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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.

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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

Egypt: Mourners Protest Islamic Attacks on Copts in Egypt

Egypt: Mourners Protest Islamic Attacks on Copts in Egypt
— COMPASS reports:
— “A funeral for a Coptic Christian gruesomely killed on a village street north of Cairo by a Muslim assailant last week turned into a protest by hundreds of demonstrators in Egypt.”
— “Galal Nasr el-Dardiri, 35, attacked 63-year-old Abdu Georgy in front of the victim’s shop in Behnay village the afternoon of Sept. 16, according to research by a local journalist. Other Copts watched in horror as El-Dardiri stabbed Georgy five times in the back, according to interviews by Gamal Gerges, a reporter for newspaper Al-Youm al-Sabeh.”
— “As Georgy fell to the ground, El-Dardiri took his knife and stabbed him four times in the stomach. He then disemboweled him, slit his throat and began sawing off his head, according to Gerges. The Rev. Stephanos Aazer, a Coptic priest who knew Georgy and saw photographs of his mutilated body, said the victim’s head was attached to the body by a small piece of flesh.”
— “After killing Georgy, El-Dardiri got on a motorcycle and rode 30 minutes to another town, where he found Coptic shopkeeper Boils Eid Messiha, 40, and stabbed him twice in the stomach, according to Gerges. El-Dardiri immediately left the scene, went to nearby Mit Afif and allegedly attacked Hany Barsom Soliman. Soliman, a Copt in his mid-20s, managed to fight him off.
— “Messiha was taken to a hospital where he has been operated on at least five times. He remained in intensive care at press time. Soliman suffered lacerations to his arms but was otherwise unharmed.”
— “On Thursday afternoon (Sept. 17), about 1,000 people gathered at Georgy’s funeral to protest the killing and assaults on Coptic Christians. Protestors chanted that Georgy’s ‘blood was not [spilled] in vain’ as they carried signs that read, ‘Where are you, government? The terrorists are going to kill us.'”
— “Aazer and several other priests participated in the demonstration. Aazer, of the Behnay area, confirmed that police had been monitoring local Copts and even tracking telephone conversations of clergy.”
— “El-Dardiri was arrested on Thursday (Sept. 17) in Cairo and has been charged with murder. It was unclear when he would appear in court.”
— “Ibrahim Habib, chairman of United Copts Great Britain, said Egypt has encouraged the type of ‘radicalization’ that has led to such attacks”.
— “It is the Egyptian government’s responsibility now to stop the persecution and victimization of its Coptic minority by Islamic fundamentalists,’ he said. ‘The persecution and victimization of the Christians in Egypt has been persistent for three decades and recently escalated to a worrying tempo.'”
— “Habib added that Egypt needs to root out extremists from government agencies, ‘including the Egyptian police, which frequently show complacency or collusion with the Islamists against the peaceful Christians.'”

Somalia: “Muslim Militants Slay Long-Time Christian in Somalia”

Somalia: “Muslim Militants Slay Long-Time Christian in Somalia”
— COMPASS reports:
— “The faith journey of a long-time underground Christian in Somalia ended in tragedy this week when Islamic militants controlling a security checkpoint killed him after finding Bibles in his possession.
— ” Militants from the Muslim extremist al Shabaab killed 69-year-old Omar Khalafe on Tuesday (Sept. 15) at a checkpoint they controlled 10 kilometers from Merca, a Christian source told Compass. A port city on the Indian Ocean 70 kilometers (45 miles) from Mogadishu, Merca is the main city of the Lower Shabele region.”

Somali insurgents warn schools not to use UN textbooks as “un-Islamic” – swear allegiance to Osama Bin Laden

Somali insurgents warn schools not to use UN textbooks
— Daily Telegraph: “Somalia’s hardline al Shabaab insurgents have warned schools not to use textbooks provided by UN agencies and other donors they accuse of being un-Islamic”

Somali insurgents bow to bin Laden — Al-Shabab swears allegiance on video

— Al-Shabab Pledges Loyalty to Bin Laden

Florida: Updates on Rifqa Bary Case

Florida Judge: Rifqa Bary stays with foster family for now

Rifqa Bary Case: Runaway Convert’s Parents Want Case Moved to Ohio
— “An Ohio judge has set a hearing for Oct. 27.”
— “The Florida judge currently supervising the case said he will consult with his Ohio counterpart to settle jurisdictional issues.”

— Teen who fears ‘honor killing’ will stay in care

AIFD’s Zhudi Jasser on Rifqa Bary Case