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From the
Sydney Morning Herald:
A 40 year-old Muslim man charged with raping a 12 year-old girl and marrying her in Malaysia says he sees nothing wrong with his actions under sharia or Islamic law.
"There are many cases of men marrying underage girls," restaurant owner Ruduan Masmud told reporters.
"I do not see how my case can be any different," adding it was "suka sama suka" or mutual consent acceptable under sharia law.
In a case that has outraged rights activists Mr Masmud, a father of four from his first wife, allegedly raped the girl inside a car parked by a road in Kota Kinabalu, the capital of the Borneo state of Sabah, on February 16.
But on April 18 the girl withdrew her accusation against the man in a police report and said they are in the process of him taking her as his second wife.
In subsequent court hearing prosecutors did not object to the case being withdrawn but said the man needed to settle the matter under sharia law.
The girl's father said Mr Masmud paid the family 5000 Malayasian ringgits ($1,708) in compensation and said he accepted the marriage.
"It is best for her that they get married. What else can I do?" he said.
Mr Masmud said he plans for the girl to finish her studies and then "take up a cosmetics course with his first wife."
After reports of the marriage emerged Sabah's minister for community and consumer affairs Datuk Jainab Ahmad said her ministry was questioning the validity of the marriage.
"As a mother, I am still puzzled: how could the father of the girl allow his daughter to be married to the man who had raped her?" she said.
"The girl was only 12 years and six months. I believe the victim is in a trauma. She should be protected instead of marrying the man who raped her."
The Child Rights Coalition Malaysia (CRCM), a group comprising seven child-related non-government-organisations, slammed the Sabah court for ruling in favour of the child marriage.
"It is unfortunate that marriage is seen as a solution for addressing the growing societal issue of rape," the coalition said in a statement.
"We strongly feel that the verdict may lead to more societal issues such as early marriage, teenage pregnancy and broken families rather than preventing such issues from happening in the future," it said.
"We also would like to assert our view that the child's
willingness (to marry) could arise from coercion, innocence or even threat which in all ways will impede the safety and positive well-being of the child."
The coalition is appealing to both the Sabah public prosecutor and Sabah's sharia court to reconsider the marriage application and decision to withdraw the rape allegation.
Sharia courts in Malaysia hear disputes among Muslims under a unique dual system that provides for justice under secular criminal and civil laws as well as sharia laws.
From
Jihad Watch:
In the version of the video containing remarks from the jihad murderer in London today that can be found above, he clearly mentions Surat at-Tawba at the beginning. (Thanks to Kenneth.)
Why has this video been edited to remove his references to the Qur'an?
He says, "Surat at-Tawba through...many, many ayat throughout the Qur'an that...we must fight them as they fight us..."
Surat at-Tawba is the ninth chapter of the Qur'an, and according to Islamic scholars is the last one or one of the last ones to have been revealed that contain doctrinal content -- which means that it takes precedence over the others. Some highlights:
"And when the sacred months have passed, then kill the polytheists wherever you find them and capture them and besiege them and sit in wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they should repent, establish prayer, and give zakah, let them [go] on their way. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful." -- 9:5
"Fight them; Allah will punish them by your hands and will disgrace them and give you victory over them and satisfy the breasts of a believing people and remove the fury in the believers' hearts. And Allah turns in forgiveness to whom He wills; and Allah is Knowing and Wise." -- 9:14-15
"Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day and who do not consider unlawful what Allah and His Messenger have made unlawful and who do not adopt the religion of truth from those who were given the Scripture - [fight] until they give the jizyah willingly while they are humbled." -- 9:29
"O Prophet, fight against the disbelievers and the hypocrites and be harsh upon them. And their refuge is Hell, and wretched is the destination." -- 9:73
"O you who have believed, fight those adjacent to you of the disbelievers and let them find in you harshness. And know that Allah is with the righteous." -- 9:123
From
The Guardian:
• British soldier dead in suspected terror attack in London
• Knife attack near barracks 'an eye for an eye', says suspect
• Killing in street is 'absolutely sickening' says prime minister
A man Suspected of staging a terrorist attack that left a British soldier dead near a military barracks in London, was caught on camera clutching a meat cleaver and knife in hands apparently covered in the blood of his victim, as he justified the violence as part of a jihadist-inspired fight against the west.
The incident happened in broad daylight, 400 metres from the perimeter of the Royal Artillery barracks, in Woolwich, south-east London, sparking a terrorist alert that saw the government crisis committee Cobra convene in emergency session. Hours later, David Cameron, who was in Paris and was due to return , described what had occurred as "an absolutely sickening attack".
Witnesses said a man was hacked at by two assailants with weapons including a machete, carrying strong echoes of attacks abroad, at about 2.20pm. It is understood that the victim was a soldier, although neither his identity nor profession was confirmed . It is believed the person died after suffering knife injuries, possibly around the head.
The two men remained on the scene, until armed police arrived up to 20 minutes later. They were shot and apprehended by armed officers and taken to two separate hospitals where they were being treated for their injuries under armed guard in the aftermath of the first al-Qaida inspired attack to claim a life on British soil since the 7 July bombings in London in 2005.
As counter-terrorism officials raced to work out if the incident was a random, macabre event or the start of a trend, astonishing footage emerged which explained why the government was so quick to treat it as a terrorist attack.
In mobile phone video footage first broadcast by ITV News, one of the suspects was seen brandishing a cleaver and a knife. With the body of the victim lying yards away, the man said: "We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you. The only reason we have done this is because Muslims are dying every day. This British soldier is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."
Speaking in a British accent, the man said: "We must fight them. I apologise that women had to witness this today. But in our land, our women have to see the same. You people will never be safe. Remove your government, they don't care about you.
"You think David Cameron is going to get caught in the street when we start bussin' our guns? You think politicians are going to die? No it's going to be the average guy, like you, and your children. So get rid of them. Tell them to bring our troops back so you can all live in peace." In the footage, the man then walks away and talks to another suspected attacker, pictures of whom were also circulating.
The rhetoric was reminiscent of that used in al-Qaida-influenced propaganda, in particular the reference to "our land" – phraseology used by violent jihadists to describe Muslim territory being despoiled by western soldiers. In a statement, Metropolitan police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, said the counter-terrorism command was leading the investigation after two men were arrested.
Reuters reported on Wednesday night that British officials were investigating a possible Nigerian link in the attack.
Witnesses at the scene spoke of attempts made by some passersby to stop the attackers. One of the assailants reportedly danced near the body and then approached bus passengers, asking people to take his photograph.
There were unconfirmed reports that the attackers may have had a gun and raised it, possibly even fired it as armed police arrived. Julia Wilders, a witness, said: "I walked back up there and the tall black bloke had changed the gun to the other guy and he had two meat cleavers in his hand.
"And the response police turned up and he's ran towards them with meat cleavers before I could even get out of the car so they shot him. And then the other one lifts the gun up and they shot him as well." Later a photograph surfaced of a second potential suspect holding a bloody knife.
One witness, identified as James Heneghan, said he and his partner saw two black men attack a young man aged around 20 in a Help for Heroes T-shirt with kitchen knives like he was "a piece of meat".
They were hacking at this poor guy, literally," he told LBC radio.
"They were hacking at him, chopping him, cutting him."
The barracks near to where the attack happened is home to the Princess of Wales's regiment and the King's Troop, which is a ceremonial unit that relocated to Woolwich last year. One source suggested the victim had been returning to the barracks after attending an army recruitment event in central London...
Read it all
here. See video
here.
From
Jihad Watch:
His friend is hard at work claiming victim status for him, but doesn't explain why he attacked the agent. "FBI agent shoots and kills Orlando man with ties to Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev," by Wesley Lowery and John R. Ellement for the Boston Globe, May 22 (thanks to all who sent this in):
A Chechen man with ties to Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev was shot and killed by an FBI agent in Orlando early today when the man attacked the agent, the FBI said in a statement.
The FBI identified the person shot and killed as Ibragim Todashev, 26.
According to the FBI and local news accounts, the shooting took place in an apartment building on Peregrine Avenue while Todashev was being questioned about the bombings and Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
“The agent, along with other law enforcement personnel, were interviewing an individual in connection with the Boston Marathon bombing investigation when a violent confrontation was initiated by the subject,’’ the FBI said in a statement released around 9:30 a.m. today.
“During the confrontation, the individual was killed and the agent sustained non-life threatening injuries,’’ the FBI said. “As this incident is under review, we have no further details at this time.”
Khusen Tamariv, a friend of Todashev told WESH-TV in Orlando, that both he and Todashev were questioned about his ties to Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed in a shootout in Watertown with police on April 19; his younger brother Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is in federal custody and facing charges that could bring the death penalty.
The bombings killed three people and wounded more than 260 people. MIT Police Officer Sean Collier was also allegedly murdered by the brothers.
Today, the FBI said a Washington-based deadly force investigative team is being sent to Orlando to investigate the shooting.
Taramiv said he was released by the FBI, but Todashev was still being questioned by the agents.
Taramiv said Todashev met Tsarnaev when both lived in Massachusetts, and that the two men spoke with each other “months before” the April 15 bombings.
Taramiv said his friend was not close to Tsarnaev. “They were not best friends,’’ Taramiv told the Orlando station.
Taramiv insisted that Todashev was not a radicalized Muslim, and that he had no role, nor did he know anything about the Marathon bombing attack.
“He was not a radical. He was a Muslim," Taramiv said. “I’m a Muslim. That’s it... He never had a gun... He was shocked’’ by the attacks.
Taramiv said Todashev was worried about the direction of the questioning by the FBI agents, that he was going to be “set up’’ by the law enforcement agency.
“He had a bad feeling,’’ Taramiv, who quoted Todashev as telling him that the FBI was “making up this crazy stuff’’ that there was a connection between the terror suspect and himself....
From
Emirates 24/7:
A Saudi court sentenced two Asian housemaids to 10 years in jail and ordered their lashed 1,000 times each after they were found guilty of indulging in sorcery at their employers’ houses in the Gulf Kingdom, a newspaper reported on Monday.
Their Saudi employers reported the two maids to the Gulf country’s feared religious police, saying they had discovered that their families had been harmed because of sorcery practiced by the maids against them.
Members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice who searched the two houses in Riyadh found talismans and other magic items in the bedrooms of the two maids, Sabq Arabic language daily said.
“The court found them guilty and sentenced them to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes each,” the paper said without identifying the maids or specifying the harm they caused.
Saudi Arabia, which strictly enforces Islamic law, has beheaded many persons convicted of practicing magic over the past years.
More than two million domestic servants work in Saudi Arabia, mostly from Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Africa.
From
Jihad Watch:
Rich on the kuffar dole
"Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued." -- Qur'an 9:29
As British jihadist Anjem Choudary said: "The normal situation is to take money from the kuffar. You work, give us the money, Allahu akbar."
"Accused Fort Hood Shooter Paid $278,000 While Awaiting Trial," by Scott Friedman for NBCDFW.com, May 21 (thanks to Pamela Geller):
The Army said under the Military Code of Justice, Hasan’s salary cannot be suspended unless he is proven guilty.
If Hasan had been a civilian defense department employee, NBC 5 Investigates has learned, the Army could have suspended his pay after just seven days.
Personnel rules for most civilian government workers allow for "indefinite suspensions" in cases "when the agency has reasonable cause to believe that the employee has committed a crime for which a sentence of imprisonment may be imposed."
Meanwhile, more than three years later soldiers wounded in the mass shooting are fighting to receive the same pay and medical benefits given to those wounded in combat.
Retired Army Spc. Logan Burnett, a reservist who, in 2009, was soon to be deployed to Iraq, was shot three times when a gunman opened fire inside the Army Deployment Center.
“I honestly thought I was going to die in that building,” said Burnett. “Just blood everywhere and then the thought of -- that's my blood everywhere.”
Burnett nearly died. He's had more than a dozen surgeries since the shooting, and says post-traumatic stress still keeps him up at night.
Burnett is now fighting a new battle; only this one is against the U.S. Army.
The Army has not classified the wounds of the Ft. Hood victims as “combat related” and declines to label the shooting a “terrorist attack”, [sic]
The “combat related” designation is an important one, for without it Burnett and other shooting victims are not given combat-related pay, they are not eligible for Purple Heart retirement or medical benefits given to other soldiers wounded either at war or during the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the Pentagon.
As a result, Burnett, his wife Torey, and the families of other Fort Hood victims miss out on thousands of dollars of potential benefits and pay every year.
To Burnett the shooting felt like combat.
“You take three rounds and lose five good friends and watch seven other people get killed in front of you. Do you have another term that we can classify that as?” asked Burnett.
The Army has categorized the shooting as a case of “workplace violence.”
“Sickens me. Absolutely sickens me. Workplace violence? I don't even know if I have the words to say,” said Burnett....
From
MSNBC:
Once again, a handful of activists has managed to galvanize and inspire Egypt’s grumbling masses in a way no opposition political parties have been able to.
Their concept is simple. They are inviting the Egyptian electorate to sign a petition expressing “no confidence” in President Mohamed Morsi, a move they hope will trigger early presidential elections.
The response has been eye-opening. So far, 6,000 volunteers for the grassroots campaign dubbed “Tamarod” or “Rebel” have collected over 2 million signatures, according to the group’s spokesman Mahmoud Badr. Egypt’s electorate numbers about 50 million, with half of those voting in the last presidential election.
The movement has grown quickly, with opposition parties announcing support, widespread press coverage and black and white leaflets plastered across nearly every Cairo neighborhood. The “Rebel” Facebook page has attracted 150,000 “likes” in one month.
At a busy intersection in Mohandiseen, an upper-middle class Cairo neighborhood, at least 20 people stopped last Thursday to sign the leaflets and jot down national ID numbers to verify their identity.
“Yesterday was even more crowded,” said Basma Sherif, as she handed out forms.
“There were accidents because people were leaving their cars in traffic to come and sign,” said Sherif, a 24-year-old insurance company employee.
People from all walks of life and throughout Egypt are signing the petition – from upper class educated elites to truck drivers and housekeepers – even people who voted for Morsi in the last election are now taking part in the campaign.
"People come from the cars to sign – poor, rich, middle class, everybody has one opinion,” said Sherif.
Those signing the petition were anxious for change. “I don’t want Morsi,” said Khaled Mostafa, a 27-year-old lab technician. “There is no security, no stability and their economic program failed… If we get several million signatures, we will have early elections.”
Amal Ragab, a middle-aged human resources manager, said that the revolution that toppled Mubarak made her believe people have the power to bring down a president. “For us, the Muslim Brotherhood is much worse and weaker than Mubarak with all of his power and security apparatus,” she added.
The group’s goal is to collect 15 million signatures, almost 3 million more than the number of votes Morsi received when he was elected by a narrow margin in June last year. They plan to deliver the petition for early elections to the Supreme Constitutional Court, Egypt’s highest court, on June 30, the one-year anniversary of Morsi’s inauguration, and to hold a massive demonstration in front of the presidential palace that day.
A symbolic move
But even diehard supporters admit there are no legal grounds to call for early elections based on a “no confidence” petition. They say the campaign is really meant to prove that Morsi has lost his majority and, with it, his legitimacy.
Hamza Abdullah, a 37-year-old lawyer who has been coordinating the campaign in three Cairo districts was carrying an armload of signed petitions on Thursday.
“This is a peaceful way to apply pressure and prove that people are against Morsi,” he said. “It is not legally binding, but it is like a poll to prove that he is not popular and not approved as president of Egypt.”
Not so fast, say Muslim Brotherhood
Members of the ruling Muslim Brotherhood, however, pooh-pooh the challenge.
Dr. Mohamed Beltagy, a senior leader of the Brotherhood’s political arm, issued a statement calling the petition “no more than a public survey,” saying it was useless unless organizers “transform the millions of participants they’re talking about into a political party.”
Others gave veiled warnings. “If some want to toss out the constitution, then they should admit their aim and bear the consequences because it is a complete and utter crime,” Essam Arian, deputy chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood, told the Al Fajr newspaper.
A lawyer for the Brotherhood, Abdel Moneim Abdel Maksoud, said that, “Hijacking a political democratic legitimacy constitutes a violation of the law.” And one Brotherhood-linked group launched a rhyming pro-Morsi petition called Tagarod, or “Impartiality.”
Egypt’s prime minister, which operates under the president, was more receptive.
Alaa al Hadidi, the prime minister’s spokesman, said he views the grassroots movement as a sign of growth. “I am happy because before, nobody spoke, nobody cared, nobody was interested. Now everybody feels that they own the country and have a stake.”
From
Zee News:
At least nine people were killed and 53 others wounded in bombing attacks against two Shiite mosques in Iraq's southern city of Hilla on Monday, a police source said.
A suicide bomber wearing explosive vest blew himself up at Al- Wardiyah mosque in Hilla, some 100 km south of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, and about five minutes later a bomb exploded in the nearby Al-Galagh mosque, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
The two attacks targeted worshipers in the Shiite mosques and some of the wounded people were in critical conditions, he added.
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the deadly attacks, but the al-Qaida front in Iraq, in most cases, were responsible for such massive attacks in the country, raising fears that the terrorist group and other militia could return to widespread violence.
Earlier on Monday, a series of car bombs and shootings mainly targeting Shiite areas across Iraq killed at least 61 people, including several Iranian pilgrims, and wounded some 200, apparently in an attempt to stir up sectarian strife among Iraqis.
Monday's violence came amid escalation of sectarian tension between the Sunni and Shiite communities, which has been at its highest level since the U.S. troops pulled out from the country at the end of 2011.
For five months, Sunni Muslims have been protesting against the Shiite-led government in Sunni provinces and the Sunni districts in Baghdad.
From
CNN:
At least four people are dead and 44 are injured after two bombs exploded Monday in Russia's volatile North Caucasus region, the Ministry of Health's website says.
Thirty-one of the injured were hospitalized, it says.
The incident -- which occurred in Makhachkala, capital of the semi-autonomous republic of Dagestan -- also caused significant damage. Security officials say they believe law enforcement officers may have been the target because the explosion occurred outside a local marshal's building.
One car bomb was discovered by a police patrol, who called in a unit to defuse it. Before that could be done, the bomb went off, but the explosion was minor, security officials said. Then, as a crowd of people gathered, a second, more powerful device detonated, causing the casualties.
An Islamic insurgency has taken hold in the North Caucasus and there is a strong presence of Islamic militants fighting Moscow's rule.
Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev -- the suspects in the Boston Marathon terror attack last month -- had ties with the region. The brothers are ethnic Chechens who lived in Kyrgyzstan and Dagestan.
Authorities who've been investigating how the brothers became radicalized are interested in a trip Tamerlan Tsarnaev took to Dagestan last year.
Russian authorities asked U.S. officials to investigate Tsarnaev before the trip, saying they believed he was becoming increasingly involved with radical Islam. The FBI investigated, but found no evidence of extremist activity, FBI Director Robert Mueller told a Senate committee.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is in custody. His older brother died after a shootout with police just outside Boston days after the bombing.
Russia has been on edge over militant activity and its security forces announced on Monday that they foiled a terror attack planned for Moscow.
A spokesman at the National Anti-Terror Committee said security forces killed two militants and detained another. All three are described as Russian citizens trained in Afghanistan and Pakistan, he said. Security forces conducted their operation in the Orekhovo-Zuevo region of the Moscow suburbs.
"They were planning a terror attack in Moscow," the spokesman said.
No civilians were injured during the operation, but one Federal Security Service officer was wounded, state news agency Ria Novosti reported, citing an unnamed security source. The source said the attack was planned for central Moscow.
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