UK Cracks Down on Foreign Extremists

British authorities are trying to make it difficult for foreign extremists to get into the country, or to stay if they already are there. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith announced new rules this week requiring people who have espoused extremism to retract their words and publicly endorse democracy.

The policy sets a seemingly insurmountable bar for admission for people like Omar Bakri Mohammed, one of 230 people kicked out of the country or prohibited from coming in since 2005, and Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a Muslim Brotherhood affiliated preacher banned from returning to the UK earlier this year.

The rules apply to all political stripes, London's Telegraph newspaper reports, including fringe elements in the anti-abortion and animal rights movements. In essence, anyone with past statements attributed to them advocating violence or other illegal activity will have to prove they didn't make the statement or rescind their words.

It won't be a panacea, but it could help the UK from further becoming a European haven for radicals.

An Opportunity to Prove Us Wrong

Somali Islamists meted out barbaric punishment this week against a woman accused of adultery. According to press reports, stones were thrown at the head of a 23-year-old woman who had been buried up to her neck:

"Relatives of the woman executed in Kismayu, whom they named as Asha Ibrahim Dhuhulow, were furious.

‘The stoning was totally irreligious and illogical,' said her sister, who asked not to be named. ‘Islam does not execute a woman for adultery unless four witnesses and the man with whom she committed sex are brought forward publicly.'"

It's stunning to see the victim's sister take issue with the procedure and not the stoning itself. But her words sounded eerily familiar to the explanation offered by someone who, at the time, was among the most prominent spokesmen for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). In discussing his perceived flaws of the documentary "Islam v. Islamists," Ahmed Bedier told a Tampa television station last year that stoning is a rarity and "definitely not government sanctioned. That, he explained, was due in part to the requirement that four witnesses step forward to prove an adultery accusation.

"So you have to be like a porn star to get convicted," Bedier said. He since has left CAIR.

Here is a chance for CAIR and similar national organizations to show they can stand up to the horrific extremism of some Islamists. Condemn this death unequivocally; condemn stoning as a modern means of punishment, even in nations governed by Islamic law.

Bedier wouldn't do it. Neither would Tariq Ramadan, grandson of Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan Al-Banna and someone lauded as one of the world's leading intellectuals. In an infamous 2003 debate with now-French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Ramadan advocated a moratorium.

To do so would be to challenge some Quranic texts. And that's a line they seem unwilling to cross.

Egypt's Inexplicable Arrests

Egyptian police have arrested two relatives of an Islamic scholar who runs a U.S.-based center advocating for democracy and human rights in the Muslim World.

According to the International Quranic Center (IQC), officials arrested Mustafa Kamel Mohamed Ali Sunday. Ali is not politically or religiously active. But he is a cousin of IQC President Ahmed Subhy Mansour. Later, authorities arrested a second cousin who is who writes for the IQC.

Mansour, a former professor of Islamic history at Al-Azhar University, has managed to anger radical Islamists and the Mubarak government in Egypt. Mansour left Egypt after being fired from his job and jailed by the government.

According to the Center's post on the arrests, it's part of a troubling escalation in intimidating Mansour and his supporters through his relatives. Read the whole thing here.

Jihadi Videos Open Fort Dix Trial

Prosecutors played graphic videos of attacks on U.S. soldiers in Iraq, mixed with tributes to Osama bin Laden, in the trial of five men accused of plotting an attack on Fort Dix in New Jersey. News reports indicate that some jurors appeared shocked by the images.

The men, who live in Cherry Hill, N.J. and Philadelphia, also videotaped themselves firing weapons. Investigators found the tapes in the home of defendants Eljvir and Shain Duka. Prosecutors say they were inspired by Al Qaeda and internet videos such as those shown in court. More tapes were expected to be played today.

The investigation began when a Circuit City employee was asked to dub a video tape onto a DVD in January 2006. That tape has been described as containing jihadi training footage and the store worker called the FBI. A paid FBI informant later sold the men weapons. They were arrested in 2007.

Defense attorneys say the men were simply having fun and had no intention of waging any kind of attack. But in private conversation, the men were heard discussing their desire to kill.

The Cherry Hill Courier Post has a special section dedicated to the case, including a history of the case and snapshots of the players.

Jasser's Righteous Stand

He wages a sometimes lonely battle against voices on extremism and intolerance within the American Muslim community. But M. Zuhdi Jasser has again demonstrated why his voice so important with comments about - of all things - a video game.

On Monday, Sony announced a delay in the much-hyped release of the Playstation 3 game Littlebigplanet after realizing some background songs contained Quranic expressions. The game's release was delayed out of a concern the music might offend and anger some Muslim players.

Littlebigplanet is a game involving a fantasy world of limitless imagination and a character known as Sackboy.

Jasser gave a statement to Edge magazine, which focuses on the burgeoning gaming industry, to say the company over-reacted:

"Muslims cannot benefit from freedom of expression and religion and then turn around and ask that anytime their sensibilities are offended that the freedom of others be restricted. The free market allows for expression of disfavor by simply not purchasing a game that may be offensive. But to demand that it be withdrawn is predicated on a society which gives theocrats who wish to control speech far more value than the central principle of freedom of expression upon which the very practice and freedom of religion is based." (Emphasis added)

He's not necessarily happy that the "the words of God" are being used in such a manner, but Jasser made a point of saying he couldn't judge the song until he heard it and saw its context.

At once, Jasser, a devout Muslim and physician who founded the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, is able to defend free speech without compromising his religious convictions. It's an example to emulate.

Centcom Report Challenges Recent Terror Lexicon Changes

Those following the debate on whether it's a bad thing for the U.S. government to use words like "jihad" and "Islamist" in referencing the fight against terrorism need to check out Bill Gertz's story in today's Washington Times.

Gertz obtained an unclassified report by a U.S. Central Command "Red Team" which finds accuracy should trump political sensitivities. Part of the Red Team's task, Gertz reports, is challenging conventional thinking. It was written by civilian analysts and contractors working with CentCom. Accuracy, the report finds, is more important than faux political sensitivities:

"The fact is our enemies cite the source of Islam as the foundation for their global jihad," the report said. "We are left with the responsibility of portraying our enemies in an honest and accurate fashion."

Earlier this year, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Counterterrorism Research Center (CRC) issued memos recommending government officials avoid references to religion and words such as jihad, arguing they could engender popular support for terrorists.

"Don't invoke Islam," the CRC memo said, explaining Al Qaeda should be treated as an illegitimate political organization despite its use of religious text to justify its terrorism. The DHS memo said even the word "liberty" was troublesome "because many around the world would discount the term as a buzzword for American hegemony."

Gertz cites the Red Team report's conclusion that the DHS and CRC memos were based on "the views and opinions of a very small [number] of Americans whose contributions may have escaped critical review. ... While there is concern that we not label all Muslims as Islamist terrorists, it is proper to address certain aspects of violence as uniquely Islamic."

Islamist Opportunism in the Banking Crisis

Over at Family Security Matters, Center for Security Policy Vice President Christopher Holton lays out why calls for Sharia-compliant finance in the wake of the recent banking crisis is more ominous than they might seem.

Holton reacts to last weeks comments from Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who told a conference in Jerusalem last week that the economic crisis is an opportunity to "profit from the crisis to bring about the triumph of the (Islamic) nation, which holds the spiritual and material resources for victory."

Among those in Qaradawi's audience were Hamas chief Khalid Meshaal and a top adviser to Iran's spiritual leader Ali Khamenei. And Qaradawi, who the U.S. will not allow into the country, has issued fatwas justifying suicide bombing, including attacks on American soldiers in Iraq.

So what's that got to do with Islamic financing? Holton answers:

"Under sharia, there are eight approved forms of charity to which Muslims are expected to tithe through the system of zakat. Of those eight categories, four can be interpreted as supportive of violent jihad.

It is no wonder that the three largest Muslim charities (Holy Land Foundation, Benevolence International Foundation and Global Relief Foundation) in the United States were shut down due to ties to terrorism."

That's not all. Holton notes a number of overseas banks found to have worked with terrorists, including Bank Al-Taqwa, which allegedly handled millions of dollars tied to terrorist groups ranging from Hamas to Al Qaeda. Whether the concept catches on remains to be seen, but it's good someone is raising the alarm.

England's Voluntary Sharia

Stephen Pollard recently raised alarm bells about the use of Sharia courts in England which apply Islamic law over the law of the land. There were some false reports that Sharia courts had been created in five English cities, where rulings would be treated the same as those in the traditional judicial system.

But there are provisions for voluntary Sharia jurisdiction. That can be a cause for concern, Pollard writes:

"If two parties agree to be bound by an arbitrator - a Sharia court, for instance - that is their business. But what if community pressure forces their acceptance? In one recent inheritance dispute Sharia judges gave the sons twice as much as the daughters. In English law, the shares would have been equal. We do not know what pressures were put on the women to accept the ruling. Peer pressure can be overpowering. And the very point of Western freedoms is to protect people against such unjust pressures."

He cites a half-dozen cases of domestic violence handled by Sharia courts. The victims withdrew their police complaints and the perpetrator was ordered to take anger management classes. The situation, Pollard writes, is subject to tremendous peer pressure to stay out of regular courts.

Prison Libraries and Radicalization

The Federal Bureau of Prisons has tallied all the Islamic books and videos available to inmates and chaplains in federal penitentiaries and the list is worrisome.

Stephen Schwartz, a convert to Islam who directs the Center for Islamic Pluralism, requested a copy of the government's 399-page inventory through the Freedom of Information Act. He found far more examples of radical texts and videos from extremists, including Wahhabi and Muslim Brotherhood scholars, than those advocating pluralism or moderation.

You can find 280 copies of work from American-born South African imam Abdullah Hakim Quick, including what Schwartz calls "hateful attacks on Baha'is, as well as Ahmadis, a heterodox Muslim group, and titles like Muslims Under Siege and The Importance of Da'wa in Times of Crisis." The list includes 33 entries by Muslim Brotherhood spiritual guide Yusuf al-Qaradawi, another 30 entries covering writings by Brotherhood luminary Sayyid Qutb and 200 volumes by the Pakistani jihadist Abul Ala Mawdudi.

This matters for two reasons, Schwartz writes:

"Muslim extremists' openly stated intent to spread their ideology in prisons, and the Bureau of Prisons' own past reliance on Muslim chaplains trained in Wahhabi Islam. While no major acts of terror have been traced to recruitment in U.S. prisons, the tools necessary for extremist indoctrination remain, unaccountably, in place."

Schwartz notes that the inventory grew out of concerns generated by past discoveries about the way Muslim prison chaplains were trained.

Grounding Libel Tourism

The House of Representatives recently passed legislation aimed at curbing the globe-trotting practice of libel tourism – bringing defamation and libel cases in countries where the burden of proof on the plaintiff is far lower than here in the U.S.

The most celebrated case involves Rachel Ehrenfeld and her book Funding Evil: How Terrorism Is Financed and How to Stop It. One of her subjects, Saudi Arabian businessman Khaled bin Mahfouz, sued Ehrenfeld in Britain for her claim that he is involved in terror financing. The book had no British publisher, but was available via Internet sale there as it would be anywhere.

Mahfouz, who does not live in England, won a judgment reportedly worth six figures against a book not published there.

The House bill essentially allows U.S courts to not recognize libel judgments from countries with a legal standard more lax than our own. The New York Times endorsed the bill as "an important blow for free expression." But even the Times thinks the bill doesn't go far enough.

In the New York Post today, Rep. Peter King (R-Long Island) describes some of the innovative ideas to thwart the practice in legislation he sponsored. Forget about recognizing judgments, King writes, the law needs to discourage people from filing the lawsuits in the first place:

"Specifically, we must allow authors, journalists and publishers who've been victimized by these overseas lawsuits the ability to countersue here in the United States. That will make potential litigants think twice before they try to exploit foreign libel laws against American authors and publishers."

Other provisions expedite the discovery process and allow for enhanced damages if the court finds the lawsuit was brought "in a scheme to suppress First Amendment rights." The bill does nothing to impede what King called "good-faith defamation actions to prevail against journalists and others who have failed to adhere to standards of professionalism by publishing false information maliciously or recklessly."

Newer Postings   |   Older Postings