Bahrain keeps activist behind bars

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The Bahraini regime has decided to keep prominent rights activist, Nabeel Rajab, behind bars for a longer time by adjourning his trial.

On Wednesday, a court in the capital Manamah adjourned Rajab’s trial and set a new hearing for Sunday.

Many rights activists and organizations have called on the Al Khalifa regime to release the activist, who is also the director of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR).

In a tweet shared in early October, Rajab said the Bahrainis that join the ISIL Takfiri terrorists in Syria and Iraq are actually members of security agencies belonging to the Persian Gulf monarchy.

“Many #Bahrain men who joined #terrorism #ISIS came from security institutions and those institutions were the first ideological incubator,” Rajab tweeted, using another abbreviation for the ISIL.

The activist was detained after the tweet and charged with “publicly insulting official institutions.” He may have to serve jail terms of up to three years.

He was under the regime’s custody in Jaw prison in eastern Bahrain from July 9, 2012, until May this year.

Since mid-February 2011, thousands of pro-democracy protesters have held numerous demonstrations in the streets of Bahrain, calling for the Al Khalifa royal family to relinquish power.

On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates invaded the country to assist the Bahraini government in its crackdown on peaceful protesters.

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California university students rally to remove Islamophobe Bill Maher as commencement speaker

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TV host Bill Maher’s controversial comments about Islam have sparked a petition to remove him as the December commencement speaker at the University of California, Berkeley.

The Change.org petition, which had gathered nearly 2,000 signatures by Monday afternoon, was authored by Marium Navid, a senator with the student government group Associated Students of the University of California, with the support of Khwaja Ahmed, a member of the the campus advocacy group Middle Eastern, Muslim and South Asian Coalition, the campus’ Daily Californian reported Sunday.

“Bill Maher is a blatant bigot and racist who has no respect for the values UC Berkeley students and administration stand for,” the petition reads. “In a time where climate is a priority for all on campus, we cannot invite an individual who himself perpetuates a dangerous learning environment. Bill Maher’s public statements on various religions and cultures are offensive and his dangerous rhetoric has found its way into our campus communities.”

Navid said allowing Maher to speak at Berkeley, a campus made famous by 1964’s free speech movement, would give legitimacy to provocative comments he made earlier this month on his HBO show, “Real Time With Bill Maher,” describing Islam as “the only religion that acts like the Mafia, that will fucking kill you if you say the wrong thing, draw the wrong picture or write the wrong book.”

“People say he has the right to freedom of speech, and I agree with that,” Navid told the San Jose Mercury News. “The problem is that when you bring him to the university, you’re pretty much putting him into a privileged position. You’re raising his voice.”

This spring saw numerous student protests against commencement speakers at other colleges and universities, including successful campaigns to cancel Condoleezza Rice at Rutgers University, International Monetary Fund head Christine Lagarde at Smith College and former UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau at Haverford College.

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Google employee held for trying to join ISIS terrorists in Iraq

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A 30-year-old former Google employee, who was allegedly plotting to join the Islamic State (ISIS) ranks in Iraq, has been detained by Hyderabad Police.

Software engineer Munawad Salman, hailing from Tamil Nadu, got attracted to jihadist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) through social media networks and had planned to join its forces, a senior police officer said today.

Salman, who had worked at the Hyderabad office of technology giant Google before quitting his job around seven months back, was picked up on Tuesday following inputs that he was making efforts to procure a visa to Saudi Arabia from where he allegedly planned to flee to Iraq, he said.

He reportedly studied posts of the ISIS and their propaganda on the internet and social media platforms for past six months and had planned to join the group’s fighters in Iraq. “Salman was picked up yesterday and he was bound over also. We have counselled him through his parents and his brother to keep up good behaviour. He was asked to keep away from indulging in those activities. Now he has been let off. We have not registered any case,” a senior intelligence officer told PTI.

“He has been asked to desist from such things, and if he is found indulging in such activities again, a specific case will be booked and he will be arrested,” he said.

“After quitting his work at Google, he is jobless. He was planning to go out of the country and trying for a visa. He is from Tamil Nadu and for job purpose he came to Hyderabad,” the officer said.

The Hyderabad Police had in August “foiled” an alleged attempt by a group of four young men from the city, including two engineers, to join the rank of ISIS after they were tracked down to Kolkata from where they were allegedly preparing to flee to Iraq.

The youth, who were “attracted” towards the ISIS propaganda on social networking sites and net-based mobile messenger, were questioned and let off after counselling.

The Hyderabad Police had on October 22 arrested a suspected SIMI operative and an aide of Indian Mujahideen media in-charge (both youth from Maharashtra) from Secunderabad. They were allegedly planning to go to Afghanistan to get training from militant organisation Al Qaeda for carrying out terror activities in India, police had earlier said.

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Sri Lanka landslide kills over dozen

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At least a dozen people have been killed and hundreds of others remain missing following heavy rains that caused a massive landslide in central Sri Lanka.

Rescue workers have begun their search for more than 300 people who are either missing or unaccounted for after the huge landslide hit the village of Koslanda Wednesday morning.

Koslanda is located some 200 kilometers east of the capital, Colombo.

“The area where the landslide has been reported was mostly occupied by tea estate laborers. It is most of them who have been reported missing,” said Sarath Lal Kumara, a spokesman for the Sri Lanka Disaster Management Center (DMC).

Residents in the surrounding villages have been ordered to evacuate the area as search operations continue.

Around 500 soldiers have been dispatched to assist the affected, said Major General Mano Perera.

Meanwhile, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has directed the Defense Ministry and the Ministry of Disaster Management to allocate additional relief teams to help in the search and rescue operations.

Residents and aid workers expressed grief at the widespread devastation amid fears that the death toll could be much higher.

Sri Lanka has experienced massive landslides and monsoon rains in recent years.

In 2011, flooding killed over a dozen people and displaced more than one million others in many parts of the country.

Landslides and floods also killed nearly 20 people and forced more than 150,000 others from their homes in the southern districts of Galle and Kalutara, the southeastern districts of Kegalla and Ratnapura and the central hilly areas in 2008.

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If Husayn was christain

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If Husayn was one of us, we would have put up a flag and a minaret for him in every part of the earth and called the people to Christianity

Antoine Bara

 

Saudi Grand Mufti: ISIL, al-Qaeda, al-Nusra Takfiri groups have no connection to Islam

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Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh says terrorist groups attempting to portray themselves as Islamic have no connection to Islam.

The well-known mufti made the remarks in response to a question by one of his disciples seeking his opinion on terrorist groups, including the ISIL Takfiri group and the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front, the Saudi-based newspaper Al-Hayat reported.

“If you were to have a thorough examining look, you would find that they do not have a shred of connection to Islam,” al-Sheikh said in reference to the terrorist groups.

“They have adorned their opinions and vanities with the robes of Islam in order to deceive the people. You would find them to be misguided, for they have shed blood, violated sanctities, looted funds, created mischief in the earth and stolen countries unlawfully,” the grand mufti said.

The ISIL terrorists currently control large swathes of territory across Syria and Iraq. They have committed terrible atrocities in both countries, including mass executions and beheading of local residents as well as foreign nationals. Al-Nusra Front is a branch of al-Qaeda that is mainly operating in Syria and Lebanon.

In his remarks, the Saudi mufti also referred to Muslim Brotherhood, which is considered by some Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, as a terrorist group.

“All the methods of these groups are false. There are things behind them and there is no good in them. We do not trust them or trust their people. Whoever invites our youth to join these misguided factions is mistaken and is straying far away from the right path,” al-Sheikh said.

This is while senior Iraqi and Syrian leaders have blamed Saudi Arabia and Qatar for the security crisis and growing terrorism in their country, denouncing Riyadh as a major supporter of terrorist groups including ISIL.

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Lebanese Hezbollah slams Bahrain ruling to suspend al-Wefaq

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The Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah has denounced a ruling by the Bahraini regime to suspend the activities of the country’s prominent opposition party al-Wefaq ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections in the Persian Gulf kingdom.

In a statement on Tuesday, Hezbollah said the ban on al-Wefaq party “proves that the elections (scheduled for November 22) are sham, pre-determined and far away from representing the will of the Bahraini people and the political powers.”

Hezbollah also said the ban indicates the repressive and totalitarian nature of the Al Khalifa regime, warning against the negative repercussions on the political future of the Persian Gulf state.

“The ruling authorities in Bahrain are not determined to make serious steps in order to solve the incurable political crisis,” said the statement.

On Tuesday, the Manama administrative court imposed the three-month ban on al-Wefaq after it threatened to boycott the November 22 elections.

The opposition party dismissed the ruling as “irrational and irresponsible”, saying, “The tyrannical dictatorship in Bahrain is ruling with an iron fist and moving to destroy the political and social life by blocking the people out.”

Eligible voters in the country will elect members of the 40-seat Council of Representatives in Bahrain next month for the first time after the beginning of anti-regime protests in the country.

In 2011, al-Wefaq pulled 18 of its representatives out of parliament after a deadly regime crackdown on Shia protesters demanding reforms in the country.

The Bahraini opposition has been demanding the formation of a constitutional monarchy, an independent election commission, as well as the appointment of a prime minister by parliamentary majority instead of the king.

Since mid-February 2011, thousands of protesters have held numerous demonstrations in the streets of Bahrain, calling on the Al Khalifa royal family to step down.

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France: Muslim funeral home in Orléans defaced with Islamophobic graffiti

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Saphir News reports that last Friday night racist vandals broke into the office of the Muslim Assistance funeral home in Orléans and defaced the walls with Islamophobic graffiti.

The graffiti featured swastikas and Celtic crosses, and a drawing of a pig’s head, accompanied by slogans such as “Islam out”, “close or die” and “dirty Arabs”. Computer equipment was stolen and a photocopier damaged.

The manager of Muslim Assistance, Abdessamad Errich, later received anonymous phone calls boasting of the attack. Last month he had been subjected to telephone threats.

The vandalism may be connected to the fact that Errich publicly opposed the recent closure of a Muslim school at La Chapelle-Saint-Mesmin, which was itself the object of a graffiti attack at the end of September.


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Pakistani man killed in Kashmir

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An elderly Pakistani man has been killed by Indian troops after a fresh exchange of fire between Pakistan and India along the de facto border in Kashmir region, Pakistani officials say.
 
Abdul Majeed Mughal, a senior Pakistani government official tasked to monitor cross-border fire in the region, said that the 75-year-old man was killed on Tuesday by “unprovoked” fire from Indian forces outside his home in the Chari Kot border village.

“A 75-year old man was killed due to Indian firing in Chari Kot,” Mughal said.

Pakistani officials also confirmed that Pakistani troops returned fire.

This month Kashmir has witnessed some of the worst frontier shelling in years, leaving at least 20 civilians dead, and forcing thousands to flee their homes.

Islamabad and New Delhi have fought two wars over Kashmir since their independence from British colonial rule in 1947. The archrivals lay claim to the whole region but each only controls its own section.

India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire along the Line of Control in 2003, and a year later launched talks aimed at brokering a regional peace.

The process was, however, suspended after over 160 people lost their lives in the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks, which New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militants.

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Golden Sayings of the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H) about Imam Hussain

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* “Hussain is of myself and I am of Hussain. O’ Allah be pleased with those who please Hussain and hate those who hate Hussain.”

These holy words were uttered by the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H), the one who never speaks of his own desire but only as inspired to him by the one Mighty in power.

* The muslims feeling gratitude towards the Prophet (P.B.U.H) for his efforts in guiding them offered to reward him with gold. The Prophet (P.B.U.H) answered them with a verse that was revealed to him, ” Say, No reward do I ask of you for this except being kind to those of kin” (verse 23/sura 42). Al- Kashaf ( an authoritative interpretation of the Holy Quran) narrates that when this was revealed, people asked the Prophet “O, Prophet of God, who are the ones whose respect is made obligatory upon us in this verse?” The Prophet (P.B.U.H) answered “They are Ali, Fatema and their two sons.”

* “Hassan and Hussain are masters of youth in Paradise.”

* One day, when the Holy Prophet was in prostaration (sajda) during a prayer, Imam Hussain (a.s) then climbed on his back. The Holy Prophet remained in prostration untill Imam Hussain (a.s) came down himself.

*Ibn Saad (an eighth century historian) narrates from Ash-Shabi that Imam Ali (a.s) while on his way to Siffin passed through the desert of Karbala. He stopped and wept bitterly. When asked regarding the cause of his weeping, he commented that one day he visited the Holy Prophet and found him weeping. When he asked the cause, the Apostle of Allah replied, ” O’ Ali, Jibrael has just been with me and informed me that my son Hussain would be martyred in Karbala, a place near the bank of the river Euphrates. This moved me so much that I could not help weeping.”

*Anas bin Harith narrates that : One day the Holy Prophet(P.B.U.H) ascended the pulpit to deliver a sermon to his associates while Imam Hussain and Imam Hasan were sitting before him. When the sermon concluded, he put his left hand on Imam Hussain and raising his head towards Heaven, said: “O my Lord! I am Muhammad Thy slave and Thy Prophet, and these two are the distinguished and pious members of my family who would fortify my cause after me. O my Lord! Gabriel has informed me that my son Hussain will be killed.O my Lord, bless my cause in Hussain’s martyrdom, make him the leader of the martyrs, be Thou his helper and guardian and do not bless assassins.’