Today's Top Islamic News (DAILY)

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Iraq suspends election ban on 500 'ex-Baathists'
Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:54:35 GMT

An Iraqi appeal court has temporarily lift a ban on the participation in elections of a group of candidates with suspected ties to former Saddam Hussein's Baath party, allowing them to run for the country's upcoming vote.

Hamida al-Hussaini, an electoral commission official, announced on Wednesday that the appeal court suspended the ban on about 500 candidates and allow them to run for the March 7 parliamentary elections, AP reported.

"They have the right to run in the elections," al-Husseini said.

"The appeal court will look at their file after the elections," and if they have links to Baathists they will be prevented from assuming parliament seats.

Last month, Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) blacklisted 511 candidates over links to former dictator, Saddam Hussein's political and military apparatus.

The US has been pushing for the return of ex-Baath members to Iraq's political arena. While Washington argues that such a move will boost the reconciliation process in the war-torn country, some analysts believe the step is aimed at undermining those politicians whose views are in conflict with US policies.

SB/RE

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Report: Mehsud safe and sound
Thu, 04 Feb 2010 01:08:09 GMT

Hakimullah Mehsud, the leader of pro-Taliban militants in Pakistan, may have survived a US drone strike conducted on mid January, a report says.

Another militant leader, Qari Hussain, might also be alive, a senior Pakistani official speaking on condition of anonymity told DawnNews on Wednesday.

The controversy over Mehsud's death has been going on since the January 26 drone attack in the tribal areas.

On Sunday, Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq denied the fresh reports of Mehsud's death. He told AFP that Mehsud was "alive and safe."

Tariq said the Taliban provide proof that Mehsud is alive; thus, those who say he is dead "should provide proof."

However, the Pakistani government and its military were giving mixed statements about the fate of the militant leader.

RZS/RE

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Cultural Open Days Introduce Islam to Spain
03/02/2010 03:11:00 PM GMT



WASHINGTON – Americans still largely have a negative perception of Muslims and Islam despite growth in positive Muslim-American political and social activism and interfaith organizations in the past decade, according to a new report from the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies.

"More than 50 percent of Americans said they had unfavorable opinions of Islam, while 29 percent of those reported a strong degree of prejudice towards Muslims," concluded the report, "Religious Perceptions in America: With an In-Depth Analysis of US Attitudes Toward Muslims and Islam.

It questioned 1002 interview subjects about different aspects of Islam and Muslims over a month-long period last year and married the results with those found in the Gallup World Religion survey, which surveyed Americans’ opinions on Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism and Islam and their followers.

Of the faiths, Islam and Muslims elicited the most negative perceptions.

"Religious Perceptions in America: With an In-Depth Analysis of U.S. Attitudes Toward Muslims and Islam." (Document) Other findings from the survey reveal that there is a great public prejudice towards Islam as a faith than Muslims as adherents of that faith.

Senior analyst Dalia Mogahed, who is the Executive Director for the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, noted that though more than half of respondents said they knew someone who was Muslim, that didn’t deter from having negative attitudes towards Islam.

"While not knowing a Muslim is significant into falling in that extremely prejudice group," she said, "knowing a Muslims is not enough to keep someone from not being prejudice."

Mogahed said that correlation is indicative of how Americans tend to separate an individual from a group.

"We found that it’s possible to know someone in a group and make them the exception, to say, ‘Sure, so-and-so is a good Muslim. But most Muslims are not like him.’"

Though 70 percent of surveyed Americans said they believe Muslims worldwide want peace, 66 percent said Muslims are not accepting of other religions.

Some 68 percent said there is little in common between Christianity and Islam.

Despite numerous efforts by Muslim American organizations and individuals to inform the public about Islam, a whopping 63 percent said they have either no knowledge (23 percent) or very little knowledge (40 percent) of Islam.

The report is co-produced by the Muslim West Facts Project (part of Gallup) and the Coexist Foundation.

Media Factor

The findings did not surprise Mogahed.

"Though Muslim-Americans are positively involved in the fabric of American life, it’s difficult to see that in light of the media coverage of things like Fort Hood, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the troubles in Pakistan."

But she asserted that all the negativity revealed by the survey was disheartening to see because there has been so much hard work done by Muslim-Americans and Muslims worldwide to inform the non-Muslim public about the beauty of Islam.

"When the public tide can be turned towards having a positive view of Islam, then that will help negate all the prejudices."

The problem stems from media coverage of Islam, according to Media Tenor, a research firm that monitors and analyzes media coverage.

The report stated that not only is Islam the most frequently mentioned religion on the newsworks in the US, but "a significant share of this coverage is negative."

An analysis of all statements made by television news between January and August of 2009 revealed that 36 percent of statements on religion is about Islam, and the tone of those statements is twice as likely (40 percent) to be negative than that about Christianity (20 percent).

Gallup’s survey surmised that the media coverage of the "fringe elements" of Islam "may shape Americans’ unfavorable attitudes towards Muslims."

"Muslims are different from one to the next. We live our lives differently, our world experiences are different and that shapes us," Mogahed said.

"But the one and only uniting factor of the group is Islam. And while acts of violence must be covered, perhaps what would help is for the media to pay attention to how it frames those stories."
Source: IslamOnline

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Polygamous president outrages S Africa
Tue, 02 Feb 2010 05:13:15 GMT

Jacob Zuma is father for 20th time.
South African President Jacob Zuma has been accused of contradicting the government's fight against HIV/Aids by fathering his 20th child out of wedlock.

The country's main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), said that the 67-year-old president had an affair with the daughter of a friend who is one of the principal organizers of this year's soccer World Cup.

The woman known as Sonono Khoza, daughter of Irvin Khoza, chairman of the World Cup Organizing Committee, reportedly gave birth to Zuma's daughter in October.

South Africa's polygamous president Zuma, who already has 19 children, recently tied the knot with his fifth wife and drew condemnation from his countrymen.

There has been no comment from Zuma, or his party, the ANC. However, the event has outraged South Africa, prompting fierce criticism from DA leader, Helen Zille.

"President Jacob Zuma's behavior directly contradicts the government's campaign against multiple sexual partners, and the inherent Aids risk in having unprotected sex," Zille stressed.

Raising her voice against the president's supporters who believe the issue to be a private matter, she argued that Zuma's personal behavior has "profound public consequences."

Moreover, this is not the first time that the chief executive's flamboyant private life has directly contradicted the government's HIV/Aids policy.

In 2006, while being acquitted of rape, Zuma admitted that he had made a mistake by having unprotected sex.

According to official statistics, an estimated 5.2 million people are currently living with HIV and AIDS in South Africa, which is more than in any other country.

HIV in South Africa is transmitted predominantly heterosexually between couples, with mother-to-child transmission being the other main infection route.

FF/TG/DT

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US spy agencies can target Americans: Official

Washington: In unusually frank comments, the top US intelligence official acknowledged on Wednesday that spy agencies can target for killing Americans who are involved in terrorism.

"We take direct action against terrorists, in the intelligence community," Dennis Blair, director of national intelligence, said.

"If ... we think that direct action will involve killing an American, we get specific permission to do that," he told the House (of Representatives) intelligence committee.

Blair did not mention where the permission came from.

The Washington Post reported last week that President Barack Obama approved a December 24 strike against a compound in Yemen where a US citizen, Anwar al-Aulaqi, was believed to be meeting with regional al Qaeda leaders.

He was not the focus of the strike and was not killed, but is now on a list of targets, the newspaper said. The American advisers in Yemen do not participate in raids but help plan missions and provide weapons, the newspaper report said.

The CIA and the US military's Joint Special Operations Command maintains lists of individuals they seek to kill or capture, and both lists included at least three Americans, The Washington Post said.

The comment on American targets in a public setting is highly unusual from a current intelligence official and even the congressman asking the questions was caught by surprise.

In making such decisions, "whether that American is involved in a group that is trying to attack us, whether that American is a threat to other Americans, those are the factors involved," Blair said.

"We don't target people for free speech. We target them for taking action that threatens Americans," he said.

"I'm actually a little bit surprised you went this far in open session," Republican Congressman Peter Hoekstra said.

Blair replied: "The reason I went this far in open session is I just don't want other Americans who are watching to think that we are careless about endangering -- in fact we're not careless about endangering lives at all -- but we especially are not careless about endangering American lives as we try to carry out the policies to protect most of the country."

Bureau Report - Zee News

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Siddiqui convicted in US, blames Israel
Thu, 04 Feb 2010 08:07:36 GMT

Aafia Siddiqui is a neuroscientist trained at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Pakistani neuroscientist Aafia Siddiqui has been found guilty of trying to kill US military personnel and FBI agents in Afghanistan two years ago.

The Pakistani national was found guilty on all seven counts listed in the complaint against her by a jury in a US Federal Court on Wednesday.

Siddiqui has vehemently denied all charges against her during the trial, calling them 'ridiculous' and insisting that she was framed, jailed and tortured by US agents in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Siddiqui was accused of grabbing a US warrant officer's M-4 rifle in a police station in Ghazni province in 2008 and firing two shots at FBI agents and military personnel while being interrogated for her alleged possession of documents detailing a 'terrorist' plan.

The prosecution claims she burst from behind a curtain and attempted the 'murder' US agents and was then shot in the abdomen.

A family lawyer immediately announced an appeal, citing "prejudice and bias."

Sentencing is set for May 6. Siddiqui, 37, and a graduate of one of most prestigious universities in the US, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), faces a minimum sentence of 30 years on the firearm charge. She could also get up to 20 years for attempted murder and up to eight years on other counts.

After the jury left the room, Siddiqui said, "This is a verdict from Israel, not America. The anger should be directed where it belongs."

The Pakistani Embassy in Washington also criticized the verdict in a statement that said in part, "We are dismayed over the unexpected verdict of the jury in Dr. Aafia Siddiqui's case."

"The government will do all that is needed to provide justice to her as a Pakistani citizen," it added.

In March 2003, Siddiqui vanished in Karachi, Pakistan with her three children. It was reported in local newspapers that she had been taken into custody on terrorism charges.

Many political activists believe she was Prisoner 650 of the notorious US detention facility in Bagram, Afghanistan, where they say she was tortured for five years until the US authorities claimed in an announcement that they had found her in Afghanistan.

AGB/MB

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Rahul to visit Mumbai despite Sena threat
PTI, 4 February 2010, 03:14pm IST

MUMBAI: Unfazed by Shiv Sena’s attack, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will go ahead with his plan to visit the city on Friday and interact with students and slum youths.

The visit comes against the backdrop of Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray questioning the timing of the visit.

Thackeray has said, "What was the need for this visit now. There may be elections in Bihar, but we will not tolerate anything spoken against Mumbai and Marathi pride."

Ticking off Shiv Sena over the migrant issue, Gandhi has asserted that India is for all Indians and people have a right to go anywhere.

Gandhi also faced the ire of Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray who got personal over the "Mumbai for all" remark, saying the Congress leader is "totally frustrated".

He said the Sena will not tolerate anything spoken against the "Marathi pride."

Thackeray also raked up Rahul's mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin, saying "Mumbai may belong to all Indians but how can it belong to an Italian mummy."

Rahul, during his short visit, will interact with college students at the Bhaidas Hall in suburban Vile Parle and then proceed to Ramabai Nagar slum colony in Ghatkopar to meet slum youths, Mumbai Youth Congress President Sunil Ahire said.

The visit is a part of the ongoing Mumbai Youth Congress membership drive organisational elections.

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India warns Australia of 'long-term consequences of attacks'
PTI, 4 February 2010, 11:41am IST

MELBOURNE: Indian High Commissioner to Australia has reportedly met Australian Governor-General, warning of long term consequences unless more

action was taken to prevent attacks against the Indians and pointed that the Victoria was in "a state of denial". ( Watch Video )

The new development came after Victorian premier John Brumby yesterday lashed out Indian media and some government officials for "unbalanced views on the ongoing attacks".

According to 'The Age' report, top Indian envoy Sujatha Singh had sought a meeting with Bryce in Sydney last Friday.

She has believed to have told the Governor-General Quentin Bryce that Australia is not racist but warned of long term effect unless more action was taken to prevent attacks.

The report said while she applauded the role of police in NSW, Queensland and South Australia for handling racist attacks, Victoria was taking too long to respond and was in a state of "denial" over the severity of the attacks.

Citing more than 100 incidents of racist violence against Indians, she told Bryce Victorian authorities were in denial over the scale of the attacks.

The report said even as Victorian police have repeatedly said they do not record the ethnicity of assault victims, a spokesman yesterday was unable to confirm Singh's claimed number of incidents.

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Argentina warns UK about Falkland Islands oil
Sat, 06 Feb 2010 11:36:02 GMT

Argentina and the United Kingdom are about to lock horns over UK companies' oil and gas explorations plans around the Falkland Islands, or Islas Malvinas.

Buenos Aires has reiterated its rejection of oil and gas exploration programs by Britain around the south Atlantic islands and warned of the 'consequences' of such an action.

"Argentina again warns the UK about the illegality and consequences of this new unilateral action, extensive to all private actors involved, that they will be liable of future legal demands in the maximum tribunals, for the potential exploration and exploitation of Argentine resources," the South Atlantic news agency, MercoPress, quoted unnamed sources with the country's ministry of foreign affairs as saying on Friday.

Argentina's objection to the scheme comes after the UK-sponsored Falklands' government announced 'imminent' drilling around the islands by British energy contractors.

"The Falkland Islands Government is encouraged by the investment being made to establish whether there are commercial quantities of hydrocarbons in the Falklands. However, any potential revenues from exploitation will not feature in the Islands' economic planning unless and until commercially viable reserves are discovered," the announcement revealed.

Argentine authorities reacted strongly to the declaration, with Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana saying that oil exploration in 'Argentine waters' poses a direct threat to the interests of his country.

Taiana has presented a formal complaint to the British Embassy in Buenos Aires.

In his New Year address to the residents of the islands, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said, "The British Government will continue to support the development of your hydrocarbons sector, the British Government will continue to work with you on this agenda."

He also said that there are "no doubts about United Kingdom's sovereignty over the Falkland Islands."

Britain seized the Malvinas Islands from Argentina in 1833, which triggered a 73-day war in 1982 during which nearly 650 Argentines and 260 Britons were killed.

Argentina disputes UK's control of the islands and views them as part of its own territory.

GHN/JG/DT

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Building west-Muslim bridges
06/02/2010 11:59:00 AM GMT

CAIRO – Sitting firmly in his seat with a determined look in his eyes, American Imam Feisal Abdul-Rauf appears resolved to bridge the gap between the West and the Muslim world.

"My purpose is to spread harmony and peace between the West and the Muslim world," Imam Abdul-Rauf, chairman of the Cordoba Initiative, told IslamOnline.net in an exclusive interview.

"My role is to see how can my work help improve this relationship."

With that in mind, the American imam founded the Cordoba Initiative in 2003 to clear mutual mistrust.

"First (we seek) to identify the sources of conflict between the Muslim world and the West," he said.

"We have developed under this initiative a number of projects which we believe are effective in creating this discourse about these particular arenas," he said, citing projects in political, religious and cultural arenas.

"(They aim) to help reduce the conflict inshaAllah and solve it as well."

According to its website, the Cordoba Initiative aims to achieve a tipping point in Muslim-West relations within the next decade, steering the world back to the course of mutual recognition and respect and away from heightened tension.

Born in 1948, Imam Abdul-Rauf is a well-known figure in the field of West-Muslim relations.

In 1997, he founded the American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA), reportedly the first Muslim organization committed to bringing US Muslims and non-Muslims through programs in academia, policy, current affairs and culture.

An imam of Masjid al-Farah in New York, Abdul-Rauf also sits on the Board of Trustees of the Islamic Center of New York and serves as an adviser to the Interfaith Center of New York.

He authored three books on Islam and its place on contemporary Western society.

Imam Abdul-Rauf is currently on a State Department-sponsored tour to build bridges.

"This is part of it as the work is huge and can't be done by one person or one organization," he said.

"It is also to share people like yourself the work that we do. We need people in the media and we need people to talk to understand what we do."

He defended the US government's support for his organization.

"If I don't have the ears of people in the political power, I would not engage in the issues of today," he said.

"So if you want to solve the problems, you have to have the anchor of each place.

"As an American citizen and as an American organization, we have to comply with American laws, not doubt. But unless I get involved in the big issues of today, we can't solve them."

Imam Abdul-Rauf does not think such relation with the US government could create suspicions about him or his initiative.

"My Cordoba Initiative is supported by both the West and the Muslim world," he insisted.

"My work has drawn the attention of governments of many countries," he said, naming Malaysia, Qatar, the Netherlands and Britain.

"We are looking to get the initiative like the United Nations. The UN has the support of all countries but to serve a common purpose of peace."

As part of his bridges-building efforts, Imam Abul-Rauf is championing a project to build an Islamic Center two blocks from Ground Zero in New York.

"We would like to have our center equipped with (state-of-the-art) technology," he added.

"We would like our center in some aspects to have this technology so we can display and show what Muslims today are doing in the common bonds of civilizations."

Imam Abdul-Rauf believes American Muslims are continually improving all the time and credits that to the system in America.

"This is the societal system of law, the principle of civil rights, the civil rights protection and the freedom of religions. These are things that are built in the legal American structure."

Many believe American Muslims, estimated at between six to seven million, have become sensitized to an erosion of their civil rights since 9/11.

Imam Abdul-Rauf does not seem to agree.

"The American legal structure and political structure is to ensure that these individual rights of the people are not breached or eroded.

"And because we enjoy these protections the situation of Muslim Americans are always improving."
Source: IslamOnline