By Afif Sarhan, IOL Correspondent
BAGHDAD — After disappearing for the past six years, sin and vice are now running rife in the streets of the Iraqi capital.
Archive for April, 2009
By Dania Yousef in Ni’lin, occupied West Bank
In a small anonymous home in the West Bank, a Palestinian academic has set up a project which is almost unheard of in the Occupied Territories.
By Muhammed Qasim, IOL Correspondent
WASHINGTON – Dalia Mogahed, a hijab-clad American Muslim, has made history being the first Muslim woman appointed to a position in President Barack Obama’s administration.
Holy warrior: Hasner in a photo op with Israeli troops
By Thomas Francis in Palm Beach, Politics,
Continue reading ‘Boca, Please Rein in Your Race-Baiting Legislator’
By IslamOnline.net & Newspapers
The US brutal torture techniques in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo are responsible for the killing of more Americans than those who perished on September 11 attacks, 2001, argues a veteran US interrogator who served in Iraq.
Continue reading ‘Torture Killed More Than 9/11: US Officer’
A few days later on August 1, 2002, the then US justice department approved the use of waterboarding in a secret memo, the report said.
Abu Zubaydah underwent waterboarding at least 83 times in August 2002, according to memos from the administration of George Bush released earlier this week.
| IN MAY 1948, as Jewish forces overran Palestinian villages on the Ramle-Latrun Road, casualties were brought to Dr. Hassan Hathout’s makeshift hospital in what had once been Ramle’s military airport.As a new round of wounded arrived, Dr. Hathout was told seven of them were injured Haganah fighters, including a woman. Now, standing at the entrance of his hospital, he faced an angry mob demanding to take revenge on their captured enemies.The young Egyptian physician was facing the biggest challenge of his life. Only months before, he had received his medical degree from Cairo University. He made the decision in December 1947 to launch his career by serving in the Red Crescent in neighboring Palestine.
Continue reading ‘Dr. Hassan Hathout: A Survivor of the 1948 Nakba and the Siege of Ramle’ |
SANTA ANA, California — A federal judge said Monday he will review records of FBI inquiries into several Muslim groups and activists who claim they have been unfairly spied on and questioned.
Judge Cormac J. Carney ordered the FBI to turn over more than 100 pages of documents to determine whether the information should be released to the public or protected under federal law. Carney also said the FBI must search for any electronic surveillance records on the Council on American-Islamic Relations as the agency did for the other plaintiffs.
The decision comes amid a nearly three-year battle by the American Civil Liberties Union and 11 Muslim groups and activists to obtain records they say would prove the FBI is unlawfully targeting Muslims in Southern California.
“There’s a reason why they don’t want to disclose this information,” ACLU attorney Jennie Pasquarella said after the court hearing. “It will show why they’ve surveilled people and we think it might show they’re surveilling people on the basis of their religion.”
Marcia Sowles, an attorney for the Department of Justice, told the court the FBI may seek to keep some information private due to national security or privacy concerns once Carney has reviewed the records.
“They (the records) do concern investigations of others because they were identified through cross references and the plaintiffs were not the subjects of those investigations,” Sowles told the judge.
The ruling comes amid growing complaints by Muslim community leaders that the FBI has been spying on them.
In California, Muslims’ concerns were heightened this year when an FBI agent testified in court that an informant had been planted at a local Islamic Center. The informant gave the FBI information about Ahmadullah Niazi, an Afghan native and brother-in-law of Osama bin Laden’s bodyguard who was arrested in February on charges of lying about alleged ties to terrorist groups on his citizenship and passport applications.
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/international/americas/2009/04/22/205199/Judge-orders.htm
The decision, approved by more than 100 countries, came as leaders attempted to get the summit back on course after a speech by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s president, led several Western diplomats to walk out of the hall.
“Unfortunately, it now seems certain these remaining concerns will not be addressed in the document to be adopted by the conference next week,” Robert Wood, US state department spokesman, said in a statement issued late on Saturday.
By Lisa Bolivar <lbolivar@bellsouth.net>
April 10, 2009
It is all about meeting people, and that is what 4,000 South Floridians did April 5 during the Fourth Annual Al AMANA Bazaar & BBQ at Topeekeegee Yugnee Park in Hollywood.
Imam Odeh Saad drove from Belle Glade in Palm Beach County to set up a table offering Islamic gifts. He said he supports AMANA because of the outreach it does, not only to area Muslims, but to secular America as well.
“This is to build bridges with others,” Saad said, nodding towards a woman and her daughters who were strolling through the festival meeting Muslims for the first time. “This brings a better understanding of Islam and we think it is important to help different communities to understand each other.”
Smells of bbq fires and of roasting chicken filled the air. There were curries and American bbq and sweet treats. Children darted in between adults playing games and laughing. Women shopped the stalls where colorful cloth fluttered in the breeze. There even was a massage chair set up.
Building bridges between nations was one of the goals of this festival, Saad pointed out, and that is important to him because “Muslims are some of the most misunderstood people on Earth.”
Saad also contributes to his community in Belle Glade, he said “if you don’t contribute to your community where you live, you are worthless, and it is a part of our religion.” He contributes through conducting voter registration drives, collecting charity and distributing it to the needs and in stimulating job creation — goals he shares with AMANA.
Voting and volunteerism was the theme at Syed Rahman’s table “we want to change not only Muslims, but America for the better,” Rahman said as he handed out brochures to a lecture on how to win government contracts.
“We want to educate the community about the policy and issues and about what is in their interest,” he said, explaining that Muslims come from many nations, some developing in a way that they do not have much of a voice in day – to – day workings.
“They are hungry now that they are here, they are hungry to participate in democracy, and we will show them how,” Rahman said.
Secular attractions included displays by the US Army, National Guard and the Miami-Dade Police Department. Charles Rego represented the police at the event, and said he participates every year in an effort to get to know area Muslims and to offer them a chance to get to know the police.
“This helps to build bridges,” Rego said, adding “AMANA has always helped us do this, and it is very effective, after all this IS our community.”
Sofian Abdelaziz Zakkout, director of AMANA sat at a table stacked with Qurans and other Islamic literature greeting visitors enthusiastically – it was as if he personally knew everyone who stopped by, adding to the friendly atmosphere of the festival.
But there also were a lot of new faces, he said.
“It appears to be more diverse this year,” Zakkout said, smiling broadly, explaining that South Florida Muslims represent at least 56 different countries.
“This is bringing cultures together and the more we know each other, the more we can come together and appreciate each other, and that means Muslims and non-Muslims,” he said. “English to Pakistani, Cuban to Egyptian, this is the most important thing, getting to know each other, I am very happy with the way things turned out this year.”
Continue reading ‘It is all about meeting people – AMANA 4th Annual Festival and Bazaar’
Washington, DC |April 17, 2009| www.adc.org | The American-Arab Anti- Discrimination Committee (ADC) commends the decision by the Obama Administration to release memoranda from the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel, during the Bush Administration, which authorized the use of torture, including waterboarding. The release of these memos today is another positive step in the direction of better understanding the dangerous and unlawful policies of the past administration.
Continue reading ‘ADC Commends Obama Administration Decision to Release Bush Era Torture Memos’
Spanish law gives its courts jurisdiction beyond national borders in cases of torture, war crimes and other heinous offences, based on a doctrine known as universal justice.
Friday 17th April, 2009
A young prisoner has managed to get a message out of the Guantanamo Bay prison camp.
The prisoner had been given permission to telephone an overseas relative, but instead called the Al-Jazeera television network.
A reporter from Al-Jazeera managed to tape a short interview with the prisoner, who said he had been beaten and abused at Guantanamo.
Continue reading ‘Guantanamo Bay prisoner accuses captors in telephone call’
The 5th Annual National Arab American Service Day will be held on Saturday, May 16, 2009 in states and cities throughout the country. The service will coincide with National AmeriCorps Week. Over the past four years, thousands of volunteers organized dozens of community service projects throughout the country and made a positive impact on their communities.
Continue reading ’5th Annual National Arab American Service Day’
By Muhammed Qasim, IOL Correspondent
WASHINGTON — Human rights activists and campaigns want the Congress to investigation serious human rights abuses perpetrated by the Bush administration under the pretext of its so-called war on terror.
By Khalid Amayreh, IOL Correspondent
RAMALLAH – A Palestinian women freed this weeks after six years in detention on charges of resisting the Israeli military occupation is speaking out against “horrific mistreatment” and “hair-raising episodes” in Israeli jails.
Continue reading ‘Woman Recalls “Horrific” Israeli Detention’
“Since Obama took charge he has not shown us that anything will change,” he said.
On his second day in office, Obama ordered the closure of the prison, which has been heavily criticised by rights groups over reports of ill-treatment of detainees.
By Muhammed Qasim, IOL Correspondent
WASHINGTON — American Muslims are mourning Dr. Ahmed El-Kadi, a prominent leader who died this weekend after a life he spent sincerely serving Muslims and pioneering achievements that changed the face of the community.
Obama’s efforts to repair relations with Muslims abroad are admirable. But what about those living in the US?Wajahat Ali
