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Thread: Today's Top Islamic News (DAILY)

  1. #31
    New report fuels UN-Israel debate

    By Jeremy Bowen
    BBC Middle East Editor

    Olive farmers wait at an Israeli checkpoint in Nablus
    The report criticised the restrictions on the movement of Palestinians
    Palestinian human rights have been abused throughout 40 years of Israeli occupation, according to the UN General Assembly's special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian Occupied Territories.

    In a report to the UN General Assembly in New York, Richard Falk said Israel's occupation - of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and, until 2005, the Gaza Strip - possessed characteristics of colonialism and apartheid.

    Israel has rejected the report as a highly politicised, one-sided polemic.

    Mr Falk has in the recent past compared Israel's behaviour as an occupier to Nazi Germany's activities in occupied Europe during World War II.

    That remark alone has made him a very controversial figure for Israel, which will not give him a visa.

    Mr Falk said he compiled his report from reliable information provided by the UN and aid agencies.

    Lacking impartiality?

    The report said the condition of Palestinians living under occupation had continued to deteriorate, reaching "dangerous and non-sustainable levels of mental and physical suffering and trauma".

    Israel says Mr Falk lacks impartiality, objectivity and personal integrity

    Mr Falk examined specific case studies, and also highlighted Israel's continuing expansion of settlements that are illegal under international law.

    He also criticised the Israeli blockade of Gaza, restrictions on the movement of Palestinians, and what he said were legal moves to expel Palestinians from East Jerusalem.

    Israel has rejected the report as misleading.

    In a statement to the UN in New York, Israel also said Mr Falk lacked impartiality, objectivity and personal integrity.

    It said his mandate was inherently biased against Israel and should be changed.

    Ignoring violations

    The special rapporteur is appointed by the UN Human Rights Council (HRC). The council spends a lot of time concentrating on Israel's actions.

    The US, which protects Israel in the UN Security Council, does not have the same veto rights in the Human Rights Council and has been dismissive of it.
    Settlers kick Palestinian photographer near Hebron (18.10.08)
    The report said the occupation had characteristics of apartheid

    Erica Barks-Ruggles, a senior US state department official, said earlier this month that the HRC had failed to adequately address threats to fundamental freedoms and human rights in such places as Cuba and Belarus.

    "Human rights violations by the regimes in North Korea, Iran, and Zimbabwe have been ignored," she said.

    "The permanent agenda of the council was fixed in June 2007 with only one specific country item - Israel, a country that has been singled out for some 21 unbalanced actions, including resolutions, special sessions, and reports in the HRC's short life.

    Ms Barks-Ruggles added: "This negative record has led us to seriously question the HRC membership's collective commitment to live up to the ideals for which it was founded."

    Political lever?

    While the HRC is discredited in the eyes of the US and some of its allies, there are also plenty of countries around the world that consider the US and those same allies to be serious, long-term abusers of human rights and fundamental freedoms.
    Map

    What all this shows, once again, is that the promotion and protection of human rights around the world is not, unfortunately, a matter of simply agreeing a set of standards and seeing who measures up and who does not.

    Instead it is, at times, a useful lever to use against political opponents.

    When it comes to the occupied Palestinian territories there is no question that over many years Israel has abused Palestinian human rights and broken international laws concerning military occupation.

    Israel and its friends defend themselves by saying that the need to protect their people forces them into actions that may sometimes be undesirable, but which are subject to the checks and balances of a parliamentary democracy.

    But that is not the whole story. Some Palestinians have abused the rights of Israeli civilians by attacking them.

    Palestinians often respond to this by saying they have a right to defend themselves against an occupier.

    Continuing row

    It is also true that Palestinian security forces, working for both the main Fatah and Hamas factions, have on occasion arrested fellow Palestinians and treated them very badly.

    Human rights continue to be a major casualty of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Until there is a peace settlement that will continue

    That, too, is sometimes explained with an argument that the pressure of the occupation has made it impossible to for them to develop fair and just systems of law and enforcement.

    Mr Falk's report deals with serious issues of human rights abuse which have been well documented elsewhere, in some cases by Israel's own very active campaigners.

    But it does not deal with what Palestinians sometimes do to Israelis - and to each other.

    The continuing row over the way that these matters are discussed - or not - at the UN obscures the fact that human rights continue to be a major casualty of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

    Until there is a peace settlement that will continue.

  2. #32
    Sadhvi in jail for Malegaon blast
    25 Oct 2008, 0047 hrs IST, Mateen Hafeez & Santosh Sonawane, TNN
    audio
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    MUMBAI/NASHIK: The Hindu face of terrorism has emerged with the arrest of three persons, including a woman, suspected to be behind the September
    Sadhvi in jail for Malegaon blast
    New Face of Terror? Nashik police produce Pragya Singh Thakur in court on Friday
    29 bomb blast in Malegaon which killed six and injured 89 others. ( Watch )

    TOI had reported their detention in its Friday edition. Maharashtra’s Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Friday produced them before a Nashik court which remanded them to police custody till November 3. The three have been charged with murder, attempt to murder, unlawful assembly under the IPC and Section 16 (punishment for terror acts) and Section 18 (punishment for terror conspiracy) of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, and several sections of the Explosives Act.

    The woman has been identified as Pragya Singh Thakur (38), a ‘sadhvi’ (woman monk). According to ATS chief Hemant Karkare, the motorcycle in which the bomb was planted was traced to her.

    The other two arrested, Shamlal Bhavar Sahu (42) and Shivnarayan Singh (36), have been accused of plotting as well as planting the bomb at Bhikku Chowk in central Malegaon, just outside the sealed office of the banned outfit, the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). Two more suspects — Dilip Nehar and Dharmendra Bajrangi — have also been detained by the ATS.

    Those arrested are reported to have given the names of their collaborators. An ATS team will soon go to MP to make more arrests.

    ‘‘They (the suspects) were driven by their desire to retaliate against ‘jihadi’ terrorism and to avenge the killings of Hindus,’’ said a source in intelligence. Security agencies are alarmed by the clear evidence of the beginning of radicalisation of the majority community. This, they say, is the first instance of reverse terrorism resulting in killing.

    According to sources, Thakur, a resident of Gwalior, was a popular leader of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the BJP, till 1997. The ABVP, though, has denied the allegation. She quit the ABVP and took ‘sanyas’ in January 2007 after becoming a disciple of religious guru Avdeshanand Giri. Thakur, who was in the state executive council of the ABVP, was known for her fiery speeches.

    ‘‘In 2002, she had formed the Jai Vande Mataram Jan Kalyan Samiti. We have seized some pamphlets and are conducting investigations. She had also launched the Rashtriya Jagran Manch in Indore,’’ Karkare said.

    Shivnaryan is an electrical contractor in Indore while Sahu runs a cell-phone repairing shop in Tukogunj in Madhya Pradesh. He is also a small-time property broker. Shivnarayan attends RSS ‘shakhas’ and has a shop in the Bengali Chauraha area.

    According to the ATS, Thakur, Singh and Sahu are members of right-wing Hindu radical organisations. Karkare said that the motor bike used in Malegaon bomb blast belonged to Thakur who is now a sadhvi and regularly visited Surat to deliver ‘‘religious lectures’’. Thakur and Sahu had spoken to each other for 400 minutes on the cellphone over several days after the Malegaon blast, an ATS officer said.

    Shivnarayan and Sahu have been termed by the police as ‘‘mechanical and electronics experts’’. They are suspected to have assembled the bombs. ‘‘We want to know who taught them bomb making and whether there is any training camp for such destructive activities,’’ said an officer.

  3. #33
    Pakistanis bury 'US strike' dead
    Children at site of strike
    The US has yet to confirm it carried out the attack

    Pakistani villagers have collected the corpses and body parts of at least 20 people killed by a reported US strike.

    Intelligence officials and villagers said a pilotless drone fired a missile at a house in Mohammad Khel, North Waziristan, near the Afghan border.

    The dead are said to include several suspected Arab militants.

    A number of cross-border operations have been undertaken by US-led forces in Afghanistan since late August.

    Pakistan says the attacks violate its sovereignty, kill civilians and anger the local population, making it harder to tackle the militants.

    Pro-Taleban militants on the Pakistan side of the border are blamed for a rise in attacks on US and Nato troops in Afghanistan.

    'Body parts scattered'

    Pakistan's The News newspaper reported on Saturday that the strike in Mohammad Khel was carried out on the basis of information that Arab militants had been invited to a feast by pro-Taleban tribesmen following the end of Ramadan.

    "We found body parts scattered all over the place in the ruins, someone's hand, someone's leg," Bakht Ali, a villager, told Reuters news agency.

    An intelligence official based in the region said a woman and three children were among those killed, Reuters reported.

    Pakistani army spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas said initial reports indicated that 20 or more people had been killed.

    He said there was speculation that many were foreign militants, but added that the army was still awaiting a detailed report.

    "One has to establish how many foreigners, or whether they were militants, how many civilians," the Associated Press news agency quoted him as saying.

    Lt Nathan Perry, a spokesman for the US-led coalition in Afghanistan, said he had "no information to give" about the strike.

  4. #34
    US helicopter-borne troops have carried out a raid inside Syria along the Iraqi border, killing eight people including four children, Syrian officials say.

    The official Syrian news agency Sana said the raid took place in the Abu Kamal border area, in eastern Syria.

    It said that American soldiers on four helicopters had stormed a building under construction on Sunday night.

    The US says it is investigating. It has previously accused Syria of allowing foreign militants into Iraq.

    Syria has summoned the US and Iraqi envoys in Damascus to protest at the raid.

    "Syria condemns this aggressive act and holds American forces responsible for this aggression and all of its repercussions," a government official said.

    If confirmed, the raid would be the first known attack by US forces inside Syrian territory, says BBC diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus.

    Its timing is curious, coming right at the end of the Bush administration's period of office and at a moment when many of America's European allies - like Britain and France - are trying to broaden their ties with Damascus, our correspondent adds.

    Crossing point

    "Four American helicopters violated Syrian airspace around 1645 local time [1345 GMT] on Sunday," Sana said.

    Map locator

    "American soldiers" emerged from helicopters and "attacked a civilian building under construction and opened fire on workers inside - including the wife of the building guard - leading to [the deaths] of eight civilians", it added.

    "The helicopters then left Syrian territory towards Iraqi territory," Sana said.

    The dead include a man, his four children and a married couple, the Syrian report said, without giving details of the children's ages.

    The village was named as Sukkiraya, 8km (5 miles) from the Iraqi border.

    A US military spokesman was unable to confirm or deny the reports, saying it was a "developing situation".

    But later the Associated Press news agency quoted an unnamed US military official in Washington as saying that American special forces had attacked foreign fighters linked to al-Qaeda.

    "We are taking matters into our own hands," the official said.

    The area is near the Iraqi border city of Qaim, a major crossing point for fighters, weapons and money travelling into Iraq to fuel the Sunni insurgency.

    The Iraqi city's mayor, Farhan al-Mahalawi, told Reuters news agency that US helicopters had struck a village on the Syrian side of the border, after which Syrian troops surrounded the site.

    Washington has in the past accused Damascus of turning a blind eye to the problem.

  5. #35
    MUMBAI: The anti-terrorism squad (ATS) now wants to locate a notebook in which Shamlal Sahu, an accomplice of sadhvi Pragya Singh, had jotted
    down a formula for making a bomb, which was later planted in Malegaon. The ATS has been granted permission by a Nashik court to conduct a series of forensic tests in this case. ( Watch )

    Public prosecutor Ajay Misar moved an application before judicial magistrate A N Kadse seeking permission to conduct the forensic tests on three arrested accused including sadhvi Pragya Thakur and Shivnarayan Singh. "The trio would be subjected to forensic tests," said an ATS officer. TOI had first reported about the police's plan to conduct forensic tests in its October 27 edition.

    The suspects would be subjected to polygraph, brain-mapping and narco analysis tests as they are trying to confuse the police and the police find that they are frequently changing their statements.

    The three were arrested for engineering the Malegaon September 29 bomb blast that killed six. "Two ex-army men who have been detained told us that they had given some guidance to the suspects in handling explosives and firearms. We have come to know that Sahu was in possession of a bomb-making formula but we are yet to recover it," said an ATS officer.

    Moreover, the ATS suspects that the accused were trained in bomb-making and were imparted commando training.

  6. #36
    Human right activists from the Free Gaza Movement aboard the SS Dignity have arrived in Gaza in spite of Israeli threats to stop them.


    "Whatever risks we face are nothing compared to the daily violence, brutality and suffering imposed against Palestinians," Irish human rights activist Caoimhe Butterly told Press TV correspondent Ashraf Shannon upon arrival in the coastal strip on Wednesday.

    "We saw our legal right to come here and saw it necessary to break the criminality of the Israeli siege on Gaza in order to represent an alternative face of the world," she added.

    The Israeli Navy warned on Wednesday that it would deny the activists entry into the Gaza Strip.

    The SS dignity is carrying 27 unarmed civilians from some 13 countries as well as urgently needed medical supplies. The pro-Palestinian activists say that by breaking the Israeli embargo and entering Gaza they want to set an example for others to follow suit.

    "The trip here is to show that obviously no one can stop us," said Australian activist Renee Bowyer.

    Former Palestinian presidential candidate Mustafa Barghouty -- who was among the passengers aboard the ship -- stressed that Gaza would never be abandoned.

    "We will not leave Gaza, we will not abandon Gaza and it is approved today that the Palestinian resistance groups are mightier than the Israeli occupation and those who support it," he said.

    The Free Gaza Movement has pledged to expose Israeli apartheid and injustice against the Palestinians and has so far sent three ships to the strip.

    The Gaza Strip's population of 1.5 million has suffered under an Israeli blockade imposed since June 2007. Israel has imposed restrictions on the entry of vital goods, including food, fuel, medical supplies and construction materials that are allowed to enter the region.

    The Gaza siege has provoked an outcry with peace activists worldwide condemning the human rights violation.

    In August, two Greek boats -- carrying high-profile people such as Lauren Booth, the sister-in-law of former British prime minister Tony Blair and Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein -- arrived in the populated coastal region in defiance of the Israeli blockade for the first time.
    Source: Press TV

  7. #37
    ollywood is preparing a new epic film on the life of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and the birth of Islam.

    "[It] is not about division and conflict but will focus wholly on the rich values common to all Muslims, like compassion and tolerance," producer Oscar Zoghbi said in a statement.

    The movie, "The Messenger of Peace", will be set during the time of Prophet Muhammad to portray the birth of Islam and is expected to be shot in the holy sites of Makkah and Madina in Saudi Arabia.

    Zoghbi, who has contributed to the 1976 film "The Message", regarded as the only epic to portray early Islam, said he appreciates the sensitivities and challenges linked with the subject.

    He stressed that there will be no depiction of Prophet Muhammad on screen.

    Islam prohibits the personification of any prophet of God in movies or dramas.

    The Message, which was shot in Arabic and English versions, prompted worldwide controversy when it was rumored that Anthony Quinn was starring as the Prophet.

    Instead, the Prophet and his companions were heard speaking off-camera but never directly shown.

    The director signified Prophet Muhammad's presence with light organ music and occasionally framed the film from the prophet's point of view as he observed the actions of his followers.

    * Needed

    The new movie will be the second English-language film of its kind made in the West to portray early Islam, producers said.

    "In the 21st century there is a real need for a film that emotionally engages audiences on the journey that led to the birth of Islam," said Hollywood director Ramsey Thomas, who will write the script.

    He noted that the script will be in English, but the movie will be dubbed into other languages, in particular Arabic.

    Executive producer of the new movie, Hajja Subhia Abu Elheja, also noted that over three decades, only one Hollywood movie, The Message, tackled the birth of Islam.

    "It is telling that only one great historical film has ever been made about Islam, a religion with 1.5 billion followers, whereas Christianity has been the subject of over 30."

    Like Thomas, Abu Elheja agrees that media and the cinema industry in particular can help bridge the gap between the Muslim world and Western societies.

    "Since 9/11, Islam's image has suffered tremendously," she said.

    "Now more than ever it has become important to bridge the gap of understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims."

  8. #38
    OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — An Israeli court ruling allowing the construction of a Jewish museum over graves of some companions of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) in Al-Quds is sparking a controversy. "Israeli is declaring a global war on Muslims and Arabs," Sheikh Raed Salah, leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel, told a press conference on Thursday, October 30.

    "A general of the prophet's Companions is buried in this cemetery."

    Sheikh Salah noted that thousands of other Muslims have been buried in the cemetery, putting the number at 70,000 thousands until 1948.

    Israel's High Court on Wednesday, October 29, rejected an appeal by two Muslim groups to halt the building of a Jewish museum on the site of a Muslim cemetery in central Al-Quds.

    The court argued that the cemetery has been in public use since the municipality authorities put a parking lot over a small section of the graveyard in the 1960s.

    It claimed that a proposal put forward by the museum planners to rebury the bones or cover the graves was "satisfactory" to resolve the issue.

    The court said the construction of the museum, halted in 2006 after human remains were discovered during the digging, can resume immediately.

    The Mufti of Al-Quds, Sheikh Mohammed Hussein, said the verdict was a "grave decision which harms the Muslim holy sites."

    He described the construction of the $250-million museum by a Los Angeles-based Jewish group as "act of aggression."

    Help Plea

    Sheikh Salah appealed to the Muslim world to intervene to halt the construction on the Muslim cemetery.

    "We have sent messages to the Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Conference to stop this crime."

    The Muslim leader said the court verdict was part of the Israeli policies to judaize the holy city.

    "But we will not give up our rights."

    Israel captured Al-Quds in the 1967 war and later annexed the holy city, in a move not recognized by the international community.

    The city is home to Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third holiest shrine and the first Qiblah direction Muslims take during prayers.

    Al-Quds is also home to some of the holiest Christian worship places, including the Jerusalem Church and the Greek Orthodox Church.

    Archmandrite Atallah Hanna also criticized the Israeli court ruling.

    "This is the true face of the occupation," he told the same press conference.

    The Christian clergy reaffirmed the unity of Palestinian Muslims and Christians in the face of Israeli aggressions.

    "We stand shoulder to shoulder in the same trench."

    Source: IslamOnline

  9. #39
    MUMBAI: Administrator of the Bhonsala Military School, Nashik, retired Colonel Shailesh Raikar, had attended a meeting along with the accused of
    Retired Lt Col SS Raikar
    Retired Lt Col SS Raikar (Photo Courtesy: TIMES NOW)
    the Malegaon blast 15 days prior to the September 29 explosion that killed six people in the textile city of Maharashtra. ( Watch )

    Raikar is being questioned by anti-terrorism squad (ATS) of the Mumbai Police which is probing the blast. ATS officers are, however, reluctant to speak as what was discussed at the meeting. Raikar was brought to Mumbai from Nashik late on Friday evening by an ATS team. Five people have been arrested so far.

    Sources said serving colonel Prasad Purohit, also being questioned by the ATS, participated in the meeting along with arrested accused retired major Ramesh Upadhyaya in Nashik. Some other "meetings" were organised at Deolali near Nashik, said an officer, refusing to disclose the nature of the meeting. "Upadhyaya and other accused had organised at least three meetings prior to the blast," an officer said.

    The source said ATS is planning to subject some of those detained to a series of forensic tests to establish if they had any role in the blast. Three arrested accused — Upadhyaya, sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Sameer Kulkarni, were on Saturday subjected to psychological profiling and polygraph tests at Kalina Forensic Science Laboratory.

    An FSL source said the Psychological Profiling tests were over by 4.30pm and then the suspects were subjected to a polygraph test. "Now it'll depend on the reports of these tests what further tests can be conducted on the accused," said a source.

    An ATS source said they were looking for one Ramnarayan Singh, an associate of the arrested accused. Ramnarayan is suspected to have participated in the blast conspiracy. Those being questioned include Purohit, Raikar, another retired colonel Ramesh Gaidhene, Dilip Nehar and Dharmendra Bajrangi. Gaidhene, who earlier worked with the military intelligence, is also accused of participating in the meeting.

  10. #40
    CAIRO — With settler attacks on Palestinian property going unabated, the European Union has condemned brutality of Jewish settlers against Palestinian civilians, calling on the Israeli government to take action to halt settler assaults. "The European Union once again condemns in the strongest possible terms the acts of violence and brutality committed against Palestinian civilians by Israeli settlers in the West Bank," The EU's French presidency said in a statement cited by Haaretz on Saturday, November 1.

    "The European Union would point out that it is up to the Israeli government, which has itself condemned these acts, to take the necessary measures to stop them immediately, in accordance with its international obligations."

    Jewish settlers rampaged through the West Bank town of Hebron on Sunday after Israeli troops removed an illegal settlement outpost.

    The settlers hurled rocks at houses, vandalized several Muslim graves in a local cemetery and slashed the tyres of cars belonging to Palestinian residents near the Kiryat Arba settlement.

    Israeli settlers have also stepped attacks at Palestinian farmers across the West Bank at the beginning of the annual olive harvest.

    "It is not acceptable that the olive harvest, (which is) essential for the economy of the Palestinian territories, and the other activities of the Palestinians be hindered by the flourishing of violent and illegal acts," France's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

    It called on the Israeli government to "take the necessary measures to put an immediate end" to the violence.

    Arson

    Two Palestinians were stabbed by four extremists settlers in Al-Quds (occupied East Jerusalem) on Friday.

    "The settlers are all carrying knives now," a witness was quoted by the Palestinian News Network as saying.

    "And they just stabbed these guys for nothing."

    Settlers also burnt agricultural land in the West Bank town of Burin on Thursday and destroyed 20 olive trees.

    Mayor Ali Eid said there is at least one arson attack by Jewish settlers every month.

    At least 50 percent of Burin's olive trees have been burnt by rancorous settlers, he said.

    With Israeli police turning a blind eye to repeated attacks by armed settlers, Palestinians are now using cameras as their frontline defense to record assaults by Israeli settlers.

    More than 250,000 Jewish settlers live in the West Bank among roughly 2.4 million Palestinians, not including Al-Quds.

    There are more than 164 Jewish settlements in the West Bank, eating up more than 40 percent of the occupied territory.

    The international community considers all Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land illegal.

    Source: IslamOnline

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