Wilders: "It's a very sad day for freedom of speech in the UK"
A Dutch MP who called the Koran a "fascist book" has been sent back to the Netherlands after attempting to defy a ban on entering the UK.
Freedom Party MP Geert Wilders had been invited to show his controversial film - which links the Islamic holy book to terrorism - in the UK's House of Lords.
EGYPT: RULING ON BID FOR CHRISTIAN ID EXPECTED SOON
Attorney says he is ‘90 percent sure’ that convert from Islam will win case.
ISTANBUL, February 10 (Compass Direct News) – Following a hearing on Saturday (Feb. 7), the lawyer for a Christian convert in Egypt said he is hopeful that his client will become the first Muslim-born Egyptian to be granted official identification as a Christian.
CORRECTING STORY INITIALLY TITLED: Coptic Woman Wins Landmark Case, Custody of Children
The initial story published on February 3 wrongfully attributed a landmark custody victory to a Coptic woman for her 9-year-old son to another woman, Camillia, who currently finds herself in a custody battle. However, it has come to the attention of MET after speaking with Camellia that the lawyer who initially revealed the information has lied to Camellia and the press about this case "for personal gains." This correction hopes to end any confusion that may have occurred in errors in the initial story.
Toronto: Order to take off niqab pits law against religion
Woman to appeal ruling forcing her to unveil face in sexual assault trial
The Star
A judge has ordered a Toronto woman to testify without her niqab at a sexual assault trial – raising the thorny issue of whether Muslim women should be allowed to appear as witnesses wearing a veil that covers everything but the eyes.
Egyptian Judge Ejects Lawyer for Christian from Court
Dispute over evidence stalls bid by convert from Islam to change official ID.
By Roger Elliott
ISTANBUL, January 13 (Compass Direct News) – An attempt by an Egyptian convert from Islam to legally change the religion listed on his identification card to “Christian” hit a setback on Jan. 6 when a judge ordered security personnel to remove his lawyer from court.
Attorney Nabil Ghobreyal was expelled from the courtroom at Cairo’s Administrative Court following a heated argument with Judge Mohammad Ahmad Atyia
Ministers voice fears Gaza will radicalise British Muslims
LONDON- AFP
Government ministers expressed concern Monday that Israel's military campaign in Gaza was radicalising Muslims in Britain.
Communities Secretary Hazel Blears said she was "very concerned" that the conflict could help extremists, and justice minister Shahid Malik warned it was having a "profoundly acute and unhealthy" effect on Muslim communities here.
Egyptian Wins Rare Legal Victory to Revert to Christianity
Copt who became Muslim, then returned to Christ, gets ‘new’ faith officially recognized.
By Michael Larson
ISTANBUL, January 8 (Compass Direct News) – An Egyptian convert to Christianity who spent 31 years officially identified as a Muslim has won a rare legal victory to be officially registered in his “new” faith.
LONDON: The British authorities are investigating how a United Kingdom (UK) citizen flew to Pakistan using his sister’s passport before he was discovered by Pakistani officials and sent back.
"I am saying it out loud to everyone, the mother and I are threatened to be killed or being falsely charged of committing a crime by the Security Authorities and the Muslim Brotherhood. Should something happen to us, you know who did it" said Mr. Atef Helmy, journalist and activist in the Egyptian Human Rights Organization.
As Christmas Approaches, Muslims Raricals Erect ‘Allah Has No Son’ Banner in Nazareth
A banner proclaiming a verse from the Koran that denies God has a son hangs in front of the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth (Photo: Julie Stahl)
Nazareth, Israel (CNSNews.com) – As Nazareth’s Christians prepare to celebrate Christmas, they are playing down the appearance of a confrontational Islamic banner that challenges an elemental Christian belief.
Egyptian Convert to Christianity Tortured, Raped in Egypt
Martha Samuel, an Egyptian Muslim who converted to Christianity 5 years ago, was arrested at Cairo airport on Wednesday as she and her husband and two sons (4 and 2) were leaving for Russia (AINA 12-17-2008). Her name was on the observation list of people prevented from leaving the country.
A Saudi court has rejected a plea to divorce an eight-year-old girl married off by her father to a man who is 58, saying the case should wait until the girl reaches puberty, a lawyer involved told AFP.
"The judge has dismissed the plea (filed by the mother) because she does not have the right to file such a case, and ordered that the plea should be filed by the girl herself when she reaches puberty," lawyer Abdullah Jtili told AFP in a telephone interview after Saturday's court decision.
Egyptian Muslim Refuses to Give Child to Christian Mother
Court grants custody of 3-year-old to woman, but police refuse to enforce order.
By Roger Elliott
ISTANBUL, December 19 (Compass Direct News) – Egyptian authorities have refused to hand over a 3-year-old girl to her Christian mother even after a court granted her custody in a legal battle with her Muslim ex-husband.
At 03.00 am on Sunday 14th December the Egyptian State Security officers at "El Pharana", Alexandria, in a barbaric-style operation arrested:
1. Mr. George Masoud Masoud Fam, (55 years old), a lawyer from Alexandria who works at the social services office of the Alexandria Coptic Episcopate, as well as the Clerical Council in Alexandria.
Coptic Christian Fights Deportation to Egypt, Fearing Torture
By NEELA BANERJEE
An Egyptian Coptic Christian who was permitted to stay in the United States because of the probable threat of torture back home is now fighting deportation on a murder charge in Egypt.
CSW calls for official investigation into Cairo church riot
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) is calling for an official investigation into a recent attack on a Coptic church building in the East Cairo district of Ain Shams that later flared into mass rioting on the streets.
The Coptic Church of St Mary and Anba Abraam was attacked on Sunday by a mob of thousands, who began by protesting outside the church’s newly constructed extension building.
This delightful story just came in thanks to getreligion.org: The Saudis have recently asked permission to build a mosque in Moscow, a city where there are only four mosques and 2 million Muslims. The Russians, however, are saying they want, in return, an Orthodox church in Saudi Arabia.
Though they identify themselves as Christians, the Egyptian court is having a hard time letting them be. After all, "unknown to them, their religious identity officially changed 46 years ago due to their father’s brief conversion to Islam." Welcome to the wonderful world of sharia law, where lifelong Christians wake up one day to hear: "Surprise, you're Muslim!"
Egyptian Christian in Muslim ID Case Wins Right to Appeal
Arrest warrant rescinded for woman imprisoned because her father briefly converted to Islam.
By Roger Elliott
ISTANBUL, December 2 (Compass Direct News) – A Supreme Court judge in Egypt on Nov. 22 granted Christian Bahia El-Sisi the right to appeal her conviction for falsification of documents – a charge stemming from her official papers not identifying her as a Muslim.
Religious leaders to discuss right of Christians to build churches in Muslim countries
The right of Christians to build churches in Islamic countries will be among the topics discussed at a ground-breaking summit between Muslim and Catholic leaders in the Vatican this week.
Telegraph
By Nick Squires in Rome
The unprecedented Catholic-Muslim forum has been convened to rebuild bridges between the two faiths after Pope Benedict XVI caused outrage by linking Islam with violence during a speech in 2006.
Minneapolis:Somalis' "holy trip" of Haj ends at airport
Imam, mosque official barred from flight to Saudi Arabia
By JAMES WALSH and PAM LOUWAGIE, Star Tribune
Two men from a local mosque were kept off a flight Saturday, and their lawyer blames "unfair suspicions."
An imam and a youth coordinator at a Minneapolis mosque were prohibited from boarding a flight Saturday morning to Saudi Arabia as part of a spiritual pilgrimage, an attorney for the mosque confirmed Sunday.
Maher Ahmad El-Mo’otahssem Bellah case at the State Council Court today adjourned.
In a telephone call to Mr. Nabil Gobrial the Cairo lawyer and Mr. Maher Ahmad El-Mo’otahssem Bellah El-Gohary’s lawyer today, it was disclosed that court hearing took place at the State Council Court “Maglis Al-Dawla”, Doqi, Cairo today.
LONDON - Over 5,000 butchers from Pakistan would get employment in the halal meat industry of UK through Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between National Halal Foods Group (NHFG) of UK and Overseas Employment Cooperation of Pakistan.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) should cut off outreach efforts with organizations linked to the Muslim Brotherhood or other Islamist extremist groups, a report from a ranking Senate subcommittee member recommends.
"Justice Denied: Waste & Mismanagement at the Department of Justice," is an 86-page report issued in October by the office of U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), the ranking Republican on the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security.
Egypt: Two Coptic boys, forced to live with father convert-to-Islam, vow hunger strike to the death if not allowed to return to mother
Jihad Watch
I was reading the October edition of the Arabic newspaper, Sawt al-Muhajir ("Voice of the Immigrant" Y9N62) which regularly reports the abuses non-Muslims, mostly Christians, suffer living in the Islamic world. I found an update to a story we had originally posted here. According to that report, an Egyptian Christian intentionally converted to Islam simply so he could divorce his wife and remarry another, presumably Muslim, woman.
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Muslim-born journalist baptized by Pope Benedict XVI at Easter asked the pope to tell his top aide for relations with Muslims that Islam is not an intrinsically good religion and that Islamic terrorism is not the result of a minority gone astray.
Countries attending a U.N. interfaith conference Thursday rejected the use of religion to justify acts of terrorism and other violence that kills and injures innocent civilians.
A DERBY Muslim who sued Tesco for religious discrimination after he was asked to handle crates of alcohol has lost his case.Mohammed Ahmed, who worked in a warehouse, said the job was against his Islamic beliefs.
The 32-year-old, of Upper Dale Road, Normanton, also accused Tesco of victimisation and harassment during a three-day employment tribunal in Birmingham.
Secret enclaves of al-Qaeda extremists based in London, Birmingham and Luton are planning mass-casualty attacks in Britain, according to a leaked Government intelligence report.
By Sean Rayment, Security Correspondent
News footage of the terrorist attack on Glasgow Airport Photo: PA
The document, which was drawn up by the intelligence branch of the Ministry of Defence, MI5 and Special Branch, states that "some thousands" of extremists are active in the UK. They are predominantly UK-born and aged between 18 and 30, and many are believed to have been trained in overseas terrorist camps.
A leading Muslim doctor called for gays to feel 'the stick of the law' to protect society from their 'ravages', a disciplinary hearing was told yesterday.
Dr Muhammad Siddiq wrote to a magazine for GPs accusing homosexuals of spreading disease with their ' irresponsible behaviour', it was claimed.
UK militants back Jihad according to leaked report
Thousands of Islamist militants in the UK are actively supporting jihadist activities at home and abroad, according to a leaked Government document.
The secret report states that Britain will remain "a high-priority target" for international terrorists aligned with al Qaida for the foreseeable future.
And it warns that a network of extremist cells exists in the UK, with the main concentrations in London, Birmingham and Luton.
SOMALIA: CHRISTIAN AID WORKER BEHEADED FOR CONVERTING FROM ISLAM
Anti-Christian violence spills into Kenya as Somali Muslims attack in Nairobi.
Mansuur Mohammed
NAIROBI, Kenya, October 27 (Compass Direct News) – Among at least 24 aid workers killed in Somalia this year was one who was beheaded last month specifically for converting from Islam to Christianity, among other charges, according to an eyewitness.
Muslim extremists from the al Shabab group fighting the transitional government on Sept. 23 sliced the head off of Mansuur Mohammed, 25, a World Food Program (WFP) worker, before horrified onlookers of Manyafulka village, 10 kilometers (six miles) from Baidoa.
New clashes erupt between Coptic Christians and Muslims
Cairo, (AKI) – Minority Coptic Christians have clashed with Muslims in southern Egypt, according to Christian MP Ibrahim Zanuni quoted by pan-Arab daily Al-Sharq al-Awsat. The violence erupted at a Muslim funeral on Tuesday in the Coptic majority village of al-Tayba in al-Maniya province after Muslims accused Copts of throwing stones at mourners praying at a funeral, Zanuni said.
Jakarta, 27 Oct. (AKI) – An Islamist party leader has defended child marriages in Indonesia saying it is normal to marry children as young as 11 or 12. Hilman Rosyad Syihab, deputy leader of the Islamic party Partai Keadilan Sejahtera (PKS), shared his views with Adnkronos International. The comments came after a Muslim cleric provoked public outrage in Indonesia by marrying a 12-year-old girl, and reportedly has plans to marry another two girls aged nine and seven.