Muhammad Planned Extensive Campaign, Malvo Testifies
ROCKVILLE, Md. -- Sniper John Allen Muhammad had grandiose plans to create a community of children in Canada who would be trained in weapons and explosives before being sent to terrorize cities and "shut things down," accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo testified Tuesday. At the end of an extraordinary day of testimony, Malvo directly confronted Muhammad, whom he once viewed as a father figure. "I think he's a coward," Malvo said when asked about his current feelings toward Muhammad. He then turned directly to Muhammad and said, "You took me into your house and you made me a monster." Malvo said he falsely took responsibility after his arrest for pulling the trigger in all the sniper killings to protect Muhammad. "I would die for Mr. Muhammad at that time," Malvo said. Earlier, Malvo testified calmly during Muhammad's second trial related to the October 2002 sniper shootings. Muhammad is on trial on murder charges for six Maryland sniper shootings. Malvo said Muhammad devised a two-phase plan to shoot as many as six random people each day for 30 days in the Washington area and then target children and police officers with explosives. They planned to place explosives on school buses in Baltimore, kill a Baltimore police officer and then set off explosives packed with ball bearings at the officer's funeral. When Malvo asked Muhammad why, "he said for the sheer terror of it. The worst thing you can do to people is aim at their children," Malvo testified.
Muhammad described the plans to establish a Canadian commune midway through the sniper spree, Malvo testified.
After the Oct. 9, 2002, slaying of Dean Myers in Manassas, Va., Muhammad was upset that the two were not meeting their self-imposed quota of six shootings a day. Malvo said he became upset and refused to talk to Muhammad. At one point, Malvo said he put on headphones, listened to music and refused to acknowledge Muhammad.
Muhammad eventually kicked Malvo out of the car and Malvo said he broke down, sobbing uncontrollably. Muhammad later came back for Malvo and detailed plans to use the ransom they planned to get to buy a couple of acres and recruit 140 homeless children to "continue the mission". Muhammad said training the children as Malvo had been trained would allow them to "shut things down," Malvo testified.
The accomplice also described how he spent the night in a Baltimore cemetery, training a Bushmaster .223-caliber rifle on a fast food restaurant, waiting for pregnant women. He said he saw four, but couldn't bring himself to shoot.
Malvo also gave a description of the Oct. 7, 2002, shooting of 13-year-old Iran Brown outside Tasker Middle School in Bowie. Malvo told the court that the plan was for him to shoot five children as they came off a school bus. But the bus never showed up, so he targeted Brown instead.
Malvo paused and blinked hard briefly while discussing the shooting of Premkumar Walekar after hearing the sobs of Walekar's widow from the courtroom gallery.
Malvo also described the difficulty in finding a clean shot that would not be seen by witnesses. They tried to fire a shot near Howard University in Washington on Oct. 3 -- the day in which five people were shot and killed -- but there were too many people and they ended up settling on a location in the District near the Maryland line. Malvo testified that Muhammad "wanted a shot in D.C."
The next day, they planned to fire six shots in the Fredericksburg, Va., area. But they couldn't find a good shot, Malvo said.
"We spent hours along Route 3 (near Fredericksburg) and couldn't find anything. There were too many witnesses," Malvo said.
They finally settled on taking a shot in the parking lot of a Michaels craft store, though the two debated the best place to take a shot.
Malvo said Muhammad knew as soon as he fired that shot that the victim, Caroline Seawell, would survive.
"He told me she was not going to die but it was enough to let them know it was going to continue," Malvo said.
Muhammad, 45, and Malvo, 21, already have been convicted in Virginia. Muhammad received a death sentence while Malvo was given a life term. Prosecutors in Maryland have said they are pursuing a second trial in case the Virginia conviction is overturned on appeal and to provide justice in Montgomery County, where six of the 10 killings occurred.
Malvo said Montgomery County was the perfect place to start the spree because it has lower, upper and middle class people, mostly white, making it perfect to terrorize.
The last time the two came face-to-face was in October 2003, when Malvo was brought in at Muhammad's first trial. Malvo refused to testify, invoking his constitutional right against self-incrimination.
Malvo, wearing a dark sport coat and white collared shirt, appeared nervous but was expressionless when he entered the courtroom, looking generally in Muhammad's direction but not making direct eye contact. He sat in the witness box for several minutes before being sworn in, watching the lawyers and Muhammad during a bench conference and occasionally staring out blankly at a courtroom gallery of more than 150 spectators.
Before testifying in front of the jury, Malvo told the judge that he intends to plead guilty to murder charges against him in Montgomery County and testify against Muhammad as part of a plea.
Muhammad, who is acting as his own lawyer, said in his opening statement that both he and Malvo were innocent and that they were merely roaming the area looking for Muhammad's children. Muhammad, who still refers to Malvo as "my son," has said the pair were shocked when they were arrested Oct. 24, 2002, at a western Maryland rest stop.
Malvo also gave a detailed account a September 2002 shooting of two women at a Montgomery, Ala., liquor store. He began his testimony by describing meeting Muhammad and his son John Jr. in May 2000 and being impressed at their father-son bond.
"The best way to explain it is I would return to (an electronics shop Muhammad frequented) every time I could to see if they were there," Malvo said.
Malvo grew up in the Caribbean and was largely abandoned by his parents. He said a few months after meeting Muhammad, he "basically took me under his wing. He began introducing me as his son."
He said Muhammad introduced him to the Nation of Islam and said he was told that for many incidents in history, "the explanation was that the white man is the devil."
Asked by prosecutor Katherine Winfree, "Did you come to love Mr. Muhammad?" Malvo responded "yes," with his voice choking.
"Did you tell him that?" Winfree asked.
"Yes," he replied, his voice again choking.
Malvo said he was so distraught after a six-hour conversation in July 2002 when Muhammad detailed his plans that Malvo played Russian roulette, crying in a bathtub. He pulled the trigger several times before realizing the next trigger pull would be fatal.
"I just broke down. I couldn't pull the trigger," Malvo said.
Malvo said he shot three people during the spree, but that Muhammad was the triggerman in the others. In most cases, Malvo acted as the spotter with Muhammad firing from the trunk of their modified Chevrolet Caprice. Using two-way radios, Malvo would tell Muhammad when it was clear to shoot and then watch the victim fall in the Caprice's side mirror. Muhammad would then scramble back into the driver's seat, and the pair would drive off. When Malvo fired, he shot from outside the Caprice.
Malvo said Muhammad planned to follow the terror campaign with the abduction of his three children whom he had lost in a custody battle. Malvo tried to dissuade Muhammad and suggested they should simply get the children and leave the country.
Muhammad trained Malvo in weapons, kept him on a rigorous diet that allowed only one meal each day, and introduced him to the teachings of the Nation of Islam, Malvo said. Muhammad hated America and thought white people were "the devil." He eventually became impressed with his young charge, saying after Malvo calmly shot a man at an Ashland, Va., restaurant, "I've created a ... monster."
Malvo's lawyers contended Muhammad brainwashed the teenager and turned him into a killer. They also said that well after the arrest, Malvo never fully detached himself from Muhammad despite deep anger toward him.
"Being here, I know more about what happened," said Mary Branch, the friend of a sniper victim. "Malvo, I thought, he was more controlled by Muhammad. But he had a large part of the situation also."
Malvo's testimony came as prosecutors prepare to conclude their case against Muhammad.
Malvo's testimony will take an even more compelling twist when he is cross-examined by Muhammad, who is acting as his own attorney. Muhammad continues to refer to Malvo as "my son" and told jurors in his opening statement that he intends to prove Malvo's innocence as well as his own.
The pair is also suspected of earlier shootings in Maryland, Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana and Washington state.
Friday, May 26, 2006
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
A Letter To Mankind
By: Ali Sina
Dear fellow human,
Today humanity is being challenged. Unthinkable atrocities take place on daily basis. There is an evil force at work that aims to destroy us. The agents of this evil respect nothing; not even the lives of children. Every day there are bombings, every day innocent people are targeted and murdered. It seems as if we are helpless. But we are not!
The ancient Chinese sage Sun Zi said, "Know your enemy and you won't be defeated". Do we know our enemy? If we don't, then we are doomed.
Terrorism is not an ideology, it is a tool; but the terrorists kill for an ideology. They call that ideology Islam.
The entire world, both Muslims and non-Muslims claim that the terrorists have hijacked "the religion of peace" and Islam does not condone violence.
Who is right? Do the terrorists understand Islam better, or do those who decry them? The answer to this question is the key to our victory, and failure to find that key will result in our loss and death will be upon us. The key is in the Quran and the history of Islam.
Those of us, who know Islam, know that the understanding of the terrorists of Islam is correct. They are doing nothing that their prophet did not do and did not encourage his followers to do. Murder, rape, assassination, beheading, massacre and sacrilege of the dead "to delight the hearts of the believers" were all practiced by Muhammad, were taught by him and were observed by Muslims throughout their history.
If truth has ever mattered, it matters most now! This is the time that we have to call a spade a spade. This is the time that we have to find the root of the problem and eradicate it. The root of Islamic terrorism is Islam. The proof of that is the Quran.
We are a group of ex-Muslims who have seen the face of the evil and have risen to warn the world. No matter how painful the truth may be, only truth can set us free. Why this much denial? Why so much obstinacy? How many more innocent lives should be lost before YOU open your eyes? A nuclear disaster is upon us. This will happen. It is not a question of "if" but "when". Oblivious of that, the world is digging its head deeper in the sand.
We urge the Muslims to leave Islam. Stop with excuses, justifications and rationalizations. Stop dividing mankind into "us" vs. "them" and Muslims vs. Kafirs. We are One people, One mankind! Muhammad was not a messenger of God. It is time that we end this insanity and face the truth. The terrorists take their moral support and the validation for their actions from you. Your very adherence to their cult of death is a nod of approval for their crimes against humanity.
We also urge the non-Muslims to stop being politically correct lest they hurt the sensitivities of the Muslims. To Hell with their sensitivities! Let us save their lives, and the lives of millions of innocent people.
Millions, if not billions of lives will be lost if we do nothing. Time is running out! "All it takes for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing." Do something! Send this message to everyone in your address book and ask them to do the same. Defeat Islam and stop terrorism. This is your world, save it.
The ex-Muslim Movement
www.faithfreedom.org
Dear fellow human,
Today humanity is being challenged. Unthinkable atrocities take place on daily basis. There is an evil force at work that aims to destroy us. The agents of this evil respect nothing; not even the lives of children. Every day there are bombings, every day innocent people are targeted and murdered. It seems as if we are helpless. But we are not!
The ancient Chinese sage Sun Zi said, "Know your enemy and you won't be defeated". Do we know our enemy? If we don't, then we are doomed.
Terrorism is not an ideology, it is a tool; but the terrorists kill for an ideology. They call that ideology Islam.
The entire world, both Muslims and non-Muslims claim that the terrorists have hijacked "the religion of peace" and Islam does not condone violence.
Who is right? Do the terrorists understand Islam better, or do those who decry them? The answer to this question is the key to our victory, and failure to find that key will result in our loss and death will be upon us. The key is in the Quran and the history of Islam.
Those of us, who know Islam, know that the understanding of the terrorists of Islam is correct. They are doing nothing that their prophet did not do and did not encourage his followers to do. Murder, rape, assassination, beheading, massacre and sacrilege of the dead "to delight the hearts of the believers" were all practiced by Muhammad, were taught by him and were observed by Muslims throughout their history.
If truth has ever mattered, it matters most now! This is the time that we have to call a spade a spade. This is the time that we have to find the root of the problem and eradicate it. The root of Islamic terrorism is Islam. The proof of that is the Quran.
We are a group of ex-Muslims who have seen the face of the evil and have risen to warn the world. No matter how painful the truth may be, only truth can set us free. Why this much denial? Why so much obstinacy? How many more innocent lives should be lost before YOU open your eyes? A nuclear disaster is upon us. This will happen. It is not a question of "if" but "when". Oblivious of that, the world is digging its head deeper in the sand.
We urge the Muslims to leave Islam. Stop with excuses, justifications and rationalizations. Stop dividing mankind into "us" vs. "them" and Muslims vs. Kafirs. We are One people, One mankind! Muhammad was not a messenger of God. It is time that we end this insanity and face the truth. The terrorists take their moral support and the validation for their actions from you. Your very adherence to their cult of death is a nod of approval for their crimes against humanity.
We also urge the non-Muslims to stop being politically correct lest they hurt the sensitivities of the Muslims. To Hell with their sensitivities! Let us save their lives, and the lives of millions of innocent people.
Millions, if not billions of lives will be lost if we do nothing. Time is running out! "All it takes for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing." Do something! Send this message to everyone in your address book and ask them to do the same. Defeat Islam and stop terrorism. This is your world, save it.
The ex-Muslim Movement
www.faithfreedom.org
Bin Laden: Moussaoui Wasn't Sept. 11 Conspirator
From FOX News:
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
STORIES
BACKGROUND
LINKS
•
Judge Gives Sept. 11 Families Access to Moussaoui Evidence
•
Moussaoui Evades Death, Receives Life in Prison
•
Moussaoui Says He Lied on Stand About Role in Sept. 11, Asks to Withdraw Guilty Plea
•
Pakistan: Usama Bin Laden Isn't Hiding in Our Mountains
•
Official: Bin Laden Most Likely Hiding on Pakistan-Afghanistan Border
•
Bin Laden Tape: U.S. Is at War With Islam
Zacarias Moussaoui had no link to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, a voice purporting to be that of Al Qaeda leader Usama bin Laden said on an audiotape that surfaced on a Web Site Tuesday.
The SITE Institute Web Site reportedly has a five-minute long recording in Arabic that has bin Laden speaking of the Sept. 11 attacks and Moussaoui.
Bin Laden's alleged voice claims responsibilities to carry out the attacks were given to 19 men and Moussaoui was not one of them.
"He had no connection at all with Sept. 11," the voice said. "I am the one in charge of the 19 brothers and I never assigned brother Zacarias to be with them in that mission."
"Since Zacarias Moussaoui was still learning how to fly, he wasn't No. 20 in the group, as your government has claimed," bin Laden continued.
Bin Laden claims that Moussaoui was not a security risk for Al Qaeda, because he had no knowledge of the plot.
"Brother Moussaoui was arrested two weeks before the events (of Sept. 11, 2001), and if he had known something — even very little — about the Sept. 11 group, we would have informed the leader of the operation, Mohammad Atta, and the others ... to leave America before being discovered," he said on the tape.
The new tape is "propaganda plain and simple," a U.S. intelligence official told FOX News on the condition of anonymity.
That official also said the message is part of bin Laden's continuing effort to demonstrate he is a relevant extremist leader, who is knowledgeable of current events, even if his terror organization has become fractured.
Bin Laden also commented on the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, saying that none of the hundreds of terror suspects held there were involved in the attacks and most had no ties to Al Qaeda.
"Our brothers in Guantanamo ... have no connection whatsoever to the events of Sept. 11," he said, adding that "some of them oppose Al Qaeda's methods of calling to fight America."
In one phrase, the terror mastermind did indicate that two suspects had links to Sept. 11. But he did not provide names or elaborate further and it wasn't possible to determine if or where they were held.
"All the prisoners to date have no connection to the Sept. 11 events or knew anything about them, except for two of the brothers," bin Laden said.
He did mention by name two journalists and a relief worker accused of having links to Al Qaeda, saying they had no such ties. Sami al-Hajj, an Al-Jazeera cameraman, was arrested in Afghanistan in 2001 and held at Guantanamo Bay. Tayssir Alouni, an Al-Jazeera correspondent, was convicted by a Spanish court in September 2005 of collaborating with Al Qaeda, though he denied the charges. The Al Qaeda leader also mentioned Abdul Aziz al-Matrafi, founder of an Afghan charity branded by the U.S. as supporting terror.
For U.S. officials, the tape is not entirely unexpected. Leading up to the Moussaoui verdict, the government was monitoring Jihadist Web sites in anticipation of a response to the jury's decision.
Moussaoui was sentenced to life in prison earlier this month after a jury ruled that the self-professed Al Qaeda member was responsible for at least one death on Sept. 11. A jury could not agree on a death sentence unanimously, so a life sentence was imposed under federal law.
But bin Laden said Moussaoui's confession that he helped plan the attacks was "void," calling it the result of "pressures exercised against him during four and a half years" in U.S. prison.
Edward MacMahon, one of the lawyers who defended Moussaoui during his death penalty trial, said bin Laden wouldn't have made the best witness for his client, even with his statements that Moussaoui had no role in the attacks.
"I'm not commenting on the credibility of Usama bin Laden," MacMahon said. "I never believed there was any evidence to support Moussaoui's story (that he was the 20th highjacker), and that's what I told the jury."
The tape will be analyzed by the government, which shouldn't take long, since the intelligence community has a large collection of tapes from bin Laden for voice comparison. The intelligence official told FOX News that "there is no reason to doubt the tapes' authenticity," considering there has never been a fake bin Laden audiotape.
If authentic, it would be the third by bin Laden this year. In a tape aired on Arab television in April, he denounced the United States and Europe for cutting off funds to the Hamas-led Palestinian government, accusing them of leading a "Zionist" war on Islam, and urged followers to fight any U.N. peacekeeping force in Sudan.
In January, bin Laden said in an audiotape that Al Qaeda was preparing new attacks in the United States but offered a truce — though his lieutenant Ayman al-Zawahiri later issued a video saying Washington had refused to take the offer.
The January message was bin Laden's first in over a year, his longest period of silence since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.
His deputy al-Zawahri releases messages more frequently, appearing in videotapes, while bin Laden has not appeared in a video since October 2004.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
STORIES
BACKGROUND
LINKS
•
Judge Gives Sept. 11 Families Access to Moussaoui Evidence
•
Moussaoui Evades Death, Receives Life in Prison
•
Moussaoui Says He Lied on Stand About Role in Sept. 11, Asks to Withdraw Guilty Plea
•
Pakistan: Usama Bin Laden Isn't Hiding in Our Mountains
•
Official: Bin Laden Most Likely Hiding on Pakistan-Afghanistan Border
•
Bin Laden Tape: U.S. Is at War With Islam
Zacarias Moussaoui had no link to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, a voice purporting to be that of Al Qaeda leader Usama bin Laden said on an audiotape that surfaced on a Web Site Tuesday.
The SITE Institute Web Site reportedly has a five-minute long recording in Arabic that has bin Laden speaking of the Sept. 11 attacks and Moussaoui.
Bin Laden's alleged voice claims responsibilities to carry out the attacks were given to 19 men and Moussaoui was not one of them.
"He had no connection at all with Sept. 11," the voice said. "I am the one in charge of the 19 brothers and I never assigned brother Zacarias to be with them in that mission."
"Since Zacarias Moussaoui was still learning how to fly, he wasn't No. 20 in the group, as your government has claimed," bin Laden continued.
Bin Laden claims that Moussaoui was not a security risk for Al Qaeda, because he had no knowledge of the plot.
"Brother Moussaoui was arrested two weeks before the events (of Sept. 11, 2001), and if he had known something — even very little — about the Sept. 11 group, we would have informed the leader of the operation, Mohammad Atta, and the others ... to leave America before being discovered," he said on the tape.
The new tape is "propaganda plain and simple," a U.S. intelligence official told FOX News on the condition of anonymity.
That official also said the message is part of bin Laden's continuing effort to demonstrate he is a relevant extremist leader, who is knowledgeable of current events, even if his terror organization has become fractured.
Bin Laden also commented on the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, saying that none of the hundreds of terror suspects held there were involved in the attacks and most had no ties to Al Qaeda.
"Our brothers in Guantanamo ... have no connection whatsoever to the events of Sept. 11," he said, adding that "some of them oppose Al Qaeda's methods of calling to fight America."
In one phrase, the terror mastermind did indicate that two suspects had links to Sept. 11. But he did not provide names or elaborate further and it wasn't possible to determine if or where they were held.
"All the prisoners to date have no connection to the Sept. 11 events or knew anything about them, except for two of the brothers," bin Laden said.
He did mention by name two journalists and a relief worker accused of having links to Al Qaeda, saying they had no such ties. Sami al-Hajj, an Al-Jazeera cameraman, was arrested in Afghanistan in 2001 and held at Guantanamo Bay. Tayssir Alouni, an Al-Jazeera correspondent, was convicted by a Spanish court in September 2005 of collaborating with Al Qaeda, though he denied the charges. The Al Qaeda leader also mentioned Abdul Aziz al-Matrafi, founder of an Afghan charity branded by the U.S. as supporting terror.
For U.S. officials, the tape is not entirely unexpected. Leading up to the Moussaoui verdict, the government was monitoring Jihadist Web sites in anticipation of a response to the jury's decision.
Moussaoui was sentenced to life in prison earlier this month after a jury ruled that the self-professed Al Qaeda member was responsible for at least one death on Sept. 11. A jury could not agree on a death sentence unanimously, so a life sentence was imposed under federal law.
But bin Laden said Moussaoui's confession that he helped plan the attacks was "void," calling it the result of "pressures exercised against him during four and a half years" in U.S. prison.
Edward MacMahon, one of the lawyers who defended Moussaoui during his death penalty trial, said bin Laden wouldn't have made the best witness for his client, even with his statements that Moussaoui had no role in the attacks.
"I'm not commenting on the credibility of Usama bin Laden," MacMahon said. "I never believed there was any evidence to support Moussaoui's story (that he was the 20th highjacker), and that's what I told the jury."
The tape will be analyzed by the government, which shouldn't take long, since the intelligence community has a large collection of tapes from bin Laden for voice comparison. The intelligence official told FOX News that "there is no reason to doubt the tapes' authenticity," considering there has never been a fake bin Laden audiotape.
If authentic, it would be the third by bin Laden this year. In a tape aired on Arab television in April, he denounced the United States and Europe for cutting off funds to the Hamas-led Palestinian government, accusing them of leading a "Zionist" war on Islam, and urged followers to fight any U.N. peacekeeping force in Sudan.
In January, bin Laden said in an audiotape that Al Qaeda was preparing new attacks in the United States but offered a truce — though his lieutenant Ayman al-Zawahiri later issued a video saying Washington had refused to take the offer.
The January message was bin Laden's first in over a year, his longest period of silence since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.
His deputy al-Zawahri releases messages more frequently, appearing in videotapes, while bin Laden has not appeared in a video since October 2004.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
1,000 Radical Groups Post Terror Ideology On The Net, Says Expert
May 22, 2006 17:47 PM
KUALA LUMPUR, May 22 (Bernama) -- Some 1,000 radical groups in Southeast Asia have gone to the internet to post their terror ideology, and this has posed a potential threat to the stability of the world, particularly the region, said a renowned expert on JI Dr Rohan Gunaratna.Dr Gunaratna, a researcher at Singapore's Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies (IDSS)'s International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism said: "Most of these groups use the internet to disseminate their propaganda, to recruit new members and to raise funds for their discourse."Therefore he suggested three proposals to curb them from taking advantage of the internet with among others the need to enhance collaboration among Southeast Asian countries to increase security and intelligence, he told reporters at the Malaysia's Outreach Counter-Terrorism Course, here Monday.The four-day course was jointly organised by the South East Asia Regional Centre For Counter Terrorism (SEARCCT) and the Asia Pacific Centre For Security Studies (APCSS).Dr Gunaratna said: "The nations in the region should be working together to understand how terrorists use the internet and try to find methods to fight back."He also proposed the Southeast Asian region to emulate the European countries and the United States on how they developed their internet technologies to overcome the challenge.Thirdly, he suggested the Southeast Asian nations to develop a collaborative framework among the region, and also the linkages with outside the region.Given the wide disparity in information technology application between countries in the region, there was therefore a need for cooperation between them to fight terrorism, he said, adding that "if not Southeast Asian countries would be left behind."Dr Gunaratna said although terrorists in the region used the internet to promote their radical discourse, they still used the conventional method in their attacks."They have yet to reach a stage where they could attack via internet," he said.He said there had been proof that the internet had been used by terrorist groups such as the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), whereby its leader Hambali or Riduan Isamuddin had used the medium to communicate with other terrorists on the Sept 11 2003 attack in the United States and the Bali bombing in Indonesia.Dr Gunaratna also lamented that there was only less than a dozen of moderate Islamic groups which posted their teachings on the moderate Islamic practices on the internet, which could help to oppose the idea of the radical groups.-- BERNAMA
KUALA LUMPUR, May 22 (Bernama) -- Some 1,000 radical groups in Southeast Asia have gone to the internet to post their terror ideology, and this has posed a potential threat to the stability of the world, particularly the region, said a renowned expert on JI Dr Rohan Gunaratna.Dr Gunaratna, a researcher at Singapore's Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies (IDSS)'s International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism said: "Most of these groups use the internet to disseminate their propaganda, to recruit new members and to raise funds for their discourse."Therefore he suggested three proposals to curb them from taking advantage of the internet with among others the need to enhance collaboration among Southeast Asian countries to increase security and intelligence, he told reporters at the Malaysia's Outreach Counter-Terrorism Course, here Monday.The four-day course was jointly organised by the South East Asia Regional Centre For Counter Terrorism (SEARCCT) and the Asia Pacific Centre For Security Studies (APCSS).Dr Gunaratna said: "The nations in the region should be working together to understand how terrorists use the internet and try to find methods to fight back."He also proposed the Southeast Asian region to emulate the European countries and the United States on how they developed their internet technologies to overcome the challenge.Thirdly, he suggested the Southeast Asian nations to develop a collaborative framework among the region, and also the linkages with outside the region.Given the wide disparity in information technology application between countries in the region, there was therefore a need for cooperation between them to fight terrorism, he said, adding that "if not Southeast Asian countries would be left behind."Dr Gunaratna said although terrorists in the region used the internet to promote their radical discourse, they still used the conventional method in their attacks."They have yet to reach a stage where they could attack via internet," he said.He said there had been proof that the internet had been used by terrorist groups such as the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), whereby its leader Hambali or Riduan Isamuddin had used the medium to communicate with other terrorists on the Sept 11 2003 attack in the United States and the Bali bombing in Indonesia.Dr Gunaratna also lamented that there was only less than a dozen of moderate Islamic groups which posted their teachings on the moderate Islamic practices on the internet, which could help to oppose the idea of the radical groups.-- BERNAMA
Worker killed in Thailand attack
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5004062.stm
From the BBC World news desk.
Last Updated: Monday, 22 May 2006, 11:27 GMT
Worker killed in Thailand attack
An investigation into the attack on the teachers is under wayA state telephone company worker has been killed in the latest attack in Thailand's mainly-Muslim restive south.
The man, reportedly a Buddhist, was riding his motorcycle to work when he was shot dead and then set on fire in Pattani province, officials said.
Meanwhile, many schools across the region have closed after two women teachers, both Buddhists, were attacked and beaten in a village last week.
One of the women is unlikely to recover from her wounds, doctors say.
More than 1,300 people have been killed since the violence escalated in the far south, close to the Malaysian border, in January 2004.
The government blames Islamic separatists for much of the unrest, although criminal motives are thought to also be at work.
Police said the latest attack happened in the Saiburi district of Pattani province.
"The attackers opened fire on him and then set fire to the motorcycle to burn the victim," said police Maj Gen Korkiat Wongworachat. "It was a very cruel act by the insurgents."
Teachers 'scared'
It comes as education officials in neighbouring Narathiwat province decided to close 100 schools in the area for a week following the attack on two teachers in Rangae district.
Thawat Sae-Hum, head of a teacher's union in Narathiwat, said "teachers are scared and they have no confidence their security will be protected".
TROUBLED SOUTH
Home to most of Thailand's 4% Muslim minority
Muslim rebels fought the government up to the mid-80s
Suspected militants have upped attacks since 2004, targeting Buddhists
Security forces' response criticised by rights groups
Thailand's restive south The two teachers, aged 24 and 30, were dragged from their school in Kujing Ruepa village on Friday by angry villagers.
They were held hostage and severely beaten by attackers who were demanding the release of two Muslim men arrested in the village earlier on suspicion of killing two marines.
The newly-graduated 24-year-old teacher remains in a coma, doctors said.
"Only a miracle can bring her back to consciousness," Sumet Pirawut, head of the hospital treating her, told a radio station in Bangkok.
This is the fourth time this year that teachers have been taken hostage, although have been killed, according to Reuters news agency.
Teachers are often targeted as they are seen as symbols of Thailand's Buddhist authorities.
Head of security for the region, Lt Gen Ongkorn Thongprasom, has offered to quit following Friday's incident.
"I am deeply sad that such a brutal incident took place," he said, adding that he took full responsibility for it.
From the BBC World news desk.
Last Updated: Monday, 22 May 2006, 11:27 GMT
Worker killed in Thailand attack
An investigation into the attack on the teachers is under wayA state telephone company worker has been killed in the latest attack in Thailand's mainly-Muslim restive south.
The man, reportedly a Buddhist, was riding his motorcycle to work when he was shot dead and then set on fire in Pattani province, officials said.
Meanwhile, many schools across the region have closed after two women teachers, both Buddhists, were attacked and beaten in a village last week.
One of the women is unlikely to recover from her wounds, doctors say.
More than 1,300 people have been killed since the violence escalated in the far south, close to the Malaysian border, in January 2004.
The government blames Islamic separatists for much of the unrest, although criminal motives are thought to also be at work.
Police said the latest attack happened in the Saiburi district of Pattani province.
"The attackers opened fire on him and then set fire to the motorcycle to burn the victim," said police Maj Gen Korkiat Wongworachat. "It was a very cruel act by the insurgents."
Teachers 'scared'
It comes as education officials in neighbouring Narathiwat province decided to close 100 schools in the area for a week following the attack on two teachers in Rangae district.
Thawat Sae-Hum, head of a teacher's union in Narathiwat, said "teachers are scared and they have no confidence their security will be protected".
TROUBLED SOUTH
Home to most of Thailand's 4% Muslim minority
Muslim rebels fought the government up to the mid-80s
Suspected militants have upped attacks since 2004, targeting Buddhists
Security forces' response criticised by rights groups
Thailand's restive south The two teachers, aged 24 and 30, were dragged from their school in Kujing Ruepa village on Friday by angry villagers.
They were held hostage and severely beaten by attackers who were demanding the release of two Muslim men arrested in the village earlier on suspicion of killing two marines.
The newly-graduated 24-year-old teacher remains in a coma, doctors said.
"Only a miracle can bring her back to consciousness," Sumet Pirawut, head of the hospital treating her, told a radio station in Bangkok.
This is the fourth time this year that teachers have been taken hostage, although have been killed, according to Reuters news agency.
Teachers are often targeted as they are seen as symbols of Thailand's Buddhist authorities.
Head of security for the region, Lt Gen Ongkorn Thongprasom, has offered to quit following Friday's incident.
"I am deeply sad that such a brutal incident took place," he said, adding that he took full responsibility for it.
Monday, May 22, 2006
The civil war starts in Gaza
May 22, 2006
One Jordanian killed and 8 injured in Gaza gun battle
A newly established Hamas-led security force clashed with Fatah gunmen near the Palestinian Legislative Council in Gaza on Monday in a renewed outbreak of internal fighting, one Jordanian was killed and eight others wounded in the armed clashes, Palestinian security sources and medics said.
The sources said that Jordanian national Khalid el-Radaydeh, 55, was working as a Jordanian Representative driver.
Eyewitness said that unidentified gunmen fired on the Hamas led-force deployed at the main road junction next to the Palestinian Legislative Council following which a gun-battle erupted between the two rival forces.
Hamas and Fatah blame each other for the escalating violence in Gaza.
Link to video:www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8Meswg_v_g
One Jordanian killed and 8 injured in Gaza gun battle
A newly established Hamas-led security force clashed with Fatah gunmen near the Palestinian Legislative Council in Gaza on Monday in a renewed outbreak of internal fighting, one Jordanian was killed and eight others wounded in the armed clashes, Palestinian security sources and medics said.
The sources said that Jordanian national Khalid el-Radaydeh, 55, was working as a Jordanian Representative driver.
Eyewitness said that unidentified gunmen fired on the Hamas led-force deployed at the main road junction next to the Palestinian Legislative Council following which a gun-battle erupted between the two rival forces.
Hamas and Fatah blame each other for the escalating violence in Gaza.
Link to video:www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8Meswg_v_g
Reunited: boys saved from slavers
And This is a man who denounces western "depravity".
From The Sunday Times:
Lahore, Pak.
A SENIOR member of an Islamic organisation linked to Al-Qaeda is funding his activities through the kidnapping of Christian children who are sold into slavery in Pakistan. The Sunday Times has established that Gul Khan, a wealthy militant who uses the base of Jamaat-ud Daawa (JUD) near Lahore, is behind a cruel trade in boys aged six to 12.
They are abducted from remote Christian villages in the Punjab and fetch nearly £1,000 each from buyers who consign them to a life of misery in domestic servitude or in the sex trade. Khan was exposed in a sting organised by American and Pakistani missionaries who decided to save 20 such boys and return them to their homes. Using a secret camera, they filmed him accepting $28,500 (£15,000) from a Pakistani missionary posing as a businessman who said he wanted to set up an operation in which the boys would beg for cash on the streets. Khan was observed driving from the meeting with a knapsack full of cash to the JUD headquarters at Muridke, near Lahore. The base was funded by Osama Bin Laden, the Al-Qaeda leader, in the late 1990s and the JUD’s assets were frozen last month by the US Treasury after it was designated a terrorist organisation. The US State Department declared the JUD a front for another organisation, Lashkar-i-Toiba, a terrorist group banned in Pakistan which joined with Al-Qaeda in an attempt to assassinate President Pervez Musharraf in 2003. Khan, who regularly stays at the JUD’s base, broke his promise to hand over the 20 boys on receipt of the cash and took the Pakistani missionary’s assistant hostage while he checked that the dollars were genuine. The boys were eventually freed in a dishevelled and malnourished state after being locked in a room for five months during which they suffered frequent beatings. Last week I accompanied six of the boys on journeys of up to 15 hours to their homes, where they were greeted with astonishment and jubilation by families who had given them up for dead. The mother of Akash Aziz, who was kidnapped as he played with his friends after school, was so astonished that she could barely move or speak at first. The undercover missionaries have demanded the prosecution of Khan and an investigation into his work for the JUD, which claims to have created a "pure Islamic environment" at Muridke. Hafez Muhamed Sayeed, its leader, was accused of inciting riots in Pakistan this year with speeches denouncing western "depravity" after a Danish newspaper published cartoons of the prophet Muhammad.
From The Sunday Times:
Lahore, Pak.
A SENIOR member of an Islamic organisation linked to Al-Qaeda is funding his activities through the kidnapping of Christian children who are sold into slavery in Pakistan. The Sunday Times has established that Gul Khan, a wealthy militant who uses the base of Jamaat-ud Daawa (JUD) near Lahore, is behind a cruel trade in boys aged six to 12.
They are abducted from remote Christian villages in the Punjab and fetch nearly £1,000 each from buyers who consign them to a life of misery in domestic servitude or in the sex trade. Khan was exposed in a sting organised by American and Pakistani missionaries who decided to save 20 such boys and return them to their homes. Using a secret camera, they filmed him accepting $28,500 (£15,000) from a Pakistani missionary posing as a businessman who said he wanted to set up an operation in which the boys would beg for cash on the streets. Khan was observed driving from the meeting with a knapsack full of cash to the JUD headquarters at Muridke, near Lahore. The base was funded by Osama Bin Laden, the Al-Qaeda leader, in the late 1990s and the JUD’s assets were frozen last month by the US Treasury after it was designated a terrorist organisation. The US State Department declared the JUD a front for another organisation, Lashkar-i-Toiba, a terrorist group banned in Pakistan which joined with Al-Qaeda in an attempt to assassinate President Pervez Musharraf in 2003. Khan, who regularly stays at the JUD’s base, broke his promise to hand over the 20 boys on receipt of the cash and took the Pakistani missionary’s assistant hostage while he checked that the dollars were genuine. The boys were eventually freed in a dishevelled and malnourished state after being locked in a room for five months during which they suffered frequent beatings. Last week I accompanied six of the boys on journeys of up to 15 hours to their homes, where they were greeted with astonishment and jubilation by families who had given them up for dead. The mother of Akash Aziz, who was kidnapped as he played with his friends after school, was so astonished that she could barely move or speak at first. The undercover missionaries have demanded the prosecution of Khan and an investigation into his work for the JUD, which claims to have created a "pure Islamic environment" at Muridke. Hafez Muhamed Sayeed, its leader, was accused of inciting riots in Pakistan this year with speeches denouncing western "depravity" after a Danish newspaper published cartoons of the prophet Muhammad.
Islamic Jihad claims Sderot attack
JPost.com
The principal of a Sderot school declared it a miracle that no students were hurt when a Kassam rocket punched through the roof of their classroom on Sunday morning. The high school students were attending a morning prayer service in a nearby synagogue at the time.
Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the rocket attack, which caused heavy damage to the classroom and nearby restrooms but no casualties. Parents rushed to the Netiv Yeshivati School to take their shocked children home following news of the attack.
School principal Eli Edri said students habitually assemble for morning prayers from 7:45 to 8:30, and remain in the same room for a talk with one of the educators.
"Luckily - we consider it to be a miracle - there were some delays today, and the students didn't leave for their classrooms on schedule," Edri told The Jerusalem Post.
The classrooms, he said, were always kept locked until the arrival of the homeroom teachers. Several students, however, had arrived early at the door in hope of spending some time preparing for Monday's English matriculation exam.
"They were standing outside the door, and around 8:35 a.m. we heard the Red Dawn alert that precedes the falling of a Kassam rocket. Ten seconds later - at the very most - we heard a loud explosion," he said. "When we opened the door, we realized the extent of the damage."
The rocket, Edri said, had penetrated through the roof and through a wall separating the classroom from an adjacent restroom.
"It was very frightening, but we are used to these kinds of emergency situations here in Sderot," he said. "We immediately called in the social and psychological services. Terrified parents arrived at the school, and we had to attend to them as well."
Edri said he was contacted by Education Minister Yuli Tamir, among other officials. On Monday morning, Tamir is scheduled to visit the school together with Defense Minister Amir Peretz.
A total of five rockets were fired toward Israel from the northern Gaza Strip Sunday morning. One rocket exploded near the Gevim junction in Sderot. Medics treated two women at the scene for shock. One rocket fell in Palestinian territory.
The IDF responded with artillery barrages that pounded Kassam launch sites with more than 200 shells, the army and witnesses said. Palestinian medics said that one Palestinian was moderately wounded in the shelling. The IDF, however, said troops were not firing at the time the man was hit.
In response to the rocket attack, Peretz ordered senior Defense Ministry officials to prepare a plan for the immediate protection of schools in Sderot, Israel Radio reported.
In other developments, Peretz ordered an investigation into civilian casualties in Saturday's IAF strike in Gaza City in which Muhammad Dadouh, a senior Islamic Jihad operative, was killed.
Palestinian witnesses said that IAF planes fired missiles at Dadouh's jeep and at taxi following close behind on a street crowded with traffic. Three people inside the taxi - a woman, her five-year-old son and the boy's grandmother - were killed, along with seven other bystanders, according to Palestinian sources.
OC Air Force Maj.-Gen. Elyezer Shkedy said of Peretz's request that "it is not strange to investigate the operation, since it is the IAF's policy to investigate every air strike, whether civilians are injured or not."
The IAF chief expressed regret for the loss of innocent civilians in the strike, but was pleased that the IDF was able to "finally catch up" with Dadouh, who had developed and launched missiles at Israel, including the GRAD-type Katyusha.
Saturday, May 20, 2006
Dr. Sallah Sultan: 9/11 Attacks Planned by Americans on the Basis of the Film "The Siege"
From MEMRI:
President of American Center for Islamic Research in Columbus, Ohio, Dr. Sallah Sultan: 9/11 Attacks Planned by Americans on the Basis of the Film "The Siege"
Following are excerpts from an address given by Dr. Sallah Sultan, president of the American Center for Islamic Research in Columbus, Ohio, which aired on Al-Risala TV on May 17, 2006.
Sallah Sultan: The film "The Siege," starring Denzel Washington, portrayed the Muslims in a very bad light. They are shown calling for prayer, performing the ablution, praying, and then planning multiple bombings - a government building, a security agency, the FBI, a bus carrying young men and women, adults and children. They bombed shops.
The film came out in April 1999. It paved the way for 9/11, since it was filmed in Brooklyn, New York. The truth is that immediately after 9/11, I said people should view these events in the context of "The Siege," because these events were identical.
This scenario... I still believe to this day... The scenario still baffles me. I share the view of many Americans, French, and Europeans, who say that 9/11 could not have been carried out entirely from outside [the U.S.] - by Muslims or others. The confessions of some people could have been edited. But even if they were not edited, I believe that these people were used in a marginal role. The entire thing was of a large scale and was planned within the U.S., in order to enable the U.S. to control and terrorize the entire world, and to get American society to agree to the war declared on terrorism, the definition of which has not yet been determined.
The U.S. remains the only country to determine who is a terrorist, and what is the definition for terrorism, and it can pin it on anyone. The most recent instance is the case of Dr. Al-Zindani, who has been accused of terrorism, even though he is known worldwide for his refinement, virtue, and broad horizons.
Yes, Osama bin Laden often seeks spiritual guidance from Dr. Al-Zindani.
President of American Center for Islamic Research in Columbus, Ohio, Dr. Sallah Sultan: 9/11 Attacks Planned by Americans on the Basis of the Film "The Siege"
Following are excerpts from an address given by Dr. Sallah Sultan, president of the American Center for Islamic Research in Columbus, Ohio, which aired on Al-Risala TV on May 17, 2006.
Sallah Sultan: The film "The Siege," starring Denzel Washington, portrayed the Muslims in a very bad light. They are shown calling for prayer, performing the ablution, praying, and then planning multiple bombings - a government building, a security agency, the FBI, a bus carrying young men and women, adults and children. They bombed shops.
The film came out in April 1999. It paved the way for 9/11, since it was filmed in Brooklyn, New York. The truth is that immediately after 9/11, I said people should view these events in the context of "The Siege," because these events were identical.
This scenario... I still believe to this day... The scenario still baffles me. I share the view of many Americans, French, and Europeans, who say that 9/11 could not have been carried out entirely from outside [the U.S.] - by Muslims or others. The confessions of some people could have been edited. But even if they were not edited, I believe that these people were used in a marginal role. The entire thing was of a large scale and was planned within the U.S., in order to enable the U.S. to control and terrorize the entire world, and to get American society to agree to the war declared on terrorism, the definition of which has not yet been determined.
The U.S. remains the only country to determine who is a terrorist, and what is the definition for terrorism, and it can pin it on anyone. The most recent instance is the case of Dr. Al-Zindani, who has been accused of terrorism, even though he is known worldwide for his refinement, virtue, and broad horizons.
Yes, Osama bin Laden often seeks spiritual guidance from Dr. Al-Zindani.
More Fighting in Southern Afghanistan
The 34 deaths came amid some of the worst fighting in Afghanistan since the ouster of the Taliban in 2001 and reinforced fears of a resurgence of Islamic extremists. A 24-hour spasm of violence killed some 120 people earlier this week, before calming briefly. It erupted again Friday with six militants, an Afghan soldier and a civilian killed in Helmand province, the main opium poppy-growing region, where drug profits are believed to fund the insurgency, said Gen. Rehmatullah Raufi, military commander for the south. Hours later in the same area, insurgents crouching among fields of grapevines and wheat opened fire on a kilometre-long convoy of Afghan army trucks as they snaked their way slowly along a dirt road with reinforcements, he said. The two sides exchanged fire with machine-guns and AK-47 assault rifles for six hours before the insurgents fled on foot and motorbikes, the general said. When it was over, 15 rebels and four soldiers lay dead, while 13 troops were still missing, an army officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Hundreds of extra forces were then rushed into the area and it is now controlled by the army, Defence Ministry spokesman Gen. Zahir Azimi said. Militants ambushed another Afghan army convoy in southern Zabul province Saturday and four rebels were killed as the troops returned fire, Raufi said. The U.S. soldier was killed Friday in Uruzgan province, also in the south, the military said in a statement. Six soldiers were wounded and in stable condition. Lieut. Tamara Lawrence, a U.S. military spokeswoman, said the U.S. soldiers were conducting a joint patrol with Afghan forces when they encountered enemy fighters about 10 a.m. Friday. In the past year, Uruzgan has been the site of some of the heaviest fighting in Afghanistan, but militants suffered high losses in battles with coalition forces, and the violence has subsided in recent months. At least 235 members of the U.S. military have died in and around Afghanistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the U.S. Defense Department. Two French special forces troops were killed Saturday while fighting the Taliban in Kandahar province, the French Defence Ministry said. No other details were immediately available. France has had 200 special forces officers in southeast Afghanistan since 2003 as part of the U.S.-led coalition. In the western city of Herat, an explosion ripped through a vehicle carrying a former warlord, Amanullah Khan, wounding him and two others, said Gulam Sarwar Haydari, the city's deputy police chief. It was not immediately clear what caused the blast. Violence has been steadily increasing across Afghanistan for the past 18 months, despite the presence of some 23,000 U.S. troops and 9,000 others mainly belonging to a separate NATO-led peacekeeping force. About 2,300 Canadian troops are involved in the mission. The militants have changed their tactics, using more suicide and roadside bombings, like those in Iraq, which is proving difficult to counter. |
Hamas Being "Democratic" again...
Blast at Palestinian intelligence headquarters
Palestinian intelligence chief seriously wounded
GAZA CITY (AP) - A powerful explosion ripped through Palestinian intelligence headquarters on Saturday, killing one man and wounding six, including the intelligence chief, security officials said.
The blast went off in the building's elevator as the intelligence chief, Gen. Tareq Abu Rajeb and his bodyguards were in the area, the officials said.
The wounded were driven to a nearby hospital in cars of the intelligence service. Fellow agents fired in the air from the windows of the vehicles to clear the way.
The blast came at a time of growing tension between the Hamas government and the Palestinian security forces loyal to moderate President Mahmoud Abbas.
Palestinian intelligence chief seriously wounded
GAZA CITY (AP) - A powerful explosion ripped through Palestinian intelligence headquarters on Saturday, killing one man and wounding six, including the intelligence chief, security officials said.
The blast went off in the building's elevator as the intelligence chief, Gen. Tareq Abu Rajeb and his bodyguards were in the area, the officials said.
The wounded were driven to a nearby hospital in cars of the intelligence service. Fellow agents fired in the air from the windows of the vehicles to clear the way.
The blast came at a time of growing tension between the Hamas government and the Palestinian security forces loyal to moderate President Mahmoud Abbas.
Another Miracle of Islam: BEHOLD Charlie The Tuna. Allah want Tunas that Taste Good
Museums officials recover stolen rare fish
By Maarufu Mohamed
National Museums of Kenya (NMK) officials have recovered the rare fish with Arabic inscriptions after it was stolen by people posing as officials from the department.
The fish, caught off the Vanga coast in Kwale District last week, was recovered from a house in Mombasa’s Old Town. The Tuna fish, which was awaiting casting by the NMK, disappeared from the custody of the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Department on Monday.
Fort Jesus Museums Education officer, Mr Hassan Mohamed Hassan, said it had been taken to the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries laboratories in Mombasa for preservation. However, suspected unscrupulous traders posing as officials from his department went to the laboratories and demanded the fish, which they were given and carried away.
"Our officials recovered the fish on Tuesday before it could be sold," he said.
Hassan said the suspects had gone into hiding but police were pursuing them.
"My department has reached an agreement with the person who caught the fish, that it be kept by the National Museums of Kenya," he said.
The official said the fish was kept at -20 degrees to prevent it from decaying and to preserve the writing.
"Casting of the fish, which will involve molding by using silicon rubber and sawdust, will be done on Monday at the Fort Jesus Museum," he said. Hassan said the writings would become visible after the casting.
The rare fish attracted huge crowds at Takaungu Fish Shop in Old Town last Friday, when it was brought from Vanga. Businessmen who thronged the shop wanted to buy it for as much as Sh10,000, but the shopkeeper declined the offers.
The fish bore a Koranic scripture "Wa Llahu Khairu Raazikin" which, when translated, means "The Almighty God is the giver of all blessings".
The fish has drawn controversy among Muslims, with some saying it is a "holy fish" which should be preserved, while others say it is a "good luck fish", which should be eaten.
The fish will be exhibited at the Fort Jesus Museum after casting.
By Maarufu Mohamed
National Museums of Kenya (NMK) officials have recovered the rare fish with Arabic inscriptions after it was stolen by people posing as officials from the department.
The fish, caught off the Vanga coast in Kwale District last week, was recovered from a house in Mombasa’s Old Town. The Tuna fish, which was awaiting casting by the NMK, disappeared from the custody of the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Department on Monday.
Fort Jesus Museums Education officer, Mr Hassan Mohamed Hassan, said it had been taken to the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries laboratories in Mombasa for preservation. However, suspected unscrupulous traders posing as officials from his department went to the laboratories and demanded the fish, which they were given and carried away.
"Our officials recovered the fish on Tuesday before it could be sold," he said.
Hassan said the suspects had gone into hiding but police were pursuing them.
"My department has reached an agreement with the person who caught the fish, that it be kept by the National Museums of Kenya," he said.
The official said the fish was kept at -20 degrees to prevent it from decaying and to preserve the writing.
"Casting of the fish, which will involve molding by using silicon rubber and sawdust, will be done on Monday at the Fort Jesus Museum," he said. Hassan said the writings would become visible after the casting.
The rare fish attracted huge crowds at Takaungu Fish Shop in Old Town last Friday, when it was brought from Vanga. Businessmen who thronged the shop wanted to buy it for as much as Sh10,000, but the shopkeeper declined the offers.
The fish bore a Koranic scripture "Wa Llahu Khairu Raazikin" which, when translated, means "The Almighty God is the giver of all blessings".
The fish has drawn controversy among Muslims, with some saying it is a "holy fish" which should be preserved, while others say it is a "good luck fish", which should be eaten.
The fish will be exhibited at the Fort Jesus Museum after casting.
German Mistrust of Muslims and Islam Grows
Germany 20.05.2006
German Mistrust of Muslims and Islam Grows
A "spiral of conflict" could be starting in Germany, the study warned
Experts fear new conflicts after a study published this week showed most Germans doubt the Western and Islamic worlds can peacefully coexist. Mistrust of the 3 million Muslims living in Germany appears to be growing.
In spite of official attempts to promote dialog among religions, distrust of Islam continues to grow, with 60 percent of Germans expecting tension between traditional German society and immigrants from Muslim countries, according to an Allensbach study commissioned by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper.
"Germans are increasingly of the opinion that a lasting, peaceful coexistence with the Islamic world will not be possible," the researchers said in the survey, released Wednesday.
Some 56 percent of Germans said they believed a "clash of cultures" already exists, partly a result of recent incidents that received a large amount of media attention, according to the survey's authors Elisabeth Noelle and Thomas Petersen.
Germans less willing to show tolerance to Muslims
Germans' image of Muslims has been getting worse since Sept. 11, 2001
The case of a Berlin "honor killing," a quarrel over two Bonn students who wore burkas to school and discussions concerning increasing schoolyard violence among immigrant children have all made headlines in the German press recently.
"In view of the diffuse feeling of being under threat, and the suspected intolerance of Islam, the readiness of Germans to show tolerance to the Muslim faith is sinking," Noelle and Petersen wrote.
Germans' esteem for Islam has been falling since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, with 83 percent of the 1,076 Germans questioned in the survey agreeing with the statement that Islam is driven by fanaticism. That amount was 10 percent higher than two years ago. A majority, 71 percent, said they believed Islam to be "intolerant," up from 66 percent.
When asked what they associate with the word "Islam," 91 percent of respondents connected the religion to the discrimination of women, and 61 percent called Islam "undemocratic." Eight percent of Germans associated "peacefulness" with Islam.
Willing to limit freedom of religion
Most Germans don't believe a mosque should be built in a community that doesn't want it
About 40 percent of Germans queried were willing to limit the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of religion if constricting the practice of the Muslim religion would lead to fewer violent Muslims choosing to live in Germany. Over half of those who took part, 56 percent, agreed with the statement, "If some Muslim countries forbid building churches, then it should be forbidden to build mosques here."
There was one result amid the responses that improved the mood of those working on intercultural dialog: two-thirds of Germans said they believed Islam does not pose a threat, but that radical, politically motivated individuals are behind extremist acts.
The survey's authors wrote that "there is a pattern of polarization" widening the gap between Germans' feelings of their own situation and "the others," which could be the "beginning of a spiral of conflict."
"Since the end of the World War II, the German population has had a particular aversion to conflict," Noelle and Petersen wrote. "But in regards to Islam, the fronts are obviously getting harder."
German Mistrust of Muslims and Islam Grows
A "spiral of conflict" could be starting in Germany, the study warned
Experts fear new conflicts after a study published this week showed most Germans doubt the Western and Islamic worlds can peacefully coexist. Mistrust of the 3 million Muslims living in Germany appears to be growing.
In spite of official attempts to promote dialog among religions, distrust of Islam continues to grow, with 60 percent of Germans expecting tension between traditional German society and immigrants from Muslim countries, according to an Allensbach study commissioned by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper.
"Germans are increasingly of the opinion that a lasting, peaceful coexistence with the Islamic world will not be possible," the researchers said in the survey, released Wednesday.
Some 56 percent of Germans said they believed a "clash of cultures" already exists, partly a result of recent incidents that received a large amount of media attention, according to the survey's authors Elisabeth Noelle and Thomas Petersen.
Germans less willing to show tolerance to Muslims
Germans' image of Muslims has been getting worse since Sept. 11, 2001
The case of a Berlin "honor killing," a quarrel over two Bonn students who wore burkas to school and discussions concerning increasing schoolyard violence among immigrant children have all made headlines in the German press recently.
"In view of the diffuse feeling of being under threat, and the suspected intolerance of Islam, the readiness of Germans to show tolerance to the Muslim faith is sinking," Noelle and Petersen wrote.
Germans' esteem for Islam has been falling since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, with 83 percent of the 1,076 Germans questioned in the survey agreeing with the statement that Islam is driven by fanaticism. That amount was 10 percent higher than two years ago. A majority, 71 percent, said they believed Islam to be "intolerant," up from 66 percent.
When asked what they associate with the word "Islam," 91 percent of respondents connected the religion to the discrimination of women, and 61 percent called Islam "undemocratic." Eight percent of Germans associated "peacefulness" with Islam.
Willing to limit freedom of religion
Most Germans don't believe a mosque should be built in a community that doesn't want it
About 40 percent of Germans queried were willing to limit the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of religion if constricting the practice of the Muslim religion would lead to fewer violent Muslims choosing to live in Germany. Over half of those who took part, 56 percent, agreed with the statement, "If some Muslim countries forbid building churches, then it should be forbidden to build mosques here."
There was one result amid the responses that improved the mood of those working on intercultural dialog: two-thirds of Germans said they believed Islam does not pose a threat, but that radical, politically motivated individuals are behind extremist acts.
The survey's authors wrote that "there is a pattern of polarization" widening the gap between Germans' feelings of their own situation and "the others," which could be the "beginning of a spiral of conflict."
"Since the end of the World War II, the German population has had a particular aversion to conflict," Noelle and Petersen wrote. "But in regards to Islam, the fronts are obviously getting harder."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)