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6/9/2006 6:43:00 PM GMT
 

British Muslims are angry at police treatment, saying that they’re being unjustly targeted in the fight against terrorism, AFP reported.

Muslims’ anger was fueled after last Friday’s raid on a house in the Forest Gate area of east London in which two UK Muslim brothers were arrested, one of whom was shot.

Both men have been detained without charge, and investigators failed to find evidence of any suspect or criminal activity.

"People in the community are angry about the raid, they are angry about the shooting, they are angry about the lack of evidence and they are angry that the two men have been detained for so long without charge," John Rees, national secretary of the anti-Iraq war political party Respect, told AFP.

Rees also drew comparisons between Friday's raid and the bungled police shooting of an innocent Brazilian man following the July 7 attacks on London.

"There is, at the very least, the gravest possible grounds for concern and the most pressing need for people to voice their misgivings if two innocent people are shot by the police in the same city in less than 12 months," he told Muslims at a meeting in a community center near the brothers’ house.

Pressure group “Stop Political Terror” is also organizing a demonstration on Sunday afternoon to protest Friday’s raid.

"The purpose is to unite and make sure we get the message that no one should use this as an opportunity to divide our wonderful and very colourful community," said lawyer Abdurahman Jafar, who is involved in the rally.

Ridley, a patron of Stop Political Terror, criticized the government for its “flawed information gathering”.

"From today until this 'terroristisation' of the Muslim community is stopped immediately I believe all Muslims should withdraw their support” for the police, she said.

Ahmed Khan, a 47-year-old delivery man originally from Pakistan, said he no longer trusts London's Metropolitan Police. "I have very little faith in them," he said.

6/10/2006 9:00:00 AM GMT
 

In a press conference held Friday in Moscow in the wake of the abduction of four Russian diplomats in Iraq, Co-Chairman of Russian Council of Muftis Nafigullah Ashirov said that the incident could be the work of Western special services, reported Interfax.

"The Iraqi people and the Islamic world would not profit from such an act. Who would profit? Political analysis and common sense would suggest those who are dissatisfied with Russian policy, which runs counter to the hegemonic intentions of the U.S. and the Western world," Ashirov said.

He stated that the abduction of the Russian diplomats probably was "an act of revenge on Russia, on the Russian people, for their firm position that is supported by the majority of the world community."

"Islamic ideology and Sharia Law forbid such acts against diplomatic missions because Islam is based on the fact that every member of a community is responsible for his actions."

The kidnapping of the diplomats "could be an act developed by the special services which started the war in Iraq," said Abdul-Vakhed Niyazov, President of Islamic Cultural Center of Russia, who also stressed that the Iraqis "see Russia as their friend, because Russia repeatedly spoke against occupation."

The cleric also called on Iraqis help Russia’s Muslims secure the release of the Russians in Iraq.

In a joint appeal by the Russian Council of Muftis, the Central Muslim Department and the Coordinating Center of North Caucasian Muslims, Mufti Nafigulla Ashirov said also during the conference:

“Russian Muslims ask the people of Iraq and the international Islamic community to assist the search for and the release of the Russian diplomats,”

“On behalf of the Russian Muslim Ummah (community), we call on our Iraqi friends and coreligionists in the Middle East to help the search for and the release of the Russian citizens,” he said, adding that the Muslim Community in Russia is ready to send a delegate to Iraq in an attempt to save the four Russians.

6/10/2006 3:14:00 PM GMT
 

A leaked Metropolitan Police report, cited by The Guardian, alleges that Muslim officers are more likely to become corrupt than their white counterparts, sparking condemnation of Muslim Communities.

Suspicion was raised Saturday over the timing of a leaked internal report, which comes at a time Scotland Yard faces mounting criticism over the arrest of two Muslim brothers amidst controversial anti-terrorism raid.

The two Muslims, arrested without charge, were later released.

The report supposed to be aimed at probing complaints raised against ethnic police, blamed cultural and family backgrounds for the difference.

The internal report, prepared by an Asian officer, claimed that: "Asian officers and in particular Pakistani Muslim officers are under greater pressure from the family, the extended family ... and their community against that of their white colleagues to engage in activity that might lead to misconduct or criminality."

The Guardian Saturday claimed the report further stated that there’s a cash culture in British Pakistani life in which "assisting your extended family is considered a duty," recommending anti-corruption training for Asian officers.

Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, decried the report, stressing that corruption among officers should be addressed "but just to make a blanket comment on the community is not good at all, especially in this period".

6/11/2006 8:15:00 AM GMT
 

Responding to biased media reports covering the arrest of 17 Muslim men and boys by Canadian authorities for allegedly plotting to bomb buildings in the Toronto area, the executive director of the Canadian chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, with regional offices nationwide and in Canada, wrote yesterday in the Montreal Gazette saying: “Radicals exist everywhere and that they exist in the Canadian Muslim community should be no surprise to anyone.”

“Whether these individuals are willing to translate their radical ideas into radical actions is another matter altogether. At this point, 17 individuals stand accused before the courts of engaging in such actions. It is essential that they be prosecuted fairly and transparently in the courts and not by the media or the public. This is the essence of the rule of law,"CAIR-CAN executive director wrote.

“Security agencies cannot achieve their goals of ensuring public safety without community co-operation. In that sense the Muslim community is effectively the first line of defence against this sort of extremism.

“And Muslim communities throughout Canada have taken this role very seriously in recent years. The events of 9/11 have had a significant impact on Muslims around the world and especially in North America. In many ways, the events of 9/11 have forced positive action. Most mosques are open to the public more than ever before. Community leaders have actively sought to improve ties between Muslim communities and the broader society.

"One of the men arrested is alleged to have repeatedly railed against Canadian forces in Afghanistan and we now know that the departing “board of directors of the mosque in which he prayed warned the incoming board against his radical ideas.

“However, if the Muslim community is going to be effective in the struggle against containing this type of extremism, there has to be a very strong relationship of trust between the community and security agencies.”

•Fisk: Racism invaded Canada

In The Independent, Robert Fisk also criticised the racist media approach towards Muslims in covering the arrests.

Fisk, an internationally recognized journalist for the Independent and author of Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War (London: André Deutsch, 1990), wrote:

“This has been a good week to be in Canada - or an awful week, depending on your point of view - to understand just how irretrievably biased and potentially racist the Canadian press has become.”

“For, after the arrest of 17 Canadian Muslims on "terrorism" charges, the Toronto Globe and Mail and, to a slightly lesser extent, the National Post, have indulged in an orgy of finger pointing that must reduce the chances of any fair trial and, at the same time, sow fear in the hearts of the country's more than 700,000 Muslims.”

6/11/2006 7:00:00 PM GMT
 

A suspected hate crime is being investigated after a man attacked a prominent Muslim Imam with a knife outside Al Qods mosque in Montreal, police said, CNews reported Saturday.

Yesterday a court charged Pierre Brabant, 34, with armed assault, uttering threats and possession of a dangerous weapon.

Brabant will appear again in court Monday.

He was arrested Friday night after he attacked Imam Said Jazeri outside Al Qods mosque.

Speaking to Canadian Press, Imam Jazeri said he was attacked by a man carrying a butcher's knife as he was leaving the mosque with one of his friends around midnight.

The man pointed the knife at Jazeri and asked: "Do you want to die a martyr?"

Jazeri called the police while the attacker was busy chasing his friend down the street.

"I don't know him, he doesn't me. Why does he have a knife to kill me?" Imam Jazeri said in a telephone interview Saturday.

"The suspect was not only running towards the guys with a weapon, he wanted to cause them harm while at the same time making hateful comments about their religion and their clothing," said Police spokesman Benoit Couture, adding that investigators are considering the attack a hate crime.

"These people have prejudices and it looks like it has to do with our situation these days," the Imam further stated.

The attack on the prominent Muslim Imam in Montreal comes in the wake of the arrest of 17 Muslim men in southern Ontario, on charges, not yet proven, that they were plotting to bomb buildings in the Toronto area.

Given the current climate, Jazeri said, "Muslims have to be a lot more careful and not let people go out at the night by themselves".

"They have to be in groups, they should have a cell phone and call police if there is a dispute."

Imam Jazeri, a well-known leader in Montreal's Muslim community, called for cooler heads to prevail so "everybody lives in peace."

According to unofficial estimates, there are about 600,000 Muslims living in Canada; about 300,000 of whom live in Southwestern Ontario.

Canada houses more than 80 mosques, four of which are based in Ottawa.

And since Islam has no geographical boundaries, scores of Muslims from different races, colors, nationalities, languages, and cultures have emigrated to North America and Europe.

Today, in almost every Canadian city one can easily find Islamic centers, associations, educational institutions, and mosques.

The foundation of the Muslim community in Canada was laid in the West, where the first mosque in North America, Al-Rashid, was built in Edmonton, Alberta, in 1938.

Muslims' early presence in Canada dates back to 1871, when the Canadian census recorded 13 Muslim residents. In 1981 the number of Muslims living in Canada reached 98,165.

Muslims have immigrated to Canada from different parts of the world: Lebanon, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Iran, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Turkey, Somalia, the Caribbean, and South and Central America.

Canada’s Muslims represent different ethnic backgrounds and races, and different nationalities, languages and cultures.