France: Terror Campaign Against France Condemned by Muslim Groups, Individuals

The terror campaign against Paris and throughout France has been widely condemned by Islamic groups and individuals. The terror campaign also included the murder of Parisian police officer, Ahmed Merabet, who was a Muslim. He was assassinated by the terrorists, while his hands were up in surrender. Those who reject our universal human rights do support any religious ideology other than their own efforts to use force to suppress, rather unite our fellow human beings.

Ahmed Merabet, Parisian Police Officer Murdered by Terrorists on January 7, 2015 – Mr. Merabet was a Muslim. (Source: Facebook)

The French Muslim Council condemned the attack, calling it one of “exceptional violence.” It has also stated that “[t]he barbarous attack of extreme gravity is also an attack against democracy and freedom of the press. Our first thoughts are with the victims and their families for whom we have total solidarity.”

Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the Ramadhan Foundation, stated that “Terrorism has no religion and is an affront to Islam, therefore we must confront and expose the evil ideology of these terrorists.”

The Muslim Council of Britain, stated: “Whomever the attackers are, and whatever the cause may be, nothing justifies the taking of life.”

Tehmina Kazi, of the the British Muslims for Secular Democracy (BMSD) published an exceptional article providing more than condemnation, but also calling for action to challenge such extremists. Her article in Left Foot Forward, “Charlie Hebdo: Dismantling nine mistaken assumptions about the Paris atrocities,” also urged her fellow Muslims ” sort out the problems in their own back yard,” further stating “Given that the Qu’ran takes such a strong line on humans challenging injustice wherever we find it, this shouldn’t be too difficult.” Tehmina Kazi also called for change and urged Muslims to challenge such extremists and “work hard to create change within their own circles of influence (just like Inspire did with their ‘Making a Stand’ campaign, and Manwar Ali has done with his grassroots work in Ipswich and elsewhere). As I said in my piece yesterday, the Qu’ran tells us to fight against injustice wherever we may find it, even if it means testifying against our own. In my view, this is a crystal-clear example of the need to do just that.”

The Arab League made a statement by its chief Nabil al-Arabi that it “strongly condemns the terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo newspaper in Paris.”

According to Al Arabiya News, “Al-Azhar, a thousand-year-old seat of religious learning respected by Muslims around the world, referred to the attack as a criminal act, saying that ‘Islam denounces any violence.'”

In an Al-Arabiya commentary by Abdulrahman al-Rashed, he stated:

“We don’t need to blame murderers because they are terrorists whose plans and hostility against the world are clear. However, we do blame those who justify these terrorists’ crimes and who try to mislead Muslims with lies and excuses. Some people have even written in defense of the heinous crime of murdering French journalists which shocked the world. What sort of ignorant man can think that a government conspires to kill its own citizens in order to serve a foreign plot? What nonsense and ignorance can make some of us descend to this level of justifying the murder of fellow journalists?”

“Apologists of killers provide cover and legitimacy for terrorists at a time when we are all supposed to be at the forefront of those condemning these acts. Those defending terrorists must realize the severity of the crimes which they are committing. These actions and similar ones over the years have secured for terrorism a base in our region. Their sin is no less grave than the crimes of ISIS and al-Qaeda whom they have long praised. They have misled millions of people by presenting terrorist groups as defenders of the rights and existence of the Muslim diaspora.”

France: Enemies of Human Rights Praise Terror Campaign in France

As we have reported, many Muslim groups and individuals have publicly rejected the ongoing terror campaign in France. As these Muslims state, no religious views should rationalize murder and terrorism, and a campaign of attack against our shared universal human rights.

In the meantime, there are extremist groups and individuals who are expressing solidarity and support for the terror campaign against France. We know this terror campaign is not limited to France, but is a world war against all of humanity and all human freedoms and rights. They are supporting terrorism and calling for attacks on our universal human rights, and they represent enemies of our shared universal human rights. They represent a global threat to our shared universal human rights, which must be recognized and challenged by all human rights groups.

Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) urges our fellow human beings responsible for our shared universal human rights to continue to aggressively challenge and condemn such extremist groups and individuals – anywhere in the world, and using any language. Our shared universal human rights, as described in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), is essential for peace, harmony, respect, and security for all of our fellow human beings of every identity group, every nationality, and every religious view and conscience.

While Twitter is being used to express solidarity among people of all religions and all nations condemning the terror campaign in France, Twitter is also being used by extremists to promote support for this terrorism campaign by extremists, using the hashtag translated as #ExpelTheCrusaderAmongYou

It is reported that social media has also been used to spread support for the terror campaign in France, including on Facebook with comments such as “this is the harvest of the hatred that France has sowed.”

Somalia’s Shebab extremist group in Africa also praised the terror campaign in Paris as a “heroic” act. Ashram and AFP reported that the Shebab extremist’s Radio Andulus praised the terror campaign against the Charlie Hebdo publication stating, “[t]hey made millions of Muslims happy by taking action. Some misguided people claim that freedom of expression was attacked, but that is not the case, and the two heroic people acted accordingly.”

Reuters and Pakistan Nation report: “A fighter of the Islamic State militant group praised Wednesday’s attack on a French satirical magazine that killed at least 12 people, telling Reuters the raid was revenge for insults against Islam. ‘The lions of Islam have avenged our Prophet,’ said Abu Mussab, a Syrian who fights with the Islamic State, which has captured broad swathes of Iraqi and Syrian territory. ‘These are our lions. It’s the first drops – more will follow,’ he said, speaking via an internet connection from Syria. He added that he and his fellow fighters were happy about the incident. ‘Let these crusaders be scared because they should be.’ No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.”

The Algemeiner has published reports that “[o]ver the last several months, France has emerged as a top target for IS. In September 2014, IS spokesman Abu Muhammad Al Adanani urged IS supporters worldwide to mount attacks in their countries of residence against both military and civilian targets, using any means available. Al Adanani specifically identified France as a recommended target, a separate MEMRI dispatch reported at the time. Similar themes were echoed by several jihadi sympathizers on Twitter. A user identified as Najam wrote: “#Paris Is Burning. Oh Allah slaughter them, Allah attack them. This newspaper insulted the Messenger of Allah and Islam.’ Another user commented: ‘France turned the lands of the Muslims into battlefields, and now the Muslims have turned Paris into a battlefield. Allahu akhbar.'”

On December 23, 2014, the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) reported that, using Facebook, “French IS Supporters And Fighters Urge Attacks In France And Europe.” MEMRI specifically stated that IS spokesman Abu Muhammad Al-‘Adanan urged “IS supporters worldwide to perform attacks in their countries of residence against both military and civilian targets using any means possible. He specifically identified France as a recommended target.”

The USA Today published the comments by Bristish extremist Anjem Choudary, who rejected the concept of freedom of expression (which he is so dependent on), and stated that: “Muslims consider the honor of the Prophet Muhammad to be dearer to them than that of their parents or even themselves. To defend it is considered to be an obligation upon them. The strict punishment if found guilty of this crime under sharia (Islamic law) is capital punishment implementable by an Islamic State. This is because the Messenger Muhammad said, ‘Whoever insults a Prophet kill him.'”

The Radio Free Europe reported on praise for the terror campaign by British female extremists on Twitter, reporting that: “As news broke of the Paris attack, British female IS militant Umm Jafar Britaniyah, who is based in the Syrian town of Manbij, expressed her joy in a series of tweets. After her initial reaction — ‘ALLAHU AKBAR!!!!!! OUR brothers in France!!! May Allah reward them abundantly and grant them VICTORY AMEEN!!'” — Umm Jafar called on Allah to ‘help [the gunmen] kill as many kafirs [infidels] as they can.'”

Radio Free Europe also reported on another individual praising the terrorists: “Another female militant, who tweets in English under the name Umm Handhla posted her initial reaction to the attack: ‘ALLAHU.AKBAR buzzzzzzzzzzzzzn May allah protect the mujahideen in Franceeee!!! Shooting was maad!!'”

Radio Free Europe also stated that: “A male militant, who calls himself Abu Junaid As-Somali, and who tweeted extensively about the Charlie Hebdo attack tweeted his wish that Allah grant the two men access to Paradise, because they had ‘muted & killed that filthy najis [a person regarded as ritually unclean] Charlie.’ As-Somali had previously tried to claim that the IS group had been responsible for the Charlie Hebdo attack, tweeting about the ‘Islamic State wilayat [province] of Paris’ and telling ‘Muslims of France’ that they were lucky not to have to travel thousands of kilometers ‘to seek martyrdom.’ As-Somali added, ‘Violent Extemism is at ur doorstep, defend Islam there.'”

Radio Free Europe also reported of further calls to attack France, stating: “One video, released by Islamic State’s media wing, Al-Hayat, on November 20, 2014, features a group of French militants who urge French Muslims to carry out terrorist attacks in France. ‘Even poison is available, so poison the water and food of at least one of the enemies of Allah,’ one French militant says in the video.”

Radio Free Europe reported that “Bird of Jannah added that Muslims should not feel sorry for the victims of the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack. ‘If you love them and feel sad for what happened to them, verily you carry no Al Walaa wal Baraa [loyalty and disavowal]. Your aqeedah [belief] has distorted! Fear Allah!’ she tweeted.”

Homeland Security Today also reported on support from other extremist groups for the terror campaign, as researched by Middle East groups. Homeland Security Today reported: “According to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), Violent Extremist reaction to the attack on Charlie Hebdo was almost immediate. Participants on jihadi forums and social media praised the attackers, saying that the shooting was a legitimate act of revenge against the weekly for insulting Islam and against France for its crimes against Muslims,” said MEMRI Executive Director Steven Stalinsky. MEMRI said, ‘Members of the pro-ISIS forum Violent Extemismi Media Platform (alplatformmedia.com) lashed out at France. A member called Al Dia’ Al Gharib wrote: ‘France was [once] part of the land of Islam and will return to be the land of Islam, in spite the worshippers of the Cross.”” “Another, who goes by the name Muhib Al Salihin, wrote: ‘France is one of the harshest enemies of Islam and of the Islamic State in particular.” Forum member Abu Al Qassem Al Shawqi commented: ‘[This] is news that quenches the thirst for revenge. By Allah, beloved ones, let us not think lightly of prayers. By Allah, they [the attackers] are soldiers of Allah.’ And a member calling himself Abu Bakr Al Zari’ni remarked: ‘Congratulations to France and to its people for reaping what their hands sowed. Did these evil cartoonists think that we were a nation that would remain silent in face of those who insult our Prophet…? Did [French President] Hollande and the governments that preceded him think that their interventions and despotism in the lands of the Muslims would not be met with retribution? No, by Allah, from now on the youths of Islam will no longer remain silent, especially since we have a state [ISIS] to mobilize armies if anybody insults the nation of Islam.’”

Homeland Security Today also reported that: “Arabic-speaking jihad supporters also celebrated the attack on Twitter, some using the Arabic hashtag ‘Paris Is Burning,’” MEMRI reporte

d, saying, “Many of them shared videos from the scene of the attack, calling the shooters ‘heroes’ and praising them for avenging the honor of the Prophet and of Islam. One, who calls himself Najam (@35njm), wrote: ‘#Paris Is Burning. Oh Allah slaughter them, Allah attack them. This newspaper insulted the Messenger of Allah and Islam.’ ISIS supporter Hamel Al Liwa’ (@blue964) tweeted: ‘Fear prevails among the newspapers and journalists who hate Islam. There are demands for military protection of the paper headquarters. #Paris is turning into a military barracks.’ Another ISIS supporter, Al Khilafa Hiya Al Hal [‘the Caliphate is the solution’] (@death4x), shared a video of the attack and commented: ‘France turned the lands of the Muslims into battlefields, and now the Muslims have turned Paris into a battlefield. Allah Akbar.’”

Homeland Security also reported other reactions from French speakiing extremists on Twitter. “ISIS supporter Abou Hafs (@Ansar_Al_Ouma) tweeted: ‘Oh Allah, the honor of your prophet has been cleansed.’ Another, Al Furat Wadijlah (@AlFuratWadijlah), commented on the character of the attack: ‘An RPG7 with Kalashnikovs, it’s a well prepared assault.’ He added: ‘That dog Charb [Charlie Hebdo editor-in-chief and cartoonist Stéphane Charbonnier, who is one of those killed in the attack] was supposed to publish this drawing on the first page this week.'”

Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) understands that we and the media can always find extremists in every identity group, which we will all reject. But there is a difference between ranting lunatics and individuals actively supporting terrorism against our fellow human begins, as well as such terrorist committing such violence. We cannot simply “ignore” such extremists, but also must challenge such views.

It is not simple or comfortable to challenge such extremists that claim to be within our own identity group. I am very well aware of this in my own years of challenges to white individuals, who have racial supremacist views, and I am well aware of the violent reactions from such ideological challenges. But we cannot abandon on defense of human rights, simply because it is difficult.

R.E.A.L. calls for the continuing rejection and challenging of such extremist views which defy our shared universal human rights, undermine shared need for security, respect, dignity, and peace, and which disgrace every religious view by calling for violence and hatred as a means to suppress the rights of others.

Terror Campaign Against France: The Lights of Paris and our Universal Human Rights Will Stand – Regardless of the Threats by Terrorists (Source: Jeffrey Imm, R.E.A.L.)

Boko Haram’s War on Human Rights in Africa – 10,000 Killed in Past Year, 16 Towns Burned, 2,000 Killed or Missing in Past Week

The Global Terror Organization Boko Haram has been mounting an increasing war on the human rights and security of African people in multiple nations. Within the past week, this has included burning down 16 Nigerian towns and villages, killing many at a multinational military base, and international terrorist murders in Cameroon, as well as threatening Cameroon’s democracy. In the past year, Boko Haram-linked violence has resulted in over 10,000 violent deaths, based on studies developed by the by the Council for Foreign Relations (CFR). The terrorist group Boko Haram’s goals were previously focused on establishing “an Islamic state” in northeast Nigeria. It is now clear the Boko Haram has greater, international aims.

Update: On January 9, 2015, CNN has published this update that “[m]ore than 2,000 people were killed in attacks on 16 villages, said Musa Bukar, chairman of Kukawa local government, where Baga is located…. At least 30,000 people were displaced, authorities said.”

In October 2014, it was reported by the Director of Catholic Social Communication of Maiduguri Diocese, Rev. Gideon Obasogie, that Boko Haram had burned 185 churches, during Boko Haram’s attack and capture of 11 towns in Borno and Adamawa. He stated that over 190,000 people had been displaced.

In addition, Boko Haram has been holding over 200 schoolgirls that it kidnapped from schools in Chibok in the Nigerian Borno state in April 2014. News reports stated that the kidnapped (predominantly Christian) girls were “converted to Islam” and married to members of the Boko Haram terrorist organization for a “bride price” of $12.50. (This kidnapping has led to the social media campaign for their safe return, on Twitter at #BringBackOurGirls.) The London Times has reported that “more than 600 girls” have been kidnapped by the Boko Haram terror group. The name of the Boko Haram terror group translates into “Western education is sinful.”

The most recent wave of attacks began after a Boko Haram attack on January 3, 2015, where the global terrorist group overran a multinational military base for Nigeria, Chad, Niger, and Cameroon in Baga in Nigeria’s Borno state. In addition to military killed in the attack, civilians fleeing the Boko Haram were also killed while trying to flee across nearby Lake Chad.

Earlier that week before the attack on the Baga base, Boko Haram had kidnapped about 40 young men from surrounding villages. Boko Haram reportedly ordered villages to “attend a sermon,” then kidnapped young men aged 10 to 23 years old from the villages.

Over the past five days, the global terrorist organization Boko Haram has declared a war on towns across Nigeria, especially in the Nigerian Borno state.

This has been an ongoing war by Boko Haram on civilians, which has been escalating for months. In September 2014, the Nigerian Daily Post reported that “the streets of the Bama [town] in Maiduguri have been taken over by littered corpses two days after the militants claimed authority over the second largest Borno town.”

Nigeria: Borno State - Corpses Line Streets in Bama Town - Boko Haram Claims Victory (Source: Nigerian Daily Post). Daily Post also stated "Boko Haram fighters are currently patrolling the streets of Bama, stopping residents from burying littered corpses."

In the past week, the Nigerian News reported the Boko Haram had destroyed at least 16 towns and villages in Nigeria. On January 8, 2015, some Nigeria media and NBC reported that included the Boko Haram capture of Baga, which was the last Nigerian-government controlled town in Northern Borno.

The AFP has reported such violence throughout Nigeria’s Borno state, from a local government and a union official. AFP reports: “‘They burnt to the ground all the 16 towns and villages including Baga, Dorn-Baga, Mile 4, Mile 3, Kauyen Kuros and Bunduram,’ said Musa Bukar, head of the Kukawa local government in Borno state.”

NBC reports that “more than 2,000 people are unaccounted for” after the Boko Haram torching of the Borno state towns and villages. Ahmed Zanna, a senator for Borno state where the attack happened, told NBC that “these towns are just gone, burned down… the whole area is covered in bodies.”

NBC also reports that Nigerians expect the Boko Haram to attempt to disrupt Nigerian national elections planned for February 14, 2015.

The terrorist group Boko Haram has demonstrated that it is more than a Nigerian-based terror threat with killings in Cameroon and further threats of violent attacks on Cameroon if it did not submit to Boko Haram. Since the beginning of the New Year, Boko Haram has been attacking Cameroon, and Boko Haram terrorists have reportedly killed 15 people in Cameroon.

As reported in numerous media, on January 7, 2015, a Boko Haram leader also issued a YouTube video to call for Cameroon to denounce democracy and to embrace Boko Haram’s religious views.

The UK Independent has reported that Boko Haram made the following threat and demands by video to the nation of Cameroon: “I advise you to desist from following your constitution and democracy, which is un-Islamic… The only language of peace is to repent and follow Allah, but if you do not then we will communicate it to you through the language of violence.”

Boko Haram Leader Threatens Cameroon in YouTube Video (Source: YouTube, The Independent)

Responsible for Equality and Liberty (R.E.A.L.) has other reports on the attacks against Christian churches and Nigerian citizens. R.E.A.L. posted a report on May 2014 attacks where 50 churches were burned and 500 Christians killed. R.E.A.L. posted a report on October 2014 attacks where 185 churches were burned and over 190,00 displaced.

In November 2013, the U.S. Department of State designated Boko Haram as a Global Terrorist Organization (GTO), which Boko Haram is increasingly demonstrating by its international terrorist activities. Boko Haram has been linked to other global terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda, all of which seek to deny universal human rights to our fellow human beings.

Our support for the Universal Human Rights of all people must be for all nations, all continents, and every place on Earth. We seek to be responsible for equality and liberty for the oppressed people in Africa and every part of our shared world. We must call upon the nations of the world to take action to stop the growing violence and threat from the international terrorist organization Boko Haram, their kidnapping of children, their efforts to deny freedom of conscience, and their rejection of our shared universal human rights of equality, liberty, dignity, and security. We call for the President of the United States to also make a statement and offer his support to Nigeria and the African nations affected by this global terror groups actions, and to end their reign of terror over children and the people of Africa.

Pakistan: Christian Woman Threatened to Reject Her Religion and Accused of Blasphemy

Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) has received the following report of a Christian woman in Islamabad, Pakistan being threatened to reject her faith and being accused of “blasphemy,” under the oppressive Pakistan penal code Section 295-C.

The report states that a “33 year old Christian government teacher Ms. Saiqa has been accused of blasphemy 295c. Ms. Saiqa is a very educated primary government teacher in Islamabad, who belongs to very poor family. Ms. Saiqa regularly taught Sunday school and has worked with Christian children ministry.”

R.E.A.L. has received a report that this Islambad Christian woman has been threated to deny her Christian faith, which she refused.

The report stated that “Molvi Razzaq approached [Christian woman] Ms. Saiqa on different occasions and asked her to stop practicing western religion and spreading Christianity. Local molvi Abdul Razzaq invited her to accept Islam and asked her to read KALMA. Ms. Saiqa refused. People of the mosque and Molvi Razaq has been chasing her and watching her activities. Molvi Razzaq sent a few women to her house to pass message and also that she needs to convert to Islam. Molvi Razzaq also sent red Shalwar kameez for as a wedding proposal. Molvi also went in her house with mosque’s elders to give her invitation to get her to marry in Islamic way after she accepted Islam. Ms. Saiqa refused everything in front of Muslim women and Molvi Razzaq. As a result, the local Muslim women told local people that Ms. Saiqa committed blasphemy and cursed on Islam and Muhammad.”

The report continues:
“Molvi Razzaq and few people from the mosque also went school and protested front of school administration that their children getting non Islamic education and school should terminate her employment. Molvi and few people also tried to kidnap her, but Ms. Saiqa left the city and went into hiding. The local mosque’s jammat and Molvi Razzaq filed a FIR to the local police station stating that Ms. Saiqa used dirty language against Islam and Muhammad. Molvi Razzaq also announced a Fatwa on loud speaker and put Fatwa posters in different areas to find her.”

R.E.A.L. is sharing this report with the public, to our friends in the human rights media to get help to Ms. Saiqa, and we challenge the Pakistan government to act to stop this oppression.

We especially challenge Pakistan Embassy spokesman Nadeem Hotiana who is very concerned about the image of Pakistan in the media. If the Pakistan government is concerned about its reputation, the way to make a difference is to act, not talk, to defend the human rights of religious minorities oppressed throughout Pakistan, in defiance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We call upon the Pakistan government, and we call upon Nadeem Hotiana to personally intervene to stop such oppression of religious minorities.

We call for the defense of this woman, Ms. Saiqa, in Islamabad, and we call for the defense of her human rights, freedom of conscience, safety, and human dignity, in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) accepted by the United Nations over 60 years ago.

Law Enforcement and Our Responsibility

The mission for Responsible for Equality and Liberty has been to work in promoting a culture where mutual respect for our common universal human rights is part of our lives around the world. These include our universal human rights of life, security, safety, dignity, equality, and freedom as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

One of the most fundamental aspects of promoting human rights is being actively involved in defending these rights. That defense requires multiple methods: education, activism, defying oppressors, and defending those whose rights are being denied. Defense of human rights also includes the mission of law enforcement.

Local laws in free nations reflect such universal human rights. Where such laws do not reflect such universal human rights, it is our responsibility in democracies to get such laws changed. When it is not understood that the mission of law enforcement is in defending such human rights, history shows this is where nations get into trouble.

We cannot tell the world that we stand for human rights of oppressed people, but also say that when our brothers and sisters are being attacked by human rights violators and law breakers that we will just wait only for government law enforcement professionals to act.

If we think we have no role in law enforcement, then we are human rights hypocrites.

Some would think that speaking or acting when our brothers and sisters are attacked would be too brave, and perhaps that we should “mind our own business.” Being responsible is not “brave” at all. Our culture must work to make it clear that such responsibility is a basic part of being a citizen anywhere our world.

How could human rights activists not defy those criminals threatening human rights and associated laws? If we choose not to act with every little human rights abuser, how can we ever hope to have effective activism when confronting major human rights abusers? Our responsibility for human rights never comes from fear, but must always come from real courage. Every day. Everywhere. With no exceptions. If we need an army to protect the rights and law in our world, we are that army.

In the 21st century, we have also vividly been shown that the public cannot “outsource” the mission of law enforcement only to those government professionals.

If law enforcement is necessary to protect human rights, than support for law enforcement is not just the responsibility of government professionals. Law enforcement is also OUR responsibility. We have gotten away from this thinking. We have come not only to be dependent on government professionals, but also to believe we have no right to have a say in the enforcement of our own laws designed to respect our human rights. We have come to believe that this is someone else’s responsibility.

This misguided view has become so pervasive that even our government professionals within the police and courts have come to believe that indeed they are the only ones who can speak and act on law enforcement matters.

How can we surrender our role in law enforcement to only a limited number of government professionals versus a potential sea of human rights abusers and criminals? How? But this is the view of too many today.

Such government professionals cannot and will not be there all of the time when rights are abused and laws are broken. Building an ever larger army of such professionals in the delusional belief that will really ensure the protection of our rights and law is deceptive.

Who should stop a thug beating an elderly woman in the street?
Who should help protect a child being sexually abused, a woman being raped, or any of us being violently attacked?
Who should tell a thief to stop their actions, and take efforts to stop them or photograph them?
Why would this not be OUR responsibility as citizens?

Do we really think we should surrender our role in law enforcement in these areas?
Is this really just “someone else’s problem”?
Is this really only a problem for when the government professionals are available to act?

Thankfully for me as a child, such a “regular person” understood that we are all responsible for law enforcement. Mrs. O was an elderly black American woman in the public housing project where I grew up in Pennsylvania. I was a young boy delivering papers when I was knocked off my bicycle in the night by a criminal with a knife. The white criminal man came from behind me with a knife to my throat. He wanted my “collections” – a whole ten dollars.

Let me tell you, we almost never saw the police when I lived in the housing projects, and when we did, God love them, they were always too late. I understand many frustrated people on that topic. I know – I lived it too, and it in that case, it didn’t matter what your race was, we just were simply viewed as a “different class” of people. That is simply the way it was. Years, later, we eventually moved out of the project housing, and we still loved the police so much that my mother worked as a local policewoman, and I went to work at the FBI. We have loved the police. But we always understood that law enforcement is the responsibility for every citizen.

Mrs. O looked at the window in her house in the projects where I was being held at knife point. She could have done anything, and most would not blame her for looking away. She could have called the police, who everyone in “the projects” knew would show up when they felt like it. She could have let two white guys settle it out. She could have let some other, younger, neighbor deal with it. She could have rightly been afraid that the man with knife might do something to her, if not then, he could retaliate later. When we choose fear and indecision, we have so many options and choices.

But it was a dark winter night, and Mrs. O didn’t do any of those. She stepped outside in the cold dark unafraid, and with the sternest voice she could muster, she told that man to drop that knife and leave me alone. And he did and fled. So Mrs. O is always going to be my personal hero. But she wouldn’t view it that way at all. Not at all. It was simply the responsible thing to do. If she hadn’t been responsible, everything I have done to try to help in human rights or anything in my life might not have never happened. That’s how essential it is for us to be responsible for the law enforcement and human rights of our fellow human beings.

We don’t have to surrender to those violating our human rights and laws. We don’t have to depend on government professionals to solve all our problems in human rights and law enforcement. But this is more than just being responsible, we really need to rethink if we are taking the right approach to law enforcement in general.

Over the past decade or more, in the United States of America, we have come to think that we need to supersize our law enforcement agencies and their resources, mostly due to terrorist threats. The downside to this type of thinking is the idea that we can somehow “outsource” our individual responsibility for law enforcement. I can tell you from personal experience, and I am sure many of you could too, there is no way that we can do that. We need to all be responsible for law enforcement.

When considering law enforcement, the only “them” versus “us” that there should be are those who respect human rights and the law, and those who do not. It really must be that simple. That begins with the view that we are not waiting for someone with a badge to protect the rights and safety of our fellow human beings.

The other problem with the idea of a “standing army” of law enforcement government professionals is how to keep them effectively employed. We cannot have any such domestic law enforcement armies who become beholden to arrest rates and statistical averages to justify their professional employment.

The New York Post recently reported with horror that the NYPD will “only make arrests when they have to,” as if this was something bad. If we have so many idle police professionals who think that they need to be making arrests when they DON’T have to, we have a real problem there. Perhaps we need more citizens willing to stand up to criminals and less of a “standing army” looking for something to do to justify budgets and salaries.

In the local Washington DC area, especially over the past several years, I have witnessed excessive use of police activity for questionable productivity. Last week, I saw traffic stopped for miles as a 40 motorcycle police force delivered a police officer dressed as Santa Claus to some event. I am sure it was worthy, and I am certainly I am big fan of Santa Claus (!), but we really need to have some degree of balance in the use of our government resources. A “standing army” looking for something to do is going to increasingly do less to protect human rights and the law, and get more in the way of such human rights and disrupt public order. Our police should be busy enough that they do only arrest those they need to arrest. When we think that balance is a problem, we need to reconsider our professional resource allocations in law enforcement. But the fundamental answer has to be more involvement by the public in law enforcement. Professional law enforcement cannot and will not be everywhere.

The same city in Pennsylvania, where Mrs. O stood up against a knife-wielding attacker to save my life, has changed a great deal in the past decade. No doubt much of this is economic pressures. But there is something else, the growing view over time that law enforcement is someone else’s job. The street I moved to after leaving the housing projects has become a war zone, with gun fights in the street, and shooting in front of churches. In this city, the ice cream stands have become a haven for drug dealers and criminals. Elderly women are being robbed, beaten, raped, and killed for a handful of dollars – in broad daylight. Children are being regularly sexually abused by predators, starved to death by their parents, and thrown in the trunks of cars and abused by “upright parents.” Even a nun is raped in broad daylight. This is where I grew up. It makes me sick to my stomach. That is what happens when you abandon respect for human rights and law, and you surrender your law enforcement responsibility to the “professionals.”

The government professional police in this city? Well, they learned the lesson our nation is going to learn. There aren’t enough police, and there can’t ever be enough police. More badges wasn’t and isn’t the answer for effective large-scale law enforcement. The local area simply can’t afford it, and even if they could afford it, there wouldn’t be enough. Until more of the people have a zero tolerance attitude towards criminals, there couldn’t be enough police.

When you surrender your responsibility for law enforcement, you surrender an important part of being the citizen of a community. We in human rights need to be a part of that. Criminals are enemies of human rights. Criminal are enemies of the human rights of security, safety, dignity, liberty, and equality. Criminals have rejected those shared human rights priorities for their own rules and their own selfish priorities.

It is our responsibility to defy and stand up to such criminals, whether they are a thug on the street or they are Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir. A criminal is a criminal. A human rights violator is a human rights violator. They don’t need to just fear the enforcement by government law enforcement professionals. These criminals need to expect the rejection, the contempt, the disgust, and the active defiance by the citizens of the world. The answer to law enforcement is seen by looking in your mirror. They are our responsibility.

The answer to protecting human rights and stopping criminals is not simply more arrests, but more public rejection, contempt, and defiance to criminals. I wouldn’t be writing this, if Mrs. O hadn’t come out her door on that winter night. This type of story is repeated many times around the nation and the world. These stories of public law enforcement don’t make the headlines or the professional statistics, but without a public responsibility for law enforcement, we can’t possibly have enough police professionals to do their job.

Work in professional law enforcement is grim and demanding. When I worked in the FBI, every day was about murder, rape, sometimes finding out information on body parts of mutilated people to help find their bodies. It was about every amoral thief and psychopathic killers. That is very grim stuff. But with all due respect to those brave men and women in law enforcement, I disagree with the politicians who say that professional law enforcement is the “toughest job in the world.” We have people in every profession with the “toughest jobs,” including medical personnel dealing with the terminally ill, soldiers literally facing life and death situations, those trying to teach the disabled, those saving lives in our hospitals and clinics, and men and women working their hearts out every day to provide a basis for this nation and for this world to survive. They all have very “tough jobs.”

Our politicians need to stop denigrating every other profession, and politically positioning government professionals in law enforcement as the only exceptional position as the answer to crime. That is not true, and does no good for law enforcement and law and order. It perpetuates this misguided “blue” versus everyone else thinking.

Most dangerously, it perpetuates the misguided myth that without government professionals there would be no law enforcement. Wrong. If we are not sharing the “toughest job” of law enforcement, our social responsibility for one another needs to change.

Human rights and law enforcement are the responsibility for all of us. Everywhere. All the time.

We are all responsible for equality and liberty.

America’s Police Must Not Declare War on Americans

As a good friend to law enforcement, who has worked for many years to support law and order and criminal justice, I am reaching out to the police community. We have seen terrible travesties of justice over the past several months in Ferguson, Missouri, New York City (NYC), and Cleveland, Ohio. People have been understandably disturbed and distressed by the events, and the view in the minds that some in police that they are “above” the very law that they are paid to enforce.

To those outside the law enforcement community, you cannot imagine how grim and dark their world can sometimes be. They see the worst of the worst every day. Their lives are not just dotted with reports and deadlines, they are strewn with human body parts, murdered children, and every disgusting travesty you can imagine. Even a desk job in law enforcement requires a strong stomach, and often the patience of Job.

But recently, we have also seen too many embarrassing police individuals using excessive force on minor issues or crimes, as well as on protesters. We have seen police individuals pulling guns on protesting individuals, and gassing children. We have seen individuals who should, at most, have been given a ticket for a minor crime, treated with excessive police force resulting in their deaths. To anyone who loves the police, and who loves law enforcement, we must all know that this is wrong. Last Saturday, I joined my brothers and sisters in a march on Washington DC to call for improved police training, and a rigorous defense of the civil and Constitutional rights for black Americans and all Americans.

Police Threat Against Reporter - Oakland, California (Source: Michael Short)

Today, in New York City, there was a tragic murder of two police officers, Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos, from a disturbed individual, who was a career criminal, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, with a long history of criminal offenses. Mr. Brinsley’s criminal actions were heinous, despicable, cowardly, and any such criminal would deserve the fullest punishment of the law, had he not killed himself.

As we do for all Americans, our hearts and prayers must go out to the families of these slain police officers, and God only knows, how tragic to be murdered especially during this holiday season. We pray for them, we pray for peace for them, and we pray for justice to ensure their loved one’s murder is fully prosecuted according to the law. This is the point – our call for actions must be according to the law. That is what patriotic Americans do in defense of their Constitution.

This is also a vow that all NYC police officers make in their oath of duties – to support the Constitution of the United States. This is not a choice when it is convenient; it is a mandate. So we must also find the actions to promote conflict morally and ethically repugnant by those individuals within police organizations calling for actions in defiance of law enforcement, in defiance of our Constitution, and seeking to promote conflict with the American people. We find such actions to be a slur against law enforcement and everything it represents.

Too often, we have seen firebrands within police unions, and we have seen police faced with masses of protesters using extreme force or calling for extreme actions. In Ferguson, Missouri, the nation and the world was shocked and dismayed to see military-style over-reaction by police officers against protesters, including shooting a Christian pastor trying to keep the peace in the stomach with rubber bullets causing serious physical damage. In Oakland, California, we have seen photographs of an undercover police officer pulling a gun on a reporter and on a protester on a bicycle.

Police Threat Against Protester - Oakland, California (Source: Michael Short)

Today, after the tragic murder of the two New York City Police Department (NYPD) police officers, the Sergeants Benevolent Association (SBA) of the NYPD have used this tragic murders of these police officers to attack the Mayor of NYC, Bill de Blasio.  On Twitter, the NYPD SBA states that “The blood of 2 executed police officers is on the hands of Mayor de Blasio.”  The NYPD needs to understand that Mayor de Blasio is not a career criminal.  The NYPD needs to understand Mayor de Blasio is not a murderer, who must be prosecuted.

NYPD SBA Notice Blaming Mayor for Criminal's Actions (Source: NYPD SBA Twitter)

Furthermore, the NYPD and police departments across this great nation must understand that their mission of law enforcement is respected by the people of this nation, as well as their sacrifices. This mission and respect does not give the right of extremists and firebrands within police departments the power to believe they can declare “war” on the American people, and act with impunity to do as they will, rather than as the law demands. The New York Times, various news media, and Twitter, are reporting that a NYPD Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association (PBA) has been issuing troubling statements likely to incite more trouble.

Americans have seen too many troubling firebrand comments from the NYPD PBA’s president Patrick Lynch, including vulgar comments about the Mayor on Thursday, and veiled threats in directing police to be less responsive. Patrick Lynch has a penchant for holding confrontational press conferences, where instead of calling for law enforcement, he is focused on bitter anger against Mayor de Blasio and states the mayor has been “throwing New York City police officers under the bus.”

We don’t need more out of control anger; we need deliberate respect for the law and public safety. I have seen Patrick Lynch repeatedly on television, and his cringe-worthy comments should embarrass and shame anyone who loves law enforcement.  He needs to understand the message he is sending that law enforcement needs to have a different standard of “law” than the rest of us. That is troubling and it is wrong.

NYPD BPA Press Conference Attacking Mayor (Source: NYPD PBA Web Site)

Double-standards are the very cancer which undermines the equality and liberty, which are the basis for both of our American and our universal rights. I have also seen, directly on the NYPD PBA web site, the circulated comments by this same NYPD PBA calling for the New York City Mayor to be denied to have a right to present at the funerals of these police officers. Under the circumstances, with too frequent excessive actions and threats by police figures and by even armed police in crowds, Americans are becoming increasingly troubled by the idea that some extremists within the police believe they have the right to declare a “war” on Americans.

As one who has dedicated many years of my professional life and who respects law enforcement, I can only urge all those in law enforcement to remember their mission, their duty, and responsibility. I can also remind those extremists who shame the mission of the police – to remember that if there ever was a war between the police and the American people, we all know who will win that war.

Such frequent firebrand and threatening language by police figures is not in the interest of law enforcement, public safety, and common sense. I would urge all those in police organizations to get those inciting such violence to be removed from office as quickly as possible; they are not looking out for the interests of either the police or the American people. We need police organizations and police leaders to make positive, constructive statement regarding law enforcement, law and order, and maintaining public safety. In this sad and combustible environment, we have seen the New York Times report tonight that someone has obtained a copy of a NYPD PBA memorandum with even more extreme comments.

I can only believe and pray that this is a hoax and is in no way representative of the actual views of the NYPD BPA. However, numerous New York City media organizations are reporting on this alleged memo.

Whether it is true or not, the idea that so many will readily BELIEVE it is true – demonstrates the real issue for too many police organization in regaining the trust and confidence of the American people.

This is unfair to hard-working police officers who sacrifice their careers, and as we saw tonight even their lives, to enforce the law. Responsible police leaders must challenge firebrands and extremists within police organizations. They cannot stay silent[ while such incitement is done. Tonight’s New York Times reports that a NYPD BPA memorandum is calling for two units for every call, based on an expectation of police being “executed on a regular basis.” The alleged memorandum concludes that “[the] mayors hands are literally dripping with our blood because of his words actions and polices and we have, for the first time in a number of years, become a ‘wartime’ police department. We will act accordingly.”

Twitter from NYC Journalist: Reporting that NYPD BPA Seeks "Wartime" Practices Against Americans (Source: Twitter)

Again, I believe and pray that this alleged NYPD PBA memo repeatedly reported by NYC media will turn out to be a hoax, although this was published by a journalist who claims he has police sources to prove this is genuine. Police officers around the nation must be concerned about such counterproductive messages with the perception that our police are planning a “war” against the American people, and do not care about Constitutional and civil rights. Police should also denounce the extremist comments by other police and political organizations which seek to attack political views and protests which call for equal protection under the law. In fact, such equal protection under the law is very goal of law enforcement individuals everywhere and in every capacity. We all share the responsibility for public safety, for respect for the law, and to work to ensure the law in our nation and our world is enforced through proper and responsible means.

This responsibility begins first with a consistent respect for all of our human rights, including the equality and liberty of our citizens, in the United States of America and around the world.

Update: The NYPD PBA has told the press that “P.B.A. spokesman Al O’Leary said in an email his union did not send the memo,” and that is thus far the extent of their denial of such extremist remarks, which are minimal and deeply troubling.   Sadly, we have also seen former NY Governor Pataki blame the NYC Mayor for the murders by this criminal, with Mr. Pataki ignoring his vow to support the U.S. Constitution, which is the real basis behind such objections in abusive behavior against American citizens.

Shameful public message by former Governor Pataki blaming NYC's Mayor for the murder of police officers (Source: Twitter)


R.E.A.L. Rejects Taliban’s Crimes Against Humanity, Calls for ICC to Act

The Taliban’s barbarous mass murder of children in Peshawar today should be condemned by all people of all faiths, nationalities, and political views. The Taliban’s continued practice of mass murder of children and targeted killings of children is nothing less than crimes against humanity. There is no rationale, no justification, and no defense for such crimes against humanity by the Taliban.

Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) continues to stand by our position in unequivocal support for our universal human rights for all people, including the right to life and safety. The actions of the Taliban in this mass murder of children demonstrates their rejection of all human rights, and their choice to be enemies of humanity itself. For many years, R.E.A.L. has protested the Taliban’s actions, their ideology, and those misguided state leaders who believe that they can “negotiate” with those criminals who deliberately and consciously murder children, women, and other innocent people.

We call upon ALL people, all human rights leaders, and all world leaders to condemn their actions and the Taliban’s anti-human rights ideology without qualification.

We also call upon the International Criminal Court (ICC) to act upon Article 7 to bring international criminal charges against these Taliban leaders and these Taliban murderers, based on their systemic crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, extermination, and other inhumane acts.

These crimes against humanity, as defined by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Explanatory Memorandum, “are particularly odious offences in that they constitute a serious attack on human dignity or grave humiliation or a degradation of human beings.” This mass murder in Peshawar is another in a series of systemic crimes against humanity by this Taliban terrorist organization, which has too frequently received state protection with the unwillingness of nations of the world to take criminal action against the Taliban.

Therefore, we call upon the ICC to bring charges of crimes against humanity against the Taliban, their leaders, and their members.

Pakistan states that it has supported the aims of the International Court and voted for the Rome Statute in 1998. Afghanistan acceded the Rome Statute on February 10, 2003. R.E.A.L. calls upon the ICC to act upon the criminal Taliban organization to protect humanity from their continuing crimes against humanity.

Americans Protest for Black American Lives and Justice – Black Lives Matter

#‎NotInOurAmerica‬, ‪#‎BlackLivesMatter‬ – Protests in Washington DC Because ALL LIVES MATTER – Protesters: Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, Every Religion, Every Political View, Young, Old, Men, Women, Healthy, Disabled. Blind Woman Marching with her cane. Elderly woman in a wheelchair. American Law Enforcement and American Government – TIME TO LISTEN TO YOUR PEOPLE!

Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) Calls for Justice for Black Americans – and We Reject Criminal Police Abuse – that is NOT Law Enforcement, and Must NOT be in OUR AMERICA

December 10: Human Rights Protest Outside DC Pakistan Embassy

On December 10, Human Rights Day, members of human rights groups, Hindu groups, Christian groups, joined together outside the Pakistan Embassy in Washington, DC calling for an end to the abuse of human rights of religious minorities.

Pakistan Embassy – Washington DC; R.E.A.L.’s Imm Prepares for Protest

Human rights campaigners included: Pakistan Human Rights Collective, Hindu American Foundation (HAF),  and Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.), among others. The protest took place on the 66th anniversary of the United Nations’ signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on December 10, 1948.

The protesters called for the release of 12 year old Pakistan Hindu girl Kajal Bheel, whose forced abduction and forced religious conversion has drawn world-wide outrage. The protesters called for Pakistan courts to allow the release of Kajal Bheel from her forced abduction, and urged support for the legal efforts to defend Kajal Bheel by the Global Human Rights Defence organization (GHRD).

GHRD is planning for the next court case to defend her on December 19 in Pakistan, and they are calling for people to support her human rights by signing their petition at:
http://ghrd.org/get-involved/petitions/save-kajal/savekajal/
and on Twitter at #savekajal

Protesters also pointed out the recent of abduction and forced conversaion of other Pakistan Hindu girls, including Neelam Kohli (11 years old), Anjali Menghwar (12 years old), Kiran Kumari (14 years old), Parsa Kolhi, and Wali Kolhi. Protesters displayed signs condemning the practice of such child abduction and forced religious conversion to Islam.

The oppression and attack on Pakistan Hindu religious minorities was also demonstrated by protesters who pointed out that Hindus went from a 24 percent minority in 1948 to about 1.6 percent of the Pakistan population in 1998.

R.E.A.L.’s Jeffrey Imm also pointed out how such human rights abuse of Hindu girls was a violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including articles 3, 16, and 18. Jeffrey Imm also denounced a pattern of attacks in Pakistan against Hindu temples.

R.E.A.L.’s Jeffrey Imm Calls for End to Pakistan Religious Minority Oppression

The protesters also decried the abuse of Pakistan Christians and other minorities, noting the recent mob attack on a Pakistan Christian couple (burning them to death), and called for an end to oppressive Pakistan blasphemy law used to give a death sentence to Christian Asia Bibi, which was used in the arrest of Christian Zafar Bhatti (who was shot to death), and oppression of other religious minorities. Protesters held signs condemning the Pakistan blasphemy law and calling for its change. Protesters called for the release of such Pakistan political prisoners as Christian Asia Bibi, who have been imprisoned on spurious “blasphemy” charges.

R.E.A.L.’s Jeffrey Imm called for the Pakistan government and the Pakistan people to end their oppression of all religious minorities (Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Ahmadiyaa, and Shiites) and called for Pakistan to show human reason and conscience to extend such basic human rights and human dignity to Pakistan religious minorities and all Pakistan citizens. Imm stated such oppression needed to end in all parts of Pakistan.

The protesters sought to inform the public of these conditions, while challenging the failure of the Pakistan government to protect the human rights of such citizens. Protesters also sought to demonstrate solidarity with other religious minorities in Pakistan who have protested their oppression.

R.E.A.L.’s Jeffrey Imm stated that while this protest was in Washington DC at this event, that protesters will seek to provide solidarity in human rights campaigns in Pakistan. He stated: “the day will come when we and others will have such calls for universal human rights and dignity in Islamabad, and throughout every part of Pakistan, Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, and every territorial area. To those protesting there for human rights now, please know that we stand with you, and know that the day will come when we are standing side by side with you in Pakistan to call for human rights for all.”