Today's Top Islamic News (DAILY)

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Press TV's cameraman and correspondent have been injured in Nilin where Palestinians are protesting the Israeli apartheid wall.

Cameraman Mustafa Khabeesa was shot by Israeli soldiers with a rubber bullet, while correspondent Sari Al-Khalili was knocked unconscious by teargas on Friday.

The two were taken to the hospital and are reported to be in stable condition.

They were reporting live from the scene of a confrontation in the West Bank village of Nilin, where Israeli soldiers were firing tear gas, live ammunition and rubber bullets at stone-hurling Palestinian youths.

Nilin -- located near the city of Ramallah -- is the scene of weekly demonstrations by international and Palestinian activists, who protest against the Israeli separation wall.

Israeli soldiers frequently resort to teargas and rubber bullets as well as live rounds to disperse demonstrators.

MRS/AA/MMN
Source: Press TV

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'Deaths from Mumbai police error'
By Adam Mynott
BBC News, Mumbai

Taj Mahal hotel on fire - 27/11/2008
Fifty-two people were killed at the Taj hotel, Indian officials say

Guests trapped in a Mumbai hotel seized by gunmen last month have told the BBC they were given instructions by police that may have led to more people dying.

Police told a group hiding in the Taj Mahal Palace hotel that it was safe to leave the building, a survivor said.

But members of the group were shot and killed by militant gunmen as they were making their way out.

The senior policeman in charge of the operation in the hotel has denied the allegations against his officers.

'Suspicious'

A prominent Mumbai gynaecologist, Dr Prashant Mangeshikar, was trapped in the Taj Mahal hotel along with hundreds of other guests as gunmen stormed into the building, firing indiscriminately.

Terrified, he and others barricaded themselves into a room and waited.


I refused to move away and the people who ran ahead of me, about 20 or 30 of them, all of them died
Dr Prashant Mangeshikar

Mumbai attack hotels to re-open
How Mumbai attacks unfolded

Eventually, in the early hours of the morning, police officers made it through to where they were hiding and told people it was safe to leave the hotel because the gunmen were cornered on another floor.

Some went ahead but Dr Mangeshikar held back.

"I was a little suspicious that the police were actually sending these guys down a different route where the terrorists were supposed to be," he said.

"I refused to move away and the people who ran ahead of me, about 20 or 30 of them, all of them died."

A dress designer from the city says her aunt was shot dead and her cousin seriously wounded because they followed police instructions to try to leave.

The designer, Shilpa, described the police conduct as disgraceful.

They had no right, she said, to risk people's lives.

The senior policeman in charge of the operation in the hotel has denied these allegations against his officers.

But they add to growing criticism of the police and how they responded to the attack in which more than 170 people were killed.

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CAIRO — Nigerian police and army forces were implicated in the killing of dozens of Muslims during inter-communal clashes in the central city of Jos last month, Human Rights Watch has revealed.

"The duty of the police and the military was to stop the bloodshed generated by this extremely tragic episode of inter-communal violence, not contribute to it," Corinne Dufka, a senior HRW researcher, said in statement on its web site.

At least 400 people died in Jos in November during clashes between Christian and Muslim mobs.

The clashes erupted after rumors that the All Nigerian People Party (ANPP), a predominantly Muslim party, had lost the local election to the federal ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP), which is mainly Christian.

The New York-based group documented testimonies about seven shooting incidents in which the Mobile Police Force (MOPOL) killed at least 46 men and boys, almost all of them Muslims.

"I saw about 20 or more MOPOLs in all, but around 10 of them got down and started creeping toward the compound…like they wanted to surprise the 50-60 [Hausa] youths who were still gathered on the road," said a mechanic said, 26.

Stepping into the compound, police started shooting at the assembled youth.

"After this, they started chasing the youths as they ran to seek cover in the compound," recalls the witness.

"I saw them enter one house just across the street from us. We heard shots and later we saw five bodies there.

"Anyone they found hiding in the garage, they shot them. They combed the garage hunting for people. This went on for about 10 minutes or so."

Nigeria, one of the world's most religiously committed nations, is divided between a Muslim north and a Christian south.

Muslims and Christians, who constitute 55 and 40 percent of Nigeria's 140 million population respectively, have lived in peace for the most part.

But ethnic and religious tensions in the country's "middle belt" have bubbled for years.

* Commando-style

According to HRW, military troops were also implicated in the killing of 47 people, nearly all Muslims.

Witnesses described how four men wearing military uniforms and carrying assault rifles broke into three houses and shot dead at least 25 unarmed young men.

In another incident, at least eight Muslims were gunned down by a soldier in the Rikkos neighborhood.

"I saw a dark-green military vehicle pull up on the road with five soldiers. This was around 10 a.m.," recalls a 38-year-old engineer.

"Seven people were coming from the direction of the mosque. When they saw the military, they ran into a house."

One of the soldiers stormed the house and brought the seven Muslim men out to the road, said the witness.

"The military man told my brother to stand to the side. He then shot the group," he added.

"He then said to my brother: ‘You go.' When my brother started moving he shot him in his leg. My brother went down. He then shot him in the side and the chest. He was shot with three bullets and died at that time."

Members of the Jamaatu Nasri Islam group later took the dead bodies to the mosque for burial.

"They were all Hausas between the ages of 18 and 25. My brother was around 40 years old," said the engineer.
Source: IslamOnline

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BBC: 11:52 GMT, Tuesday, 23 December 2008
Interpol 'not given Mumbai data'
Nariman House siege, 28 Nov
More than 170 people died in the three days of attacks in Mumbai

The global police agency Interpol says India has not shared any information with it about last month's deadly attacks in Mumbai (Bombay).

Interpol secretary general Ronald Noble, who is in Islamabad, said its only knowledge of what happened had come from the media.

Pakistan also says it has had no firm information from Delhi.

India says Pakistani militants carried out the attacks, which left more than 170 people dead.


The information Interpol has about what happened in Mumbai is the same information that you have
Interpol chief Ronald Noble

Only one of the 10 gunmen, Mohammed Ajmal Amir Qasab, survived and he is in Indian custody.

On Monday India handed a letter to Pakistan it says was written by Mr Qasab, confirming he is Pakistani and asking for Islamabad's help.

The attacks have severely strained relations between the two countries.

Police in Indian-administered Kashmir said on Tuesday they had arrested three militants from Pakistan who were planning to launch suicide bomb attacks in the city of Jammu.

According to the police, one of those detained was a Pakistani army soldier and all were members of the Jaish-e-Mohammed militant group, which is violently opposed to India's presence in Kashmir.

There was no immediate response from the Pakistani army to the Indian allegation.

'Sovereign choice'

Mr Noble has been in Islamabad for talks with Rehman Malik, the adviser to the prime minister on interior affairs.

At the weekend he had met India's Minister of Home Affairs Palaniappan Chidambaram in Delhi.

Ronald Noble. File pic
Ronald Noble is heading an Interpol team to India and Pakistan

Mr Noble said in the Pakistani capital: "To date, India's government has not authorised India's police agencies to enter any data relating to the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai into Interpol's databases.

"The information Interpol has about what happened in Mumbai is the same information that you have - it's information that was read in journals, that was read on the internet or that was seen on TV."

Mr Noble has said Interpol is willing to pass on DNA profiles, photos and fingerprints of the suspects worldwide.

He said it was Delhi's "sovereign choice" on whether to pass on evidence, but was confident more would be forthcoming.

"We are hopeful that it will happen very quickly. We've deployed a team there for that reason."

Mr Malik reiterated Pakistan's line that it is willing to take part in an investigation but has had no data from India.

"We want to bring the culprits to justice... We are prepared to co-operate with India but they have to bring us evidence."

India says militants of the Lashkar-e-Taiba group carried out the attack, citing evidence provided by Mr Qasab.

Mumbai police have listed in full the names and apparent aliases of the men it said carried out the attack, along with photographs, and says all were from Pakistan.

India's foreign ministry said Mr Qasab's letter to the Pakistan High Commission "stated that he and the other terrorists killed in the attack were from Pakistan and [he] has sought a meeting with the Pakistan High Commission".

Islamabad says it is examining the letter but has made no official response.

'Regrettable'

Meanwhile, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm Mike Mullen, has urged Pakistan to work with India to combat extremism, a US embassy statement has said.

Mohammed Ajmal Amir Qasab
Pakistan has yet to respond to Mr Qasab's letter

Adm Mullen has been in Islamabad to meet the Pakistani army chief and head of the intelligence service.

The embassy said Adm Mullen urged Pakistan to "use this tragic event as an opportunity to forge more productive ties with India and to seek ways in which both nations can combat the common threat of extremism together".

Separately, Mr Chidambaram said comments by a minister that suggested there was another agenda to the killing of senior policemen in the Mumbai attacks were "wrong and deeply regrettable".

Minority Affairs Minister AR Antulay had questioned who sent anti-terrorism chief Hemant Karkare - who had been investigating suspected Hindu radical attacks - and others to their deaths at the scene of the attacks.

Mr Antulay said Mr Chidambaram had "clarified all doubts" and "the matter is settled".

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Australia refuses to apologise to Haneef over 'wrong detention'
24 Dec 2008, 0814 hrs IST, AFP
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SYDNEY: Australia's government and opposition Wednesday refused to apologise to an Indian doctor wrongly charged over a British terrorist plot,
as his lawyers said they would seek substantial compensation.

Doctor Mohamed Haneef has demanded an apology for being mistakenly arrested, detained and charged over a failed July 2007 plot to detonate bombs in London and Glasgow, while his lawyers say he will seek compensation for his ordeal.

An official report released Tuesday found that Australian authorities wrongfully arrested and held Haneef, now living in the Middle East, as they ignored evidence and botched the high-profile investigation.

But Attorney-General Robert McClelland said it was up to the previous Australian government to apologise, while his predecessor said Haneef should not be entitled to an apology or compensation for his ordeal.

"I don't apologise for seeking to ensure that the law works as intended," former attorney-general Philip Ruddock, who was in charge of the justice department when Haneef was arrested in July last year, told Australian radio.

"My view is that one should not apologise for seeking to ensure that matters that tragically occur that involve terrorist acts are thoroughly investigated to see whether or not there are any implications for Australia," he said.

"I have seen nothing in the report which suggests that the conduct that I undertook should have been conducted in any other way," he said a day after retired judge John Clark issued his damning report on the Haneef case.

Haneef's working visa was also revoked and he was unceremoniously kicked out of Australia even after the flawed case against him finally collapsed two weeks after it was launched in a blaze of publicity.

But the report by retired judge John Clarke cleared the then ailing former government of pursuing the case for political reasons.

McClelland said the government of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd would not apologise at the current stage of the legal process as it was clear Haneef would launch an action for compensation.

"Representing the interest of the commonwealth and the taxpayers of Australia, it's not appropriate for me to make any admissions," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Haneef's lawyer said Wednesday that his client, who claims his reputation was besmirched globally by the allegations against him that cost him his job, would seek damages from the government.

"This (investigation) was total organisational disaster. It had the effect of an innocent man being charged and detained and his reputation being destroyed," Bernard Murphy told ABC radio.

"So I think the heads of the claim will be malicious prosecution, false imprisonment and defamation. We'll be seeking substantial damages," he said.

Local media panned the Australian Federal Police (AFP), prosecutors and the former government for their roles in the disastrous investigation into Haneef, sparked by a tip from British police who linked him to a cell phone SIM card linked to one of the failed attacks in Britain.

The Sydney Morning Herald questioned why no heads will roll as a result of the findings of the inquiry and said the affair had undermined public confidence in the agencies involved.

"The Haneef case shows a shocking deficiency of leadership," it said, adding it suspected that a lack of objectivity by officers was partly due to the then conservative government, facing re-election, wanting the head of a terrorist.

"If anything good comes of the Haneef affair, it will be increased parliamentary scrutiny and continuing media attention to discourage police, prosecutors and politicians from deciding that they do not need much evidence to accuse an innocent," The Australian newspaper said.

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SIMI information on Pandey's laptop
25 Dec 2008, 0119 hrs IST, Mateen Hafeez, TNN
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MUMBAI: The ATS, probing the September 29 Malegaon blast, has found a folder in the laptop of self-proclaimed Shankaracharya Dayanand Pandey that
contains information about the banned outfit SIMI. The laptop was seized from Pandey when he was arrested from Kanpur on November 14.

The folder has several files that details how SIMI spread its wings in the country and its functioning. The motive of keeping this folder, say cops, is to show how an anti-Hindu outfit was working against the interest of Hindus in the country. The laptop contains more than 1,000 objectionable pictures, say police. "We asked him about these pictures. Pandey replied that he had been downloading such photos from different websites," said an ATS officer. Additional commissioner of police (ATS) Param Bir Singh says, "Our probe is focused and I don’t want to talk about the content of the laptop."

Other clippings include Pandey's meetings with Pragya Singh Thakur, a former member of BJP's student wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, first-serving Army officer arrested in connection with the Malegaon blast Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit and Abhinav Bharat activist Sameer Kulkarni.

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Malegaon blasts: Three Armymen given clean chit
25 Dec 2008, 0534 hrs IST, Times Of India
MUMBAI: The anti-terrorism squad (ATS) has given a clean chit to three Armymen who were questioned in connection with the September 29 Malegaon
blasts. These army personnel will be witnesses in the case against Lt Colonel Shrikant Prasad Purohit, the key accused.

The three Army men, a JCO (junior commissioned officer) and two NCOs (non-commissioned officers), whose names have been withheld, were subordinates of Purohit, the first serving officer arrested on a terror charge.

The Army facilitated the questioning of its personnel by sending the trio to Mumbai on ‘temporary duty'. The ATS wanted to cross-check information revealed by Purohit during the interrogation. They worked under him in the military intelligence unit at Deolali near Nashik. Interestingly, even Purohit had initially been sent to Mumbai on `temporary duty' from the Army Educational Corps Training College and Centre in Panchmarhi (Madhya Pradesh), where he was doing an Arabic language course, in late-October. All the 11 accused in the blast case are facing the stringent law, Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act.

"They have given their statements before a magistrate under section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The statements will be treated as evidence against the accused during the trial," said an ATS officer.

Sources said that Purohit had directed the JCO to make arrangements in Nashik, which was later used for some training by right-wing activists. The trio's names, say sources, cropped up during the interrogation of Sudhakar Chaturvedi, another arrested in the Malegaon case. Chaturvedi was first arrested by the Matunga police for possessing a fake ID which was used as an entry pass for the Deolali cantonment. He was booked in the Malegaon blast case on November 19.

Purohit, who is also accused of helping Chaturvedi to prepare a fake cantonment ID pass, was arrested by the ATS in blast case on November 5. A resident of Pune, Purohit (37) had procured the deadly RDX and had attended several meetings in Deolali to conspire the blast, police say.

The ATS has also arrested Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Shankaracharya swami Dayananad Pandey, among 11 accused, for the blasts, which were allegedly planned by radical right-wing Hindu outfit, Abhinav Bharat.

Purohit has been placed under a discipline-vigilance ban to ensure he gets no promotions or new postings till his case is decided.

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LONDON — Blaming the world's problems on the rejection of religion, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will say on Thursday, December 25, that if Jesus Christ lived in today's world he would stand up against bullying powers. "If Christ were on earth today, undoubtedly he would stand with the people in opposition to bullying, ill-tempered and expansionist powers," Ahmadinejad will say in an alternative Christmas message on British television.

"If Christ were on earth today, undoubtedly he would hoist the banner of justice and love for humanity to oppose warmongers, occupiers, terrorists and bullies the world over."

Speaking in Farsi, Ahmadinejad, whose comments will go out on 1915 GMT on Christmas Day, blames the world's problems on rejection of religion.

Is It the Season to Be Jolly? Celebrating Christmas (Folder) "The crises in society, the family, morality, politics, security and the economy…have come about because the prophets have been forgotten, the Almighty has been forgotten and some leaders are estranged from God."

Ahmadinejad, the most high-profile guest yet on Channel Four's alternative broadcast, said Christ will return to "lead the world to love, brotherhood and justice."

"I pray for the New Year to be a year of happiness, prosperity, peace and brotherhood for humanity. I wish you every success and happiness."

Muslims believe in Jesus as one of the great Prophets of God and that he is the son of Virgin Mary but not the son of God. He was conceived and born miraculously.

As for his crucifixion, Muslims believe that Jesus was not crucified but was lifted up to heaven.

Muslims believe he will come back to earth before the end of time to restore peace and order, fight the Anti-Christ (Al-Masih Al-Dajjal) and bring victory for truth and righteousness.

Peace Calls

Millions of Christians celebrated Christmas on Thursday amid calls for peace to prevail in the world.

"Let us pray that peace will be established, that hatred and violence will cease," Pope Benedict XVI said at his midnight mass Christmas homily at the Vatican.

In Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ, thousands of Christians turned out in great numbers, braving the cold to bring festive cheer to the troubled region.

Many prayed in the Church of the Nativity, at which a grotto marks the traditional site of Christ's birth.

Others milled nearby in Manger Square, where boy scout marching bands played hymns on bagpipes and drums.

The Catholic leader in the Holy Land prayed for peace in the region.

"Peace to Bethlehem and all the inhabitants of the Holy Land," Latin Patriarch Fuad Twal said in his midnight sermon.

"On this night, the silence of the grotto will be even louder than the voice of the cannons and submachine guns."

In Gaza City, Roman Catholic priest Manuel Musalem celebrated midnight mass six hours early in a protest against the Israeli blockade and attacks on the strip.

"We pray for peace and that the blockade and the siege end in the Gaza Strip, and we ask the world to help Palestinians."

Source: IslamOnline

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