Various media are reporting on violence involving a flotilla of ships in international waters headed towards Gaza described as “aid ships.” The reports describe Israeli helicopters and military halting the flotilla in international waters, and soldiers boarding one of the ships in the flotilla, the Turkish Mavi Marmara ship, during which shots were fired. The IDF reports that the Mavi Marmara ship held “extremists” that sought to attack an Israeli commando who boarded the ship, and took the Israeli commando’s gun away.
The media has had wide ranging reports on the casualties and the causes from 10 to 20 killed, and 60 injured, including injured Israel soldiers. Reports on the tolls include: RT video has reported , Turkey’s NTV states, and The Daily Telegraph.
BBC reports that Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister “Danny Ayalon said it was a ‘premeditated and outrageous provocation’ and the activists on board were intent on violence;” Ayalon described the flotilla as an “armada of hate and violence in support of Hamas organization was a premeditated and outrageous provocation. The organizers are well-known to their ties to global Violent Extemism, Al-Qaeda, and Hamas…”
A Turkish news agency reported that X-ray of items brought on board the ship showed no weapons. In media reports, the Israel government claims that violence only occurred on the ship Mavi Marmara.
The Associated Press reported that the U.S. President Obama administration spokesman Bill Burton stated that it “deeply regrets the loss of life and injuries sustained” and that U.S. administration officials are “currently working to understand the circumstances surrounding this tragedy.”
In the Muslim-majority nation of Maldives, a man stunned an audience during questions and answers period in a lecture given by an Islamic cleric, by stating that he had chosen freedom of conscience not to follow Islam. The man, Mohamed Nazim, was promptly attacked, taken into custody, and has been threatened with death and beheading, or other punishments for choosing his freedom of conscience. Maldives media are reporting that it is the first time in many hundreds of years that a Maldivian has publicly renounced Islam, since Sultan King Hassan IX converted to Christianity in 1552 and was deposed.
The Haveeru newspaper reported that Mohamed Nazim came up to ask a question of Islamic cleric Zakir Naik, stating “Dr Zakir Naik. I am a Maldivian. I am still struggling to believe in religion. That is why I just came to the front of this row. I was born a Maldivian. My parents taught me the religion of Islam. They are good practitioners, actually. I read a lot of books. I have read the translation of Quran. Yet, I still do not believe in a religion. So what do you say, [about] my verdict in Islam?”
Mohamed Nazim (left/standing), who declared his atheist status to the public, questions Dr Zakir Naik during the Q&A session. (Photo: Maldives Haveeru Newspaper)
The Haveeru newspaper reported that Zakir Naik responded by stating: “according to Prophetic traditions, every child is born as a Muslim and that a Muslim is one who submits his/her will to God. In Islam, death penalty should not necessarily be evoked on every person who leaves Islam, but to those who propagate the non-Islamic faith and speak against Islam, he added.”
The Haveeru newspaper report states that his question “sparked comments of hatred from an angry crowd of around 11,000 with many calling to kill him and attack him, while Naik was answering the question. Several people rushed towards Nazim, who was sitting at a back row after moving away from the microphone, as an official of the Islamic Ministry tried to escort him out. Police, however, came between Nazim and the crowd and escorted him into custody.” The Haveeru newspaper report also stated that a crowed gathered outside the police station and demanded that Mohamed Nazim be handed over to the crowd. The Haveeru newspaper report stated that “They shouted anti-atheism slogans and called for Nazim’s beheading.”
Another report by the Haveeru newspaper stated how Maldives lawyers felt that Mohamed Nazim deserved such counseling before receiving the death penalty or other punishments, stating that: “While some local lawyers claim Nazim is eligible for punishment both by Maldives laws and Islamic Shari’a, others argue only Shari’a could be evoked on him. Mohamed Ibrahim Waheed, a defense lawyer said Nazim must first be counseled giving him the chance to repent before considering capital punishment. ‘First, he should be counseled. If he does not take the advice and repent, the penalty stated in Shari’a should be evoked on him. According to Shari’a, the punishment for apostasy is death,’ he said. Waheed further argued that Nazim could be charged under the Religious Unity Act, for disrupting the religious unity of the country. A state prosecutor who wished to remain anonymous said Nazim could be prosecuted for legal disobedience.”
The Maldives newspaper Minivan News reports that a Maldives Islamic group is calling for the death of Mohamed Nazim. Minivan News reports that “The Islamic Foundation has called for self-declared apostate Mohamed Nazim to be stripped of his citizenship and sentenced to death if he does not repent and return to Islam…Today the Islamic Foundation of the Maldives issued a press statement calling on judges to give Nazim the opportunity to repent ‘and if he does not, then sentence him to death as Islamic law and Maldivian law agree.’ ”The Islamic Foundation believes that the person who announces apostasy should be punished according to Islamic laws,’ the NGO said, warning that Nazim represented ‘a disturbance to the religious views and the religious bonds that exist with Maldivians.’ ‘Hereby if this man does not do his penance and come back to the Islamic religion, the Islamic Foundation of the Maldives calls to take the citizenship away from this man as mentioned in the Maldivian constitution.’ If case crossed into areas not covered by the laws of the country, ‘then the judges should rely on Islamic law,’ the NGO stated, as per article 142 of constitution which says judiciary shall look into Islamic shar’ia on matters not covered in law, and sentence accordingly.” Malaysian Miadhu news also reported on such calls for the death of Mohamed Nazim in their story “Islamic Foundation calls on death sentence for Nazim, if not repented “
According to the constitution of Maldives, “The judges are independent, and subject only to the constitution and the law. When deciding matters on which the Constitution or the law is silent, judges must consider Islamic Shari’ah.”
The speaker at the Maldives event that Mohamed Nazim attended, Zakir Naik, has a long history of calling for violence against those who choose their universal human right of freedom of conscience and leave Islam. Religious extremist Zakir Naik has repeatedly called for denying human beings their universal human rights of freedom of conscience, calling those who leave Islam as “traitors.” The London Times has quoted Zakir Naik as stating that “People who change their religion should face the death penalty.”
In a widely broadcast video, Zakir Naik has called for the death penalty for those who leave Islam and promote another religion as “apostates.” In the broadcast, Zakir Naik states “if a Muslim becomes a non-Muslim and propagates his/her new religion, then it is as good as treason. There is a ‘death penalty’ in Islam for such a person. In many countries, the punishment for treason is also death. If an army general discloses his army’s secrets to another country, then there is a ‘death penalty’ or life imprisonment for such a person according to the laws of most of the countries. In the broadcast, Zakir Naik also states that the death penalty for leaving Islam (“apostasy”) should also apply to “non-Muslim countries.” Zakir Naik also challenges other “Islamic scholars” who believe in such death penalty for “apostates” to extend such defiance of religious freedom not just to Muslim majority nations, but to the entire world. Zakir Naik states “If these scholars are really righteous people then they must welcome their own principle (of death for apostates) in the non-Muslim countries as well.”
Article 18 of the UDHR reads: “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.”
In Pakistan’s Lahore, terrorist attacks on two minority Muslim mosques have reportedly left 98 killed. The attacks are suspected to be the actions of the religious extremist Taliban organization, which used a combination of grenades, guns, and suicide bomb vests to attack worshipers during Friday Muslim prayers at two mosques by the minority Ahmadi Muslim sect, which represent 4 million Pakistani Muslims. The attacks took place at the in Garhi Shahu and Model Town mosques, while thousands were attending worship services. Dawn reported that at the Garhi Shahu mosque, terrorists exploded two suicide vests inside the entrance, injuring nearly 100 worshipers. Multiple reports stated that the terrorists also took Muslim worshipers hostage during the attacks on the two mosques. GEO Pakistan reported that the terrorist attacks took place while people where praying. The Ahmadi Muslims have received threats over the past year, but this did not deter them from exercising their universal human right of freedom of religion and freedom of worship. The Punjab province, where Lahore is the capital, is also a haven for many of the Taliban organizations. The Pakistan Interior Minister indicated today that the Pakistan Taliban and similar organizations were being suspected for the mosque attacks in Lahore on May 28, 2010.
The Ahmadi minority Muslims face discrimination throughout Pakistan according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), which states that they face “the most severe legal restrictions and officially-sanctioned discrimination” (2009 USCIRF Report page 6). In 1974, the Pakistan government declared that the Ahmadi minority Muslims were “non-Muslims,” and in 1984, the Ahmadi Muslims were banned from proselytizing and identifying themselves as Muslims.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) National Media Council has decided that the new movie “Sex and the City 2” will be banned from being shown in UAE cinemas. The movie is scheduled to be released on May 27, 2010.
A senior spokesman for the UAE National Media Council told Time Out Dubai that: “Sex and the City 2 will be banned from being shown in cinemas across the UAE when it is released for various reasons. Among them are that the film’s website stated that filming was done in Abu Dhabi even though they were denied permission to do so and that they continue to attribute the locations shot in Morocco as being in Abu Dhabi, which is false, as the theme of the film does not fit with our cultural values. Also, they persisted in using Abu Dhabi’s name in the movie despite the fact that no official permission was given to them to do so.”
Promotional Still for "Sex and the City 2" (Photo: Warner Bros)
The UAE National Media Council is responsible for judging movies to be shown in the UAE, as well as censoring films. The UAE National Media Council censorship board has approved showing of films such as “The Da Vinci Code,” however.
The writer and director of the movie, Michael Patrick King, told Collider.com that the reason for choosing UAE and its city Abu Dhabi for the movie setting was because “it’s the new Middle East and the future… I think there’s a very big story in the Middle East and it also is a very advanced, glamorous capital.”
While the movie was being banned in its “setting,” the UAE — in Hollywood, it was being described as an “anti-Muslim” movie, by the Hollywood Reporter. The Hollywood Reporter’s review of the movie stated that “[Carrie] and her friends run up against the puritanical and misogynistic culture of the Middle East… The rather scathing portrayal of Muslim society no doubt will stir controversy, especially in a frothy summer entertainment, but there’s something bracing about the film’s saucy political incorrectness. Or is it politically correct? SATC 2 is at once proudly feminist and blatantly anti-Muslim, which means that it might confound liberal viewers.”
Others reviewers have also been critical of the movie regarding women and Islam. USA Today’s Claudia Ping states that “director Michael Patrick King is out of his league attempting to comment on the inequitable treatment of Muslim women,” Roger Ebert criticizes the movie for being “oblivious to Arab ideas about women’s modesty,” and another reviewer states that “‘Sex and the Ctiy 2’ script insults Muslim culture.”
The movie is being released as yet another high-profile UAE prosecution of a woman for alleged sexual “crimes” is in the news. The latest in a long series of UAE oppressive criminal prosecutions is the arrest of an 18 year old girl, who stated that she was a gang rape victim. The Muslim girl “LH” was then charged with the crime of “consensual sex,” which carries a sentence of lashes and up to life imprisonment for a Muslim girl. “LH” has since retracted her rape charges and the UAE government prosecution is considering whether to continue to prosecute her for the crime of “consensual sex,” or reduce the criminal charge to “deception” which carries a prison sentence of 6 months to two years.
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) stands for women’s rights without borders, and in unequivocal support of women’s universal human rights and dignity. We challenge those who would oppress and attack women to realize that when half of the world is denied basic human rights, such an outrage is an attack on human rights for all people everywhere.
We urge all people to be responsible for equality and liberty.
In the United Kingdom, anti-democracy leader of the banned group “Islam4UK” Anjem Choudary has condemned and spoke of threats to the new Muslim woman Member of Parliament (MP) Sayeeda Warsi.
Minister of Parliament Sayeeda Warsi (Photograph: Rex Features)
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) has previously reported on Anjem Choudary’s attacks on democracy, pluralism, and our universal human rights, and his demands for anti-democratic version of Sharia to be imposed on the United Kingdom which would deny democracy and our human rights.
The UK Daily Star reported on Anjem Choudary’s rant against the woman Muslim minister, reporting that Anjem Choudary stated: “Sayeeda Warsi is not a Muslim in my eyes. She may look like a Muslim and have a Muslim-sounding name but she does not represent Islam or anyone in this country who is a Muslim. She is a ‘coconut,’ brown on the outside but white on the inside. In fact, she is whiter than most of the other white people in government. How can she be a Muslim and support the military involvement of the British Army in Islamic countries? She is somebody who pretends to be a practising Muslim but, from her views and statements, she is clearly against Sharia. She is a disgrace and many true Muslims are angry that she claims to stand for Islam despite betraying Allah.”
The Daily Star also reports that Anjem Choudary stated that Sayeeda Warsi would be the target of hate, stating: “She will be attacked by eggs every time she goes near a Muslim community. Some more extreme protesters may take the attacks further. There is no doubt she is in danger.”
In regards to an upcoming protest in Belgium, Choudary told the Daily Star “there will be blood on the streets.”
— CDN reports:
— “An Egyptian convert to Christianity said he is devastated by a recent court decision to suspend a lawsuit he filed to change the religion on his identification card from Muslim to Christian.”
— “The First District of the Court of the State Council on April 27 suspended Mohammed Ahmed Hegazy’s case until the Constitutional Court rules on a challenge to Article 47, a section of the civil code that in theory allows Egyptians to change the religion listed on their ID card.”
— “Hegazy, 27, said the suspension endangers his children’s welfare and will force them to lead a double life indefinitely – at home they will be taught to live in accordance with the Bible, and outside it they will be taught to live according to the Quran.”
— “If they ultimately decide to follow Jesus, Hegazy said, his children will be declared “apostates” and be persecuted the rest of their lives for “leaving Islam.” Hegazy, who has suffered severely after Egypt’s religious authorities declared him an apostate, including being imprisoned by State Security Investigations (SSI) several times, said he filed the case so his children would avoid the same fate.”
Mohammed Hegazy Holding Identity Card (Photo: Compass)
Today, at the White House, supporters of R.E.A.L. will be asking U.S. President Obama and Afghanistan President Karzai to reconsider the planned discussions on “reintegration” and “reconciliation” of Taliban supremacists in Afghanistan, including suggestions to allow them to return to the police and armed forces.
The reason that the United States of America is in Afghanistan today is because of the September 11 attacks on America by Al-Qaeda terrorists, with the Afghanistan Taliban providing a safe haven for such terrorist training and plots to kill thousands of Americans. The statutory reason that the United States is in Afghanistan is based on the September 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force, which gives vague terms around what the American military can do in response to those associated with the 9/11 attacks.
But if we have learned anything from the 9/11 attacks, it is that there are those in the world who deliberately and consciously seek to reject our unqualified, universal human rights. There are those who reject our freedom of conscience, freedom of speech, freedom of press, and our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. There are those who reject a pluralist society that respects our differences, but ensures our unity in an omniculture of universal human rights.
Any foreign or domestic policies that ignore human rights and that ignore women’s rights (half of humanity) are bad decisions, and directions that we will not support.
We have seen a steady stream of HATE against women in Afghanistan, some of it by the Taliban, and some of it by the Afghanistan government. Such hate begins with a conscious and deliberate rejection of our unqualified, universal human rights. Such hate and rejection of human rights is the same root cause of terrorist tactics whether they are domestic or international. This is what American and Afghanistan government policy must first address.
But the rejection of human rights for women and others goes beyond the Taliban. The Taliban are a reflection of such hate also found in the Afghanistan government and society.
In Afghanistan, Americans must ask where is the policy for human rights? Where is the policy to address the root causes of terrorism?
What are we fighting for?
Human rights and women’s rights are not an afterthought, not a marginal issue for human peace, and certainly not inconsequential in addressing the ideological basis for terrorism tactics.
We will have no security without human rights. We will have no security without women’s rights.
We will have no conscience if we abandon the Afghanistan women to hate, misogyny, violence, and yes – the TERRORISM – of the Taliban and those who view women as less than human beings.
When we abandon the victims of terrorism, we enable terrorists ourselves.
Choose Love, Not Hate. Love Wins.
Afghanistan: Girls recovering from poison gas attack (Photo: Reuters/Mohammad Ishaq)
On May 3, 2010, ClickonDetroit reported on the shooting of multiple police officers in Detroit, which resulted in the wounding of four police officers, and the death of Officer Brian Huff. The report described Officer Huff’s commitment to Detroit law enforcement and the loss to his widow and 10 year old son. The Detroit news report stated “Huff graduated from the police academy when he was 32. He has worked with in the Public Housing Unit and the Gaming Unit before joining the Eastern District in 2004.” Officer Huff literally gave his life in his commitment to law and justice in Detroit.
Detroit: Slain Officer Brian Huff (Photo: ClickonDetroit.com)
The Westboro Baptist Church “hate group” chose to mock the sacrifice of Officer Huff’s life by praising his shooter, stating “THANK GOD FOR THE DETROIT SHOOTER – 1 OFFICER DEAD; 4 WOUNDED! “God blessed Detroit; they waxed worse in greed, fornication, adultery, and homosexuality…. Monday morning (5/3) on Detroit’s east side a brute raised by doomed american parents opened fire during a breaking-and-entering; one police officer was killed, four were wounded. It’s the worst news Mayor Bing has had since elected. GodSmack! Worse/more is coming, because you DON’T obey!… Woe to the inhibiters of the earth! Sing and rejoice!”
Westboro Baptist Church "Hate Group" Praise for Shooter of Detroit Police Officer
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Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) urges all Christians to reject and condemn this message of hate from the Westboro Baptist Church. Moreover, we urge all Christians to convey to Christian-named “hate groups” such as the “Westboro Baptist Church” that John 13:34 “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”
For all those who hate, whether their rationale is based on racial or religious supremacy, R.E.A.L. urges you to
— “Muslim mob attack Christian in Essa Nagri Karachi”
— “Karachi, Pakistan: May 3, 2010. (PCP) The reports are coming up of Muslim mob attack on Christian colony in Karachi. according to initial reports, hundreds of Pushtoon Muslims attacked Essa Nagri, a biggest residential pocket of Christians in Pakistan. Essa Nagri have more than fifty thousand Christians residential area in Metropolitan Karachi city which is surrounded by Pushto speaking groups immigrants from former NWFP and renamed Khyber-Pukhtunkhawa province which is base of Pakistani Taliban. According to PCP sources, Pukhtoon ethnic Muslim mob equipped with firearms and automatic assault rifles attacked Essa Nagri. The Pushtoon Muslim mob took out Christian women and children and injured them with rifle buts and fired in air to harass innocent Christians. The broke doors of Christian’s homes who have locked them in homes with fear.”
