UK: Former BNP Candidate Goes on Terror Rampage after Twice Failing to Pass his HGV Driving Course

From The Telegraph:

Michael Green, 48, told terrified workers he was going to “liquidise some assets” when he stormed into offices of the Advantage HGV training company on Tottenham Court Road, claiming he was laden down with explosives.

The former BNP candidate went on the rampage after twice failing to pass his HGV driving course with the firm.

Tottenham Court Road was closed for hours on April 27
after Michael Green stormed into an office, making threats

When the company refused to refund his £1,000 fee, Green, dressed as a suicide bomber entered the office block and told staff he had nothing to live for.

After ordering staff to throw computers and paperwork out of the windows into the busy streets below, Green told a pregnant hostage that he was keeping her close by for “collateral damage”.

Large parts of central London around Tottenham Court Road had to be sealed off while police marksmen and negotiators attended the scene on April 27.

Three tube stations had to be closed in the chaos and blood supplies to a nearby hospital were also affected.

Thousands of terrified office workers, together with many shoppers and tourists in the area, were evacuated during the stand-off.

At one point, Green told the general manager of the company: “This is a hostage situation I've got enough explosives to blow up the building. I've got nothing left to live for. I want you to get armed police here now.”

Police marksmen, explosive experts and negotiators all attended the scene, while snipers took up position on nearby rooftops.

Appearing at Blackfriars Crown Court on Tuesday, Green pleaded guilty to charges of false imprisonment, communicating false information with intent, and criminal damage.

Jailing him for a total of six years Judge Henry Blacksell QC ordered he serve an extended period of three years on licence after his release for what he described as a “terrifying' incident” that had been prepared in a “quite chilling” way.

He said: 'What you did, and what you set about doing, and what you set about planning was a terrible thing and it demonstrates in my judgment a disturbing aspect of your behaviour.”

The court heard that Green was a former customer of Advantage who bought a training course from the company with a view to obtaining a HGV license in 2011.

He contacted the firm by email and was offered a £1,000 in extra training but later failed the examination a second time.

In January 2012 Green had demanded a refund of his course fee but the firm said it would not give back his cash.

The court heard that Advantage HGV lost £165,000 as a result of the siege while London underground suffered a £53,000 loss.

Insanity: UK Deports Sikh Man to Afghanistan, Where he is Jailed, Abused and Tricked into Converting

After 18 months in an Afghan prison, the British government finally decided to bring him back to the UK. But that's beside the point. Why on earth would a supposedly civilized country send a non-Muslim seeking asylum back to the Islamic hell-hole he just escaped? This case is just one in a wider trend where white countries are more than happy to accept/tolerate illegal and legal Muslim immigrants, only to then send packing law-abiding Sikhs, Christians, homosexuals, etc. back to their death.

From the Guardian:

A Sikh man who was jailed in Kabul for "falsely claiming" to be an Afghan when he was deported from the UK, and says he was bullied and tricked into making a televised conversion to Islam, has been flown back to Birmingham by the British government.

The case of 23 year-old Baljit Singh highlights concerns about the justice system and the status of religious minorities in Afghanistan as the withdrawal of western troops gathers pace.

Singh was deported from the UK nearly two years ago and was spotted by Afghan government officials as soon as he stepped off the chartered aeroplane that carried the failed asylum seekers, marked out by his distinctive Sikh turban.

He was taken aside for questioning and then was put in prison for 18 months during which he never received a charge sheet, let alone a conviction. Prosecutors told him informally that his crime was falsely claiming to be Afghan.

"The only thing in his file was a note saying 'this is the day he was arrested'," said Kimberley Motley, a Kabul-based lawyer who took on his case pro bono and helped secure his release and his return to Britain.

"I wrote to the attorney general's office saying he is being held without charge, which is illegal. You can't just keep him indeterminately locked up for no reason."

But although illegal, his fate was not unusual in Afghanistan, activists say. The country is still struggling to build up its justice system and hundreds of people are jailed without a valid criminal charge.

"There are lots of people in prison in Afghanistan without legal cause, some of whom have completed their prison sentences but not been released, others charged for things that are not a crime under the penal code," said Heather Barr, Afghanistan researcher for Human Rights Watch.

"His case is unusual, but unfortunately the pattern of being put in prison without anyone finding a section of the law that you violated is not that unusual."

As well as the prospect of an indefinite spell in prison, in a country he had left when only five years old and where he no longer had friends or close relatives, Singh said he was being harassed for his religion and pressured to convert.

He was verbally and physically abused in prison. One inmate threw boiling water over him, Singh said, pulling out a picture of his bandaged face shortly after the assault.

He was also ordered to sleep in a corner of an outdoor courtyard, next to the toilet, he said. Men had to step over him on their way to relieve themselves, and as they did so, some kicked the turban that marked him out as a Sikh.

"Basically they were trying to say 'be like us'," he said of the beatings prior to his conversion, which he described as a superficial change he was tricked and harassed into.

"They said 'you should say these words', it was just an accident thing, and they lifted me up and said 'you are a Muslim'."

TV cameras were called in to record the moment and despite promises his face would be obscured, it was broadcast along with his name. "They played it on national television. They were very proud that a Sikh converted."

Singh said the conversion angered the country's already beleaguered Sikh community, which has dwindled from thousands of families to just a few hundred over 30 years of war and persecution.

"It makes me very sad, now we Sikhs only own four houses round here, most people have sold up," said Narander Singh, a fortune teller and herbalist who took his own family to India over a decade ago but could not find work so returned to Kabul to support them from a distance.

Many other men were in a similar situation, he said, with Afghan objections to the Sikh tradition of burning their dead a particular irritant. "Day by day, they are trying to leave," added Singh, who is not related to Baljit.

Baljit, who never lived in Kabul, was part of the wider exodus. He was born in the eastern town of Jalalabad. His father died when he was young and the rest of the family left Afghanistan soon after.

He was separated from his family during a journey through Pakistan, the Middle East and Europe, and ended up in England in 2007.

His first request for asylum was refused, but he remained in the UK pending an appeal, until he was abruptly arrested when he tried to register for marriage in 2010. Shortly afterwards, he was deported following what both he and Motley describe as mistakes by careless lawyers.

"It's extremely difficult to get asylum in the UK, especially if you are not physically in the country," said Motley.

"I think by them taking him back to the UK it is a recognition that there was a legal error that took place and that they are trying to correct."

Barr said the UK government's decision to deport a Sikh to Afghanistan was "shocking" given the country's limited religious freedom.

"Religious minorities are a very small portion of the population in Afghanistan, and are sometimes tolerated and sometimes not tolerated. So for the UK to send him back in the first place without carefully considering the situation of Sikhs in Afghanistan and the treatment that would await him is shocking," she said.

Singh told the Guardian by phone from Birmingham, where he is now seeking asylum, that being there felt "unbelievable". He had asked that his case not be publicised until he was back on British soil, because of worries it could complicate his departure.

"I never thought I would see the UK again … So many people are still stuck in jail [in Afghanistan]. I am so lucky," he added.

The British embassy declined to comment on the details of Singh's case, but suggested that it was convinced he is Afghan, and he was returned to the UK only because that could not be proved.

"Individuals are only returned to a country when there is substantial evidence that it is their country of origin," an embassy spokeswoman said.

"We have agreements in place with certain countries that mean we will re-admit individuals unable to prove their nationality to the satisfaction of the receiving country's authorities."

The Afghan justice ministry said it was not aware of the case, and the attorney general's office did not respond to requests for comment.

Sri Lankan Youth in Saudi Arabia at Risk of Being Beheaded for Praying to Buddha

From The Chakra News:

A Sri Lankan youth employed as a domestic aid has been arrested in Saudi Arabia for praying to a statue of Lord Buddha, which is considered an offence according to Islamic Sharia law. According to the Bodu Bala Sena, the youth bearing passport no. 2353715 identified as Premanath Pereralage Thungasiri has been arrested by Umulmahami Police, which is a grave situation. While the youth is a Buddhist, the charge levelled against him is that he paid obeisance to the Buddha at the house where he was employed.

The Bodu Bala Sena organisation further said those employed in Muslim-majority countries are prevented from practicing their religious faiths, and if found to do so are punished severely. Recently a Sri Lankan woman was arrested for gazing at a child at a shopping complex, where she was accused of witchcraft, on the grounds that she had a black cord around her wrist.

On prior occasions too many Sri Lankan female domestic workers were forced to embrace Islam, and wear the traditional attire, while so far four Sri Lankan youth have been beheaded in that country. (Source: Ceylon Today)

Saudi Arabia is an Islamic theocratic monarchy where the religion of Islam is the official religion. Non-Islamic proselytism and conversions are illegal and conversion by Muslims to another religion (apostasy) carries the death penalty. Under Saudia Arabia Sharia Islamic law, children of Saudi parents are considered Muslim, regardless of the country or the religious tradition in which they may have been raised.

Newly Discovered: Crombouke.blogspot.com

http://www.crombouke.blogspot.com/ (Disclaimer)

Usually I would quote the "about" page here, but there doesn't seem to be one. So I'll direct you towards what they call the Index of Islamic Infamy, that contains "Everything you ever wanted to know about Islam but were too politically correct to ask."

http://crombouke.blogspot.com/2010/01/everything-you-need-to-know-about-islam.html

Licia Corbella: Pro-Gay-Murdering Cleric Bilal Philips Prompts Feelings of Gratitude for Canada

 Licia Corbella is a columnist and the Calgary Herald editorial page editor. lcorbella@calgaryherald.com

From Calgary Herald:

I did everything right, or so I thought. After walking through the big main doors of the Akram Jomaa Islamic Centre in northeast Calgary on Friday it became obvious I was in the wrong place, as I was the only woman in sight.

So I walked back outside a little further south and followed some women into another door. Like everyone else, I took off my shoes, placed them neatly on the shelf and climbed the stairs. I sat down on the carpeted floor with convenient stripes that make it easy to ensure those in attendance sit facing Mecca, where I could watch through a glass balcony the men and boys gather below for prayers and to listen to controversial Muslim cleric, Bilal Philips of Toronto.

A kindly older woman offered me a head scarf. I respectfully put it on, despite the heat. A few minutes later, however, an angry greyhaired man in a plaid shirt walked into the women's area, came up to me and another female reporter from a different Calgary paper and insisted we leave. "No media allowed," he barked.

"You don't support us, we won't support you," said the man in plaid.

It was a strange occurrence, particularly since I had been invited to attend the event by both Bilal Philips himself, who sent me two complimentary tickets to the conference called: Power of Unity - Islam in a Multicultural Canada, taking place this entire weekend, as well as by Abraham Ayache, chairman of the Muslim Council of Calgary, who was putting on the event.

 Bilal Philips who supports executing homosexuals 

During an interview on June 6, Ayache told me no one had ever been kicked out any of the Sunni mosques run by the Muslim Council of Calgary. I guess I very nearly became the first.

Eventually Nagah Hage, the conference committee chair, was summoned and he granted us permission to stay just in time for prayers to start.

Philips, a Saudi-educated cleric, was born in Jamaica and raised in Ontario, where he converted to Islam. He is considered controversial because he is on the record saying that all male homosexuals should be killed for their deviant behaviour.

He is not the only contentious speaker on the agenda. Munir El-Kassem, a dentist from London, Ont., wrote a column back in 2001 that criticized the West as hypocritical and defended the medieval and murderous Taliban for destroying the sixth-century Buddha statues in Bamiyan. Shaykh Hatem Alhaj lost his job recently at the Mayo Clinic because he wrote papers in support of female genital circumcision, which is illegal in North America. He later clarified his position by saying he only supports nicking the clitoris, not cutting it right off.

Shortly after his sermon about the importance of gratitude, Philips clarified his views on homosexuality in a one-on-one interview.

In short, he only thinks homosexuals should be executed in Muslim countries and only after four people have witnessed the homosexual act.

"The media tends to take my words out of context," Philips said. "If you go back and view the lectures in which I spoke about this, those lectures were basically in defence of the sharia - the Islamic law.

"So, in explaining there that homosexuality, adultery, these are both punishable by execution where there is incontrovertible evidence, they have to have been witnessed by four trusted people in society. That is sufficient then to bring that punishment on them in a Muslim country where the sharia is applied," he explained.

"This is not a controversial thing for me," he added. "No Muslim who knows Islam would say otherwise," he said.

When it was pointed out that the Qur'an was written 1,400 years ago and things have changed, Philips said this judgment against homosexuals would "remain the law until the end of this world according to our belief. It will never change."

Nevertheless, that evening, Philips intended to lecture about how while the "Muslim identity has to be preserved. . . . Muslims have to respect the laws of their host countries they live in."

That's why, he said, "I would never advocate here in Canada the execution death penalty for homosexuals. I would never do so," Philips added.

It's a small mercy but a mercy nonetheless.

While Philips wouldn't shake my hand for religious reasons - he was charming, open and warm. When asked if he hoped that Canada would one day be governed by sharia, he said yes.

"If the majority of people become Muslims that is our hope," but he said it was highly unlikely.

When asked why if Islamic law is the ideal, why do so many people who live in Muslim countries want to move to Canada, the U.S. and other western democracies, Philips said most Muslim countries do not operate under sharia.

He named Saudi Arabia, Iran and Sudan as good examples of where sharia is "applied to a large degree."

Hardly bastions of equality, fairness, freedom, enlightenment, education and prosperity. Frankly, Philips made my point for me.

We were sitting in the large gym that was filling up. The session called "Justice for All - Why Muslims are always profiled" was ready to start. Aman Elvi, a Canadian Security Intelligence Service agent and Raj Sharma, a Calgary immigration lawyer were going to speak and I was asked to leave - again. I was told CSIS didn't want me to be present, but when I called CSIS communications in Ottawa I was told that it was the event organizers who established the parameters and "closed this event to the media."

And so, this time I really was kicked out of the event I was told was open to all.

And so I reflected on Philips' sermon on gratitude as I left. I was grateful for the sunshine, for the Tim Hortons across the road, for the kind women I met and on this Canada Day weekend, I was grateful most of all for Canada - for our parliamentary democracy and the rule of law that protects us all. I will forever stand on guard for thee.

US: Muslim Charged with 9 Counts of Attempted Murder for Trying to Kill Street Preachers

From Answering Muslims:

I heard about this when I was still in Michigan, but I didn't want to post anything until I had some documentation. I waited for the Detroit Free Press and other local media to report the story, but I gave up after more than a week of searching. Fortunately, Gadi Adelman (GA) interviewed Ruben Israel (RI) and posted the disturbing news over at Front Page Magazine.

On Sunday, June 17th, 2012, Ruben Israel's group of street preachers went to the Islamic Center of America (the same mosque I had visited two days earlier). While the group was preaching, a Muslim emerged from the mosque, got into his SUV, and tried to run them over. Mosque security naturally blamed the preachers for provoking him.

Everyone should take note here. Ruben Israel's presence at the Dearborn Arab Festival was national news. The media jumped at the chance to show images of intolerant Christians harassing Muslims (check out Niraj Warikoo's coverage over at the Detroit Free Press). While I have no objections to calling attention to (and criticizing) the actions of Ruben Israel and his associates, we should all be horrified to realize that nine counts of attempted murder by a Muslim targeting Christians isn't even considered newsworthy by local media in Michigan.

Here's an excerpt from Adelman's interview:

GA: Now give me the exclusive; what happened on Sunday?

RI: We were at the Arab fest on Friday. On Sunday we went to the mosque in Dearborn.

GA: Were you on mosque property or out on the side walk?

RI: What mosque doesn’t have a sidewalk, but we stood by the street where the side walk would be. Of course the Dearborn Police showed up instantly. We were able to use our megaphone. We were able to fly our banners and there was no problem. The officers said everything was fine and we’re doing good. There were 2 squad cars and they flanked us just to make sure we were safe. Some of the Muslims came out and were screaming at us and we yelled back and forth and we did not go on their property, and according to police it was fine.

Unfortunately, one of the Muslims got in his SUV, drove up over the hill, accelerated and came right at us where we were standing. This guy came directly at us and we had to jump out of the way and he came screaming by us. Both of the police cars stopped him, pulled him out and cuffed him and he showed no remorse. The police actually have it on video because both police cars had there dash cameras on, so it’s not like it’s my word against his.

Then mosque security came out and said that they knew this guy and that we provoked him and the Dearborn Police officer yelled at the security guard and told him if he didn’t back off he would also be arrested for hindering a police investigation.

GA: Did the guy in the SUV pull over or was he forced to?

RI: They had to block him in. Once he was on the street they were headed his way and he was blocked in. They threw him against the car, cuffed him, frisked him, checked his car and again. It’s not like we can make this up. He is now officially charged with 9 counts of attempted murder.

GA: This never hit the news, not even in Dearborn?

RI: No, of course not, but if I had attempted to run down a Muslim that would be the head news on CNN, CBS, NBC, but when a Muslim wants to take out 9 Christians. We were the visiting team. This guy may walk; he has the potential to walk. At the very best they may take away his library card for a few weeks, but he’s out on bail. He’s out on high-dollar bail and from what I was told by the detective in charge, he does have a high-dollar attorney, so he’s not going to go down easy. He’s going to fight this thing.

Hmmm. It seems police have video footage of the attempted murder of the group. Since the Dearborn Police Department and I aren't on the best of terms, anyone care to put in a FOIA request for the footage and police reports?

For more on Dearborn, click here.

‘Summer Brides’: Under-Age Daughters Sold as ‘Sex-Slaves’ in Egypt to Wealthy 'Arab' Tourists

From Al Arabiya:

Wealthy Arab tourists from Gulf countries are paying money to purchase under-age Egyptian girls as “summer-brides”, claims a new report on human trafficking released by the U.S. State Department.

The marriages are not legally binding and end when the men return to their home countries.

According to the report “Trafficking in Persons”, often times these temporary marriages are facilitated by the girls’ parents who profit from the transaction.

According to Britain’s The Daily Mail, the wealthy tourists pay an amount to poor families through intermediaries, ranging from anywhere between $495 and $4,950.The young victims, some under the age of 18, are then forced to serve as sex slaves as well as servants to their “husbands.”

Egypt has laws in place that aim to combat human trafficking which prevent foreigners from marrying an Egyptian woman if there is more than ten years age difference, but marriage brokers have found a way around that by forging birth certificates to make the girls appear older and the men younger.

These contracts also eliminate any potential problems with hotels and land lords who may demand to see proof of marriage before allowing a couple to stay in a room together, since pre-marital sex is prohibited in Islam.

In many cases, the family agrees to marry their daughter without her consent, but often the girls are willing participants as they see it as the only way to help provide for their families.

In some cases the men take the Egyptian girls back to their home country to work as maids for their first wives. But even the girls who stay in Egypt do not fare much better since they often become ostracized by society and find it difficult to re-marry in the traditional way, particularly if the “summer marriage” resulted in a child.

Many of the young women end up in a cycle of temporary marriages with Gulf tourists, and others are targeted by Egyptian men who marry them in order to force them into prostitution.

Many abandon the child out of shame, either to orphanages or leaving them to join the hundreds of thousands of street children that already exist in Egypt.

 Dr. Hoda Badran, who chairs the NGO Alliance for Arab Women, explained to the Sunday Independent that poverty is the main factor behind this phenomenon.

“If those families are in such a need to sell their daughters you can imagine how poor they are. Many times, the girl does not know she is marrying the husband just for the short term. She is young, she accepts what her family tells her, she knows the man is going to help them. If the girl is very poor, sometimes it is the only way out to help the family survive,” she told the newspaper.

The report by the State department said Egypt is making significant efforts to eliminate human trafficking, but due to the political unrest in the country over the past year, the government is unable to provide law enforcement and prosecution data on those efforts.

Furthermore, it said Egypt is continuing to develop strategies to implement a comprehensive action plan to address all aspects on trafficking.

In 2009, a court in Egypt’s second largest city Alexandria jailed two registrars for conducting temporary marriages of hundreds of underage girls, however NGOs say that this is only the tip of the iceberg, and that more needs to be done to implement existing laws.