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THERE IS NOT ONE CHRISTIAN NATION ON EARTH WHERE MUSLIMS ARE PERSECUTED.

 Yet in most nations where the majority of the population are Muslims, there is systematic government persecution of Christians.

Iran: President Launches Fresh Verbal Attack On Israel 
By Golnaz Esfandiari

President Ahmadinejad speaking at the UN in September 
(epa) 

Prague, 14 December 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad has launched another verbal attack on Israel. In a speech to thousands of people today, Ahmadinejad dismissed the Holocaust as a "myth" and reiterated his view that Israel should be relocated out of the Middle East.


Ahmadinejad’s comments echoed his declaration last week that since Europe bears responsibility for the Holocaust, it should provide land to which Israel can be relocated.

"If you [Europe] have committed this serious crime [the Holocaust]," he said, "why should the innocent Palestinian nation pay for this crime?" His remarks came in a speech carried live on national television from the southeastern city of Zahedan.

Ahmadinejad also said, "They [the West] have invented a myth that Jews were massacred and place this above God, religions, and the prophets." And he reiterated that Israel should be moved somewhere else.


"If you have committed such a crime, then it will be good if you give a piece of your own soil, a piece of soil in Europe, the United States, Canada, or Alaska to them [Jews] so that they can create a country for themselves," Ahmadinejad said.

Israel, Germany, and the European Union immediately condemned Ahmadinejad’s comments.

"Apart from the fact that what Ahmadinejad is saying is historically not correct, the other issue is that he should pay attention because all these remarks are against Iran’s national interests. " -- Tehran professor"The combination of a regime [in Iran] with a very radical agenda together with a distorted sense of reality that is clearly indicated by the statements we heard today put together with nuclear weapons, I think that's a combination, a dangerous combination, that no one in the international community can accept," Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev told journalists in Jerusalem. 

The EU, meanwhile, said the Iranian president’s comments have no place in civilized political debate. "My reaction to what the president of Iran has again said is that these remarks are just quite simply completely unacceptable," European Commission spokeswoman Emma Udwin said in Brussels. "And we feel very strongly that Iran is damaging its own interests with these kind of remarks and that such interventions do nothing to rebuild confidence in Iran’s intentions."

Iran is locked in tense negotiations with Germany, France, and Great Britain, the EU-3, over its nuclear program. The West suspects Iran seeks nuclear weapons. Iran denies this.

German Foreign Minister Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned today that the Iranian leader’s comments put fresh strains on the nuclear talks, which are due to resume this month.

Since his election, Ahmadinejad has launched several verbal attacks on Israel. In October, he said Israel should be "wiped off the map." Last week, he said the Jewish state should be moved to Europe. 

As a result, Israel has in recent weeks renewed a call for international action to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. The United States also says Ahmadinejad’s rhetoric has underscored concerns over Iran’s nuclear ambitions. 

Sadegh Zibakalam, a professor of political science at Tehran University, told RFE/RL that Ahmadinejad is giving countries such as Israel and the United States an excuse to increase their pressure on Iran to give up its nuclear program. He added that Ahmadinejad seems to enjoy being in the spotlight.

"The wise people, the scholars and other keep telling him that making such comments is damaging our national interests, especially at a time when the world is watching us because of the nuclear issue. There is enough campaigning by the Americans and Israelis against us, and what Mr. Ahmadinejad is saying goes exactly to their court; it is making the Israelis really happy. Apart from the fact that what Ahmadinejad is saying is historically not correct, the other issue is that he should pay attention because all these remarks are against Iran’s national interests. I think [Ahmadinejad] enjoys the attention he gets from making these comments and unfortunately it seems he doesn’t care much about the consequences of his comments and actions," Zibakalam said.

Mashaollah Shamsolvaezin, a prominent journalist in Tehran, told Radio Farda that by expressing his personal views on Israel, Ahmadinejad is creating an international crisis for the Islamic Republic. "Mr. Ahmadinejad does not differentiate between his position as a citizen -- who can express different views -- and his position as president," she said. "Such comments have never existed in the last 25 years in the media, political organizations, parties, or [political] personalities. Therefore, we can say that these comments are his personal views and practically it has no aim but to create crisis in [Iran’s] international relations."

The United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, condemned Ahmadinejad’s comments today, calling them "unacceptable."

(Radio Farda correspondent Ahmad Rafat contributed to this report)

Thursday, January 12, 2006 

HUNDREDS OF MUSLIM WORSHIPERS KILLED IN HAJJ STAMPEDE 

By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service 

MECCA, SAUDI ARABIA (ANS) - Jan 12/06 - At least 345 Muslim pilgrims have died in a crush during the stone-throwing ritual at the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, officials say, as reported by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) website.

Hundreds of pilgrims have also been injured. A BBC correspondent at the scene in Mina saw dozens of bodies lined up on the ground. 

The ritual has seen many lethal stampedes but the number of dead this time is the highest in 16 years. 

After a crush in 2004, barriers and stewards were added to improve safety. 


The Kaaba -- a cube-like building in the centre of Mecca's Great Mosque

The BBC said the stampede took place at the foot of the bridge of Jamarat, where pilgrims hurl stones at three pillars representing the spot where the devil is said to have appeared to Abraham. 

An interior ministry spokesman, Maj Gen Mansour al-Turki, told the Associated Press news agency the crush happened after pieces of luggage spilled from moving buses in front of one of the entrances to the bridge, causing pilgrims to trip. 

At least 289 people were injured, according to the Saudi Health Minister Hamad bin Abdullah al-Maneh. 

The BBC reports that with the local hospital in Mina overflowing, many victims of the crush were transported to medical facilities in Mecca and Riyadh, a doctor told the Associated Press news agency. 

More than two million people were thought to have been performing the rite at the time. Many of the victims were reportedly from south and south-east Asia.

Witness Abdullah Pulig, an Indian street-cleaner, described a scene of carnage. 

"I saw people moving and suddenly I heard crying, shouting, wailing. I looked around and people were piling on each other. They started pulling dead people from the crowd," he told the Associated Press (AP) news agency. 

Suad Abu Hamada, an Egyptian pilgrim, told the agency he heard screaming and "saw people jumping over each other." 

"It was like the road of death in there," said another pilgrim, quoted by Reuters news agency, who spoke of women fainting amid elbowing crowds.

In an online forum, monitored by the BBC, Shabnam, from Austin, Texas, writes: "My parents have performed Hajj and say if one person trips, the push from the crowd behind will cause the people to either trample over the guy or fall down and be trampled by others."

The BBC says ambulances and police cars streamed into the area, as security forces tried to move people away from the scene of the accident. 



Tent city east of Mecca

"The pilgrims were returning via Mina after performing the Tawaf al-Wada, a farewell ceremony that involves walking around the Kaaba -- a cube-like building in the centre of Mecca's Great Mosque -- seven times," the BBC website says. 

It adds: "The Tawaf al-Wada is performed after the Hajj has finished. The stoning is the riskiest ritual of the Hajj, as worshippers jostle to try to target the stones, often causing weaker pilgrims to fall under foot." 

In 2004, more than 200 pilgrims were trampled to death while performing the same ceremony. 

The latest deadly stampede comes days after more than 70 people died when a hostel for pilgrims collapsed in the Saudi city of Mecca. 

The Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam and every able-bodied adult Muslim is obliged to perform it at least once in their lives. 

HAJJ DISASTERS

1987: 400 die as Saudi authorities confront pro-Iranian demonstration
1990: 1,426 pilgrims killed in tunnel leading to holy sites
1994: 270 killed in stampede
1997: 343 pilgrims die and 1,500 injured in fire
1998: At least 118 trampled to death
2001: 35 die in stampede
2003: 14 are crushed to death 
2004: 251 trampled to death in stampede 

No evidence that a weakened Jemaah Islamiyah (JI)  reduces terror threat 



SYDNEY (AFP) - Sept 28/05 - Divisions within Southeast Asian [Islamic] network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) are not guaranteed to reduce the threat of terrorism, according to an Australian study. 


Jemaah Islamiyah is blamed for a string of deadly bombings including the 2002 nightclub blasts in Bali which killed 202 people and suicide attacks on the Australian embassy and JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute said in its study released Wednesday the group has been weakened by a crackdown by Indonesian officials.

Analysts believe this crackdown is partly responsible for creating division between hardliners pushing for large-scale attacks and those in favour of more  [Islamic] religious propaganda, education and recruitment.

"It would be wrong, however, to assume that a divided JI would mean a greatly reduced terrorist threat," the report says.

"More important is the strength and extent of the jihadist network in which Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) has been a central player.

"If JI is fragmenting, this may result in a more diffuse pattern of terrorist activity, rather than one focused on a single organisation.

"This could also mean that Indonesian terrorism will become more difficult for police and intelligence agencies to monitor."

The report, "Local Jihad: Radical Islam and terrorism in Indonesia", found that Jemaah Islamiyah remains the largest and most sophisticated terror network in Southeast Asia.

It was also the region's only genuinely transnational [Islamic] jihadist movement, with Indonesia as its main operational base and active cells in Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines.

Despite the security crackdown, the [Islamic] network "has nonetheless shown considerable resilience and capacity for adaptation to this new, and much less congenial, environment."

Full Story Here

Australian Prime Minister John Howard rejects protests by some Muslims

SYDNEY (AFP) - Oct 18/05 - Australian Prime Minister John Howard rejected protests by Muslims that they were being targeted by government plans for tougher counter-terrorism laws. 

Howard holds a summit Tuesday with state leaders to thrash out new legislation including tighter checks on citizenship applicants, jail terms for inciting violence and detention of suspects without charge for up to two weeks.

The proposals, introduced in the wake of the London transport bombings by British Muslims in July, would also allow suspects to be electronically tagged and have their movements and contacts curtailed for up to a year.

"There's nothing in these laws that target the Muslim community," Howard told national radio Monday. "There is no foundation in anything I have said or anything anybody has said to justify that complaint."

Moderate Islamic leader Zachariah Matthews, head of Mission Islam, a "charitable" organisation, said Muslims were not opposed to all of the proposals but warned they could lead to more intolerance.

Story Here

PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS INTENSIFIES IN ISLAMIC MONARCHY SAUDI ARABIA UNDER NEW KING ABDULLAH
Indian Christians told not to bring in Holy Books and icons, nor to meet in private to pray

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries 

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA (ANS) - AUG 25/05 - AsiaNews has reported that, with the death of King Fahd and the arrival of King Abdullah, the persecution by the Saudi Kingdom of believers of religions other than Islam, especially Christians, is on the rise.

In a story posted on their website, AsiaNews says that their sources in the Saudi capital have confirmed that the islamic  religious police, the Muttawa, [ those who impose Sharia Islamic Law on Everyone by FORCE] has raided the homes of foreigners, especially suspect homes (i.e. those where Christians live).

“This has forced many groups, who used to meet in the privacy of their home to pray, to stop this activity,” said the AsiaNews story. “Furthermore, fear is such that people have stopped meeting out of fear that the police might link them to one another. Indians [from India] are particularly targeted. In the last few months, nine Indians were arrested for illegal religious activities.

“According to Indo-Asia News, things have become so tense that India’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia sent a circular to Indian nationals living in the country warning them that the number of Indians in detention for engaging in religious activities was growing. He told them not to organize prayer meetings in private homes or preach in any way. He also advised his government to warn all those leaving for Saudi Arabia to leave religious books, Bibles, photos, or icons behind.”

The story goes on to say, “The Saudi government has banned any religious practice other than Wahhabi fundamentalist Islam. Any missionary activity or public expression of faith (having Bibles, wearing a crucifix, holding a rosary, praying in public) is outlawed.

“The religious police, well-known for its violence and torture, makes sure that the ban is enforced.

“Under international pressure, the Saudi monarchy had in the last few years allowed people to practice their religious beliefs in the privacy of their homes. But, the Muttawa did not heed this toleration and continued to arrest, jail and torture people whose only crime was to practice religions other than Islam in private.

“Although it persecutes non Muslims, Saudi Arabia has been recruiting skilled foreign labor for its economy. And only recently has Riyadh promised a 15-year tax holiday to attract foreign capital to invest in its railway, desalination plants, power plants and new industrial zones.”

Open Doors' “World Watch List” of countries where Christians are persecuted has stated that Saudi Arabia comes second only to North Korea in terms of anti-Christian persecution.

New Pope Must Decide Whether Islam is Rival or Partner in Fight Against Secularism, Hedonism 
By Roger Wilkison 
Rome
15 April 2005



VOA - Ap 15/05 - Roman Catholic cardinals meeting next week to elect a new pope will be debating, among other issues, what strategy their church should take toward Islam. Some cardinals see Islam as a rival in the battle for souls while others want to reach out to Muslims and enlist their support in combating what they see as the godless nature of modern life.

Not far from the Vatican, on the outskirts of Rome, is a glistening new mosque built with Saudi oil money. It is a symbol for many in the Vatican of the growing Islamic presence in Roman Catholicism's traditional European heartland.

Europe is now home to about 15 million Muslims whose very public loyalty to their faith makes Catholic leaders envious, especially at a time when attendance at both Catholic and Protestant churches across the continent is dropping drastically and religious indifference is growing fast. 

John Allen, a Vatican-watcher for the U.S. publication National Catholic Reporter, says the religious and moral clarity Islam stirs among its believers has been lost in the West.

"In England today, there are more Muslims that go to mosque on Friday than there are Anglicans, practicing Anglicans that go to church on Sunday," he noted. "Certainly, there are many people at the senior level of the Catholic Church and in other Christian denominations that are worried that, within a generation, Europe may well be an outpost of the Islamic world as opposed to being the cradle of Christian civilization." 



And, while European churches are emptying as the older generations die out, Christianity is facing a strong challenge from Islam in such places as Africa. Father Bernardo Cervellera, of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, says both religions are engaged in a battle for souls in Central Africa.

"In fact, Saudi Arabia is financing strongly and very, very deeply the preaching of Islam and the building of mosques in Central Africa," Father Cervellera said.

How to deal with the Islamic challenge may not be the decisive issue in choosing a new pope. But a debate has been going on for some time among cardinals on whether the Vatican's relations with Muslims should be conciliatory or more confrontational. And that debate intersects with other issues like Europe's increasing secularism and its rising number of Muslim immigrants.

Pope John Paul II avoided confrontation with resurgent Islam. He opted for accommodation, seeing Muslims as allies in his struggle against abortion, birth control and what he saw as growing hedonism, not just in the West but in other parts of the world too.

Some prominent cardinals, like Francis Arinze of Nigeria, follow John Paul's line, arguing that believers of whatever faith have a duty to fight together against a secularism he believes has sapped Christians of their spiritual strength.

Italian cardinals mentioned as possible popes, like Dionigi Tettamanzi of Milan and Angelo Scola of Venice, have advocated improving contacts between Christians and Muslims as a contribution to peace, both in Europe and in the Islamic world.

John Paul's strong opposition to the Iraq War resonated with Arab Catholics. Father Shafiq Abuzayid, of Lebanon, says the pope not only tried to protect shrinking Christian minorities in the Arab world but also send a clear sign that he wanted to build bridges with Muslims.

"What did they see from the West? They saw invasions," said Father Abuzayid. "They saw war. They saw armies. They saw destruction. So I think Islam has to be understood. It has to be discussed. We have to have a dialogue with them and understand each other."

But some Vatican prelates, including the influential German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, wonder whether John Paul's outreach toward Islam hasn't gone too far. He has opposed Turkey's entry into the European Union, saying Turkey represents a tradition different from that of the West. Although he has written that it may be useful to talk to Muslims, it is better to revitalize Christianity. His writings also reveal that he sees Islam and Christianity as competitors rather than partners.

At the same time that it has sought greater dialogue with Islam, the Catholic Church has spoken out more clearly about the denial of religious freedom for Christians in some Muslim countries, notably Saudi Arabia. Analyst John Allen says many Vatican officials complain about the lack of a level playing field in their dealings with Islam.

"When their citizens show up in the West, there is always a demand for legal recognition, for fair play, for the ability to build centers of worship," he said. "But the same thing certainly doesn't go on when Christians immigrate into the Arab world."

It is difficult to say how much consideration the cardinals will give to the church's policy toward Islam when they meet to choose a new pope. But John Paul's successor will have to decide whether Islam represents a threat to Christianity and whether it is better to confront it or to engage it in trying to root out what both religions consider the evils of the modern world. 

UNHCR’s Morjane leaving agency to become Tunisia’s Defence Minister

Kamel Morjane 

19 August 2005 – United Nations - Secretary-General Kofi Annan extended his best wishes to the United Nations refugee agency’s (UNHCR) Assistant High Commissioner, Kamel Morjane, who was sworn in today as Tunisia’s Defence Minister. 

Mr. Annan thanked Mr. Morjane, 57, for his long and distinguished service to the UN, the Secretary-General’s spokesman told a press briefing. 

Mr. Morjane’s departure date from UNHCR has not yet been set, but he will take up his post as Defence Minister in early September. 

An international lawyer, Mr. Morjane joined UNHCR in 1977 as a legal officer. During his career he headed up the South-West Asia, North Africa and Middle East bureau, and the Africa bureaux. He was named Assistant High Commissioner in October 2001. 

His career has also extended outside UNHCR on several occasions. From November 1989 to August 1990 he was Chargé de Mission at the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Tunisia, then from late 1996 to February 2000 Tunisia's Ambassador to the UN in Geneva. Later, for nearly two years, he was the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). 

Jihad without borders
By Syed Saleem Shahzad 

KARACHI - July 22/05 - ATimes - A line connects the resistance strategy of Iraq's Ba'athists and Afghanistan's Taliban militias as they both draw on the same blueprint in their struggle against US-led forces in their respective countries. 

Significantly, their roadmap, conceived in the mountains between Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal area and Afghanistan and in the southern parts of Baghdad, involves taking their battles to the home countries of the invading forces. 

The bomb attacks in London on July 7 can be viewed as the first manifestation of this approach. 

The Jaishul al-Qiba al-Jihadi al-Siri al-Alami was formed in South Waziristan in the middle of 2003. Ansarul Sunnah was formed in the southern parts of Baghdad at about the same time. The organizations include Kurds, Arabs, Pakistanis and Afghans committed to fighting against the US and its allies all over the world, by any means. 

The two organizations have established recruiting outlets throughout the world to generate finances and, crucially, to ensure a steady supply of recruits to training centers established in Samarra and Fallujah in Iraq and in South Waziristan. 

Interrogation of some of Jaishul Qiba's arrested men in Karachi revealed that they have divided the organization in several cells and given them different names. One name was Jundullah, whose members carried out an attack on a corps commander's motorcade in Karachi last year. They were subsequently arrested. 

Ansarul Sunnah basically draws its leadership from Mosul and Sulemanyia, but now central Iraq is its playing field. Its initial leaders were Kurds from the Ansar ul-Islam, but later many Ba'athist and other Islamic Arab groups merged into Ansarul Sunnah. 

Full Story Here

Not Kidding: UK Police fund pro-terrorist scholar
Islamist will speak in London 2 weeks after bombings

July 13, 2005
WND - British police are funding a speaking engagement by an Islamic academic who justifies suicide bombings and is banned from entering the United States. 

Just 17 days after the London bombings, Egyptian-born Tariq Ramadan will speak to young Muslims at The Middle Path conference July 24, reports the Times of London. 

Full Story Here

Left, right: Iran and Venezuela in lockstep 
By M K Bhadrakumar 

July 8/05 - Among the world leaders felicitating Iran's president-elect, Mahmud Ahmadinejad, one head of state conspicuously set aside protocol norms - President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. Though Ahmadinejad will only be formally sworn in on August 4 - and a congratulatory message through diplomatic channels at this stage was all that was required - Chavez telephoned Ahmadinejad. 

Chavez was being deliberate in making an extraordinary gesture of warmth and camaraderie. He wished to personally convey to Ahmadinejad that the latter's election had enhanced the "legitimacy" of Iran internationally, a country that Venezuela would regard as a "friend and brotherly nation" on the world stage. He said he would depute a high-level delegation from Caracas to visit Tehran specially to be present at Ahmadinejad's swearing-in ceremony, and that he would visit Tehran in the near future, aiming at a "comprehensive expansion" of cooperation between the two countries. 

Full Story Here

SAUDI ARABIA: WAHHABISM OPPRESSES CHRISTIANS AND MUSLIMS 
- Muslims youths suicide; expatriate Christian leaders imprisoned.

By Elizabeth Kendal
World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission (WEA RLC)
Special to ASSIST News Service 

AUSTRALIA (ANS) - May 18, 2005 - In the 7th and 8th Centuries, Arab armies vanquished civilisations and captured territory from the Arabian Peninsula through Palestine and the Middle East to Persia and India. They swept across North Africa into Spain and France, swallowing up much of the Pax Romana and claiming it for Islam. In the 15th Century the Ottoman Turks moved into Europe, capturing Constantinople (now Istanbul), then the Balkans. But in 1683 the Muslim advance was blocked at the gates of Vienna, and from that point on, the Islamic Empire stagnated and declined, while the post-Reformation Christian West rose.

During the early 18th Century, Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab concluded that Islam declined due to its corruption by foreign influences. He believed that to regain its ascendancy, Islam had to wage war on 'shirk' (polytheism  - supposedly including Christianity) and be reformed, purified of all the pagan and foreign influences that had infiltrated over the centuries. 

In 1744, Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab and Muhammad ibn Saud, the tribal ruler of Diriyah (near Riyadh) covenanted that ibn Saud would protect ibn Abdul Wahhab and spread the Wahhabi creed. In return, ibn Abdul Wahhab would legitimise ibn Saud's rule over an expanding circle of tribes subdued through a new jihad. This 18th Century pact still underpins the Saudi state today. Wahhabi clerics protect and legitimise the rule of the liberal Saudi royal family, in exchange for total control of religious and education ministries and an agreement that the state will protect and spread Wahhabism's reformed, puritanical Islam worldwide. 

The doctrine of Islamic holy war (Jihad) is a central tenet of Wahhabism and has been an instrument for Arab and Islamic imperialism since the 7th Century. Because Wahhabi clerics control Saudi Arabia's education system, Saudi youths are indoctrinated from their earliest days as to the necessity of Islamic jihad and the glory of 'martyrdom' in the cause of Allah. Terrorism experts note that around half of all 'martyred' suicidal jihadis in Iraq have been Saudi. Many are they are not driven by unemployment or poverty, but by the Wahhabi ideology of hate and empire pumped into them. In the last 30 years, Saudi Arabia's population has grown from 6 million to 24 million, with 60 per cent now under 20 years of age. Instead of having hearts filled with youthful, hopeful dreams of future life, they are filled with hate and dreams of death. 

Meanwhile, Christians with the exhilarating, liberating Good News of salvation through Christ and abundant life in Christ are silenced. All non-Muslim expression is strictly forbidden. The Constitution mandates that a Saudi citizen be Muslim. Apostates are executed. Christian expatriate workers who gather for secret worship risk arrest by the muttawa, the Islamic religious police from the Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. Conditions in Saudi prisons are dire, and torture is routine. 

On 22 April, the muttawa arrested 40 Pakistani Christians as they met quietly for secret worship. The believers were beaten, mocked and detained. They were later released, but their Christian materials and official ID cards were confiscated. A week later, on 29 April, the muttawa raided a house where 60 Ethiopian and Eritrean Christians had gathered for prayer. The group was threatened and their Bibles were confiscated. Five elders were imprisoned and are being held incommunicado. 

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY FOR:

Christ, the crucified, raised Saviour and glorious enthroned King and one and only begotten Son of God, who has already defeated the 'evil one', to bind the spiritual forces that keep Saudi Arabia in spiritual bondage to darkness and death. 

Christ, the healer and deliverer, to bring spiritual healing and deliverance to Saudi Arabia by opening the doors of freedom, giving sight to the eyes, and breaking the chains that bind and the structures that oppress. (Luke 4:14-21)

'I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, "Here am I, here am I."' (Isaiah 65:1 NIV) 
the Holy Spirit, our ever-present comforter and counselor, to protect the Christian prisoners, guard their hearts and minds, build their faith, and empower and use their witness for the kingdom and glory of God. 

CHRISTIAN HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGNERS CLAIM THAT SAUDIS SHRED BIBLES, YET LITTLE IS HEARD ABOUT THIS DISRESPECT TO GOD'S HOLY WORD

By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service 

SAUDI ARABIA (ANS) - May 24, 2005 - While emotions have been stirred in the Middle East over erroneous reports of the US military desecrating a copy of the Koran, little attention is paid to the disrespect given to copies of the Bible where the Word of God is not welcome.

Patrick Goodenough, CNSNews.com International Editor, in a May 19, 2005 story writes that Bibles found in the possession of visitors to Saudi Arabia are routinely confiscated by customs officials, and in some cases copies allegedly have been put through a paper shredder, according to religious rights campaigners.

Goodenough says: "Reports from the Islamic world of the abuse of Bibles and other items important to Christians emerge from time to time, but generally have little impact -- in contrast to the wave of Muslim anger sparked by a Newsweek report, since retracted, of Koran desecration by the U.S. military."

"The Muslims respect the Koran far more than Christians respect the Bible," says Danny Nalliah, a Sri Lankan-born evangelical pastor now based in Australia.

Goodenough says that during the 1990s, Nalliah spent two years in Saudi Arabia, where he was deeply involved with the underground church.

"It's a very well-known fact that if you have a Bible at customs when you enter the airport, and if they find the Bible, that the Bible is taken and put in the shredder," Nalliah said in an interview with Goodenough this week.

"If you have more than one Bible you will be taken into custody, and if you have a quantity of Bibles you will be given 70 lashes for sure -- you could even be executed," Nalliah said.

Nalliah had not himself seen a Bible being shredded, but said the practice was widely acknowledged among Christians in the kingdom.

Abuse of Christians and their symbols was not restricted to the destruction of Bibles, Nalliah added.

A friend of Nalliah's, a fellow Christian in Saudi Arabia, told Nalliah of witnessing a particularly unpleasant incident involving a Catholic nun.

Nalliah's friend had been in the transit lounge at the airport in Jeddah -- the gateway to Mecca, used by millions of Hajj pilgrims each year -- when a nun arrived at the customs desk.

"Some fool [travel agent] had put her on a transit flight in Jeddah. You don't do that to a Catholic nun, because she's going to be tormented," said Nalliah, adding: "They opened her bag, went through her prayer book, put the prayer book through the shredder...took the crucifix off her neck and smashed it, tormented her for many minutes."

Eventually another Muslim official objected to their conduct, came across and "rescued" her, pointing out to the customs officials that she was not entering the country but only in transit and would be leaving on the next plane, Goodenough quotes Nalliah as explaining.

Briefed beforehand about the risks, Nalliah said he did not carry a Bible when he arrived in the kingdom in 1995. Subsequently, however, he took possession of hundreds of Bibles that had been smuggled into Saudi Arabia to be used by believers there.

Nalliah said he had a close call one morning when armed members of the notorious Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice -- the religious police, or muttawa -- hammered at his front door at 1 a.m.

With 400 smuggled Bibles "sitting on the dining room table," Nalliah believed his life to be in serious danger. "That was a crime equal to rape, murder, armed robbery, and in Saudi Arabia you get the same punishment," he said -- the death penalty.

Nalliah said he had prayed earnestly and, in what he could only describe as a miracle, the men left without entering his home.

BIBLES CONSIDERED 'CONTRABAND'

Claims of Bible desecration in Saudi Arabia have been made by others, Goodenough says.

"One Christian recently reported that his personal Bible was put into a shredder once he entered customs," the late Nagi Kheir, spokesman for the American Coptic Association and a veteran campaigner for religious freedom in the Middle East, wrote in an article several years ago.

"Some Christians have reported that upon entering Saudi Arabia they have had their personal Bibles taken from them and placed into a paper shredder," the U.S.-based organization International Christian Concern said in a 2001 report.

Goodenough said that in its most recent report on religious freedom around the world, the State Department made no reference to Bible destruction, but said they were considered contraband.

"Customs officials routinely open mail and shipments to search for contraband, including...non-Muslim materials, such as Bibles and religious videotapes," the State Department report said. "Such materials are subject to confiscation, although rules appear to be applied arbitrarily."

Goodenough reports that in a 2003 report on Saudi Arabia, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent watchdog set up under the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act, said: "Customs officials regularly confiscate Bibles and other religious material when Christian foreign workers arrive at the airport from their home countries initially or return from a vacation."

Goodenough's inquiries about the legality of Bibles and about the shredder claims, sent to the Saudi Embassy in Washington and the Saudi Information Ministry in Riyadh, were not answered by the time Goodenough's article went to press.

THE KORAN VS. THE BIBLE

After Nalliah left Saudi Arabia in 1997, he went to the U.S. and took part in the lobbying effort on Capitol Hill in support of what eventually became the International Religious Freedom Act, signed into law the following year, Goodenough wrote.

According to Goodenough, Nalliah heads an evangelical ministry in Australia, where late last year he and a colleague became the first people to be found guilty under a controversial state religious hatred law, after Muslims accused them of vilifying Islam during a post-9/11 seminar for Christians.

Nalliah said this week it did not surprise him that Muslims have reacted strongly to the claims that U.S. interrogators at the Guantanamo Bay base, where terrorism suspects are held, had thrown a Koran into the toilet, Goodenough said.

He writes that while Bible scholars say the Bible is written by men who were inspired by God, Muslims believe the Koran is "the copy of an original that is sitting in heaven, and has been sent down [by revelation to Mohammed]."

The book is seen as something sacred in itself, Nalliah explained, its words having come "directly from Allah. That's why they are so mad when they think something [unseemly] is being done to the Koran."

For instance, a Muslim will never keep a Koran at ground level, Nalliah told Goodenough.

The Pentagon says a January 2003 memo issued to U.S. personnel at Guantanamo Bay instructed them to "ensure that the Koran is not placed in offensive areas such as the floor, near the toilet or sink, near the feet, or dirty/wet areas," Goodenough reports.

He writes that even in Western societies, Nalliah noted, copies of Bibles could often be found in witness boxes of courts, ready for use when witnesses are sworn in. But the Koran will generally be kept in safe storage elsewhere, covered in cloth, to be brought in when required by a Muslim witness.

Nalliah said such reverence for the Koran stood in stark contrast to some Muslims' feelings about the Bible, however.

Nalliah also said the Koran was "confusing" on this score. In places (e.g.: sura 29:46-47) it appeared to urge Muslims to respect the Bible and those who believe in it; elsewhere it exhorts them to fight those who don't accept Islam until they pay tribute and accept inferior status (sura 9:29-31).

According to author and Islam scholar Robert Spencer, "a devout Muslim might very well mistreat a Bible, because traditional Islamic theology regards it as a corrupted and unreliable version of the genuine revelations that were given to Moses, Jesus, and other Prophets."

Spencer noted that in sura 9:30 the Koran says those who believe Jesus is the Son of God are under Allah's curse, Goodenough writes.

Spencer adds: "Throughout history, most Muslim theologians have held that the New Testament has been tampered with since it teaches that Jesus is the Son of God."[which is not true, with thousands of portions of the Bible which have been discovered, that are written in Ancient Greek, which Christians can use to compare those copies to the Bible that Christians have today].

Goodenough says that some of the more notorious reported incidents of Muslims abusing Christian symbols implicate Palestinian radicals, including the trashing of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem in 2002; and the desecration of Maronite churches in Damour, Lebanon in 1976.

He adds that in the Damour episode, Yasser Arafat's PLO killed more than 500 of the Christian town's inhabitants before turning it into a stronghold, and used the interior of the St. Elias church for a shooting range, according to published accounts. 

CHRISTIAN SUDANESE FAMILY HIDING IN SWEDEN PLEADS FOR HELP

By Jeremy Reynalds
Special Correspondent for ASSIST News Service

SWEDEN (ANS) - May 23, 2005 - A Sudanese Christian family now living in hiding in Sweden say they have been told to leave the country and return to Sudan or Nigeria where they could face death.

The history of Sudan, embroiled in civil war, is long and complicated. Over simplistically, Northern Sudan is Islamic and Southern Sudan is Christian. However, also practiced are a variety of traditional African religions.

In an e-mail interview, Sara told the story of her attempted flight to freedom, along with husband David (first names only used for protection) and their baby daughter.

MEETING JESUS

Sara said she is from Khartoum in North Sudan. She met Christ in Bombay, India, where she was attending university and pursuing a degree in zoology. During that time, Sara had a reoccurring dream in which she heard a voice saying to her, “You must be born again.”

Sara told her roommate Gloria, who said she needed to go see a pastor and have him pray for her. While Sara initially rejected that advice, she continued intermittently to have the same dream. However, one night the dream increased in intensity.

“(A) man wearing white came to me in my dream and said to me, ‘follow Me.’ He introduced me to some people. All of them were all wearing white and I never recognized anybody there. As I was entering the gathering, I removed my scarf which I has [sic] been wearing all my life. After the gathering a prayer was (said for me), and (the man) asked me to go and tell my friends that Jesus Christ is the Savior, and He is the only way, the life and the truth. ‘Go,’ He said, ‘you must be born again.’”

When Sara woke up, she told Gloria about the dream. While Gloria’s first thought was to take Gloria to her church, she also knew that Sara was nervous about any possible retribution that may occur from her being seen visiting a Christian church, so the women decided to go to Gloria’s hometown in South India.

“There I embraced Christ,” Sara said. “I (was) happy and filled with the Holy Spirit.” Sara said that she and Gloria spent two months in Gloria’s hometown, where she “learned the Bible, the basic Christian life and what it takes to be a Christian.”

Sara was subsequently baptized by a local pastor. She then spent an additional year at school studying computer and data management.

Before returning to Sudan, Sara said she visited Mother Theresa in Calcutta.

“There I felt more of the need to be a Christian,” she said. “I forgot that I was once a Muslim, and meeting her along with other ladies that were working there as nuns, really moved my spirit. (I saw) how she touches people’s lives (and laid) her life (down) for the poor.”

Sara moved back to the Sudan. She realized that her previous plans to be a lecturer at the Red Sea University in the school’s zoology and botany department would “bring me back to my denounced faith.”

With that in mind, Sara decided to go to a Catholic school, where she was offered a job.

However, Sara said her relatives were not happy with her new found faith.

“I could not last (at the Catholic school), as my relatives used to come there to see if I am worshiping with them in the morning, as well as wearing (the required Islamic head scarf). On more than three occasions I was harassed heavily by my relatives, stating that I have to leave that job and that they have a new job for me. I knew that they wanted to have me watched.”

MARRIAGE (AND TROUBLES) ON THE HORIZON

During Sara’s 18 months with the Catholic school, she met her then husband-to-be David, an economist whose ethnicity, color and religion were preventing him from obtaining good employment.

“He is from South Sudan, and dark in complexion, while I am considered fair and white like the Arabs,” Sara said. “This form of discrimination has left the South Sudanese to face racism, discrimination and class differentiation in their own land. This is one of the reasons for the long war in Sudan between the north and the south. This is (the) climax of my problem when I decided with him that we will marry.”

Sara said she knew that David’s ethnicity would result in her facing many problems.

“I know the Sharia law (http://knowislam.info/drupal/sharia) in Sudan and also the situation and persecution that I will face for my decision,” Sara said, “but I decided to accept (it anyway).”

Sara’s mother told her that she would support whatever decision she made, but she was powerless to stop anything bad happening to David.

“I should make sure that David is out of sight; that they are planning to kill him,” Sara’s mother told her. “That was the information which made David not come to our house again, even though he came only twice ... All these situations and persecutions ... have left me to live in fear, psychological trauma, persecution and lack of exercising my right of religion. I really felt tortured inwardly as I am always unhappy, and thinking that any time there will be bad news from somewhere.”

Sara said that David was threatened by the Arab community, with, as she put it, his adversaries “building a gang of anger (toward) him among the neighbors, so that he will be seen as a public enemy.”

In addition to the troubles plaguing her husband, Sara was also facing her own dilemma, still feeling she needed to wear the requisite Islamic head scarf for her safety. Doing that, she said, plunged her into internal turmoil.

“(Wearing the scarf) really killed me. I (felt like I was) living a double life and I felt like dying. The persecution I was going through was more (than I could) bear. I cannot explain all the persecution that I faced and (am) still facing ... My mother asked us to (leave), as the plan was to attack me and my husband.”

The couple fled to West Sudan where they spent some time with David’s uncle and then decided to move to the neighboring country of Chad (www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/cd.html). 

Sara and David lived in Chad for two years. During that time, Sara said she and David worked at a small non- governmental organization and her daughter was born.

David’s dark complexion caused some questions by militant Islamic fundamentalists, resulting in the couple moving from house to house.

“Even the house owner will sell you to the (Islamic) fundamentalists as he was also a Muslim and never liked Christians,” Sara said. “This increased my fear ... We decided to look for means to move to a western country that is a free place, and that has laws to protect people (from) fear, persecution and torture of any kind.”

SWEDISH GOVERNMENT REJECTS REQUEST FOR REFUGE

As a result, Sara and David paid an “agent” money to help them get to Sweden where Sara said she hoped they would be protected.

However, Sara said, the Swedish government ultimately rejected the couple’s request, despite being aware of the fate that could await the family back in the Sudan.

Sara and David’s pastor, Kristina, said in an e-mail interview that she met the couple a year ago.

She said after arriving in Sweden they asked for refugee status. “They come to our church and have since then been (some) of our most dedicated church members. They really have brought us great blessings. Now they have been denied (refugee status) in the last instance, and have been asked to prepare for their going back to Sudan. We are not very informed about how to help refugees, so now we are searching for ways to help them.”

Sara said that she and David did see a lawyer at the Swedish Immigration Service. But that didn’t help, she said. Despite providing a listing of all the “apostasy” cases (www.barnabasfund.org/Apostasy.htm  and http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/12/18/nprince18.xml),
he didn’t appear to be moved.

“I am afraid that it made no impact, and also (he) ... did not seem to know much about Sudan ... After we were asked to leave Sweden within 14 days, he never (bothered) to call us or ask us of any thing he can do .... We are living (in) hiding ... and we decided to inform you , and we need protection as our lives are too much in danger.”

The exact status of the family’s case with the Swedish Immigration Office, Sara said in a subsequent e-mail, is that she, her husband and baby have to leave Sweden and go to Sudan or Nigeria.

Sara said the Swedish immigration officer told her the situation in Southern Sudan is now peaceful.

By e-mail, David disputed that claim. He said a return to South Sudan would be far from safe for his wife as she is from the North.

“The South Sudanese will not see that she is a convert. They will see her and reflect back what they suffer from her former people and that will earn her discrimination and hatred,” he said.

David added that his wife’s fair complexion would also be an issue. “It will wake up memories which will remain as long as she lives there. Also, you cannot make them understand ... that she is different. They will ask why cannot she do something and that is that.

“At the same time,” he said, “South Sudan is still under Sharia law (so) she (would) be (living) with that fear all her life. Those Muslims (who have a) base in the south will continue to monitor people, so it is still the same case of fear (and) persecution.”

Sara said she doesn’t intend to go to Nigeria either, with its increasing acceptance of Islamic, or Sharia law, in the country’s predominantly Muslim northern area (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3667515.stm).

“I and my husband have never been there, and will not (go) there. I do not care which country (I go to). I am educated (and) I can survive, but I do not want to leave in fear and persecution and more. Hence we flew to the western world,” she said.

Sara and David reported treatment by the Swedish Immigration Service does appear to be in violation of the Swedish Alien’s Act (www.immi.se/asyl/asyleng.htm),  which reads in part, “In this Act refugee means an alien who is situated outside the country of his nationality because he feels that he has a well founded fear of persecution by reason of his race, nationality, affiliation to a particular section of society or by reason of this fear does not want to make use of the protection of that country. This provision applies irrespective of whether the fear of persecution emanates from the national authorities, or because it may be assumed that they are not prepared to provide protection from persecution by private people.”

However, Sara said, having a law is one thing. Following it can be entirely different.

Both she, her husband, and a number of Swedish citizens, Sara said, believe that the Swedish Immigration Service is not adequately following the law that mandates protection for refugees seeking asylum.

“Immigration has been criticized recently for the way they handle asylum and refugees,” she said, “without any consideration of humanitarian needs. If you can read the Swedish papers or Amnesty (International’s) website on Sweden, it is daily news the way they treat refugees. (They) allow them to stay for sometime and ask them to go back. Even now some Sudanese from Western Sudan(Darfur) are asked to go back” (http://hrw.org/doc?t=africa&c=darfur).

A report concerning Sweden on Amnesty International’s (AI) web site reads in part (http://web.amnesty.org/report2004/swe-summary-eng),  “A broader range of asylum applications was considered to be ‘manifestly unfounded,’ even though the legislation was unchanged and the profile of arriving asylum-seekers remained largely the same. AI believed that the accelerated procedure used to determine these claims fell short of the requirements international standards demand of a fair asylum procedure. The claimants were, among other things, denied access to legal aid and were not protected against being forcibly returned to their home countries or a third country pending appeal against an initial rejection of their claim. AI also expressed concern that the Swedish government on several occasions referred to the changed situation after 11 September 2001 as a reason to introduce carrier sanctions (penalties against carriers who transport inadequately documented passengers, including asylum-seekers).

Sara concluded by saying, “This is just briefly our case. I have series of persecution cases and if I narrate them, it will take a whole book.”

Friends of Bush at it Again: Saudi Arabia Represses Free Speech

Tuesday, May 3, 2005

FORTY CHRISTIANS ARRESTED FOR 'TRYING TO SPREAD THEIR BELIEFS'

By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

SAUDI ARABIA (ANS) -- Forty Christians were arrested in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, after attending a Christian service in a private apartment. The group included men, women and children, all of whom were foreigners.

The service on April 22 was held in the Thaharat al-Badi’a neighborhood of western Riyadh, the Saudi capital, and led by a Pakistani Christian, according to information received by ASSIST News Service (ANS) from The Barnabas Fund.

Barnabas Fund said the raid took place as the Pakistani Christian was delivering a sermon. The Saudi religious police, the mutawwa, had followed the forty Christians who attended the service, collecting information on their activities.

Saudi press reports stated that the apartment was equipped as a church with
crosses, Christian pictures and many evangelistic books and cassettes. The service itself had included prayers, preaching and communion.

According to Saudi press reports the raid was part of a sweeping police operation in Riyadh, conducted on the orders of Riyadh Governor Prince Salman bin Abd Al-‘Aziz.

Barnabas Fund says that while non-Muslims in Saudi Arabia are supposed to be allowed to practice their faith in their own homes, it is illegal to hold non-Islamic religious gatherings and to promote religions other than Islam.

"A police official was quoted as saying the Christians were arrested because they had ‘tried to spread the poison and their beliefs to others.’ One of those arrested was a Pakistani Muslim who said he had been influenced by their Christian beliefs. At present all forty are being detained while they are investigated. If they are convicted of proselytizing they may face harsh prison sentences followed by deportation," Barnabas Fund said in its statement.

Barnabas Fund works to support Christian communities mainly, but not exclusively, in the Islamic world where they are facing poverty and persecution.

Joining Civilization ? Saudi Arabia bans forced marriage...at least officially

More than 100 men and women attended the service and sermon given by Amina Wadud, professor of Islamic studies.

The location was moved to an Anglican Church building in New York after mosques refused to host the event.

The service has been criticised by a number of Muslim leaders, who say it goes against Islamic doctrine.

htp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4361931.stm

BBC - Mar 16/05 - Police in Yemen have clashed with demonstrators on a second day of protest over a proposed sales tax rise.

In Taiz, about 250 kilometres south of the capital, Sanaa, as many as nine people are reported to have been injured and another 10 detained.

Reports say another two people were injured in clashes in the city of al-Hadida, west of Sanaa.

Opposition parties say the tax would increase pressure on the poor and blame corruption for Yemen's economic woes.

Protests in the capital ended peacefully.

Story Here

Spain Muslims Issue Fatwa Against Bin Laden

MADRID, Spain - Mar 10/05 - Muslim clerics in Spain issued what they called the world's first fatwa, or Islamic edict, against Osama bin Laden on Thursday, the first anniversary of the Madrid train bombings, calling him an apostate and urging others of their faith to denounce the al-Qaida leader.

The ruling was issued by the Islamic Commission of Spain, the main body representing the country's 1 million-member Muslim community. The commission represents 200 or so mostly Sunni mosques, or about 70 percent of all mosques in Spain.

The March 11, 2004, train bombings killed 191 people and were claimed in videotapes by militants who said they had acted on al-Qaida's behalf in revenge for Spain's troop deployment in Iraq .

The commission's secretary general, Mansur Escudero, said the group had consulted with Muslim leaders in other countries, such as Morocco — home to most of the jailed suspects in the bombings — Algeria and Libya, and had their support.

"They agree," Escudero said, referring to the Muslim leaders in the three North African countries. "What I want is that they say so publicly."

The fatwa said that according to the Quran "the terrorist acts of Osama bin Laden and his organization al-Qaida ... are totally banned and must be roundly condemned as part of Islam."

It added: "Inasmuch as Osama bin Laden and his organization defend terrorism as legal and try to base it on the Quran ... they are committing the crime of 'istihlal' and thus become apostates that should not be considered Muslims or treated as such." The Arabic term 'istihlal' refers to the act of making up one's own laws.

Full Story Here

NEW YORK - Mar 10/05 - AP- A Yemeni sheik and his assistant were convicted Thursday of plotting to funnel money to al-Qaida and Hamas, handing a victory to prosecutors shaken last year when the man who was supposed to be their star witness set himself on fire outside the White House.

Sheik Mohammed Ali Hassan Al-Moayad and Mohammed Mohsen Yahya Zayed were found guilty on all but two of the 10 charges in an indictment that accused them of vital roles in a terror-funding network that stretched from Brooklyn to Yemen.

In a meeting with FBI informants in a German hotel room, the men were secretly recorded promising to funnel more than $2 million to Hamas, the Palestinian extremist group that has carried out suicide bombings against Israel.

Full Story Here

BBC - Mar 3/05 - Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah has advised Syria to pull its troops out of Lebanon "rapidly", a Saudi official has said.

The prince said withdrawal would ease the international pressure on Syria and help defuse the Lebanese crisis.

He made the call on Thursday during a visit by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to the kingdom for talks.

Syria invaded Lebanon in the 1975-90 civil war, but the troops stayed long after their mandate ended.

"Prince Abdullah advised President Assad to withdraw rapidly from Lebanon and to announce a timetable for the pullout to contain the Lebanese crisis and the international pressure on Syria," said a Saudi official.

"He added that Arab governments cannot resist this pressure unless Syrian troops are withdrawn."

In September 2004, Syria was ordered by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1559 to pull out from its smaller neighbour once and for all.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal discussed Syria at a meeting on Thursday.

Full Story Here

Continuing heavy rain in the area is hampering relief and rescue operations, the authorities say.

Helicopters are being used to drop food, blankets and other relief material in areas inaccessible by road.

Officials say nearly 500 people have died across Pakistan after a series of freak floods, landslides and avalanches over the past week.

Military and civilian relief workers have struggled to reach affected areas in North-West Frontier Province, where many roads have been blocked by landslides or snow.

Balochistan

Floodwaters are still to recede in parts of the southern province of Balochistan, where between 200 to 250 people have been killed - scores of them after a dam burst near Pasni, 650km (400 miles) from the provincial capital, Quetta.

Story Here

The Power of Saudi Arabia's Islamic Leaders

Saudi Conference on "Fighting Terror" Backfires

ICEJ - Feb 10/05 -Saudi leaders sought to bolster their credentials as willing partners in the war on terror by hosting an anti-terrorist conference in Riyadh in recent days, but the effort seems to have floundered. Press reports on the conference have highlighted the presence of delegates from terror-sponsoring states like Syria and Iran, while no invitations were sent to Israel, despite numerous terror attacks against that nation. And a top Saudi cabinet post has just been given to an official enmeshed in a terror financing controversy. The new education minister, Abdullah al-Obeid, is a former director of the Muslim World League, branches of which the US government is investigating to learn if they had financial ties to al-Qaeda, according to the Wall Street Journal. As MWL leader, Obeid blamed Jewish control of the media for reports linking terrorism and Islam, and organized symposiums to explain that Palestinian attacks on Israelis "are conducted in self-defense and they are lawful and approved by all religious standards."

U.K.: New Muslim Schools Come Under Criticism For Alienating Pupils From Mainstream

By Jan Jun

28 January 2005 (RFE/RL) - Britain's chief inspector of schools has threatened the closure of some Muslim schools, which he says are not preparing pupils for their responsibilities as citizens in a multi-religious and pluralistic society. The inspector's comments have offended the Muslim community and provoked a debate on the merits of the national education curriculum and what it means to be a good citizen. The education official also criticized a number of Christian schools. Demand for faith-based education has soared in Britain, and the number of such schools has nearly doubled over the past two years.


London, 28 January 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Presenting an annual inspection report on the performance of faith-based schools, chief inspector David Bell singled out Muslim schools with harsh criticism. 

“I worry that many young people are being educated in faith-based schools with little appreciation of their wider responsibilities and obligations to British society. Many of these new faith schools are being opened by a younger generation of British Muslims, who recognize that traditional Islamic education does not entirely fit pupils for their lives as Muslims in modern Britain,” Bell says. 

Bell went on to say many students of faith-based schools would emerge well informed about their particular religion but not about other faiths and cultures. This, said the school inspector, would pose a danger to what he called the "cohesion" of a pluralistic society like Britain's. “You find Muslim, Hindu, and Jewish students in Christian schools. So, all of that contributes to integration as well. However, in the case of the Muslim schools, one of the issues slowing down integration is that the schools are catering only for Muslim students."

Bell's comments sparked a wave of controversy within the Muslim community. Inayat Bunglawala is spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain. 

“We believe his comments were quite unfortunate, because it did have precisely that effect of singling out Muslim schools quite unfairly. And I think it’s distorted the debate, and it’s allowed people to engage in a very inflammatory way against the Muslim community," Bunglawala says. 

Bunglawala says the issue is being blown out of proportion. Out of Britain's 370,000 Muslim pupils, he says, only 3 percent attend faith-based schools. The vast majority attend regular state schools, some of which are Muslim-majority but not faith-based. 

Some education experts defend Bell's position. Peter Riddell specializes in interfaith relations at London Bible College. 

“There are a number of schools that receive state funding. And in order to receive state funding, they have to prove that they are working within the national curriculum. The fact is that there are many Muslim schools in this country. Some are working within the national curriculum, and some are not. So, his comments are not directed at all Muslim schools but some Muslim schools. And, I think due consideration should be given to his call,” Riddell said. 

Other experts say there are legitimate concerns about Muslim faith-based schools, and that curriculum guidelines should be enforced to ensure that students are learning about more than religion. John Marks directs the Educational Research Trust in London. 

“They would put much more time and emphasis on things like studying the Koran, studying the Hadith [eds: sayings of the Prophet Muhammad] and Muslim history. Some Muslim schools in other countries have half or 60 percent of their time devoted to this, which leaves very little for central subjects in the curriculum. The other issue is, should they have some sort of citizenship classes introducing them to the history of British institutions. And, something of a history of how we came to be such a diverse and tolerant society. And, maybe, something on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” Marks says. 

Riddell adds that another issue is that most Christian schools, unlike Muslim schools, admit pupils from other faiths, thus helping integration. 

“You find Muslim, Hindu, and Jewish students in Christian schools. So, all of that contributes to integration as well. However, in the case of the Muslim schools, one of the issues slowing down integration is that the schools are catering only for Muslim students. And, especially those outside the national curriculum present a much more Islamic curriculum than would be likely to attract students from other faith communities,” Riddell says. 

Bunglawala admits that some Muslim schools are lagging behind, but he says they could be improved by being brought into the state sector and following a national curriculum. He also says the school inspection report also singles out Christian schools for criticism, saying they too fall short in terms of teaching about state educations and different religions. 

“If you compare the results between the five Muslim schools that went to the state sector, all of them have gone on to become ‘beacon schools’. Take, for example, the all-girls Muslim school in Bradford called Faversham College. Last week it was awarded the number-one school status in the entire country for value-added progress -- meaning what its pupils' expected results are when they arrive at [the] age of 11, compared with what results they finally achieve at 16,” Bunglawala says. 

Marks of the Educational Research Trust says while Britain's definition of citizenship could still evolve, the notions of plurality and respect must be a factor of education in all schools. 

“I think that we are getting to a situation where there are potential crises in the 21st century which have not arisen before. We may need to look again at what we would want to be part of citizenship. I think that if people are coming with different faith traditions and cultural backgrounds to this country and want to be part of it, they need to understand our history and our traditions,” Marks says. 

Marks says the best way forward is to ensure the continuation of public debate on the issue.

CHINA - Explosive Islamic situation in Xinjiang

Jan 28/05 - Asia Times - The China Daily reported on January 22 that 13 persons were killed and 18 others injured in two separate explosions in China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, coinciding with the Eid-al-Adha religious festival.

In the first incident, nine passengers were killed instantaneously and two others later died after an explosion on January 20 in a minibus carrying 18 people at the Dushanzi overpass in Kuitun, in the Yili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture. The place where the explosion took place is about 200 kilometers from the Kazakhstan border. Most of the victims were reportedly ethnic minorities (Uighurs?) and not Han Chinese.

Liu Yaohua, head of the Public Security Department of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, was quoted as saying that 19 people were on the bus. A man and a woman got off during the trip, while a man in his 40s, carrying a black canvas bag, got on when the bus approached the overpass. The blast took place at the right rear of the bus.

The official Xinhua news agency reported that "explosive material" was responsible for the blast. It quoted Liu Yaohua as saying it was difficult to determine what explosive material was used, and how it was detonated. He added, however, that it was a "man-made" explosion, without saying whether it was caused by an improvised explosive device assembled with a criminal intent.

While blasts caused by the careless handling of industrial explosives and other hazardous materials are not unusual in China, because of poor enforcement of laws relating to the purchase, possession, storage and transport of industrial explosives,  news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted unnamed Chinese officials as saying they could not rule out the possibility that the blast is linked to the separatist movement of the Muslim Uighurs, the non-Han natives of the province, some of whom have been fighting for an independent state for the Uighurs of Xinjiang and the adjoining Central Asian Republics, to be called East Turkestan.

While Chinese officials generally do not cover up news of such explosions, they rarely release to the media the results of their own inquiries into the incidents. As a result, it is often difficult for the outside world to know definitively what and who caused such explosions.

Another explosion was reported the same evening...

Full Story Here

Algeria hit by further gas riots

Jan 24/05 - BBC - Algeria suffered a weekend of violent protests against government plans to raise gas prices, local press reports.

Demonstrators in a number of regions blocked roads, attacked public buildings and overturned vehicles, newspapers including El Watan reported.

The price of butane gas, a vital fuel for cooking, has risen to 200 dinars ($2.77) per canister from 170 dinars.

Even before the hike, failing economic conditions had been fanning resentment in some of Algeria's poorest regions.

Second wave

Demonstrators took to the streets last week when the cost change was first announced, but police seemed to have restored order.

According to local press reports, trouble flared up again on Saturday and carried on into Sunday.

El Watan said that a number of hot spots centred on the villages and towns close to Bouira, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of the capital Algiers. 

Story Here

Tsunami: The 'Great Satan' Rescues Muslims, Again

Jan 6/05 - HEN - The contrast could not have been clearer. The day President Bush recruited former presidents Bill Clinton and G.H.W. Bush to generate private tsunami-relief donations, Osama bin Laden’s comrades detonated three bombs in Baghdad, killing 16 Iraqi cops and soldiers toiling to rebuild their country. Once again, "the Great Satan" rescues endangered Muslims while Islamic zealots blew their co-religionists to bits. As the South Asian recovery unfolds, American public diplomacy should highlight this comparison to Muslims worldwide.

Countless Muslims were battered on "Black Sunday." Indonesia, Earth’s most populous Islamic nation, was lashed hardest with 94,200 fatalities by Wednesday. Sri Lanka and India, both with significant Muslim minorities, have lost 30,240 and 9,675 people so far. Largely spared on December 26, an increasingly violent Muslim citizenry lives in southern Thailand, a country that has lost 5,288. Astonishingly, in Somalia and Tanzania -- five air hours northwest of the massive Indonesian earthquake that triggered this emergency -- the tsunami respectively killed 200 and 10 among their largely Muslim populations.

These and other nations have begun to see America’s $350 million in government relief. At least $190 million in private assistance is en route, from multi-million dollar corporate contributions to double-digit sums gleaned from piggy banks and church collection plates.

At an estimated $4 million daily, the Pentagon has mobilized its largest Asian military operation since Saigon fell to Communism. By Wednesday, 13,435 GIs had used 21 vessels, 41 airplanes, and 50 helicopters to deliver 305 tons of supplies. U.S. warships desalinate water for the parched. There is much more help on the way.

All this from a nation that our Islamo-fascist enemies claim is committed to vanquishing their Muslim brethren.

Full Story Here

Religious tolerance and the need for understanding

Jakarta Post -Editorial - Dec 04 - 

Indonesia has been independent for 59 years but the religious life of the country has been going for a much longer period. Despite some ups and downs, the nation's religious coexistence has been generally stable.

Nonetheless, this coexistence amid religious diversity has not been without some serious disturbances. There is a fear in some circles that the tolerance we have maintained is only superficial, and is in fact a time bomb that could explode at any moment.

Continued tolerance depends on our attitude toward other religions. In other words, how we perform our religious duties and behave toward other believers is very crucial to the preservation of harmony. The only way to safeguard religious tolerance is to accept religious, ethnic and racial pluralism as a reality.

In this way, understanding pluralism means viewing religions as mediums to guide mankind to achieve common good. This is not the "good" claimed by one group that is detrimental to others.

Viewing religions in their symbolical and formal frameworks tends to make them a means of mutual combat. This only leads to seeing other groups as separate from the rest of the community in the common nation-building effort.

The ebb and tide of the nation's religious coexistence is inseparable from the way we conduct religious worship and view other religions.

In the context of pluralism, what we need to protect is the freedom of worship according to the belief embraced. The public requires the freedom to exercise their most fundamental right -- performing religious duties as guaranteed by the Constitution. Sadly, this seems easier said than done. Something seems to have gone wrong, as religions are only ritually understood, which entails the single interpretation that religious truth merely belongs to a certain creed.

Full Story Here - Jarkarta Post

Ba'asyir is spiritual head of JI - Jamaah Islamiyah, say members
The Jakarta Post Thursday, December 2, 2004
Eva C. Komandjaja

JAKARTA -- Two Malaysian militants testifying in the trial of Abu Bakar Ba'asyir acknowledged on Tuesday that the elderly cleric was the spiritual leader of the regional terrorist group, Jamaah Islamiyah (JI).

Malaysians Syamsul Bahri and Amran bin Mansur, who fled to Indonesia in 2002 and 2003 respectively to avoid arrest by the Malaysian police, also admitted that they were members of JI, which the United Nations has declared a terrorist organization.

Ba'asyir is currently on trial for his alleged role in the deadly Bali bombing in October 2002 and the J.W. Marriott Hotel attack that killed 12 people in August 2003.

Bahri said he was told by Mukhlas, who was sentenced to death for his role in the Bali bombings, that the white-haired cleric assumed the JI leadership after founder Abdullah Sungkar died in 1999.

However, he said that he had never witnessed Ba'aysir acting as the leader of the terrorist group, saying that he only met the cleric on a number of occasions, including when Ba'aysir gave religious sermons at Islamic boarding schools in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.
"I have met Ba'aysir four times, three times in Malaysia in 1990, 1998 and 1999, and once in Pakistan in 1992," Bahri said.

Meanwhile, Amran, also known by his Indonesian name, Andi Saputro, said that he had also heard that Ba'asyir took over the JI leadership following the death of Abdullah Sungkar.

"I did hear people saying that Ba'aysir was selected to replace Abdullah Sungkar as JI leader but some people also said that it was Abu Rusdan, not Abu Bakar Ba'asyir," said Amran.

Both witnesses admitted that they had received military training during their time as JI members from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s.

"Mukhlas, who is my brother-in-law, offered me an opportunity to go to Pakistan to learn more about Islam, and when I arrived there I found that it was actually some sort of military training that was involved," Bahri said.

He also said that he had been training to handle explosives in Pakistan and later learned how to make detonators in Solo, Central Java, after he fled to Indonesia in 2002.
Amran also admitted that he went to Camp Abubakar in the southern Philippines to receive further military training for around one month in 1998, and continued his training in Pakistan before heading for Kabul, Afghanistan, where he stayed for four months learning how to handle weapons.

Both witnesses said that they knew Azahari and Noordin Moch. Top, believed to be the masterminds behind the Mariott bombing in August last year.

"At first I did not believe that JI members were behind the Bali and Marriott bombings because as far as I knew, our teachings did not permit such things (bombings).
"However, I later learned that my fellow members Azahari and Noordin were suspected by the police of taking part in the Marriott bombing," Bahri said.

Ba'aysir has been in prison since shortly after the Bali bombings. He was cleared of terror charges but convicted of immigration violations during a 2003 trial. He was rearrested after completing his sentence in April this year and has been detained ever since.

A total of 77 witnesses are scheduled to testify during the trial, including convicted Bali and Marriott bombers Imam Samudra, Amrozi and Ali Gufron, and alleged JI members Wan Min bin Wan Mat and Faiz Abu Bakar Bafana.

Preachers of Hate: Islam and the War on America

Conference Urges 'Noninterference' In Iraq
Iraq -- map
24 November 2004 -- A two-day international conference in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh ended yesterday with a show of unity to support elections in Iraq set for 30 January.

The conference was attended by senior government officials of the United States and other major western countries as well as of the interim Iraqi government, Iran, Jordan Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, China, Russia, and other Arab countries.

They issued a declaration that stresses a United Nations role in preparing for the elections, condemns terrorism, kidnapping and the murder of civilians, and urges cooperation or at least "noninterference" from neighboring countries.

The declaration further says that the deployment of U.S.-led troops in Iraq "is not open-ended."

However, it gives no timetable for their withdrawal.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who also participated in the conference, said quelling violence in Iraq is of paramount importance.

(AP/Reuters/AFP)

Copyright (c) 2004/05. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org

Iraqi Armed Forces to Provide Troops with Religious Islamic Imams 

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Sept. 8, 2004 — An ongoing effort to facilitate the Iraqi army’s transformation into a force committed to taking care of its soldiers is manifesting itself in the form of Imams - religious clergy - on site at the Kurkush Military Training Base roughly 70 miles northeast of Baghdad, according to Multinational Security Transition Command-Iraq officials.

The effort to staff the religious leaders is part of the Iraqi government’s ongoing mission to stand up a viable security force in the country.

Currently the effort includes four Imams; two Shia and two Sunni religious leaders. Initial plans include the recruitment of 12 more Imams distributed amongst the recently opened base at An Numaniyah, the Taji Military Training Base and the 

base at Umm Qasr, as mosques, under construction at each location, come on line.

Previously the now defunct Iraqi Ministry of Religion had vetted the Kurkush Imams. Future recruitment efforts for the civilian religious leaders will run through the Ministry of Cultural Affairs’ Departments of Shia and Sunni.

No dates have been slated for the Imam hiring’s at the bases.

The Shia and Sunni forms of Islam are the dominant religious followings in the country. 

Source: USDOD/ htp://www.defendamerica.mil/articles/sep2004/a090804e.html

Shiia (Shiite) Pilgrimage in Northern Baghdad Proves Progress

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Sept. 12, 2004 -- The annual Shiia pilgrimage to northern Baghdad's Kadimiyah Shrine took place Sept. 11 without incident and without involvement of multinational forces, proving the Iraqi people and their interim government have made progress, military officials said in a news release from Baghdad.

In March 2003 during the Islamic holy day of Ashura, 58 Iraqis were killed and 200 were wounded at the shrine when suicide bombers attacked those paying their respects to the imams buried there.

Shiia events like this pilgrimage were formally suppressed under Saddam Hussein, a professed Sunni Muslim. His arrest has allowed Shiia Muslims to practice their religion with more freedom, officials said.

In other news from Iraq, the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division transferred authority to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division in a Sept. 11 ceremony. The 1st Brigade Combat Team soldiers are returning to Fort Riley, Kan., after more than a year in Iraq.

The team initially was attached to the 82nd Airborne Division during its Iraq deployment, and has been attached to the 1st Marine Division since March 20. In addition to its combat operations, the team also formed and trained the 60th Iraqi National Guard Brigade and sponsored more $23.8 million in civil projects in the Anbar province.

Before deploying to Iraq to relieve the 1st Brigade Combat Team, the soldiers of the 2nd Brigade combat team were deployed to Korea.

Joint operations continue in Tal Afar to remove the foreign fighters who have forced citizens from their city. The objective of these operations, officials said, is to return security and governance to legitimate Iraqi control and to allow families to return to their homes in peace.

Multinational forces and Iraqi security forces have secured the main road around the city and are moving into Tal Afar to eliminate the presence of the terrorists who have taken control from legitimate Iraqi leaders, officials said.

During these operations, multinational forces and Iraqi security forces continue to work with Iraqi Red Crescent and medical personnel to provide medical assistance to citizens injured in the terrorist attacks, officials said. Multinational Forces also are providing humanitarian aid to displaced citizens in the form of food and water delivered to camps set up outside the city, they added.

A Multinational Force Iraq news release said the operations support Ninevah Gov. Duraid Kashmoula's objective to remove unwelcome foreign terrorists from Tal Afar and to return control to legitimate Iraqi authorities.

A $99,960 Multinational Force Iraq school refurbishment project will be complete by Oct. 20, as part of the ongoing humanitarian and reconstruction effort in the country. The Ibn al-Athir School, an elementary school in Baghdad attended by 972 students, will consist of 48 rooms and 40,000 square feet upon completion. Construction, which began Aug. 20, includes work on interior and exterior projects, electricity, lighting, sewer, window work, water storage, pumps, debris removal, painting and stripping, floor work and carpeting, general damage refurbishment, and a waterproof projector and bell system, officials said.

The construction project is made possible through the Commander's Emergency Response Program, otherwise known as "CERP" funds, officials said, part of a larger effort aimed at giving commanders on the ground the power to fix important infrastructure problems quickly. To date, some 70 other schools have been renovated in the Baghdad area under the program.

The 1st Infantry Division's Engineers Electricity Ministry Team is overseeing a series of improvement projects at the thermal power plant in Bayji. Construction is under way on a health care center that will service more than 4,000 employees and family members of employees of the plant. A chemical warehouse also being built to improve the plant's operational capacity, officials said. Both projects are 50 percent complete. "These projects are providing jobs for Iraqi workers, improving the operational capacity of the plant, and improving the quality of life for families in Bayji," a Multinational Force Iraq news release said.

Looted Iraqi artefacts 'found in London'

BBC- Nov 27/03 - SOME Artefacts looted from the Baghdad museum following the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime have been recovered in London, police have confirmed for the first time.

The discovery of the items follows enduring images from the museum of smashed display cases, empty vaults and crying staff, when reporters gained access for the first time. 

First estimates of the looting suggesting that more than 150,000 items were missing were wildly inaccurate.

The most recent figures indicate all but 10,000 have been recovered.

But investigators believe some objects were stolen to order and smuggled out of the country. Thousands of valuable bead-shaped seals were stolen from locked, concealed store rooms.

Other important archaeological sites were also ransacked across Iraq, historically known as Mesopotamia and seen as the birth place of modern civilisation.

'Stolen goods'

The Metropolitan Police's confirmation that some of the artefacts had made their way to Britain follows an operation by the specialist arts and antiques squad. 

Full Story Here

Arabs rebuff US calls for speedy reforms

RABAT (AFP) - Dec 11/04 - Arab nations rebuffed US calls for speedy democratic reforms, insisting that steps the United States deems essential to stem terrorism be tied to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.

While agreeing that political, social and economic liberalization is desirable, senior Arab diplomats disagreed with outgoing US Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites)'s argument that reforms could not be delayed for any reason.

Speaker after speaker at the "Forum for the Future" conference here said progress would be difficult, if not impossible, without a resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict and lambasted the perceived US bias toward Israel.

In the final chairman's statement, meeting participants said "their support for reform in the region will go hand-in-hand with their support for a just, comprehensive and lasting settlement to the Arab-Israeli conflict."

Although the United States signed onto the statement, Powell, who was ending what is likely his last official trip abroad, disagreed with the conditions attached to moving ahead with change.

"We can't hold up reform or slow the pace of reform or keep reform from accelerating because of these other issues," he said at a news conference with Moroccan Foreign Minister Mohamed Benaissa who co-chaired the meeting.

"They affect the environment in which we are operating but nevertheless, reform is necessary," Powell said at the close of the forum that was attended by top officials from more than 20 Middle East and North African countries. 

Full Story Here

Islamic Countries say they Commit to Reforms

RABAT, Morocco - Dec 11/04 - Officials from more than 20 Islamic countries said Saturday that political, economic and social reforms must go hand in hand with steps toward settling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The commitment to reforms came during a four-hour meeting that included those Muslim nations, industrialized democracies, the Arab League and other groups.

The United States, a driving force behind the conference, sees the changes as a way to make these societies less of a breeding ground for political extremism.

At a news conference after the discussions, Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) said he was not disappointed that the Muslim delegates insisted on linking internal reforms to the Mideast dispute.

"We're not starting reform or holding up reform. It's ongoing," Powell said. "Reform has to go on. A child needs an education now."

Much of the discussion, conducted mostly in private, focused on raising the low literacy rates in the region and on ways to provide equal treatment for women.

Economic development also was on the agenda. Treasury Secretary John Snow said the region's unemployment rate is about 50 percent. 

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Jihad, suicide, murder & lies

Red Cross Returns After Fallujah Offensive

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Dec 10/04-  The Red Cross team entered Fallujah for the first time since a U.S.-led offensive devastated the city and met with Iraqi technicians and engineers to discuss the city's sewage and water treatment needs, a group spokesman said Friday.

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Algeria spent 170 million euros on fighting locust swarms: minister

ALGIERS (AFP) - Dec 11/04 - Algeria has spent almost 170 million euros (225 million dollars) since 2003 dealing with swarms of locusts which have infested its farmland, Agriculture Minister Said Barkat said.

And addressing a meeting of businessmen from Algeria and Mozambique here he warned "worse is to come from February and March"

Story Here

Islamic World = SELFISH RICH

BILLIONAIRE Arab States Not Ready to Forgive Iraq Debt

AP - Nov 23/04 - DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Arab countries made clear Tuesday they are far from ready to commit to a deal to forgive more than $30 billion owed them by Iraq (news - web sites), despite U.S. pressure and a recent debt-relief package by other major countries.

The hesitation on the part of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait — both strong U.S. allies — could have widespread ramifications for the effort to help Iraq get back on its feet economically. A weekend deal by Russia, Japan, Europe and the United States to forgive 80 percent of their portion of Iraq's debt hinges on Arab countries going along.

Both Kuwait — Iraq's largest single creditor — and Saudi Arabia have said no debt-relief commitments are possible until after Iraq has an elected and internationally recognized government.

Iraq takes the first step in that process in January, when it plans to hold elections for a National Assembly that is to draft a new constitution. If that is ratified, an election to choose a national government will be held in December 2005. It remains unclear at what point in that lengthy process the Arab countries would view a debt-relief deal as possible.

Iraq's interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, has repeatedly urged Arab nations to commit to debt relief, saying Monday that he "looks forward to Iraq's Arab brothers forgiving their debts from Iraq in the very near future."

On Sunday, the major economic powers of the so-called Paris Club, including the United States, Japan, Russia and European nations, announced they would write off 80 percent — or more than $31 billion — of the $38.9 billion that Iraq collectively owes them.

But a clause in that agreement gives the group the option to suspend part of its debt reduction if it is not matched by Iraq's other major creditors, led by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. 

Full Story Here

Note: This just demonstrates the hypocrisy of both the Arab and the Islamic Nations: Officially, they are all united, all trying to help each other. But this is just a "public face", a hypocritical disguise. When it comes to either helping 1) their own citizens or 2) other Moslems, - Despite the fact that they have Billions and Billions of dollars, they are totally Unwilling to help.  THAT ...is what the real moslem world is like !!!

Islamic World = SELFISH RICH, where Princes continue to rule and work AGAINST the People that they rule over, while they spend the money of the people and live lives of evil extravagance, oppressing others "in the name of" Islam

Saudi Arabia: Hostages held at US Saudi mission

BBC- Dec 6/04 - Developing: Gunmen are holding a number of hostages after storming the US consulate in the Saudi city of Jeddah.

Saudi security forces are reported to be fighting to regain control of the compound, and flames and smoke can be seen rising from the compound.

Witnesses said a car exploded in the street outside the consulate before the attackers entered the compound.

Security sources quoted by Reuters say four Saudi guards were killed and 18 local staff taken hostage.

There are no reports of American casualties.

About 200 Saudi police and National Guard soldiers are reported to have been deployed in the area, which has been sealed off. 

Full Story Here

Islamic Fantasies

It is to our credit as a nation, a society, and a culture, that Americans instantly grasped the true meaning of 9/11. We understood, as we had not fully grasped before, that we were the declared enemy in an Islamic fantasy.

"It is the enemy who defines us as his enemy, and in making this definition he changes us, and changes us whether we like it or not," writes Lee Harris in his new book, Civilization and Its Enemies: The Next Stage of History ($26.00, Free Press). "To insist on maintaining utopian values when your society is facing an enemy who wishes only to annihilate you is to invite annihilation."

If you still have any doubts whatever, consider what Sheik Saleh al-Taleb, a Saudi Arabian imam told 500,000 people in Mecca’s Grand Mosque on January 30 during the annual hajj that brings millions of Muslim pilgrims there every year. "Oh God, give victory to the holy warriors everywhere. Give them victory in Palestine. Oh God, make the Muslims triumphant and destroy their enemies, and make this country and other Muslim countries safe. Oh God, inflict your wrath on the criminal Zionists." 

We may begin a meeting with a prayer or benediction, but we are not suffused with the view that religion is the sole subject worth discussing. The notion that millions of Muslims are bent on killing us for being "infidels" is beyond our imagination. The fact that this is preached in thousands of mosques is ever more bizarre and frightening.

We are rational people living, we think, in a rational world. Only we are not living in a rational world. If that were the case, we would not have a system of "alerts" in place, nor would we submit to searches in airports or have to ponder what a "dirty bomb" could do. We would not live each day wondering when and where "they" will strike next. Our enemy is not rational and will not yield to the rational efforts of diplomacy to deter their intent to destroy us. 

Full story Here

Saudi Arabia: Arrests at Saudi reformers' trial

BBC - Dec 2/04 - Saudi police have arrested nine people who tried to attend the trial of three reform campaigners, witnesses say.

The nine include two journalists and relatives of the trio. Diplomats were among others wanting to attend who were barred from the court.

The trial went ahead behind closed doors at the Riyadh courthouse, despite earlier reports suggesting it would be open to the public.

Judges decided to send the case which began in August to a lower court.

Ali al-Demaini, Matruq al-Faleh and Abdullah al-Hamed are accused of campaigning for political change and a constitutional monarchy.

They are also charged with collecting signatures for a petition demanding change.

The trio were among about a dozen activists arrested in March. Most were freed after pledging to stop pro-reform activities. Overt public dissent is rare in conservative Saudi Arabia.

In October, a judge adjourned the trial of the three reform campaigners after they refused to answer questions because the hearing was being held in secret.

The son of one of the accused said they had to be taken by force into the courtroom on Wednesday and did not speak once in court because they insist on a public hearing. 

Full Story Here

"Christianity Is Life"

Algeria - In certain towns and villages of Greater Kabylie, there is at least one church, as for example at Ouadhias, Draa Benkhedda, Ain el-Hammam, and Boghni. In the latter village, for instance, two churches have opened their doors during the last two years. Although the original builders of these two churches had worked in absolute secrecy, the number of citizens who have embraced Christianity has grown rapidly. The [Protestant] church of Ouadhias has played an important role in the proliferation of the number of conversions in Kabylie, and it is considered the Mother Church, never having ceased its activities, even after [Algeria's] independence [1962] and the departure of the French and humanitarian missionar