New Bangladeshis’ True Colors: Anti-Radical Muslim Attacked

Dhaka, Bangladesh , internationally-acclaimed journalist Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, was attacked as he was working in the office of his newspaper, Weekly Blitz, by “a gang of thugs” from Bangladesh’s ruling Awami League. I spoke by telephone with Choudhury as he awaited medical treatment for eye, neck, and other injuries suffered in the attack. The renewed violence marks the first against him since he was abducted by Bangladesh’s dreaded Rapid Action Battalion a year ago. After Choudhury was released unharmed, the military was able to assure that he was not attacked–until today under the auspices of the self-styled “moderate” politicians in charge.

A large group stormed Blitz premises and attacked newspaper staff until they found Choudhury. At that point, he said, “they dragged me [and two staff] into the street” where they beat them “in broad daylight…looted my office and stole my laptop” with “all my sensitive information.” According to another reliable source, the attackers held Choudhury at gunpoint. As of this writing, they continue to occupy the Blitz office. Read more

Somali radicals ‘importing terror to UK

Dozens of Islamic extremists have returned to Britain from terror training camps in Somalia, the British security services believe.

Intelligence analysts are worried that they may attempt to launch attacks in this country or use the kudos from having trained and fought in Somalia to try to attract new recruits. The issue was raised by Jonathan Evans, the head of MI5, in his first interview last month.

In the US, the outgoing head of the CIA, Michael Hayden, has said that Ethiopia’s invasion of Somalia in late 2006 “catalysed” expatriate Somalis around the world.

An investigation for Channel 4 News, to be broadcast tonight, also reveals that a suicide bomber who grew up in Ealing is thought to have blown himself up in an attack in Somalia that killed more than 20 soldiers.

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Imams to help police in bid to keep young Muslims away from gang culture

A NEW weapon will be unveiled this week in the war on teenage gangs: Muslim Imams.
Scotland on Sunday can reveal that several Islamic clerics will join police and youth workers in an innovative new scheme to wean young Muslims away from trouble.

The Imams – most Scottish-born – will take to the streets starting this week, targetADVERTISEMENTing a dozen teenagers believed to be on the edge of the embryonic Asian gang culture on Glasgow’s Southside.

Their allies, including workers from Youth Counselling Services Agency (YCSA), a support group for young Asians, reckon the clerics will be able to command more respect from youngsters than other professionals, including the police.

They will launch their programme just days after the first serious youth disorder in Pollokshields, home to Scotland’s biggest Muslim community, since last summer. Four Asians – three young men and a youth – were last week charged with assault after an alleged attack on white men when a snowball fight reportedly escalated into serious violence.

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Qaeda figure calls for attacks on new Somali govt

DUBAI (Reuters) – An al Qaeda leader, in a video released on Islamist websites on Friday, urged Somali militants to step up attacks against Somalia’s new moderate government, which he dismissed as U.S.-backed.

“Aim your arrows towards them…, direct your battles against them and intensify your campaign against them,” Abu Yahya al-Libi said on the video. He called for a jihad, or holy war, against the new government of Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, a moderate Islamist who was elected late last month as president.

“Prepare to fight against the campaign of conspiracies illustrated by the recent farcical presidential election …, which America — the world leader of infidels — was the first to welcome,” Libi said.

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Media bias, spread of religious hatred and fanatic approach

To a large section of the television viewers in Asia, Dr. Zakir Naik is a known name. This is mostly because of the prominent presence of his Islamist television channel named ‘Peace TV’, which claims itself to be the ‘solution for humanity’. Dr. Naik operates this channel from Britain under the banner of an organization named Islamic Research Foundation and Peace TV runs with heavy donation and contribution by Muslims from a part of their Zakat, as well as donations from various Afro-Arab sources.

According to Islamic dictionary, Zakat or ‘alms for the poor’ is the Islamic principle of giving a percentage of one’s income to charity. It is often compared to the system of tithing and alms, but it serves principally as the welfare contribution to poor and deprived people in the Muslim lands, although others may have a rightful share. Zakat’s similar-sounding, Arabic language analog is the Hebrew word Tzedakah, the charitable obligation in ancient Israel through to present day Judaism. It is the duty of the Islamic state not just to collect Zakat, but to distribute it fairly as well. Zakat is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. Read more

Toronto mosque offers ‘detox’ for Islamic radicals

In what is likely the first of its kind in Canada, a Toronto mosque is offering a “detox” program for young Islamic radicals who are sympathetic to the terrorist group al Qaeda.

Muhammed Robert Heft, a team member of the Specialized De-radicalization Intervention program, says the program is based on the idea that Islamic extremism can be fought by incorporating traditional teachings of the Qur’an into a “12-step Extremist Detox Program.”

Among the steps in the program offered at Toronto’s Masjid El Noor mosque:
Finding common ground, “not fighting ground,” with other faiths
In the “Open society of Canada,” how to reconcile “dogmatic idealism with pragmatic realism”
Seeing the whole as one, and take into account “global challenges that affect us all.”
Actively countering extremist ideology through “education, public speaking and writing.”
“As Canadians of Muslim faith, it is our ardent desire to become leaders in the championing of anti-terror values,” says a document explaining the program.

Heft told CTV Newsnet’s Power Play on Wednesday that among the young radical Islamic followers the mosque is hoping to counsel are members of the notorious “Toronto 18.” In 2006, a series of counter-terrorism raids in the Greater Toronto Area resulted in the arrest of 18 alleged members of a purported Islamic terrorist cell plotting a variety of attacks against targets in Ontario.

That case, along with that of Ottawa’s Momin Khawaja who was convicted for his role in a British terror cell, have raised concerns about home-grown terrorism.
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The Evolution of Extremism in Britain

Dr. Tal Pavel 

 
This article will examine the evolution of the extreme Islamic movements in Britain that were established and led by Omar Bakri Muhammad, being their spiritual leader, from the Hizb ut-Tahrir to the Islam for the UK organizations. The article will describe the chronological order of these organizations, and emphasize their relationship and opinions to various issues, i.e., Britain, Muslim and Arabic countries, Israel and the Jews, and the place of the internet and the Information War.

 

The conclusion drawn is that in conjunction with the evolution of these Muslim organizations, there is a parallel evolution of extremist behavior, from the call to unify all Muslim countries into one Islamic state, to the implementation of Islamic Law (Sharia’ah) in Britain, and the negation of its social fabric and the British “way of life”.
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Israeli killing of Palestinians radicalises UK Muslims

Britain’s security and counter-terrorism minister acknowledges link between foreign policy, security threats.

Britain’s security and counter-terrorism minister, Lord Alan West, warned Tuesday that the conflict in Gaza has set back the government’s attempts to tackle radicalism in Muslim communities here.

“There is no doubt that when you see these pictures coming back, that in the mind of people making hate, there is a linkage between the US, Israel and the UK. Without a doubt it will have set us back,” he said.

West also dismissed the refusal by former prime minister Tony Blair to acknowledge the link between foreign policy and security threats.

“We never used to accept that our foreign policy ever had any effect on terrorism. Well, that was clearly bollocks,” he said, according to widespread and concurring reports.

“They [the Blair administration] were very unwilling to have any debate about how our foreign policy impacted on radicalisation.”

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