#protests over comments on prophet mohammad

[indiaprimetime]

Agneepath Protest Update: Bharat Bandh Today

Bharat Bandh amid Agnipath protests in the country

[solacekames]

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/10/georgia-gubernatorial-candidate-poses-anti-muslim-activist-181026220648234.html 

Georgia gubernatorial candidate poses with anti-Muslim activist

Rights group demands apology after US Republican candidate Brian Kemp posed with a well-known far-right activist.

10.26.18 With a thumb's up, a half-hug and a smile, Georgia gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp posed for a photograph with a well-known far-right and anti-Muslim activist at a campaign event.

The far-right conspiracy theorist James Stachowiak wore a t-shirt that read, "Allah is not God, and Mohammad is not his prophet", in a photo posted on what appears to be his Twitter account on October 15.

The tweet reads, "This is me a week ago meeting Brian Kemp in August Georgia he will be on the governor of Georgia."

On Friday, the Georgia chapter of the CAIR called on Kemp, a Republican who currently serves as Georgia's Secretary of State, to apologise for the photograph.

With less than two weeks until midterm elections, Kemp's photo controversy comes on the heels of a lengthy spate of a lengthy spate of anti-Muslim incidents in 2017 and 2018, according to a new report.

"I am rarely surprised when I see anti-Muslim bigotry these days, but Mr Kemp should apologise, meet with us and other Georgia Muslim leaders, and renounce this man's support," Edward Ahmed Mitchell, CAIR-Georgia's executive director, told Al Jazeera.

Stachowiak, a pro-Trump activist and former police officer, has been "defaming, harassing and threatening Georgia Muslims for at least the past two years", Mitchell added.

In the past, CAIR-Georgia has had to call the police on Stachowiak over alleged violent threats and intimidation, he said.

At the time of publication, Kemp's campaign spokesperson had not replied to Al Jazeera's request for a comment.

With less than two weeks before US midterm elections, Kemp is polling neck and neck with Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams.

In campaign ads, Kemp, a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump, joked about his willingness to "round up … criminal illegals" in his "big truck" and bragged about owning guns.

Posing with Stachowiak marks the latest in a spate of controversies marring Kemp's campaign, including allegations that Kemp has engaged in voter suppression through his position as Georgia's secretary of state.

In the past, Stachowiak has called on the US military to bomb Mecca, urged people to open fire on Black Lives Matter (BLM) protesters and destroyed copies of the Quran in front of Georgia mosques.

The Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center has described him as "a long-time militia organiser".

Stachowiak has also bragged about his guns. In an August 2016 YouTube video, he lifted a military-grade gun to the camera and held up a bullet with "BLM" written on it in black marker.

"I'll drop you like it's hot, you little maggots," he said in the video. "And by the way, Black Lives Matter are working with the Muslim Brotherhood."

[garudabluffs]

Salman Rushdie: Author stabbed at event in New York state

  Aug 12, 2022 The 75-year-old writer had been subjected to death threats by Iran in the 1980s - when Ayatollah Khomeini declared his works to be blasphemous. New York's governor said a state police officer intervened - saving Sir Salman's life - as well as the event's moderator who was also injured. The attack took place at an event at the Chautauqua Institution in the west of New York state. Warning: This report contains distressing scenes. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7a8_uheJrI    754 Comments 

“What is the freedom of expression without the freedom to offend?” ~Salman Rushdie

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"[4                                                                                    ��                     Evelyn Beatrice Hall (28 September 1868 – 13 April 1956),[1][2][3][Note 1] who wrote under the pseudonym S[tephen] G. Tallentyre, was an English writer best known for her biography of Voltaire entitled The Life of Voltaire, first published in 1903. She also wrote The Friends of Voltaire, which she completed in 1906. In The Friends of Voltaire, Hall wrote the phrase: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"[4] as an illustration of Voltaire's beliefs.[5] This quotation – which is sometimes misattributed to Voltaire himself – is often cited to describe the principle of freedom of speech.[6][7]

As Isaac Asimov's said, 'Violence is the last resort of the incompetent.'

Salman Rushdie: Author on ventilator and unable to speak, agent says

"Salman will likely lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed; and his liver was stabbed and damaged," his agent, Andrew Wylie said. 

READ MORE https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-62528689

“A state trooper and a county sheriff’s deputy were assigned to Rushdie’s lecture, and state police said the trooper made the arrest. But after the attack, some longtime visitors to the center questioned why there wasn’t tighter security for the event, given the decades of threats against Rushdie and a bounty on his head offering more than $3 million for anyone who kills him.”

“At least 45 people were killed in riots over the book, including 12 people in Rushdie’s hometown of Mumbai. In 1991, a Japanese translator of the book was stabbed to death and an Italian translator survived a knife attack. In 1993, the book’s Norwegian publisher was shot three times and survived.”

READ MORE https://www.westernmassnews.com/2022/08/12/author-salman-rushdie-whose-writing-led-death-threats-attacked-stage/

“Mr. Rushdie had effectively been living under a death sentence since 1989, about six months after the publication of his novel “The Satanic Verses,” which fictionalized parts of the life of the Prophet Muhammad with depictions that many Muslims found offensive and some considered blasphemous.”

“Many died in protests against its publication, including 12 people in a riot in Mumbai in February 1989 and six more in another riot in Islamabad. Books were burned, and there were attacks on bookstores. People connected to the book were also targeted.

In July 1991, Hitoshi Igarashi, the novel’s Japanese translator, was stabbed to death and its Italian translator, Ettore Capriolo, was badly wounded. In October 1993, William Nygaard, the novel’s Norwegian publisher, was shot three times outside his home in Oslo and seriously injured.

The fatwa was maintained by Iran’s government after the death of Ayatollah Khomeini for nearly a decade, until 1998, when Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, who was considered relatively liberal, said that Iran no longer supported the killing. But the fatwa remains in place, reportedly with a bounty attached from an Iranian religious foundation of some $3.3 million as of 2012.”

READ MORE https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/08/12/nyregion/salman-rushdie-stabbed-new-york

Salman Rushdie is still in surgery, the police said. A 24-year-old New Jersey man is in custody.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/08/12/nyregion/salman-rushdie-stabbed-new-york

[dailymailsky]

Udaipur Tailor Murder A Terror Attack; Mourning Wife Explains His Last Days

Udaipur, Rajasthan: The Udaipur tailor who was killed in the most horrific way possible had returned to his shop after days of absence, his wife told NDTV today before his funeral procession left their home.

Kanhaiya Lal had skipped work for several days after he received death threats over his social media posts, his wife, Jashoda, explained to NDTV. Yesterday, he decided to attend to business again. He had been at work for a few hours when two men arrived, posing as customers.

Kanhaiya Lal, age 48, began measuring one of them; suddenly, he was attacked with a giant cleaver. The other man filmed the murder in gory detail. Then, both left the shop on a motorcycle, their faces covered to conceal their identity.

Gos Mohammad and Riyaz Akhtari, the two men seen in the grotesque video, were arrested last night. The Home Ministry has assigned the National Investigation Agency or NIA, which handles terror investigations, to the matter.

The accused men released two videos on social media - the first of Kanhaiya Lal's killing; the second, a confession that gloated about the murder, describing it as a beheading, and threatened that they would target the Prime Minister.

The police is maintaining a heavy presence in Udaipur, where curfew has been introduced in several parts of the city.

Kanhaiya Lal, about three weeks ago, had posted remarks in support of Nupur Sharma, who was a BJP spokesperson when she made offensive remarks about Prophet Mohammad in a televised debate. The comments triggered wide protests in India and condemnation from Gulf countries. The government sought to reassure them that the comments were of an individual and that India respects all religions.

The pair of men in the video said that they were avenging "an insult to Islam" and also referred to Nupur Sharma.

Kanhaiya Lal's wife said that after his posts, a complaint was filed against him and he was arrested; that was followed by police-mediated sessions between the tailor and the complainants and the matter seemed settled with Kanhaiya Lal giving a written assurance that he did not want further assistance from the police. But soon after, he began receiving death threats, which he escalated to

[thenetionalnews]

bjp: Prophet comment row: Expelled BJP functional Naveen Jindal fails to appear before police - Key points | India News

bjp: Prophet comment row: Expelled BJP functional Naveen Jindal fails to appear before police – Key points | India News

NEW DELHI: The West Bengal government on Wednesday submitted a report before the Calcutta high court, stating that there has been no untoward incident in the last two days during protests over now-sacked BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma‘s controversial remarks against Prophet Mohammad. Meanwhile, BJP’s Naveen Kumar Jindal failed to appear before the Maharashtra police to give his statement. Here are…

[aradhya21]

VHP: Bajrang Dal to protest nationwide against violence over Prophet row

Bajrang Dal activists will hold a cross country challenge the new episodes of viciousness in pieces of the nation over comments against Prophet Mohammad, the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) declared on Tuesday.

The RSS offshoot said its childhood wing activists will hold a protest in region organization base camp the nation over on Thursday against the "developing radical episodes by Islamic Jihadi fundamentalists", and furthermore present a notice to President Ram Nath Kovind.

Fights emitted in a few pieces of the nation, including outside Delhi's Jama Masjid, on June 10 against the questionable comments on Prophet Mohammad at this point terminated BJP functionaries Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal.

In Jharkhand, a few police officers were harmed in a bid to control demonstrators, while experts in Jammu forced a check in time in a couple of regions. In pieces of Uttar Pradesh, dissenters pelted stones at the police, provoking the power to twirly doo charge them and use nerve gas shells.

"Against the developing radical episodes by Islamic Jihadi fundamentalists in the country, the VHP's childhood wing Bajrang Dal will currently riot," the saffron outfit's Secretary General Milind Parande said in an explanation.

"Bajrang Dal activists will hold a protest across all locale base camp on Thursday against consistent assault on Hindus by the Jihadi fundamentalists and present an update to the President," he added.

Parande requested that a severe vigil be kept at the mosques from where the hordes purportedly emerged after Friday petitions and did savagery in pieces of the country on June 10.

"The individuals who actuated the crowd ought to be captured right away and severe move be initiated against them," Parande requested, adding, "Security of those being compromised be guaranteed. Those undermining be captured and criminal arguments be documented against them."

He requested that specialists ought to likewise fix the noose around Muslim outfits "like Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind, mosques and individuals of jihadi mentality who are wellspring of food and motivation for such agitators".

On Monday, the VHP's Delhi unit had called upon individuals in the city to gather in sanctuaries and take part in mass recitations of Hanuman Chalisa at 8 pm on Tuesday to enlist a dissent against the June 10 savagery.

In a proclamation, the RSS subsidiary claimed that rough exhibits were held and stones pelted at sanctuaries and houses after petitions in mosques on June 10 as a component of a "very much arranged scheme to universally malign India".

"Unlawful fatwas were given for the killing of Nupur Sharma... The Hindu society rejects and unequivocally censures the strain that was based on the Hindu society because of such unlawful showings," Delhi VHP boss Kapil Khanna said in an explanation.

"To challenge this, I call upon the Hindu society of Delhi to gather at little and enormous sanctuaries in the city and take part in mass recitation of Hanuman Chalisa at 8.00 pm tomorrow (June 14, 2022)," he added.

Khanna additionally encouraged supervisors and clerics of sanctuaries to set up sees illuminating lovers to spread the data.

"It is totally important to grandstand our solidarity in such a way and naturally answer the unscrupulous strain being based on the Hindu society," he said.

"To dispose of such sort of jihad, we should assemble in our sanctuaries something like one time each week," he said.

[newsupdatesbykiara]

Kolkata Police summon ex-BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma over Prophet row

Kolkata Police on Monday summoned suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma for questioning in connection with her controversial remarks on Prophet Mohammad.

She has been asked to appear at Narkeldanga Police Station on June 20 to record her statement, an official said.

Sharma's comments, made during a TV debate, has sparked violent protests in several parts of the country.

Trinamool Congress minority cell general secretary Abul Sohail has also lodged an FIR against Sharma at Contai police station over her remarks.

[bharatlivenewsmedia]

Prophet row: 2 killed, many critically injured as violence rocks Ranchi

Prophet row: 2 killed, many critically injured as violence rocks Ranchi

Prophet row: 2 killed, many critically injured as violence rocks Ranchi Two people were killed and many including security personnel were critically injured as violent protests rocked Ranchi over the comments made by two suspended BJP spokespersons on Prophet Mohammad, officials said on Saturday. Prohibitory orders under section 144 of the CrPC have been clamped in 10 police station areas,…

[newstfionline]

Thursday, December 10, 2020

GOP may wait for January to say Biden won (AP) Americans waiting for Republicans in Congress to acknowledge Joe Biden as the president-elect may have to keep waiting until January as GOP leaders stick with President Donald Trump’s litany of legal challenges and unproven claims of fraud. Tuesday’s deadline for states to certify their elections—once viewed as a pivot point for Republicans to mark Biden’s win—came and went without much comment. Next week’s Dec. 14 Electoral College deadline may produce just a few more congratulatory GOP calls to Biden. Increasingly, GOP lawmakers say the Jan. 6 vote in Congress to accept the Electoral College outcome may be when the presidential winner becomes official. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has signaled Jan. 20 as the certain date when the country is “going to have the swearing-in of the next president.” The result is a risky standoff like none other in U.S. history. The refusal to agree upon the facts of the election threatens to undermine voter confidence, chisel away at the legitimacy of Biden’s presidency and restack civic norms in still-unknowable ways.

Last-ditch dinner (Foreign Policy) British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called the likelihood of reaching a deal between his government and the European Union “very, very difficult” ahead of a make-or-break dinner meeting in Brussels with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen today. The prime minister’s trip comes as EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier told a closed-door meeting of the bloc’s ministers that it was now more likely that the United Kingdom would exit the Brexit transition without a trade deal. The British government has shown signs of a desire for compromise after it dropped controversial clauses in legislation that would have breached the initial Brexit terms. “Hopefully this is a signal that the British government is in deal-making mood,” Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said.

Bionic soldiers (Times of London) The French army has been given the go-ahead to develop bionic soldiers resistant to pain and stress and endowed with extra brain power thanks to microchip implants. The approval came from the ethical committee of the armed forces ministry, which said in a report that France needed to keep up with countries that were already working to produce super-soldiers. The committee gave details of some lines of research, including pills to keep troops awake for long periods and surgery to improve hearing. Other areas in the “field of study” involve implants which release anti-stress substances or “improve cerebral capacity.”

France to press on with law on “unrepublican” behaviour (Reuters) France’s government decided on Wednesday to press ahead with a law it says will crack down on practices that go against the values of the French Republic. Prime Minister Jean Castex told reporters the law would give authorities tools to “combat political and ideological undertakings which go against our values ... and sovereignty and sometimes go as far as criminal acts.” The debate around the law has become more charged since the Oct. 16 beheading of schoolteacher Samuel Paty by a man who said he wanted to punish the teacher for showing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad in a civics class. French officials say it is no longer enough to police acts of violence and that there is a need also to sanction behaviour which they say is not explicitly criminal but is out of step with the values of the French state. The proposed law includes tougher measures against online apologists for acts of violence, the risk of expulsion for foreign nationals with multiple wives, and checks on anyone who educates their child outside mainstream schools.

Europe’s ‘rule of law’ standoff with Poland and Hungary becomes test over defining values (Washington Post) Hungary and Poland appeared close to a deal with E.U. partners Wednesday to end an impasse that has blocked $2.2 trillion in funding and deepened a crisis in the 27-member bloc over the fundamental liberal democratic values it is supposed to represent. The contention for Poland and Hungary is a clause that links the money to upholding the “rule of law”—judicial and political norms that underpin democracies—at a time when Brussels is censuring both for letting it slide. The deadlock has come at a critical time when European economies sorely need the aid after months of lockdowns and closures. But more is at stake than delays to the $900 billion in emergency funding and a $1.3 trillion seven-year budget. The spat has struck at the heart of a rift in the European Union, engineered as a border-busting alliance of democracies that has struggled to deal with the question of what to do when member states stray from the shared values required to join. “It’s a fight for the soul of the E.U.,” said Heather Grabbe, director of the Open Society European Policy Institute. The confrontation between Hungary and Poland and the rest of the European Union has been brewing for years. Both governments have taken step after step to weaken the independence of the judiciary, undermine political opponents and entrench their own power and views, which include laws aimed at blocking refugees and erosion of press freedoms. E.U. money has helped fuel the takeover of the systems in both countries—with Poland the biggest net recipient of E.U. funding in recent years and Hungary not far behind.

Some perspective on immigrants (Internazionale/Italy) They carry disease. They live in overcrowded neighborhoods. They spend evenings listening to the sweet sounds of their music, but in filthy courtyards with rotting air. Their houses are small and rundown, where dozens of people share no more than two or three rooms. They come in waves, irritating people and attracting far too much attention. Sure we know they may have escaped bad governments, bloody wars, poverty. But they’ve arrived with strange superstitions and we’ve seen how they exploit their children, sending them on the streets to beg and forcing them to hand over whatever they make at the end of the day. And yet it’s true that when they do their agricultural work, they’re quite good. They are lean and muscular, capable of withstanding prolonged physical effort. They have a certain dexterity and a developed artistic sense. Their women are valued for their domestic virtues. Thanks to their sense of family, they are very generous with relatives who have stayed back in the home country. Still, their presence ultimately compromises our living standards and undermines the very quality of the nation. They share so little with a country that must seem to them the paradise of well-being. (The words you’ve just read were used in the international press between the 19th century and today to describe millions of those who had emigrated abroad from Italy.)

India’s Police Detain Opposition Leaders As Farmers’ Agitation Grows (NYT) Aligning themselves squarely with India’s angry farmers, opposition leaders on Tuesday accused the government of cracking down on dissent, saying they had been detained while seeking to join broadening protests against the country’s new pro-market agricultural policies. The growing agitation of India’s farmers, which is galvanizing support from nearly all sections of the heavily agricultural country, has increasingly rattled the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. For the last couple of weeks, hundreds of thousands of farmers from all over the country have been camping outside New Delhi to protest Mr. Modi’s new farm policies, which they see as his government’s effort to hand farmers’ land over to big business. The protests, which have gradually spread throughout the country and increasingly mirror the protests over a contentious new citizenship law, have become a test of Mr. Modi’s grip on power in the world’s largest democracy.

Trade record (Foreign Policy) Trump’s trade war with China has finally produced … a record high for the Chinese trade surplus, which hit $75.43 billion last month. China has failed to meet most of the goals set during the part one of the trade deal at the start of 2020, while tourism and education—which normally help the U.S. side of the balance sheet—have been shut down by the pandemic. Meanwhile, as Americans hunker down for the winter, they’re buying electronics and other Chinese goods in record numbers.

No stamps for you (Foreign Policy) Sometimes the affairs of state between great nations are weighty—but sometimes they are extremely petty. Amid the diplomatic crisis caused by the border killings earlier this year, China has canceled a set of stamps to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations with India. The move is another signal that Beijing has no desire to mend the many fences it’s trampled this year

Hong Kong democracy fighters face a dire choice: Go abroad or go to jail (Washington Post) Facing charges related to his activism, Ted Hui, a former Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmaker, flew to Denmark last week ostensibly to discuss climate and sustainability issues—topics innocuous enough for a court to release his passport and allow his departure. The climate talks were a ruse. Last Thursday, three days after landing in Copenhagen, Hui announced he would not return and would instead go into exile. Coming alongside daily arrests of democracy campaigners in Hong Kong, Hui’s flight demonstrated the stark choice now confronting those who have fought for freedoms here: Go abroad or go to jail. As China targets those who resist its crackdown on the city, stalwarts who have dedicated their lives to Hong Kong’s democracy struggle are increasingly opting to leave, along with numerous others. Even overseas, continued harassment and persecution are a testament to the reach of China’s new national security law for Hong Kong, which criminalizes vague acts such as “collusion with foreign forces” and which Beijing asserts applies to everyone, everywhere. “It is a grave situation, with what seems to be only two ways out: Either leave Hong Kong or stay here and wait to be arrested,” said Sam Yip, vice convener of the Civil Human Rights Front, a group that has organized massive pro-democracy marches. Its convener, Figo Chan, was among eight people arrested Tuesday.

U.S. Leaves Behind Afghan Bases—and a Legacy of Land Disputes (NYT) At harvest time, as neighbors and relatives reap their crops, 80-year-old Jamal Khan can only look in despair on the plot of land that was the source of his family’s livelihood—until the American forces arrived over a decade ago. Just before sunset one day, armored vehicles drove into fields of knee-high corn stalks, claimed about 30 acres that were co-owned by about as many families and quickly cordoned off the area with barbed wire. This was now Combat Outpost Honaker-Miracle, one of the roughly 1,000 military installations the United States and its coalition partners would prop up across Afghanistan. “In the whole vastness of the lord’s world, I had this plot of land and this house that I am living in and nothing else,” said Mr. Khan, who lives the Watapur District of Kunar Province, in eastern Afghanistan. “We told them this is our private land, how do you suddenly put up here? They said nothing.” Mr. Khan is one of countless Afghans whose land became a casualty of the U.S.-led war and the sprawling military infrastructure born from it. Despite the drawdown of American forces in Afghanistan from more than 100,000 in 2011 to fewer than 5,000, some of the property they occupied has not been returned. Instead, the bases and the land have been transferred to Afghan security forces. The Americans have left Watapur but Mr. Khan does not have his land back, and similar conflicts linger across wide swaths of the country.

Iraqis slowly rebuild Mosul, with little aid from government (AP) Anan Yasoun rebuilt her home with yellow cement slabs amid the rubble of Mosul, a brightly colored manifestation of resilience in a city that for many remains synonymous with the Islamic State group’s reign of terror. In the three years since Iraqi forces, backed by a U.S.-led coalition, liberated Mosul from the militants, Yasoun painstakingly saved money that her husband earned from carting vegetables in the city. They had just enough to restore the walls of their destroyed home; money for the floors was a gift from her dying father, the roof a loan that is still outstanding. Yasoun didn’t even mind the bright yellow exterior—paint donated by a relative. “I just wanted a house,” said the 40-year-old mother of two. The mounds of debris around her bear witness to the violence Iraq’s second-largest city has endured. From Mosul, IS had proclaimed its caliphate in 2014. Three years later, Iraqi forces backed by a U.S.-led coalition liberated the city in a grueling battle that killed thousands and left Mosul in ruins. Such resilience is apparent elsewhere in the city. Life is slowly coming back to Mosul these days: merchants are busy in their shops, local musicians again serenade small, enthralled crowds. At night, the city lights gleam as restaurant patrons spill out onto the streets.

[expatimes]

Iran accuses France's Macron of fuelling 'extremism'

Insulting Muslims for 'abhorrent crimes of such extremists is an opportunistic abuse of freedom of speech', Iranian FM Zarif says.

Iran has accused France of filing “extremism” after President Emmanuel Macron defended the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.

“Muslims are the primary victims of the 'cult of hatred' - empowered by colonial regimes & exported by their own clients,” Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted.

“Insulting 1.9B Muslims - & their sanctities - for the abhorrent crimes of such extremists is an opportunistic abuse of freedom of speech. It only fuels extremism, ”he said.

Muslims are the primary victims of the "cult of hatred" —empowered by colonial regimes & exported by their own clients.

Insulting 1.9B Muslims— & their sanctities — for the abhorrent crimes of such extremists is an opportunistic abuse of freedom of speech.

It only fuels extremism.

- Javad Zarif (@JZarif) October 26, 2020

It follows statements Macron made after a Chechen teenager murdered a French teacher on October 16.

Macron said history teacher Samuel Paty was beheaded for showing caricatures of the prophet to pupils “because Islamists want our future”.

On Sunday, Macron said in a tweet: “We will not give in, ever.”

“We do not accept hate speech and defend reasonable debate,” the French leader added.

Macron has declared war on “Islamist separatism”, which he said is taking over some Muslim communities in France.

'Irrational behavior'

Boycotts of French goods are under way in supermarkets in Qatar and Kuwait.

Iran's religious leaders have not called for a boycott of products from France. But several Iranian officials and politicians have condemned Macron for “Islamophobia”, according to Iranian state media.

Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said Macron's "irrational behavior" displayed his "crudeness in politics."

Shamkhani tweeted Macron's comments showed “his lack of experience in politics, otherwise he would not have dared insult Islam”.

He advised the French leader to “read more history” and not rely on the “support of a declining American and deteriorating” Israel.

Parliament speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf slammed France's “foolish enmity” with the Prophet Mohammed, and said his sayings and “light cannot be put out with such blind, futile and anti-human acts”.

Ali Akbar Velayati, adviser to Iran's supreme leader on foreign policy, said the cartoon should not have been reprinted following “global condemnation” of France's Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine.

“We should have seen… the obscene magazine insulting the Prophet prevented from printing, but implementing double standards caused this heretical and anti-religious thinking to also manifest itself in the country's education system,” he said in a statement.

Macron's comments triggered protests in some Muslim-majority countries with people burning pictures of him in Syria and setting fire to French flags in Libya.

. #world Read full article: https://expatimes.com/?p=12695&feed_id=11886

[thenetionalnews]

Prophet row: Security bolstered in violence-hit Ranchi, internet restored after 33 hours

Prophet row: Security bolstered in violence-hit Ranchi, internet restored after 33 hours

Tension prevailed in Jharkhand capital Ranchi on Sunday, as shops and other establishments remained shut amid heavy deployment of security forces in the wake of violent protests over controversial comments on Prophet Mohammad. Internet services, however, were restored in the district after nearly 33 hours, Ranchi Deputy Commissioner Chhavi Ranjan said. Around 2,500 police personnel are on guard…

[mideastsoccer]

Clerics and entertainment seek to bolster MbS’s grip on power

By James M. Dorsey

A podcast version of this story is available on Soundcloud, Itunes, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spreaker, Pocket Casts, Tumblr, and Patreon, Podbean and Castbox.

A public apology by a prominent Salafi scholar sheds a light on Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman’s version of ‘moderate Islam,’ his effort to shape the Middle East and North Africa in his mould, and the replacement of religion with hyper-nationalism as the source of his legitimacy.

Claiming to speak in the name of the Sahwa or Awakening movement, Aidh al-Qarni, one of the kingdom’s most popular religious scholars, broke with the Muslim Brotherhood-linked group’s past call for political reform and instead wholeheartedly endorsed Prince Mohammed’s undefined notion of an Islam that would be free of extremism.

“I would like to apologize to Saudi society for…the extremism, the violation of the Qur’an and the Sunnah, the violation of the tolerance of Islam, the violation of the moderate and merciful nature of Islam. I support today the moderate and open-to-the-world Islam that has been called for by crown prince Mohammed bin Salman,” Mr. Al-Qarni said, wearing a Salafi-style chequered red and white headdress.

More than simply a declaration of support for the Saudi leader, Mr. Al-Qarni’s apology provided ideological justification for Prince Mohammed’s so far only partially successful efforts to ensure that regional states are ruled by governments of his liking, refusal to condemn assaults on Islam like in China’s north-western province of Islam, and crackdown at home that potentially has put some of his past colleagues on death row.

Mr. Al-Qarni was not among Islamic scholars that have been detained, many of them in a crackdown in September 2017.  Those arrested and potentially facing execution included some of the kingdom’s other most popular reformist preachers such as Salman al-Audah and Mr. Al-Qarni’s namesake, Awad al-Qarni.

Charges against the two men, as well as author and broadcaster Ali al-Omari, include stirring public discord, inciting people against the ruler, public support for imprisoned dissidents and alleged ties to the Brotherhood and Qatar. A Saudi-United Arab Emirates-led alliance has been boycotting Qatar economically and diplomatically for the past two years.

Mr. Al-Omari, a former United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for Youth and Humanity, is a member of the Qatar-based International Union of Muslim Scholars founded by controversial scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi. Mr. Al-Qaradawi is widely believed to be a major spiritual influence within the Brotherhood.

Mr. Al-Qarni’s endorsement of Prince Mohammed and reports that two of his colleagues may be executed came as Human Rights Watch rang alarm bells about the fate of Murtaja Qureiris, an 18-year old who could face a similar fate.

Mr. Qureiris was arrested when he was 13 for participating in 2011 in a bike protest in eastern Saudi Arabia three years earlier when he was 10 years old.

Mr. Qureiris was charged with belonging to a terrorist group, helping to construct Molotov cocktails, shooting at security forces and participating in a protest at the funeral of his brother, who was killed in an allegedly violent demonstration.

Mr. Al-Qarni didn’t do his former colleagues any favours by asserting that Qatar was funding Saudi scholars. “Of course, people get money… Saudis went there (Qatar),” Mr. Al-Qarni said, refusing to identify who he was referring to.

‘Qatar Papers,’ a recently published book in France, purportedly based on hitherto unpublished documents, asserted that the Gulf state was funding numerous mosques and individuals in Europe associated with the Brotherhood.

A TV series broadcast during this year’s Ramadan, when programs get their highest ratings, provided background music for Mr. Al-Qarni’s apology.

Rewriting history through the eyes of a Saudi family, Al-Asouf (Winds of Change) blames the Sahwa for some of the region’s most momentous events, including the 1979 Iranian revolution, the occupation by militants of the Grand Mosque in Mecca that same year, and the 1981 assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat because of his signing of a peace treaty with Israel.

In line with Prince Mohammed’s assertion that Saudi Arabia embraced a more moderate form of Islam prior to the events of 1979, Al-Asouf suggests that Sahwa’s ultra-conservatism bolstered by its hostility towards the West, misogynist attitudes towards women and intolerance, influenced a generation of Saudis.

Adding to Mr. Al-Qarni’s apology and Al-Asouf’s messaging, Adil al-Kalbani, a former imam of the Grand Mosque and often straight-talking member of the kingdom’s ultra-conservative religious establishment, who has seven million followers on Twitter, made a 180 degrees U-turn on his past statements that supported severe restrictions of women’s rights and denounced Shiites as apostates.

Challenging one of the kingdom’s major taboos, Mr. Al-Kalbani denounced gender segregation in mosques as “a kind of phobia," arguing that in the era of the Prophet Mohammad, men and women prayed together.

“Now unfortunately we’ve become paranoid to the level that in a mosque, a place of worship, it’s as if women are in a fortress,” he said. “They’re completely isolated from the men, not seeing or hearing them except through microphones or speakers.”

Drawing red lines, Mr. Al-Qarni sought to provide religious justification to Prince Mohammed’s policies. The crown prince’s concept of moderate Islam, involving absolute obedience to the ruler, was one red line. The interests of Saudi Arabia as defined by Prince Mohammed was another.

“I went and pledged allegiance to the King and swore on the Qur’an and the Sunnah. I went on the night of the 27th (of May) to Mecca and pledged allegiance to Mohammed bin Salman. You pledge allegiance for better or for worse… I declare here that I am now one of the swords of the state,” Mr. Al-Qarni said.

Asserting that Saudi Arabia was being targeted by Iran, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Muslim Brotherhood, Mr. Al -Qarni’s definition of the kingdom as a red line appeared to break with Sahwa and the Saudi past religious embrace of Islam’s concept of the ummah, the global community of the faithful.

In the words of Saudi Arabia scholar Raihan Ismail, Mr. Al-Qarni was rejecting the notion of the ummah because it “undermines the primacy of the nation-state.”

In doing so, Mr. Al-Qarni was attempting to provide religious cover for Prince Mohammed’s apparent endorsement during a visit to Beijing earlier this year of China’s crackdown on Turkic Muslims and his apparent support for a US plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that is widely believed to favour Israel and deny Palestinian aspirations.

Anwar Gargash, the minister of state for foreign affairs of Saud Arabia’s closest ally, the United Arab Emirates, hailed Mr. Al-Qarni’s apology as an important step “as we close the door to the stage of extremism and the employment of religion for political purposes.”

Mr. Gargash’s comments put a finger on differences in the approaches towards Islam of Emirati crown prince Mohammed bin Zayed and his Saudi counterpart.

Viscerally opposed to political Islam, UAE Prince Mohamed rather than the Saudi crown prince has been the driver in support by the two Gulf states of anti-Islamist forces across the Middle East and North Africa.

In fact, Prince Mohammed’s notion of moderate Islam, although projected as a break with Saudi Arabia’s past propagation of ultra-conservative strands of Islam that critics charged contributed to breeding grounds of violence, amounts to a form of conservative political Islam that is designed to bolster his autocratic regime rather than reform the faith.

Similarly dissident Saudi scholar Madawi al-Rasheed asserted that the kingdom’s decision to recently convene three Gulf, Arab and Islamic summits during Ramadan in the holy city of Mecca was “nothing but utter Islamism.”

Ms. Al-Rasheed argued that the summits exposed “the contradiction in the recent Saudi push to ban and criminalise Islamism. The three conferences are not being held to discuss theological matters, but to seek support for Saudi Arabia's king over serious, controversial and divisive political crises,” she said.

Dr. James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, an adjunct senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Middle East Institute and co-director of the University of Wuerzburg’s Institute of Fan Culture.

[todaynewsstories]

Pakistanis protest Geert Wilders′ Prophet Mohammad cartoon contest | News | DW

Thousands of Pakistanis on Wednesday protested far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders’ plans to hold a Prophet Mohammad cartoon competition.

Some 10,000 protesters participated in the march, chanting “we will die to protect the honor of the Prophet,” and holding a large banner that said they were holding a “peaceful protest.”

The demonstration was organized by Islamist groups that made surprising advances in the July elections, and came one day after Dutch police arrested a 26-year-old man suspected of threatening to attack Wilders over the contest.

Read more: Opinion: Imran Khan’s dangerous victory

Images of Prophet Mohammed are traditionally forbidden in Islam as idolatrous, and caricatures are regarded by many Muslims as highly offensive.

Wilders is an outspoken critic of Islam, and has made controversial comments regarding the Prophet Mohammed in the past, including announcing plans to show cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad on Dutch television.

How artists have responded to terror

First sign of peace

The day after the November 2015 Paris attacks, which left over 130 people dead, the city was in mourning. When German pianist Davide Martello began playing John Lennon’s “Imagine” outside the Bataclan on a piano he had transported from Germany, a crowd quickly gathered. Martello later told The Guardian that “I wanted to be there to try and comfort, and offer a sign of hope.”

How artists have responded to terror

When words fail

After the chaos of a tragedy, a simple visual image can be a comfort. French graphic artist Jean Jullien posted a hand-painted peace sign incorporating an image of the Eiffel Tower on social media after the November 2015 attack in Paris. It quickly became an iconic symbol of sympathy with survivors.

How artists have responded to terror

The image as a weapon

Artists do not always play a peaceful role. The comic artist known as Charb was famous for publishing offensive caricatures of religions, including Islam. After Islamist gunmen shot him and his colleages to death in the offices of Charlie Hebdo on Jan. 7, 2015, demonstrators used his images to defy the attackers and their supporters.

How artists have responded to terror

Music from the ashes

Artists are sometimes the targets of terrorist groups. Such was the fate of Syrian pianist Aeham Ahmad, who studied music in Damascus and Homs but spent much of his life in a refugee settlement. It was on a bombed-out street there that Ahmad gained international attention, playing piano in a YouTube video. After ISIS militants burned his instrument, he fled to Germany and now lives there.

How artists have responded to terror

Catharsis, the therapy of theater

Aristotle’s theory of catharsis – purging emotions through theater – lives on. Austrian Elfriede Jelinek crafted her play “Anger” (pictured above in a 2016 production at the Hamburger Thalia-Theater) while in shock from the 2015 attacks in Paris. The title points not only to the anger of the attackers, but also the hatefulness of some responses, as well as the agony of those caught in the middle.

How artists have responded to terror

“Not even scared”

On March 13, 2016, Al-Qaeda militants gunned down 19 people on the Ivory Coast’s sandy Grand Bassam beach. Ten days later, a number of the country’s pop stars released a music video to reclaim the space. “Meme pas peur” is the name of the song – “Not even scared” – and the defiant words ring true among performers as they dance on the sun-bleached sand, no blood in sight.

How artists have responded to terror

Just color and line

Not all artistic responses to violence are literal. The vivid colors and lively shapes of Guillaume Bottazzi’s abstract art speak for themselves as a reponse to tragedy. Since the end of October, he has been working on a mural in Brussels’s Place Jourdan as a permanent memorial to the victims of the March 22 attacks in the city.

How artists have responded to terror

A wealthy donor

American pop artist Jeff Koons unveiled his plan for “Bouquet of Tulips 2016” at a ceremony in Paris in November. The forthcoming sculpture, by one of the world’s wealthiest artists who hires workers to construct his designs, was donated in honor of the victims of the multiple Paris terrorist attacks of 2015.

How artists have responded to terror

Together Berlin!

On December 20, a day after an attack on a Berlin Christmas market claimed 12 lives, the Brandenburg Gate was lit with the colors of the German flag. On Friday, December 23, the city will hold a six-hour long memorial concert featuring several German musicians as a sign of Berlin’s resilience to the disruption of an otherwise festive public life in the week before Christmas.

Author: Amien Essif

Dutch police make arrest

The man arrested for allegedly threatening Wilders was taken into custody on Tuesday in The Hague, police spokesman Jan Rensen said, without identifying his nationality.

Read more: Charlie Hebdo and freedom of expression

He is believed to have posted a video on Facebook on Monday in which he said he was five minutes away from the parliament building and said he was targeting the anti-Islam politician.

“Only that blasphemer [Wilders] is my target,” the man said in the video, which was shown on national broadcaster NOS. “I believe that God will help me succeed … they’re making jokes about our Prophet.”

Read more: Mainstream outlets need to judge benefits of publication

In January, 2015, two armed gunmen stormed the offices of satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris, where they killed 12 people and injured 11 others. The left-wing publication often publishes articles mocking various religions, including Islam.

law/kms (AP, Reuters)

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[clusterassets]

New world news from Time: Pro-Regime Rallies Have Been Held in Iran as the Government Tries to Downplay Deadly Protests

Tens of thousands of government supporters took to the streets across Iran on Wednesday as authorities tried to project a sense of stability after a week of protests sparked deadly clashes and calls for the downfall of the Islamic Republic.

But even as state television aired footage shot from helicopters of the support for Iran’s clerically overseen government, videos emerged showing the anti-government unrest that has swept major cities has also spread to the countryside in the nation of 80 million people.

At least 21 people have been killed in the unrest and hundreds more have been arrested by authorities. Demonstrators’ videos corresponded with Associated Press reporting from outside of Iran, though individual activists remain unreachable and the protests for now appear leaderless. It was not clear if new protests were held Wednesday or if the videos showed earlier events.

The past week’s protests have been the largest since the disputed 2009 presidential election, which ended in bloodshed. While many Iranians denounce the violence that has accompanied some demonstrations, they echo the protesters’ frustration over the weak economy and official corruption.

The government “should not punish the guilty and the innocent alike,” said Mohammad Hossein Vakili, a 20-year-old computer science student in Tehran who has struggled to find meaningful work and who joined in peaceful protests.

“Why should they arrest someone like me when I protest the rise of the price of eggs?” he said.

The protests began Dec. 28 in Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city and a bastion for hard-liners, initially focusing on Iran’s flagging economy and rising food prices. Now, they’ve morphed into demands for wholesale change in Iran’s theocratic government.

On Wednesday, state TV reported pro-government demonstrations in dozens of cities and towns, including Ahvaz, the capital of the oil-rich province of Khuzestan, the Kurdish town of Kermanshah in the country’s west and Qom, the religious capital of Shiite Islam in Iran.

All those cities have seen protests in recent days.

The pro-government crowds included women wearing the all-encompassing black chador, the occasional man in military fatigues and Shiite clerics wearing black turbans identifying them as descendants of the Prophet Muhammad. Some claimed online that government employees had been instructed to take part, something Iranian media did not discuss.

The English-language Press TV broadcast Wednesday’s pro-government rallies live, saying they sought to “protest the violence that has taken place over the last few nights in cities.” State TV said the demonstrations served as an “answer to the protests,” which it blamed on “servants of the U.S.”

Among the slickly produced signs carried at the pro-government rallies were ones targeting Israel, Saudi Arabia and the U.S. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has blamed the protests on meddling by “enemies of Iran.”

Some demonstrators also held aloft pictures of President Donald Trump with a bright red “X” through his face. Trump has tweeted several times in support of the protests, comments that have angered many Iranians given his travel ban barring them from getting U.S. visas, as well as his comments over the nuclear deal.

The 2015 agreement, in which Iran curbed its nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of some sanctions, remains popular in Iran, but one of the central grievances of the protesters is that average Iranians have seen few benefits from it.

Trump kept up with the tweets Wednesday, writing: “Such respect for the people of Iranas they try to take back their corrupt government.”

He added: “You will see great support from the United States at the appropriate time!”

Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations complained about his tweets in a letter Wednesday to the Security Council president. Ambassador Gholamali Khoshroo says U.S. leaders have “incited Iranians to engage in disruptive acts” and the U.S. government has been intervening “in a grotesque way in Iran’s internal affairs.”

The United Nations’ high commissioner for human rights, meanwhile, called on Iran to investigate all deaths in the protests and act “with great care so as not to further inflame violence and unrest.”

“The Iranian authorities must respect the rights of all demonstrators and detainees, including their right to life, and guarantee their safety and security,” Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein said in a statement.

Iranian officials have downplayed the strength of the protests. Turkish officials on Wednesday said Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani told his Turkish counterpart during a phone call that he hopes the protests “will end in a couple of days.” Rouhani’s office did not mention the comment.

State TV quoted the chief of the powerful Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, as saying Wednesday marked “the end of the sedition.”

It remains difficult for journalists to piece together what’s happening beyond the capital, especially as the government has blocked both the photo-sharing app Instagram and the messaging app Telegram, which protesters have used to organize their demonstrations and share footage.

But online videos that emerged Wednesday appeared to show continued protests in the provinces.

One showed protesters in Shahinshar, 315 kilometers (200 miles) south of Tehran, throwing objects at a base of the Basij, a volunteer force affiliated with the paramilitary Guard. A gunshot and muzzle flash could be seen in the footage taken in Isfahan province, where there have been days of protests.

Another series of videos showed protesters in the city of Noor Abad, some 360 kilometers (225 miles) southwest of Tehran, offering a glimpse into how demonstrations can turn violent.

In the footage, protesters are seen tearing down a poster bearing the image of Khamenei and his late predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who led the 1979 Islamic Revolution. After a cut, demonstrators are seen coming to the aid of another protester, who appears seriously wounded. Activists said the man died, though the AP had no way to verify that.

In anger, the protesters set fire to an overturned ambulance, shouting as the flames rose into the night sky.

January 04, 2018 at 12:59PM ClusterAssets Inc., https://ClusterAssets.wordpress.com

[thenetionalnews]

All About Nupur Sharma, Naveen Jindal Who Faced BJP Action

All About Nupur Sharma, Naveen Jindal Who Faced BJP Action

Taking strong action against its leaders, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has suspended national spokesperson Nupur Sharma and Delhi unit media chief Naveen K Jindal, amid protests over their comments on Prophet Mohammad. Registering protest, Qatar, Kuwait and Iran have summoned Indian ambassadors. While Sharma has put out a statement saying her words were “a reaction to the insult of Mahadev”,…

[mystlnewsonline]

New Post has been published on https://www.stl.news/protests-iran-fanned-exiled-journalist-messaging-app/58960/

Protests in Iran fanned by exiled journalist, messaging app

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates/December 31, 2017  (AP)(STL.News) —As protests over Iran’s faltering economy rapidly spread across the country, a channel on a mobile messaging app run by an exiled journalist helped fan the passions of some of those who took to the street.

The Telegram app closed a channel run by Roohallah Zam after Iranian authorities complained that it was inciting violence, just hours before the government shut down the app entirely on Sunday. Zam, who denies the allegations, meanwhile launched new channels to spread messages about upcoming protests and share videos from demonstrations.

What happens next could influence the future course of the largest protests Iran has seen since 2009.

It’s hard to overstate the power of Telegram in Iran. Of its 80 million people, an estimated 40 million use the free app created by Russian national Pavel Durov. Its clients share videos and photos, subscribing to groups where everyone from politicians to poets broadcast to fellow users.

While authorities ban social media websites like Facebook and Twitter and censor others, Telegram users can say nearly anything. In the last presidential election, the app played a big role in motivating turnout and spreading political screeds.

Telegram touts itself as being highly encrypted and allows users to set their messages to “self-destruct” after a certain period, making it a favourite among activists and others concerned about their privacy. That too has made it a worry of Iranian authorities.

Zam has used the app to share news and information published on his AmadNews website. Posts included times and locations for protests, as well as videos of demonstrators shouting inflammatory chants, including those targeting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate in Iran’s clerically overseen government.

Thousands have taken to the streets of several cities over the past three days to vent anger at high unemployment and rising prices, in the largest demonstrations since those that followed a disputed election nine years ago.

Officials have meanwhile targeted Telegram in recent remarks, with prosecutors going as far as filing criminal charges against Durov.

On Saturday, Iran’s Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi wrote to Durov on Twitter, complaining AmadNews was “encouraging hateful conduct, use (of) Molotov cocktails, armed uprising and social unrest.”

Durov responded by saying Telegram suspended the account.

“A Telegram channel (Amadnews) started to instruct their subscribers to use Molotov cocktails against police and got suspended due to our ‘no calls for violence’ rule. Be careful — there are lines one shouldn’t cross.” Durov tweeted.

Zam, who has said he fled Iran after being falsely accused of working with foreign intelligence services, denied inciting violence on Telegram.

Telegram’s decision drew criticism from free internet advocates and Iranians. Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who exposed U.S. government surveillance programs in 2013, said Telegram should instead be working on how to make the service accessible after a potential government ban.

“Telegram will face increasing pressure over time to collaborate with the Iranian government’s demands for this or that,” Snowden wrote on Twitter. He added: “You can’t keep an independent, destabilizing service from being blocked in authoritarian regimes, you can only delay it.”

Those words proved prophetic Sunday, as Durov himself wrote on Twitter that Iran blocked the app “for the majority of Iranians after our public refusal to shut down … peacefully protesting channels.” Iranian state television later quoted an anonymous official as saying the app would be temporarily limited as a safety measure.

It also marks a setback for Zam, the son of Shiite cleric Mohammad Ali Zam, a reformist who once served in a government policy position in the early 1980s. The cleric wrote a letter published by Iranian media in July in which he said he wouldn’t support his son over AmadNews’ reporting and messages on its Telegram channel.

“I found that you crossed the red line,” the cleric wrote, referring to comments the channel circulated about Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. “Our red line is the supreme leader, but you passed the red line.”

Zam did not respond to a request for comment Sunday from The Associated Press, though he published a video late Saturday on the channel being blocked.

“Unfortunately the Amadnews was blocked,” Zam said in a message to his followers. A new channel “will continue its work as hard as before and with the help of God, we will become millions again.”

At least 1.7 million people have viewed the first message on the new channel, according to Telegram. It called for protests Sunday at sites across Iran before the government ordered the app shut down.

By Associated Press , published on STL.NEWS by St. Louis Media, LLC (JS)