UK: Sikhs, Hindus complain of use of 'Asian' label in grooming cases

UK: Sikhs, Hindus complain of use of 'Asian' label in grooming cases


Via the BBC:

The joint statement was released by the Network of Sikh Organisations UK, The Hindu Forum of Britain, and The Sikh Media Monitoring Group UK.

It says the reluctance of the media and the government to discuss the "disproportionate representation of Muslims in such cases" and the fact victims are "almost always non-Muslim girls" is adding to the cause of far-right groups such as the BNP.

It said blanket use of the word "Asian" was "unfair to other communities of Asian origin".

"We believe that in this case the government itself is sanctioning the use of term Asian as a way of clouding responsibility," the groups say.

(source)

READ MORE - UK: Sikhs, Hindus complain of use of 'Asian' label in grooming cases

Germany: Five Yazidi siblings jailed for 'honour' killing

Germany: Five Yazidi siblings jailed for 'honour' killing



I reported about this murder in the past, but I did not realize the family was Yazidi.

Via Postmedia News:

A court in Germany jailed five Kurdish siblings on Wednesday for the "honour killing" of their 18-year-old sister after she left home to live with her German boyfriend.

The court in the western city of Detmold was told the family was furious when Arzu O chose to live her life her own way, following German customs, instead of the immigrant family's Yazidi traditions, and broke off contact with her parents.

(source)

In my 'In Other News' feed I reported last month about another Yazidi honor killing, this time in Sweden:  Maria Barin Aydin (19) was knifed to death in her apartment in Landskrona on April 23.  Her brother (16) was arrested for her murder, and her mother was arrested for incitement to murder.  Maria Barin had previously turned to help after getting threats from her family.

READ MORE - Germany: Five Yazidi siblings jailed for 'honour' killing

UK: Muslim woman scared secret boyfriend would send explicit pictures to her devout parents cried rape

UK: Muslim woman scared secret boyfriend would send explicit pictures to her devout parents cried rape

Via the Daily Mail:

A Muslim woman who pretended she was raped by her boyfriend, leading to his prolonged torture by a gang, because she thought he would show explicit photos of her to her devout parents has been jailed.

Sonia Begum, 21, had complained to her cousin Shahen Ahmed, 21, that the man had sexually assaulted her.

Ahmed then rounded up a gang who kidnapped and set fire to the 22-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

(...)

Begum had claimed that the man was pestering her, and feared that her strict Muslim parents would disapprove of any contact between them, partly because he was Hindu, the Old Bailey heard.

Judge Wendy Joseph QC told Begum: 'You were a young woman leading a double life, trying to comply with a strict regime imposed by your family while secretly having boyfriends, a Facebook account and phones for personal relationships.

(source)

READ MORE - UK: Muslim woman scared secret boyfriend would send explicit pictures to her devout parents cried rape

Amsterdam: Moroccan woman attacked in racist incident

Amsterdam: Moroccan woman attacked in racist incident

Via Parool h/t NRP:

A pregnant Moroccan woman out walking with her Surinamese boyfriend was attacked March 26th.  The attackers, five Moroccans in their twenties, followed the couple, and called the woman a 'nigger whore'.  Her boyfriend responded, which led to a fight.  The woman was also pushed, beaten and kicked.

The attackers were arrested and the woman was treated in hospital.  Her injuries seemed light, but a week later she went into premature labor and the baby did not survive.

READ MORE - Amsterdam: Moroccan woman attacked in racist incident

Belgium: Homophobic murder might be xenophobic hate crime as well

Belgium: Homophobic murder might be xenophobic hate crime as well

Update to this story: Belgium: Moroccan killed in first homophobic murder


VRT news reports as follows:

The four suspects have all been apprehended. Just like the victim, all four are of foreign descent. Three have a Belgian passport, one a Turkish passport. According to the suspects, the victim "made advances".

The judicial authorities were hesitant about the homophobic motives at first, but later during the day they changed the charges after a fourth suspect confessed that they "wanted to teach the man a lesson", Het Laatste Nieuws reports.

The four suspects are Eric Parmentier, Jeremy Wintgens, Jonathan Lekeut and Mutlu Kiziaslan. Based on their names, the suspects might be of 'foreign descent', but they are not Muslim (with the possible exclusion of the Turkish suspect).  The family thinks the murderers were both homophobic and xenophobic.

READ MORE - Belgium: Homophobic murder might be xenophobic hate crime as well

Belgium: Moroccan killed in first homophobic murder

Belgium: Moroccan killed in first homophobic murder

Via VRT:

On Sunday, the body of a 32-year-old man was found in a field in Villers-le-Temple, between the cities of Huy and Liège in Wallonia. Four suspects have been apprehended, and there are strong indications that they had homophobic motives. The case is causing commotion both in Wallonia and in Flanders.

The man had gone missing one week before his body was discovered in Liège province. "The victim left a bar and was approached by four men in a car. He entered the car voluntarily. A couple of hours later, nothing was heard of him and a friend informed the police", Danièle Reynders of the Liège judicial authorities explains.

The four suspects have all been apprehended. Just like the victim, all four are of foreign descent. According to the suspects, the victim "made advances".

(source)

Fatima Omari, the lawyer of victim Ihsane Jarfi, published the family's statement, thanking all those who supported them in their difficult time. "Ihsan has never hurt anyone, unless his homosexuality, his Moroccan origins and his Muslim faith are a crime."

READ MORE - Belgium: Moroccan killed in first homophobic murder

Belgium: Moroccan PM insults female minister, Moroccan-Belgian MPs want Belgian response

Belgium: Moroccan PM insults female minister, Moroccan-Belgian MPs want Belgian response

Via HLN:

Moroccan PM Abdelilah Benkirane recently met in Rabat with two Belgian ministers: Minister of Foreign Affairs Didier Reynders (MR) and Justice Minister Annemie Turtelboom (Open Vld).  However, during the meeting he barely paid attention to Turtleboom, and instead focused on her male colleague, Reynders.  Benkirane praised Reynders' French, and told him he 'didn't have to come with an interpreter'.  Turtleboom made it clear who she was, but Benkirane continued to ignore her.
 

Turtleboom was upset, but swallowed the insult since she didn't want to cause a diplomatic row.  Moroccan-Belgian MPs say her reaction is unblievable, and that Belgium should respond.

Yamila Idrissi (sp.a) and Nadia Sminate (N-VA) say that Turtleboom should have walked out of the meeting.  But Idrissi says it's not too late for a response.  "Belgium shouldn't leave things like that and make a point of it," she told Het Laatste Nieuws.  "This is outrageous and unacceptable."

Sminate agrees.  "This is disappointing from a strong woman like Annemie Turtelboom.  If this isn't worth a row, than what is?  Turtleboom should have responded .. this is a bad message for Moroccan women in Belgium."

READ MORE - Belgium: Moroccan PM insults female minister, Moroccan-Belgian MPs want Belgian response

Russia: Ethnic Russians to launch center for own protection

Russia: Ethnic Russians to launch center for own protection


Via RT:

The Congress of Russian Communities is preparing a legal center aimed at protecting ethnic Russians in their conflicts both with the law and with other ethnic communities in the country.

(...)

The Ilyin Center sets an ambitious objective of changing the Russian laws, in particular Articles 280 and 282 of the Criminal Code, which criminalize public calls for extremist activity and instigating race and national hatred.

Presently, 90 per cent of people prosecuted under these articles are ethnic Russians. The law can be changed, in particular, through changing the criteria for finding the literature and media materials extremist.

The center also plans to offer protection to ethnic Russians in all criminal cases and to cooperate with other NGOs that deal with problems of nationality and nationalism. 

(source)

READ MORE - Russia: Ethnic Russians to launch center for own protection

Netherlands: Moroccan, Polish criminals speak each other's language

Netherlands: Moroccan, Polish criminals speak each other's language

Via De Telegraaf:

Acting police chief in the Haaglanden district, Paul van Musscher, says that Moroccan youth speak with their criminal colleagues in Polish and vice versa.

Van Musscher says this shows there's a melting pot in the neighborhoods and that they have close contacts with each other as they enter the criminal world.  "By speaking each other's language you create new trade relations.  This is truly a 'VOC mentality' of which Balkenende will probably not be proud."

Former Dutch PM Balkenende used the term 'VOC mentality' (Dutch East India Company) to encourage Dutch entrepreneurship.

READ MORE - Netherlands: Moroccan, Polish criminals speak each other's language

Netherlands: Dutch-Turkish boat to take part in Gay Pride

Netherlands: Dutch-Turkish boat to take part in Gay Pride

Via RNW:

A Turkish boat will take part in the 2012 Amsterdam Gay Pride boat parade known as Canal Pride.
This will the first time a Turkish boat takes part in Canal pride, which is scheduled to take place on 4 August.

(source)

READ MORE - Netherlands: Dutch-Turkish boat to take part in Gay Pride

Albania: Religious communities oppose gay parade

Albania: Religious communities oppose gay parade

Via AFP:

Albanian religious leaders on Sunday slammed a planned gay pride parade, with a spokesman for the Muslim community saying it would pose a "danger" to society.

"Such public demonstration is an abuse of human rights and freedoms and presents a danger for the morals and tradition of the Albanian family," Agron Hoxha told local media.

(source)

READ MORE - Albania: Religious communities oppose gay parade

Brussels: Mosque attack revenge for Syrian violence

Brussels: Mosque attack revenge for Syrian violence




Via AFP:

The suspected arsonist behind a deadly fire at a Brussels mosque said Tuesday he set the Shiite place of worship ablaze to scare the community he blames for the violence in Syria, officials said.

Belgium's Muslim community was in shock a day after the attack that left an imam dead.

The suspect, a self-described Muslim in his mid-30s, told investigators he sought to "scare" the Shiite community as it was allegedly responsible for Syria's crackdown on dissent, the public prosecutor's office said.

(source)

READ MORE - Brussels: Mosque attack revenge for Syrian violence

Brussels: Imam dies in Salafist attack on Shia mosque

Brussels: Imam dies in Salafist attack on Shia mosque

Via UKPA:

A mosque near Brussels has been targeted in an arson attack in which the imam died.

A Muslim man was arrested in the attack on the mosque in Anderlecht, a suburb of Brussels, the Belgian capital, said Jean-Marc Meilleur, a spokesman for the Brussels Prosecutor's Office.

"It seemed that this person showed up and pulled out a knife and an axe, and that he spread flammable products - petrol, we assume - in order to start a fire and threaten the mosque occupants," Mr Meilleur said.

(source)

The attacker was shouting anti-Shiite Salafist slogans about the conflict in Syria.

Isabelle Praile of the Muslim Executive, herself a Shiite, told RTBF that the Rida mosque, the biggest mosque in Brussels, has been guarded by the police for years after threats by Salafists.

READ MORE - Brussels: Imam dies in Salafist attack on Shia mosque

Paris: Imam marries gay couple

Paris: Imam marries gay couple

Via Observatoire de la diversité:

Ludovic and Qiyaam got married in South Africa last August. This week they got married by an imam in Paris.

More than forty friends and members of HM2F - Muslim gays of France - attended the event. Christian and Jewish LGBT organizations were also invited. The ceremony was conducted by Jamal, originally from Mauritius, who heads the Prayer and Meditation group in HM2F. Christian and Jewish clergymen then added their blessings.

Ludovic says he received the blessings of his family, who reside in Marseille and came for the occasion. He added that he has more problems with French law.

READ MORE - Paris: Imam marries gay couple

UK: Christianity gets less sensitive treatment than other religions admits BBC chief

UK: Christianity gets less sensitive treatment than other religions admits BBC chief

Via the Daily Mail:

BBC director-general Mark Thompson has claimed Christianity is treated with far less sensitivity than other religions because it is ‘pretty broad shouldered’.

He suggested other faiths have a ‘very close identity with ethnic minorities’, and were therefore covered in a far more careful way by broadcasters.

But he also revealed that producers had to consider the possibilities of ‘violent threats’ instead of polite complaints if they pushed ahead with certain types of satire.

Mr Thompson said: ‘Without question, “I complain in the strongest possible terms”, is different from, “I complain in the strongest possible terms and I am loading my AK47 as I write”. This definitely raises the stakes.’

(source)

READ MORE - UK: Christianity gets less sensitive treatment than other religions admits BBC chief

France: Retaliation attack against mosque

France: Retaliation attack against mosque



Via France 3:

Nazi graffiti and a 'stop Islamization' sticker were discovered this morning on the walls of the Escaudain mosque in northern France. Two weeks ago the walls of a church in town were covered with graffiti insulting the presidential couple and the National Front (as well as anti-French, pro-Moroccan slogans).


Last Sunday Muslims went to the church to support the Catholic community. Next Sunday (??), Christians will come to the mosque to express their support for the town's Muslim community.

READ MORE - France: Retaliation attack against mosque

Belgium: Mixed Kebab, the story of a gay Belgian Turk

Belgium: Mixed Kebab, the story of a gay Belgian Turk

Ibrahim chooses to fall for young and handsome Kevin over marrying his cute but expensive cousin Elif while kid brother Furkan converts to Islamic fundamentalism.

READ MORE - Belgium: Mixed Kebab, the story of a gay Belgian Turk