surrounding sidewalks.”
— FOX News: “At remote locations, distanced far away from the proceedings and under the watchful eyes of uniformed and plainclothes Capitol Police, scattered groups of Christians used microphones and public address systems to voice their displeasure with the Muslim event.”
—- “One such group, whose members displayed two oversized tablets similar to those seen in Biblical depictions of the Ten Commandments, called itself ‘Operation Save America’ and distributed pamphlets saying: ‘Abortion is Murder!! Homosexuality is Sin!! Islam is a Lie!!'”
— FOX News: “There was also no denying that the day of prayer attracted some individuals and groups fanatical in their hatred of Muslims. At a separate event, held simultaneously in a conference room at the Rayburn House Office Building, a group calling itself Stop Islamization of America warned about the supposedly hateful, violent, and anti-Western teachings of the Koran.”
— Washington Post: “Across the street from the service, Christian protesters gathered with banners, crosses and anti-Islamic messages. One group, which stood next to a 10-foot-tall wooden cross and two giant wooden tablets depicting the Ten Commandments, was led by the Rev. Flip Benham of Concord, N.C.”
—- “‘I would suggest you convert to Christ!’ Benham shouted over a megaphone. Islam ‘forces its dogma down your throat.’ A few Christian protesters gathered at the rear of the Muslim crowd, holding Bibles and praying.”
— FOX News describes SIOA as “nativist”
—-  “The most organized pushback so far is from a new organization of a nativist bent called Stop Islamization of America, or SIOA”

UK: Nine arrested after Mosque rally

UK: Nine arrested after Mosque rally
— “The Unite Against Fascism counter-protest against a planned demonstration by the Stop Islamisation Of Europe far right group drew between 1,000 and 2,000 on to the streets outside the place of worship in Station Road, Harrow”
— SIOE describes itself as promoting “Islamophobia,” SIOE states that “Islamophobia is the height of common sense”

NYC: Many Attend Freedom Protest for Iran

Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) also joined this protest

Press Release: Stand for Freedom in Iran

For Immediate Release

Contact:
Marcy Fishman      212-983-4800, ext. 142     Cell:  646-662-0335

GOVERNER DAVID PATERSON, NOBEL LAUREATE ELIE WIESEL, AND FORMER MAYOR RUDY GIULIANI RALLY TOGETHER WITH MORE THAN TEN THOUSAND NEW YORKERS TO STAND FOR FREEDOM IN IRAN

Photos by Michael Priest

Thursday, September 24, 2009, New York, NY — More than ten thousand participants gathered together outside the United Nations Plaza to demand freedom for all Iranians. Such prominent New Yorkers as Governor David Paterson, Elie Wiesel, and Rudy Giuliani showed their solidarity with a range of other elected officials, religious leaders, and representatives of many ethnic communities to send a united message of hope.

More than 40 organizations have come together to create the Stand for Freedom in Iran Coalition, which demands freedom of assembly, expression, and the press; the immediate cessation of human-rights abuses and the release of demonstrators from prisons and protection for minority communities; prosecution of those responsible for the murder of Neda Agha-Soltan and many other victims; full compliance and cooperation by Iran with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Security Council resolutions, including an end to Iran’s uranium enrichment; and an end to the incitement of genocide and the support of terrorism.

Speakers included New York State Governor David Paterson; former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani; New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli; New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr.; New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver; New York City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn; Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel; Canadian Member of Parliament Irwin Cotler; Stuart Appelbaum, president, Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union; J. David Cox, national secretary-treasurer, American Federation of Government Employees; The Very Reverend Dr. James A. Kowalski, dean, Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine; Iranian student activist and former prisoner Hassan Zarezadeh Ardeshir and Iranian political activists Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi, Shohreh Nazar, and Roya Teimouri; and former Sudanese refugee and human-rights activist Simon Deng.

“Ahmadinejad is the Number One Holocaust denier in the world,” said Nobel Laureate Elie and called on world leaders to shun him. “He’s unworthy of your attention; he’s unworthy of being your colleague. He’s in fact an enemy of humanity.”

“Thank you all for coming here, for this great cause today,” said New York State Governor David Paterson. “We will not stand for any more of President Ahmadinejad.

“I hope he lives to see the day when he and his kind are held in judgment by a free Iran,” said New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, about Ahmadinejad.

“The regime stands against everything we value,” said Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani about the toll of the repressive government under Ahmadinejad.

“We cannot remain silent when, in our city, there is a leader of a regime who arrests innocent civilians, imprisons students, brutalizes protesters, tortures dissidents, abuses women, executes children, sponsors terror groups, threatens to annihilate sovereign nations, and violates international resolutions while developing nuclear weaponry,” said Janice W. Shorenstein, president of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York. “The Stand for Freedom in Iran Coalition reflects the broad sentiment among Americans of many faiths, ethnicities, and walks of life that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is not welcome in New York.”

“We support the right for all people from all nations to have the freedoms we have as Americans,” said John M. Shapiro, president of UJA-Federation of New York. “We publicly condemn the actions of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran as he appears before the United Nations. We cannot tolerate his abuse of his fellow Iranians nor the threat he poses.”

Additionally, there are national rallies being held in Washington, D.C.; Detroit, Michigan; Los Angeles, California; Miami, Florida; St. Louis, Missouri; and Chicago, Illinois; and throughout the world in Vienna, Paris, Germany, Cape Town, Buenos Aires, Holland, and Norway.

Participating organizations include the Progressive American-Iranian Committee; Jewish Community Relations Council of New York; New York City Central Labor Council: AFL-CIO; UJA-Federation of New York; Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union; American Federation of Teachers; United Federation of Teachers; American Federation of Government Employees; NAACP-New York Conference; The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine; National Puerto Rican Coalition; Alliance of Iranian Women; Iran Human Rights Documentation Center; Foundation for Democracy in Iran; Korean American Public Affairs Committee; Turkish American Community in New York; Chinese Community Relations Council; National Inter-agency Task Force on Iran; and more than 40 other non-Jewish and Jewish organizations. For more information, visit www.standforfreedominiran.org.

Rally_Crowd_2

Rally_Crowd Shot

Illinois: White supremacists to rally in Illinois town over bus attack

Illinois: White supremacists to rally in Illinois town over bus attack
— McClatchy: “The protest has been promoted on several supremacist Web sites, including the National Socialist Movement and Stormfront.org”

— BND reports:
— “The event is ‘to protest the racial double standard with hate crimes. If it had been white kids doing the beating they would have been charged with a hate crime,’ stated a link on Stormfront.org, which boasts the slogan ‘White pride world wide.'”
— “On the National Socialist Movement Web site, Cpl. Jason Bonn writes, ‘People in this town are rightfully angry at the double standard that we know how this would be working if the races were reversed.'”
— “Protesters will march outside the state’s attorney’s office, which is inside the courthouse, because they’re asking for hate crime charges to be filed, Bonn wrote.”
— “He continued, ‘This event is open to all concerned citizens and white nationalists regardless of affiliation.’

U.N.: Protesters decry Ahmadinejad, Gaddafi — U.N. Members walk during Iran President’s tirade

United Nations: Protesters decry Ahmadinejad, Gadhafi
— Green-clad group protests Ahmadinejad near UN
United Nations: Western diplomats walk out as Ahmadinejad addresses United Nations General Assembly
— United States delegation walks out

— Britain walks out of Iran’s Ahmadinejad’s anti-Semetic speech at UN
— “South American delegations also marched from the grand hall at UN headquarters when the controversial leader denounced what he said was a global Jewish conspiracy, amid a long rant against capitalism and Western hypocrisy.”

— US, France walk out during Ahmadinejad’s UN speech